The Amazing Sidekick

Chapter 2 - Unicorns

Taisetsuna turned bright red and said, "We… were never a couple. We are childhood friends, and I would do anything for you, as you would for me. Well, I suppose I can’t say that anymore, considering you don’t remember me."

"Sorry, my head is a bit blurry. So, you can use Fire and Healing Magic."

Taisetsuna made a small Wind Tornado on her left hand and said with her head tilted sideways, "And Wind Magic, thank you very much! I am also special, because being able to use three different types of Magic is extremely rare. The Priest once told us that he only knew one Mage that could use three types when he was a soldier, many, many years ago."

Nozomu slowly reached out for the Wind Tornado, and the moment he touched it, it dissipated, making him frown. "This is what you said, about me being able to disturb Magic? Because I couldn’t even feel that tiny tornado, it just disappeared."

Taisetsuna made a small fireball in her right hand and threw it at Nozomu’s chest. It dissipated as well, and he slowly rubbed his shirt. "Weird, it’s not even hot. Was that real fire? I mean, I know it’s a Magic fire, but does it burn?"

To answer his question, Taisetsuna threw another Fireball to the rock that was covered with Nozomu’s blood and scorched it. The blood on the grass around burned as well, and when she threw a Wind Slash at it, the fire disappeared.

"It burns, alright. A normal person would be burned by the Fireball that I threw at you, but you have that weird way of dissipating or disturbing Magic, and it has no effect on you."

"Well, I would prefer to use Magic like you, but at least it means I can’t be hurt by Magic, and in a World where everyone can use a bit of Magic, I guess it will serve as protection just in case I annoy someone I shouldn’t."

Taisetsuna pointed to a place behind him, "Your weird ability has its usefulness, alright. How do you think we were able to catch those guys?"

Nozomu turned back to look at where she was pointing, and saw a white horse with a long, sharp horn on his forehead, tied to a tree. Next to him, another horse, but that one was red.

"N-no way! A-are those Unicorns? We caught them? How?"

Taisetsuna shrugged, "Beats me. It was all you, of course. Since Magic can’t do a thing to you, you went at them with your shield and gauntlets. I could only throw a few Wind Slashes to distract them, but you knocked them out all by yourself. Those guys are vicious, extremely violent, one can use Lightning and the other uses Fire Magic. Normally, Unicorns also use Healing Magic, but you didn’t give them time for that, you punched their heads until they fainted. No one messes with those guys, but they can be sold for a very high price if a person is able to tame them. Easier said than done, because they tend to kill anyone that approaches them, but they are extremely intelligent, more than horses, by the way. Don’t you ever call horse to a Unicorn, they get offended."

"I did what? How?"

"Magic doesn’t work with you, remember? They are Magical Beings. They can’t use their Magic against you, and they can’t even touch you. The white one tried to pierce you and got a headache when he crashed against your chest. The red tried to kick you, and almost broke his hoes. I don’t know why they came here, because Unicorns tend to stay inside forests or near mountains, they never get too close to buildings or Cities."

Nozomu looked to his left and saw a thick forest. A building could be seen in the distance behind Taisetsuna, which was most likely the Orphanage. He faced the Unicorns again and asked, "What do we do with them now?"

"I don’t know about you, but I want the red one for me. It will be a good match for my Fire Magic. I know they can give a boost to our Magic if they use the same type as us. As for you, I don’t know if you will be able to use Lightning Magic or if you will make him unable to use any Magic at all!"

Nozomu walked to the Unicorns and said, "What about if we tried? What do we need to do to tame them?"

"Well, the red guy is calmer now, maybe he will let me touch him if he sees that I can use Fire Magic. The white was the one that was angrier with you because he couldn’t do a thing to stop your punches. He might be resentful, or you may need to show him who is the boss. He looks too proud, maybe he needs to see that you are his master now."

Nozomu approached the white Unicorn and made a slight smile, "So, you are a Unicorn. What do you say, can we be friends?"

To answer his question, the white Unicorn threw a huge Lightning Ball at Nozomu that disappeared the moment it touched him. Nozomu frowned and looked at Taisetsuna who was showing a huge Fireball in her raised hand to a puzzled red Unicorn, "Suna, I think this guy doesn’t like me!"

"What do you expect? You punched him and tied him to that tree!"

"I did the same to that red one, didn’t I? And he doesn’t seem angry!"

Taisetsuna smiled and dispersed the Fireball and slowly approached her hand from the red Unicorn’s snout.

"It wasn’t me that punched this guy, it was you. I bet that if you approach, he will try to kill you as well. Here, that’s it, calm down, I want to be your friend..."

The red Unicorn slowly nodded and let her rub his nose. He then tilted his head and pointed with his head at Taisetsuna’s left hand. She made a Wind Tornado and showed it to the puzzled Unicorn.

"Yeah, I can also use Wind Magic. And Healing Magic like you. Aren’t you proud of me? I can be an amazing and worthy master! Or friend, if you don’t want me to be your master. That’s okay? Friends?"

The red Unicorn gently licked her hand, and Taisetsuna caressed his neck, and continued to his left side. She then groomed his mane and started to make a braid. The Unicorn pointed his head at her, and at his back. Taisetsuna made a big smile and by using his mane to hold, she jumped to his back. She then spoke at a surprised Nozomu, "I guess he wants to be my friend. Be a dear and untie him, will you? I can use his mane to guide him, I don’t need a rope around his neck."

Nozomu quickly untied the rope from the tree and slowly approached the red Unicorn to take the other end from his neck, only to jump back when he tried to bite Nozomu’s head. Taisetsuna laughed as she was taking the rope from the Unicorn’s neck, "Hahaha! Yeah, he doesn’t like you. Don’t be angry at him, pretty thing, he is my friend, okay? He is a nice guy, he only hurt you because you and your friend attacked us while we were training. If you guys didn’t mess with us, we wouldn’t have to defend ourselves, okay?"

The red Unicorn snorted while looking at the white unicorn and Taisetsuna said, "Yeah, I know, it was that white Unicorn that attacked first, he has a bad temper, right? Unluckily for him, Nozo is even worse. He tends to attack first and think about the consequences afterwards. Or he used to, because after bumping his head on that rock, he got a bit calmer."

Nozomu was looking at the angry white Unicorn that was kicking and pulling the rope, trying to get free. He then faced Nozomu again and tried to hit him with his horn. The loud bang and the headache told him that it was a bad idea to go against that young Human, and he slowly shook his head, trying to stop the dizziness.

Nozomu grabbed the Unicorn’s snout with both hands and whispered while staring at the Unicorn’s eyes, "Can you stop that? It’s annoying. I want to be your friend. In another life, my young daughter loved Unicorns and made me read to her a lot of stories about Unicorns. I never found a story saying that Unicorns are evil and mean, they were all peaceful and gentle beings. Why such a pretty Unicorn like you is so angry?"

As a response, Nozomu got another Lightning Ball aimed at his chest, only to be dispersed again. Nozomu slapped the Unicorn’s snout a few times, and with each slap, the Unicorn was getting dizzier and dizzier. Taisetsuna shouted a warning, "Careful, Nozo, or you will kill him! Even a slap from you can be dangerous for a Magical Being!"

Nozomu stopped with his hand ready for another blow and asked the dizzy Unicorn, "Will you stop now, or do I need to continue? I can do this all day, but I am not sure if you will endure it!"

The white Unicorn froze, and he slowly lowered his head, looking down while blinking to focus his sight. Nozomu caressed the Unicorn’s head and made a slight smile to Taisetsuna, "It seems he can still use Magic even with me touching him, but I don’t feel anything different, so I think I can’t use Magic yet. I have to feel something to use Magic, right?"

"Yeah, I suppose you can call it a tickling on your body that you have to concentrate on your hands and visualize what you want to do with it. If you don’t feel anything, then you can’t use Magic."

Nozomu frowned while caressing the white Unicorn and gently raising his head to look into his eyes, "That’s a pity, I would love to use Magic. Well, at least my strange ability doesn’t make you unable to use Magic, that’s good. So, if I untie you, will you let me ride you? Or do you still hate me and want to run away? Because you heard Suna, we were only practising when you attacked, I didn’t intend on hurting you, but you attacked first, so I had to hit you. I am really sorry for that, and if you forgive me, I will be your friend forever."

The white Unicorn looked at Nozomu for a few seconds before neighing and nodding. Nozomu untied the rope from the tree and slowly took the rope from the Unicorn's head. He put both ropes around his shoulder and waist and grabbed the Unicorn’s mane. "Warn me if this hurts, okay? I never did this."

Nozomu pulled the mane and at the same time he jumped, landing on the Unicorn’s back on his belly. He made a huge effort to raise his right leg and sat on the Unicorn’s back with Taisetsuna laughing, "Hahaha! That was a weird way to mount! You need to practice that, Nozo! What do you say if we go for a run?"

"No way! You go, I just want to sit here to get used to this. Maybe if he walks slowly, but I don’t want him to run anytime soon with me on his back! I know how to ride, at least?"

Taisetsuna answered at the same time that the red Unicorn made a wheelie, "You used to know, but you seem to have forgotten that as well! Tough luck, Nozo!"