So, when I posted last chapter I thought, hey, maybe someone will be shocked about what happened. I came back later that night and found a huge number of reviews. Seriously, there was a huge number that sprung up compared to any other chapter. I know I said I wouldn't judge but I judged several of you lol. But the fact the majority of you really enjoyed the chapter made me feel good. I enjoy writing it and I am glad others enjoy reading it. It seemed like the majority of people discovered the main theme when Touma woke up and found a lot of other people OOC.

My favorite review was by Okaidi, "You know that feeling when you know you just got mind f^$% #, and it feels great? That just happened."

Also it seems we have a lot of people who like Misaki/Touma

Disclaimer: I do not own Toaru Majutsu no Index or any of the characters.

Touma heard the name Misaki Shokuhou before. She was the fifth rank level 5, also known as Metal Out, the strongest mind control ability user in Academy City. What is she doing here? Actually, it doesn't matter. "What is happening Shokuhou-san?" he asked her. Everything in the distance was still blurry but he heard several loud explosions and someone shouting.

"That intruder called Sloth put the crowd to sleep," she informed him. "I and a couple other people were able to resist the initial sleep. However, you, Accelerator, and Misaka-san all were hit with a more powerful sleep ability. They are still asleep but I finally manage to wake you up. I even tried using your hand but it wasn't waking you up."

Touma turned and looked at the sleeping forms of Mikoto and Accelerator. Mikoto had a weird happy grin on her face and Accelerator looked content. "Ok but….Wait, you know about my hand, how?"

"We have met before, but it's a long story so I knew how to bypass some of the restrictions. Feel free to ask me later if you remember," she said but Touma caught a slight glimpse of sadness in her eye. "Anyway, a friend of yours is currently holding off that thing. I took care of the other masked guys"

"Ok," Touma replied. "Well they know about my hand too, so it makes sense they would create methods to bypass it." Touma turned and looked in the direction of the noise and rubbed his eyes. It looked like Sloth had stopped moving and was covered by a black blanket. When his sight finally cleared up he saw Jason standing between them and Sloth with his shadow binding Sloth in place. However, it looked like the shadow wrap wasn't completely effective and Sloth was slowly struggling and loosening the bindings. Other masked men were lying slump against the outer end of the arena.

Jason glanced at them and Touma saw he was covered in dust. "I see you finally woke up sleeping beauty," he yelled to them while Misaki made a cute innocent pose at him with one hand holding a V over her eye.

"It took a little longer then I thought," she replied sweetly.

Jason sighed and ran over to them. "We have a few minutes to plan. Touma, did she catch you up on what happened?"

Touma nodded. "Sloth came in and put everyone to sleep." He points to his sleeping friends. "They are still under his ability. Can you do anything to get them out like you did me?" He turned and looked at Misaki who shook her head. "Jason, is his ability also affecting the crowd?"

"I can't," she replied sadly. "Misaka-san's electricity prevents my ability and Accelerator will just automatically reflect anything that comes into contact with him, including my control. If you kept your hand on them to negate their abilities, I might be able to but your hand could weaken my ability too."

"I don't believe so," Jason said to Touma. "A friend of yours said there was another source for the crowd. I thought he was with the masked guys but he seemed reliable and told me to tell you the Backstabber was helping.

"I see," Touma sighed at both of them and knowing who Jason was talking about. "He is on our side and can be trusted but Jason, it seems like you have him bound up now so why are you still fighting him?"

"It's only temporary." He turned and looked as Sloth was slowly removing the binding. He sent another couple shadow pieces to wrap around him. "This was the only thing that worked on him. Every one of my attacks against him just seemed to be shrugged off. Besides that, he is also incredibly strong. One fist of his went and smashed a boulder into pieces. I even stabbed him with shadow spears, hit him with fists, and dropped an actual boulder on his head and it just rolled off. He didn't break it, but it just sort of rolled off him like there wasn't any force…. That's it. His magic is some type of Weakening. Any force that comes at him get's its force reduced to near zero. That would explain why none of my attacks hit him and why Shokuhou-san's mind control wouldn't work. She still has to send an electrical force to manipulate the mind."

"Magic?" Misaki asks curiously.

"We can explain later. How come the binding still works then?" Touma asked watching Sloth continue to break them.

Jason looked him in the eye. "Did you ever think about how I turn a non physical item such as a shadow, which is just the absence of light by having something solid block the light, into a physical substance?

"Actually no," Touma said sheepishly still watching Sloth out of the corner of his eye. "But now that you mention it…"

"It's a combination of spatial manipulation and bending dimensions. The reason I have limited amount of shadow is the amount of calculations of using it is huge so the space is limited by my calculation abilities. However, I can replace the shadow indefinitely since it is just a lack of light. By limiting how I affect the shadow, I don't turn it solid, so I just control the location. By moving the non solid shadow around Sloth the force isn't getting weakened because it's just a spatial displacement instead of a solid force. Once I turn it solid, force gets involved while I bend dimensions. I don't actually go through them like teleporters. He starts affecting it when the shadow turns solid but if the force is in one location instead of moving toward Sloth, his ability seems to work slower. I don't know why that is though. This is based on my experience fighting with him while Misaki was freeing you."

"I didn't understand most of that," Touma said and Misaki giggled. "But if you can hold him in place for a moment I should be able to hit him. If that doesn't work I can just hold onto him and you should be able to strike him right?" Jason nods. "Ok, then." Touma stands up and runs toward Slot while Jason throws several more shadow bindings at Sloth. "Cover me," he yells as he gets closer and several more shadow bindings fly over him. It looked like the plan was going to work but when he was about 10 feet away from Sloth, his legs suddenly felt incredibly heavy and every step was becoming a challenge. It was like he had run up hill in the mud for hours. About five feet away his legs collapsed under his weight. "Shit." He looked up at Sloth who just noticed him.

"Imagine…Breaker…," he said as he realized who was near him. Several shadow bindings shattered as he reached a giant hand towards Touma who still couldn't get up. All the energy had left him. "I…have…you…now…" Suddenly a wall made of shadows came between them blocking Sloth from view. Another shadow tendril came up and grabbed Touma around the waist and pulled him back through the air and he landed on the ground near Jason.

"What happened?" Jason asked watching Sloth pound at the shadow wall.

"All the energy in my body just left when I got close to him," Touma said standing up. "Hmm, seems like it returned when I got away from him." He stretched feeling like normal. A crash caused him to turn around and Sloth had punched the shadow wall, smashing through it, and hitting the ground with a boom. Sloth looked surprised Touma was gone. He doesn't seem like the smartest person. Jason sent several more bindings around Sloth to give them time.

"Dang," Jason said thinking as he digested the new information. "I thought he was limited to right next to him but it looks like you were affected ten feet out. Maybe his ability works better on living things."

"Do you have any idea how to get near him?" Touma asked. "If I can touch him his defense should go down."

"Didn't you say you dropped a rock on him and it just rolled off," Misaki asked Jason.

Jason nodded and then he smiled. "I think I see what you mean. That is a really good idea."

"What?" Touma said. "I'm still a little behind. What's the plan?"

"She reminded me dropping the boulder on his head still managed to touch him," Jason pointed out. "His ability might not completely negate all forces, just enough to prevent damage, so if you come at him from above it might work. It would still dangerous because it looks like he affects living things differently."

Touma turns to Misaki. "Great thinking," he said smiling encouragingly. Misaki looked him in the eye and blushed slightly. Touma then turned to Jason. "Think you can get me above him?"

Jason nodded. "That shouldn't be a problem. I'll strike at him as soon as you touch him."

'Good luck," Misaki says to Touma. You always look like a prince to me.

Jason's shadow wrapped around Touma's lower half and lifted him into the air. Touma was carried about twenty feet above Sloth, who was just breaking out of his current bindings and looking around for his target. He was right above Sloth and the shadow holding him up started to lower. When Touma was about ten feet above Sloth, he felt the weakness start affecting his body again, but this time he had gravity helping him. The shadow supporting him shook slightly then broke and he fell through the remains and landed directly on top of Sloth. As soon as his hand made contact with the magician's skin, he felt his strength return. Touma moved both of his arms and gripped around the trunk like neck of Sloth to hold on while Sloth was shaking trying to shake him off.

"Imagine…Breaker…" Sloth said loudly, maybe that was yelling for him, and reached a massive hand toward Touma's head. "I…have…you….OOMP." It sounded like all the wind was knocked out of him. Touma glanced down and saw a large shadow fist had connected with Sloth's gut. It was quickly followed by several more fists pounding away at Sloth while his defense was gone. He started to fall backwards and Touma was afraid he was going to get crushed by the giant mass. Right before Sloth landed on his back, Touma pulled himself over Sloth's shoulder and manage to get on his chest as the huge man crashed backwards into the ground.

"You ok?" Jason called out walking towards him with several shadow fists connected to his shadow still raised in preparation if Sloth was still conscious.

"Yea," Touma said waving, getting off Sloth, and walking towards Jason and Misaki. "His ability sure was annoying. I am surprised an obvious weakness like that existed."

"Same here…" Jason said thoughtfully. "SHIT, TOUMA GRAB HIM AGAIN QUICK."

Touma turned around instantly, his reflexes kicking in as he lunged toward Sloth but he was too late. He collapsed two feet away from Sloth who just managed to sit up. The weakness aura was back and it was stronger than ever. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jason and Misaki fall too. Sloth's magic seemed to be covering the entire area this time. Sloth stood up, and with one hand, picked up Touma around the midriff. Sloth looked directly into Touma's eyes as he was dangling from Sloth's grip. "You…are…mine…"Sloth told him. "Just…surrender…" His grip tightened and Touma found it difficult to breath.

"Never," Touma gasped. He used the last of his strength to move his right hand ever so slightly. One inch was harder than running a marathon, but he managed to get his right pinky on Sloth's wrist. This simple act caused the weakness to fade instantly and he made sure to grip the wrist right afterwards. "We will stop you."

Sloth opened his mouth to say something when he gasped and several drops of spit spattered all over Touma's face. As soon as the weakness had faded Jason sent another fist into Sloth's gut. His grip weakened and Touma seized the opportunity to deliver an upper cut with his right fist right into Sloth's jaw. Just like in the dream, he heard the sound of the jaw bone breaking. It would seem Sloth was incredibly strong physically but still had a glass jaw. Sloth fell backwards and Touma fell several feet onto the ground. His leg started hurting again. He got up and hobbled away as Jason and Misaki stood up again.

"He almost got us," Touma said. "Thanks for the assist Jason."

"We were in trouble," Jason acknowledged. "Your imagine Breaker is definitely powerful."

"Umm guys," Misaki says as she grabs their attention. "He is still awake." Jason and Touma both turn to look at Sloth slowly trying to get up.

"I…will…not…fail…" Sloth stated. Suddenly, everything around him started to shake. Rocks and boulders started to flout a couple feet above the ground. Touma was sure he was feeling the effects too as he felt his body getting lighter. Each second more objects were beginning to float ever higher.

"Dang it," Jason yelled. "He is weakening gravity." His shadow appeared and wrapped around all three of them along with the still sleeping Mikoto and Accelerator and then the shadow speared the ground to act as an anchor. "Touma, you have to knock him out. I am going to give you a boost."

"Do it!" Touma yelled and braced himself.

Jason's shadow wrapped around his midriff and rushed him at Sloth. Touma was about ten feet away when weakening ability started to affect him again, but the shadow was able to keep moving forward since it wasn't living. Jason must have been constantly replacing the forces to get as close as possible. Five feet away the shadow launched Touma and he used all his strength to deliver his fist into the sitting Sloth's jaw once more. The sound of bone shattering was more prominent, and Sloth fell backwards. His last words, before he fell completely unconscious, were, "He…should…have…sent…Pride…" Touma tried to stand but his leg was hurting like hell and he was exhausted. At least the gravity was back to normal.

"Look out Kamijou-san!" Misaki cried out.

It was too late for Touma to dodge, especially with his leg. The weakness magic kept the boulders and rocks flouting in the air for a few moments after Sloth lost consciousness, but eventually the magic faded and they started to fall. One large boulder was falling right towards him. He thought he heard a small explosion from behind, it didn't sound like a crashing rock, and something was moving in his peripheral vision as the rock hit his skull and then everything went black.

The next thing Touma saw when he opened his eyes was the pure white ceiling of a hospital room. His head had a constant dull pounding but other than that he really didn't feel anything. He looked around and saw one machine connected to his arm that was probably pumping him full of drugs. No one else was in the room. He tried to sit up, but most of his muscles were not listening to him. He sighed loudly but he was worried. Was everyone else ok? A moment later the door opened and a very familiar doctor walked in.

"Welcome back Kamijou-san," he said looking at a clipboard. "It has been awhile. I thought you might have been tired of our nurses."

"Very funny," Touma said rolling his eyes. This doctor was known as the Heaven Canceller. This guy was virtually the best doctor in Academy city and possibly the world. He is bald-headed and all of his remaining hair was grey. His face reminded many people, including Touma, of a frog. "So what happened, is everyone ok?"

"Once in awhile you should worry more about yourself," the Heaven Canceller replied but smiled. "Yes, from what I hear everyone is ok and you were the only one who suffered any serious injuries. But I have to say, even with your friends help, you still have an astonishing recovery speed. It has only been six hours and you are almost fully healed."

"That's good," Touma said as he relaxed significantly. "What do you mean about my friends help?"

"Ah," he said. "Accelerator-san managed to keep the rock from doing any major damage to your head. It seems you only got a small fracture from the falling rock instead of a serious blow. Kagere-san managed to create small enough specialty tools from his shadow ability in order for me to operate immediately to repair your fracture. He can use his ability just as good as I remember. While I was in there I fixed a couple small clots that looked like they were from a year or more ago. This was the first time I got a serious look at your head. Usually it is your arm I have to fix."

"Wow they both saved me," Touma muttered then said. 'You sound like you met both of them before."

"Who do you think I am, chopped liver?" he scoffed, probably. "I am the Heaven Canceller. If they aren't dead I will save them with every means at my disposal and yes. I have met both Accelerator-san and Kagere-san several times before."

"Thanks doc," Touma said gratefully.

"I suppose you are well enough to allow a few visitors for a short time as long as they don't touch your head."

"What do you mean…?" Touma began to ask when the door opened and the Heaven Canceller waved to someone outside of the door. He stopped midsentence when Mikoto, Ruiko, Accelerator, Last Order, and Jason entered his room.

"All of them were waiting outside for you to recover," the Heaven Canceller said. "I will give you some time alone but stay clear of his head. It is still tender." He left the room leaving Touma alone with his friends.

"What happened?" Touma asked everyone. "Last thing I remembered was a boulder about to smash my head."

"You can thank Accelerator for that," Jason said pointing. "As soon as Sloth lost unconscious, he and Misaka-san woke up. He reacted quickly enough and was able to knock the boulder away right after it hit you."

"I wasn't going to let the hero's head pop like a balloon," Accelerator said nonchalantly but not looking at Touma. "Only I get to beat him."

"MISAKA thinks Accelerator is not being honest MISAKA says slyly while MISAKA believes Accelerator likes his friend."

"Shut up brat," he said giving her a small chop on the head. "Don't say stupid things."

"I'm glad you are ok Touma," Ruiko said looking at him kindly. "Looks like you saved as all again."

"I can't believe that guy was able to affect both me and Accelerator," Mikoto fumed. "We could have kicked his ass."

Touma laughed. "You probably could have. But I didn't do it alone, other helped a lot too."

"That reminds me," Jason said. "Hang on." He exited the room and they heard a scuffled and some muffled arguments between him and a girl. After a minute he came in dragging a blonde haired girl who looked extremely embarrassed and wanted to leave.

"I told you I am not good at these sorts of things…" she said but stopped when she saw everyone staring at her. She liked to remain behind the scenes and rarely wanted to take the front stage.

"Come on," Jason said. "I am sure Touma wants to thank you personally."

"But…" she started to say.

"He's right Shokuhou-san," Touma said smiling kindly at her. Mikoto noticed that and crossed her arms but didn't say anything. She and Misaki had a long time rivalry. "If it wasn't for you I would probably have been captured, so thank you."

He knew saying thank you made a lot of people act weird, especially his friends, but he did not expect what happened next. Misaki looked at him, not embarrassed, gratitude, or even indifference, but with wide eyed bewilderment. "You… you remember me?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yea," Touma said slightly confused. "That blow didn't give me amnesia or anything." He then couldn't believe what was happening. He looked into Misaki's eyes and saw them fill up with tears. "Er, is something…?"

"I love you Kamijou-san," she cried grabbing his arm and holding it tightly against her chest. She wiped the tears away from her eyes. "I didn't think you would ever be able to remember me."

"What?" Touma asked completely bewildered. He didn't know what was going on. He looked around and saw everyone else had similar expressions of shock except for Last Order who seemed interested in the confession.

"W-what are you doing?" cried Mikoto as she grabbed Touma's other arm from the other side of the bed and pulled him.

"Oh my Misaka-san," she says nicely but the edges of her mouth started to form the beginning of a grin. "Is my confession to much for a young girl like you to handle?"

"W-w-why are you confessing to him?" Mikoto stammered unconsciously holding his arm tightly into her chest. This was not unnoticed by Misaka whose grin became more pronounced.

"Because I love him," Misaka stated obviously looking Mikoto up and down. "He needs a more mature girl anyways, not someone who is… lacking… in areas."

"W-why you!" Mikoto said angrily several sparks crackling around her but she still didn't let go of Touma's arm.

"Touma is hospitalized," Ruiko said stepping up and holding onto Touma's leg. "Let's not put any more stress on him while he is here." Both Mikoto and Misaki look at her and temporary forget their feud for a second.

"Oh my," Misaki said putting a hand to her mouth. "Do you like Kamijou-san too?"

"EH," Ruiko stammered. "W-well he is a good friend of mine but…."

"I was just joking with you," Misaki said kindly and Ruiko relaxed but was still holding onto Touma's pant leg.

Touma was aware of everything going on but he was stunned and his brain didn't seem to be working properly. He was being reminded of the dream he had and would take the secret to his grave before he told anyone else about it. He hoped Misaki wouldn't talk about it either but she seemed like a pretty nice girl so he wasn't worried. He was painfully aware of both of his arms being held tightly against Misaki's and Mikoto's chest but with the pain medications in him, he could not feel a thing. Such misfortune.

"MISAKA wants to join the dog pile on the savior MISAKA exclaims as MISAKA prepares to jump."

Accelerator however was too quick for her and he manages to grab her right before she jumps. "That's it," he said angrily pulling her away from Touma's bed. "We are leaving before you catch stupidity or whatever they all have."He picks up Last Order and walks out briefly waving to Touma before he was out of view.

"I got to go too," Ruiko admitted. "I am glad you are ok Touma." As she was leaving she whispered to Jason, "Don't let anything bad happen to him tonight." Jason smirked and put away his phone he had out and gave a short nod. Ruiko smiled appearing satisfied and left too.

"I should get going too," Misaki said sadly giving Touma's hand another squeeze. "We will definitely meet again." She then turned to Mikoto. "Try not to take advantage of Kamijou-san when I leave."

"A-as if I would," Mikoto yelled at her. Misaki laughed, she loved making fun of Mikoto. "But I have to ask, why were you at the tournament? I heard when you were asked you said you didn't want to participate in such a 'barbaric event'."

"Oh my yes," she said giggling. 'While brawling in front of people would suit someone as uncivilized as you, I prefer not to fight. But I decided I should still support my school so I came." She got up, waved goodbye to everyone and left before Mikoto could yell a comeback at her.

"Ok," Jason said seriously doing a preemptive strike against Mikoto to stop her raging about Misaki. "Now that everyone left, I can fill you both what happened after Sloth and his men were taken away."

"What happened?" Touma asked and Mikoto let his arm go and looked at Jason.

"During transportation, a rune glowed on all of them and they disintegrated into salt," he said looking disgusted. "It seems like this organization doesn't want anyone captured alive."

"It is just like the museum," Mikoto said bitterly. "We know what they want, but what do they plan to use the Imagine Breaker for?"

"That is the important question," Jason agreed. "But we have a clue and I called a specialist over here to help. She should be here any minute…speak of the devil."

Index just entered the room gasping for air. "I came as fast as I could, is Touma alright. I also brought his phone." She looked around and saw Touma lying in the hospital bed. "TOUMA have you been doing dangerous things again?"

"Not on purpose Index," Touma said in his defense. "I was participating in an interschool tournament and the magicians interrupted it." She glared at him but luckily for him, she decided not to bite him. Instead she turned to Jason.

"You said there was something I needed to look at?"

Jason nodded and walked over to Touma right side near Mikoto. "I asked the doctor to wrap this up but here it is." He removed the cloth wrap around Touma's upper arm and on the back of it was a weird symbol. It looked like a Z that was rotated 90 degrees to the right and the corners were rounded instead of sharp. A small dot was on the upper right side of the rune. "Index, can you tell us what this is and why the Imagine Breaker didn't negate it?"

Index looked closely at it and gasped. He sat there thinking for a few minutes and looked at Touma and Jason. "This is the symbol of Sloth from Christianity and one of the seven deadly sins. There is an old saying, 'Evil exists when good men fail to act.' Sloth is the embodiment of that when people are unable to do what they need to do. The placement of it is strange though, normally it goes on the hand but with your Imagine Breaker, it got placed on your arm were you can't touch it. But the mana around this rune, it's a curse."

"A curse?" Mikoto asked lost.

Index sighed at her which just irritated Mikoto. "Short Hair, curses are types of magic where a specific continuous affect is directed at one person, usually a bad one for revenge. However, a curse from the seven deadly sins is different. It grants them a specific ability, in exchange for a side effect where you start taking on the attributes of the sin. This one looks like it allows one to put individuals to sleep and control dreams. It is incredibly powerful but it had a limit on how many times it can be used per day."

"We encountered that ability," Touma said. "Even the Imagine Breaker didn't work on it."

"So it would seem these guys have a curse affect and some kind of magic ability like Sloth's weakening," Jason said seriously rubbing his head. "That is going to make things much more complicated."

"It might be because it only traps the mind and doesn't extend to the rest of the body," Index said thoughtfully. "If the magic bypasses the outside of the mind and only works on the inside, your hand might not be able to touch it. But with just the remaining mana, it is hard to tell for certain. I don't recommend trying to use the curse because of the possible side effects."

"Lucky we had help," Jason muttered. "Things would have gotten really bad."

"Magic is complicated and it gives me a headache," Mikoto said rubbing her head while Jason and Touma laughed. "I can't wait for the seaside break this weekend. Finally, a chance for me to relax after this tournament."

"Ah Kazari mentioned something about that," Jason said. "Tokiwadai take a three day trip after this tournament and the students can invite one female guest. You are Shirai are taking Saten-san and Kazari, right?" Mikoto nodded. "There goes my weekend plans with her." He put his hands behind his head and looked depressed.

"I wish we went to a rich school," Touma sighed. "I would love a vacation."

"I bet she would have invited you if they could bring a boy," Jason said grinning while Mikoto turned red.

"W-what makes you think that?" Mikoto asked while Touma sighed and Jason laughed.

"Well," Jason said secretly and pretended to look at the clock. "Shouldn't you be heading back to your dorm or you might be late for curfew."

"What?" Mikoto gasped and looked at the time. "You're right, catch you guys later." She dashed out of the room as fast as she could.

"Hey Index," Touma said. "I have to ask Jason a couple questions privately. Can you head back to the dorm yourself? I'll contact Tsuchimikado and see if they can feed you." She looked at him carefully but decided to nod and headed out.

"What you need?" Jason asked curiously.

"I wanted to know when another experiment on my hand was going to be."

Jason looked surprised at his question. "Really, you are still interested?"

"Yes," Touma said nodded. "I realized with the battle with Sloth my right hand as it is will not be enough against these guys. Without you and Shokuhou-san, I would have been captured and used for who knows what." He wanted to make a fist but the drugs made moving difficult. "I can't protect everyone as I am now. You are the only one who actually was able to give me some answers about the Imagine Breaker. If there is even a small chance to control it better, I want to do it."

Jason sighed then smiled. "I wouldn't expect anything else from you Touma. We still need two more pieces of equipment and I hope to get it within the next couple days. Stupid higher ups take too long to give any funding and process requests. I have a meeting Sunday with them so I plan to yell at them all then. Oh yea, that reminds me." His expression got serious. "Why did you tell Accelerator about the research? He bugged me with thousands of questions about your hand and magic along with threatening to kill me if I didn't tell him."

"Heh," Touma said sheepishly. "I kind of had to."

"Uh huh," Jason said and Touma could tell he didn't believe him in the slightest. "Well anyways, it will be sometime next week but I will let you know as soon as I can. Until then, you really should take a vacation because I am pretty sure the experiments will take a bit out of you. After the events at the museum, the tournament, and Sloth, you really need to relax for a bit."

"Oh course," Touma said sarcastically rolling his eyes. "Let me reach into my deep pockets of money and go on a cruise."

Jason snickered. "Hey, don't get all mad at me. I'm just telling the truth. On the plus side you probably be released early tomorrow and can make your supplementary classes."

"Oh joy," Touma groaned. "Can you do me a favor though?"

"Sure, what?"

"Can you ask Tsuchimikado to look after Index tomorrow, since I won't be back till late. I don't think he has the supplementary classes."

"Sure, no problem. I wanted to talk to him anyways."

Motoharu Tsuchimikado had just gotten ready to go to sleep. He had just sent his report about the magician's activity during the tournament. As a double agent he had to constantly balance both his duties with the magic side and keep himself anonymous enough for his duties on the science side. It was thanks to him, Fallere825, the backstabbing blade, that the magic circle on the audience was canceled. Thanks to the efforts of Touma, Misaki, and Jason against the leader, he wasn't discovered and everything worked out in the end. He then heard a knock at the door. Wonder who that is this late. Did Kami-yan get back already? He did not expect Jason to be there holding a medium size box.

"Sup," Jason said. "I got a couple things to talk to you about."

"Ok," Motoharu said cautiously. He knew Jason was part of both sides like him, but his past was still unknown. 'I take it you confirmed my status with Kami-yan?" Jason nods.

"That's all done with," Jason said dismissively. "Touma did ask if you could watch Index while he was in the hospital though until tomorrow night."

"Shouldn't be a problem," Motoharu said. "Besides, it would kill Stiyl to know I spend more time with her then he does." Jason grinned.

"I also wanted your opinion on something too," Jason said setting down the box and opening it. He pulled out a clay pot about a foot tall and half a foot wide supported by three legs. It had the picture of a feathered serpent wrapped around the pot. "Do you know what this is?"

"An Aztec urn," Motoharu said looking at it closely. "It seems to have a lot of mana flowing through it. I believe, with the markings on this one, is it temporarily seals an attribute from someone in order to teach them a lesson."

Jason nodded, "Good, that's what I thought but I wanted to confirm it." He put the urn away carefully in the box. "Well now that is out of the way, I need your help with something. You see, our good friend Touma has gotten involved in so many things lately. I believe he needs a vacation before everything gets out of hand. However, I need your unique skills to bypass the silly Academy City rules."

Motoharu raised an eyebrow, he was intrigued. "So what do you plan to do that requires my assistance?" Jason pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to him. "Hmm, you need these two items." A huge grin split across his face. "I think I see what you are planning with that urn now, but two issues come to mind. One, will it even work on him, and two, who are you going to get to bring him along? You can't just let him go off on his own with this organization after him."

"I believe this can bypass his hand since the way it takes is a little unique and it is not a curse. It will just take a little longer," Jason said grinning. "As for his companion and body guard, she shouldn't be a problem to convince tomorrow."

Motoharu grinned, "So I expect I'll have to take care of Index longer then he thought then?"

"Oh," Jason said. "I think he will be having to good of a time to worry about Index." Both of them suddenly burst out laughing for about a minute. When they calmed down Jason asked, "I have a question though. Are we bad people?"

Motoharu thought about this for a second. "Nah, we are just helping a friend with a much needed break and as thanks, we get a little bit of entertainment."

"That's what I thought," Jason said and gave Motoharu a high five. "I'll stop by tomorrow to pick up the items."

As Jason left Motoharu had other plans. If the location is where I believe it is, Kami-yan doesn't know Kanzaki is going to be nearby investigating that area. Things might actually be more of a hassle for all of them. He grinned. If Kami-yan complains I can always blame him. He did call out to Jason though, "Thanks for the photo."

You know an Arc is over when Touma ends up in a hospital. So now the Tournament is done, time to keep moving forward with a little fun and some interesting predicaments. I wonder what Jason and Motoharu have in store for our hero. Next arc is planned to be 4-5 chapters but like everything else I write, new ideas and realizations can change things.

I realized I never explained Jason's ability and a friend of mine asked how he made a shadow into a physical existence. I figured now would be a good time as ever. Luckily I originally planned Sloth to not be very bright, just strong and hard to approach. His curse cheats though and bypasses a lot of abilities otherwise Accelerator would have crushed him.

Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter.