I don't like word. Especially this one, it gets all the margins messed up and makes files huge. It is utterly insane. I am going to transfer this to WordPad the first chance I get...hmph, even the spell check is terrible here…it doesn't recognize that "WordPad" is an actual name of a program. This computer doesn't have WordPad on it…a shame. Oh well, I must go on, let's go. I move like a snail don't I? Already, chapter twelve and yet I still have yet to cover Library Island, yet I finished the Eva arc. I like it that way. Ehh. I don't have to put Library Island, now that I think of it. It's what messed me up last time, but put it I will, and things will go differently this time around. My page already looks like a Christmas decorations, so much red and green, but I am an unorthodox and conversational writer, I don't care if it makes the word "wanna" red. It's the way a person pronounces the word, so there. Hi ho!

+----+

((Another annoying this is that the separators I use for sections of my story, the plus three dash plus, is also it's short cut for creating a cell which means I have to stop work and undo the creation of a cell, annoying.))

Did I mention to you all that I don't own Negima? No? Well I don't.

((Silly Word, tricks are for kids, and Negima is the name of an anime/manga! Don't you dare tell me it's not a word! Manga too, don't you dare tell me that's not a word either!))

+---+

Chapter Twelve: The crumbling walls

"Let that which is in my hand strike forth and rip my enemy, White Lightning!"

Negi's hand lit up with energy as the spell, hissing like mad, shot from his palm and toasted a small boulder on the ground about three yards away into a melted slag, almost instantaneously. Asuna, who was holding Negi's star wand and trying to cast nine arrows of water, stopped her work to look at him.

'I thought you said we had to chant in Latin, what's up with you casting a spell with Japanese?"

Negi sighed and shook his head, fixing Asuna with a glare that was all but lost in the darkness of the night to her. She got the point from seeing his shadowy head spin around though.

"You do have to chant in Latin. I'm chanting Latin in my head, but I am, at the same time, translating and saying the spell in Japanese out loud. It's good practice in multitasking. If you can chant a spell in one language in your head, and say it out loud in another, and still have the spell work, it shows that you can multitask and still keep your focus. I plan to try and apply it to cast multiple spells at once. I can chant one spell out loud, but I will still be performing another in my head, a two in one punch, or I could have one waiting while sending off the other one. It means I can cast a whole bunch of spells at my opponent out loud as a distraction while I set up a powerful, wordy spell without their knowledge."

"…Two spells at once? Hell...I have trouble concentrating to get one off! What are you trying to do, become a god?!"

"…Heh. If you think of me as a god, you've got another thing coming. I may be powerful compared to the average Magic school graduate…maybe I even have a slight advantage over most magical teachers, but I am nothing compared to Evangeline or a powerful Magister Magi...if I want to beat this mage, like I know I have to if I don't want you up my behind every day if I don't, then I have to train like hell. I may even know more spells than this Magister, but I still lack the experience and practice they have. I have to overcome that with either intelligence or strategy, but I still need to train myself to try and close the gap somewhat…"

"Waaaait…didn't you beat Eva-san?"

"She went easy on me...I don't know why…but I can tell she went easy on me. She only used higher mid level spells at best. With the power I felt from her, she should have been able to pull of spells of a completely different higher-arch. Besides, I've taken the liberty to look her up after fighting her…and I found some interesting things that tell me she definitely was babying me."

Asuna could almost feel the sweat drop on the back of her head materialize and slide down. She remembered the fight…and it did not look like someone going easy on someone else...it looked like two people trying to kill, no, annihilate a kid.

"….You call that babying? Why the heck would she go easy on you anyway?"

Negi turned away from her as magic once more pooled in his hand in preparation for a spell. He let loose an exasperated sigh.

"Didn't I already say I don't know why the hell she would? If I had to guess, it's who she thinks my father is...and honestly, I can't blame her for that guess…she might be right."

"Your…."

"Yeah, my pops. It seems she thinks he was the "Thousand Master, or as some called him, the "Red Haired Demon"

"Thousand Master..?"

Negi let the magic in his hand dissipate and, he called up a small scale magical holo of the man he was talking about from his memory. The image came up as if one were viewing a computer screen, simply because that's the picture Negi was remembering it from.

"…..Well, he does look a heck of a lot like you…actually, you look almost like an exact copy, only younger and meaner…I can't ever imagine a smile like that being on your face, unless something really bad is about to happen to the guy you're looking at…by your hands…

"You give me too much credit Asuna-san… The thousand master was said to have learned and mastered a thousand spells, and was a skilled ninjitsu artist who supposedly saved all of Mundus Magicas from destruction."

"You mean that magic world you keep blabbing about?"

"Right."

"So this dude saved the world, and Eva-san thinks he's your dad."

"Yerp."

"She's nuts. Good for you thought, what did she have a crush on him?"

"You read my mind. Yerp. She did."

"That's even more nuts. The hell would he want with her?"

"……She just might be right."

"Ehh?!"

Negi turned away from the holo to look at her.

"When I fought Sakurazaki-san, do you remember I got tossed into the bushes at one point?"

Remembering the fight, her face sobered and then became a bit sympathetic. Negi's own face became angry at the sympathetic look, prompting her to drop it.

"It was way more than one point…"

"Whatever, the point is, after the battle, when we were walking along the street, I saw them, Chachamaru and Eva, I heard them, but I made an excuse about a squirrel…I wasn't sure. I overheard them talking about DNA though, and I realize now they had swiped some of mine from the bushes, maybe some of my hair got caught, but the point is, I heard them say something along the lines of: "He is part of the family, too close to the blood line to be anything else." I thought I imagined it at the time, and paid it no mind, it didn't make any sense to me…but now…"

Negi looked back over his shoulder at the magical holo he had called up from memory.

"I wish he wasn't my father though."

Asuna raised an eyebrow. Negi was weird, and she had learned that after being around him for these past couple of weeks, but…why wouldn't he want a super powerful and talented dude as his father? Don't all kids think their dad is the best, and want them to be the greatest so they can boast about it?

"Why?"

"He saved the world, but he was an utter idiot."

Of course, leave it to a genius to want their dad to be smart.

"….Nobody's perfect."

"Oh no, you misunderstand me. This man was a disgrace. His only saving grace was the fact he was insanely powerful. He didn't master thousand spells…he probably couldn't even remember what he had for breakfast the previous day. He dropped out of magic school because he was failing and thought it boring."

"…So?"

"You still misunderstand. He was had the power of idiocy on his side. The brute power to rush into something with absolutely no idea what he was doing and win because he was over powered anyway…He was a man who couldn't keep a straight thought in his head, incredibly distractible and borderline perverted. Not only that, but after spending a night with whoever the heck my mother is, he got up and left her, and went and got himself killed, or at least disappeared off the face of the earth, because like it or not I have a hard time imagining an overpowered fool like him getting killed. A rooster flitting from one hen to the next, without a friggin' care in the world as to what his actions might accomplish. A guy who left so many enemies behind to prey upon his family while he gallivanted about doing God knows what, someone who always could save complete and utter strangers, but who left his whole family tree to die."

Asuna took a step back at this point. Whoa… What was up with him? This was the time a kid might look at their toy and ask:" Did I break it?" Negi was shaking like a leaf and nearly yelling now. Magic was pooling in his hand, but, unlike the normal light, fire, wind, thunder or other element he normally had, this one was a pure dark. She had never seen him pull dark magic…she had only seen Eva do it…it didn't bode well, but Negi's face was scary, she didn't dare go near that shaking being with magic spewing from both hands…he looked ready to snap…

"Do you know why I am the way I am? I have no family because a couple of fu---ing demons came and slaughtered my whole damn moth---- village, making them flipping garden statues before breaking them into a million pieces! My foster sister and I where the only ones left, and she tried to leave with me, but they got her too. I couldn't do anything. I was a toddler! I was told I somehow cast a spell…a baby repeating words they had heard before without any knowledge of what the word meant. It was the right word, but It didn't help, she still died, still lies in pieces eroding away in the snow and rain. Where the hell was he then huh?! Oh and I'm not done, he left his son to bear the weight of resentment. His son had to grow up fast in magic school and learn to deal with people who were all older, trying to break him down because he was small and somehow smart enough to be there. His son had to deal with outside forces too, demons, werewolves, mages, mad people, all who hated my father's cause trying to slaughter my ass so I wouldn't continue his legacy. Every time someone picked on me, I trained to blast away the weakness. No they would not hurt me anymore. Every time some crazy fool tried to kill me, I trained that away too. I would become too tough for them to scratch. I didn't know why these people tried to hurt me, but I wouldn't let them. When I found school challenging me, I was not like him, thinking it boring and dropping out. I simply just trained my brain. This would no longer be hard for me. I would become something that no one would dare try and break apart any more, no matter how many people thought me a bast-- for it."

((Whoa Negi! Whoa! Heel! Heel! Think of the children!))

Shit, he's not gonna stop is he? He's just gonna spill all this on me. Holy….

"My own students trying to terrorize me, wheedle me, they found that their worms can't burrow into my steel. Professors trying to pick at me found their beaks unable to penetrate diamond. Trials, rites of passages, whatever came my way just meant I had to train it away. I became a workaholic, a person who vitally strives to erase all difficulty my life holds, to become powerful enough so that life will no longer hurt me. Hardened by the flame until the flame can melt me no more. I just want to live my life. Is that so hard? Is it so difficult to satisfy that one little desire? A peaceful life? No one trying to kill me because who my father was? No one trying to second guess me, take advantage of me, because of my size and age? No one trying to break me down to learn what makes me tick and exploit it? No one can love an ass like me, not even If I HAD a family, so I just want to left the f--- alone for once."

Letting out a solid and powerful breath, Negi raised both of his hands and wordlessly let loose a powerful stream of magic of some non-descript element. As he did so, his face was steadily becoming a simple blank mask of concentration. Like he said, he was training the pain away. Asuna stayed where she was. Almost rooted to the spot. Normally, she would at least approach the person in question, but Negi's hands where still twitching, and that was a lot of magic he was spewing out there, that could so easily be directed right at her instead of up into the sky…she only hoped no low-flying planes where flying above on that path…

Holy crap...he's belting it...and what is that?

As Negi continued to spew magic, Asuna noticed something fall from him, and it took her a few seconds to register it as a tear. An actual tear. Was he actually...crying?

Once again abandoning all her spell work, she dared come closer, and Negi cancelled his magic. He didn't turn to look at her however, his face was kept turned towards the direction the magic he had sent was still disappearing rapidly upward. Taking a chance, she reached out her hand and caught one of those odd tears.

"That? I got some damn thing in my eye. That's all. I won't let it disturb my training though-"

"Bull. You know it."

"Believe what you want but…damn it, it's really BUGGING my EYES!"

Even as he said this another drop of offending salt water fell. Asuna let it drop from her hand and put that said hand on his shoulder, but Negi shrugged it away forcefully.

"Get off me... You're in my way! If you don't need help with a spell…then leave this baka brat alone to train."

"...Baka brat? Have you forgotten Japanese? You know what baka means right?"

"Of course I do...I am one."

"Now that is bull."

"Buzz off."

"If I don't want too?"

"Then don't buzz off."

Turning back around to start spewing magic again, he almost fell from spinning to fast, but, before Asuna could react, he had caught himself, glaring at the floor. Asuna cast about for something to tell him...anything. He was acting too weird.

"I suppose you want to know about my mother too huh?"

"Uhh...well.."

"As far as I can tell, she either left me after giving birth or died during it. No one dares tell me which, I think she just up and left. Like I said, I'm an unlovable bastard even from birth. Now get back to your work."

"....No mom in their right mind would leave their kid without a reason."

Negi let his magic dissipate again, only this time, he simply began to punch and kick at the air.

"Like being slam-bam-thank you mam'ed by a fool like my father, whom she probably idolized, is not enough to reject the child? He up and disappeared the very day after I was conceived I bet, as soon as he learned what his little swimmers had done. The story fits the time frames."

"...Little..?"

"Don't tell me I have to spell it out for you?"

Asuna almost slapped herself for no realizing, although her face became red enough for a person to think she had.

"...Actually, no you don't.....but if you say that, then why didn't she just..."

"Abort? Against the law in many places, not to mention the fact she might not have had the heart for it...she probably thought having the child might bring Nagi back anyway, he might want to take care of his "legacy" Of course, once he was rumored dead, what was the point? Besides continuing the line, perhaps duty kept her from just...not having me."

"....You actually believe that?"

Negi's eyes had cleared, but now they darkened again, not with tears, but with possible anger.

"...Yes."

Asuna looked away from him, but said nothing. Negi continued to fight the air, increasing in speed and elaboration as he did so. He continued his monologue after a few seconds of silence.

"....Yes. I do. It fits the facts. Whoever she was, she had to have been smart enough to figure that out, and she probably was from a high family, Nagi had quite broad yet "expensive" so to speak, tastes."

"You don't think to highly of him do you?"

"Hell no. Now get back to your work."

+---+

"So that's how it is huh?"

"Hot off the press. What did you expect from Asakura?"

"So sensei doesn't like us?"

"No...that's not quite it."

"Yue-san? Where did you come from?!"

Detaching a juice box from her lips, Yue looked up at the little knot of students who had gathered in the empty classroom. Negi-sensei, gone for the day to hold and after-school cram session, was in another room far below them.

"It's not that Sensei does not "like us" or that he does not want his job. He is, as he claims to be, a teacher. I still don't think it was right to bug the dean's room though, Asakura."

The ever present smile on her face easily beat back any weak offense Yue could offer Asakura. Widening that grin just a bit more to flash some teeth, she responded to Yue's comment.

"Ahh, most of the time the dude's just making weird sounds as he reads adult magazines. It's well worth it to get juicy tid-bits like this though. Sensei's voice is a welcome change, and it's been sounding off in the Dean's office often lately. His tongue burns my microphone to a crisp every time. Still, you're right, he doesn't hate us, just refuses to give us anything more than he would any other student. Doesn't play favorites, am I right?"

"Correct. It is actually part of a unwritten code for a teacher. If you favor one student above another, you could lose your job. The dean asking him to do so goes against all what a teacher should be. However, this matter is quite disturbing...to try and force Sensei to either favor one class above all others or lose his job if we don't get out of last place...I think the Dean is just trying to push sensei, to see how far he will bend. Sensei is the only teacher who has not bent to the Dean's will so far. He does what he wants, when he wants to do it and how he wants to do it. The thing that annoys the dean further is that Springfield-sensei does it correctly and without problem. There is no reason for the Dean to try and inflict his will upon Sensei."

"So what should we do?"

"There's also the problem about this school's system changing."

"Huh, what do you mean the school system's changing?"

"The dean was talking about it, changing the system from an escalator school, meaning...we'll get left back if we're in last place again..."

"What?! When?"

"This morning...just before they discovered they'd been bugged this whole year..."

"This is bad! What can we do?"

"Go to sensei's cram session." - This coming from Yue.

"But that's boring!!"

"Well...no, there is no such thing."

"What is it Yue-san?"

"They say that there is this magic book..."

+---+

"What is this nonsense that I'm hearing? Magic book? Asuna-san, go back to sleep please, stop reading so much damn manga..."

"Are you trying to tell me it doesn't exist? You, mister godly mage?"

Negi sat up in bed and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, trying to bring a blurry Asuna into focus in the dark room. Konoka lie still sleeping, but Negi could tell from Asuna's manner that she would soon be dragged out of bed too, and into this nonsense. Magic book his ass. As much as he wanted to say it did not exist, that this was fruitless folly, which it was, that they should all just go to bed and try to attend his study sessions, or hit him up between classes, which they should, but it would be useless. Asuna and her band of people outsides the door had won the moment Asuna had tapped his shoulder, waking him from his ever delicate, light sleep. They had ignited his scholars' spirit, and artifact hunter's soul, nothing he could do would change that, sleep was now thus impossible. He muttered under his breath as Asuna's face still failed to come into proper focus, and he groped from his glasses on his tiny nightstand, jamming them on his face when he found them.

"To hell with it all. If what youi're saying is true, which I doubt, there are about three different texts you could be talking about. At least as far as I know. One of which being the: "Libri per Scientia"

"There yah go. I knew you had to know something."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm your resident walking, sarcastic library right? Anyway, get out of the way, I'm gonna jump it."

Asuna, quickly getting down from the ladder, went to go wake Konoka as Negi grabbed his coat and stuffed his star wand in his sleeve before grabbing his staff. He looked at three pairs of shoes next to lined up near his ladder, and, kicking off slippers, he chose his boots. (He left his socks on in sleep, it was cool enough for it anyway.) He hesitated as his eyes fell upon his gun, and then grabbed it too, along with at least three reloads worth of ammo. By the time Konoka was groggily sitting up, Negi jumped off the little railing he had put along his living area to prevent the very thing he was doing, jumping or falling off. Landing lightly on the floor with his toes he saw Konoka cast him a sleepy glare.

Don't look at me girl, look at your friend over there. She's the one waking you up.

Negi walked out the door with his coat slung over his back. As he left the lighted room however, his eyes alighted upon his wrist, where a faded tattoo caught in the light. Negi mentally cursed his luck. It was fading, which meant he needed to reapply the ink on it soon.

You see, have you ever wondered why Negi was able to use magic during his fight with Eva, when Asuna held his staff HeartBreaker and his star wand? Or did no one notice? No, that was no blunder. Negi relied on this tattoo to help him do that. As one might expect, Negi, having buried his nose in just about every book in the forbidden libraries of study, has run across many forms of magic, and even if he cannot utilize all he knows, he can always practice until he can, and he has a broad base to draw from. In his studies and training, he had found it absurdly annoying to no end, having to carry his wand all the time to use magic, and, even if HeartBreaker can double as a blade, if it is confiscated, he would have to rely on his star wand, but what if he doesn't have that? Sure, training in martial arts can help him supplement weakness there, but for Negi, that was not enough. He wanted to be able to use all of his arsenal, even when situations looked grim.

So, he had studied, searching for a way to cast magic without a wand or other suitable vessel for casting magic. In his studies, which centered around a rumor of he himself achieving the feat as a toddler, he came across body paint as an answer to his plea. Combining the elements of a vessel for magic, metals, certain plants and other potion ingredients, Negi mixed these with body inks to produce a concoction he could paint upon himself to allow magic to be channeled from there to the outside. He would no longer need to keep some kind of magical vessel close to him if he painted on himself after all. Yet still, this did not satisfy him. Rings with gems inset on them to grant them the ability to be used as a wand, enchanted rings, necklaces, bangles, anklets, things like these where nice, but Negi wanted something totally free of strings. The reason for that was simple, if something like this happened, his tattoo fading, he would not have to worry. He had yet to discover it though, and that meant he had to worry. How long would his tattoo last? Would he need to use magic in a library anyway? What if the suspicion of a magical book was true? Would he need to disarm traps and defeat guardians? How the hell was he supposed to do that with just his daggers and gun if they were magically protected?

Crap.

+---+

"Wait, you brought sensei along? He'll just get hurt though..."

"Oi oi, did you forget when he fought Ku Fei?"

"I thought that was a fluke!"

"Is no fluke aru!"

Konoka looked at the collection of misfits, who had separated into two groups. One of three and one of six, one of whom was still in his pajamas, regardless is he had his coat on. Stifling a yawn, Konoka turned to Yue, who was perhaps the only sensible person here in her mind.

"...Why am I here?"

"You are part of the communications team."

"What?"

"The communications team."

Negi reached into his coat pocket and tossed Konoka a cold energy drink, which nearly smacked her in the face due to her slow, sleep-affected reactions.

"Here, have a cold one and wake yourself up. I didn't want to be here either. Being in class A means embarking on frivolous, spur of the moment adventures whose purpose is both obscure and hilarious. Deal with it."

Konoka turned to Yue again, tossing the beverage from one hand to the next because of it's icy temperature.

"What did Sensei just say?'

"If you are in this class, expect to be pulled into situations where you have no idea what's going on, or why it makes sense. "

"...Oh."

"Konoe-san, you don't need to worry, your part is to stay here and monitor. It's the six of us who have to go into the belly of the beast."

"Springfield-sensei..."

"What?"

"Why do you call me Konoe-san, but Asuna-san, Asuna?

"...I don't know you well enough. Asuna-san has requested I call her by first name for convenience. Thank you very much."

"Hey, Negi-sensei! Hurry up or you'll be left behind!"

"Oi oi, fine I'm coming. I'm coming!"

Negi turned around to Konoka.

"Look. I don't like what you tried to do to me, nor do I like to get all emotional and all feely. I'm not like most kiddies. Hug me and I bristle. Yet, as much as I like to think I'm a heartless demon, I'm a human. Drink your juice before it gets warm, and keep an eye out for your friend Asuna, because lord knows why we need an underground surveillance team for a library trip, but something tells me tonight is gonna be hell. Kapeesh? I'll forgive you if you can do that much."

Turning around, Negi ran to catch up with the rest, leaving Konoka to look at the beverage in her hand. It was a Ginseng Tea with Lemon leaf mix. Hell? Sensei was a health buff? Maybe?

"Sensei!"

Negi turned around again to see Konoka running after him. What the hell did she want now?

"I'm coimg too."

What?!?

"...and why is this?"

"......Uhh...well....."

Negi narrowed his eyes.

"Fine, whatever, I really don't care all that much."

+---+

"Watch Springfield-sensei Asuna-san."

"What, why the hell should I?"

"Because he's a kid and might get...ahh!"

Negi, seeing Makie fall, grabbed her wrist deftly and braced his feet. Her ribbon came up a split second later and attached to a hanging pipeline, allowing Makie to pull herself up with ease, using Negi as a brace.

"Watch out for your own self, I'm fine."

Standing on tip toe and still failing to pat her shoulder effectively, Negi jumped across the gap Makie had fallen into, leaving her to stare. He rapidly walked away while she and those behind her jumped across the gap, his aim being to catch up to the Yue, who was in front. Asuna, who was looking back to see Negi draw level with her, unknowingly stepped on a panel, and Kaede, Makie and Ku Fei were assaulted with falling books from an overbalancing bookshelf. Negi, who had turned back to see what the noise was about, reached the book shelf the same time Ku Fei did, both of them performing the same action, which was to kick the thing away to prevent it from falling. Kaede did her part by catching the assaulting books in her hands. It seemed like Makie, who had called out Negi, was turning out to be the one who needed help...No one noticed Asuna's screwed up mouth. She knew that was her fault. As Negi drew level with her, he made a "no problem" gesture to her, telling her she was not the only one who knew of her blunder. Crap.

"Springfield-sensei...all these books are written in a strange language....but they look like they are in the same one..."

Negi put a hand to the back of his head and rubbed it, his face kind of apologetic.

"No...no. They are not in the same language Konoe-san, I see several Greek, a couple Latin, one Norse, about three French, Five Spanish, What seems to be quite a few Arabic, One English and perhaps six, no seven, German. However, many of those languages I just mentioned have roots with each other, so they may look the same..."

Asuna shook her head incredulously.

"How many languages do you know anyway?!?"

"....Ehh....wait..Serbian, Ancient Latin, English, Greek, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, German, Italian, French, Spanish, wait, did I mention Swahili? No I did not...uhhh...About thirty eight I think.."

Yue looked back at him.

"Is there really a need to know so many different languages?"

"I used to work with American students a lot when I went to school as a college student, plus English was my first language anyway...Latin I know because....it interests me..*here he casts a nervous glance at Asuna* Spanish, Italian and French share roots in Latin, so I studied them....Greek and Russian I studied because I traveled to both Greece and Russia before and wanted to be able to communicate...Chinese and Japanese I learned so I can be of use here.....Serbian is another form of Latin, so there goes that...Swahili, Irish, Polish, Yiddish and Czech I have no excuse for, I'll admit. Did I mention German yet? I took a trip there once as a teacher with my class for a meeting and no one in the town we settled in knew anything but German, so there's that...what am I...shit Ayase, put back that damn book!"

Shaken out of his reverie, Negi jumped up and grabbed the book from Yue's hand, his other hand frozen about an inch from her heart, an arrow in it. He jammed the book back into its eager shelf, where its title, in English, claimed: "The true Secret of Flight." In the one hand that the arrow was in, the fingers contorted and snapped the shaft in four, and Negi flung down the remains into the pit that was on either side of them all along the wide book-case path they walked.

"God damn, if you really believe there is a magic book here, don't you think it would be well guarded? People, be more flipping careful! I can only react so damn fast!"

+---+

Crawling through a tunnel was one thing, but crawling through a tunnel in this school uniform was another. Negi asked to be first in the line her, but Yue had the map, she had to. So Negi decided he would look inside his coat while he crawled, it was what he said, and no one understood what the heck he was talking about...

Until they began crawling that is. Does the genius always have to be right? Bottom to bottom, they had to crawl, and it was not a pleasant experience…for any of them, except perhaps for Yue, who was in front and had the map. It took a while, and Negi got tired of staring at the ceiling in an attempt to be decent and not see something else, so he began staring at the ground while he crawled. It was mildly cold here, but the temperature didn't bother him, it was the length of this part of their travels that did. He called out to Yue.

"Oi oi. I'm jumping on the bandwagon here, wanting to know if we are nearly there yet or not. I haven't crawled this much since I was a flipping toddler!"

Which was not too long ago Sensei, even if the way you speak contradicts that fact.

"Actually, we are here...just about...I'm just searching for the right panel....here it is, this one. Can someone get up here and help me?"

Negi crawled up in the space to reach where Yue was, saying all the while:

"I'm coming, I'm the smallest anyway..."

+---+

Finally moving the slab of rock out of the way, Negi climbed up and hoisted Yue noiselessly up after him. He then ducked back down to help Asuna up, who in turn got the rest out with his and Yue's help. Standing up fully, the party of five feasted their eyes upon the room they had found themselves in. A large, squarish area made completely of stone, cracking in several places, and yet, it was obvious it had once held quite a bit of grandeur to it. At the other end of the room, a book lay open on a pedestal. Negi, looking at it, was suddenly reminded of Indiana Jones and had to shake his head to hide his amusement. Yue, stating the obvious, pointed to the book.

"There it is..."

" Oh hell. It's the Book of Merkisedek...who would have thought."

Yue turned to look at Negi.

"You know of it Springfield-sensei?"

He cast the girl a sidelong look. Even with her, he had to look up, but not too much. A half smirk formed on his face, and he let out an odd laugh.

"Heh. I nearly got my hands on a copy of one once. Almost got to read the bugger. Yet, I didn't. I was out-bided by some rich stiff in the auction house. He was robbed of it a week later, and no one knows where the heck the book is now. There are only two, true,known copies of the book. The original and that one. Last time I checked, a rumor was floating around that some idiot had tried to copy the text and died trying to extract the secrets. You can't just simply copy the stuff on that book down unto another book...it's one of the highest grade magical texts currently known..."

Asuna stared at him. What would he want with this book anyway? Then she realized what he was saying.

"Wait..you almost got one?!"

"Why would you want one Sensei, aren't you smart enough already?!"

"Springfield-sensei really knows his stuff, doesn't he..."

Negi gave a backwards glare at the five of them, an odd light shining in his eyes. Once again, a single, off laugh escaped his lips and his tongue darted out to relieve them of their dry state.

"You could say that I'm an artifact collector...one who likes to chase rare and obscure things. Why do you think I came with you all once you started to talk about a magic book? You captured my collector's interest....as much as I hate to admit it. This must be the original copy of the text..."

Makie and Ku -Fei, ever energetic, decided to take the final step and make a break for it. Yue chased after them. Asuna wasn't too far behind, Keade with her.

"Hey, since when did you two become fans of books?! That's mine!"

"Yue-san, don't be a baka...we'll all share it right?"

Negi shook his head. Running after them, he stopped at a bridge of rock and yelled out after them. Konoka stopped just behind him.

"OIIIIII! A book like is bound to be booby trapped you-"

Negi didn't get to finish his sentence. The bridge broke and dumped Makie, Asuna, Ku Fei, Yue and Kaede unto a stone platform. Negi recognized the marking on it was made a face. He had once played that game when a couple of his fellow students from America had hosted a party...they had gotten drunk, (Not Negi of course.) and had tried to play it. He'll never forget that hellacious day as long as he shall live....it scarred him for life. At the same time that the girls fell, a statue, which had been next to the book, one of two, started to move, scaring the heck out of anyone besides Negi and Keade.

"OH HO HO HO..."

Oh hell, why do these things always have to come equipped with a stupid laugh?

+---+

One hectic twister game later....

"Asuna you monkey!!!"

Falling, falling, falling, that's what they all were doing. Negi was trying not say he told them so, but he told them so! Negi landed face first in the sand, filling his mouth with the stuff. What was worse was when Yue fell on top of him, knocking his head deeper into the stuff and cutting off his air supply. Oh hell, this was fun. Fun fun fun till the father takes the fudging keyboard away. Negi waved his arms around, getting Yue's attention as to why her landing had been harder than the other's. Getting up, embarrassed, she was about to help him when he got himself up, pushing up and sending sand cascading off him. He opened his mouth and let a steam of sand fall out. Oh nice, he was a fountain now. Looking around, he shook his head, spitting sand.

"Oh hell, lookie lookie, we are in some huge, no-exit-in-sight underground area that's lighted up to emulate outside and be some kind of underground paradise where we waste our lives away. How nice."

Getting up fully, he looked around and then turned back to the others. More of less in one piece, he shook his head.

"Might as well look around, why don't we? There are plenty of books. I told you you should study before, but now, you have to. Nothing else to do. I'll go look for some kind of food. Anyone else coming?"

"Me."

Fine, so Asuna-san and I will go. Just....just don't get lost will yah? Keep in touch, always.

+---+

Pah. Here we are. I wanted to make it a bit longer, but decided against it. I got time constraints. See ya'll. A bit shorter than I should make it, so the next one can be longer...I have a long one planned for it...