Negima Neo: The Gears of Time
Chapter 4: Begin the Training
That night, Asuna and Anusa sat down in the kitchen and had a quiet, peaceful dinner together. At the table, Asuna was quite comfortable and ate right by Anusa's side. Anusa looked down at Asuna eating and smiled.
"I'm so happy you're here with me Asuna. It's been so lonely around here without someone else like me." Anusa thought. But as Anusa was happy, Negi sulked in his room, alone and miserable.
"Asuna.....I'm going to find you. I want to know what really happened. You....You couldn't have just left like that. What's your reason?" he thought. Just then, Konoka came in with Setsuna, each holding bags in their hands.
"Negi? Are you all right?" Konoka asked.
"We thought we'd better check on you. You've been dead silent all evening." Setsuna said. Negi looked up at the girls and then looked away. Konoka sighed.
"Negi..." she muttered. On the nearby counter, Konoka saw a "family" photo they had taken. In the frame was Negi, Asuna, Konoka, Chamo, Kotaro, Setsuna and Anya. This was after they returned from Nekane's home in Wales last Christmas, exactly four months ago today.
"Asuna....I hope you realize how hurt Negi is right now. And....I really hope....you know how I feel too." Konoka thought. A small tear rolled down Konoka's cheek and she turns to Setsuna, clenching her tightly and sniffling lightly against her chest.
"Miss Konoka..." Setsuna muttered. Konoka looked up at Setsuna's face.
"Setsuna? Can you please sleep with me tonight? I....I'm really scared with Asuna gone." Konoka said. Setsuna nodded and gently patted Konoka's head. As Anya returned, we look back at Asuna, sleeping quietly in her bed with a smile on her face. But even though she smiled, she couldn't stop dreaming about her past adventures with Konoka and Negi.
"My....My friends..." she muttered queitly. Chupa slept in her room also, tucked away in a corner and snoring. The next morning, Asuna woke to see the star filled sky overhead. At first, she didn't understand where she was. But she was able to after getting a good look around her. She stepped out and found Anusa waiting in the plaza.
"Ah. Good morning Asuna." Anusa said. Asuna yawned.
"Good morning? How can you tell? The sky is still filled with stars!" Asuna asked. Anusa chuckled.
"That's how I felt the first time I came here. Don't worry. You'll be able to figure time out here when you've had enough practice." Anusa said. Asuna yawned and stretched her arms out.
"So....what's going on today?" Asuna asked.
"Well, as soon as you get dressed, we'll begin your training. We have to act quickly though. Your time as a protector may be up before you know it." Anusa said. Asuna suddenly gasped.
"Huh?! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Back up! What did you just say?!" Asuna exclaimed. Anusa sighed.
"I thought you should've known. Most time protectors would have had months to train for their role. But....I didn't find you until your powers were in their late period. In short, we have ten days for you to master these skills. Or...." Anusa said. Asuna raised an eyebrow.
"Or else what?" she asked.
"Or else you'll lose your powers completely." Anusa said. Asuna gasped.
"Oh. Well....we....we SHOULD start." Asuna said. Anusa nodded and snapped her fingers, automatically dressing Asuna in her training armor.
"All right. Let's begin." Anusa said. She closed her eyes and was able to focus hard enough to suddenly teleport herself and Asuna to somewhere strange. It was a new dimension, but all around Asuna were floating blocks.
"Huh? Whoa. Where....Where are we?" Asuna asked. She suddenly saw her pactio sword appear in her hand.
"N...Negi?" Asuna thought. Just then, Anusa appeared in front of her. She wore dark purple battle armor, styled the same as Asuna's armor. But as for her weapon, it was a double-bladed sword with both swords appearing the same as Asuna's pactio sword.
"This is the training simulation room. You won't be able to start heading through the actual timestream until we go over the basics first. Now, you've already practiced rewinding time in front of you. Now it's on to the next lesson with that power." Anusa said. She waved her hand and changed the field to a large, deserted rocky canyon.
"Uhh....what? To change the scenery?" Asuna asked. Anusa shook her head and began building energy into her sword. When both blades glowed blue, she unleashed two ferocious swings to her side, sending blue waves at a rock and obliterating it. Asuna gasped.
"The ability to store and release your energy as attacks." Anusa said. Asuna looked at her sword.
"I've taken your sword and gave it a little tweeking. It is now built to handle exactly what I have just shown you. Now, all you need to do is focus your energy on a single spot in your blade and then....swing." Anusa said. Asuna nodded and tried to do it.
"Focus....focus." she thought. In her mind, she pictured a glowing blue sphere. She figured that must've been the signal and swung. Her swing fired the same blue streak that Anusa had fired, but to a more smaller degree. But when it struck a rock, it dealt the same destructive damage. Anusa was shocked.
"In....Incredible. Your power....it's....I had NO idea you had all that force inside you." Anusa said. Asuna chuckled.
"Well, thank my training with my friend Negi for that. So, I think I got the hang of this. What's next?" Asuna asked. Anusa scoffed, then chuckled and shook her head.
"Someone is sure eager to learn." Anusa said. Back at Mahora Academy, Negi was relaying everything he had learned with Jennifer's help to the dean and Takahata.
"So....Asuna HAS left the academy." Takahata said. Negi nodded.
"Yes. I'm afraid that's all we know so far." Negi said. The dean stroked his white beard.
"A woman with long silver hair suddenly appears, offers Asuna the chance to find her family....and they both vanish without a trace. This sounds like the use of TIME magic." the dean said.
"So then...Asuna is no longer in our time?" Negi asked.
"That's what I can assume. Perhaps we should get in touch with Lingshen. With her knowledge of space and time, she MIGHT be able to help us find Asuna." the dean said. Takahata asked how that could be done, since Lingshen lived years ahead of them.
"Oh. I can use this." Negi said, taking out a strange phone from his jacket. It was given to him by Chao before she left for the future again last Christmas. She left it so he would be able to contact her. Negi opened the phone, placed it against his ear and waited for her to pick up.
"Hello? Lingshen? It's me, Professor Negi. We are having a bit of a problem here and we would request your assistance." Negi said. Suddenly, a portal flashed open behind him and when he turned around, there was Chao.
"Sorry I'm late. Stupid time travel isn't like it used to be. So...what can I do?" Chao asked. Negi, shocked by her quickness, hung up the phone before telling her exactly what happened. Hearing the description of Anusa, Chao had a feeling she had seen her somewhere before. But back at the training hall, Asuna was trying a new ability and was constantly failing. Anusa, on the other hand, continued to bend time around her feet and ride it like a rail.
"Come on Asuna! Don't give up! You'll get the use of using time rails. You'll see!" Anusa shouted. Asuna groaned and sat back up.
"I can do it. I can do it!" Asuna thought. She charged ahead of herself and leaped up.
"Time rail! Open!" Asuna shouted. Her hands glowed blue and a rail formed beneath her. She hopped on it and continued to focus her energy on the rail. It continued to grow, going in whatever direction Asuna wanted it to go.
"Huh? Hey! Ha ha! Look! I'm doing it!" Asuna shouted. Feeling a bit cocky, Asuna started to ride her rail on one foot and on her hands, humoring Anusa.
"You're doing wonderful Asuna! You may not even need ten days to master your skills!" Anusa called. Asuna laughed and continued riding on her rail, unknowing she stupidly led herself into a rock wall and slammed into it face first. Asuna groaned and slid down the wall, landing with a thud.
"That is....if you stop showing off." Anusa chuckled. Asuna groaned and rubbed her face, showing a bid red mark on her face.
"Well, what now?" Asuna asked. Anusa sighed.
"Don't get too overconfident Asuna. You STILL need to practice sometimes." Anusa said. Asuna chuckled and got back on her feet, dusting herself off and saying she could handle these new powers.
"Yes. Yes. We'll see how you are AFTER training is complete." Anusa said. Meanwhile, back in the current time, Lingshen had just finished a new prototype time travel device for Negi. It appeared the same as her pocket watch, small enough for Negi to hold.
"All right. Now this should be able to allow you to step through the time stream to whatever time you need to. All you do is enter it here and....voila. There you go." Chao said. Negi looked at the device as the other girls looked on.
"But....how is THIS gonna help find Asuna?" Chisame asked. Chao smirked.
"I HOPED one of you would ask that. Thanks to the data I collected from Jennifer and the professor, I've programmed a simulated aura that should be an exact match of Asuna." Chao said, bringing the screen up on the watch.
"If you home in on this signature, you'll home in on Asuna no matter WHERE she is in time." Chao said. She turned it on, but the locator showed no sign of Asuna.
"Nice. It doesn't work." Natsumi sighed.
"Don't worry Lingshen. It IS a prototype after all." Chizuru said. Kotaro sighed, thinking this was a waste.
"But...I don't get it. No matter what time period Asuna is in, it HAS to show her somewhere!" Chao shouted. Evangeline sighed.
"Honestly, why do most of our troubles recently have to be time related?" Evangeline asked.
"I believe that is how things just are Master." Chachamaru said. Lingshen took the clock from Negi and scratched her head.
"Stupid thing. It SHOULD be working." she thought. The day progressed on as Chao worked on the time device and Asuna just finished her training. She warped back to her room, exhausted to her core. She walked over to the bed before falling flat on her back.
"Hard day of training?" Chupa asked. Asuna sighed.
"Heh. Don't mind me. I'm just.....I'm just....whew." Asuna sighed, suddenly passing out. Chupa gasped and feared she had fainted. But upon close inspection, he found that Asuna had really just fallen asleep.
"Oh. She's just sleeping. PHEW!" Chupa sighed. Anusa was in the large central chamber, examing something on the monitor. It was showing the fluxing time stream, but the readings continued to rise and drop.
"No. It's starting. Time is beginning to come apart at the seams." Anusa thought. She continued to watch the energy spike.
"I have to get Asuna ready sooner. But....will she be able? Will she be able to easily let go of her human ties? I....I don't know how I'm going to be able to help her through that." Anusa thought. Meanwhile, in another distant location, far from Mahora Academy and the Havenly Chronos, a strange station was floating in the middle of space also.
"Well, looks like my worms are starting to take effect after all. With the time stream starting to slip apart, it'll be time SOON enough. But first.....robots! Laundry duty! NOW!" a voice bellowed. Another voice sighed.
TO BE CONTINUED...
