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Mao Mao hurried after Momo after picking the magic blaster back up again. Making sure to keep her in his sights, he followed her until he reached what was apparently the school's gymnasium. He made sure to keep reminding himself once he got there to try and apologize to Momo for the misunderstanding back at the classroom. He knew a saddened heart when he heard the downcast tone in Momo's voice. He didn't mean to hurt her feelings, to let his own feelings towards a thing that Momo likely took great pride in get in the way of his own judgment. It's just that his refusal to see magic as a trustworthy tool in the long-term was what he knew and understood; maybe it was something he had been taught by his father or in the Hero's Code. But that was him, and Momo didn't grow up the same way. He didn't know how Momo lived with magic in her life, but it was clear from how she fought the ghosts that it really was part of her. If she could see the good in such an art and do actual good with it, he was in no place to judge her at all.

When he saw Momo, she was already waving her wand furiously at a wave of ghosts that was coming at her much faster than all the other masses of ghosts that had been dealt with on other parts of the school earlier. Even more so, as she was dealing with one wave, another wave was already approaching her from another direction. Mao Mao growled, tightly grasping the blaster and dashing into the middle of the gym where Momo stood.

Badgerclops and Adorabat had made their way through the halls of the school until they got to a towering open area on the second floor near the front of the building marked by its windows. From what Badgerclops could deduce based on seeing the assorted sofas, cushioned chairs, short tables, and tropical houseplants, they were both in some sort of lounge.

"Gee, for a place this nice to have just five students, where'd it all go wrong?" Badgerclops muttered out loud. "It's probably the ghosts." He looked around the see that the area was empty, but he could still hear the sounds and voices of ghosts echoing across its walls. Ordinarily, one might think that if they heard sounds coming from some other place, they should follow the sounds to where they think is the origin, but Badgerclops knew better. He pointed his upgraded arm cannon towards the ceiling and with a small short-burst charge, fired upwards, momentarily drowning out the ghostly wails with the bang of an energy blast.

"Alright, ghosties! Come out, come out, wherever you are!" he announced rather loudly. He waited, and so did Adorabat who was perched on his shoulder. No ghosts showed up. Badgerclops huffed, raising his robot arm to fire another shot, one that he charged up with more energy before firing. When he did shoot, it created a louder bang and echo that he was sure he might have blasted a dent in the ceiling above.

When it seemed like it didn't work either, Badgerclops turned the settings up to max and almost fired again when Adorabat intervened. "Wait!" she interrupted, "Let me try something!" She flew off the badger's shoulder and in the middle of the air, took a deep breath and opened her mouth really wide to let out a piercing shriek. Her shriek was so loud and drawn out that Badgerclops was sure the windows were rattling and starting to crack, at least it's what he could judge while blocking his ears. It felt like a long time, but Adorabat finally stopped. As soon as she did, following the remainder of her scream echoing off the walls, a couple thumps came from behind the neighboring lounge chairs, prompting Badgerclops to point his arm cannon at the source of the sound.

He carefully tiptoed his way to the lounge chairs, making sure to keep his robot arm poised and ready to fire, while Adorabat hovered close to him just as carefully. As soon as they circled around the chairs, they saw two little robed students huddled on the floor behind the chairs. One was an owl while the other had a pumpkin for a head, and they were both curled up in a ball and shaking while clutching their heads with their eyes shut tight, likely from Adorabat's mighty scream. "Hey, you guys go to school here?" he loudly called to the two in case they weren't listening. The pumpkin-headed student slowly lifted his head to stare up at Badgerclops, who lowered his arm cannon to ease the other's nerves, and gave a slow nod. The owl student also followed suit shortly after, only to look over Badgerclops's shoulder and give off a frightened hoot.

Badgerclops and Adorabat swung around to where the owl was looking wide-eyed at to see a mass of ghosts drifting from around a nearby corner. Unlike how one would expect a ghost to drift, these ghosts were approaching the four of them rather rapidly, looking as though they were trying to charge at them. Badgerclops redirected his arm cannon and charged it up. "Okay then! Now we're answering the call!" he commented boastfully, feeling the energy in him charging up alongside that in his robot arm.

"We're gonna bust you up!" Adorabat crowed at the ghosts with a mutual excitement. Both Adorabat and Badgerclops then launched forward, charging at the ghosts as those ghosts did the same thing, both sides aiming for a head-on collision.

Mao Mao fired as quickly as he could, making sure not to shoot the ghosts at full blast as to make the blaster cool down and reload faster. This was because, as he observed, the ghosts that were coming into the gym were a lot faster, both in movements and the rate they restored their numbers. So far, the strategy was working as he found himself able to keep up with both the ghosts and Momo who was still dispatching the phantoms just as elegantly with her wand. Mao Mao could yet still see that even Momo was beginning to tire herself out as she continued using her magic nonstop; Mao Mao couldn't help but brag inwardly about his own analytical ability. At a split-second from the corner of his eye, a ghost was inches from taking a bite out of him when he immediately pointed the blaster and fired in a flash.

"Hah! Some ghost you are!" Mao Mao taunted right after he finished vaporizing the ghost and simultaneously did the same to another ghost in the same proximity. He no longer felt like he had to worry as he saw that he was on a roll. It was when he looked to his side to see Momo on the verge of being swamped with a tall pile of ghosts, and by that, it meant that Momo was being approached by more ghosts than he was. Now normally, Mao Mao would have jumped to the other's aid by now, but he instead thought that Momo knew what she was doing and decided to finish off all the ghosts coming for him first before moving on to helping her.

He immediately came to regret that the moment he heard a cry of pain from Momo herself. He turned his head to spot the little black cat girl getting bit into by the clamping jaws of several ghosts. Not only had she gotten hurt, she had gotten hit by the ghosts so hard that she simultaneously fell to the gym floor and dropped her wand. Mao Mao dashed to her the moment he heard her wand clatter loudly on the floor's surface. Aiming the blaster carefully as he ran, he fired another shot to disperse the ghosts dogpiling on top of Momo. He slid to his knees to examine her fallen form once the ghosts were gone.

"Hey! Momo, you okay? Talk to me." Mao Mao called to her quietly, softly nudging her on the shoulders with his gloved paws. Momo immediately moved to get back up, meaning she wasn't knocked unconscious or in too much pain. Mao Mao sighed in relief but was then met with confusion as Momo scrambled away from him to pick up her wand. "Hey," he called to her again, "hey, what's going on?" When Momo didn't answer him, he tried again. "Did those ghosts get to you?"

"No, I'm fine," Momo said, "I just got knocked down." She brandished her wand as she faced off against another wave of ghosts. She waved her wand and created another pattern to shoot another magic spell, but saw that Mao Mao had fired his blaster at the exact same ghost she was attacking. "Hey! I had that!" she exclaimed in annoyance.

Mao Mao gave a little chuckle. "Yeah, that's what I said back in the potions classroom when you did the same thing." Hearing that made Momo narrow her eyes and push out her lower lip. She turned back to fire her magic at ghosts in some other direction. Mao Mao thought it was a good time to try and get to the point of his opening stunt. "Hey, Momo? I, uh, just wanted to say thanks again for having my back in the classroom…and also, sorry for hurting your feelings."

"Yeah, I know. You're sorry," Momo remarked without even turning to look at the sheriff, her focus still solely on the hostile ghosts. She and Mao Mao could see a much bigger ghost entering the gymnasium – it resembled a bloated upside-down teardrop with a grey bushy moustache, a brown pointy hat on top of its head, wore a whistle around its neck, and had a floating clipboard next to it. Momo held up her wand and Mao Mao pointed his blaster, and both started firing away at it.

"Are you upset that I don't see your magic as something good?" Mao Mao tried to ask Momo over the magical noise they were both making.

"No," Momo panted, "it's that every time I see you watch me use it, I feel like you don't trust me." She flourished more magical patterns at the giant ghost, which proved incredibly resilient. "When I see that look in your eyes, when I hear you talking to me with that tone, I get the feeling you're waiting for me to go berserk, go power mad, turn into a witch or something!"

Mao Mao frowned as he turned his blaster away to fire at some smaller ghosts that were herding into the gym, likely to distract him and Momo away from the bigger ghost. He was about to say something in response to Momo's claim, but felt the words stuck in his throat as he was unsure on how to speak to her without making her react badly. He had only just met Momo and known her for a little while, but in that short span of time, he already felt a connection. Now it wasn't simply because Momo was a black cat like him, though that was a major factor. He could see from the way she engrossed herself in her reading and studies along with how she was so quick to try and stop the ghost threat on her own, making use of her magic training in the process, that he wondered if she was that eager to prove herself. In his own case, he set out to prove himself a legendary hero, and in Momo's case, she wanted to use her magic for good. In that way, they were both the same. So…why couldn't he trust it?

"I-I'm sorry if I made you feel that way," Mao Mao apologized once more with clarity, "I understand you love learning magic and you want to do a lot of good." He took another shot at the smaller ghosts to allow Momo more time to attack the giant one. "You probably grew up with that being normal to you." He visibly winced, chastising himself for his choice of words while hoping Momo didn't notice. "I mean, I don't know magic like you do."

"Yeah?" Momo chipped in while in the middle of another wand wave, "So what do you know about magic then?"

Mao Mao wasted no time in explaining himself. "Well, you know, growing up to be a hero, I was always taught to be brave and honorable, to always face danger head on with all of your strength, and especially with only hard work and no shortcuts."

"And you thought using magic was cheating, like one big shortcut?" Momo shot some multicolored geometric from her wand at the giant ghost.

"Well yeah, kinda," Mao Mao answered, "I mean, I see you waving your wand and shooting out sparkly stuff like it's nothing. At least you make it look easy…"

"Well yeah, of course," Momo quipped, "Anyone who's learned to be good at what they do makes whatever they do look easy to everyone else!" She shot magic at an approaching smaller ghost shortly after casting another spell at the giant ghost's hat previously. "Did you think I was reading that spell book in the library for fun?"

"Well, a ghost did steal it from you, you know?"

"Not my fault!" Momo said defensively. "Ghosts steal whatever interests them no matter what it is! It just so happens that the book I was reading was a pretty powerful object!"

"A powerful magic item that's fallen into the wrong hands," Mao Mao felt the need to clarify. "Need I say more?"

"Look, if magic is such a copout for you, why are you even using that thing?" Momo retorted, gesturing to the old clunky blaster in Mao Mao's hands. Mao Mao was stunned into silence. Momo didn't just have a point, she was absolutely right. Who was he to complain when he found himself outed as a hypocrite? The question alone made Mao Mao's eye twitch.

"Y-y-y-you…you're…" Mao Mao stuttered, trying to regain his verbal footing, "I-I'm…you're…you're…!" He felt the pressure inside him rapidly rising, like the steam within his kettle was steadily whistling louder and louder, and Momo didn't notice it until the sheriff was at the critical point in his attempt to contain his response. It was all for naught as Mao Mao literally exploded in a cat-shaped mushroom cloud of radiant golden smoke, sweeping away every ghost in the gym, his voice reverberating across the walls with the words, "YOU'RE! RIGHT!"

Momo, after seeing that the emotional explosion knocked the big hatted ghost away, was now staring wide-eyed at the display, partially shielding her face from the smoky winds that blew to all corners of the gym. The smoke dissipated after a short while for Momo to see the sheriff hunched over with his hands on his knees, seeming a little tuckered out. She could only listen to him trying to speak to her again. "You're right," Mao Mao panted, "You're so completely right. I thought I was too good for magic, that I was better than it, but I was wrong." He then looked Momo in the eye, "You proved me wrong." He picked the magic blaster back off the floor where he dropped it, fiddling with a few loose parts on the barrel. Momo turned back to face the ghosts that were recovering from Mao Mao's outburst, the big one included.

"Okay, you go for the giant ghost and I'll take care of the smaller ones," Momo said to Mao Mao. "That thing in your hands is big and kinda slows you down, so go after the big and slow ghost there."

Mao Mao was rapidly doing as she said despite simultaneously objecting, "Hey! I am not slow!" He took a shot at the bigger ghost, stunning it a little by firing close to its brown hat. "I'm a crackshot!"

Both black cats, big and little, kept persisting in their attacks against the ghosts while the ghosts did the same. Mao Mao could see that the big hatted ghost was looking more disheveled with each hit it took from him. Meanwhile, Momo was juggling the assorted forms and shapes she was tracing with her wand as she struck at the ghosts going for Mao Mao with rapid fire in her waves. As she saw herself using her magic, she thought about everything she discussed with Mao Mao.

She did appreciate magic, loved it even. She was using it for good and not evil like the sheriff thought she would, and anything evil that was magic-related was not her doing. She also didn't find anything easy about using magic as most outsiders would think. There was more to it than just the swinging of a wand or reciting a spell – she only became a student when the magic school board, with the approval of the king himself, deemed her as having the potential necessary for accessing and harnessing this rare power. The spells she was required to learn in order to refine her affinity for magic were actually super-complicated – she was only able to use them in a regular way after intensive drilling over what each individual part of each spell meant and how they contributed to making a spell the way it is, coupled with how the way one moves their wand and the rest of their body when actually performing the spell affects the result. It was a lot harder and more complicated than it appeared on the surface, and sheriff Mao Mao was a clear example of that common misconception. But even after all that, Momo worked hard to be able to use her magic to do the work of a hero; it may seem effortless now, but she had the experience of the climb on her side. She did as much as however the sheriff did to earn her gift, and she was going to make the best use of it to be a blessing to her beloved school and home that was Pure Heart Valley.

Mao Mao had just fired a beam at the hatted ghost, pressing and holding the trigger in order to fire a continuous stream of energy for maximum damage. The hat the ghost was wearing seemed to slip a little further off its head, but that was cut short as the energy beam suddenly fizzled out. "What? Why did it -?" Mao Mao gasped, his eyes widening as he looked at the blaster to see it smoking a bit. He pressed the trigger again to fire it, but it didn't. He even smacked the barrel to try and jolt it back to working order, but it didn't fire. He looked at a little gauge on the side. "Oh, come one! No power?" he growled loudly. He noticed the big ghost regaining its bearings and drifting straight for him, a glare in its eyes. He got ready to draw out his sword again, even though by that point, he was aware that he couldn't hurt ghosts with it at all. But he was going to try anyway.

"Mr. Sheriff, use your blaster again!" Momo called to Mao Mao.

Mao Mao arched an eyebrow despite the pressing matter at hand. "I can't! It's out of juice!"

That prompted Momo to look at him directly in the eye with the strictest expression she could form, which Mao Mao noticed, making him shuffle back. "Trust me," was all she said.

Mao Mao paused for a nanosecond, briefly thinking about telling Momo that she better know what she was doing but pushed that thought away, and then pointed the blaster back at the big ghost. He immediately spotted Momo in the corner of his eye shooting a magic beam out of her wand that went straight for the weapon he held. The magic hit and engulfed the blaster, causing it to whir and the little lights on the buttons to brighten up again. The implication was not lost on Mao Mao, who then pressed and held the trigger once again, causing an even larger beam of energy to blast right out of the weapon and hit the ghost with the force of a cannonball; the recoil nearly knocked Mao Mao over backwards. Fortunately, the refreshed magic blast was powerful enough that it left a hole in the middle of the giant ghost's corporeal form. The spirit trembled, its clipboard falling onto the floor with a clatter. Its moustache also drifted off its face, exposing its frown and little nose underneath. The ghost silently stared downwards at the fallen features, one of its eyes leaking out a teardrop, and then poofed away.

With the big ghost's defeat, the gym was finally clear of all ghosts. Momo and Mao Mao took a moment to sit on the floor, taking a rest from the physically and emotionally intense session they had just undergone. Mao Mao was looking over the blaster that Momo had just charmed, inwardly marveling at the effect Momo was able to produce from her own training. He could very well see more of himself in her than he liked. "You stuck your neck out for me again," he said to Momo, "another thanks to you."

"We all gotta help each other, Mr. Sheriff," Momo chimed in response. "I'm just doing my best here."

"That, you are," Mao Mao nodded.

Their close moment was interrupted by an echoing laugh. Both black cats swung their heads in the same direction to spot a familiar ghost with a book floating next to it. It was the first ghost from the library, the same one that rallied the other ghosts to invade the school, the one that stole Momo's spell book – that ghost was the instigator behind this whole mess.

"You!" Momo exclaimed angrily, getting back onto her feet. But the ghost gave her no time to attack as it immediately sped away, shooting upward and phasing through the gym ceiling with the book in tow. "It went for the roof!" Momo cried. Instead of immediately proceeding with the chase, she turned around to wait for Mao Mao to get back onto his feet as well. "We have to go after it! If that ghost uses the book, things might get worse than just a swarm of ghosts!"

Mao Mao nodded, swinging the magic blaster over his shoulder. "Well, that ghost is the reason for this whole mess, so let's make it pay!" He then readied himself in a running position. "Care for a ride, Ms. Momo?"

Momo blinked. "Sure, Mr. Sheriff. Let's get to it!" She hopped on to the bigger black cat's extended arm, allowing herself to be pulled into a cradle as the sheriff took a flying pounce towards the gym door, sprinting to wherever led to the rooftop based on Momo's direction.

Badgerclops was feeling very proud of himself right now.

He had just captured another ghost in the school's absurdly spacious broom closet, all thanks to the invention in his robot arm that he pretty much built on the fly. Adorabat wasn't as accomplished, but she was proud of herself in her own way as she was able to stun ghosts and even blow them back a little with her supersonic screams. They may not have had the same magical strength or advantages as Momo and Mao Mao, but they didn't need either of them to prove why they were part of the Sheriff's Department.

Case in point, Badgerclops built a gadget of his own invention that could catch a formerly undefeatable foe, even if he was originally aiming to vanquish it more directly. Both the badger and the bat were currently tallying the number of ghosts they caught, tossing each one trapped in Badgerclops's energy bubble-nets onto the pile behind them, paying not attention to how they wriggled and groaned inside their confines.

"Hey Badgerclops, what do you think we should do about all of them?" Adorabat asked, referring to the pile of captured ghosts in the corner.

Badgerclops took the time to shoot at one remaining ghost before turning around to look at the pile he and Adorabat made. "I'm not sure," he sounded hesitant, "we could probably hide them in HQ somewhere…" His gaze lingered on the trapped ghosts, which gave a snarl when they noticed him staring, but Badgerclops wasn't frightened so much as he flinched, taking a step back.

"We can keep ghosts at home?" Adorabat squealed excitedly. She erratically flew around the broom closet in excitement at that possibility. "Yes! My own spirit collection!"

"Well, I said 'probably', you know?" Badgerclops objected, "Mao Mao might strongly disagree to that. Also, you already got a bone collection and that's unhealthy enough as it is."

"Wait! Hold on!"

The badger and the bat turned to one end of the hallway upon hearing the voice of the student Momo. She was currently riding on Mao Mao's back, the latter giving her a piggyback ride while sprinting. At least, Mao Mao was sprinting, but upon hearing Momo's call for him to stop, he ceased his rapid leg movements, skidding to a halt on the hallway floor. At the same time, Momo's call to stop was accompanied by her looking and pointing at the open door that signified the school's broom closet.

"What's up?" Mao Mao asked the little black cat girl upon doing what she said, but Momo didn't answer him right away. She was instead focused on running into the broom closet. As the sheriff waited for her to come out, he noticed his two deputies standing at the side. "Badgerclops? Adorabat? What are you doing here?"

"Oh, hey Mao," Badgerclops waved to his friend like it was the least unusual thing in the world, "all the students are evacuated like you wanted."

Mao Mao felt a little relieved despite how slightly miffed he was at the badger's nonchalant tone. "Well okay, good, but what are you doing now?"

Adorabat sprang up to answer for Badgerclops, "We're trapping ghosts all over the school! We're ghost catchers now!"

That statement was what almost tipped Mao Mao over backwards. "Ghost catch –! H-how are you even doing that?"

Badgerclops smirked, tapping his mechanical arm with a tip of a finger. "As you know, dude, you have a bad tendency to underestimate my creative genius."

"Yeahyeahyeah! Later!" Mao Mao grumbled, ending the discussion with the rapid flicking of his wrist. He turned back to the broom closet Momo was in, his ears twitching at the sounds of clattering. "Momo!" he called out. "What are you doing in there?"

"Just a moment!" Momo answered back. After a few seconds, she let out a little pleased remark of 'there it is' before coming back out with a broomstick in her hands. All three members of the Sheriff's Department were all concentrated wide-eyed on her. When Momo noticed, she gave a little giggle. "Oh, that? The school also gives flying lessons too." She additionally leaned forward to give a pseudo-whisper, "Comes in handy if you can't afford your own vehicle…" She turned directly to Mao Mao and held up the broom directly in front of him. "This will help us chase down that ghost much faster." She then readied the broom under herself, "Care for a ride, Mr. Sheriff?"

Mao Mao briefly paused but then gave a lopsided smile while putting a hand on his hip. "Guess I should've flown…" He hopped onto the broomstick behind Momo, who then concentrated her magic powers, causing the broom to slowly but surely ascend, floating further up until both cats' feet no longer touched the ground. After just a second of Momo revving up her broom, the two black cats then zipped down the hall to whatever way led to the rooftop.

Left behind in the faint magical dust cloud left behind by the broom, Badgerclops and Adorabat were at a loss with how to react to what they just witnessed, save for a couple blinks.

"Hey Badgerclops, you think Mao Mao and Momo look like they're getting along very well?" Adorabat asked with slightly narrowed eyes, seeming a little suspicious at how fast the two black cats developed their ability to work together very well.

"Are you kidding?" Badgerclops sobbed. "If I knew about flying brooms a lot sooner, I wouldn't need to fix the aerocycle!"

"It's trying to use the book!" Momo pointed. "We have to stop it!" The sheriff replied with a nod and affirmative huff, and both black cats brace themselves as Momo directed the broom upward and streaked at the ghost above as fast as she could fly it. As they flew, the ghost was droning out some unintelligible words while reading the book.

They had just gotten within inches of the book when the ghost stopped its reading, going completely silent for a second. While Mao Mao didn't quite understand what that entailed, Momo didn't need to think any further about what that meant, her eyes widening at the realization. She pulled up on the broom, trying to come to a stop and go back, which jostled Mao Mao behind her.

"Momo, what are you doing?" Mao Mao hissed, trying to grab on without touching Momo wrong. "What's happening?"

"The ghost just read something from the spell book! I don't know what, but it's going for something really powerful, for sure!" Momo kept her distance from the now glowing ghost, but stayed hovering in the air close enough to deal with whatever it planned to do immediately.

As she predicted, the ghost began to glow in a field of a luminous white light, getting brighter and stronger to the point that the stolen spell book floating in front of it dropped, falling through the air back down onto the castle bricks of the rooftop flooring. For a split-second, Momo thought of flying back down to retrieve the stolen book she had fought so hard to try and get back, but all of it was no longer important as she observed the boss ghost steadily accumulating magical energy.

Mao Mao wasn't planning on drawing out this gawk-show any longer. Making sure he was still balanced on the broomstick, he heaved the magical cannon in his hands to point it at an upward angle at the transforming ghost. "Take this, you foul specter!" he yelled before pulling the trigger. Just like it was before, a lightning-like beam of energy erupted out of the barrel and shot out towards the malevolent toothy spirit, and Mao Mao waited and watched earnestly for the beam to hit its mark despite his simultaneously growing impatience.

Unfortunately for him, right before the beam could make full contact with the ghost's corporeal being, a bubble of white light exploded from the spirit, travelling in every direction that knocked away both the beam and the two black cats riding on the flying broom. Momo squeezed her eyes shut and curled herself over the broomstick in order to stay on while Mao Mao wildly spun an arm forward when he felt himself being pushed backwards, putting the magic gun evenly in front to stay balanced.

Both of the black cats refocused their gazes at the ghost above to see a bigger and fiercer sight: the ghost was bigger now, much bigger than it used to be. In fact, the ghost was now easily the size of the Sheriff Department HQ, at least according to Mao Mao's assessment. The ghost's mouth looked toothier and there were three pairs of angular eyes, with all six leering directly at the two cats. As much as the sheriff hated to admit, the sight was enough to make him the slightest bit nervous despite his efforts to not let it show on his face.

"That ghost just went super-powered!" Mao Mao gritted his teeth. He kept a strong grip on his magic weapon.

"It probably was trying to get a particular spell," Momo chipped in. "Looks like it got what it wanted." She looked around to find another new problem. "We got company!"

Mao Mao looked at where Momo pointed to see that another horde of ghosts was closing in on their position, no doubt drawn out of the school by the bigger ghost's magically magnified calls. They drifted rapidly as they converged, and since Momo had her hands full keeping the broom steady, the sheriff immediately moved to try and cover her. Readying himself, Mao Mao tensed his muscles and bared his teeth. "Here they come!" he yelled.

About a couple floors down, the two deputies Badgerclops and Adorabat were racing to find the final student they had not yet accounted for. Adorabat was streaking down the hall as fast as her flapping wings could carry her. Badgerclops followed closely behind her but not in the way one would usually think. While one would assume that the badger co-hero would be running on his own two feet despite his dislike for it or even use a feature in his mechanical arm for transport, he was doing neither of those things. Surprisingly, he was zipping through the air while riding on a broom, having snatched one from one of the main closet's racks for himself. He seemed to be having trouble though, as he most swerved in a zigzag path as he struggled to steer. He even couldn't help letting out several cracked hollers as he felt the jolts from all the sudden movements.

"Badgerclops, are you sure you know how to fly that?" Adorabat called out nervously to him from the front. "Maybe it wasn't a good idea!"

Badgerclops wasn't having any of the bat's doubts. "I can handle this! I just need practice!" When he said that, he meant it. It was no aerocycle, but at least for him, it flew just as well and had no need for any extra maintenance. He contemplated keeping the broom while throwing away the aerocycle, but reconsidered when remembering that Mao Mao wouldn't like that. He concluded that he and his partner could now have their own transport, so it was a win-win.

He resumed his hold on the broomstick, using more of his arm strength to keep it in a straight line. He kept the gadget in his arm active, making sure it continued to scan for the one remaining student. The scanner eventually pinged in confirmation of the student's location, prompting him to turn the flying broom in the needed direction while calling Adorabat to follow him. They followed the scans until they reached a window on one side of another lounge. Going to that window and peering through to the outside, they looked up to find the final student, a little golden retriever, hanging by his teeth from a horizontal flagpole attached to the outer brick wall.

"There he is!" Adorabat loudly pointed out.

"How'd he even…" Badgerclops quietly remarked in a sarcastic tone, his eyebrows furrowed.

Adorabat took the first initiative and flew up to where the little dog dangled precariously. She briefly looked the student over before snatching the dog's hood between her teeth. She then tried to pull him up by flapping her wings harder, but to her surprise, he turned out to be heavier than he looked. She managed to carefully release him back onto the flagpole since he still held on to it with his own teeth.

"Hang on, I got this," Badgerclops said. Readying himself, he pulled at his broom to go up a little bit and then reached up and extended his robot arm to grab the student. As soon as his fingers encircled the dog's waist, he tugged. The dog wouldn't let go of the flagpole, however, instead closing his jaw tighter around the metal. Now annoyed, Badgerclops tightened his grip on the dog and pulled harder. "Come on!" he growled, already feeling the stress. "Let! Go!" He got ready to do a full-on yank when he heard Adorabat alert him.

"More ghosts incoming!" she hollered. She immediately zipped back down to Badgerclops's side as the badger readied his arm cannon to deal with the onslaught one last time.

Back on the rooftop, Mao Mao was not having a great start at all. He initially tried hard to point and shoot at approaching ghosts without falling off the broom, but was already finding it rapidly and increasingly difficult within the first few seconds of attempting it.

"You got 'em?" Momo called to him from the front.

"Still do!" Mao Mao loudly responded as positively as he could muster up despite his current hidden annoyance. Unfortunately for him, the next shot he fired forced him to grapple with the broomstick with both hands, the cannon nearly slipping from his grasp. He was sure that he jostled the broom even more this time.

In front of him, Momo had to grab on to the broom as tightly as she could thanks to the sheriff's struggling balance. As much as she wanted to draw out her wand and fight the gigantic ghost that floated patiently like the mastermind it was, she didn't want to impede the sheriff unnecessarily while he was fending off the smaller ones. When she looked at the giant super-powered ghost to see it not doing anything at all, she felt nervous. Her mind raced with questions as to what the ghost was going to do.

Momo's head swiveled to look behind to see the sheriff now pointing the cannon at the boss ghost, having finally fended off enough of the smaller ghosts to take a shot at the biggest threat.

"Ha! Is that all you got?" Mao Mao taunted the specter at the top of his lungs. "No more minions for you to hide behind, coward!" Narrowing his eyes at the giant spirit, he readily pushed a finger over the trigger to unleash what he hoped to be the last magic beam. At the same time, the giant ghost finally responded, opening its toothy jaws and unleashing a hurricane of sound, the cacophonic wind bulldozing through the air like a tsunami that quite literally capsized the two black cats on their broom. The magic energy beam that was supposed to land a hit instead got scattered away into nothing as well.

Momo and Mao Mao held on for dear life as they tumbled through the air back down to the school's rooftop floor, falling at terminal velocity in an unwilling somersault. While the younger black cat occupied herself with not letting go and falling off, she didn't notice that the sheriff riding with her wasn't so lucky. In the turbulence, Mao Mao had accidentally loosened his grip and slipped off the broom, ending up in a freefall of his own. Fortunately for him, he long already had the hero training for handling such a situation, and with no difficulty, rolled through the air and landed seamlessly on his feet with no injury.

"Stuck the landing!" Mao Mao congratulated himself with his hands on his hips, but the congratulation was short-lived when he heard a sudden loud crashing sound next to him, prompting him to do a jump turn to gaze down upon the shattered remains of the magical cannon. "Wha-!" he gasped. "No! Nonononono! Noooo!" He ran over and slid down on his knees before the remains, his hand trembling as he tried to examine the wreckage. His eyes widened in disbelief, he instantly realized what he had done: When he got knocked off the broom, he instantly focused on making sure he landed safely that he ended up getting distracted by the urge to do it in his signature heroic style, which then led to him forgetting to hold on to the magic gun to keep it safe that he unknowingly let it freefall onto the rooftop floor with a crash, smashing it into pieces.

Up above, Momo had successfully held on to the broom that she not only stayed on it but also kept the broom in flight. She briefly returned the giant ghost's piercing look with a mutual one of her own but looked down to see where the sheriff landed after falling. "Are you okay?" she yelled to him below.

Mao Mao's ear perked up at the sound of the younger student's voice. "Yeah!" he yelled back to her above. "But I…" he hesitated, feeling the blustery voice inside him dying down, "…can't say the same for my weapon." He squeezed his eyes shut from the emotional sting to his spirit. "I'm… powerless…"

Hearing what the older black cat said made Momo frown. Between them both, he was the best fighter since that was his profession, but he was powerless against magic-based threats like ghosts. It was why he had to rely on a provided weapon to keep fighting, and as long as he had one, he could do anything. But here he was, deprived of that weapon and as effective as any normal Sweetypie. Remembering that she still had her magic wand, Momo knew that she was the only one left able to stop the ghosts now. Wasting no time, she turned back to face the giant boss ghost with a forced gaze and with one hand, brandished her wand at the ready.

Adorabat flew in rapid wide circles as she baited the ghosts into chasing her in the direction of Badgerclops's ghost-capturing beam fired from his modified mechanical arm. They unfortunately couldn't focus on the ghosts for too long since they still had to pay attention to the dog student who still hung from the flagpole. Badgerclops watched as each ghost he shot at dropped to the ground below like flies as the energy nets encasing them prevented them from flying. He could see that there were more ghosts converging than usual and he guessed that it had to do with the sudden loud roar he heard coming from above the school outside earlier. He looked back down at his robot arm, nervously examining the holographic interface screen after displaying it on command.

"Come on," he whispered harshly to himself. He furiously scrolled down the screen to look for some better option that would rescue the imperiled dog and hopefully take out the remaining ghosts on the side. He was sure he searched and researched the list several times already as he looked up to find himself, Adorabat, and the dog student being simultaneously swamped by an oncoming horde of ghosts. That made him nervously scroll even faster, even to the point that he was sweating like a half-cranked shower. "Nononono!" he squeaked before turning the arm cannon back to shooting the ghosts. Having no time, he tried to trap every present ghost with a rapid-fire from his weapon, hurriedly doing so before they touched either him, Adorabat, or the student.

He didn't happen to notice that as he was rapidly firing, the rate of fire was steadily climbing faster and faster. It took him hearing a staccato-less buzz coming from his robot arm for him to notice that his modified gadget has somehow upgraded itself. His eye widened upon seeing that the rapid energy pellets had now somehow fused into a single flexible beam of light. As the energy trailed, it seemed to entrap every ghost it hit in a chain of light-based nets, stringing each and every one of them along as they steadily were meshed together by the masses before drifting down to the ground like shrinking balloons. The badger, the bat, and the dog just stared wide-eyed at the sight soundlessly, their mouths agape.

"Wow! Badgerclops, did you do that!?" Adorabat shrieked in amazement once the silence dragged on long enough.

Badgerclops jumped slightly from Adorabat's sudden yelling and then tripped over his speech a bit before answering her. "Y-yeah, looks like I just did," he replied loudly with a fake-chuckle in his tone. His eye returned to the ghosts trapped inside the conjoined energy nets slowly floating downwards. He couldn't help but look at his ghost-catching robot arm with a little proud smile. He gave his mechanical arm an affectionate rub on the chassis. "Aww, look at you, all self-upgraded and better-performing. I'm so proud." He ended it with a kiss on a metal plate.

Adorabat watched him with slight perplexity before deciding to get the operation back on track. "Ahem!" she cleared her throat loudly and forcefully. "No ghosts, but…" she motioned with her head to point at the little canine student still gnawing on the flagpole high above the ground.

"Oh, right!" Badgerclops responded with surprise, sounding a little louder than he had in mind.

Back above the school, Momo was furiously waving her wand at the giant three-eyed ghost, mustering up the needed amount of sufficiently powerful spells to defeat it, all while simultaneously fending off the other approaching ghosts that surrounded the bigger one to defend like minions. Fortunately for her, they moved slower than the other ghosts she had fought against up until that point. She had to hurry though. While the ghosts were slow, they still came at her together in amassed numbers and she was certain that the gigantic boss ghost wasn't going to sit back and let them have all the fun.

Down below on the rooftop itself, Mao Mao was struggling with himself on how to keep fighting the ghosts, if not solely to help Momo. He was still grappling with the fact that his only weapon for destroying the ghosts was destroyed, dropped and sent crashing down by his own recklessness. He briefly contemplated using his sword again but he instantly remembered how that turned out.

"Oh come on, come on," he clutched his head, wracking his brain for ideas. He briefly paced around on the brick floor even while taking glances up above to Mom riding on the broom and using her wand. He had to face it: he couldn't use magic, or at least not like Momo could. He tried to recall from his Hero's Code handbook the sports of techniques that would be best for such a magical situation. He thought, and he thought, and he thought…he dropped his arms and slumped his shoulders: he had no clue! He could feel the shame of his ancestors creeping in his chest the longer he saw the younger black cat girl continue to fight the ghosts without his help.

"What do I do now?" he thought desperately to himself. He scanned the structures of the school around him and then laid eyes on the pieces of the shattered magic cannon strewn across the brick floor. It was then that he spotted an odd-colored crystal lying among the detached metal eyes widened slightly as he hurried over to the gem-like thing. Scooping it up, he examined it in his paws, taking note of the slightly glowing luster in its facets lining the edges. "Could I-?" His ears flicked in a renewed sense of confidence.

Momo had just finished a series of wand-flourishing patterns on the small ghosts and was now moving in on the giant three-eyed ghost, the one that was the mastermind and the one that stole the book in the first place. Readying herself, she furiously began waving her wand again, drawing lines in the air to form a string of diverse geometric shapes. With every shaped form she drew, she could feel the magical energy building up, generating a strong aura that vibrated from within her wand enough to make her feel it in her arm. As soon as she readied her strike, she thrusted her wand forward, shooting out a benign but strong beam of sparkling magic that hit the giant ghost squarely in the center of its three eyes.

The monstrous spirit squinted its eyes and scrunched its toothy maw from the magic's impact, but it only backed away from Momo a little bit. "Okay, I think that hurt it somewhat," Momo asserted to herself. She allowed herself to rest a little, giving herself a bit of time to recuperate herself from the spellcasting while never taking her focus off the giant ghost. She saw the giant ghost slowly begin moving forward back in the cat's direction, its predatory grin having returned. She gritted her teeth, readying her wand again, but was distracted by the sounds of more smaller ghosts returning to protect their ringleader. Momo got nervous again as she didn't feel like she had enough juice to take care of both these issues at once.

"Hey! Yeah, you! Down here!"

Momo slightly jumped on her broom gasping, prompting her to take a glance down below to see the sheriff jumping up and down and waving his arms, yelling at the top of his lungs so hard and loudly that his head may as well have literally enlarged. From the way the ghosts were all looking at him instead of her, Momo could see that Mao Mao was trying to distract them from her while she fought the giant one. Upon seeing that some of the ghosts were slowly drifting down towards the sheriff, Momo felt more at ease, no longer minding having to do the same juggling again.

Mao Mao leapt and dashed across the rooftop, even jumping from the top of each partition as he kept baiting some of the small ghosts to follow him. "Haha! That's right!" he yelled at the oblivious spirits. "You call that flying?" he taunted. "I've flown faster on the aerocycle than you ever will!" He briefly waited for a ghost to get right up to him and take a bite and then jumped away at the last moment, all the while not letting go of the magic crystal in one of his hands.

From what he already observed, while his distraction strategy was effective, it didn't perfectly lure all the small ghosts away from Momo. He could see Momo still juggling between using her magic against a number of smaller ghosts and the giant three-eyed ghost. Not that he would admit it, but he had to acknowledge that the little black cat girl seemed to be multitasking so well, but alas he was still compelled by his duty as sheriff to lighten her load anyways.

He briefly considered the possible use of the gem he held. From the way it looked, he could already deduce that it was the power source for the magic cannon, in which its energy was extracted by the gadget's mechanisms for the beams that were shot out every time the trigger was pulled. The newest challenge was now figuring out how to do the same thing without the gem being in the cannon, since it was destroyed. "Alright, I don't know much, but if my powers of analysis serve me well, it should…"

Mao Mao curled his fingers around the gem, holding it tightly while making sure to expose the stone itself to the open air. As soon as he felt he sufficiently balled his hand into a fist, he skidded to a halt and dashed back in the opposite direction towards some approaching ghost. He let out a growling battle cry. He raised the hand holding the gem and with timed precision, swung it with lethal force at one ghost. The moment the gem made contact with the specter, the gem instantly glowed and the spirit was instantly blown away into a puff of vapor.

Mao Mao widened his eyes. It worked. He couldn't believe that his idea actually worked...and that he was right! He couldn't help expressing a confident grin, exposing his teeth, while letting out a chuckle. Without further hesitation, he let out an even louder battle cry and charged at the remaining ghosts surrounding him, brandishing the gem like a rock to bash their ghostly heads in, however crude it was. Sheriff Mao Mao was back in business!

Even now, she still didn't know or understand why the ghost that stole her book made itself the way it was at that moment. If anything, she didn't really care. All that mattered was that the ghost stole a book that held powerful spells and was about to do something no good upon its use. Knowing that the ghost threw away the book once it was done was already a bad sign. She already didn't want to know what the ghost was planning to do if it moved in on the rest of Pure Heart Valley. All that mattered at the moment was taking it down here and now.

She waved her wand tirelessly to keep up with the patterned spells she was trying to cast, trying to make them powerful enough to take the ghost down for good. Of course, while the more diverse forms and patterns in an offensive spell, the better, the real cincher to executing that spell to its most devastating effects is the lightning bolt. It worked effectively back inside the school and she had considered using it immediately upon this battle. The only problem was that it took most of her energy whenever she did, and she couldn't afford to tire herself out now. She had to make it count.

"Okay! I think I'm all charged up!" she thought out loud, pointing her wand at the ghost at the ready. With a final swish, she drew a lightning bolt in the air and sent a real one crashing down on the enlarged spirit's head, putting it in another bout of pain that was evident on its visage. Momo smirked. "Yeah, that's it! Just need a few more of these electric babies and it's goodbye ghostie!" She watched the giant ghost try to approach her again, so she slowly backed away on her broom to maintain distance while she gave herself a little bit of time to recuperate. She just needed to land in a few more hits with that same spell to defeat it, at least as long as she didn't have to use her remaining energy on any more of the smaller ghosts.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" she yelled when she saw the little specters flocking to her again. This was getting really old. She redirected her wand to the ghostly masses and prepared to shoot another spell when she heard Mao Mao again. She looked down to see if he was all right, only to be surprised at seeing him still able to put up a fight against the ghosts. "Huh?" she gasped as she saw him punch every ghost around him into nothingness. "How's he doing that?" She looked a little more carefully to see the little gem inside the hand he was punching the ghosts with. "Is that what made that old magic gun work?" she thought. She didn't have time to give herself an answer as she turned her attention back to the giant ghost.

The gargantuan tri-ocular spirit lunged forward with a widened mouth, determined to catch the little flying black kitten between its teeth. Momo pushed herself to think fast as she zipped away from each attempted bite as a means to dodge, commanding the broom to move as fast as she could make it by yanking back the stick as hard as she could pull it. But by the time she stopped and steadied herself again, the smaller surrounding ghosts had already gravitated to her. Momo shivered. She could draw out her wand again, but how long could she keep this up?

Mao Mao was having a little too much fun pulverizing ghosts. He had to admit that despite the pleasant feeling of getting his fighting power back, he still felt miffed by having to resort to such a crude method of combat. Oh well, he was willing to put aside his glamor as a proficient hero for brutal practicality here, since it was the only thing that actually worked. He just had to remember to keep his eye on Momo up above.

"Alright! Just need to take out some more so little miss Momo will have less to deal with!" He dashed at another ghost as he thought this. He knew the gem only worked as a bludgeoning rock because it was magic, and he was once again using a source of magic to take out an equally magical terror. "I was wrong," he quietly spoke, directing his words to Momo despite her not hearing him, "I had no right to judge you, tell you your magic is wrong. You've proven so much coming into your own with it." He took a moment to give a gentle affirming nod in her direction. "Show 'em who's boss!"

Momo juggled the best she could between operating the broom and using her wand, trying to avoid getting hurt by the small ghosts and getting swallowed by the giant monstrous one. She was sure that for a few of the small ghosts that got too close to her for her to use a spell, she had to whack them away with her wand like a regular stick – it made her think of how she saw Mao Mao using the broken gun's gem-like power cell to hit ghosts too. She only hoped she had enough left in her to take out the giant ghost in one or two hits. "I'll try not to hit you too, Mr. Sheriff," she whispered in his direction, even though she was too far away for him to hear her. With a deep breath, she waved her wand again and formed another chain of geometric swishes that ended with a lightning bolt, stunning the gargantuan spirit. The giant ghost cried out in pain from the strike, but was still undeterred, apparent by how quickly it recovered. Momo got ready for another spell again, but was caught off guard by the biggest wave of ghosts she had ever seen.

The giant ghost gave another deafening roar that caused the entire school building to rumble, shaking the students, Camille, Honey, Badgerclops, Adorabat, and even Mao Mao himself off their feet. The roar apparently was strong enough to cause all the windows to shatter, with swarms of ghosts pouring out of the broken glass openings to rise to the rooftop to the giant's aid like bubbling tendrils.

Momo's ears flattened against her skull. This was so not good. These were more ghosts than the number she had been fighting off since this whole thing started, or at least that's how it looked. The way she had to pay close attention to her position on the broom, she would be swamped before she even got the chance to land another hit on the boss ghost. What was she going to do?

Mao Mao didn't like the look of so many ghosts coming from everywhere all at once. He felt nervous, not so much for how he was going to beat this but rather how Momo was going to beat all of this. After all, she was the one with the most magic firepower while all he had was a partially charged gem. Either way, he knew that both himself and her were going to need more than what they had right now.

"You heard that ruckus, Honey? I swear, those ghosts don't have it enough being restless!"

Mao Mao swung around from hearing the faint but loud sound of a cranky old lady's voice to find Camille having arrived at the rooftop, with Honey following close behind her.

"What? You two?" Mao Mao exclaimed indignantly. "Why are you here?"

"Why we heard a noise and came to investigate," Camille replied with a calm sass in her tone and a hand on her hip, "plus it's our school, so…why are you here?"

Mao Mao growled at the old lady's sass. He didn't have time for this. He especially didn't have time to come up with a retort as he spotted a random ghost coming straight for the aged magic technician and her apprentice. He zipped in the air over and right between the two to take a swipe at the ghost. As the ghost he struck dissipated, he accidentally struck the gem against the rooftop's brick flooring, making a sound which made him stop to quickly examine it. He looked closely at the stone to see that a large crack had formed and had already begun creeping across the once-smooth surface, leaving a few little pieces crumbling off it and tiny electrical sparks popping from the deepened areas.

"Oh no," he quietly gasped, feeling faintly mortified at seeing that he damaged his only remaining weapon against the ghosts. For a second, he tried, though however vainly, to close the crack, even considering finding and picking up any crumb-sized fragments on the brick floor to piece the gem back together with. But right away, he could tell that he shouldn't bother.

"What's the matter with you now? Cat broke something?" Camille butted in once again, ever the curious one.

"Ofcourseit'sbroken!Don'tbugme!" Mao Mao yelled in rapid fire, leaving no spaces between his words. He nervously braced himself when he saw that the ghost hordes remained as relentless as ever. With a move that was slightly more half-hearted, he took another swing at one ghost to find that the gem still worked on it.

"Okay, it still works," the sheriff noted to himself, having noticed the crack in the gem widening slightly, "but how much longer can I do this until it's useless?" He closed his hand around the rock, unsure if he wanted to know the answer.

He didn't know whether to be annoyed or relieved when he heard Camille trying to talk to him again. "Oh, careful with that gem cell," she called to him. "That thing's perfectly stable for magic use as long as it's protected in perfect condition! That's why it was built inside the handheld magical cannon…well, as long as that's also not broken…" Mao Mao grit his teeth and growled from hearing the obvious, though he was hoping Camille wouldn't notice the destroyed gun and ask him about it… "What's with all these metal pieces everywhere?"

Mao Mao facepalmed.

Unbeknownst to him, Camille was immediately interrupted by Honey going up to her and gesturing to her regarding the gem in Mao Mao's hand. "Well, that's awfully inconvenient," Camille responded to her apprentice with her hands on her hips. She turned to call to Mao Mao again. "Hey sheriff! Try not to use the gem cell the way you're using it too much! That thing doesn't look stable anymore!"

Hearing that made the sheriff immediately stop what he was doing to look the chameleon dead in the eye with a widened pair of his own. "What!? Stable!? What do you mean 'not stable anymore'!?"

Unfettered by the sheriff's combusted reaction, Camille answered him as a matter-of-fact, raising both her arms in a seemingly blasé manner. "Well, that gem's cracked, isn't it? That means there's magic residue leaking out of it. If it gets completely destroyed from hitting something hard or magical, there's a chance it'll EXPLODE!" She made sure to emphasize that last word with a wide open swinging of her arms, accompanied by a little arching of her back (though that almost cracked it).

Now Mao Mao looked nervous. "Explode?" He turned to look back up at Momo casting her magic away at the giant ghost, seemingly unable to pay attention to the masses of smaller ghosts closing in on her position. "Explode…"

Momo managed to unleash another lightning spell at a few small ghosts that got in her way. But it wasn't anything gratifying to her at the moment. She was using up precious energy, both physical and magical. Taking down the head ghost, the magically super-powered one, was all that really mattered. She just had to save her strength when it really counted… if it weren't for those other pesky ghosts.

"Momo, get back!"

Her eyes widened as she jumped and gasped from hearing the sudden telling from below. She looked down to find Mao Mao being the one who yelled to her. "Mr. Sheriff? What are you doing!?"

"Just get back!" Mao Mao hollered. "Trust me!"

Momo neither had any idea or had the time to figure out what the sheriff was trying to do, but looking at the multitudes of ghosts coming her way, she only hoped there was something better than what she could come up with. With a hard tug, she pulled her broom back and flew away from the ghostly mass. That was when she saw, to her surprise, Mao Mao doing something even she thought was professionally reckless:

"Oh ghosties, over here! Come and get some!" Mao Mao taunted the ghosts above at the top of his lungs. Immediately, the ghosts were drawn to him by his yelling, even noticing that he was waving the cracked gem in the air like it was a tasty pet treat. "Yeah, come closer, will'ya?" He waited until enough ghosts drifted to the spot he wanted that he, without hesitation, threw the cracked gem as hard as his arm muscles were able.

He hurled the colored rock into the ghost- filled cloud with such speed and force that upon impact, a blinding explosion erupted and spread out across the air like a hot pure white bubble. It was bright enough that everyone was shielding their eyes and bracing themselves against the ground they stood on to avoid getting blown away by the resulting wind, or in Momo's case, moving against the wind on her broom.

Momo cracked an eye open, but the snapped both of them completely wide to see that the air looked devoid of ghosts, or at least there was now a gaping hole in the once-ghost swarm. Seeing what that meant made her feel elated. She could finally get at the giant ghost with no more interference.

"Now, Momo! Get 'em while it's down!" she heard Mao Mao yell up to her. Momo happily obliged, as she was already about to do so anyway. Readying her wand, she began to save it in shapes again, drawing them rapidly with no stops in between while making as many as she could come up with in order to make it the most powerful. Once she finished, she capped it off with a lightning bolt and sent the giant spirit in another bout of pain. Momo waited for it to finally go down, but to the surprise of her and everyone else, it still came back for her.

"What!?" everyone cried. They just couldn't believe it. How was that ghost still kicking?

"Gee, that ghost's gotta be an eager reader to be loaded up on magic like that!" Camille quipped with both hands on her hips. She along with Honey at least figured that it had to do with the spell that turned it big to begin with.

Mao Mao, on the other hand, was just outraged. Like, how dare that ghost continue to survive, and after all the work and trouble he and Momo went through in trying to stop it! He looked back up to the sky to where a lone black kitten sat on a flying broom. He couldn't help but begin worrying again.

Momo couldn't believe it. She used her strongest spell yet and the ghost was still alive despite that. Did the ghost really gain that powerful of a form? Her ears lowered against her head. "I'm so tired," she sighed in her mind, "I'm sorry, Mr. Sheriff. Is this it?" She slumped forward a little, feeling like she could just rest on the flying broom here and now, even with the giant ghost preparing to swallow her whole.

Mao Mao gasped when he saw the phantom poising itself to devour the kitten. He could see that little Momo was in trouble, given that she wasn't trying to fight back anymore. He couldn't blame her though, as from what he had already seen, she had been working herself trying to cast her spells, and now he understood that she needed rest right at that moment. He had to think fast.

How was he supposed to defeat a magic being without magic? He already used up the only magic weapons he could use, so all he had left was his sword Geraldine. All that time since he met Momo and got to know her only just several hours ago, he thought he didn't need anything like magic powers, that he worked too hard to be a hero to just resort to cheap McGuffins to get the job done. He prided himself on his hard work and equally hard-earned merit and if it meant having to take the long and difficult path, then so be it. That was him, right?

But Momo was different. She was a black cat just like him, but unlike him, she used magic freely as her modus operandi. Mao Mao would have thought she was his antithesis, but the longer he spent with her, the more he understood that she was simply a different kind of hero. Magic for her wasn't any different from Geraldine, at least when it came to her wand. Given that she was also a good person, she had not, in any way, used her magic for ill intent or purposes. The way she defeated the ghosts with ease was proof that the magic she learned was indeed important and she understood that. She came into her own thanks to learning how to use it properly and well, and Mao Mao had to respect her for it. He understood it now. She used her own power. Now he had to do the same.

Brandishing Geraldine, Mao Mao focused his inner strength and energy. Then, he raised the golden blade and pointed it to the sky, which glowed a fierce yellow light while he simultaneously let out a resounding shout.

"LUNAR...LASH!"

A vortex of blinding golden light erupted from the sword Mao Mao held up into the sky, creating a luminous flaming pillar radiant enough to affect the surrounding ghosts. When Momo decided to open her eyes again, she saw that every ghost present, especially the giant three-eyed one, was utterly mesmerized by the flow of light shot out by Mao Mao's sword. Their eyes were wide open, their pupils dilated, and so slack-jawed that they were almost top it off, they no longer moved, but instead floated right where they were as if they were no more than lanterns tied to posts to prevent their ascension into the outer atmosphere. Momo had to admit, she was pretty mesmerized too, and she would have stared at that beautiful curtain-like pillar of light for hours…

"MOMO, NOW!" she was instantly snapped out of her enamored state by Mao Mao himself yelling to her through the light's waterfall-like roar. "IT'S DISTRACTED! TAKE IT DOWN BEFORE IT SEES YOU!"

Momo shook her head, clearing her mind of the distraction she had only moments ago. She knew Mao Mao was right, she knew he could only hold that display for so long, and she knew that this was perhaps her only chance to finish this. "This is it," she prepared herself, raising and steadying her wand for what would be a final time, "here goes!"

Without further hesitation, Momo began to form the same geometric shapes she had been using the entire time, only this time, she formed them in rapid succession much faster than she had ever done so before. She needed to form them as many and as fast as she could, to form the longest and most powerful spell she could make. Once she felt it was ready, she finished it with a lightning bolt and hurled the accumulated magic right at the giant ghost's distracted visage. The impact of the strike appeared to almost punch a hole in the phantom's head, but the ghost still stood. So Momo prepared herself to cast one more spell.

As she prepared the spell, she could see the ghost trying to go for her again, but it moved much slower than it used to, thanks to Mao Mao's pillar of light still distracting it from her. Momo liked that very much and repeated the same spell as before, only opting to add in a few more forms despite feeling the strain in her body.

While Momo formed her spell, Mao Mao was sweating and strained to keep his arm upright despite how tired it was getting. He had to keep it up, long enough for Momo to finish off the ghost and take it down for good. "Come on now, Momo," he called to her silently. "Hurry up."

Momo could see the drops of vapor evaporating from the giant ghost as it got closer to her. She sweated, knowing that the ghost was about to make its move on her, but she kept extending her spell despite the sweat forming on her brow. "Just a little more now," she whispered to herself while she composed an extra set of wand-waving forms. She tensed a bit when the ghost opened its mouth and prepared to close its jaws over her.

"MOMO!" Mao Mao cried out in terror, reaching his remaining free hand out to her however vainly that proved, but his fear was quelled before long.

As soon as the ghost widened its maw completely, at the last second, Momo released her charged-up spell with the lightning bolt and sent it right between the ghost's teeth, piercing its vaporous being with concussive force. The giant ghost crumbled, letting out an anguished roar while its ethereal body violently dissolved. Surprisingly, there were not just streaks of white that left its body. There were also what appeared to be masses of smaller ghosts erupting from its giant form, as though it achieved its gigantic transformation by absorbing them into its being. None of that mattered now as those smaller ghosts immediately dissipated, leaving the main ghost finally shrunken as well. It stayed in the air for a second, twirling in the air, and then fell straight down onto the hard brick floor of the rooftop.

The air was quiet for a moment, considering that the ghost's de-powering was finished and so was Mao Mao's Lunar Lash.

"Did I do it?" Momo wondered. She slowly made her descent back to the rooftop floor on her broom, hovering right next to a tired but still standing Mao Mao. "Are you okay, Mr. Sheriff?"

"Okay? I'm exhausted," Mao Mao panted, his arm holding his sword hanging limply at his side while he was hunched over slightly but managed to give a thumbs-up, "Exhausted but terrific. Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Momo answered quietly with a nod, "Just tired, maybe. I used a lot of magic up there." She turned to look at the toothed ghost still lying incapacitated on the rooftop floor. "Did we do it?"

Mao Mao gave out a little tired chuckle. "Really, Ms. Momo? Did you do it?" He then sounded much louder this time, "You did it! You really did it!" He was back to his exuberant self as he went over to Momo and gently clasped her by her shoulders. "You defeated the ghost all by yourself! I'm so impressed!"

Momo smiled, even blushed a little, when she heard him say that to her. "Oh, thanks Mr. Sheriff. But I couldn't take all the credit." She took one of Mao Mao's hands in her own. "If it weren't for your distraction, I never would've been able to beat that ghost. You also fought off lots of ghosts back inside the school with me. So, thanks a lot too!"

Mao Mao smiled, and so did Momo. They finally stopped the ghost threat, and they did it together. They were interrupted by the sound of loud cheers coming from the other four students who had somehow made their way up to the rooftop as well. They apparently seemed happy that Momo had beat the ghost for good with her magical skills and wasted no moment hoisting her up on to their hands and bouncing her up and down in the air in an impromptu hip-hip-hooray.

Mao Mao watched the fanfare quietly, but then looked over to the side to where a little blue book laid on the bricks. He went over to it and picked it up, then went over to where Momo was being showered with praise by the students. "Here," he interjected, placing the book in Momo's hands, "I think this belongs to you."

Momo looked at the book in her hands with wide eyes, taking a second look at the sheriff and then a third back at the same book, and smiled. She hugged the book even while still being thrown up in the air by her classmates.

What no one noticed was that the downed ghost was getting back up, snarling once it noticed the ones who defeated it. It would have tried to attack the group too, if it weren't for a stream of blue energy shooting through the air and zapping the ghost, which alerted everyone to what was going on. Mao Mao was almost ready to swing his sword again, but found the ghost trapped in a net of solid light. He looked in the direction the light beam came from to find Badgerclops and Adorabat standing at the top of the preceding staircase.

"Hey guys!" Badgerclops called out, a bit of smoke trailing from the barrel of his arm-cannon. "What'd we miss?"

It had been a little while, but after the Sheriff's Department spent a bit of time helping out the students with cleaning up the messes created by the ghosts in the school (though they didn't need to do much since the students already knew enough about magic use to take care of it), it was time for them to leave.

Mao Mao stretched his arms over his head, and once he set them down again, Adorabat hovered and perched herself on his shoulder. He also looked to see that Badgerclops was in the middle of showing off his ghost-capturing gadget to the students sans Momo, who paid attention to the sheriff instead.

Momo, along with Camille, Honey, and the other four students were standing out in the front courtyard of the school with Mao Mao. After finally settling down from neutralizing the ghost threat, it was time that they parted ways with the Sheriff's Department. It had been a long and taxing period together, even if it was only for a few hours, but it was safe to say that they really had a way to get to know each other.

"So then, what did you think of our school?" Momo asked the sheriff politely and meekly, now that she was finally relaxed and in the mood to be like that once again. She even held her hands together for good measure.

"Oh, it was definitely unique," Mao Mao replied with theatrical bashfulness, even flicking his wrist in playful and non-malicious dismissiveness, "Never been here before until now and it's totally unlike anything I've ever seen in Pure Heart Valley." He then leaned down to address Momo in a pseudo-whisper. "Plus the stuff they teach here is totally out-of-this-world."

Mao Mao was face to face with a slightly disappointed Momo with her hands on her hips.

"I'm kidding! I'm kidding!" he backtracked innocently, holding up both his hands openly, feigning a sheepish smile of his own. In response, Momo changed her disappointed scowl to a lopsided smirk, apparently just playing with the sheriff's perception.

"I saw that…" came the low growl of sheriff Mao Mao, his eyes narrowed. He turned to look over the little black cat's shoulder to see the toothy and angry-eyed ghost still squirming inside the energy net that Badgerclops apparently captured it in. "So, what are we gonna do about that?" he brought up, pointing to it with a thumb.

"Let's keep it, Mao Mao!" Adorabat interjected, bouncing on the bigger black cat's shoulder a little.

"Naw naw, absolutely not," Mao Mao refused with a wag of a finger. "We've all had enough trouble hitting these ghouls as it was the whole time," he took a side glance at Badgerclops who looked back at him with mild bewilderment, "and you can't trust them for target practice either."

"What?" Badgerclops said when he figured out Mao Mao was talking to him too.

"Aw phooey," Adorabat pouted, followed by Badgerclops quietly joking to her 'Told you he'd say no', which made her even more pouty.

Camille observed the exchange momentarily but was once again interrupted by Honey whispering into her ear. Whatever she heard from her apprentice, Camille have a faint but affirming nod. "We'll take it," she called over the Sheriff's Department's bickering. The three, plus Momo, swiveled to look at the old chameleon like she had just said the next weird thing. "What?" came Camille's defensive reaction, "We're always looking for new ways to make new inventions and we could use the research." She looked over the captured ghost with a somewhat predatory glint in her eyes. "Plus, ghosts are such rare sources of magic ingredients, since they don't show up every day…"

The ghost seemed to notice the disposition the old magic technician was expressing, at least from the way it started to shiver from inside its net. Even Momo and the Sheriff's Department couldn't help but shudder a little as well, not eager to ask what it is Camille had in mind.

Either way, they shifted their focus back to the farewell they meant on exchanging.

"So, uh, it was nice to meet you, Ms. Momo," Mao Mao said with a hand rubbing behind his head, "Always great to meet someone kinda like me. You were really amazing out there, and thanks for showing me around."

"You're welcome," Momo responded cordially. "I really liked seeing how you tackled trouble too, Mr. Sheriff."

"Why of course," Mao Mao laughed, "and please, you can call me Mao Mao."

Ignoring the giggles from both Badgerclops and Adorabat, Momo couldn't help but find the situation a little funny anyway, considering each other's names. "Of course then, Mr. Mao Mao. Will I be seeing you again?"

Mao Mao seemed a bit speculative, though hopeful as well. "Oh, perhaps. I might come back for a visit if a routine inspection calls for it. Maybe if I'm invited over for a special presentation, then I could see you again. But until then, duty calls."

"Okay then, Mr. Mao Mao," Momo said, "I'll see you when I see you. You take care." She gave a little wave to the sheriff to cap off the farewell.

"Likewise," Mao Mao returned the gesture with a little nod and bow of his own. "And again, it was wonderful to meet you." He turned his head to face Adorabat. "Well then, ready to go home?"

"Yeah, I'm kinda tired," was the bat's answer. She hoped off Mao Mao's shoulder and flapped over to the aerocycle, in which she seated herself at the back.

"Ready to head back, Badgerclops?" he turned the other way to address his bigger partner, but was surprised to find that he was looking at nothing. "Badgerclops?" His eyes darted around the vicinity, starting to furiously wonder where the badger had run off to. His question was immediately answered when he heard the badger's distant whooping up in the sky. Turning to face the source, Mao Mao spotted Badgerclops streaking through the air while riding a broom, the same kind of flying broom that he saw with Momo.

"See ya back at home, Mao!" Badgerclops yelled to his black cat partner from the distance. He then resumed his excited cries as he flew away at a high speed.

"Wha-!? Badgerclops!" Mao Mao exclaimed indignantly. "That broom's school property! GET BACK HERE!" Wasting no time, he leapt into the front seat of the aerocycle and donned his flight helmet along with Adorabat. With a rev of the engine, the aerocycle fired away into the air and flew off after the runaway broom-flying badger, leaving behind a billowing dust cloud.

Back on the school grounds, everyone who had just seen the sight was laughing, even including Momo. It seemed that the sheriff was not just awesome but also a funny guy just like his deputies.

This was all shaping up to be an interesting year for everyone.