"And welcome young and old to Mahora's class 3-A's newest Christmas Cheers Competition!" Asakura Kazumi whirled her fist in a small circle before delivering a dramatic punch into the air, a steady stream of condensed air frothing from her lips to join their older kin in the higher altitudes. Dressed in a long red cloak topped off with a happy Santa cap, the pretty young girl looked very much like every young boy's Christmas daydream of what Santa should be. A megaphone held in her shaky, raw hand sent her voice off in all directions, drawing in no crowd in particular, other than the occasional student who was trying to enjoy their winter break with a brisk walk.
Behind the flashy girl was quite a fantastic sight: two distinct groups formed under the stready snowfall, each wearing a colored armband along with a scribbled saying designating their team and their potential alliance. They both also had their own Santa Claus, or a young fellow dressed up in a St. Nicholas-esque costume. The groups' similarities, however, ended there.
The first group was made up primarily of Negi-sensei and a handful of his students: Asuna, Konoka, Setsuna in tow, alongside a quivering Nodoka, a shamefully collected Yue, a giggling Makie, and finally a very prideful Ayaka. The child-teacher, dressed in a delightfully red robe and topped with a at much too large for the boy's head, raised a large, golden bell above his head. The ringing was high-pitched in loud, and seemed to call, "Mo-ney! Mo-ney!" as it rang. Red ribbons, fluttering in the light wind, seemed to magically enhance the scene, brining in non-participants who joyfully put a few donations into the large cauldron on a pair of wheels, possibly believing that a fee was required to pat the deliciously cute boy who cried out, "Thanks!" at the top of his little lungs.
The other group, not more than a dozen meters away, sported a much different-looking Chris Kringle. The young fellow was dressed in a more haunting version of the man, one that only very estranged young women might have found appealing... and even then they'd cower before the towering mass of masculinity that held his large bronze bell like one may wield some sort of dangerous, blunt weapon. The robes he wore were dyed a very dark red, as dark as blood, so stained that it appeared black, and instead of a joyful, pointed cap resting on his head, he wore a bandana, slightly askew to reveal a tuft of brown hair, sharpened to a point and splayed across his forehead. Chains and sharp objects as well as a necklace of spiked crosses were hung everywhere: on his sleeves, around his neck, along his arms... even a jutting spike protruded from the front of his dark bandana, making him look like a unicorn... minus the cute. His smile, although alluring in a fashion, did not seem to bring in as many donators as Negi's group.
Despite their rather frightening Santer Kriss, Mr. Connor Gavet's girls remained stoic in bringing in their own funds, mostly in the form of pure fanservice. Unlike the other group, whose girls just wore their normal winter clothes and assisted Negi by saying, "Thank you!" or calling out, "Donations to rebuild the Clocktower!"; the girls of this Bad Santa wore some rather... risque clothes. Santa costumes, all borrowed from the local cosplay cafes, no doubt, were used in full force by the small "Team Gavet". Ku Fei, Haruna, Chisame, and even Asakura herself made this quite apparent. Although not officially taking sides, the allegiance of the entire "Large-Breast Quartet" sided slightly to the older gentleman. Even Evangeline and her Chachamaru stood by the older boy's sleigh, apparently taking their side without so much as a blink of an eye.
"And we're back!"
"Nihahaha~ We were never off~!"
Making a twitching motion to her cameragirl/rival member, Asakura put the microphone back up to her mouth and let out a cheery whistle, which sent both parties skittering in opposite directions, sending the flock-like donators reeling off their feet as a sonic-boom erupted. Without much further ado, the sexy redhead winked and was followed by a small group of camera-wielding civilians, which all connected back to an isolated room back at the school.
---
"And we're off!" declared one of the cheerleader girls, this one with a head of what appeared to be a dark shade of red for hair... or was it brown? In this lack of light, it could have been anything...even blonde! Sakurako Shiina stood up beside the large flatscreen, a razor-thin, brand-spanking new model, to boot! The screen depicted a great many smallr screens, all done in real time and in crisp, clear color; most of which was the vivid white of the newfallen snow. Dressed as a rather cute version of a Ms. Claus herself, she held out a fistful of tickets and papers, a grin widening on her face, "3:1 for Connor-sensei!"
Cheers and money flew her way as she silently slipped a ticket in her coat pocket, the smile widening with every yen falling into place, "Exchange rates are 150%! Make sure you keep track!"
---
"Thirty minutes into the competition and Team Negi has already acquired a great load!" Konoka called, looking adorable wearing her regulatory Santa cap that all the cast were required to wear. Behind her, looking almost threatening, Setsuna was approached by a tyke and his mother.
It wasn't that the swordsgirl didn't like small children, in fact she found them fascinating... but there was... a strangeness to this child... something that wasn't quite right about him. He wore a cute little gray coat, puffy and warm by all appearances, cute but... magically deceptive... She knelt down and smiled as pleasantly as she could, while at the same time observing the area for a possible attack... demons do not see Christmas Eve as a holiday... they seen it as a typical Wednesday.
"Hi there, guy..." using the most Onee-chan worthy smile she could muster, Setsuna pat the child's head. "You excited for Christmas?"
Without any warning, the small boy's pale fingers curled around her ponytail and tugged rather violently, making the guardian fall down to the side, face long with surprise and shock. Before she could do anything however, the boy and his dead stare was picked up by his mother. In a long winter coat of a dark blue color, the woman was a fantastic specimen, young enough to be pretty, but old enough to have some sort of wisdom in the way she held herself and the cuddling fashion in which she crooned over her child.
"I'm sorry dear, he loves ponytails..." the woman had a soothingly cool voice, just loud enough to be clearly heard by the young girl on the snowy path, but quiet enough to sound barely over a whisper. She was pretty, with long black hair tied into a loose ponytail herself, a pair of small, clip-on glasses set on the tip of her nose, and the most fantastically warm golden eyes. She was an incredible contrast to her son, who was as white as the snow around them, with the most fairest hair that seemed to haunt Setsuna, and a pair of vivid ruby eyes that appeared to take in all knowledge like a deep, unending vortex.
How in the world did she get it in her mind that they were mother and son? No way!
Negi, who seen Setsuna fall down, helped her up and beamed at the pretty woman, "Hello! Would you like to donate to the Mahora Clocktower Reconstruction fund? That old tower should be repaired to a degree, at least to put up a memorial!" his grin was warm enough to melt all the snow in the vicinity, and probably could have thawed Jack Frost's heart twice over! With a little ring of his bell, you could tell in the woman's eyes that he won her over.
She slid her fingers into her front pocket and pulled out a small black purse that jingled with some coins, a kind smile split her face and she handed the entire thing to Negi, "Here you go dear, good luck in your future endeavors..." with the slightest hint of a wave, she turned around and let her albinic child squirm back to the ground, one hand firmly pressed against him. The little boy turned around and his crimson eyes flashed once with curiosity as he put a plump thumb in his mouth, suckling like any tyke would do. Like any tyke.
"Are you okay, Setsuna-san?"
With a small exhale of laughter, Setsuna looked at the worried face of her teacher and could only laugh, "Don't worry about it Negi-sensei..."
With a small jingle of the bells connected to his robes and hat, the young boy looked at the money in the small black purse, then whistled slowly as he pulled out one of the silver coins, "Wow! That woman sure gave us alot!" he looked up with a slightly silly smirk, "Do you think Connor-san is doing just as well?"
Konoka, nearly knocking down both her companions in her wild jump in front of the camera, giggled madly while doing what appeared to be the V-sign, "And that's all for us over here! Cut!"
"Uh... Konoka... it's constant streaming... the camera... it doesn't turn off." said the cameragirl: a strange black-haired girl known only as Chihiro. She sighed a little with a weak smile and nodded her head, "But sure, Ojou-sama... cut."
"D-don't call her Ojou-sama!"
---
About four and a half blocks away, one Connor Gavet removed the heavy metals from his suit and put on a happy santa cap over his bandana, then threw on a red overcoat after discarding his black one in the back of a sleigh he managed to...procure.
"Okay girls, Santa's taking a break! Don't kill anyone while I'm resting!" he immediately settled into the comfy, plush seat with a low whistle and smirked a bit as he watched the pleasantries around him increase. It was all for a good cause, refurbishing the clocktower a bit... maybe a little shrine in the front of the place for good measures. Keep bad spirits from inhabiting the dilipidated structure.
"Hey... I'm not a bad spirit..."
The sudden interjection from a ghostly being appearing at anyone's shoulder would have likely brought a few girlish cries and sobbing from even the most manly of men. Connor, on the other hand, was not most manly men. He was the manly man.
Laughing at the pompous thoughts, Connor turned and smirked a bit, "Hey Casper, how's your Christmas Eve?"
Casper, also popularly known as Sayo, giggled a little as she flipped in the air, settling on Connor's arm. Eyes, as bright and as red as a summer rose, shone in a sort of ghastly way. Although the word used was ghastly, it wasn't met in a negative way. In fact, it was quite pretty.
"Connor-san... you look happy, but you seem a little tense, is something wrong?"
Without even opening his mouth, the mercenary of a janitor made a small shrug and settled further into his seat. He didn't seem unhappy, but rather enjoying himself. No annoying play, no idiots making him dress up like a fool, just... hanging out on a Christmas. There was something enjoyable about this holiday... the enjoyment of being with those who love you... sharing the love... presents... oh yeah: presents...
A group of little girls, probably only halfway through their primary school classes, rushed to the sleigh, only cackling and joking amongst themselves as they ran past the chilly middle school girls. One of the little girls, a cute little redhead wearing a pretty blue bow, made a fantastic leap onto Connor's lap, crushing Sayo's wispy arm and nearly making the hardened young man bite his tongue when the littl girl's elbow sunk deeply into his stomach.
"Santa! Santa!"
It was... really dumb. Maybe it was just that the Japanese didn't have an old man who tended to whiten his graying beard with white spraypaint, or perhaps their St. Nicholas just looked more badass. Either way, without even bothering to try, Connor had somehow gathered a small army of children before him.
"Make line! Kiddies in line! Mamas stay back!" Ku Fei, wearing red and white chinese dueling robes instead of the santa costume (when and where did she change?) began to seperate the two groups.
"Santa-san! Can I have a pretty red dress like that girl does?"
"Sunshine?"
"Is that her name?"
Suddenly a thought came to the bandana-clad Santa, and he grinned as he slipped his hands underneath the smll child's arms, lifting her up slightly and grinning sadistically, "You tell your Mama that for a small donation, you can get it!"
And so Connor Claus, mastermind of Clocktower Donation's Squad 2, made himself a helluva profit while sitting on his rear.
---
"We want to wish you a Merry Christmas/ Wish you a Merry Christmas/Wish you a Me-"
Suddenly a man wearing a wide-brimmed green hat threw his arms up in the air, an exasperated look on his face, "I heard you the first umpteenth times!"
Chao Lingshen, wearing a rather amusing green elf hat, simply grinned in reply. With a little snap of the book of carols in her hands, she inhaled and prepared for another verse.
"H-hold on! I-I-I have some money..." he dug his hands into his front pockets, producing a strange array of tools and objects in what seemed like a Doraemon-like pocket. First came out a glass bottle filled with suspicious brown liquid, next came a retractable knife that should really belong in the police headquarters for its length, following that was a pair of weighty binoculars sporting a small confuddlement of buttons and knobs. After what felt like a pull of eternity, he finally whipped out a leather billfold, "Um... how much will..."
The words were snapped away to the crisp air just as his wallet was immediately taken from his possesion. In return for his troubles? A sweet smile from Chao, and a feeling of doing some good... and the loss of all of his money...
The green-garbed man was not the only one who had unknowingly donated to the cause, but it was for a good cause, correct? As the large cauldron-on-wheels slowly filled up in money and jewelry, as did the girls' extremes in procuring such objects. Negi himself was both extremely pleased and somewhat horrified to see the girls work so hard. Why don't they work this hard for their studies?
"Hey Mister, if you give me some money I'll give you a present!" this one came from one Misa Kakizaki, who smiled all too delightfully towards a young man on the street. She suddenly hip-checked the blushing fellow and giggled strangely as he passed a few bills into her open palm. Before she took the man to a nearby cafe, Negi panickingly called out from his sleigh:
"M-Misa-san! W-what are you doing!?"
Turning around, the cheerleader only winked before vanishing through the doors. Her two companions immediately jumped in front of the doors and acted like a pair of bouncers to a hot, new club.
Negi, leaping from the sleigh, immediately dashed through the crowd and very nearly knocked the two not-busy cheerleaders onto the snowy ground. They, however, managed to grab ahold of the child teacher, barely yelling, "It's for the Clocktower, Negi-kun! It's for the best!"
Then a gust of wind quite literally blew the two girls away, sending them spiraling into the air with fantastic leaps of sheer skill and amazing dexterity. They landed squarely on their feet, eyes wide with shock as the boy flung the door open and ran inside. Meanwhile, nearby onlookers began to clap their hands and throw money into the bin. I mean, c'mon, that was freaking cool!
Moments later, the young child stepped out of the cafe, dark rings around his eyes and excreting a foul, sad aura into the world. He shakily sat up on the sleigh and only shook his head, looking disturbed. "How could she... degrade herself... and... through pay...?"
A little wile after that, Misa returned with the man, who was holding a mug of hot chocolate and smiling cozily, "Thanks, miss. Really could have used this..." he nodded in the direction of the extremely sad and extremely short Santa, "What's with the kid?"
"Dunno, guess he's never seen employee discounts at a cosplay cafe. Anyway..." Misa shrugged and held out her hand to the man again, smiling her wickedly delightful smile, "Isn't there a tip involved?"
"Sure is!" the man slapped down a fistful of coins and raised his cup to Mini Santa, "Merry Christmas! You've quite a girl on your hands!" he drank from the steaming cup, grinned, and walked away, whistling while he scampered through the crowd.
---
"Current ratio of money... Negi-sensei 3 to Connor-sensei's 1!"
The radio buzzed noisily in Connor's ear. He really did wish that there was... like some sort of volume device on such equipment? If he access to really advanced technology he might even implement an off-on switch. The again, that's what hammers are for...
Ku Fei, sitting at Connor's side, frowned a little, putting a slender hand on her companion's shoulder, "You good?" her lips thinned slightly, she hated seeing him look down. Although it looked like a friendly competition... due to this morning's events... it was much, much more.
"Say Sunshine! What do you want for Christmas?" Connor, walking around the school wearing his brown vest, made a small gesture with his hand: a flippant seizure of his hand that led to an outstretched hand facing palm-up, as though to give her something. A strange smirk grew on his lips, like one with a dastardly plan up his sleeve.
Putting a finger to her lip, Ku Fei tried her best to mimic the smile, but was cute where he looked handsome, and cunning where he appeared michievious, "I want your proof of a man!"
It was amusing, his reaction to that. His arm fell limp and his jaw was set tight, "H-here? Now? Surely we can do this... when..." he blinked and looked up, staring over her head and apparently at nothing in particular, "... you're legal?"
"Silly!" slapping his chest, Ku Fei could only laugh at the troubled fellow. He truly did have his moments! "No, not like that! Prove self in battle!"
He suddenly began laughing; not his real, more-like-a-chortle laugh, but instead was his more pretentious and loud, "I AM GOD" laugh that he could do so well. He wiped an imaginary tear from his cheek and sighed loudly, "Now Sunshine... who could possibly stand up to me in battle?" the moment she raised her fist, he raised one finger, "Other than yourself?"
She resumed a cute thinking pose before answering, "Negi-kun hosting competition to get money for Clock Tower. Defeat him!"
"Alright..." he suddenly looked a little doubtful, his eyes darkening slightly as they narrowd and his smile became uneasy, "You sure that's all you want...?"
"Fo'sho'!"
"...yeah. No more American television for you."
Then a giant explosion snapped Ku from her daydream. It wasn't a literal explosion, not the bangy kind, at least. It was a mental blast that very nearly made her squeal in surprise. Ku Fei. Squealing in surprise. Yes, that freaking bad.
"C-Con..." she said no more.
If Ku Fei, a young girl with massive chi detection and some spiritual sight, felt the pressure of danger as an explosion, who knows what could have happened to Connor, a mysterious magister with something that goes beyond spirit-vision and mental barriers. His eyes seemed to bulge out of his head for a moment, but he soon seemed to regain his senses and simply grit his teeth violently, a wolfish snarl appearing on his face.
"We go..." her gentle hands touched his arm, trying to calm his anger and trying so much to be a part of him. Whatever was here was something extremely potent in both evil and in power. It was... desire. Pure desire and need. Something not easily handled, even by Connor.
"No, I go." he turned his head and smirked, pulling his hat off and roughly putting it on his comrade's head in a chummy fashion, "Watch the fort for me, would ya?" as he leapt out the sleigh he dropped a small gold coin.
Ku Fei, of course, immediately darted forward to go with him, but yelped slightly as she was forced back down, her butt glued to the golden coin on the seat. She wriggled about once or twice, debating whether or not to cry out for help. But even if she did... she highly doubted that she'd be able to find someone who could get her out of such a strange contraption.
The bandana-clad badass of Mahora slowly walked towards the Clocktower, which, only to those few with mage-eyes, was currently engulfed in a shadowy purple flame like a broad candle.
---
"Ah... Connor-kun, good to see you." Takamichi T. Takahata smiled and threw the cigarette down on the snow, he didn't even have to step on it, from the sound of that extinguished hiss. But he did so anyway... because he was enviromentally friendly like that.
The young man didn't reply, he only lifted the black overcoat off of his chest and reach around his other arm, as though to pull something out of an inner pocket. The object that came out was certainly not something that most people would dare keep in any normal inner pocket, however... Unless you normally carried around a heavy blade measuring two meters in length... not counting the hilt.
The tip of the sword sunk into the snow and pierced through the earth, and Connor took his time in taking off his bandana and very cooly putting it back on. He lifted his brow as he stared at the clocktower, "So... what is up with this? Demon? Evil spirit? Transdimensional being? Hoarde of the Undead? Twilight Princess?"
"Nothing as... did you say Princess?" the gray-haired teacher immediately combed back his hair and snickered, "No... there's nothing like that. I actually don't know exactly what it is. They're concealing themselves somehow."
"Them?" this question came not from Connor, but by the short teacher who appeared by his side, a small star wand held tightly in his hand and a rather cute, red-head, pigtailed girl behind him. Negi looked a little jittery, and Asuna seemed more on edge than usual.
"Yes, them. One was laying dormant here, and two other beings just appeared to make this... jumbled mess." the elder teacher kept his hands in his pocket and observed the crumbling tower with sheer calmness, "I'm afraid that they're... doing something..."
A small exclamation escaped Connor's lips and he stepped forward, muttering to himself, "Oh yeah, of course they're doing something. I'd love to meet an evil spirit who doesn't do anything. 'Hey, I'm just... hanging out.' 'Oh? Well I'll just insert my sword in your head, cool with you?' 'Oh, that's fine with me!' Cause I'd really like to meet one of those!" he turned and snarled, only to meet the face of a very pale Negi.
Takamichi was nowhere to be seen. In his place was a young man wearing a drab, white t-shirt and a pair of well-worn jeans hugging his rather thin hips. His skin was darker than most of Japan's denizens, and he had his hair arranged in a military-like style, but even more strange was his eyes which seemed to glow a despicable neon-orange. But even that wasn't what made Connor grimace. That which made Connor grimace was the aura of darkness that seems to radiate from the young man's body like flames licking his body.
In two steps, the stranger closed the distance between he and Connor, then immediately punched him in the face.
"Adeat!"
And so the battle was on.
Connor recovered from the blow and stepped quickly to the side, a small clump of snow flung into the air as his boots cleaved through the powdery stuff. Before the snow even resettled back onto the cold ground, he had swung the large sword, intending to end this little fight very quickly.
Orange eyes leaving an after-image in the whiteness of the background, the young fighter swooped as he ducked, the sword whistling harmlessly a centimeter above his head. With a devious glimmer of a smile, he spun, extending his leg out as he did, causing a fell swoop that would down any man.
Unfortunately for the fighter, Connor wasn't a normal man. Quickly slamming his sword down, he just barely caught the end of the man's foot with the flat of the blade, pinning it against the ground. Any retraction of extension of the leg would result in immediate dismemberment. It was over.
Or not.
Using his other leg, the man somehow managed to not fall to the ground as he pinched the sword and flipped backwards, sending the heavy weapon reeling through the air. Landing back on his feet with the smallet of grunts escaping his lips, the man charged forward, fist raised for a death-blow.
"Oh sh-" luckily for Connor, it wasn't really a death-blow. He just punched him in the face again.
Stumbling back and clutching his puffy cheek, Connor snapped his head in Negi's direction, "Why aren't you doing anything!?" he knew the answer before he even finished his sentence, but for the sake of anger and spite, he made sure to finish.
Under most normal circumstances two magisters and a magistra would be able to very easily defeat a... whatever this guy was. Actually, it was like proper math with a mix of some silly RPG game. You'd have Connor: a Level 3 Magister; Negi: a Level 2 Magister; and Asuna: A level 2 Ministra fighting against Mystery Man: a Level x Fighter. Therefore for this battle to be completely even, once would use simple algebra: 3+2+2=x. Thus x=7.
All that goes out the window, however, once more people come into play. And unfortunately for Negi and company, the other people were on the Baddie's side.
While Connor was busy street-fighting his opponent, Negi and Asuna had their own pair of problems to deal with, leaving their companion to his own.
"Fufufufufu! Silly little boy!" said the Magister of the pair, staring down Negi with eyes as cool as the snow around him. He was a pretty man, to say the least, with long hair executing into a fine foxtail, cool black eyes behind a pair of small glasses and a pale beauty to his skin. He was gangly, but kept his back straight and chest out, as though standing for some sort of military examination. His clothing, however, would have put him any nearby High School. His voice, however, belonged to no boy of his appearance. It seemed to echo up from underneath the ground, as though the very voice of Hell spoke through him. "Forward, Howell!" he made a thrust of his finger, pointing at a snarling Asuna, smirking in turn.
What appeared to be the Minister leapt forward, a very kind smile on his face, as though what he was doing and what he thought he was doing was completely different. Even in the few times where he didn't move as a blur, his appearance was quite difficult to see well. He wore what appeared to be a grey vest over a grey dress shirt, tucked in carefully into a pair of grey dress pants. His vest, a vivid blood-red, was the only color on his clothing. Actually... even to his own body. White albinic hair that appeared silvery compared to the snow clung damply against his pale forehead, while a pair of ruby-red eyes stared out dumbly at his victim.
Strange how the albino fellow didn't even seem to use a weapon, but somehow managed to bach away the fan. It makes sense, one might suppose, since it's paper. Red-eyes batted away the fan and immediately grabbed Asuna by the front of her shirt, making her eyes widen to the size of tea saucers. With a small wink, he flipped her over his head and gave her what could possibly be the worst white-wash one may ever have to go through.
Negi, unfortunately, was so busy worrying about Asuna, he didn't even notice that evil-glasses snuck up behind him. There was no magic involved in this sneak. In fact, it wasn't even really sneaky. He just walked up to him, got behind him, and grabbed his arms from behind in police-style. With a swift kick to the back of the knee, Negi was suddenly at his knees, at the mercy to this dangerous man who oozed both evil and danger.
"Goodbye, Negi Springfield."
He expected a painful and obliterating death, but instead, recieved a mouthful of snow. When the ponytailed fellow reached down and pulled Negi up by his hair, the young boy managed to get out a "Why are you doing this!?" through chattering teeth, so it actually sounded like, "W-w-why are y-you d-d-doing th-this!?"
"Because!" said a voice that echoed through the clocktower and the surrounding grounds, "Because you will devastate our chances of being on the Good List!"
The voice's owner slowly walked out of the darkness of the dilipidated building. He was handsome, in a sort of old-fashioned way. Short blonde hair combed back in a sort of shaggy fashion, and piercing eyes that glimmered a soft blue seemed to speak in an almost knightly way, if you were to call it that. His clothing seemed strangely regal, wearing a dark blue uniform with golden embroidery and a flowing red cape that billowed with the wind behind him. He took out a pocket watch from one of his front pockets and clicked his tongue, turning to look at the glowing clocktower behind him, "Soon..."
The dark-skinned fellow suddenly let out a low grunt as he collapsed to his knees, hands slowly twitching towards the boot in his crotch. Connor looked up fiercely and shook his head, then grabbed his sword that landed only a bit off from where he stood. Kicking up snow, he charged the newcomer enemy with bloodlust glinting in his eyes.
"Die you son of a-whoops!"
Negi let his head loll in a resigned manner when Connor stumbled and fell face-down in the snow, not moving.
The caped young man put a foot under Connor's blade and kicked it up, catching it by the hilt with marvelous accuracy, but not in a flaunted sort of way. Just done for the sake of it having to be done. Putting the point down to Connor's neck, he made a ghost of a smile appear on his face, "It is over..."
"No! No over!"
And the battle began anew.
Ku Fei, followed closely by a kunai-wielding Kaede jumped over the debris that was once a wall and immediately flung themselves at the caped young man, faces contorted to a dirty snarl as they prepared for what was going to be the most epic battle they've ever gone through.
Blonde Boy stepped to the side, and Kaede and Ku Fei simply crashed into one another, a crumpled heap lying at his feet. He barely looked at them twice.
"Stop this silly game!"
Unlike the ponytailed fellow who spoke from the depths of the earth upwards, this voice radiated from the skies and descended harmoniously on the group below.
"About time!" the darker-skinned fiend jumped into the air, a fierce grin on his face as he scaled the tower like some sort of strange spider. As he did so, the young bespectacled boy released Negi from his death grip and walked forward to join the caped one, also coming in with his albino companion. The three evil-doers quietly observed their comrade as he climbed
Only then did Negi realize what the young man climbing the building was after. There was a man on the top of the sunken roof. A man wearing red. A fat man.
"S-Santa?"
There was something magical going on, and it certainly seemed extremely out of place.
Leaping in such a way that seemed defiant to gravity, the orange-eyed man cackled as he neared the large, jolly fellow that seemed to radiate a pure, wholesome light.
"NAUGHTY LAZAH!"
Connor looked up just in time to throw himself to the side, landing neatly in the snow beside the ninja and Chinese fighter. A beam of twinkling red and green lights shattered the snow and underlying ice where he once lay, flinging wintery debris everywhere without apparently melting a single flake of snow. The dark-skinned assailant was nowhere to be seen. The demigod in Santa's shape descended slowly, floating slowly and followed by a big red bag that appeared to be bulging with Christmas goodies.
"Masayoshi, Howell, let's go!" the young man easily identifiable as the leader pulled out what appeared to be two simple, chained pocketwatches from the front of his uniform and began to swing them around faster and faster until they appeared to be two golden discs whistling in the snowfall.
"Roger!" the dark-haired boy removed a large black book from apparently nowhere, opening it to a random page and planted his feet securely on the ground. He began muttering low in some sort of magical incantation that made the snow around him begin to steam and hiss as it melted.
"Okay." the albino just stood there, smiling.
The ground heaved around Negi, and he was thrown onto the flat of his back, providing a perfect view to the strange battle that seemed to escalate with every passing second. Beams of purple light erupted from the ponytailed boy's hands, blasts of wind and light arched out from the caped fellow's watches, and the albino seemed to have had a flamethrower in his possesion from the looks of the scorched clocktower.
In time, the crowd gathering was massive, quite possibly the largest crowd ever to come to the clocktower at any given time. The two Mahora girl teams had likely grown bored without their respective Santas, only to come here and find one doing epic battle with three strange, flying boys. Normal civilians and even some shocked Mahora teachers only watched with gaping mouths as the ground exploded and snow and ice lightly showered them in the chaotic fight. The handful of mages in the crowd contemplated joining the battle which may have possibly had the entire's world's fate hanging on the balance... instead they just tried to blend into the crowd and pretend that nothing was really going on.
A sudden puff of snow settled and a mangled black-clothed boy was cuddled into the fetal position, mumbling and groaning. His voice no longer was emanating from the ground, but came out a feeble whisper from his own mouth. Another explosion planted the albino beside him, who, like Negi, just stared while laying on his back, a smile frozen on his face.
Soon, the floating battle landed softly on the frozen flowers in front of the clocktower. The stricken petals crunched underfoot as the large, soft boots of one Saint Nicholas gently stepped towards the collected, young, caped boy. "Now Luke... surely you don't want to attack me!" the old man chuckled to himself, his large belly quivering. He was exactly as Negi imagined: a tall, but rather portly man with a curly and silky white beard below a round, red nose. Twinkling black eyes seemed to laugh in a good-natured way, and the kindness and love etched into the man's face would have warmed every child's heart. His clothing was a bit more old-fashioned than the modern interpretations, but still seemed very Santa-esque: his clothing was a crisp red-brown, more natural than the bright reds that the children envision in mind, and it seemed to be made up of fur and pelts like a mountainman.
The caped fellow, Luke, only shook his head, "I know your ways, Nicholai, but I will not fall for it! I do this because I must, because a dream will die if you ignore those of us who are overshadowed by endeavors such as this!" he raised his hands, so that you knew to look at the clocktower, "I will not have it!"
A laugh escaped the big man's lips, the infamous "Ho! Ho! Ho!" echoing into the air, followed by three steamy puffs ascending into the unknown. He put his mitten-equipped hands on his hips and smiled, "There's room for everyone on the Nice Lis-"
All the children in the crowd cried out when Luke jumped forward and appeared behind Santa, in his hands were what appeared to be two long razors, snow drifting off their deadly blades.
"Ho! Ho! Ho!"
Luke let out a strangled cry when Santa roundhouse kicked him across the face, sending the young man hurtling into the clocktower at breakneck speeds, going through the brick wall as though it were ricepaper.
"And Christmas is saved!"
The entire crowd burst into cheering. If you were particularly watchful, you'd be able to tell who every mage was in the crowd, simply by their ghastly looks and painfully forced smiles.
Asakura Kazumi stepped into the battle ground, standing beside a chuckling Santa Claus, "Isn't this wonderful everybody? Those bad guys got what's coming to them! Now how about some money~!?"
So she said it, so it was done. Loose change was plucked out from hidden pockets, wads of bills and coinage was thrown into the grounds. "What a CG!" some voices said, "But you could totally see the wires" said another, "That 3A class, huh?". It went quite smooth indeed.
"Um... Asakura, dear..." Santa knelt so that he could speak quietly into the newscaster's ear, "There's something I've been meaning to tell you..."
"Yeah old timer?" the red-head grinned spectaculalry, "Hey, don't worry. You'll all get paid a little extra! I mean... I did not expect an aerial battle! Very awesome!" her expression became very business-like as she reached into the front of her shirt and pulled out a wad of money, "This should suffice right...?"
"M-Miss Asakura...." the young ponytailed man, now wearing a shocked expression on his face, pointed past her head, his eyes wide and unbelieving, "U-um...."
If this was a manga, her jaw would have hit the ground. Near the crowd, wearing a poorly-made and far too loose-fitting Santa costume was a rather confused-looking red-headed fellow who pulled off the goofy Santa beard and mouthed, "What the [CENSOR'd] is going on?" his starry blue eyes flickered back and forth to his fellow redhead and his fellow Santa look-alike. At least... he thought it was a Santa look-alike. And in all honesty, Peten didn't bother putting two and two together.
Jaws refusing to work, Asakura turned slowly to face the jolly old elf only to see him wink and float away with his bag of goodies. The snow suddenly stopped too, but was replaced by a sudden fall of small, brightly-colored packages with parachutes. Children and adults alike began screaming and laughing as the presents began to fall, everyone scrambling to find one with their names clearly labeled on the small tag.
Luke Mason, climbing out of the rubble with a terrified expression, kept muttering, "He's real... he's real... ow." he jumped a little when a dark blue box about the size of his fist hit him on the shoulder. He gently took it into his hands and stared dumbstruck at the name on the tag, reading aloud, "L-Luke Mason. Good luck on fighting for justice and all that. - Mr. C" eyes rolling to the back of his head, the young man toppled into the drift of snow behind him.
The albino found a ruby-red coloured present and grinned stupidly at the ponytail boy, "Here you go! This one is labeled Masayoshi Hitodama!"
"Oh is it?", the ponytailed fellow snapped and took the present, looking somewhat distressed as he read the tag, "Howell... it says Narutaki Girls. There is nothing here to point to me..." He didn't bother opening it, only put it under his arm as he looked around in a jittery manner, "This was certainly... not part of the deal.... we got our butts kicked by Santa Claus...." his left eye twitched when two little pink-haired girls approached him cautiously.
"Hey, Fuuka... you think this guy is a scrooge?" one of the twins smiled frighteningly at the alarmed baddy, who was losing more and more of his evil aura as he began to break out into sweat.
"Now, now little girls.... you shouldn't call anyone older than you a scrooge..."
"Well how old are you?" inquired the second twin.
"Fif...fifteen..." he was shaking now, unable to turn away from those deep and childish eyes that seemed to look at him with the same sort of want and curiousity as a child looking at her first puppy.
"Well don't call us little girls! You're no older than us!"
"Eh!?" another sound of snow crunching as the boy took a cautious step back.
"Hey! That's our present! Onee-chan! He has our present!" a dangerous finger jabbed in the direction of Masayoshi's arm, and the young man immediately backed up, tripping on a conveniently-placed bit of rubble and falling backwards. Like a pair of wolves taking down a defenseless doe, the two Narutaki twins dove in and began shredding the present apart. A pair of glasses also flew into the air, as well as the cries of, "You're hurting me~!" although the latter of the two was quite ignored.
Howell the albino held out his arms as though to catch something and stared up at the sky, running back and forth, mumbling, "I gotcha! I gotcha..." he was suddenly knocked off his feet when a snowball the size of a small child hit him square on the face. His expression, however did not change the entire time. Before he could get up, however, the dark-skinned demonic boy fell in a pained heap on top of him, the ridiculously small parachute he had attached to his back doing absolutely nothing. His tag was labeled quite simply as "Mankind".
The pigtailed redhead grinned as she prepared another snowball, but was stopped by a smiling Negi, who held out an orange-wrapped present to her, "I guess... everyone has their reasons for a Merry Christmas." he shrugged and smiled at the small children who broke free from the crowd and began to play in the snow, he even laughed at his class, who were struggling to pick out the money that was churned in the snow. The two large Santa pots were already combined, and counted: Negi had won by a mere four-hundred yen. About three kilometers away Sakurako was dancing in the commonroom, parading her priceless ticket around as everyone around her fell into dismay.
"I like it... maybe with the money we got we can clean up the clocktower and make the grounds here a park for kids..." Sayo said cheerfully as Asakura and Connor came together.
"You'd like that, wouldn't you Casper?" Connor made a move for a smile and pat Asakura's shoulder, "So... this was some brilliant plan for money and fame right, Blaze...?" he shrugged when Asakura solemnly nodded, "At least nobody got hurt."
"Connor knew entire time, right?" Ku Fei, still sitting on the snow with Kaede looked up at her favorite bandanna-wearing badass with the look of a starstruck lover, "Right?"
"Sure, Sunshine." Connor quickly concealed the blade within his overcoat and grinned, "Looks like I lost though, so I couldn't get you the Christmas present you wanted..." his voice trailed off slowly as a very small, yellow package drifted towards him, a fat label with the scrawlings indicating that it's for him. He plucked it out of the air and examined the contents. A sigh left his lips and he pulled out three small, special rings.
"To Blaze," he slipped the ring on the girl's numb finger with an amused look. Asakura only gasped in surprise when the ring glowed slightly and words appeared on the outside.
"For the Admired."
"To Casper," Connor looked at the wispy-looking ring with a bit of doubt as he reached it out to Sayo, but immediately cracked a grin to see that it somehow held true on the girl's finger. The ghost of a girl suddenly did many flips and twirls, only pausing for a second to read the inscription on her ring.
"For the Befriended."
Only laughing a little to himself Connor flipped the last ring into his front pocket whistling cheerfully. He ignored Ku Fei, who was beating at his chest using about a fifth of her strength grumbling, "Hey~! Mine! Mine!"
"What are you talking about, Sunshine? This ring is for me!" his laugh, however, could not keep the lie from escaping, and a well-placed jab to the stomach immediately brought him down to his knees.
Very slowly reaching into his pocket, Connor took the ring between his finger and put it on Ku Fei's palm, the writing on this ring was more vivid than the other two, who stared jealously as the Chinese girl read aloud, "For the Beloved."
The happy moment was immediately shattered by a bumbling albino who leaned heavily on Connor and breathed, "Hey~! Do you know where my present is?"
Luckily for him, Connor's fist missed when the ponytailed fellow quickly pulled him out of the way, leading him to a young woman with long, bouncy brown hair who held out to him a cute black cat with a blue ribbon on its head.
Negi quietly walked around, smiling to himself as he watched everything around him. The "Baddies" were walking around, apoligizing to the Dean Konoemon and Takamichi about the incident, children were goofing off in the snow, and his students appeared to be having a very fun Holidays. He slowly looked down at his hands and re-read his Christmas Present. It came not in any box, but as a small slip of paper with his name labeled on an envelope.
Dear Negi,
Anya and I are enjoying our Christmas here, in Wales. It's as cold as ever, but my heart -even Anya's for that matter - warms when we think of you. I hope that this letter reaches you in time for Christmas... but then again, sometimes the international mail service is so independable. That's why I had it... hand-delivered by a friend of mine. Here's to a Merry Christmas, I hope you get everything you wished for.
Love,
Nekane