Hirari 02

Chamo was on a mission. How could his big brother leave him behind? After all they've been through together!

Okay, granted, he was responsible for all of Negi's partners, and that they were keeping a close lid on him, but still!

As such, he carried a tiny suitcase with him as he searched through Uminari for Negi's energy signature, and quiet as a mouse, he slipped along the streets.

As he turned the corner, Chamo made his move and bounded up to the stairs of a nearby house to get his bearings when a voice asked, "Yuuno-kun?"

Chamo froze as he looked up at a purple-eyed girl with her hair in twin tails. She looked down at him and frowned. "You're not Yuuno-kun. Are you lost, little ferret?"

She reaching down and picked him up and Chamo decided to play the part of dumb animal, despite leaving a tiny little suitcase on the ground. "Mou, you don't look like Yuuno, but your overall shape is the same… Maybe you're an actual ferret?"

Ermine jouchan, not ferret, grumbled Chamo mentally as she carried him into the house, leaving his things on the walk.

"Mom! Dad! I found another stray!" called out Nanoha as she held out Chamo who looked up at the human family. Wow, babe-o-rama, this family. "Can we keep him?"

"That's not Yuuno," remarked Miyuki as she took Chamo from her. "But he's definitely just as cute!"

Rubbing Chamo's stomach, Chamo couldn't help but let out a squeak of surprise. "Awww~!" exclaimed Miyuki.

"You know, the last mascot you had was a shape-shifting boy," remarked Kyouya as he looked over the white-furred animal. "You sure you want to take in another ferret that just HAPPENS to be in the neighborhood?"

Nanoha sputtered. "Oniichan, Yuuno-kun was a perfect gentleman!"

Momoko giggled at the kids' by-play. "We're just worried, but if you think this one is a stray then we'll let you keep him."

"Nanoha's a good judge of character anyhow," said Shiro. "All right, but make sure that it's not going to give you magic powers all of a sudden."

"'Kay~!" As Nanoha took back Chamo from Miyuki, Chamo wondered just what kind of household he walked in on. Extending his senses, he realized she carried a linker core.

How interesting.

Once Nanoha was asleep, Chamo slipped out of the basket and went to the front door, grabbing his things that were still there. Plugging into the modem in the house, he accessed his computer that unfolded from his suitcase.

#Connected to
#User pervy_ermine has logged in.

Chamo winced at that. Asuna had changed that for him and he never quite managed to change it back. He figured Chisame had something to do with that.

#Now entering Ala Alba
Pervy_Ermine: Hey guys, I'm at Uminari, but I got waylaid. Got picked up by a girl who has a linker core. And it's active.

He waited for a moment before a few responses popped up.

Pervy_mangaka: A linker core? What's that?
Cmpt_goddess: It is a pseudo-organ designed to house and store vast magical energy. It can be damaged in battle. There are very few mages on this planet with one.
Chiusama: More weird magic there I take it?
Cmpt_goddess: The amount of Linker Core mages on this planet, average in 1 in 15000 people. On the lowest end of the scale.

Chamo thought about that for a moment. Chachamaru was never off on her estimations. To find one that was high ranked…

T_smoker: A linker core user? Chamo, how many can you sense in the general area?

Chamo extended his senses and to his surprise, he felt at least five within the immediate area.

Pervy_ermine: about five. I can sense a few more on the fringes, but they're all fairly powerful. Rank A at least by our standards.
T_smoker: That indicates activity from the TSAB. The Magical Community has been keeping tabs on their movements, but we've slipped under their radar.
Chiusama: how old is this girl Chamo?
Pervy_ermine: about ten, maybe younger.
Chiusama: Tch. We've got another Negi on our hands.

Chamo smirked at that as he typed out a response.

Pervy_ermine: we'll see if aniki and her can keep up.
T_smoker: I'll report this to the dean. Also Chamo, there's a delegation from Ariadne coming through the World Tree Gate. You'd best keep a look out for them. It's Sevensheep and her Valkyrie brigade.
Pervy_ermine: Ooooh I remember them. Hey Haruna, make sure Yue knows her harem is coming.
Pervy_mangaka: She's reading over my shoulder and promises pain for that Chamo.

Chamo chuckled as he checked the room. Still nothing.

Pervy_ermine: Tell them to meet me near the park in Uminari. I'll send a link with a map. I'll keep tabs on the girl here and see we can't make a pre-emptive encounter happen. Laters.

Logging off, Chamo looked up and closed his laptop, unplugging it and turned around – and nearly jumped out of his skin as a brown ferret was glaring at him.

"Who are you?" demanded Yuuno of the ermine.

"Er…" Well, this wasn't good.

Feeling out of place with her ears and tail hidden from sight, Collet watched as Beatrix led Emily around who looked like a complete fish out of water. "Hey, Class Rep, you think we should get going and meet with Chamo-san?"

"Just a moment!" exclaimed Emily as she took photographs of everything. "I want to take more photographs of the place!"

Collet sighed. Getting there was a chore in itself, and the transfer from the Magic World to the Old World was jarring enough. Where were the flying vehicles? The magic community also hid themselves away from the mundanes. Even her ears and tail were hidden by a simple if powerful glamour.

"I'm going to get something to drink then," said Collet finally as she took some of the odd coins out, yen they called it, and went to a vending machine. Slotting it in, she was surprised as the coin was immediately ejected.

Trying it again, she grumbled. "C'mon work!"

"Um, excuse me," said a little blonde girl. "You're putting in the wrong coin. That's 1 yen coin, it takes a 100 yen."

Collet looked down and fished through the pile of coins. "Oh, you mean this one?" she asked, holding it up.

The girl nodded and Collet thought she was really cute, if young. "Thanks!" Collet popped the coin in and she hit a random button, dropping a can down. Picking it up, she exclaimed, "Ah, it's cool!"

The girl giggled slightly. "Are you from overseas, miss?"

"Ah, really far away," said Collet with a nod. "I'm from Ara, uh, Wales."

The girl nodded. "I'm from Italy myself. I'm Fate Testarossa." The dog at her side yipped. "And this is Arf."

"Aww, how cute!" exclaimed Collet as she leaned over and patted Arf who nuzzled her hand. "It's nice to meet you Fate-chan!"

Fate pinked a little. "T-thank you, um…"

"Ah, Collet Farrandole… Ayase," finished Collet, much to Emily's cry of outrage from the side. "The loud one is Emily Sevensheep, and Beatrix Monroe is her keeper."

"Who are you calling the loud one?" proclaimed Emily in a huff. Beatrix bowed a little.

Fate giggled and then blinked as Collet's stomach rumbled. "Ah, um, your stomach…"

"Hmm? Ah yeah, I haven't eaten yet," said Collet lamely. "Hey, Class Rep, Bea, we should get going and meet up with Negi-sama."

Fate blinked. "Negi-sama? You mean Negi Springfield?"

"Yeah, do you know him?" inquired Collet. "He should have gotten a message we were meeting up with him."

Fate nodded. "He is our teacher. Where were you meeting him?"

"The park I think," said Collet and Fate frowned. "What's up?"

"We're, um, in the park. And that's such a general term and all… maybe he's lost?" suggested Fate.

"I am so lost," said Negi, looking around and trying to figure out where he was going.

It was a Sunday so classes were out at the moment, and he was running around trying to find his contacts. Sending people from Earth was a better and more obvious solution, but they just HAD to send the Ariadne girls. Negi sighed. Why couldn't things be easier?

Turning the corner, he ran headlong into a familiar body and the pair were knocked down. "Hey!" exclaimed Vita. "Geez, I run into you everywhere!"

"Ah, Vita-san," stammered Negi, getting up and offering his hand to Vita who refused it and got up own her own. "Um, sorry about yesterday I just…"

"Tch," said Vita, folding her arms. "Look, Negi-sensei, is it? I'm onto you."

"Eh?" squeaked out Negi. "Whatever do you mean?"

Vita reached out and grabbed him by the collar. "What do you think idiot? You have this dangerous aura around you, and it feels like magic. Talk, or I'll beat it out of you!"

"Y-you must be mistaken, I don't have any magic!" protested Negi, trying to wiggle free, but Vita's grip was surprisingly strong.

Her scowl got more pronounced as she shook him like a rag doll, making Negi flashback to his first meeting with Asuna. "Don't give me that crap, you reek of magic! Who are you and are you a threat to Hayate?"

"W-why would I t-threaten one of my students?" wailed Negi as he was shook up.

"Vita, stop!" exclaimed Yuuno suddenly, arriving with a white ferret on his shoulder. "Put him down, he's not a threat."

"Hey, Aniki, what the heck's with your track record with redheads anyhow?" inquired Chamo with a wave of his paw. "Although this one's a little more scrawny than Anesan…"

Letting go of Negi who landed with a thump, Vita glared at Yuuno. "Please tell me that's another Scrya on your shoulder…"

"Sorry, no," said Yuuno, shaking his head.

"Albert Chamonile, familiar to Negi Springfield," said Chamo with a smirk. "Hey, Aniki, get off the sidewalk, will ya?"

Negi stood up with a pained grimace. "You could have told me that you were coming, Chamo-kun," remarked Negi.

"And miss the fun of you getting into trouble again? Wouldn't dream of it," chuckled Chamo.

"They've sent ambassadors," said Yuuno. "To foster relationships."

Vita arched an eyebrow. "They?"

"Here you go," said Shinobu as she set down a plate of food in front of the three Ariadne girls. Collet especially looked excited at the delicious looking treats. "Eat up!"

"Oh wow, it looks tasty!" exclaimed Collet, picking up her fork and taking a bite. "Mmm!"

Emily poked the soft looking orange cake and took a nibble. "Ah, it is good. My compliments."

Beatrix sipped her milk and nodded. "Delicious, thank you."

As the girls ate, Nanoha was talking to Arf and Fate in low tones. "And when I got up, Mr. Ferret was missing. I hope he didn't escape."

"I see," said Fate as she looked at the three girls. "There's something about these girls that I met too that seemed odd. For one thing, they don't have an accent."

"What's so strange about that?" inquired Arf curiously. "You don't have one either."

"That's just it; their infliction seems too perfect," said Fate, looking over at the girls who were animatedly chatting about something. "I don't want to be suspicious about people who we just met, but the timing seems too perfect."

"What do you mean?" inquired Nanoha.

"Doesn't it seem strange that we have a new teacher and these girls know him?" inquired Fate.

Nanoha shook her head. "I don't think so. I mean, they could be relatives."

Fate sighed. "Well we'll have to find out soon, I hope."

Fate, Nanoha, Arf. Can you three come to your mother's house, Fate? There's someone who arrived that would like to speak with all of us, suddenly cut in Yuuno telepathically.

Ah, it's okay. Let me just tell mom where I'm going first, replied Nanoha.

"A Magical Community, and even one just as complex and as big as our own," said Lindy having heard the speech from Chamo, who was sitting on Yuuno's shoulder. "And we didn't notice?"

"Mages on earth aren't as uncommon as you might think," said Chamo. "To date, there are a million mages on earth give or take, plus several million more on Magica Mundus. Japan itself is split between two founding groups; the Kanto Magical Community and the Kansai Magical Community, both run by the Konoe family."

"So why haven't we noticed this before?" remarked Chrono. "With this many mages on earth, wouldn't we have discovered you long ago?"

"Yeah, but you guys and us have one big difference: linker cores." Giving a fuzzy grin, Chamo explained, "Linker cores are your guys' method of teaching, because your magic style is so different. We, on the other hand, draw power from the world around us and use it as our fuel, augmented by natural reserves of magical force spread evenly in the body."

"And thus, we can't pick out a normal mage from a TSAB one, because the magic isn't CONCENTRATED," surmised Amy and Chamo nodded. "I see!"

"Then why can I feel his magic?" inquired Vita, poking Negi in the shoulder.

"It must be because we're from the Book," surmised Shamal. "As constructs of the Tome of the Night Sky, we are inherently designed to be able to sense magic, and seek it out. Most mages can't feel magical power, can they?"

Lindy shook her head. "It is an extremely rare skill to be able to sense magical power in anyone. It is part of the reason why we cannot detect magic from any distance."

"So the magic world is making first contact," said Fate. "How interesting. That means there's so much to learn still about this world."

"Formally the TSAB isn't recognized by Earth's magical government either, but this is a first step, spearheaded by the Independent Academy State Ariadne, and Mahora Academy," added Chamo. "With good relationships, fostered by the addition of certain magical people in your community to help spread our skills to you, we can work things out. We've sent three girls, and they should have been here by now."

"Are these people called Collet, Emily and Beatrix, by any chance?" inquired Nanoha to which Chamo nodded. "They're at my family's store right now, waiting for us to get back."

"We should go pick them up," said Negi. "Chamo, are you coming?"

"I'd like to talk to Admiral Lindy for a bit longer," said Chamo. "Go on ahead, Aniki."

Negi nodded and bowed to Nanoha. "Nanoha-san, if you could bring me to your family's store?"

"Of course!" chirped Nanoha, getting up.

"I'm coming too," said Vita suddenly, getting up. "Mage or not, I'll kick your ass if you do anything weird!"

Negi blushed.

As the door closed behind them, Lindy turned to face Chamo. "That boy is who you wanted to talk about, am I correct?"

"Yeah, Aniki, or rather Negi Springfield," said Chamo as he folded his arms. "I know you guys will probably want to put tabs on him, so I'll keep it clear. He's not to be involved in any TSAB stuff other than being an ambassador. He's too important to the magic world and the real world."

"A child of ten?" inquired Lindy. "Forgive me, but I don't see the pattern."

Chamo grinned a little. "He doesn't look it, but he's strong, right now more powerful than the Nanoha girl. By leagues. Tempered with life and death, fire and blood. He's saved the world, twice over now. And to boot, he's the Crown Prince of a powerful kingdom with many followers."

Lindy's eyebrows shot up. "Really? All of that."

"Your Book of Darkness incident, yes we know about it, is on a similar scale of grand terror. But if Negi didn't succeed, and he did, all of Magica Mundus would have self destructed, propelling 1.7 million people into the wastes of Mars. A terrible war would break out, between Mars and Earth, and would rage for a 100 years." Chamo shook his head. "All of that hanging on his head. He succeeded, but I think we could compare notes on destructive force."

Lindy nodded, clearly wanting to learn more about the young Springfield. "His parents. Who were they?"

"One was the most powerful mage of his generation, if not his history, the Thousand Master, Nagi Springfield. The other was Queen Arika of Ostia. They're both in Mahora right now," said Chamo. "I'll send a message saying you want to meet with them."

Chuckling, Lindy asked, "Am I so transparent?"

"Naw, most people wanna meet with royalty anyhow," laughed Chamo. "Look, Aniki's a good kid, and I can tell you people are good kids too. But I know those big organizations. We had a bad group in the Mesomesembrian Government wanting to control Negi. I'm not keen on helping him topple the TSAB if you get my drift."

"I know the feeling. We've had our trouble with similar situations," said Lindy. "We'll do what we can. Thank you, Albert."

"Ah, just call me Chamo," said Chamo.

From the gateport, a large man appeared, slinging a bag around his shoulders. "Huh, I haven't really been here in a long while."

Craig looked at him. "Well, we're here to help the trip go smoothly, right everyone?"

Aisha smiled a little. "It'll be good to see Nodoka again."

Craig pinked a little and Lynn smothered a grin. God, he hasn't changed a bit.

Christian coughed, rubbing his head. "We should get going, we need to meet with the headmaster. Rakan-san, are you coming?"

Jack Rakan grinned a little. "Oh? I'm going thisaway," said Jack, pointing in a random direction. "I'm going to meet with a friend."

The group looked past the enormous mountain of muscle at a slim man standing next to a famous mop of red hair and a willowy blonde with blue and green eyes. "A-Albireo Imma! Nagi Springfield and…!" stammered Craig.

"And Queen Arika," finished Aisha as Rakan dropped his things to the ground.

"Yo," said Nagi moments before Jack plowed into him in a show of destructive force.

Arika sighed. "Men," she grumbled as the pair fought each other without prior warning.

Albireo laughed. "Men will be men ,I suppose."