Disclaimer: I don't own Negima! Magister Negi Magi or Ranma ½

Rise of Prodigies

Chapter Forty One: Matron of Ala Alba - Erímou Póli Chapter

Beta:

Inside the kitchen of the villa that the owner of the arena where Negi-sensei and Kotarō-san were working as gladiators had provided them, a chibified Chachamaru critically eyed the bento lunches she had cooked for the Erímou Póli group of Ala Alba. Her new form was one of the new features that Hakase and Master had prepared for her as part of a series of general upgrades they had given to her in preparation for the trip to Wales and Mundus Magicus which she had now been forced to use as a disguise following the Megalomesembria Gateport Incident. It had the appearance of a ten year old, realistic fake human skin which hid her joints, machine ears which were usually held in a more horizontal position in comparison to her usual body and the long hair she preferred.

"Yes, everything looks in order." Chachamaru decided with a nod as she finished her assessment of the meals she'd prepared. "Let's get to packing."

Nodding when she found everything to her satisfaction, she began sealing the boxes and placing them inside the wicker basket she was going to use to carry them.

"There," the gynoid said with a smile as she packed the last of the bento boxes into the basket. "I hope everyone will enjoy what I've prepared for them."

Slinging the basket under one arm, she turned and with her smile still gracing her face set off to deliver lunch to her comrades.

As the young looking gynoid padded through the city's arena, she used her sensors to scan the expansive structure seeking out where Kotarō-san could've gone. He was supposedly training with the other gladiators in the arena itself, but when she'd gone there to find him she had been politely informed by his training partners that he was on his lunch break.

When she did find him, Chachamaru was somewhat surprised at seeing Natsumi-san sitting with the hanyou and chatting. The two looked strangely intimate as they did so, sitting very close to each other and talking animatedly. It was a wholesome scene that for some reason Chachamaru found herself unwilling to interrupt just yet. So she activated her stealth protocols so as to not 'ruin the moment'. Though what type of moment her two friends were having was something she could not yet classify.

With silent tiny footsteps, she moved closer.

"So are you used to your adult form already?" Natsumi-san said with a blush as she looked Kotarō-san up and down. "I mean it's a lot taller than you usually are and uh, more muscular."

"Yeah, yeah, it is." Kotarō-san agreed. "It took some getting used to but I've figured it out. You've seen my fights in the arena, right? I'm unbeaten. That proves it, no?"

"True," Natsumi-san agreed, blushing harder. "You look cool in those fights, Kotarō-kun. Nice job."

"Damn right."

"Don't get big headed though! When you start saying stuff like that it's jinxing yourself." Natsumi-san scolded the aged up boy.

"Yeah yeah, no need to scold me." He brushed off with a devil-may-care smile.

His nonchalant reply caused Natsumi-san to puff her cheeks and place her hands on her hips in irritation.

"So everything is okay with your master?" Kotarō-san asked with a frown. Whether that was due to the content of his question or that he needed to hurriedly change the topic or both was something that Chachamaru could not be certain of. "She's treating you and the others well?"

"Yeah, Chief's the best." Natsumi-san reassured him, her facial features relaxing. "I mean she bought up our contracts even before we were put up for auction. That saved us from having to go on the block…"

The slave shuddered at the prospect and Chachamaru could understand why. Whilst slavery on Mundus Magicus was a lot closer to indentured servitude in many ways, in that slaves could buy their way to freedom, it was still slavery. That meant, unlike in cases of indentured servitude, a slave's owner could use the magical contract that bound said slave to make them do anything they desired. Considering Natsumi-san, Ako-san and Akira-san were young girls with no valuable trade skills, there was only one trade most slave owners would buy them to work in: the oldest profession. Which meant that if they had made it to auction, her three classmates would have been forced to present themselves naked to a room full of buyers at least and likely have ended up in a brothel.

All because Ako-san had an adverse reaction to the forced teleport that Negi-sensei had used to escape the ambush at the Megalomesembria Gateport and the three of them had been forced to sell themselves to buy the medicine they needed to save her.

"Yeah, you got lucky." Kotarō-san agreed with a growl.

"Hey! No need to get upset." Natsumi-san said, smacking his arm lightly. "We're okay now and that's all that matters. Chief takes very good care of us. Heck, she even gave us cute little outfits to wear as our uniforms at work. Look."

At that Natsumi-san stood and did a quick twirl to show her work uniform off. It was a stereotypical black and white sexy maid outfit, complete with a headdress, puffy short sleeves, a miniskirt, and an apron. All of which were trimmed by lace frills and matched the iron slave collar around her neck perfectly.

"I-It, um, looks good." Kotarō-san croaked as he eyed Natsumi-san intently. "It's very sexy though, uh, do the guys at the restaurant give you trouble for it?"

"Nah, they ogle but they wouldn't dare do anything more. Chief won't let them." Natsumi-san assured him as she sat down with a blush. "She's scary enough that they listen. She used to be a champion gladiator, ya know."

"Yeah, she's pretty famous." Kotarō-san nodded distractedly, unable to tear his eyes from Chachamaru's classmate. Something that the other girl noticed and caused her blush to become even deeper, though she neither said nor did anything to stop the boy from looking.

Both Kotarō-san and Natsumi-san's heart rates are heightened and they are both blushing. Are they having simultaneous heart issues? Chachamaru thought as she watched the two continue their conversation and she worried over the information that her sensors were telling her about her two friends' conditions. No, wait! I know what this is! Master reacted like this with Ranma-sama when they flirted with each other. Kotarō-san and Natsumi-san are flirting with one another!

This realisation caused Chacharmaru to freeze up for a moment. Kotarō-san and Natsumi-san are flirting!? When did they even start being attracted to each other!? What should I do!? Should I leave? But they need their lunch…

The decision was made for Chachamaru when Kotarō-san's stomach suddenly let loose a hungry growl.

"Man, I could use a bite though. Where's the mechanical nee-chan?" Kotarō-san complained, making the gynoid frown slightly. Had she waited a little too long?

"Hey, Chachamaru-san is working hard for us. Don't complain about when she'll get here."

"Fine, just stop scolding me, nee-chan."

Taking that as her cue, the tiny gynoid moved in with a precision strike! And delivered her food contents. "I have arrived."

Her declaration earned her startled yelps.

"Here is your lunch, please enjoy." Chachamaru said, giving them a tiny bow and speed walking out of there before they could reply so as not to disturb their flirty moment. "Ah, Natsumi-san, please be sure to return to your master's restaurant before your lunch break is over. You may gain more debt added to your contract if you are late."

And thus her hasty retreat protocols activated and she was off.

Natsumi-san made a strange croak and wheezing noise behind her. In response to her reminder? As she realised that her flirting with Kotarō-san had an audience? Either way, Chachamaru recorded it to see if it matched any noises that some animal or other used in their courtship displays. If so, she wondered if she could somehow incorporate it into her own courtship of Negi-sensei just like Natsumi-san might be doing in her wooing of Kotarō-kun. It was an intriguing prospect.

Thankfully Chachamaru's next destination wasn't too far away. The restaurant where Natsumi-san, Akira-san and Ako-san worked was located in the foyer of the arena. Owned by their master, the restaurant mainly serviced the arena's spectators which were of course mainly men. So in a bid to appeal to this demographic, the bearfolk woman who owned the establishment had adopted a gimmick not unlike the sexy maid cafes back on Earth and used pretty waitresses, like Chachamaru's three classmates, to attract diners.

Speaking of her classmates, Chachamaru had just stepped into the restaurant rest area when she found Akira-san and Ako-san being scolded by their master.

"You two! Eat already!" The bearwoman who went by the name Chief said, looming intimidatingly over the two Japanese schoolgirls. "If you don't you won't have the energy for the afternoon shift."

"We will," Akira-san assured the woman. "We just need to wait for Chachamaru-san to bring our lunch."

"Well, she's running late." Chief-san said, crossing her arms. "So you two can eat something else."

"She's only a little late." Ako-san countered. "She probably got held up on the walk over. Besides, our lunch break just got started. We can wait a little bit longer for her."

"Yeah, Chief." Akira-san added. "Chachamaru-san puts so much effort into taking care of us all the time. She cooks all our meals. Cleans the villa where we live. Washes our clothes. She does so much for us, the least we can do is eat the food she prepares for us."

Ako-san agreed, nodding her head enthusiastically.

"It is nothing," Chachamaru said as she made her presence known. "I am built to take care of others. By the way here are your lunches, Akira-san, Ako-san."

"Well, that's just kind of you kiddo! Taking such good care of your friends like that. Warms my heart, I tell ya." Chief-san said offering a ursine smile and giving Chachamaru a thumbs up.

"You are too kind, Chief-san." Chachamaru bowed her head in thanks. At the same time, a blush spread over her synthetic skin that she tried to distract herself from by passing their bentos to Akira-san and Ako-san. "I am merely making use of my experience taking care of my Master back on Earth. Master is a very needy person."

"Needy?" Akira-san took a moment from her lunch to cut in. "I think you're being too nice there Chachamaru-san. No offense but McDowell-san is a tempermental, whiny spoiled brat."

It was hard to argue against that, since Chachamaru agreed, but still the need to defend her Master was literally programmed into her. That said, there was nothing in her protocols that stopped her from being evasive about doing so.

"Ranma-sama makes it easier." The gynoid said with a shrug. "Master has moderated her behaviour to better appeal to her."

"Ya, Ranma-san is a good influence on McDowell-san." Ako-san agreed.

They all fell into a companionable silence for a moment that was broken as Chief-san turned to look at Chachamaru's basket curiously.

"You've still got deliveries to make?"

"Yes," Chachamaru confessed with a nod. "And I best go make them. It is getting late and I assume Negi-sensei, Chisame-san and Rakan-san are hungry by now."

"Knowing that idiot Rakan and Negi? They've probably worked themselves to exhaustion by now and are starving." Chief-san said with a chuckle. "And that Chisame girl is no better. She's probably let herself get all riled up by Rakan and tricked into training again, forgetting the time or her hunger in the process."

"Probably," Chachamaru agreed.

"Well, then you better hurry over and deliver their lunches then before they really do starve."

Chachamaru nodded and after offering the bearwoman and her two classmates a bow, she left and made her way out of town for her last few sets of deliveries.

It was a ten minutes flight via her inbuilt thrusters to reach the training grounds just outside of town where Negi-sensei and Chisame-san as well as the mysterious Rakan-san who had shown up seemingly out of nowhere and volunteered to train Negi-sensei were supposed to be. To be honest, Chachamaru was extremely suspicious of the man at first. He certainly gave off that 'Do not trust! Crook' vibe. Yet Negi-sensei vouched for him, claiming him to be one of his father's old companions and along with the fact that he had not betrayed them yet had prompted her to lighten up her surveillance of him considerably.

Though after some digging, she was able to tie Rakan-san to some comments her Master had made about a man in the company of Negi-sensei's father that she considered a perverse idiot. She knew her Master was extremely biased when it came to anything related to Nagi-sama but still she hoped Negi-sensei would not fall to Rakan-san's corruption. For there was a kernel of truth in even her Master's rantings as Chachamaru's own firsthand observations of the man could attest. Then again… Maybe if Negi-sensei did end up corrupted then he might- No! That way led to madness!

She vented some heat while shaking her head. Her facial heat was far too high, had the temperature spiked?

An explosion and the crackle of discharging lightning had Chachamaru abandoning her just started emergency self-diagnostic and turning her attention to its source in the training ground just ahead of her. There she found, much to her surprise, Rakan-san training not Negi-sensei but Chisame-san. Uncertain why this might be the case, she activated her stealth protocols and snuck closer to hopefully get a better grasp of the situation and to be in a better position to intervene should the need arise.

"Get back here, you pervert! Sagitta Magica, Series Fulguralis (Magic Arrow, Lightning Series)!" Chachamaru's classmate cast, sending dozens of lightning arrows flying at the beastman who just casually danced out of the way of every one of the attacks.

"You've got to aim better than that!" Rakan-san scoffed. "You couldn't even hit the broad side of a barn with such poor aim. If that's the best you can do, maybe you should spend less of your free time working on growing your boobs and more on practising!"

"Don't you bring my boobs into this, you pedo!" Chisame-san shouted indignantly as she covered her decidedly larger than before breasts with one arm even as she sent another volley of Sagitta Magica, Series Fulguralis at Rakan-san. "What I do with them is my business, no one else's!"

"So it's not Negi-kun's either? I thought you were making them bigger for him." Rakan-san shot back with a knowing smirk.

"Shut up!" A red faced Chisame-san screamed. "Kincha, Hanpe, Konnya, Chikuwafu, Negi, Daiko and Shirataki! Come forth!"

In a burst of white light, the seven electronic spirit familiars that she'd gained from her Pactio with Negi-sensei materialised in a circular formation hovering around her.

"Help me take down this pervert!"

"Yes, Mistress!" The spirits shouted in enthusiastic unison before zipping towards Rakan-san in erratic flight paths.

"Sagitta Magica, Series Fulguralis!" Chisame-san cast once more, sending lightning arrows flying not just from her wand but also from each of her mice-like spirits.

"You figured out how to cast your spells through your familiars? Good job!" Rakan-san praised as despite the barrage of lightning that now shot towards him from a host of strange angles, he still managed to effortlessly dance out of the way of the bolts.

Is it just me or is Rakan-san as invested in Chisame-san growing stronger as he is in Negi-sensei doing the same. Chachamaru thought with a frown as the pieces of a puzzle she hadn't even realised she was working on fell into place. He was the one to provide the misanthrope with the scrolls where she'd learned her spells from in the first place. Why didn't I see this before?

As if having read her thoughts, Rakan-san sent her a wink even though her stealth systems should've made her invisible to his perception and halted his movement just enough to let Chisame-san land a hit on his face, causing her to roar in triumph.

"Lunchtime!" The man declared, hardly looking bothered with having just taken a lightning bolt to his face.

Chisame-san fell on her rear most inelegantly at that. How embarrassing… Chachamaru quickly checked if Negi-Sensei noticed. Fortunately, he had not. It would not do for the alpha in his harem to behave in such an undignified manner. As his beta, it behooved Chachamaru to educate Chisame-san on her manners later.

Setting a reminder in her internal calendar to do so later tonight, Chachamaru came in for a landing.

"Grr, fine. You got off lucky, Rakan!" Chisame-san retorted as she stood and brushed herself off. "And where are we getting lunch? We're in the middle of nowhere!"

Her observational skills needed work as well it seemed.

"I believe I can help with that." Chachamaru said with a smile as she landed and dropped her stealth protocols.

To her alpha's credit, Chisame-san didn't even startle. That deserved a small mental applause.

Clap clap.

"You're early, Chachamaru-san." The other girl said with a frown. "I wasn't expecting you for another hour at least."

"She's a little late actually," Rakan-san corrected. "You got so worked up that you lost track of time, Jouchan?"

Chisame-san quickly cast a time-checking spell and blushed when she noticed that Rakan-san was right.

"Uh, yeah, I guess I did." The orangette admitted, as she took the two lunch boxes that Chachamaru offered her. "So thanks for the bentos, Chachamaru-san. Hope whatever kept you wasn't too bad."

"It was nothing." Chachamaru reassured her, thinking of how she'd likely been delayed from spending too long observing the flirting between Kotarō-san and Natsumi-san.

"Here," Chisame-san said, offering one of the boxes to Rakan-san. "You'll need to eat too if you want to to properly train Negi-sensei."

Rakan-san looked genuinely surprised by Chisame-san's behaviour for a moment before he smiled.

"Thanks, Jouchan. I really appreciate it."

Chachamaru couldn't help it, she smiled at how much of a tsundere Chisame-san was. She clearly saw Rakan-san as a mentor, yet here she was trying her best to pretend she didn't. Then again this was part of the orangette's charm was it not? This quirk was one of the many reasons why Negi-sensei had chosen her as his alpha wasn't it?

"Speaking of Negi-sensei," Chachamaru said, letting none of her amusement at her classmate's antics show. "Where is he?"

Rakan-san and Chisame-san both nodded at the same time - My, how in sync they are! - in the direction of the line of trees that Chachamaru knew separated this particular training field from the next one.

"The brat is over there training his spells." Chisame-san explained. "He said he was working on his casting speed."

"Yeah, and since it's boring as hell to watch him cast the same few spells over and over again, we decided to leave him to it."

Chachamaru nodded, "I see. Well as pleasant as it has been speaking with you two, I need to depart to give Negi-Sensei his needed sustenance."

Bowing to them, she padded off on her little feet, her steps hurrying as she grew closer to Sensei's location. She was not skipping! She most definitely was not doing something quite so undignified! And no one could tell her otherwise. Especially since there was no surveillance here.

Entering into the training ground occupied by Negi-sensei, Chachamaru found her beloved sensei lying on his back, looking exhausted.

"Sensei!" She cried out in concern as she hurried to his side.

"Oh, hey Chachamaru-san." Negi-sensei returned warmly, much to her relief, as he tiredly pushed himself to his feet. "What are you doing here?"

Slowing her steps now that she knew he was fine, she offered him a smile and pulled the last of the bento boxes from her basket and presented it to him.

"I'm delivering everyone's lunch. You were the last one, Sensei."

"Thank you, Chachamaru-san." Negi-sensei said with a kind smile as he accepted the offered lunch. A smile that had Chachamaru's stomach analogue doing flip-flops. "But you really shouldn't have."

"Ah, yes." Chachamaru ducked her head, venting some heat from her system. "I was happy to have done so."

"Then I am grateful for your diligent efforts." Negi-sensei said with another smile that did funny things to her programming. She should really do a system scan later. "I honestly don't know what we would do without you. You take such good care of us. Thank you, Chachamaru-san."

His smile was near blinding. She could see why Ranma-sama called him a pure boy. Truly he must be protected.

"I am only doing what I can to support everyone." Chachamaru replied, blushing at the praise her beloved was showering on her.

"That's more than enough."

Her face felt hotter and she vented once more. Wait, it wasn't enough. She vented twice more, - There! temperature integrity has returned. Phew.

"You okay Chachamaru-san? You vented quite a few times there."

"I'm fine Negi-sensei. Just venting some excessive heat I built up from flying here is all." Chachamaru lied.

"Ah, Chachamaru-san, have you eaten yet?" Negi-Sensei asked with that radiant smile of his. She took a picture of it. For… reasons.

She shook her head. "No, as a gynoid I have no need to-"

Sensei rather rudely cut her off, but she forgave it as he had a cute stern look on his face that made her falter in her functions. "Now Chachamaru-san, I know you work off magic and your, um crank. But that doesn't mean you can't enjoy a good meal. Especially one you prepared yourself."

The memory of Negi-sensei turning her key to recharge the magical spring that served as her power source had been so embarrassing that it certainly needed to be wiped from her banks. Or perhaps just catalogued for later use… Hmm… Something to consider. But she could do that later. For now she had to answer Negi-sensei's request.

"Um, yes, I will partake if you… insist."

Done and done! Thanks to Nameless as always!

And that's Chachamaru for you, a caring homemaker or babysitter. She really is the doting caretaker of the group. Give this gynoid some cred for her subtle and downloaded TACT that the rest of the class lacks. Big time.

Nameless: She totally is. And yeah, she is one of the few members of Ala Alba and 3-A as a whole who has anything resembling tact.

And of course we've got a spicy Omake on AO3, so be sure to check it out~

Nameless: For those who might be wondering what it's about? Well, if you read carefully about how Chachamaru sees Chisame in the chapter, you'll have an idea. For those who don't see the hint, let's just say it's time to pull out the pokeballs. ;) Whether you got it, just note that the omake is an AU. Whether it's an AU of ROP or canon Negima! is up to you to decide at least until we make a decision. Yup, if I have my way we'll see more of this AU in the future. :)

You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!