New Fields

Chapter 2

The first thing Mega Man saw when he opened his eyes was a bright blue sky with several big cirrus clouds. Oh, wha- where am I? Mega Man thought. After a minute of trying to get his bearings, he got up and looked around. There were evergreens all around, and he seemed to be in the middle of a clearing with bright green grass. Well, this certainly isn't Wily's Castle. Mega Man chuckled nervously. He had to find some way out of the forest, because even though he didn't need food or water, he still needed some sort of respectable shelter from the elements.

Before he did anything, though, Mega Man checked the time with his internal clock. According to his systems, it had been about an hour since the Bomb went off. Looking around, Mega Man decided he'd try and survey the area for any of his friends (or enemies) that happened to be nearby, although he doubted it. There were no significant energy readings, but he decided to check anyways. After 20 minutes of scouring around and not being able to find anyone nor have anyone find him, Mega Man decided it was time to head out.

The trip was actually fairly peaceful, all things considering. There were birds that flitted by, shafts of sunlight coming through the trees, and a cool breeze flowing. It also gave Mega Man plenty of time to think about the situation he found himself in.

Okay, so. Wily said his Chrono Force Bomb could "affect time, and space!", and since I've found myself in a completely different location after getting sucked into one of the portals, I guess I'll have to believe him, Mega Man thought to himself. I guess I'll just have to count myself lucky I didn't end up in some sort of awful dystopia. Although, I don't even know what time or place I'm in.

The problem was he had no real way of gathering data to place himself in any specific location. Sure, there were plenty of trees, animals, and grass, but so what? That didn't tell him anything important. It was with these thoughts that Mega Man made it to a hillside and climbed up the steep slope, making it to the top. What greeted him was something he really wasn't expecting.

Up over the hill, he saw a large assortment of buildings, all them looking as if they belonged at a University. But they all looked like, together, they made up the size of a city! Mega Man blinked a few times in amazement. He decided he'd go down there to see what it was, because it must've either been some sort of well-off University or extremely rich private school. Either way, it'd at least provide a few answers as to where he was. So, he ran down the slope and made his way over.

The Class of 3-A was in an especially frenzied state. In only a few days, the Annual Mahora Festival would begin. For a while, the students had been spit-balling ideas with each other, and it had been hard to teach them anything. Finally, however, they came to the agreement that they'd try to build a Haunted House. They all decided they'd start working on it during lunch, and it finally allowed for some real work to be done. Their teacher, Negi Springfield, wasn't there to help, but he trusted them enough to not make too much trouble.

"Aren't we just so dedicated? Giving up our lunch break to work on our festival project!" Akashi Yuna bragged cheerily. "Only because if we don't, we won't finish in time…" Izumi Ako pointed out. "Hey, hey, did you see this?! The latest Mahora Sports!" Sasaki Makie yelled as she ran into the classroom filled with props and tools, holding up a newspaper.

"See? Look! It says the World Tree Legend really works! Everybody's talking about it!" Makie proclaimed proudly, shoving it into Yuna's hands. Everyone in the classroom had looks of doubt on their faces. "What? Is this really true? Mahora Sports has a lot of phony articles…" Yuna said.

"Oh… but you know…" Kasuga Misora said, "I heard this from a Sempai two grades above us at Mahora Senior High. There was this team captain that was super-hot, and everyone was fighting over him, so they all said it would be totally impossible to get him, but she went after him anyway, figuring he'd probably say no… But he agreed to go out with her on the spot!"

"For real?!" several girls said in surprise. "I heard that three girls in our same grade confessed to student teachers last year, and they said they'd go out with them, too!" Kagumiya Modaka said. "Eeeh?! With junior high second-years? Isn't that really bad?" several girls exclaimed. "I haven't confirmed this, but I heard that there was a girl who followed the World Tree legend and got a TV Idol boyfriend!" Shiina Sakurako squealed. "Really?!" more girls exclaimed.

"Hmmm, let's see. 'World tree magic!? It can overcome any and all obstacles! We have multiple reports of couples successfully formed between people previously believed to be completely incompatible due to differences in age, quality of appearance, and/or celebrity status…'" Yuna read off the paper. "'Follow-up reports have shown that relationship stability is fairly high…'".

"Hmmm. That's incredible," Ako said in amazement. "I know, right?" Makie said. "Is there anyone you're in love with, Set-chan?" Konoe Konoka asked Sakurazaki Setsuna. "Eh…? No, there aren't any boys I particularly…" Konoka looked at her with a sly smile. "If… If I had to say, Negi-sensei would be the closest right now…" Setsuna laughed nervously. "Negi-kun, huh? He is a good choice," Konoka mused. "But there is that age thing…"

"Wh-What about you, Asuna-san? You could tell Takahata-sensei…" Setsuna tried to change the topic.

"Eeeeh!? M-ME!?" Kagurazaka Asuna exclaimed. "Nope, not Asuna. She tried to confess her love at the Festival last year and the year before, but she was so nervous, she couldn't say a word to him all Festival," Konoka explained. "What!? You, Asuna-san?" Setsuna asked in surprise. "H-Hey! Konoka! Don't tell Setsuna-san that!" Asuna chastised in embarrassment.

While this was all going on, Negi was wandering the halls, reminiscing over the time he had spent at Mahora. He was only ten years old, yet he was teaching a class full of 14 year olds in a private all-girls academy. Of course, this was all due to one tiny thing: he was actually a Magister in training. He graduated from one of the best Magic Academies, located in Welsh, and his final exam was to teach the class of 3-A for a couple years to undergo a creative test of willpower. His life certainly had taken quite a few twists, though, since plenty of students that he thought were normal turned out to be magical in nature.

Evangeline McDowell, for example, was one of the most powerful Mages in existence, being an extremely vampire and all, who had a big grudge against Negi's father, Nagi. Nagi was the Thousand Master, the man said to have mastered (what else?) a thousand spells. Of course, Nagi was also Negi's father, which put him in the sour views of Evangeline, due to Nagi placing her under a curse that kept her from leaving the school as a result of her… persistence in following him. Negi had to undergo a brief fight with her, which resulted in him just barely winning. Eva decided to mellow out as a result, but Negi found even more strange students: people like Chachamaru, a robot, and Sayo, a ghost haunting Class 3-A. Luckily for him, though, besides Chachamaru being the servant of Eva and thereby having to help her fight, neither of them were bad individuals at all.

Negi sighed in relief. He had no idea how he managed to make it through all the hardships he was constantly thrown, but he did all the same, presumably by extreme luck. It helped that almost all the girls in the class had taken a real shining to him, finding him really "cute" and "adorable". Negi honestly didn't understand what they were talking about most of the time, but he ended up deciding it was probably a teenage girl thing. It did, however, get annoying sometimes when it felt like the girls thought of him more as a little kid than their teacher. Sure, he was only 10, but he would've liked a little more genuine respect.

His thoughts, though, were interrupted by Takamichi walking up to him. "Hello, Negi," he said to him in his usual casual manner. "Oh! Why, hello, Takamichi!" Negi addressed him back. "What brings you here? I thought you were going to attend an Art class soon!"

"Well, I am, but the Headmaster apparently wanted to see you," Takamichi informed him. Negi nodded his head. "Okay, no problem!" I'm not really doing much right now, anyways!" With that, he made his way through the campus to the Headmaster's office. He couldn't help but notice just how nice of a day it was, which par the course for Mahora Academy. It was surrounded by a lush green forest, had special emphasis on the pursuit of knowledge, and was absolutely huge, with plenty of diverse people, both students and staff.

Negi finally made it to the Headmaster's office and knocked on the door. "Come in!" the Headmaster called. Negi opened the door and stepped into the huge office. It was filled with all sorts of magical trinkets, books, comfy chairs, nice rugs, and a big oak desk where the man himself was sitting. "I heard you wanted to see me?" Negi asked. As he was asking this, though, his eyes fell upon a young blonde girl standing a little ways away from the Headmaster.

"Yes, Negi. You see, a couple hours ago, we found this girl lying down, asleep, right in the middle of campus. She calls herself Roll, and after an initial bout of confusion and panic over where she found herself, she's been fairly quiet since. The only thing she's shared is that she doesn't have a place that she can immediately go to, and that we should contact a man named 'Dr. Light', who apparently lives in a place called 'Mega City', and that's a place none of the staff so far have ever heard of."

The Headmaster, Konoe Konoemon, stroked his beard before continuing. "Considering how Roll's predicament is a bizarre one, adding into the fact that there aren't any open spots in the younger years and she doesn't look too much younger than fourteen, I have decided to temporarily make her a member of Class 3-A." Negi blinked in surprise. "Really? Well, this is unexpected news."

"Are there any objections?" the Headmaster asked. "Why, of course not! I couldn't just turn away a girl needing some much-deserved help after what sounds like a very troubling experience!" Negi walked up to Roll and put out his hand. "I'm Negi Springfield." Roll took it and shook. "My name is Roll Light. I'm sorry for inconveniencing you, but I really don't know any way to get back home at the moment…" she said.

"Oh, don't worry, I'm sure you'll be able to get home eventually," Negi reassured her. "And don't worry, the students of Class 3-A really are nice people, if you can get past some of their more eccentric tendencies." Konoemon laughed heartily at this. "Yes, yes. Now then, Negi, I expect you to make Roll-san here feel right at home!"

"Don't worry, Headmaster, I will!" Negi shut the door behind him and gave a smile towards Roll. "Well, then. I suppose now would be a good time to introduce you to my class, hm?" And with that, they both started making their way over to Class 3-A. Roll, however, wasn't in quite as good of a mood as Negi. Oh, Rock, Proto Man… Where are you? she desperately thought.