Disclaimer: This is a nonprofit fictional story, a FanFiction based on Ken Akamatsu's Negima. I do not own Negima, or most of the other characters included in this work, excepting where it is stated in the author's notes. It is not intended or presented for any commercial profit or personal gain; it is simply a story written for personal fulfillment and presented for public enjoyment, and as an honest homage to the fine story conceived and written by Ken Akamatsu, as well as all the other (innumerable) works that find place herein (and their authors).

Chapter Nine: Gonna Fly Now

"Kain-sensei?"

"Kain-sensei!"

"…Kain-sensei…?"

"WHERE IS HE!?"

"What's the fuss about?" Chisame demanded grumpily, emerging from her room.

A dozen pairs of eyes turned the girl's direction. "Kain-sensei!" insisted Kaoru. "We came by to, uh, check on him. He…didn't look like himself at the party last night…."

"He also never left Urahara's," Chisame informed them. "He was going to consult with him. He wants to spend today preparing for his fight tomorrow."

As the girls digested this information, Kiami put in, "Ah, Chisame-chan…you seem awfully aware of Kain-sensei's activities and nightly lodgings…."

"D-don't go imagining or suggesting weird things!" Chisame spat, red-faced. "He told Tokiha and me both about it before we left last night."

"Ah…so there were two girls he had to inform about his absence last night…my, my…."

"Really, you…!"

Even the excitable 3-A girls turned quickly from this comedy routine, however—they had almost become inured to Kiami's suggestive teasings. "Then is he still back at Urahara-san's?" Riku asked.

"I would assume so," Hinagiku hazarded. "Yes…even now, he won't take a break…I may have to have another talk with him…."

"You might want to spare him that," Erika advised her. "Right now…I think he has other, more important concerns…."

"Should we…go see him?" Akari asked. "I mean, I'm sure he…wouldn't mind a few sparring partners if he's looking to train, but…I'm almost afraid to…."

"What's the matter?" Kagome teased. "Can't face your student since it appears he's surpassed the master?"

"Ah, well…I was never a master to begin with…but Kain-sensei…yeah, I think he's way too far past me now…."

"Well, I'm going to go see Kain-sensei," Kazumi said determinedly, drawing looks of surprise. "I…well, if nothing else…I want to show him support…."

"Let us go," Rei agreed. "Perhaps now we can be no help to him. But we can, as Kazumi-san says, at least show our support." She turned to Chisame. "Will you be joining us, Chisame-chan?"

Chisame glared at her, then softened her expression and sighed. "All right, all right. I can tell that nothing I say is going to make any difference to you. We might as well go and make a damn class activity out of it, like we do everything else…."

8-8-8

The class stared at Kain as he stood out in the center of the strange, desolate landscape, flexing his power. While those glimmering white wings began to form behind him, he cast a multitude of spells, weaving magic after magic together and sending it hurtling into the air. Most of the watchers could conceive of it as nothing more than very impressive fireworks….

Kisuke observed the young man as he took a break from his spells. "Well, well, very impressive," he murmured. "But do you really think that that's going to work against Aiden…?"

Kain gathered another surge of energy into his hand and stared at it. "Well…not really. These are just warm-up exercises. There's a lot of work still to be done…."

"Is that so?" Erza asked, approaching with one sword in her hand. "Well, then…would you like to warm-up your swordsmanship with me this morning? I may be a meager swordswoman myself, but perhaps, if you are serious on training to surpass Aiden Rylack in a single day, my sword can help with your inspiration."

Kain stared at the woman in surprise, but a smile replaced this look quickly. "Thank you, Erza…I'll take you up on the offer. Right now…I need every edge I can get…."

He drew his sword, and Erza bowed to him. "Well, then…here I come." And she charged in.

Kain was quite surprised by Erza's speed and ferocity. She did not call on any of her exotic armors, but, using one of her 'normal' magic swords and little else, she fought with a deadly fervor that took Kain aback. He found himself quickly pressed, and was forced to respond with far more energy and effort that he usually liked for a simple 'spar'.

He quickly realized a terrible truth…Erza was the kind of person who absolutely did not know how to hold back. Hers was the kind of genius and brilliance that made her often ignorant to the situations of other people, and she had an honesty that transferred intensity to everything she did…even something as simple as a supposed training match.

Finally Kain was able to focus on the match more, and finally pressed and overwhelmed Erza, flattening her with one powerful attack.

Erza jumped back to her feet quickly, but seemed to take Kain's fierce reprisal as sign that the spar was over. "Truly exceptional! You really are amazing, Kain Lockeheart. I must admit it, you're quite a frightening young man…."

"I still don't think he's as frightening as you, though," Lucy remarked quietly.

"I don't know about frightening…even now, Kain just doesn't have real scary in him, no matter how powerful he gets."

Kain looked to the newly-arrived speaker and her dark-haired companion and smiled at the pair of them. "Mai…Momo. Good morning. Where have you two been…?"

"Sometimes girls need girl talk, Kain-sensei," Momo admonished him. "Don't pry too much, unless you want to find out things you'd really rather not know…."

"Fair enough…."

"So how's your training going, Kain?" Mai pressed. "Can we help at all?"

"Ah, good question…both of them. I'm just getting warmed up now. I'm really not sure how much farther I can go right now…I'm already about as powerful as I can imagine getting in strength, speed, sheer mana and power. I doubt I'm even Aiden's inferior when it comes to that. But against Aiden, a veteran fighter who will be prepared for virtually every contingency…I can't rely on any normal means. I'm going to have to come up with some sort of trump card to top him…."

"Really, now!? That's just nonsense! For someone like you, there's only one way to go forward: you've got to have GUTS!"

"Really, Haruka-chan…."

Kain stared at the invaders who finished coming down Urahara's staircase. A mousy-looking glasses-wearing brown-haired woman in a regal suit-dress, and the larger, quite busty woman with the long dark blond hair in the more military green dress. Laughing behind them was a man he rather more clearly recognized, even though time had added twenty years to him since the 'movie' Kain had seen. Ricardo was the one who spoke: "Ah, excuse them, please, Kain-kun! Jean-Luc Ricardo, reluctant senator of Halteese, at your service! This young lady is my compatriot, Senator Yukino Chrysant, and this is her HiME, Haruka Armitage. We're, ah, not here in an official capacity, you understand…."

"That doesn't matter now," Haruka chided. "Well, the son of Kalan Lockeheart! You're a pretty amazing kid, but you can't stop where you are. You've got to go out and give that arrogant Aiden Rylack a thumping and take him down a peg or two! We'll help with your training, too, so don't worry about a thing!"

"Help with my training…?" Kain asked helplessly.

"Well, that's the offer, at least," Ricardo sighed. "Don't let Haruka-chan disturb you; she's good-hearted and skilled, if a little over-enthusiastic. But she also is telling the truth…we'd rather like to see you win that tournament, so some of us thought we might check out how you're doing and offer our aid. Don't dismiss us off-hand." He smiled and jerked a thumb at himself. "Haruka-chan's a Crown HiME, of course, and while I'm a senator now, I was a powerful fighter during the war, a brawler capable of going toe-to-toe with the Red Wings."

"They're not alone, either," Jade added, appearing from behind the man with the elder Overcast by his side. "His Majesty Peony couldn't make this meeting himself, but he gave Field Marshal Overcast and myself the burden of helping you in any way we could, as troublesome as it is."

"Goodness…so many forces joining together just to plot the overthrow of Aiden Rylack? Incredible…you'd think the man was unpopular or something…."

The others turned and parted to allow the new arrival to enter, flanked by her two swordsmen. Kain stared at her, recognition again bringing him to stunned awe. "You're…."

"Well, in this case, we should be official about it," Kamo chirped, appearing on Kain's shoulder. "May I present to you…her royal Majesty Queen Artoria Pendragon, Queen and ruler of the Chivalrous Kingdom of Avalon, also known as Saber of the Red Wings. With her are her first and second Knights of the Round, Cidolfus Orlandeau, and Leonhardt Raglan."

Artoria smiled at Kain. "Well…Kain Lockeheart, son of my friend Kalan…I'm glad I've finally gotten the opportunity to meet you. I've heard quite a lot about you, of course, particularly from your two students, Kaoru and Riku…." She finally turned to Erza, who was staring at her, wide-eyed and in disbelief. Nodoka had never seen Erza so shocked…and Lucy hadn't seen that look on her face since they had left the Tower of Heaven. "You are…."

"Y-your Majesty!" Erza declared, dropping to one knee in respect. "Y-you probably don't even remember someone as insignificant as me, but…!"

Artoria's surprised face turned into a warm smile, and she shook her head. "No, that's not true…I remember you quite well…Erza Scarlet…."

8-8-8

[There was an explosion, and the child cried out as she was sent sprawling. Nevertheless she quickly struggled to rise to her feet, but the black-cloaked mages began to close in on her. "Don't think you can escape from us, you little brat…do you know how much we suffered because of you stupid little slaves!? All those years of work, all the planning, everything…taken from us! And yet we're the lucky ones, since we escaped with our lives! You, however, aren't so lucky, having run into us here…."

The little girl stared up at them in defiance as she rose to her feet. The lead mage sneered her way. "Little twerp…take your punishment!"

As he brought his heavy club down on her, he was interrupted…a figure interposed and sent him flying. The little girl stared in shock at the figure in the blue dress and royal, fur-lined red cape. She had blocked the attack with her bare hand, and now, as the dozen black-robed figures observed her, she stood, confident and unmoving.

"Isn't this a bit hasty, your Majesty?" The girl turned and stared at the approaching figure, a yôkai with cloven hooves for feet, a large reptilian tail and a 'beard' of tentacles. "We are on foreign soil, after all…interfering in this kind of situation could be misconstrued…."

"Don't be ridiculous, Matta," replied the regal blond woman. "You can't expect me to see this kind of situation and not get involved."

"I believe our friend is merely doing his adjutant duty," answered another man, human, somewhat near middle-aged, walking up to join them. "Even if we're merely strangers, traveling here to the southern continent, and Fiore, for the Memorial Conference…we can't turn a blind eye to this kind of situation."

The dark mages had seemed to be hesitating, sizing up these interlopers, but now they were getting ready to make their attack. "Well, then," 'her Majesty' said. "Orlandeau, Matta, you stay back…it's been a while since I had to exercise my own skills, and this is a prime opportunity to take the rust off. Protect this girl while I go to work."

She stepped forward, and…changed. With a word of command, her clothing changed form, turning into a metal-plated battle dress, and a shining silver sword appeared in her hand.

"A Requip mage?" growled one. "One swordswoman isn't nearly enough. Let's get her!"

With that they charged in, and the battle maiden moved to meet them. The little girl stared in shock…she had never seen anything like it. The woman moved with grace and speed that she had never before witnessed, despite her heavy armor. Her sword danced through the air, cutting the mages down with ease. One by one they fell, all without landing a single blow on her.

"Oh, 'take the rust off'?" chuckled Orlandeau. "That could never happen…not to Artoria Pendragon, Queen of Avalon, and the finest of Arthur's line since perhaps the man himself. Even Requipping herself with a merely average sword and armor, she is more than a match for a hundred mages of this caliber…."

Artoria finished her work, shedding very little actual blood, instead using her talents to merely incapacitate most of her foes without effort. "That's done," she said. "Even if I interfere, I shouldn't cause too much of a fuss in another's land. We'll call the local authorities to sort this out…or let them call on their vaunted guilds to do it." She turned back to the three watchers, and, letting her armor and sword fade away, approached. She walked up to the little girl and kneeled before her. "Well, little one…who are you, and what are you doing here? Where's your family?"

She took in the girl as she looked away, a dark look of disgust or perhaps shame on her face. She was an older child, a few years yet removed from the maturity of the teenager, with short, dark red hair. A few bandages adorned her, including her right eye, which was completely covered, and her haggard dress consisted of little more than a rough and worn shift. "I don't have a family," she declared. "I…I don't have anyone…I'm just looking for something…."

"I see…what is your name? I am Artoria, although if you like, and it's easier, you could even call me Saber."

"Saber?"

"It's a name I've used before, an alias when I was a servant, merely a sword in the service of someone very dear to me. You?"

"…I'm Erza. Erza Scarlet." With the declaration of her last name, little Erza turned her face back to Artoria, and it took on a look of defiance and, really, strength. Apparently that name meant a great deal to Erza, and Artoria was impressed by the strength she saw in that face.

"Is that so? That's a nice name. Scarlet…it must be for your hair. It's a fine color…a little darker, but still quite like someone I know…an old friend. Well, young Erza Scarlet, where have you come from? What happened to you, and why were these people interested in you?"

Erza turned to look away again. "…I can't say."

Artoria considered her carefully. "…You don't know why they were after you?"

She remembered that blue-haired boy, the one she loved and hated, and his chilling threats. "I can't say!"

"I see. That's fine then. Can you tell me, at least, where you're going, and what you are bound to do?"

"I-I'm going to Fiore to find the Mage Guild, Fairy Tail."

"Fairy Tail? Really?"

"Yes…as I said, I have no home or family, but…someone very precious to me told me that if I ever found Fairy Tail, I would have a home and family with them…."

"Is that so…Fairy Tail, huh? Well, they're wild and undisciplined, but they do seem to be good people. You should do fine with them."

"Eh?" Erza looked up in surprise. "You…know Fairy Tail?"

"I've never had the fortune to really meet any of them personally, but I know their reputation…good and bad. And I know that they are an exceptional group that has done some great things…they even helped us out some back during the war those many years ago. Well, then…I'm a foreign monarch and I should already be heading back to my country, but I have a few friends here, and I can at least make arrangements so that you can travel safely to the city of Magnolia…there you can meet your 'Fairy Tail'…."]

8-8-8

('I've never forgotten,') Erza thought to herself. ('That shining, silver-and-blue knight…that guardian angel that saved my life…everything I've become is because of her….')

Artoria laid a hand on Erza's head. "You've grown into quite a fine woman, Erza Scarlet. I see you've done quite well for yourself, too, and you've not only found your precious Fairy Tail, you've risen to become one of its most prominent members. It's a pleasure to see you here like this. Please, stand, and stop being so formal…this is far too informal a gathering for standing on ceremony."

She turned back to Kain. "Excuse me for reminiscing with the young lady a bit, Kain. It's good to finally meet you…I've wanted to see you for so long, but, things being the way they are, I was always denied the opportunity. I couldn't do anything for either of your parents…I greatly regret that. So I swear that I will do all in my power that I will not fail the child of my two masters, no matter what…I, and Avalon, will give you all the help I can, Kain."

Kain tensed slightly. "My…parents…then…can you tell me…my mother is really…?"

Artoria shook her head. "I'm sorry. I can't say any more than that. I've said far too much already. We'd already decided amongst ourselves that we wouldn't tell you the whole story until you'd reached the age of manhood."

Kain cast his eyes down. "Yes…Aiden was saying the same thing." He raised his head again, a new light in his eyes. "If I manage to defeat Aiden…do you think that I will have earned that right…that I will be acknowledged as being one of 'full manhood'?"

Artoria stared in surprise for a second, then smiled. "…I see. Perhaps so. If that gives you another reason to win…well, then let's get to work on it, shall we? We have come here to help with that."

Leonhardt coughed. "Yes, speaking of which…the reason we've all come here. It seems that all of us were of like minds…we'd all like to see the valiant young 'Kalan Lockeheart' win his match tomorrow and defeat the famed Aiden Rylack. We've come here separately, but with that same purpose…to help you prepare to defeat him tomorrow."

Kamo laughed. "What a great group! You should feel really fortunate, Kain…with everything you've gotten, everything you've learned, you've been taught…in all of that, you've never really had the instruction of a true master at anything. Oh, you trained a lot under Alyssa, but she's a demon, and she just beat you down in order to make you stronger. You trained martial arts with Akari, but she'd be the first to admit she's no master. Jynx taught you a bit of magic, but only to pass on his own Gravity Magic, really. But here, you've got some real expert masters of combat—Ricardo and Haruka can teach you quite a bit of the rough-and-tumble of basic brawling, Lady Bird and her knights can give you some pointers in swordsmanship that you severely lack, and Four-Eyes over there and the other general are both master mages. You can pick up all the little things you need to smooth your edges…."

"That's right!" Ricardo agreed enthusiastically. "It'd be great to see that all-powerful idiot Aiden lose to someone other than Kalan!"

"Yes…but even so you only have one day, and even for a genius like you it would be a rather difficult thing to master all of these abilities and teachings enough to make a difference."

They all turned to the newest arrival, Mashiro, being wheeled in by Fumi…how she made it so easily and quietly down the stairs in that wheelchair was a mystery. Kain stared at her. "You…you're…."

"This is the first time we've met…I'm Mashiro Kazahana, and I run Garderobe Academy. All these masters can help you, but it'd be best if they had some time to do it in. I can help with that." She suddenly produced, from literally nowhere, a large globe filled with swirling clouds, about the size of a beach ball. She tossed it forward, where it stopped and hovered in mid-air. As those around stared into it, they could see the clouds parting to reveal some sort of miniature island within.

Kain recognized both its energy signature and its appearance. "This is…."

"You've already had some experience with this," Mashiro smiled. "You've trained with the 'Golden Angel' in her little 'resort'…this works on the same principle, but there's no comparison between the two. My little world here has no limit or requirement of stay—and the time acceleration is two hundred times normal. We can give you several more months of training."

Kain stared. Then he smiled slightly. "Of course…that much is more than possible…since you're really…."

"And one more, your first trump card…come here, please."

Surprised, Kain did so, walking up to stand in front of the child-owner. "Kneel," she instructed him, and he did so.

"What's this?" he asked cautiously as he stared nearly level at her smiling face.

"As I said, a trump card…as well as, shall we say, justice…? Kamo, if you would, please…."

Kain began to turn to the little rodent questioningly, but Mashiro suddenly reached out, grabbed his face, turned his head…and pulled him in to kiss him. Kamo's magic circle went off, bathing the two of them in the energy of the contract.

November 22nd, the day of the Final Round, 13:30 Orimus Standard Time.

Chibi-Neko-Chisame stalked around the globe, her arms crossed. She paced with agitation, glancing back at the mini-world every once in a while. Kamo was sitting on top of it.

"Gah!" Chisame finally spat. "Still not ready!?"

"Looks like he still needs time," Kamo replied.

"What could he be doing!? Artoria, Ricardo, Armitage, Curtis, the rest…they've already gone back to take their places and avoid suspicion! What could he possibly be doing without them!?"

"Chisame-chan! Kamo!"

The two turned to Lucy, Chibi-Neko-Mai, Chibi-Neko-Kagome, and Chibi-Neko-Nodoka as they came hurrying down the stairs. "We're here to get Kain! What's taking him so long?" Mai demanded. "The stadium's already open! It's only an hour-and-a-half until the match starts!"

"Ah! It's that late already!?"

"Isn't he done training yet!?" Mai continued, running up to the globe. She began to bang on it. "Kain! Hurry up in there!"

"Panicking won't do you any good…you know he can't hear you at all in there."

Mai stopped and glared at Urahara as he approached. "I know," she muttered. "But it's too late! I guess I'll just have to go in there and drag him out…."

"Don't be too hasty," Kisuke continued. "Kain has a purpose if he's working so hard in there down to the wire. It seems he's working on some kind of brand new magic…some kind of mana-form magic."

"Eh…" Nodoka began. "But…mana-form magic is a very limited type of magic. Although the caster takes on the form of some element or other, obtaining that form grants both the advantages and disadvantages of it…becoming water would just make him extremely hard to injure with anything but lightning and extreme fire, for instance…."

"Well, it's just my understanding…apparently he thinks there's something worth pursuing there. In any case, there's little we can do until he's finished, so we might as well wait patiently."

Grudgingly, they complied with Urahara's suggestion, but….

"It's been an hour!" Mai exploded. "There's no time left! What's taking him so long!?"

"It'll take at least fifteen minutes to get to the stadium from here!" Kagome added.

"If he doesn't show up at the match in time, it's treated as a forfeit, right?" Lucy asked.

"Don't tell me he lost his nerve at the last minute and decided not to show up…" Chisame grumbled.

"Oh, c'mon, you know Kain would never do that!" Kamo laughed.

"Well, at any rate, we can't forfeit the match like this!" Kagome insisted. "We've got to get him to the match in time!"

"But he won't make it time!" Chisame retorted. "Maybe we should get someone to enter disguised as him until he's ready…."

"And who would do that!?" Lucy demanded. "They'd get killed by Aiden in two seconds!"

"There's no need for any of that."

The girls were brought up short by the bold and quiet, but quite strong intonation. They turned in surprise as Kain suddenly appeared in their midst. There was a cloud of magic over him that faded away even as he arrived, and not one of the girls, even Mai, got a good look at what it really was.

"I'm ready," Kain continued with a smile. "Let's go."

F I N

Author's Note: Character Introduction: Knights of the Round

Again, this chapter is a little smaller than I first envisioned…although I ended up deleting a heart-to-heart between Mai and Momo. I decided to take it away for now and leave it to a flashback for later.

The focus of this chapter is Kain preparing for his biggest fight…and getting a meeting with some of the important figures supporting him, until this moment, only behind the scenes. We also got a look into the story of Erza that I'd planned for a while, connecting her to Saber, and their similar magics to each other.

Everything else will be settled next chapter…this was just the small prelude. So….

I'd like to go ahead and introduce the Knights of the Round, as they are all some awesome warriors from my favorite games.

Wein Cruz comes from the game Growlanser 2, a fairly interesting JRPG with anime influence on the PS2. His companion, Hans Bearnt, is likewise from the same game. Wein (pronounced Wayne) is a young man who enters the knight's academy dreaming of someday becoming an Imperial Knight, the highest rank of knight in the kingdom. Growlanser focused (somewhat; they were always introduced with them early on, and made them your primary 'weapon' equip, but did little to nothing to explain them later on, not even saying how many of your characters actually used them or not) on 'Ring Weapons', magic rings that would turn into an appropriate weapon based on the user's soul at his mental command, similar in some ways to my 'Soul Blade' version of the zanpaku-tô. Wein's was a deathscythe. Wein had an interesting past interwoven into the story, but he's only a minor character here, useful to be the newest and youngest Knight of the Round (Imperial Knight equivalent) and bodyguard for Kaoru and Riku.

Matta Monde-Paix (the last name a personal joke of mine; Monde-Paix is a French transliteration of World Peace, making his name Matta World Peace) is based on the main WoW character of my brother-in-law, the husband of Tina, who is MK. He is a Draenei in WoW, and while the actual Draenei race doesn't exist, they make a decent generic yôkai race in their normal form. He's a Retribution Paladin, making him great as a Knight of the Round. He also made a great preliminary-round opponent for Aiden to overcome, being powerful and notable but minor enough that he can wipe him out with one Entropy shot.

Leonhardt Raglan is the (first) main character of Agarest War. As the 'Spirit Vessel' who is the first progenitor of the heroes, he is a really cool character, a great swordsman and warrior with an interesting past and history, choosing his ideals and personal pride over his kingdom's demands and social 'honor'. Of course, none of that is present here…Golden Leo is simply an incredible young swordsman (early twenties) who has already risen to become the 2nd (i.e., #2) Knight of the Round. He is noble and caring, fearless and valiant, and, like most anime-esque objects of harem affection, utterly devoid of understanding or sense when it comes to the females who are interested in him.

And Cidolfus Orlandeau comes, rather appropriately, from Final Fantasy Tactics. A prominent member of the Goltana faction, he was a compassionate and wise lord and knight who was also, despite being his greatest enemy and rival, the best friend and only trusted contemporary of Balbanes, the hero Ramza's father, during the 100-Year War. Eventually he allows the conspirators to fake his death and joins Ramza's group…at which point that super-hard game becomes ridiculously easy, as Cidolfus 'Thunder God Cid' is the most powerful character in the game with the most powerful weapon (ironically, Excalibur), ridiculous stats, and ALL the awesome sword-skills used by the various other characters, such as Agrias and Gafgarion. He is so awesome, he is quite worthy of the title 'First Knight of the Round.'

And now, the focus is on Kain and Aiden…and, as we will see, on Tôkasa and Izumi….