Chapter II
The Blackout at Mahora Begins

Aer's POV

The sky grew darker as night approached, and the Japanese sunset was a lot different than what I normally experienced back in Wales. My brother is back there, too, and I knew it would be hard to have him come here after what he just went through. Well, I can't think about that currently. If what I said to Negi-Sensei is right, then he will be attacked by a few of his students. And his aura may be strong, but I doubt his actually ability alone would let him win.

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I was standing outside of the girls' middle-school dorm rooms, waiting for the blackout that Negi-Sensei mentioned. It seemed weird that there would be something like that on a huge campus like this, but I guess that whatever they need to do to fix the computer systems have to happen.

Not much later, the PA went on, saying that the blackout was going to happen, and everyone should stay inside while it was in effect. It then went fuzzy, and all the lights and electrical devices in Mahora turned off simultaneously. Damn, I thought. This might be a bit different than what I imagined...

Except for the light of the moon, everything was entirely dark and ominous-looking. All of the buildings' windows were pitch-black, as were the walkways around the campus. An eerie silence fell, a silence like those of the dramatic scenes in stories and movies were the good hero would be attacked by the evil, wicked villain and their minions. A small wind passed by, blowing through my blackish-white hair as clouds above moved in front of the path of the moonlight, causing the only source of light to nearly vanish.

All was quiet. A little too quiet, if you asked me.

Mea virga, veni mihi. (My wand, come to me.) I un-incantated this spell in my mind, a spell that most mages are capable of doing at whim. A small amount of time passed, a minute at the most, and you would be capable of hearing an object slicing through the air as it rushed kilometers per hour through the night sky. This object, magically flying, was a wooden wand with a crescent-shaped head at the top. On the side of it, a somewhat oval-shaped hole was cut where three silver bells were tied to; odd enough, these bells never made a sound whenever they jingled around. Only when a spell was cast off using this artifact would they create a 'jingling' sound.

Raising my arm, the wand landed in my hand half a second later. I felt ready for whatever were to occur tonight.

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Not much later could a sound of a window breaking be heard, its several broken pieces falling to the ground seconds later with a crash, echoing throughout the campus. If I could make sense of it, I would most likely say that it came from the area of the bathhouse not too far from here. A few screams could be heard momentarily later, then more sounds of ruckus. Already, it started, I thought. Too bad that this won't last long, but I doubt that Negi-Sensei would enjoy dying at the age of ten. "Celer terga!" (Quick escape!) As soon as I cast my spell, it did quite a different effect as my last one. This one allowed my to run at least five times faster, which would seem odd to use when I have a wand at my disposal, but someone might see me if I were to fly on it. Although that's a bit hypocritical since using magic is as bad as using magic in front of the dorm rooms where people could look out the window and watch me use it...

I used my sense of hearing to keep behind the disruption of silence, and as I neared closer, it was obvious Negi-Sensei was being chased by two of his students from my class. I don't remember their names, though, but the girl with the blonde hair sometimes starred at me funny during the lesson today. "I think her name was, uh...Evangeline McDowell, or something like that." Odd, I thought. Her name is European, not Japanese like everyone else's.

Two, maybe three minutes later, I could see the massive bridge structure leading out of the campus. It seemed to me that my home room teacher would try to escape to the other side, if things got out of hand--but wouldn't those two just follow him?

Stoping at the beginning of the bridge, Iwatched as ice stalagmites appeared from the black pavement below, knocking Negi-Sensei off of his wand. He tumbled down onto the floor, his magical artifact out of reach, as the two students began to confidently walk towards him as if the battle was already decided. I-impossible! I thought to myself. The son of the Thousand Master couldn't be defeated that easily! He...he must be planning something clever...

The words practically came right out of my mouth, sorta. A magic rune began to glow as Evangeline and the other student stepped onto that section. Constricting binds of magic kept them from moving from that spot. Negi-Sensei got up almost immediately, wand in hand, and started cheering as if he just got his hands on a newly-released volume of his favorite manga.

But it didn't last for long. The girl with the green hair, Chachamaru, I believe, used some sort of technique that disabled the spell, allowing her and the blonde free. Amazing! I've never seen someone do something like that before, able to get rid of the magic that easily!

"GAHHH!" A scream erupted from the middle of the bridge while I was in mid-thought. I looked up to see Chachamaru seize Negi-Sensei so that he would be unable to move, Evangeline carelessly threw away his wand over the side of the bridge, into the waters below.

"What the-?!" I said, somewhat angrily. "She just threw his artifact into the water! Doesn't she know that a mage's artifact is something that mage's should always take care of and not treat it like crap!?" I began to run towards him in some feeble attempt to save him from those two. Looking upwards, I saw Evangeline about to do something horrible to the kid, though I'd rather not know what it was.

Nearing them, I was just about to cast a spell at her and stop her from doing whatever it is she was when Chachamaru must've heard me running towards them. She spoke. "Master. The new girl is here." Evangeline looked up at me, and ordered her to take care of me. "Yes, Master."

I guess that if I want to save Negi-Sensei, I've gotta do it the hard way! I gathered magical energy and recited my spell. "Unus ignus Spiritus, veni irruo mihi hostium!" (One spirit of Fire, come and attack my enemy!) A single arrow of fire shot out from my hand, rushing forward in a straight line. The light it gave off could probably blind someone if they stared at it too long.

Perfect.

Chachamaru covered her eyes from the light, and I simply ran right past her, dispersing the magic afterwards. "Evangeline!" I yelled, and she looked up from me. There was a pair of fangs in her mouth, pointy as a knife. I should take note of that... "Stay away from Negi-Sensei!"

Right when she was about to cast a spell of her own, I punched her right in the face, causing her to fly backwards at least ten or so meters. "Master!" Chachamaru said, running to Evangeline to see if she was alright.

I grabbed Negi-Sensei's arm and ran back down the bridge until we were safe behind a pillar and out of those students' view.

That was perfectly done! I thought, looking over at my teacher. "Uh...you okay, Negi-Sensei?" I asked.

He looked up at me, and I could tell there was something bothering him, really badly, by the looks of it. "It's...nothing..." He said, but I knew something was really up.

"It's okay. You can tell me." I smiled at him, trying to make him feel better.

"It's just..." He paused. "It's just... My father was able to beat her, and if I can't... what's the point of becoming a Magister Magi?!"

I began to feel slightly sympathetic for him. Thinking for a bit, I came up with the perfect thing to say. "Listen, no matter if you do become a Magister Magi, I know that you can still be a great mage, if not just a great person to all of us here at Mahora. You're only ten years old, but you're taking on so much. Just...don't let Evangeline get to ya, okay?"

Negi-Sensei's face lit up. "Yeah! You're right! Thank you, Hazumii-San!" He bowed.

"Yeah, well, you can just call me by my first name, Negi-Sensei. I'd much rather be called 'Aer' than 'Hazumii-San.' (It sounds too formal)" He nodded. "Well, too bad there really isn't a way for me to help you out, really. I could use my—"

"Ah, Ane-san. There is a way for you to help out Aniki here." A voice had interrupted me, and out of nowhere popped out a furry white ermine (that talks, to boot!). He was obviously a magical animal that Negi-Sensei has as a pet. I jumped back a bit, not used to seeing an animal speak Japanese like that. That...ferret...is...talking... What will the world come to next?

"C-Chamo-Kun!" Negi said worriedly.

"Shush, Aniki! Do you want to beat Evangeline, or what!?" The boy nodded. "Good. Then the only way to do this is by creating a Pactio with Ane-san!"

Confused, I asked, "A...Pactio...?"

The ermine nodded. "Yup! A Pactio with Aniki here! This way, with you as his partner, he'll be able to defeat Evangeline!" I saw Negi-Sensei blush slightly.

"I...see... Wait a minute! A...partner...!?"

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Author's Note: Well, chapter two's done, and as you can see, I more-or-less took this idea from the third volume (episode eight) of Negima; just put it into my own version. Oh, and sorry if the chapters have been a little short to some people, but I'm trying my best to make them as long as possible.

Okay, and now for the thingy were the author's reply to what reviewers wrote and stuff (probably should be in the beginning, but I think it's better later)

--NYITNYIT -- Too bad you won't be giving out ideas, but reviewing is good, too. And, I did add the POV (point of view) of which character to the first chapter.
--Tikigod784 -- The 'volume 7/8' was from volumes 7 and 8. I changed it, by the way. And Aer a martial artist?! I never would think of her as that, but seeing I started this at volume 3, it could happen...
--Chuchulovely -- Thanks for the idea, Chuchulovely. I might use it later on, but it's still the beginning of the fanfic so you'd never know...
--Hydriatus -- Thanks for the comment. And sorry that it's a little short, but I promise future chapters (starting around 4, maybe) will be longer than these.
--Koukaze -- Thanks for the idea, but that might be a bit difficult to come up with a chapter about it...
--Tsutomu Teruko -- Thanks for the idea (slightly confusing, though) and your review. Glad to know that I'm doing good so far (hopefully...)
--Eternal-Longing -- Thank you a whole lot for your review, though you wrote a lot in it... It's okay, though. Oh, and I enjoyed your criticism and I hope to read more reviews from you later.
--Kafka'sdragon -- Okay, another thank you for your review and your idea. (Glad you didn't write what Eternal-Longing wrote again...) Hm... the idea with Asuna might be a bit hard to write, though... Maybe I won't include anything big, but maybe just something about it.

See you all next chapter (hopefully!) Oh, and 8 REVIEWS on chapter 1!!!!! That's probably the best thing that's happened to me so far!