Going Rogue

Chapter 4

Disclaimer: For a disclaimer, look to chapter 7.

[Note: italic speech can refer to spell incantations, or dialogue from an unseen location/source, or (possibly) other things as the story goes on.]

There was instant disorder in the class when Izumi came into the room, answering the question of why Makie hadn't shown up to school for the first day of term. Cries of concern were flung about just as quickly as quickly crafted theories of what had happened to her. Among the fantastically varied theories involving space ships, underground lizards, and mafioso blood drives, one in particular seemed to ring out to him. "Vampire."

Thinking about it now, there were several 'legends' he had heard his students gossiping about, back before the exams. Maybe dismissing them with the rest of Mahora's seemingly-inexhaustible rumor mill wasn't such a good idea, after all? And why did 'vampire' sound so strangely familiar in his head—was there something he was forgetting…

"Hey, Negi-kun!" He jumped out of his thoughts, noticing his red-haired roommate standing next to him, a look of concern on her face. "Are you okay? You look a bit off."

"Y-yes, Asuna-san, I'm fine." He said, realizing that more and more of the class had dissolved into a shout-fest trying to disseminate what could have happened to their classmate. He grabbed a small ruler he kept around for times like these, sharply rapping it against the blackboard until the noise had died down to a level where he could be heard. "Alright class, I know you're all worried about Sasaki-san, and believe me, I am too. However, class is still going on! The infirmary has visiting hours, so we'll be able to see her after class is over."

A general assent rumbled forth from the collected students, who went back to their seats to resume their lesson. Waving off an apology from Izumi who had inadvertently started the whole clamor, he caught Yue giving him a questioning stare. He gave a subtle shrug, mouthing "after class", which she returned with a nearly imperceptible nod. The class went on as usual, if not somewhat less productive from their worried states. The small exchange between the two went unnoticed by almost everyone, save for a suspicious pair of mismatched eyes.

Negi quickly made his way to the infirmary after class, beating most of his students to the ward she was still asleep in. Seeing her still form under the light blankets, Negi was somewhat worried when he took a peak towards her chart. While normally anemia would be a perfectly reasonable explanation as to why Makie would suddenly pass out… Negi and every other competent mage knew what it meant when those symptoms of anemia inexplicably vanished. Just to be sure, he gently placed two fingers on the side of the girl's neck, feeling for any residual magic.

"So what's happened to her?"

Negi nearly jumped at the voice coming from behind him, grateful at least it was someone he wouldn't have to try to explain away his curious actions to. "While the traces are very faint, the taint of vampiric magic is very distinct. There's no mistake about it, Yue-san. There's a vampire somewhere on campus."

"That sounds… troublesome. But she wasn't actually hurt, was she?"

Turning from the bed, he noticed she looked completely out of breath. "Did you run all the way here? And no, whoever attacked her was careful about how much blood they took. Give her a month and her body will have purged any lingering taint."

"You might want to be a bit more inconspicuous in how you use your magic, Negi-sensei. If the rest of class didn't have such absurd athletic ability they might have found it a bit weird that a ten year old sprinted across three school buildings faster than they could." She said, catching her breath.

At that moment, the door to the hall burst open again, this time revealing a gasping Haruna, followed by a similarly ragged Nodoka. "So?" she breathed, "Did we guess right?" Yue gave a short nod in response. "Yes! I knew it would be a vampire! 3-H and 3-D all had too similar stories for it to not be true." She paused for a moment, before looking to her teacher with an excited grin. "So are you going to fight it, huh? I mean, that's why they have you on the campus, right? To deal with crazy things like this? Oh, won't it attack tonight, too?"

Negi blinked at the onslaught of questions. "Wait, you said two other classes had similar stories to this? When did those attacks occur?"

"Last night and the night before!" She said with a squeal, "So of course it's gonna happen tonight! Can you just dump holy water on it or something? Or is that just movie stuff? Oh, and can we watch, too?"

"Ah, well…" Negi looked off to the side, "I suppose I am going to need some way of finding out where the attack will come from…"

"Negi-sensei!" Nodoka spoke up, "One common element in the rumors from other classes and what happened to Makie-san is that they were all found unconscious at Sakura Lane."

"Really?" he muttered almost to himself, "I suppose that'll make things simple. But then to lure it in I'd need bait, and I can't put an innocent bystander in danger."

"Um, I can do it!" Nodoka said suddenly, raising her hand like she was answering a question in class.

"What? No, I couldn't ask you to do that!" Negi said, surprised she would say something like that.

Looking to her friends for support, he was dismayed to see Haruna with a hand contemplatively rubbing her chin. "Wouldn't that be a pretty good idea, Negi-kun? We already know about magic, so you don't have to involve anyone else… and didn't you mention back at the Island that you could make those teleportation things?"

He hadn't told her how much they cost, though… Well, unless he dipped into that stock he kept for situations like this. "I think that could work, I'd just need to adjust the parameters of the release so they would release upon physical, rather than magical interaction..." He continued to mumble to himself, thinking through the modifications he could make to his tags for non-magic user compatibility.

"Well, that settles that!" Haruna proclaimed, clapping Negi on the back while he was lost in his thoughts and ushering her shorter friends out the door. "We'll meet you at the history building at sunset, don't be late!"

Looking up, he cried out, "Hey, wait! I haven't agreed to anything!" But his words fell only on the creaking door of the hospital room, where several of his other students were beginning to emerge. Negi sighed, "Can't let my guard down around that girl." Waving to her fellow athletic friends and assuring them that she would be right as rain in a day or two, Negi resignedly walked back to his room to pull out his inscription set again. He should probably pack light for this—no sense in tipping off the magically-sensitive creature with his veritable armory of artifacts. Still, he couldn't help but feel a small shiver of anticipation as he walked down the campus's streets. This was what he'd been training for, when he could finally test how far he had come since that night…

And more importantly, that monster had attacked one of his students, and safe or not, it was going to have to face the consequences. He didn't know how it managed to get past the academy wards, but he'd make sure to send it right back!

"This is 'Leek', testing 1-2-3, come in 'Bookstore.' Over."

"This is Bookstore, you're loud and clear, over."

"Is Bookstore in position, and bookmark ready? Over."

"Affirmative to both. Radio silence now. Over."

"Understood, over."

Glancing up from the small transponder kit, Negi gave a questioning glance to an eager-looking Haruna. "Where did you get military-grade walkie-talkies and earpieces from, exactly?"

Barely able to discern his form in the dark, she replied, "Chao was having a rummage sale, and we had to get a set anyway for club activities."

He recalled the enigmatic Chinese girl, whose preferred mode of transportation was what appeared to be a pair of rocket-powered rollerblades, and decided he could accept that. He hunched down a bit more as a wind cut through the roof he, Haruna, and Yue were all currently lying prone on. With a bit of enhancement, he could just barely make out the figure walking down the beginning of Sakura Lane, and readied himself to spring into action. "You two remember what to do?"

"I activate the wide-range illusion tag the moment Nodoka gets here," Yue replied, "and I get ready to grab Paru's arm if something goes wrong."

"Where I grab onto Nodoka and activate the emergency escape talisman!" Haruna finished.

"Right." Negi said, nodding his head sharply. "And don't forget the panic phrase; keep a hand on that too. Stay sharp, it's almost showtime."

Feeling the cold chill in the air, Negi wrapped his coat tightly around himself, careful not to dislodge the various objects he had strapped beneath it. He grinned ruefully—to him, packing light still meant carrying more firepower than the average mage had in their armory.

He let out a small hiss, feeling a sudden heat on his forearm. Looking down, he saw a faint coal-red glow from beneath his sleeve. "Perimeter's been breached," he murmured to them, "It'll be any second now."

The seconds seemed to drip by now, Negi's entire body tensed for action—it was almost a relief when the he noticed the world blurring before his eyes, the tell-tale sign a transportation spell was about to activate. He unconsciously brought a hand to rest on his chest as he began a quiet chant, imagining he could feel the thin scrap of paper securely attached beneath his magically-reinforced jacket and shirt, glowing in synchrony with the one sticking out of Nodoka's book.

He thought it was pretty clever; linking the two teleportation talismans together with a drop of blood, keyed to one another's activation. He quickly shut his eyes now, all-too familiar with the disorientation that would occur with a sudden change of visual stimuli, until at once he felt the air around him change, his feet touch unfamiliar ground.

Snapping his eyes open, he trained his sight on a black-cloaked figure that already was recoiling from its sudden change of prey. With his staff held behind him, he raised his open palm at the assailant.

"Sagitta Magica: Aer Capturae!"

From his hand burst eleven lances of wind, bending and twisting on their way to the retreating vampire. Opening with a binding spell seemed fair, given that the monster had retained enough of its wits to avoid lethal harm to its victims. And enough to actually dress like a stereotypical vampire, he noted with a touch of amusement.

He saw it reach for something in its robes, throwing several small objects that glinted in the streetlights, before they exploded into a sheet of ice the wind arrows impacted against, shattering both in a flurry of impacted ice. Negi's eyes widened; normal vampires didn't have this kind of magical ability!

With that realization, he barely had time to react as a large chunk of ice came hurtling out of the crystalline fog, just managing to shout "Deflexio!" as the power behind the projectile drove him back several feet. "Just… just what are you?" He called out, panting from the momentary exertion.

A cold chuckle emerged from the icy mist, which, much to Negi's worry, wasn't dissipating like he was expecting it to. "What? Don't tell me after three months, you still can't recognize your students? Negi-sensei?"

A chill crept through him at those words, wordlessly swiping his staff forward to ward the mist away with a gust of wind to reveal a surprisingly diminutive figure. The wind incidentally also blew the decidedly-female vampire's hat away, blowing long blonde tresses behind her.

"E…Evangeline-san?" Wait, all this time he had a vampire in his class? And why did that name sound so familiar?

He realized he would have to think about it later, as she lazily responded, "The one and only, Evangeline McDowell." Making a mocking curtsy with her cape, she continued, "And you are Negi Springfield, Mahora middle school teacher, and more importantly: son of that damned Thousand Master!"

Great, so his opponent was a vampire, a mage, and had a grudge against his father? He did his best to keep his nerves from showing. "Great, so you've heard of my father too—just like every other magical being on the planet."

She gave a disdainful snort, "'Heard of him'? Boy, I'd known him for months before he abandoned me!"

"What?!" Negi said. Up till now he only had second-hand information about his father—reports scrounged from the MagiNet, or insubstantial anecdotes on backwater forums. Someone, or some government, more like, had done a thorough job in suppressing what information there was on the net. Now there was someone who claimed to know him personally? "How did you know him?"

"Heh, so eager to talk to me now? I'll tell you about your father, boy, if you can catch me!"

And with that, she flitted up into the night, seemingly using nothing more but her own cape. After gaping again at the casual display of such advanced magic, he brought his staff underneath him and took off in pursuit. After making it out of the treeline, he almost jumped as a voice crackled to life in his ear.

"Leek, this is Ink! Are you pursuing? Over!"

Taking a moment to find the talk button, he replied, "Affirmative, our vampire's more powerful than I thought. Pursue if you want, but get out of there if you even think she's noticed you! Over."

"Wait, 'she?'"

"I'll tell you later. Over and out."

He caught sight of the vampire—his student out over an open park. He reached back with a free hand, feeling out which elementally-tuned staff of the three strapped behind him he was looking for. Pulling his arm back, he admired for a moment the dark ebony rod, tapering at one end and with a large black orb suspended in place just above its tip. He slowly centered the orb over her, making sure the shot would count.

"Rastel Maskil Magister: Nothing can resist its force! Even the stars must fall from the eternal heavens! Cadere!"

The black orb began to crackle with a purple light, as far off into the field a circular section of earth suddenly flattened: grass, stray branches, even a lamp post was crushed into the yielding dirt. And with it impacted a tiny shrieking vampire. Negi almost winced as he put the spent staff back in its holster; he really didn't know how strong the gravity staff was, though the price he had to pay for it had implied it wasn't anything to sneeze at. Maybe he'd gotten a little too caught up in what she said about knowing his father?

Then again, there was that enormous ball of ice hurtling his way that seemed to say otherwise. He jerked sideways, able to feel the chill of the spell as it passed by inches from body. He looked back down to where his opponent had hit the earth, and was almost unsurprised to find only a layer of slightly melted snow. It seemed like ice was this one's specialty.

He was proven dangerously right when he heard the tinkling of broken glass from behind him—specifically, in the spot where the now-hollow ice sphere fell down to the earth. "Jaculatio Grandinis!"

Negi cursed to himself, recognizing the elemental spear spell. Deliberately rolling off his broom to quickly get out of the air and free his concentration, he turned back towards the sky and began to silently manipulate the wind around the dozens of icicles descending above him. His face was the picture of concentration as he created small, devious currents around the blades of ice; certainly, while spears provided a much greater mass and damage potential compared to arrows, one unfortunate liability was the inability to control their trajectory once cast. Now, one directly above him seemed to veer slightly off course, gently nudging one next to it out of place. Another cracked slightly as it hit at another, which hit another, and another…

Negi had just enough time to prepare a cushion of wind for himself when the hail of frozen javelins destroyed the already-hardened ground with a vicious crash. Three hidden onlookers gasped in shock as they spied what had occurred from their vantage point—at least until the smoke began to clear. For in an untouched ring of dirt surrounded by a forest of spears stood Negi, dusting himself off and looking as smug as could be. Which, for a ten year old kid, looked rather adorable.

"Well, well, well…" Evangeline's amused voice seemed to emanate from every surrounding icicle, Negi quietly summoning his treasured staff to him in a defensive position. "It looks like our little teacher is stronger than he looks! That's a pretty rare artifact you've got there, boy. But it still won't be enough."

A chill raced through Negi, feeling it was a bad idea to stay where he was, jumping on his staff just as he heard the all-too familiar sound of breaking glass against the ice pillars. From each column erupted a series of spikes, several of them clipping his legs before he could shoot out of the way. The force from the blows knocked him off his staff, but luckily also clear of the ring of spears as he roughly tumbled down to the ground. "Ugh…" He tenderly sat up, feeling the rips and tears going through his pants. Good thing he inscripted a bit of structural reinforcement on the cloth—it was going to be a pain to heal his legs just as they were.

"Awww, can't even stand up now?" A mocking voice said from behind him. "And without your staff to fly away, too. I've been waiting fifteen years for this moment!"

Good, it looked like she hadn't noticed his ring yet. He slowly brought that hand underneath him, hiding it and reaching for a pocket with a few choice talismans to use… only to find that they had been ripped to shreds escaping that last spell. Well, damn. He didn't think he could snap out an entire incantation before she used another catalyst potion, which made most of his casting useless. It was strange, despite her incredible skill with them, using potions seemed to be all she could do with the amount of magical power he sensed from her. Perplexed, and trying to buy time, he asked, "How is it that you have such skill with your spells, but have to rely on potions for the power behind them?"

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say, given how she suddenly looked a lot less mischievous and a lot more murderous. "You really want to know…" she began quietly, "You really want to know why I have so little magic… why I can barely use the most simple of spells… Why I can't even fly without the full moon out?" Her voice was slowly rising in volume as she continued, Negi becoming seriously unnerved at the display. "Why I can't even leave this damn campus? You want to know why I've been stuck in this hellhole surrounded by babbling idiots for the past fifteen years?! Because of the Thousand Master!"

She almost spat his title out, Negi flinching as she casually stepped on him, causing his legs to flare up in pain again. She switched back to a more controlled tone, now. "Your father managed to put a curse on me, and then he disappeared before he could lift it, leaving me to languish around this godforsaken school for more than a decade. But…" She gave him a hungry look, causing him to shiver. "With his son's blood, I'd be able to break the curse myself!" Leaning down, she gave him an almost regretful look. "Sorry, but with your size and the amount of blood I need, you're going to have to die."

"Wait!" Negi squeaked as she was lowering her fangs to his neck. "Don't I get any last words?"

She gave him an annoyed look. "Fine, but make it quick. And if I hear an activation key you'll be dead before you finish it."

He shivered, knowing she'd have no problem doing just that. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves, before adjusting his jacket with his free hand. A muffled static momentarily emitted from the collar of his cloak, causing Evangeline to blink confusedly. Negi smirked triumphantly at the blonde before saying, "Ink, get me outta here."

"Roger."

Immediately he saw the world grow hazy, a shocked expression on the girl's face the last thing he saw before he suddenly found himself staring up at the bright night sky. Blinking away the sudden vertigo, finally let out an enormous sigh of relief. "Good timing, Haruna. I was just about to eat it there."

At those words he was mobbed by a concerned Nodoka, and a slower-approaching Yue. "Negi-sensei, you're hurt!"

With the adrenaline fading, Negi was becoming much, much more aware of that fact now. "Yeah, she nearly got me with that last spell of her."

"Sensei," Yue said, "Just who was it that you were fighting? She looked around your size with blonde hair, but that was all we could make out from the distance."

"Hey, yeah!" Haruna added in, "You two were talking like you knew each other! Do you know her from the magical world or something?"

"…You know, I think I might have actually seen her picture somewhere before, that might be why I felt like I already met her. But no, I recognized her because she's part of my class."

Smiling at their stupefied faces, he continued. "The 'Vampire of Mahora' is actually none other than Evangeline McDowell. Oh, and she's an evil mage too. Speaking of which, we should get out of here; I don't want to find out if she can track teleportation."

"But your legs, sensei…" Nodoka said. Looking down he saw that some blood was starting to seep its way through the soft fabric. Wow, he got hit worse than he realized.

"Do you still have the set of talismans I gave you, Haruna-san?" Seeing her nod, he said, "Pick out the one that's got a circle made of red ink in the center, I can use that one for healing."

Accepting the slip of parchment, he placed it over his chest before flooding it with magical energy. The runes on the tag began to glow a pinkish red, pulsing in time to his heartbeat as they sank down and disappeared into his skin. After several seconds, his legs begin to emit that same dull glow in stripes roughly matching where his pants were torn open. Slowly the glow receded, leaving behind pink, but intact flesh behind.

"Wow…" Haruna said, thoroughly impressed. "How much can you heal with something like that?"

"That's around all I can do at my level, actually." Negi admitted. "Surface wounds, bruising, and moderate burns—but the downside is that the spell almost parasitically draws power from around the affected area to heal it, leaving it weak for some hours after. It's the most effective tag of that sort I can make right now."

"So what does that mean, basically?" Haruna asked, not really sure what to make of the magic-babble.

"Well, um… that I won't be able to walk well for the rest of the night. Could one of you help me up?" Negi asked sheepishly.

"In that case, I'm sure Nodoka would be happy to help!" Haruna said excitedly, practically pushing her on top of him. "Right?"

"I-if it's alright with you, Negi-sensei!" She said, offering a hand quickly accepted by the exhausted teacher.

"You've all been to Asuna's dorm before; I'll be able to walk from there."

Hefting her teacher up was proving to be a difficult task for the young librarian. "Ah, Yue, could you get the other side, please?"

"Hm? Oh, sure." Yue managed to put his arm around her shoulder while still keeping a good grip on her juice box with her hand, and they all slowly made their way back to the girl's dormitories.

"Doesn't this kind of remind you of that one time in club training?" Haruna asked around halfway through their trek.

"You mean the time the carabiners broke when we were exploring level two?"

"I remember that; you sprained your ankle after you fell three cases down!"

"Yep! Man, I was never more relieved that the club had finished the overnight infirmary by then. Having to carry someone all the way back to dorms is a pain!"

"Says the person who's not doing anything…"

Negi gulped nervously. "The more I hear about the Library Exploration Club the more dangerous it sounds. Are you sure they should allow middle schoolers to be doing that sort of thing?"

"It's comparable to mountain climbing," Yue explained, "depending on how old you are, there's a limit on how far you can go down."

"Except these mountains are covered in booby traps." Haruna added.

"True." Yue admitted. "This is your door, Negi-sensei?"

"Ah, so it is." Leaning out of Yue's shoulder to open the door, he said, "Have a good night, you three! And don't try to confront Evangeline about anything! It's much safer if she doesn't know who you are."

"You can count on us!" Haruna said, snapping a salute. After they all chimed "Good night!" he finally made it to his bed, performing a rather graceless roll onto it, hoping he hadn't knocked down anything important on his desk below. Tomorrow he'd have to deal with having a murderous vampire in his class… but for now he was content to sleep away the ache in his legs.

Negi stared at the classroom door. On one hand, he probably wouldn't be a teacher very long if he was truant to his own class… and on the other hand, he couldn't be a teacher anyway if he was a bloodless husk. How did he manage to not notice there was an evil vampire-mage amongst his students, anyway?

Taking a deep breath and flinging open the door, he suddenly recalled the reason: that's right, she never shows up to class. Near the back of the class there was an almost-perpetually empty seat which Negi had almost grown accustomed to glancing over. He always meant to have a word with her about it, but always managed to get wrapped up in his students that had exam scores even lower than hers.

Although, thinking about it, if he was forced to repeat same year of school over a dozen times, he would probably lose some enthusiasm for it, too.

His class went surprisingly calmly—or at least, as calmly as 3-A could manage. Everyone had managed to throw together a sign, balloons, and snacks for an impromptu "Welcome Back Makie!" party, which was the only ruckus the class caused over the course of the day.

The only indication that Negi had fought for his life last night were the occasional glances he could see the Library Explorers give to the empty desk, as well as occasional worried looks to him. Haruna, over his grumbled protests, took it upon herself to start making a comic depicting "The breathtaking battles of the boy mage and the evil vampire!", which would probably be the most accurate depiction of magical combat to be sold in the Old World.

"Come on, Negi-kun!" She pleaded, "It's not like I'm putting your names in there or anything! Look, you've even got black hair; how's anyone supposed to be able to tell it's you?"

After much haggling and negotiations, Haruna finally walked away victorious, provided she got his approval on the chapter first… and gave him a twenty percent cut of the profits. He figured if she was going to be selling the series at conventions, the 'source material' should get some of the credit, right?

Yes, Negi was having a very relaxing day, which meant when one of his students burst into his office (really, their dorm room, but the Headmaster promised he'd have one eventually) wearing nothing but a robe and claiming a wild animal was loose in the bath house stealing people's clothes, he just sighed and asked if anyone was hurt yet.

"So Kakizaki-san, was there anything in particular you can describe about the animal? How big, its color, that sort of thing?" The two were quickly making their way to the indoor bath, while Negi tried to get an idea of what kind of weirdness he was up against this time. As long as Hakase wasn't involved, he was confident there wouldn't be too much damage to clean up. He warned her very clearly the next time one of her "creative" designs malfunctioned he wasn't going to try to shut it off first.

"Let's see…" She said, tapping a finger to her chin, "I didn't actually see it, but everyone was saying that it was really small and white. Some people said it was a weasel actually, but I don't think they steal things like that."

Wait, a little white weasel that went around causing perverted mayhem? Was that who he thought it was? "Alright, I think I know just what it is you're talking about; if you'll excuse me, Kakizaki-san, I need to discipline a rodent."

With that he took off like a shot, leaving behind a startled cheerleader in his wake. "I swear, all those years and it's like nothing changed," he grumbled to himself, "and of all the times he can show up… actually, maybe this is good. He might have some advice on dealing with Evangeline." With that thought in mind, he entered the scene at the baths, which was, predictably, one of complete chaos.

He arrived just in time to see Asuna almost nonchalantly bat a furry blur up and out of the open-air enclosure with a stool. "And stay out!" He heard her yell, before she turned to regard the new arrival. "Eh? Negi-kun, what're you doing here?"

"Kakizaki-san came to me saying an animal was stealing everyone's clothes here." He said simply, while muttering a quick "Locate" under his breath to find out exactly where his wayward familiar was.

Asuna nodded, "The damn thing was snatching them right out of our baskets! I don't think it'll be coming back anytime soon, though." She grinned, brandishing the stool while several other classmates cheered, "That's our Asuna!"

"Well… if you've got it under control, I'll be going then." He said quickly, not really liking being in a room full of his barely-clothed students.

"Hold it, brat!" She said, shooting out her arm and catching his head in a vice-like grip. "You haven't been skipping out on baths again, have you?"

"Of course not!" He said, affronted, trying to pull her hand away, "Honestly, it was just that one time!"

She brought him in closer against his ineffectual struggles to take a sniff. "…Alright, you pass. For now. But don't think I won't stop checking!"

Negi rolled his eyes as broke away from her. "Yes, mom!" Finally able to take a breath of fresh air, he concentrated on the results of his location spell. "Location undetermined, huh… And with such a short ping, too. Wonderful." He never really liked it Chamo laid on the perversion too thick, and Chamo knew it just as well. He supposed the little ermine was waiting for him to cool off a bit before he showed up.

There hadn't been many orders for his tags recently; he might as well just relax for now. He ascended another flight of stairs to an outdoor viewing deck, only to find some students were already using it. Just the student he wasn't expecting to see, today.

"Hello, Evangeline-san, and Karakuri-san." He said guardedly, keeping a hand ready to grab his staff. Chachamaru quietly bowed in return, while Evangeline rolled her eyes.

"No need to be so tense, boy—I'm not attacking you today. Look," she said, pulling back her gums to reveal completely normal canines, "That curse is tied in with the moon cycle. Even if I bothered, I wouldn't be able to drain you until the new moon. So you've got nothing to worry about… for a few weeks."

Negi slowly nodded before throwing a questioning glance at the green-haired girl beside her. "And it's okay to be saying all that?"

"Oh, you mean Chachamaru? She knows about magic—it would be a little difficult for her not to, really."

"Right." Negi said, not quite understanding what she was getting at. "I'll just be going then. Oh, and stop ditching my class!" He called out, walking back towards his room. Looked like he wouldn't have to worry about his "problem student" for the time being—not that he wasn't going to go straight to the headmaster and get him to take care of it.

"Hey! Negi-kun, did you find that rat?"

"Ah! Haruna-san." He said, turning around. "I'm afraid I haven't, but I'll catch him next time. Maybe-" He trailed off, hearing a familiar shriek through the corridors. "Was that…"

"Yeah, that was Nodoka." Haruna said with a bored look. "It happens every now and then; she's a bit of a scaredy cat when it comes to creepy-crawlies."

Negi stiffened as he realized something, "And we already have one animal running around…"

At his words, she already broke into a run, "That thing better not get into my clothes!"

Negi soon followed, dreading the disaster that was probably going to follow this confrontation. Rounding the corner and following through the still-open door, Negi glanced around the first dorm room he'd been in, or at least one that he wasn't already living in. The color scheme was muted and earthy; appropriate, he supposed, to the obvious reading atmosphere. One corner looked to have been claimed by Haruna given the art supplies strewn about, but everywhere else there were books everywhere: on shelves, tables, even stacks from the ground nearly as tall as he was! And in the center of it all was an overturned laundry basket, a terrified little librarian sitting on top.

"Haruna, you're back! Oh, and Negi-sensei too—Gah, the room's so messy!" She scrambled to straighten papers and arrange books around her, taking care to keep a foot weighing down on the small basket all the while.

"I take it the ermine's in there, then?"

She nodded. "I heard about what happened in the bath, so I went to the room and make sure the door was locked. And when I opened the door, it bounded in right in front of me! It was a good thing we had already set out the book basket, or I don't think I would've caught it."

Silently wondering exactly how many books the three girls borrow from the library to need a basket that big to carry them, he said, "Well, we'll know in a second if that's the ermine I think it is. Could you take your foot off for a moment Nodoka?" Giving the unsupported box a few kicks, he said, "Okay Chamo, you can come on out now."

Seconds later a corner of the box lifted the slightest bit, revealing a small inquisitive nose, before a furry white weasel darted out from the space, running up the leg of Negi's pants and settling down on his shoulders. "Long time no see, kid!"

Everyone seemed to freeze for a moment. "…Talking weasel." Haruna finally remarked, in a curiously blank voice. "A talking weasel. I should've expected that."

The ermine glanced around fitfully. "Hey kid, they know about magic, right? Didn't blow your cover or anything?"

Negi let out a long sigh. "No, I already blew it myself. They're the only ones that know, though, so keep shut with everyone else."

By that time Haruna had already taken out her cell phone and started rapidly dialing. "Hey, Yue! Yeah, come back to the dorm quick, you'll want to see this. Mm-hm, it's a Negi thing. See you in a bit." Putting away her phone, she said, "Alright, Negi-kun, where do you want to start with this one?"

Negi really couldn't help but be impressed by how well they were taking all this—reading books apparently does help coping with earth-shattering revelations. "I suppose introductions should be in order, then. Everyone, this is Chamo; for better or for worse," sending a side-along glare at him, "he's my familiar."

"Nice to meetcha!"

Lexicon Negimarum Falsum

Tuned Staff – While nearly all magical mediums: wands, staffs, rings, even mirrors and crystals, are created with the purpose of being able to channel nearly any kind of magic, there exist many other, specialized mediums throughout the magical world. One of these strange artifacts is the tuned staff. At odds with its general-use counterparts, a tuned staff is capable of converting ordinary magic power to elemental power of the highest degree. Bypassing the normal limitations of training to develop an elemental affinity, a tuned staff will allow even the most inexperienced of mages to cast elemental magic of the highest level—at least in theory. In all actuality, it is a slow process that turns a user's magic into elemental energy, which must then be stored in the staff itself to await use. Certainly it allows a mage to cast magic well above their normal capabilities, but that magic can be cast once a day, at most.

Cadere – "Fall" – The most self-evident force of the universe: gravity. Though not the strongest or most intricate of the forces, it is nonetheless a class of spell not to be taken lightly. It was not until the works of Kepler and Galileo became well-known throughout the worlds that gravity magic began to appear in ancient texts and obscure academic courses—magic is, after all, a means of circumventing natural laws as they are conceptualized at the time. A base understanding of what a spell manipulates is therefore necessary for its creation, since it would be impossible to change what one cannot even comprehend.

A/N: Well, this'll be the last of the 5-day updates. Classes are starting to pick up, so it'll roll back to around ~7-10 days. That, and chapters seem to get longer with each I post up.

So, there we have our first action scene! It's about time! Good, bad, needs improvement, etc. I'm interested in hearing what you thought of it! Now, I've got the general pace for this arc set, and on what to do for the chapters to follow. That's all for now, until next update!