Again I am ready to bash my brain against the wall that is this near blank WordPad document in hopes of it spilling its contents unto the expanse, in a suitable arrangement for the next chapter of This story, Young Negi ; An Applied Approach. You all may have noticed, but I have another "story" that has been launched. Don't be upset if you voted for me to keep to one story, I am, that "story" is a challenge story. You can review there to challenge me to write anything you like, within reason of course. It's there for me to test my mettle and sharpen my ability. In other words, it's there so I can better serve you all. Believe me, I take no joy in increasing my own workload. I can only hope that by increasing the amount I have to type, I will eventually type faster, and that, by working on two different, yet similar "stories", if I get writers block in one, I can simply switch to the other and write for that one. Namely, if I get writers block here, I go to Challenge MFT to get rid of the block.
I also use it for practice. I've been told I've improved a lot since beginning this, I aim to continue improving by expanding my chances to practice. Kapeesh? Okay then. Let us go now. Oh by the way, I said "froggin" purposely, not to be confused with "friggin."
I do not, as always, own Negima. I do own my mind though, and this story is a product of my mind, so, by a chain of logical thought, I own this story. Ask me if you would like to use one of my ideas please. It will only take a small portion of my time, and I most likely will say yes. Unlike Negi, I'm a nice guy, although I'm not nice enough to make his life easier, no.
Don't ask me why, I seemed to like listening to "According to you." by Orianthi, while writing this. Blame my mood. I'm a very weird guy aren't I? Between Rock, Metal, Classical, Country, Dance...hey, I listen to just about anything....
Galerians, Negi is a lone wolf. I think...eventually...he'll warm up to his mother, but not quite yet.
+---+
Chapter Twenty Five: Infinite Realism
He was almost there. He almost had gathered enough magic. Years ago, when he had created the first version of the Cassiopeia, he had also created a second. That second had been broken not to long after, which prompted him to create a third version, which he had given to Chao along with the first.
Yet, in fiddling with time pieces, Negi Springfield was, in actuality, far older than he even was supposed to be. It had only been little more than a hundred years since his confrontations with Territum, yet this man was far older than that.
In actuality, Negi Springfield had managed to somehow cling to a life whose existence numbered near the two hundred year mark. He was more resilient than any one would ever know… those who called him a hardy soul at over a hundred. Perhaps it was the magic running through his veins, or maybe that he had such a long way to fall originally...but he had yet to become senile.
As such, after the creation of the third Cassiopeia, he secretly came upon a discovery that led him to work in private, even keeping his daughters and thus his granddaughter in the dark, until he came upon the creation of his forth Cassiopeia model.
This model needed far less magic than the first, even less than the third, and was even more precise, more accurate. In fact, it's precision was a direct mirror of the mage who controlled it, for it was a spell, not a tangible thing that could be broken like the others, but an actual spell...he glanced towards the window, preparing to set his eyes on a far different night sky...
The old man's ears perked up at a slight sound along the hallways leading to his quarters, and her stuffed his hands into his bell sleeves, a signature of his office, but also a prime hiding place for glowing hands. The door slid smoothly open to admit a party of three, one of which being a man.
He stepped forward into the darkness, throwing his face into shadow, but that did not stop Negi from recognizing him. A brilliant young man he had grown into, but he was a bit too hard headed and bent on the rules, which never held under extreme circumstances, something he refused to let get beaten into his head. His sandy hair glinted in the light from the open door as he opened his mouth.
"The Great Magus, Negi Springfield. Leader of the "crusades" against the life maker, in his father's shoes. Over comer of the great code of the life maker. Monarch of the forgotten and fallen Ostian Empire, savior of the magical world several times over. It's a honor to step foot in your humble home again-"
The figure of Springfield near the window snapped out, his voice impatient as he stared out into the night sky. He had almost gathered enough magic, and this fool had to come and interrupt him, as fate would have it. The old man spun around, and faced the far younger one.
"Zip it, pee wee. You came here last week, in case you have forgotten, Matthew. Are you here to test my sanity again? Or are you here just to grace me with your overbearing presence? You were never a quiet child boy, and you haven't changed in adulthood. Don't' forget who baby-sited you in your youth!"
For a moment, the now named Matthew writhed inwardly in a slight shame. Obviously, this man could still bring him to his knees with his embarrassing memories of childhood. No one could take away an old fogey's ultimate weapon against the younger ones, their baby days. It seemed, as always, that this man had yet to go senile. He was froggin...how old? He must be near his one twenties by now. He stared at the man and noticed something off.
"Where's the girl? No surveillance system can find her anywhere. She escaped from the detention cell, and the camera's caught her going in here, but she never left here."
Although he knew exactly who the man was referring to, the Magus felt like messing with his mind a bit, and he wanted to buy some time. His magic didn't come to him like it used to after all, and his body was tired. Tired not only from age, but from the amount of magic it had just let loose.
"Girl?' A collection of molecular mass with a double x chromosome genetic code, usually not to far along the human maturing process and vulnerable? An object of desire for the counterpart labeled a "boy"? A combination of amino acids and proteins assembled in chains used to create chemical reactions in order to perform certain tasks which drive the basis of the action of "living?" Or do you mean..."
Even as he continued, he saw Matthew grow impatient, and he cut him off just as the man was about to snap at him with a soft tone artfully bitten off at the end with a snap of tongue. The other fell silent at the very moment he began, showing that this old "fogey" still had it.
"Before you snap at me you impatient boy, know that Chao is not always with me. The girl does, after all, have a mind of her own."
He wasn't buying that, and the Magus knew it, still, it was best to try and buy time. Respect and his strong adherence to the rules are what this magus would play upon, for the young one would not do anything reckless and thus he would lose this confrontation. All he had to do was talk, which old men were famous for doing anyway, so why not fulfill his quota to serve a purpose?
"You know I don't believe that old man, no matter how senile you can grow in a single week."
Negi raised an eyebrow and sighed. His hands inside the sleeves of his robes twitched. He was ready to form the spell. He brought his hands out, and he saw the two women behind him wince. Matthew paled and took a step back. They all knew that magic was not something to be taken lightly when coming from a magister, even if it was fading from this world in its strength...this magister was especially dangerous, even taking into consideration his advanced age.
"Fine, then believe this. Chao went to do something none of you all were brave enough to. Do you remember when I suggested countless solutions to keep this magical world together? Do you remember how each one was over ruled, and the terrible results? Do you remember my last suggestion before I left my senator's seat? Time travel. My creation, the Cassiopeia. Well, Chao just used it, and I plan to join her..."
"You really are senile. The first was lost..."
Negi looked over to the coffee table in front of him, and his staff, which had been in front of him, acting as a faucet for his power, jumped into his glowing hands. It had once been his fathers, and now it was his. He spun it slowly, experimentally, getting a feel for the weathered wood under weathered skiin.
"I only told you all that…lie."
The other still felt he should continue, yet he kept his eyes on that rotating staff. Always, there was that threat. True, he himself had some skill in magical art, learned from the very man in front of him, but in this world, where magic was hard to call upon, and scarce, he could hardly match the elderly one in front of him.
"The second was broken..."
Negi scoffed, and his staff stopped spinning to point right that the other's heart. It shook as it was heald there, not with anger, but for the simple strength of wrist to took to hold it in place. Red eyes traveled down the nose and along that staff before he spoke.
"By yourself as a totting child, yes I know."
"You would need two, for one could not hold up to the amount of time travel needed to get back...and for both of you..."
The magus, tired of this talk, stomped his foot, bringing more attention to himself as his hands glowed all the brighter. He looked Matthew dead in the eye, and his bearing still managed to push the younger man further away from him without so much as a touch.
"I never told you that I created a THIRD version of the artifact, did I? Chao has that. Along with the so called "lost" first version. However, this still leave me, doesn't it? After the third version was created, I stumbled upon a deeper secret of time, one that would drastically reduce the amount of magic needed for a transfer in time. I also managed to, after some experimenting, perfect this forth version of the Cassiopeia. This version, no one can break."
Matthew quirked an eyebrow. The man was mad. Most likely, he was hiding the girl under his robes, or in one of his closets. He rose his arm, and the women behind him, wary though they might have been, stepped forward. He looked to them and then swept his head to encompass the whole expanse of the quarters in front of him.
"Search this! That delinquent must be caught! Her grandfather can't save her this time from the crime she committed! The height of treason will not be spared it's justice, not even for a little girl! ...I'll take this man, he, who is hiding her, is also guilty! If you find anything that seemed to be in the likeness of a timepiece, smash it!"
They fanned out from behind him, trying to stay far away from the magus, making three targets instead of one. The man in the middle of it all just smiled and rose his glowing hands as magic traveled along them down to his arms and to cover him in an aura that kicked up his curtains and make Mathew throw up his arm. The woman had stopped dead in their tracks, one actually screamed and ducked, fearing attack, but Negi only put both of his hands in front of each other, as a ball of black energy, surrounded by what seemed to be purple lightning, coursed around it. He smiled as the magic blew back his hair every which way.
"Matthew, Matthew, Matthew... you never learn. I was your first and last teacher. You never got it. Sometimes, the rules aren't always right. Sometimes, the "right" way, is actually the wrong way. Look where we have gotten in life, trying to satisfy every person's very whim. Those who were afraid of change have caused this world to rot right in front of my very eyes! Well, no longer! If you won't listen, I'll just have to re-write history so you don't have too! I told you...you can't destroy the forth Cassiopeia, because it has no body! It is a spell!"
Finally, the very spell he had been thinking of, and thus incanting, this whole time, gathering power with it, for it was a long winded incantation...he let it loose, just as Matthew, eyes wide, jumped forward when he realized that the old Magus was not trying to attack or scare him, but his magical glowing hands were a mean of escape. Yet, as he slammed into the ground, hands empty, he could only allow his ears to ring with the final syllable, the glorious, triumphant syllable of that magus's voice.
"Chronos...Cassio…peia!"
+--1--+
"That's the gist of it."
Yue blinked. She looked down at the coffee that was in front of her. Yes, that's right, a coffee. In the presence of this Sensei and in the seriousness of the conversation, she had decided to go, for once, with a normal beverage, which in itself was odd, but besides the point. Nodoka kept her hand tightly locked around her cup's handle, her fingers were white.
Negi had told her, quite simply, that if he had time, they could talk alone if she liked later on, just like planned, something she had agreed to in a spurt of confidence Yue didn't know the girl had in her, but now, she seemed to be regretting that decision. Yue spoke up to prevent Nodoka needing to input into the conversation.
"So you are a mage, one of a network of mages on campus. What is your purpose here?"
Negi lifted his cup, a brew of strong Earl Grey tea, (Without milk, in case you were wondering.) and took a generous sip before he fixed Yue with those eyes of his over the rim of his cup. Those eyes would strike anybody sane, but for Yue, she felt ashamed that they had. She only hoped no visible indication of this was showing.
"My purpose? To teach you all English. No other reason. Just because a mage is here, doesn't mean something special is going to happen. You probably walk by five mages every day, and don't notice a thing. We are people to after all, we have lives to live."
This statement made her hurriedly answer, sputtering all the while, Negi stopped her by pushing her cup towards her, indicating she should drink and calm down before she tried again, and she did so, burying her face in the cup for a few seconds before reemerging.
"I didn't mean to imply that-"
"Of course."
Negi put down his cup with a bang that made the tea slope up in the air before coming back down neatly in the cup, a temporary pyramid of liquid to look at, which Yue did, focusing her eyes so she wouldn't have to look at the mage in front of her. Negi fixed his eyes on her hair, for that was what he could see if he looked straight across.
"Recently, my purpose as a teacher has been bumped into the position of bodyguard for one of my students, but I act as the protector of them all, as I should, being their teacher. My purpose here is to live my life, nothing else really. Nothing to be ashamed of...to many fantasy books. Now are you going to look me in the friggin eyes, or do I have to lift your head myself?"
The said head jerked up. Deep eyes of purple looked into the fire Negi showed them. One set showed abashment to the other, the other simply ate it and returned bold, harsh strength. Negi glanced up as a hand entered his vision, slipping unto the table before the body attached to it sidled into a seat next to him. Negi was not to happy to find that the figure was his mother.
"I was wondering where you went! I came here to spend the weekend with you, not to have you flit off at the first chance you had!"
Negi's eyes narrows, and one could almost see the sparks fly from them. This was going to become difficult, his mother was really becoming an extra wheel to cramp his style, wasn't she? He looked at her sidelong and then to the confused look Yue was giving him. He sighed, defeated, for once.
"This is my insane, recently re-discovered mother. Pay her no mind."
Obviously, this comment earned Negi a slap in the back of the head, something Negi turned around sharply after receiving and fixed the receiving end, his mother, with a glare. Again hazel eyes met fire red, the grounding force meeting fire, and the fire was refusing to be smothered. Yue could only continue to stare. His mother?
"I am NOT insane!"
A single eyebrow rose and a smirk followed it. He loved playing around with this woman for some reason. Maybe it was his vow to make sure she would find out how "unlovable" he could be, or maybe it was just him being him, a loner who was finding himself with some extra baggage he was trying to get rid of. His eyes rolled at that comment.
"Are you suuuure? You sure seem that way to me, mother."
Another smack upside the head, which didn't even make Negi's head dip, for he managed to hold it high. Negi only smiled all the wider, earning odd looks from those present. What kid smiled when their mother smacked them? Besides sick ones? Negi got up, picking up his cup to finish it in a final swig. Arika got up to, but Negi addressed Nodoka and Yue.
"Perhaps you all would like to talk with my mother a bit? I have some patrol duties to do, so if you'll excuse me...."
Negi was famous for disappearing before anyone had a chance to react, and he pulled off another one, practically flying away on feet enhanced with wind magic, kicking up the table clothes as he went with the wind. He left behind money for the drinks, which was a small blessing. Arika stamped her foot on the ground.
"Damn! He got away, again! Son of mine, I will catch you one of these days!"
+--2--+
(That was terrible, let's try again, shall we?)
A blast of magical power rushed through a quiet alley. A figure fell to the ground, and rolled, springing back up slowly, gracefully, but that grace was only a way to hide the painful rise the man was implementing. The magus rose to his feet slowly, and surveyed the surrounding his eyes allowed him to see. He shook his head. Of course. His granddaughter was about to implement her plans again. Right at the time he expected her too. Just like last time, he had been too much to her, she could not have tried to kill him and make her life easy. No, she had to come back to this time where she would be able to use the magical tree as soon as possible, while keeping him alive. A single twenty one years earlier, and none of this would be a problem. Not even his father would have caused her a problem if she had done that. No. So He had to step in. This time, he would be the one to implement something's. This was most likely the wrong universe however, what was different here, he wondered?
A blast of magical power alerted Negi to slam his body to one side of the alleyway. He knew exactly where he was, at the edge of town, near the forest, a clearing wasn't far from where he was. Negi watched as the beam of power sailed into the sky. An animal climbed up his shoulder, and Negi looked at it. Immensely old, for an ermie at least, the granddaughter of Chamo looked at him, deep in his eyes. A connection was made there. Negi silently detached from the wall and felt magic gather around him, incredibly fast, brilliantly powerful, beautiful power flowing through his veins. This was the difference that a few decades made. This was the power of the world tree effecting this city. He rose his staff and took a simple step.
The old man disappeared in an instant, performing not a shundo, but an actual teleportation, and reappeared behind a tree. He then laid eyes upon a sight that made his eyes go quite wide and for his eyebrows to disappear into his white front bangs. His eyes had lain upon the sight of his mother, and in front of her, his younger counterpart, bearing tattoos on his arms and magic coursing all along him. The two were staring down each other something fierce and then his mother flinched, and the magus saw the younger one thrust out his hand and his mother was blasted back, sent skidding, his voice, far to young, allowing the old Magus to notice that the body attached it was younger than it should have been, echoed in the forest.
"Come on Arika! You did say you wanted to train me in this art. What happened to all your skill? You can't tell me I have superseded you in skill already?!"
His mother did not answer, but Negi's eyes widened as an appendage of light purple magic was thrown from her, and, regardless of Negi slamming up a Deflexio, the shaft of purple magic shot through it, shattering it and sending him reeling backwards. Arika then barbed him with a mental attack, which Negi only managed to half-successfully block. The boy jumped back to his feet quickly and extended his hand again, and a deep red magic of a nondescript shape exuded from his body, and continued to do so, even as it shot towards the woman. Arika's own eyes widened and she ducked off to the side to avoid the energy, sending her magic to fend off the attack, but it was so large...she had to send off several of her own shafts before Negi's was disillusioned. He smiled as she gritted her teeth.
"Is that how you do it then?"
Her teeth were still gritted, so she answered him through them. The old magus shook his head as he listened. He had never gotten to train his ability to read minds, or divine upon the future, but to think it could lead to things like this! That it was his faucet for royal magic...! He listened as his mother spoke to his counterpart. He would never, ever get used to this feeling, seeing himself like this.
"How the heck?! First you pick up the telepathy on your first try, then you find ways to block mental attack from me, and now...! All I did was just show you that once! Already you've picked up on how I did it and are employing it against me! What are you Negi?! ...You are so different from your father, from me even. You absorb new techniques like a thirsty sponge, and you never seem to run out of room to put it all!"
Negi grinned, his eyes lighting up as more deep red magic formed around him. His mouth lifted again into that small smirk of his. This was his greatest power, perhaps. The ability to learn. He could learn incredibly well, always. Everything else came with practice. Skill, variety, power, all of it came with practice, but his ability to learn was his own. The magic condensed now, forming a more shaft like shape, and then went even further, to form an arm, with a large, gripping hand, which flexed its fingers as Arika watched.
"Would you like to see what else I can learn? Or would you like to see the second thing I do best? Development? Want to see me twist all I have learned so far from you into something you never even thought about? Heh...a professor to the core, watch me combine the arts."
Even as he spoke, the arm extended from him, incredibly quickly, and wrapped around Arika, placing it's palm right into her face. The mental magic burned lightly, but she knew it could hurt far worse. That was the worst part, even as she felt the memories the arm was made of. Negi was holding back the final strike. This was a combination, like he said. Royal attack magic formed into an arm to wrap around the opponent, burning, strangling and squeezing the life out of them while the hand, placed on the head, pumped the mental attacks right into them, memories and thoughts formed into an array of barbs...if he only let loose the full power of this attack...
The hand was just transparent enough for her to see Negi's face, that smile was so evil looking. Evil and crazed, as those bright eyes shone. He slowly retracted the hand, calling it back with a signal from him, allowing her to breathe easier. His face actually, for once, showed a somber look.
"Hmph. Don't tell me I went too far on the great Ositan Queen, Arika Anarchia Enthofushia. Maybe it is because I only met you about a week or so ago, but it seems you've gotten lazy, soft maybe...god damn. Fine."
His hands came together, and they glowed with magic, soft, white magic, a power that was very different from what Negi normally cast, harsh, deep colors normally exuded from those hands. Now however, the soft power came from them, a bit haltingly, but nevertheless generously. He spoke aloud to the air. A flower from the ground uprooted and came to his hands.
"Fragrantia...Floris, Meis, Amicis Vigorem, Vitalitatem, Auram Salutarem..Reflectio!"
Tui Gratia...Jovis Gratia Sit...Cura!
Perhaps this was his one weakness. His healing magic was nowhere near on par with all of his other skills. That magic came clumsily, like his original flight of telepathy, but Negi showed his care by making sure not to do too much, to overbear her with his power. He gritted his teeth in holding back that power. This type of magic was so different. He was used to just letting it rip from his palms, no control, no reservations.
Healing magic...it needed you to do the opposite, control the flow, to carefully direct it to where it had to go, it was a type of magic that needed to be babied. It needed you to feel it, let it flow through you to show not it's power, but to reflect your desire. Negi struggled with it a bit, but the magic itself flowed more or less smoothly. Still, Arika noticed the difference, and smiled slightly.
She never expected it to be so obvious, but a boy like him, one who fought so hard and trained as he did, who held so much bitter memories and hurt...it was hard for him to heal. Yet, Negi finished his task and she did, indeed feel much better, so she felt it unwise to say anything to the boy, but the boy had other plans.
'So, you're not going to laugh at me for my obvious weakness? I suck at healing, compared to everything else."
He raised an eyebrow to him, and her mouth stayed closed for about half a minute more, until both sets of eyes were locked and smoldering again. The magus behind the trees could feel the tension. This was the difference in the universes. This Negi met his mother about a week prior, him...well, he didn't want to think about that, it would distract him. This Negi was...powerful, but bitter. Young and bitter, younger than he should be, unless even more was different about this place. The voice of the mother cut off his train of thought.
"You chose to enter the Martial Arts Tournament, and you'll be in the qualifying rounds not to long from now. In fact, in a few hours, you'll be there. You are a fighter Negi. You can't be good at everything. No matter how hard you try. If you don't have a weakness, you can't be real. I'm not going to poke fun at it. I accept it. You are my son. I'll look at your flaws and your strengths, and love them all, no matter how much you try to push me away or hide them from me."
He scoffed and then turned around, away from her, to place his fists together. They sprang into a glow of magic that slowly intensified. His breathing was visible to her, the small shoulders still moving along with his lung's actions. She walked over to him and once again attempted the deadly action of putting her hand on his shoulder, but he didn't move.
"Nice speech there, Sherlock. Hate is my strength and my weakness. I told you, I'm a friggin unlovable b$+rd. Bitter and mean. Those who hate like me can't love enough to heal well. I take life, not give it... Cherish your son's weakness, for it makes him a tool. Nothing but at tool of war. I'm a firggin two-dimensional character in a book. The bad guy who's just a bad guy, and just because he can."
Her hand squeezed his shoulder, and the magus behind the trees decided it was time to leave. Negi Springfield, the older one, took another step, and not even a whisper of sound from the wind indicated he had disappeared from his spying spot. He did not get to hear Arika finish it.
"Not a tool, never a tool Negi...you're not a bad guy either. How many people do you have to help before you realize that? You are far deeper than just some cartoon character who's evil because his author made him that way. You are a real person. Accept that."
He looked sidelong at her. Goddamn. Try as he like, but his mother kept boring into him. Sooner or later, he might find himself loving this woman like a kid should their mother. Maybe. He could never live a normal life like they do however, that was long since robbed from him. He was only happy that she couldn't or no longer would, read his mind. If she only saw just how much of a tool he really was...
He was a catalyst, and they were born and created only to be used, just like that flower he had pulled from the ground for the catalyst of his spell. He had finished the spell and the flower had fallen, used up, dead and gone. He was the same, the universe was just saving him until it needed him, or was ready, and then it would use him up whole and leave him broken to be reabsorbed into the ether. Maybe it would make real people out of him next time...
"Another fricken weakness I have, A mother's love."
"You want to enter the competition? Are you sure you are...able?"
The magus pulled his hood further to cover his face completely. The woman at the booth had seen his hands and had focused on his old, wizened face. He indicated his head in a dip, to show affirmative. He was able alright. He picked up a pen that the woman had discarded because it had stopped working. Using magic invisibly, he crushed it in his hands and let the bend, squashed mess of metal and plastic fall from his hand. The woman's eyes followed it down to where it hit her desk and bounced off to the floor.
That same hand extended for a another pen, not to crush, but to put his name down, but she clutched it almost protectively. No thanks, she would write it herself. Behind his hood he smiled, and when she asked him his name, he shook his head.
"Kago Masato."
+--3--+
((Hope that was a bit better, but enough talk!))
Negi ducked under a kick that was sent his way and grabbed the foot of the sender, bodily throwing him by planting his feet firmly on the ground and using his strength as well as leverage to send him packing. He twisted around in mid throw to use the guy as a shield for another kick. Negi finished with his first victim and punched the other one straight in the gut, sending him flying backwards. A man in a robe stood not to far off, completely still, but when the one Negi had punched came his way, he stuck out his foot, tripping them up even more and allowing them to fall.
The same robed man spun around and stopped a punch from a young man, and proceeded to hold it tightly, crushing the fingers while the man screamed. He caused no actual damage though, just used the pain to throw him out of the ring. Just as he did so, he stepped off to the side to avoid two man who where sent flying by Negi. The man sighed inwardly.
He watched as the boy tripped up four men with one leg sweep and then kicked them with the other foot, sending them all skidding away. He grabbed another man's belt and used that to forcefully throw him, he wasn't that big after all. A large lumbering man came at him, rearing back a fist, but as soon as he threw it, Negi held out his own hand and met him head on, palm to fist, and the resulting shockwave blew back those around the boy, but the boy himself stayed.
Rearing back his own fist, the magus saw the magic swirl quickly before the punch connected, frankly giving the hulking figure wings as he flew away from the young boy. Negi proceeded to kick the fallen form of another man next to him and spun around, chopping him as he came up right back down, into a knee before Negi kicked him away.
This little boy was a true monster. He fought without a care who he harmed, or how much harm he caused. It was of no consequence, mercy in a battle was not in his agenda. If they stood before him, they fell, and soon, there were only three combatants left. Only two could survive. Magus eyed the young man who was eyeing him. He knew who was going to go out here. Him. He approached magus, probably because he didn't want to deal with the little boy, seeing his power. However, before the magus had a chance to react to him, the body pitched sideways, a foot having connected solidly with the joint of the knees. the magus watched as Negi dispatched him with a swift elbow to the temple and a kick upwards before sending him back down to get kneed in the gut. The boy tossed the body like a corpse, disgusted. He eyed the robed man in front of him, but the speaker interrupted him, Negi recognized one of his student's voices.
"The D-block qualification matches are over! Contestant Negi Springfield and Contestant Kago Masato are through to the next round!"
The magus, labeled as Kago, sighed. Thank god. The boy looked ready to start on him. Not that he doubted he could handle a younger version of himself, it was just he was so brutal, so small, quick and young, and he was an old man. Not only that, but this boy was powerful, nowhere near his power at full or skill, but still...he had access to magic he had never tried to tap. He was more conventional, this boy..he was all over the place. A true jack of all trades, only he had mastered a few as best he could.
The two of them stepped off stage, and the magus bowed to Negi, something Negi rose an eyebrow at, but , after a few seconds, returned the favor. "Kago" decided to speak then, to wish Negi good luck tomorrow, but the boy had already turned to walk off. He closed his mouth with a snap instead, and watched the retreating back with interest.
All the preliminary matches were over and Negi had finally finished all of what he should have done for the first day of the festival. The next day would be the fights themselves, which meant he had one night to train and rest up, brush up on skills and put himself to the final tests. All "systems" had to be go here for him to be satisfied, but before he could escape to train, some of his students grabbed him for a party. It was during this party that Asakura approached him and handed him a flyer, and, upon taking a peek at it, he saw it was the scheduled matches, and who he would eventually have to fight tomorrow morning...
((I wonder, do you notice anything...hmm..different?))
Tekane Goodman Vs. Mei Sakura
Ku Fei Vs. Mana Tatsumiya
Evangeline A K McDowell Vs. Kago Masato
Ku Nel Sanders Vs. Tankana
Kaede Nagase Vs. Nakamura Tatsuya
Kotarou Inugami Vs. Takamitchi Takahata
Setsuna Sakuazaki Vs. Negi Springfield
((Ah ha ha ha! I expect to receive a couple of odd comments because of this...heh. Remember, I don't do anything without a reason however...))
Negi slowly smiled. It didn't matter if there was a rule against bladed weapons. This...this was his chance. With such a prize at stake, and the girl fighting for whatever she was fighting for, Negi was certain that she would not go easy on him again, not this time. No, not this time. He would get his battle, finally. He would get this battle. No metal weapons, but that didn't mean you couldn't use wooden ones or some other material. Negi was, in this moment, loving random selection, or whomever had thought this up. If he won the first match...
Even if all he was here for was to keep an eye on his student, Chao, who had, out of nowhere, decided to sponsor this event, and who, out of nowhere, had pulled the huge prize money and the advertising. Even if the others were here for the same thing, he knew a small part of them wanted the prize too, and that small part of them would make them fight hard as hell, which is what Negi's small part of him wanted. He could care less about the yen, he already had a tidy sum amount of the stuff sitting in his account from his father's savings and the fact that he had so much over time pay from the school. It was the fight that riled him.
Negi saw Setsuna off in the distance, having received her paper, and he saw her eyes still at the final names listed. Her and him again. A small smile was on her face too, but not quite as powerful as Negi's own, just the typical confident smile. The girl had gone easy on him before, but Negi had trained like hell since then, been through Sukuna, Swallowthorn, Tuskuyomi, His mother...his skill in hand to hand combat and his skill in subtle magics had improved greatly, even in such a short time. He was ready, oh hell, no he hated the fact his body, being alive and human, would need sleep. He had a feeling that would be difficult tonight...
When the party finally finished and Negi had shooed his students to their dorm beds, he grabbed a broom stick, running out of his own dorm, where he had dropped off Asuna and Konoka, to go into the night air to practice with it. His daily routine would not be interrupted even by the festival and he had succeeded in catching an extra day in the process. Sweet for him, but it also meant that, after his training, he would really need to catch a few hours of shut eye. Ohh well. He hoped he would be exhausted enough for it...
+--4--+
The next day broke incredibly. Beautifully, but who cares about the morning day sun anymore? Not in this story. It's become a stall technique for the author, hasn't it? So forget about the sunny beautiful day for once! Today was crazy! People were running all over the place, mainly, to buy tickets for Mahora's most recently popular event, the Martial Arts Tournament, where an impressive prize was being offered, and the contestants were just as impressive. Of the main gossip for the day?
How they were planning to do all of this in one day...and what would happen if the rookie wonder Professor Springfield had to fight Chairman Fei again? Or the Death Specs Takahata against Chairman Fei. Would he fight a former student? Just who was this Kago guy? Who was the one who was rumored to be able to use the legendary "To-ate" technique? Who the heck was Kotarou? Natsumi's brother? Okay, who is Natsumi, and I still have to ask what the kid is doing here...right? Is there no junior section anymore?!
What about the one with the kendo stick?! Or the skinny little girl, what the heck is she doing here? What's with all the people in robes?! Is that a new style no one got the memo for?! Ohh, the scary gunslinger girl, but she's without a gun! Chairman Fei with wipe the floor with her! It was things like this that flew around the crowds like wildfires, ones that could not be put out with simple water. These people were excited. They were anxious, and they were throwing their money around for the best ticket possible. Negi's class got a break, some of them managed to snag the few free tickets the boy had. Some managed to snag tickets from their other classmates who were participating...hey, what was it with the predominantly class 3A participants anyway?!
Was it because the runner of the event was part of the class too? Or the announcer for that matter?! What about the commentary? No stupid, it's because they are stupid as heck, but strong as...heck! Stupid!!! Where did you get that from?! Springfield-sensei runs that class on a ship so tight you couldn't even pop a bubble without causing an uproar! Oh, and what are their grades like? Better than yours! Hey!! That's not funny!
Chisame sidled into the crowd and found her seat. She had nothing else to do today, might as well take a look here, right? The rumors about that little sensei were flying, and although she had never seen him fight, she had heard things about him from the start. Why not see if they were true?
Meanwhile, in the preparation areas, Negi wasn't paying attention to last minute details, he would be in the last match of the first round, so why should he worry now? Instead, he had Anya facing him and she had her fist clenched so tight one could see the white knuckles clearly on that shaking hand. Her eyes were equally clenched, tight in concentration.
Yet, in the next seconds, she opened them, breathing heavily and Negi shook his head, his hand on his forehead, massaging it as he thought. The girl in front of him took a deep breath and tried again until Negi grabbed the vibrating fist.
"Anya, you're not going to accomplish anything by trying to kill yourself in the process. Relax the grip on your wand and calm down. Feel for the magic through your wand. Concentrate on the flow, and when you think you gathered enough from the flow, then you can try to force it."
She stared at the ceiling, once again having her fist vibrate with the effort she was using to clench it. Negi shook his head. He pointed to her fist mutely and she unclenched it. Negi rose his own and closed it with a snap. An aura of fire sprang around it and quickly intensified. Soon one could not even see the fist underneath it all, the fire encompassed an area a half foot wide and about a foot and a half tall. Anya stared at it with awe. That is what he wanted her to learn how to do?
"Of course, you don't need it to be this big, I only made it this big for show. It's much better to use the same power in a smaller space. Makes the fire all the hotter and bright."
He demonstrated this without moving, and indicated Anya to try for herself. The boy smirked a bit as she tried once more unsuccessfully.
Yet, one should not count out Anya. As Negi was her official sensei now, he had gone to long lengths to try and improve her skills in magic. Mainly, he almost always took her with him when he went out ot train, only recently had he cut back during the festival.
She had managed to re-master her fire arrows, and had finally, after much grief, gotten down an odd, combination arrow Negi had been trying to teach her, a "Fulgoris Ingus" type, which looked like an ordinary fire arrow, but upon striking, burned and electrified... potentially stunning an opponent. This fist of fire however, was nothing new. It just seemed she had the most difficulty with bringing magic into her body and channeling it to come out somewhere else.
Besides this, he had managed to strengthen her basic Deflexio a bit through practice and had managed to introduce her to "Capteus Flammeus", as it seemed the girl worked only with fire, except for the one combination the boy had taught her..but to do lightning alone? Not yet.
Yet still, he had managed to stuff in her head the basic disarmament spell, which actually had a fire based version, which he had employed in full to teach her, and had just yesterday gotten her to complete her learning of imbuing a weapon with fire, namely, for now, her wand, as he had yet to trust her skill enough to give her an actual weapon...
Negi shook his head after the fifth try from her. He nodded to her and mimed a punch in the opposite direction from her, and she paled, yet still, she rose her wand and slashed it down quickly, calling up a Deflexio, to which the boy reared back his fist and easily shattered it with brute force alone. She looked down, still ashamed at that fact.
He had taught her some basic martial arts, something he called: "The flight of Otter on the Bedrocks." Yet she didn't really get it, and could only struggle with the first level of it...yet still, even when she tried and forced as much magic as she could into her wand hand and punched straight out, all she ended up getting against his Deflexio was a vibrating funny bone and an aching set of knuckles.
Asuna could shatter it...well, when she was powered up by an ally contract that is, otherwise, she was no better than Anya...but when Negi powered her with it, she still couldn't break it. Not that the boy cared, he only gave a half smile and told her it was okay, that she was still young and able to learn, but how young was he?!
To her, it seemed that, no matter how string she would get, no matter what she gained, he would have gained eight times more in half the time, and he would still be far out of her reach. No, she didn't want to beat him, but she wanted him to...talk to her like the others. Respect her was the word...right? The fact that she was just that much stronger than a regular nearly eight year old mage was lost on her. It didn't matter when it came to Negi.
You compare yourself to a peer Anya, and you are a ant lion among the ants. Don't try looking in Negi's direction however...He's the kid with the magnifying glass looming above...and even if he is eager to teach, don't expect to surpass him with his own tricks...
+--E--+
A bit short, but this is overdue I think, and I can't think to put something else here. Take it and run with it. I have to work with the next one. Why is it all the stories I keep track of aren't updating? I feel like the only one...ehh.