Naaaammmmmeeesssss:

Nelly = Negi

Asuma = Asuna

Kon = Konoka

Makoto = Makie

Yuu = Yue

Kaneda = Kaede

Ku Wei = Ku Fei

Nobou = Nodoka

Haru = Haruna

Chapter 8: Under the Floor

Part 2

"Library Island was established around the time of the Academy's founding during the Meiji Era. It is the largest library in the world, eclipsing even the Library of Congress in America." Yuu was in full exposition mode. This was the only time he felt truly at ease as the center of attention. He had always hated being front and center; getting called on in class was a huge hassle. When he had gotten dragged into the school plays in elementary school, he had always auditioned for a part as one of the trees that stood in the background. It was so much less trouble that way. But ask him to explain something at that he was passionate about, and he could expound on the subject until the universe underwent heat death.

"During World War II, all sorts of rare and important books and manuscripts were brought here for safekeeping. Due to the massive influx of books, the library was expanded underground. It grew so rapidly that there is no one person who knows the layout of the entire complex."

He looked back over his shoulder to make sure that the rest of the group was still following him down the stairwell from the main entrance hallway. People had a tendency to stop paying attention when he went off on one of his tangents. Makoto and Nelly were listening intently. Kaneda and Ku Wei were looking somewhat vacant, but they appeared to be at least a little interested. Kon wasn't paying any attention, but he was already familiar with everything Yuu was saying. He was too busy trying to get Asuma to calm down.

Asuma fumed in a low voice at Nelly, who was too busy listening to Yuu's spiel about the library to pay attention to the redhead.

"I can't believe this...why would you do that!"

Kon had a hand on Asuma's shoulder.

"Come on, Asuma...what are you so nervous about..."

Yuu ignored Asuma's agitation and went back to describing the library.

"Due to the complexity of the architectural design, and the fact that no one is fully familiar with the library, no comprehensive maps of the area exist. In the interest of exploring and mapping this place, Mahora Academy created a multi-level project with cooperation from the middle school, high school, and university."

They finally reached the end of the stairs, walking out into a large hallway. Before them stood a large pair of heavy oaken doors. Yuu strode up to them.

"That project was the..." He gave the doors a dramatic push. With a loud squeak, they slid forward about an inch before grinding to a halt. He pushed again. Another inch. "Kaneda? Can you give me a hand here?" Yuu moved off to the side as Kanede put his hands against the doors. Yuu cleared his throat. "That project was us. The Library Exploration Club."

With an enormous grating screech, the doors flew open. Yuu looked on passively as every member of the group gasped at the sight of the library. It was a massive jumble of shelves and stairways; every single wall in the wide expansive of the room was covered by shelf after shelf of books of every shape and size. A short way in front of the doorway, the floor dropped away into a seemingly bottomless abyss surrounded on all sides by cliff-faces of leather and wood.

Throughout the labyrinth of books, Nelly could see stone platforms supporting twisted trees. Far in the distance, she could see a massive waterfall cascading down to the depths from some rock ledge protruding from the wall. Nelly took a nervous step forward and steadied herself against the railing. She felt as if she had just stepped outside; she could feel a cool breeze on her face, carrying a lush, fragrance from the faraway flora.

Asuma's jaw practically hit the floor. He had known that Mahora was abnormally large, but think that something of this magnitude existed...

Yuu grinned at him. "You wouldn't be so surprised if you had ever been to a library before." He turned to see Nelly scurrying wide-eyed around the nearby bookcases, as if the Library was Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.

"There are so many books here!" She scuttled down the nearest staircase. "I never knew Mahora had something like this!"

"We are currently on the third basement level of Library Island." Yuu took a sip from his juice box before continuing to talk as he led the group down the stairway after Nelly. "Middleschoolers are generally forbidden from going to the lower levels."

"Why is that? Hey!" Asuma groaned as Nelly shoved past her on her way to one of the bookcases.

"Asuma, look!" She reached out for one of the ancient looking tomes. "This book is incredibly rare!"

"Sensei, don't!" Yuu called out to his teacher, but she wasn't paying attention. "You shouldn't touch that!"

It was too late. As Nelly wrapped her hand around the spine of the book, there was a flicking sound. A small arrow shot from a gap in between the books, flying straight towards Nelly's face. She let out a cry and jumped back, covering her face with her hands. When she finally dared to peek through her fingers, she saw the tip of the arrow mere inches from her face, grasped firmly by Kaneda's hand.

"This library has many traps set up to protect the rare books from thieves." Yuu's face was still deadpan as he watched Kaneda snap the arrow in half and toss it off to the side. "Please be careful and don't touch anything."

"Wow! This is like a thing out of a video game!" Ku Wei rubbed his hands together in excitement. "So many traps!"

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!" Asuma pointed at the arrow, face red with anger. "You could have killed someone!"

"Who booby-traps a library anyway!" Makoto stood behind Asuma, less angry, but equally indignant.

"Like I said, there are many extremely rare and valuable books down here." Yuu shrugged. "That's why this section of the library is off limits." He ignored their continued grumbling. Some people just don't understand the value of books. He reached into his bag and retrieved his radio. "Surface Team, come in. This is Yuu. We are at basement level 3. About to proceed."

"Roger, Library Team. You are clear to proceed." Haru's voice crackled as it came through over the radio.

"Roger." Yuu waved at the rest of the team. "Let's continue."

"Um...Yuu..." Nelly tugged nervously at her student's sleeve. "Why exactly are we going down here? Asuma just kind of dragged me out of bed without telling me what was going on..."

Well, that explains it... Yuu had been wondering why Nelly had chosen to wear her nightclothes on this sort of expedition. It didn't explain the enormous staff that the girl was carrying on her back, but it explained a lot. Leave it to Asuma to leave out all of the important information...

"It's because of final exams, sensei."

"Final exams?"

"Yes. We believe that this library may contain a magic book that increases the intelligence of anyone who reads it. If such a thing really exists, it be invaluable in improving our grades."

"A magic book!" Nelly put a hand to her head. If there really was a magic book in this library, things were going to get really complicated...

"Yep, a magic book!" Kon gave her a thumbs-up.

"Come on, sensei!" Makoto squirmed. "We need the help!"

"Well, yes..but..." She turned to Asuma, who was busy trying not to make eye contact. "Asuma!" She grabbed his shirt and pulled him into a crouch so she could whisper into his ear. "Why didn't you tell me about this! And after you got mad at me for trying to use magic..."

"Listen..." He laughed nervously. "Let's just call this extenuating circumstances, okay? Something really bad could happen if we don't get our grades up, so can we please just try to find the book?"

Nelly looked Asuma in the eyes for a few seconds.

"Okay." She smiled. "Thanks for going to all this trouble."

"Don't worry about it." He ruffled Nelly's hair and walked over to where the rest of the group was standing.

"So where exactly are we going?" Makoto tapped Yuu on the shoulder. "How long is this going to take?"

"Well..." Yuu pulled a rolled up map from his bag, spreading it out so the other students could see it. "I got this from the club room. It's incomplete, but it covers all the sections we need to know about." He put a finger to the paper. "We're here right now. We need to get down to basement level 11 and head along this underground passage here." His finger traced their route. "The book should be at the end."

"Okay..." Asuma pondered the plan. "It may take a few hours, but we should be able to make it back sometime between eleven and midnight."

"Good thing." Makoto sighed. "I'd hate to be exhausted during classes tomorrow."

"So we're good to go!" Asuma clenched his fist. "I'm not letting them break up my class! That magic book is ours!"

"I don't know..." Makoto was beginning to sweat. "If this level has traps and stuff, wouldn't the lower ones be even more dangerous? Maybe we shouldn't do this..."

"Oh, don't worry about it!" Kon smacked him on the back. "We're pros! We know what we're doing."

"It will be adventurous!" Ku Wei clapped his hands. "Like a picnic!"

Kaneda just grinned and nodded in approval.

"Nelly, you coming?" Yuu waved at his teacher, who appeared to be deep in thought. "We need to get going!"

"This place is ridiculous." Asuma scanned the area with his eyes. "How the hell are we supposed to find anything in here?"

"Because we have an idea of where to look." Yuu waved at the group. "This way." He stepped onto the top of one of the nearby bookshelves, the top of which was perfectly flush with the floor of the balcony on which they had entered.

"We have to walk on top of the shelves?" Nelly took a cautious step, remembering what had happened last time she had been in that position.

"Yeah, I know." Kon strode past him down the top of the shelves. "The people who designed this place must have been crazy."

"These things are kinda high up..." Makoto crawled along the pathway on his hands and knees. The platforms were easily as wide as a sidewalk, but the lack of railings was slightly off-putting.

"Makoto, watch out for that spot there." Yuu pointed at a nondescript section of flooring.

"Huh?" Makoto took another small step forward, and the platform dropped out from beneath him. "EYAAAGGHHHH!"

At the sound of his shout, Nelly ran forward, trying to think of what to do.

"Makoto!"

"EYAH!" Suddenly a length of rope whipped out of the gap and wrapped around one of the rafters. Nelly stared wide eyed as Makoto lifted himself back onto the top of the shelves. He gave the rope a gentle tug, and it fell back into his hands. He laughed nervously. "That was a close call, huh?"

"You are very...proficient with that rope, Makoto..." Nelly could hardly believe that such a thing was possible.

"Yeah, it's really convenient." He coiled the rope up and stashed it in one of his pockets. "I can grab food and stuff without having to get up. Like oranges. I like oranges." He leaned over the pit that he had narrowly avoided. "I guess I should be more careful about traps. I'm not tripping any more of those things." He turned and began to walk down the platform. As his first step touched the floor, there was an ominous click.

"Huh?" He stared blankly at the switch that had somehow appeared under his foot.

"Watch out!" Nelly grabbed his arm and tried to pull him out of the way. "The bookcase is falling!" Makoto looked up to see that indeed, a bookcase from one of the upper levels was tipping over the railing and dropping towards them.

"HIYAH!" There was an enormous bang as Ku Wei struck the side of the bookcase with a flying kick. The shelves flew a fair distance before landing on another balcony across the room. Nelly crouched down to protect herself from the rain of books that was still bearing down on her.

"Hoihoihoihoihoi!" She peeked through her fingers to see Kaneda holding two large, neat stacks of books. Beside him were several more well-organized piles of tomes. Ku Wei was standing next to him. The tanned boy gave Nelly a thumbs up.

"We are bad studiers, but good athletes."

"We'll be alright." Kaneda smiled as he deposited the stacks he was holding next to the rest of the pile. Makoto was busy messing with his rope, tracing patterns in the air. Nelly just stared incredulously. She never would have suspected that her class contained people who were capable of that sort of thing.

"You people are making this take forever!" Yuu was already standing on a balcony at the far end of area. "We're racing the clock here."

As the rest of the team made their way across in the most attentive manner they could muster, Makoto tapped Asuma on the shoulder.

"Do you really think Nelly will be alright down here?" His hands were clenched to prevent shaking. "I mean, Yuu and Kon know their way around here, and the rest of us are athletes, but she's just a little girl..."

"She'll be fine. She manages to keep pace with me every morning on my way to class, and you know how fast I go." Asuma put a hand on Makoto's shoulder. "She may look like she's just a kid, but she's a lot tougher than she looks. We have no reason to be worried about h-"

"HELP ME!" Asuma spun around to see Nelly hanging on the edge of one of the bookcases, futilely trying to pull herself back up. He dashed over and hauled her onto the top.

Yuu watched them as they quickly held a whispered conversation, ending with Asuma groaning loudly and putting a hand to his forehead. Looks like we really do need to keep an eye on her... Nelly started walking along the walkway once again. And straight into one of the gaps in the platform.

"Hey, watch out!" Asuma grabbed her hand and yanked her over the gap. "Pay attention to where you're going." He climbed up a ledge in the shelf, and reached down to help pull Nelly up. "Your hands are freezing! Are you cold?"

"Yeah, a little." The girl was obviously shivering.

"That's what I get for dragging you out here in your pajamas..." Asuma wrapped his jacket around the girl's shoulders. It reached down almost to her knees. "You need this more than I do."

"Awww..." Asuma turned to see Kon watching them. "You're sure being nice to her. Even after you said all that stuff about hating kids. You must really be warming up to her!"

"Well, I guess I have to be nice to her." Asuma frowned at his roommate. "After all, I'm the one who dragged her down here without her ma-" He clamped his mouth shut before he finished the word.

"Ma?"

"m..magnificent coat..." Asuma cringed at his inability to come up with anything better. He turned back to Nelly, who was staring starry-eyed at him.

"Thank you so much for the jacket, Asuma! I'm so touched."

Asuma just grumbled and continue walking, keeping a wary eye on his teacher.

Asuma grunted. It had been at least an hour since they entered the library. When are we going to get a break...? He looked up as he heard a buzzing from the front of the group. Yuu had his radio out, and Nobou's voice crackled out of it. "This is the surface team. We've been tracing your progress on our maps, and there should be a rest area near you. Take a break for a snack."

"Roger." Yuu stuffed the radio back into his pocket.

"Time for food!" Ku Wei thrust a fist into the air. "I've been waiting!"

"About time." Kaneda slung his backpack onto the nearby table. Half a dozen chairs were set around it. The boys promptly ignored the chairs in favor of sitting on the table to unpack the food.

Asuma stretched his legs. He had excellent endurance, but even he was starting to get tired. He stared out into the dark expanse of the library. How did I not know about this...? Behind him, he could vaguely make out Makoto, Ku Wei, and Kaneda talking about how impressive the library was. This place is unreal...

He jumped as he felt Nelly poking his shoulder.

"Hey, don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Sorry."

"What is it?"

Nelly leaned in closer.

"This library is magic."

"What?"

"I've been able to feel it for a while now. At first I thought the sealing spell was just interfering with my senses, but I can definitely feel a magical presence here. And it isn't me."

Asuma swallowed.

"You...you mean you can sense the book?"

"I don't know if it's a book or not, but there's definitely someth-"

"So what secret are you two hiding?" Makoto stuck his head in between the two of them.

"Aren't they getting along great!" Kon smacked Asuma on the back. "They're really getting close, aren't they?"

"Oh come on, don't say it like that." Asuma hopped off the table.

"But she even sleeps in your bed!"

"What!" Makoto's eyes went wide. Ku Wei gasped audibly.

"That's because she always climbs in on her own!" He pointed at the girl. "You know that!"

"I guess you're right." Kon shrugged. "After all, her bro looks just like Asuma, isn't that right, Nelly?"

"Oh, yes." She smiled. "Asuma even smells a bit like him. I really like the smell."

"Okay, almost time to go! Eat your food and get a move on!" Asuma grabbed one of the sandwiches, stuck in in Nelly's face, and left the girl to Ku Wei and Kaneda. As she walked away from the table, Makoto followed after her.

"How come she gets to stay in your room? If you think she's so annoying, she could stay in my room!" Makoto grinned.

"Great! If I thought she would actually leave, I'd be perfectly happy to do that." He snorted and turned away. There's no way she'd leave if she didn't have to...

"Hey, time to go." Yuu gestured for the rest of the team to follow. "It gets more dangerous from here, so be careful."

More dangerous. Asuma scoffed at the thought. We already climbed over the freaking bookshelf precipice of doom. It can't be that bad.

Asuma was proven completely wrong. The bookshelf pathways continually got higher and narrower. When they weren't climbing down the sides of the shelves to lower levels, they were balancing their way across narrow ledges and crossing over the rivers that ran across the platforms. At one point they even had to wade through a subterranean lake.

"This is ridiculous!" Asuma crawled nervously across a platform that was barely a foot wide, and at least a hundred feet high. "This cannot be a library. There's no way."

"Oh come on, Asuma!" Kon was still treading lightly along the path. "There are books everywhere. Of course it's a library."

"What!" He pointed at one of the even higher bookshelves across the chasm. "Who the hell is going to ever read any of these? And who the hell put them up there? Whoever designed this place had to be high on something!"

Makoto was going even more slowly than before.

"I'm dead if I fall off of this!"

"Come on, Makoto." Asuma poked at him. "You're a gymnast, you should be good at stuff like this."

"Are you kidding, I hate heights!"

"Not that bad!" Ku Wei hopped over him and continued on his way, Kaneda following close behind. Asuma and Makoto gawked. How did people like that end up in my class!

"Don't worry, only one more level down." Yuu reached into his bag and began passing out the rock climbing gear. Asuma stared.

"You have got to be kidding."

He wasn't. Mere minutes later, they were slowly repelling down the side of one of the bookcases.

After another good hour and half (although it seemed like much longer), they finally reached basement level 11.

"We're here." Yuu pointed to the "level 11" sign hanging on the wall.

"Great!" Asuma shoved his way to the front. "Where's the book?"

"Through that passageway." Yuu pointed to a small passageway in the wall and adjusted his headlamp. "Everybody in."

"Dammit, it's so tight in here!" Asuma muttered.

"Because this passage is so small, none of the upperclassmen have explored it." Yuu smiled, but it wasn't visible in the darkness. "We are the first. If our calculations are correct, the doorway to the book should be.." He paused dramatically. "Right there."

He pointed at the low ceiling, where four lines of light formed a square.

"Congratulations, Baka Rangers. We have arrived."

"Good!" Asuma wiggled his way to the door in the ceiling and gave it a good shove. He stuck his head into the resulting hole. "Wow."

As the other team members entered the room and their eyes adjusted to the light, their reactions were much the same. They had emerged in the center of a massive room, seemingly carved out of solid rock, with massive pillars throughout, supporting the ceiling. At the end of the room was a raised platform; beyond that a door on the far wall flanked by two massive humanoid statues, one holding a sword, the other holding a great hammer.

"This...this is incredible." Makoto stammered.

"I've seen this!" Ku Wei was flapping his arms as he hopped around. "In my sister's video game! This is where you fight the last boss!"

"This is it." Yuu allowed himself a victory smile. "The Vault of the Magic Book."

"I can't believe a place like this existed under our school..." Asuma chuckled. "Whatever, let's find the book and get out of here."

"Look, there it is!" Makoto pointed to the end of the room. Between the two statues, resting on a small stone pedestal, was a small book.

"Th..that's..." Nelly stared for a moment before running forward. "That's the Book of Melchizedek! I can't believe that I'm actually seeing it! How did it end up here!"

"You recognize it!" Asuma was taken aback. It...it's the real thing! Maybe our worries about the exams are over!

"Of course I recognize it! It's one of the most famous magical texts of all time! I guess you could get smarter by reading it, but there's no way it's that simple!"

"Wow really!" Makoto squeaked.

"You really know your books, sensei." Kon scratched his head.

"Whatever, let's go grab it!" Asuma dashed towards the book, the rest of the team following close behind.

"Be careful, Asuma!" Nelly had to truly exert herself to keep up. "A book that rare must be protected somehow!"

Immediately before the raised dais at the end of the room, there was a stone walkway across yet another chasm. As they crossed, the walkway disappeared beneath them. Rather than plummeting into the abyss, they found themselves lying on a square stone platform. As he forced himself to his feet, Asuma noticed that the designs on the floor were familiar.

Dammit, I know I've seen that somewhere before... He closed his eyes and tried to think. Something out of a game, maybe? Not a video game, though... Wait...no...it couldn't be. He looked at the pattern again, and realized what it was.

"Twister! You have got to be kidding!"

"Hahahahahaha!" All of the boys froze as a high-pitched cackled echoed through the room. With a loud grinding sound, the two statues on the raised platform began to move. The statue bearing the enormous mallet raised its leg, bringing its foot crashing down in front of the stairs leading to the book. It began to screech with the voice of a crone. "Any who wish to read this book, must prove themselves worthy! Answer my questions and prove yourselves!"

"What the hell is this!" Asuma backpedaled and tripped backwards over Makoto, who was huddling on the ground.

"A..a golem!" Nelly was beginning to sweat profusely at the sight. "H...how?"

"The first question:" Everyone went silent as the golem spoke. "What is the translation of the English word "Difficult"?"

"What? What kind of question is that?" Asuma got back on his feet. English language study questions? Why would a magical statue guarding thing care about that!

"Everybody calm down!" Nelly waved her arms at her students. "We can do this! Just answer the question and we should be able to get through!" She pointed at the lines of circles on the floor. "Just press the letters for "difficult"!"

"Easier said than done..." Asuma looked at the floor. Each of the circles had a symbol written in its center.

"Sensei, what's the answer!" Makoto grabbed on Nelly's arm. The girl looked warily at the giant statues.

"I think we might be in trouble if I do that..." She eyed the golem nervously.

"Be quiet for a minute." Asuma scrunched his forehead in concentration. "I'm trying to remember what it is..."

"It's 'muzui', isn't it?" Kaneda scratched his head.

"That sounds right!" Kon shrugged. "Hit the buttons for it."

"Mu..." Kaneda squatted down and pushed on the "mu" circle. It made a soft click.

"Zu..." Makoto pressed the tile down.

"I..." Asuma pressed the last tile.

"Muzui..." The golem surveyed the students ominously. "Correct."

"Awesome!" Asuma grinned. "Let's get that boo-"

"Question two: What is the translation of the English word 'cut'?"

"Wait a second!" Asuma glared up at the statue. "More questions!"

The statue cackled again before continuing.

"Make sure you don't release any of the buttons."

"This isn't fair!" Makoto groaned as he tried to recall what little English he actually remembered. He stretched his leg out to tap on one of the tiles. This was going to be a problem.

"Question seven: What is the translation of the English word 'Remember' ?"

"Dammit Asuma, move your arm! I can't reach it!" Makoto stretched in vain at one of the buttons.

"I have it." Ku Wei reached across and punched it.

"I hope there aren't too many more questions." Yuu muttered. He had arched himself over Kon to reach one of the tiles on question four. "There can't be too many more of these."

"Question eleven: What is the translation of the English word 'Baseball'?"

"Ow. My back. Asuma, get your knee out of my ribcage! " Yuu was arched backwards over Kaneda and Kon. The boys were practically a knot of indistinguishable limbs.

"The pain...the pain..." Makoto's arms were twisting around Asuma's leg in ways they were not meant to bend.

"Dammit, Makoto. I thought you were supposed to be flexible..." Asuma grunted.

"Final question: What is the translation of the English word 'Dish'?"

"O...osara..." Asuma groaned. "It's osara..."

"I got the first one..." Makoto stretched his leg out and managed to press down the "O" with his toes.

"Sa..." Kaneda pressed down the second button.

"Ra!" Asuma stomped his foot down on the tile as Makoto twisted around to plant his hand on it. It was only after the tile clicked that they realized it read "Ru."

"Osaru?" Nelly stared, dumbfounded.

"That's not 'dish', that's 'monkey'!" Ku Wei shouted indignantly.

"WRONG!" The statue raised its hammer above its head.

"Everybody out of the way!" Asuma shoved Makoto out of the way of the descending mallet. Ku Wei and Kaneda skipped nimbly out of the way, dragging Yuu along with them. As the hammer smashed the center of the floor, the entire platform crumbled to dust beneath their feet. The last words they heard before toppling into the abyss was Ku Wei's last halfhearted invective.

"Asuma, you monkey!"

The light of the room above vanished as they plummeted into the darkness.

.

And bam! chapter 8 is done. And long, because of all the description I had to write. I tried to get into Yuu's head a little more at the beginning here to add a little more characterization. I also cut a lot of what was going on in Nelly's head in the original manga, partially because I wanted to come from the viewpoint of other characters, but mainly because it would have made this chapter even longer without adding anything that we don't already know. Most of the thought bubbles were about why she thought the students were helping her, but given the events of the previous chapter (and the fact that anyone reading this is probably familiar with Negima anyway) I think the reader can figure out how they're misunderstanding each other. Even if that isn't the case, the misunderstanding doesn't really have any relevance until later anyway, and it will get the focus it needs when it's actually important.

No promises when the next chapter will be done. Lots of work to do this week; senior papers and all that. I'll definitely be working on it, but no clue when I'll actually get anything posted here.

Please review; any and all input (well, outside of trolling) is greatly appreciated. I'd love to hear what people think of the way I'm handling the story.