Chapter 12: Teaching Love
As the morning rose to accept the new day, Elie, Kagome and Orihime gathered in the dining hall with tea on hand to drink. "Look, I know we've been harsh on InuYasha, Ichigo and Haru," started Elie. "After all, they did start a fight behind our backs." Kagome and Orihime nodded in accepting their role.
"Can you blame us?" questioned Kagome. "They're willing to draw blood in the name of sparring. We had to put our foot down." Orihime listened, her mind also on that fight.
"Though you have to admit how strong they've become," she pointed out. "But still, I like Ichigo and wouldn't want anything bad to happen before he helps the Soul Society again. I bet you have your swordsmen with their tasks as well."
"Yeah, like InuYasha in his quest to avenge his first love, Kikyo."
"Or our quest to destroy the Shadow Stones still scattered in our lands," Elie added. "So, let's make up with our boys and put the ordeal to bed." She extended her arm out. Kagome and Orihime agreed and did the same. That's when Al emerged with Luna in his arms.
"What are you three talking about?" he asked. The three girls turned to Al coming in and Orihime poured a cup for the young Elric.
"How's your first night sleeping as a whole?" she asked.
"Missed it. Being a soul bounded to a suit of armor for a few years, anything like eating, drinking, sleeping… I can't imagine a much more refreshing feeling to relive."
"I'd bet so," Elie chuckled. "Even Luna's getting the feeling. Who's next, May's Skitty?" Al and Kagome laughed.
"Well, he does have a decent stroke to his petting," Luna purred. "Even Serena doesn't do it this well, if she even does." Orihime smiled, believing the feeling.
"Not to mention Ed and I'm not the only two relieved to have 'curses' lifted off us," Al pointed out.
"Right," Kagome realized. "Kazuki… After hearing his story from Yuna, I'm actually glad he'll be hanging around after his magic's used up." As Al joined for tea, Kuriko stood by the cliff overlooking Sirena Beach.
'Kazuki won't die and turned to ash thanks to Rosalina,' she thought. 'At least one of us will be happy to still have him around… Though, it does beg the question… When he does use the last of his magic, will he forfeit his lineage? Is that why I've been favoring Ash so much?" Elizabeth emerged, seeing Kuriko's pondering.
"Thinking about what to do now that Kazuki won't die?" she teased. Kuriko turned to Elizabeth, not appreciating her tone.
"You know my views haven't changed, only altered. My thoughts are that if Kazuki does use his remaining magic, would the lineage of 50 magicians go by the wayside?" Elizabeth pondered the thought to the question.
"I would imagine so… though considering that he won't die, I don't know."
"Yeah, a case like this isn't normal." A growl echoed between the two. Kuriko checked her stomach. "Maybe it's time I ate breakfast." She entered to a still pondering Elizabeth. Everyone had a chance to eat breakfast with Emma who started to explain the trip to the vacationers.
"So today, we're going to Noki Bay," Emma started. "There, we'll see the Nokis' birthplace and explore the city." All the kids want to see it. Once they've eaten, the vacationers gathered outside in front of the hotel. They waited. "I trust Diego knows what he's doing." Overhearing Emma gave Ed a clue.
"So, Diego's taking us to Noki Bay?" he believed.
"No, he instructed me on the process. Okay, the light should be appearing about now…" That's when a light from the sky beaming on the group. All shielded their eyes from blindness. However, they vanished. On a grassy island, the light beamed down on a flat. That's when the vacationers arrived. Some staggered after coming out of the light.
"We're here?" asked Musica. Emma studied the surrounding. Several pillar-like structures protruded out of the water and had the look of shells on each. Bridges connected structure to structure.
"This is it." Everyone had a look around, finding the breathtaking scenery.
"Noki Bay is beautiful!" awed Miharu.
"Sure is," Tenchi agreed.
"Not to mention peaceful," Li added. Emma led the group to pillar-made islands connected by bridges.
"The bridges have been installed since Mario's rebel against Bowser," she explained. "It's safer than tightropes."
"Good idea," Chad complimented. "Especially with this huge group on hand." As they continued on hand, Nokis appeared and played around.
"I'm starting to see why this place is called Noki Bay," Shippo realized. "Look at em all!" The group viewed the playful Nokis.
"Just like little kids," Joey believed. "Brings back old times."
"I know exactly what you mean," Rachel huffed. That's when another Noki came forward, holding something.
"So, you're the vacationers I've heard from other Nokis," she called. The crowd turned to the Noki. The girls and young women awed what she held: a baby Noki.
"Aw, is this yours?" asked Sakura.
"Yep, just a couple of weeks old." The girls awed the newborn Noki. Sasami reached a finger to tickle it and the baby Noki giggled.
"Can I hold your baby?" requested Serenity. The Noki mother smiled as she offered her newborn to the Wheeler Sister.
"But of course!" She handed the baby to Serenity who cradled it in her arms. Other teenage girls petted, tickled and cradled the baby. The boys sighed but allowed the girls to have a chance to hold the newborn. Meanwhile, Rebecca found rocks while far from the crew to chuck into the ocean.
"I know I asked for sometime off but why here?!" she argued to herself. "And with all these weirdos!" Hearing her, Negi came to find Rebecca.
"What has your knickers in a knot?" he asked. Turning, Rebecca spotted Negi.
"Why should you care? It's not like whatever I gotta say should help you understand!" Negi shrugged to Rebecca's argument.
"I know that not discussing would magnify the any dilemmas anyone contends with." Rebecca scoffed, not willing to explain.
"Here I am with another kid teacher, it's bothersome…" She found a green turtle shell. "So bothersome, it's ANNOYING!" She punted the shell which skimmed the grass before it hit something. What wasn't there before the kick was a block. That's when a red mushroom squirted out and rolled to the two. Negi picked the mushroom up.
"A Super Mushroom. I saw this at Coconut Mall." Rebecca's skeptic face came out.
"Right, and I'm suppose to assume it's okay to eat, right?" She took the Super Mushroom and shoved it to Negi's arms. "You, first!" Negi wasn't sure what to do.
"Are you sure?" Rebecca stood in Negi's face
"Look, if these things are Super as you say, eating one won't hurt you, right?" Negi gulped to the force.
"Fine! I'll eat it!" True to his word, Negi scarfed the Super Mushroom. After gulping the Super Mushroom, he settled. Rebecca watched but nothing occurred. "That wasn't-" Suddenly, he froze. Then a glow. Within second, Negi began to grow. After a few seconds, the glow dimmed. Negi had turned from a boy to a young man with a muscular build as if he'd been in a gym. Rebecca gasped at the new Negi.
"Whoa…" Without warning, her mind began to race. 'Darn it! Springfield's better looking than I ascertained! If that mushroom did that to him… Is that what he looks like when he's Shū's age? And what's this… feeling in me? I need a doctor… or someone!' Negi glanced at the little Rebecca.
"Is something the matter?" A trembling Rebecca wasn't sure what to say. Negi glared back to know the group had gone far ahead. "We might as well see the ruckus before-" Just then, the shell hit another block before falling into the ocean. To the surprise of Negi and Rebecca, another Super Mushroom rolled their way. "There you go, Rebecca. One to try for yourself." Rebecca pondered to what she could look like once she ate the Super Mushroom.
"Bottom's up!" She inhaled the Super Mushroom in one gulp. It took a few seconds before she began to glow and morph herself. When the glow ended, Rebecca's shape changed. Her body appeared skinnier and her chest had a boost of size. Her hair extended down to her knees. Rebecca became a young woman. "Oh my god! I… I-I'm… grown up!" Negi gulped to the sight of Rebecca's new look.
"My word…" That's when Negi palmed his chest. 'This cannot be right… Suddenly, my heart is beating senselessly for Rebecca. It never beat for Asuna nor Nodoka and never this much for Ayaka. Why an American? Why is it drumming to her?' The moment between each other drew the two together. Before they realized what to say, they met in the eyes and closed in before they kissed. Chamo and Mesousa gawked at seeing the kiss occur. "First time I kissed outside forming any Pactio magic, Rebecca." She huffed to her name.
"Tell you what: you're free to call me Becky." They kissed again.
"Crap, and I didn't set up to do a Pactio!" gawked Chamo. After their intimate moment, Negi thumbed Becky to reach the rest. Emma led the other vacationers to a large boat. Becky and Negi reached at the last second while everyone gawked to seeing the two.
"Whoa, who are you two?" questioned TK. Nodoka blinked before realizing Negi as older.
"Did you have the Age-Deceiving Pills on hand, Professor Negi?" she asked. Negi scoffed.
"We experimented on Super Mushrooms," he explained. "So, here's the result." The girls giggled to seeing Negi's new form.
"Rebecca, you too?" guessed Tenchi.
"I know, right?" giggled Becky. "If this is what I look like down the road, I can't wait for the future… long after those six graduate." Shū sighed. Once they boarded, Emma hit a button and closed the boat with a bubble dome. The boat started to drift toward a waterfall spilling from a cave.
"Alright, the dome will keep us dry and prevent drowning," Emma described. When the boat entered the waterfall, it's pushed into the lake below. The boat released anchors to help weigh the boat down. That's when they saw what lied beneath: a city that seemed like an undersea series of complexes.
"It's a city!" gawked Yugi.
"That's incredible!" awed Kari. The sight of many Nokis wowed the crowd.
"All sorts of colored shells the Nokis are wearing," InuYasha noticed.
"I know, and it's beautiful," Kagome admired. The Nokis waived to those in the boat.
"How lucky are we to see an underwater city, let alone meet the locals?" chuckled Haru.
"Tell me about it," Elie laughed. After sometime below the lake, the boat resurfaced. Cameras from some of the vacationers captured the moments.
"These pictures are great," Serena enjoyed as she looked over Kari's shoulder. Others also saw the pictures taken.
"Imagine how the others will react to this underwater discovery," May chuckled. While they saw different pictures, Ash and Pikachu wandered away and to the edge of the island.
"You know, just seeing the underwater city is good enough," Ash scoffed. Pikachu squeaked to agree. They stared at what seemed to be an endless ocean. The sun peeked out where Pikachu felt revived. Then it saw something underwater from the corner of his eyes: a shimmer of some sort reflecting from the sun's rays. Ash saw Pikachu's head, then the shimmer. "What's that?"
("There's two!") spotted Pikachu. ("Let's go see!") Hearing Pikachu's interest made Ash agree.
"Alright… One quick dip shouldn't hurt." After taking his shoes and socks off, Ash dove into the water as Max and Rini watched.
"Ash?" they called. Ash swam headfirst into what shone below. Reaching, he awed the glimmer before turning to Pikachu to swim up with whatever they found. They emerged in front of Max, Rini and Sasami.
"You two okay?" asked Max as Sasami helped Ash out and Rini to Pikachu.
"Found a pair below," he answered. Ash showed the pair to the girls and Max. The three awed their finding while Rachel came over for a question.
"Hey, anyone seen Conan?" she asked. The four glanced to each other before turning back with head shakes. Conan followed Becky and Negi as he focused to see if there were anymore hidden blocks. Becky had a red turtle shell on hand.
"I detect three more blocks," he viewed with a wand glowing. With a point, Becky nodded before kicking the shell. As predicted, the shell revealed more blocks and more Super Mushrooms.
"Nice!" she cheered before the Super Mushrooms rolled to them. Conan came out to see the ordeal.
"What are you two collecting?" he asked. Becky and Negi turned to Conan in surprise.
"After we ate a Super Mushroom each, we want to have some for when we return to the classrooms," Becky explained. Conan now realized how the two became bigger.
"I see. You don't mind if I tried one, do you?" Negi thought it wouldn't hurt to have Conan eat a Super Mushroom.
"Sure…" he allowed. Conan observed the Super Mushroom Negi handed him.
"I should ask TK if there are any other mushrooms on this island." He ate one before swallowing it. "A little sweet." That's when he froze. Like Negi and Becky beforehand, Conan grew while glowing. That's when he became a teenager and looking suave. "What do you know… and no growth pills or liquor to use." Now Negi and Becky wondered the ordeal.
"Liquor?"
"Growth pills?" repeated Becky. Conan now breathed a second to explain.
"Conan Edogawa is a disguise to keep Rachel and everyone I know safe," he clarified. "My real name is Jimmy Kudo, teenage detective." Negi and Becky couldn't believe what he said.
"You're a detective?" repeated Negi.
"It may have been my detective work that got me involved with an organization who gave me an experimental drug that turned me into what I was before."
"Ah, so the form you're now is the true form, not the little squirt?" guessed Becky. As she asked…
"Conan?!" called out Rachel. "Emma's gathering everyone! Where did you go?!" Jimmy saw the scene present itself.
"Why don't you get going before you're spotted," he suggested. Negi and Becky nodded before walking off with their haul of Super Mushrooms. Rachel saw Jimmy and froze.
"Wait… is that?" She reached the new person to her when Jimmy turned around.
"Hey, Rache!" Rachel gawked to seeing Jimmy, her gasp of disbelief echoing.
"Jimmy?" She arrived to see Jimmy as Becky and Negi watched from a hiding spot. "Jimmy, how did you get here? Another secret case?"
"Unfortunately, but I heard from Conan that you're here. I wanted to stop by and say 'hi'." To Rachel, she wanted more.
"You know, I'm hoping that at some point, your cases end and you come home. Everyone misses you, including Serena." Jimmy rested his hands on Rachel's shoulders.
"I don't know how long these cases will go until I finish them. Besides, I want to give you something when I'm not needed anymore. That's a promise." Rachel seemed touched by his words. "I'm gonna be on the island for awhile so I may come by if you need something." Rachel's cheeks blushed while Negi and Becky held hands.
"At least there's something I can do… and I've been holding on for awhile now."
"Oh? What would that be?" Instead of words, Rachel kissed Jimmy in the lips. Both embraced for a while. Rachel parted from Jimmy and returned to the group.
"Smooth operator," Becky teased. "Now I see the romance." Jimmy laughed before the three headed back. They returned to the hotel where Nodoka became teary-eyed. Shū saw Negi's student and approached.
"After seeing Miss Miyamoto holding Mister Springfield's hand, I kinda expected this to happen," he sighed as he offered an orange sorbet. Nodoka looked to find the sorbet, then Shū.
"Thank you," she praised. "So you know what's wrong?"
"It's kinda obvious. This place seems to pair some unusual people together like Max and Rini. What's next?" Nodoka ate the sorbet while Jimmy seemed troubled. Kari and Gatomon came by.
"Hey, Kari!" he called. Kari and Gatomon reached Jimmy.
"What's up?" she asked.
"Do you know where TK is? I wanted to know how to reverse the Super Mushroom's effects." To Kari, Jimmy didn't need TK for it.
"Watching our brothers and friends play video games, I know a thing or two about the Super Mushroom." Jimmy seemed astounded, until he heard Gatomon cracking knuckles.
"This won't take long," she sneered before putting the gloves back on. "Lightning Paw!" Gatomon landed a scratch to Jimmy before he began to glow. In Rachel's room, Amy couldn't sleep as she eyed the empty bed. Not long, Jimmy opened the door, but as Conan to Amy's delight.
"Conan!" she cheered.
"Sorry, Amy," he apologized. "I was with Kari for a few things she wanted to share with me." Amy nodded, knowing Conan didn't have feelings for him.
"Get some rest guys," groaned a sleepy Rachel. Jimmy and Amy agreed and he crawled into bed. There was some noise from Negi's room with moans and groans. After a while, they stopped. Covered in blankets, Becky and Negi snuggled together.
"I never thought I'd have my first time on an island getaway," Becky sighed.
"Same with me, and to think it wasn't with any of my classmates," Negi muttered. "But if we go back to our normal forms, when we get older… we'll know what to do." Becky nodded before falling asleep. Nodoka slept with Shū and the night came to an end.
TO BE CONTINUED…
(I'll be taking a break to perform two one-shots featuring two of my previous stories with surprising epilogues for each. Remember to keep voting for what you want to see in "AshMas".)