A/N: Karai Natsume here. The week's ending, and Naea's already on his way back. He should be able to work more on his fics by Sunday.
A/N2: Ideas and themes in this chapter were also contributed by Sapphire Satari, and Divinecupid of the Heart.
At Evangeline's resort… Karai was lying on the ground, covered in bloody scratches. " Owww….."
" Heh. I barely even touched you with that attack," Evangeline said.
" Still hurt like hell," Karai said, getting up.
" Well. You're the one who went and asked if you could go against me."
" Okay, so I'm not the smartest person in the world. I got a little overconfident." Which, was really stupid, since I'm a beginner and… well… she could probably kill me with her eyes closed.
" Still want to fight me?," Eva asked.
" Nope," Karai answered. I have learned never to try that again… though… that attack did really hurt like freakin hell. " Hey. You know what I've noticed about you Evangeline?"
" What?," She asked.
Karai smiled. " You're around the same height Negi is!" She concentrated hard, and managed to pick up Evangeline with her telekinetic ability and throw her to the ground hard.
" Hey!," Evangeline yelled, jumping up. " What the hell was that for?"
" Revenge," Karai answered. " I don't like to lose."
" Cheap shot," Eva murmured. " Anyways. During the two days you've been here, which is two hours out there, you have improved. Though, it'll be a long while before you even come close to my level of magical power. So it wouldn't do you any good to challenge me again any time soon."
True, Karai thought to herself. But I figured that one out on my own real fast.
" Anyways, training is over for now.," Evangeline said. She turned to Negi who was standing not too far off. " Come boya. It's time to go."
He nodded. His attention hadn't really been on what Evangeline was saying for the past few minutes. It had been on Karai. During their last training session together, Karai had actually managed to get a few good hits on him. He was amazed at how well she was doing for a beginner.
After they left the resort, Evangeline told Negi that he was now free to go and do whatever it was that he did besides teach class. Then she called Chachamaru over to her.
" Karai, I want you to go to the store with Chachamaru and pick up a few things for me," Evangeline said.
" Why?," Karai asked.
" Because I said so!"
Karai shrugged. " Alright then."
Evangeline quickly made out a shopping list, and then handed it to Chachamaru. " Don't take too long, alright?"
Chachamaru nodded. And then the two of them left.
" So, how have you been Karai-san?," Chachamaru asked as the headed into town.
" Oh… um… okay I guess," Karai said, looking to the scratches covering her arms. Maybe I should do something about those later. " So, what's Eva want us to get at the store?"
" This list reads, 'milk, bread, tomato juice, a new toaster…'"
" New toaster?," Karai asked.
" Yes," Chachamaru said. " Master broke the old one."
" How?"
" She blasted it when it failed to work properly. She said that the toast was too crunchy."
" O-kay…" Karai said. That girl defiantly has anger issues… "Anything else on the list?"
"The last thing on the list is cookies," Chachamaru answered. " She has that one circled."
" Okay then," Karai said. Evidentially she also likes cookies.
Neither of them said anything for a while after that. Karai was content with looking at everything, and trying to get some sense of where certain things were. If she was going to be in that world for a while, knowing where things were would be…well, good to know.
" Hey Chachamaru-san!," Both of them looked ahead to see one of Chachamaru's classmates, Kazumi Asakura, and someone else coming towards them. The boy she had with her had messy black hair, and black eyes.
" Hello Asakura-san. Vast-san," Chachamaru greeted.
" Hey..," Kazumi said, taking notice of Karai. " Who's that? I haven't seen her around here before."
" I'm Karai Natsume," Karai answered. That guy with her… who is he? I've never seen him before in the Negima manga…
" Karai is from somewhere far away," Chachamaru said. " She's staying with the Master and I for a while."
" She's staying with you and Evangeline?," Kazumi asked. " Is that really safe?"
Chachamaru nodded. " Yes. Karai knows of the Master's… condition."
" Oh really?," Kazumi asked. " How?"
" We shall explain it to you later," Chachamaru said. " Right now we were on our way to the store to pick up a few things."
" Hold on Chachamaru.," Karai said. "There's something I want to know before we go on." She looked to Kazumi. " I know that you're Kazumi Asakura. But the person with you. Who's he?"
" Name's Vast," He answered.
" He's my boyfriend," Kazumi said.
" Really?," Karai asked. She has a boyfriend?
" Yeah," Kazumi answered.
" Vast and Kazumi have been together for a while now," Chachamaru said. " We really should be going now though Karai. You can find the two of them around campus and talk when we return. Master will get angry if we don't hurry."
" Hmm… I guess so," Karai said. " Well. It was nice meeting you Kazumi and Vast."
" Yeah. It was nice meeting you too," Kazumi said.
" Yeah. See you later," Vast said as he and Kazumi continued on their way.
Hmm… that's strange, Karai thought to herself as she and Chachamaru continued on towards the store. That's a difference from the Negima manga. I wonder if it means anything though? Maybe this world isn't exactly the same after all. I'm curious about this Vast guy though. Maybe I will talk to him and Kazumi more later on.
When Chachamaru and Karai arrived at the store, they headed to the appliance section to find a new toaster first.
" So what kinda toaster would she want?," Karai asked, looking at the shelve lined with toasters that they were now standing in front of.
" Preferably one that she won't blast to pieces in the near future," Chachamaru answered.
" That one says Toast-O-Matic," Karai said, pointing to the toaster. " What about that one?"
" That's the same brand of toaster that she blew up."
" Oh."
" Perhaps this one," Chachamaru said, grabbing a toaster off the shelf that said InstaToast on the side of it.
" Okay. That's settled then," Karai said. " Let's get the other stuff now."
Chachamaru nodded, and the two of them went through the store, getting the other things on Evangeline's list. When it came to the last item, cookies, however, there was a slight problem. Upon reaching the isle that cookies were supposed to be in, they noticed that all the shelves seemed to be bare.
" They couldn't have seriously sold out of that many cookies, could they?," Karai asked.
" I've just checked the shipment data for the store," Chachamaru said. " Apparently all brands except one have been recalled for a while." She walked to the very end of the isle, and managed to find at least one bag of cookies.
" Well. I guess we're stuck with that one then," Karai said. Though it's pretty odd that all of those cookies would be recalled at the same time. I wonder why that is.
Back at Evangeline's house… Evangeline was still impatiently awaiting Chachamaru and Karai's return. " What the hell's taking them so long? It's been twenty minutes! Why aren't they back yet?"
Note: Evangeline has never gone shopping…ever.
A few minutes later… Evangeline was pacing around angrily, thinking that Karai and Chachamaru must've blown off her request to go to the store, and went to do something else. They're probably hanging out with those other idiots! Or that damned brat Negi! He ruins everything!
When Eva heard the door opening, she instantly ran to it.
" We've returned Master," Chachamaru said.
" What the hell took you so long?," Eva demanded, swiping the grocery bag from Chachamaru. " It took you fifty minutes!"
" Well," Karai said. " First off, it takes time to GET to the store. Second, it takes time to get the items you wanted and pay for them. And third, it takes time to get BACK from the store. Shopping isn't something you can do in two seconds you know."
" Whatever," Evangeline said, now digging through the grocery bag. When she found the package of cookies, she opened them and started scarfing them down as fast as she could.
" Since when did Evangeline start liking cookies so much?," Karai asked.
" Since she first tried them about a week ago," Chachamaru answered.
" She just tried them a week ago?," Karai asked. This was something she couldn't believe. From what she knew, Evangeline had been around for over five hundred years now. How could the girl have never tried a cookie before?
" Chachamaru…," Evangeline said, taking another cookie from the bag. " These cookies have…an odd taste to them. What's in these anyways?"
Chachamaru took the package and read the label on it. Then, a look of panic spread across the robot girl's face. " Master, I would like to advise you to stop eating those cookies!"
" Why?," Evangeline asked, eating another one. " What's wrong with….." And then, suddenly, she fainted.
" Come on Karai!," Chachamaru said, grabbing Karai's arm and dragging her towards the door. " We must hide! Master might kill us when she wakes up!"
" Why?," Karai asked. And how exactly can she kill a robot anyways? Well.. I guess taking her apart counts.
Chachamaru showed Karai the label on the package of cookies. It read ' The newest cookie sensation! Garlic Cookies! Now with fifty percent more garlic!'.
" Oh, I get it now," Karai said. We basically poisoned her… " Yeah, we should probably hide!"
And so, the two of them ran out the door to find a place to hide so that Evangeline wouldn't be able to find them when she woke up.
A/N: This chapter was sorta random. But it was supposed to be. We'll get back to the more serious stuff next chapter. (Maybe.) And also, I must mention that Sapphire Satari came up with the name of this chapter, and that most of it was based upon a comic that she drew entitled 'The Mystery Cookie'.
