Majorette and the 5 Games

Chapter 1

The baton appears

When you think about a majorette, you probably get the image of a cheerful dancer and gymnast with a colorful uniform; one that steps to the rhythm of a music band in a parade. You’d never see it as a job… much more like a hobby… but let me tell you; Majorette is also a name. A name?, you may ask. Yes, a name; but not a common one, that’s true.

Maybe I should start this story from the beginning so you can understand what I’m talking about. Let’s see…

First of all, let me introduce myself. I’m a 16-year-old teen; light brown hair, green eyes, middle-size… My name’s Bibiana Bonnet, but everybody calls me BB. You can imagine why.

It all began on a fine hot afternoon in the middle of autumn. I was in my classroom, packing up my things after the last lesson of the day with my best friend Mar —Margaux for long —, when she looked at me.

“BB, your baton was broken, right? Did you buy a new one yet?”

“No. I was planning on doing it today.”

“Mind if I come with you?” She asked. “I need a new pair of wristbands.”

“Sure! Let’s go together.”

We went out, chit-chatting about our things, and I suddenly bumped into someone when we got to a crossroads in the hall. Books fell from his hands and I fastly recognized that look through his glasses, half hidden by black bangs.

“Ops! Sorry Alex.” I apologised. “I wasn’t paying attention to…” Before I could even finish the sentence, he took his belongings from the ground and walked away without saying a word. That surprised me, although I must admit it wasn’t strange. He wasn’t the type to talk to others and Mar reminded me why.

“That freak is so vain. He probably thinks he’s better than any on us. No wonder he doesn’t have any friends. C’mon, let’s go.”

“Yeah…” I let her take me out the building as if nothing had happened but, to be honest, I was a little hurt.

Alexander Jedynak was new in our class. He had arrived the year before, nearly at the end of the course, so nobody knew much about him. Neither did I. And now that the course had begun again, things hadn’t changed. However, there were rumours going around him. It seemed he had homeschooled as a kid and never put a foot in a real highschool before, which is hard to believe when you noticed how cultured he was. In fact, he always spent his breaks in the library, which made the others laugh at him and call him names like “weirdo”, “freak” and so on. I didn’t like the way they discriminated him; it wasn’t fair… but I must admit he didn’t make it easy for anybody to become friends. Sometimes I wondered if he’d open up someday…

“Hey, shall we go to the bakery first?” Mar got me out of my thoughts. “I’m craving for one of those melted-chocolate croissants.”

I smiled and answered when we were finally outside.

“Deal. But it’s your treat.”

“What? Oh, c’mon! I invited you last time! Don’t you remember?”

We laughed while heading to the bakery, having no idea of what was happening, not far from there…

****

He was running… flying, in fact. He had spent the last hours wandering around this place called Earth, hiding in the corners, carrying the baton and praying not to be discovered.

The name was Pipoh, a little being that humans consider something like a pixie, but he looked more like a ghost; a small cute ghost whose body was made of white cloth and whose head, similar to a mix of bunny and snake, was magically separated from it. He was wearing a long checkered-pattern hat, ending in a little sparkling star, and was exhausted. Completely.

FInding a spot in the shadow of a flat roof, he let himself take a quick break and some deep breaths to recover.

“What am I gonna do…?” He said, gasping for air while holding a type of baton. “Really, what were you thinking, Majorette?! This is insane!” He paused for a second, doubling up in fear. “I need to find a new guardian soon, or else he…”

“There you are!”

Pipoh lifted his head in terror, recognising the owner of that voice.

“Jester!” He cried, looking at the dark-haired young man’s face who looked like an old-school magician. N-not yet! He shouted inside. I need more time!

This one was staring at him with a sinister look in his face, smiling.

“Well, midget, it’s been exciting to follow you around but my patience has a limit. So…” He took his diabolo —what you and me could think of as only a toy in black and white —, and made it spin on the string. “Give me that baton!”

The funny objet started to glow, charging a powerful spell that Pipoh saw coming. He leapt away and flew as fast as he could, holding his precious treasure in his little hands without fingers. He couldn’t let Jester have it. He had to protect it, whatever was the cost. Still, he couldn’t avoid the fierce attack the magician threw on him.

A thousand sparkles of dark magic were fastly driven to him like a bunch of fireworks, zapping from different angles and making him lose all the strength.

Pipoh fell on the floor, the baton slipping from his hands and his body aching in awful pain. It was harder to move now, but his eyes could catch a glimpse of Jester in the blinding sun above him.

“Fool”. He stopped next to the pixie. “Did you really think you could escape?” His dark eyes looked for the baton and found it not too far. Smiling, he kept his way to it. “Majorette was so naive by using a pixie to protect the baton. It was just a matter of time I found you. She really didn’t think much about it…” He bent down to gather it. “Anyway, it’s over now...”

As soon as his fingers nearly touched it, the magical staff buzzed and jumped away from him, like an inverted magnet.

Jester was took by surprise, left with a confused expression in his face. What had happened? Suddenly, a weak laugh reached his ears and he turned to Pipoh, knowing that he was aware of the catch.

“What does this mean?” Although annoyed, the magician kept his cool.

“Majorette wasn’t dumb”. Pipoh smiled at him with a daring stare. “She knew you’d get it sooner or later, so she put a spell on the baton for you”.

“And you think that will stop me?” Jester looked down on him. “I’m a Guardian. I only need to…”

“You won’t be able to break this spell”. He cut him off. “Not this time. You can’t touch the baton, nor can your magic”.

“You really want me to believe that? Sounds like a tall tale”.

“Wanna bet?”

They stared at each other and Jester knew for a fact that he wasn’t lying. However, he wasn’t going to leave it like that.

“Let’s say I believe you…” he said. “I can’t take the baton with me in this case but, If I decide to kill you, neither will you”.

Pipoh wasn’t intimidated by his words.

“It doesn’t matter. Away from you, the relic will be safe”.

“The relic”, Jester emphasized, “will be left alone without protection in a world full of ignorant creatures. And I’m sure it will end up hurting someone, if not used in the wrong way. Do you really think it’s best for it to be lost forever than letting me take it back home?”.

“You won’t take it home”. Pipoh’s mouth curved in a rictus. “Circussa isn’t your place anymore”.

Jester smirked and kicked him, not too hard but enough to make him whine.

“I’ve had enough of this. You better tell me how to undo the spell”.

“I’ve told you; there’s no way to…”

“Don’t push it, you piece of crap”. The magician warned him with the diabolo pointing at him, glowing like before. “I’m willing to let you go if you cooperate, but don’t expect me to hold on my patience any longer”.

Pipoh didn’t want to die, but he had made an oath to protect the baton. Majorette had entrusted that mission to him with her last words. He couldn’t let her down. However, he had to admit that Jester had a point about leaving it without protection. Alive, he could always try to recover it once he was set free. Dead… he’d have failed.

“Well? I’m counting up to three”. Said the other one. “One, two…”

“Only the new Guardian will have the power to break the spell”. He finally conceded.

Jester put down his weapon.

“The new Guardian? Wait…” He suddenly smiled, ironically. “That was your plan? Finding a substitute for Majorette?”

“Nobody can replace her”. Pipoh talked in a deep voice because of his anger. “But the baton needs a Master. She gave me the mission to find it and so I will, even if it’s the last thing I do”.

Jester lips curved into a smirk.

“Then, let me lift that weight from your shoulders. I’ll choose somebody worthy of such an important duty”.

He raised his diabolo again, ready to make some magic and Pipoh saw an opening. He was badly hurt, but still strong to try a last escape. It was now or never.

When Jester took his eyes away to focus on some magic, the pixie used the last bit of his strength to catch the baton and fly away while saying: “Not on my watch!”

The Guardian realized it a second late and tried to run after him. “Stop, you flying tissue!”

Our little friend didn’t have much time, but he did have a last trick in his hat so he prayed for it to work and concentrated as much as he could. “Ok, Pipoh, here goes nothing! One… two...”

At the count of three, his little body was replaced by, literally, nothing. He disappeared into thin air and Jester shouted in desperate anger. “NO!” Although he couldn’t see him, he knew he’d hear his words, so he yelled even louder. “You can’t hide from me forever! I will find you, squirt! You know I will!”

And as his voice got further away, Pipoh kept on flying, zig-zagging between human buildings, invisible and glad to be alive but too scared to look back.