A young girl, probably 9 or 10 years old, was plodding along in a busy street, carrying a small basket of flowers. Little Annabelle Armitage was doing her best to to sell off her wares before it got too late. She looked around at the bustling crowd and pulled a few sleeves to attract attention. But, as it were, the habitants of Midgard were far too busy with their own lives to pay attention to the smaller ones they stamp on everyday. She looked down at her flower basket and sighed. Well, maybe better luck close to the station, she thought optimistically.


Disclaimer: Hey, let go of me, I've already told you, I don't own Love Hina, Mahou Sensei Negima or the Final Fantasy series…yeah, I know they've got respective owners…And I don't own Arcanius Halo either…so, can't we talk about this…he…heyy…uhh…what's that sledgehammer for? Umm…c'mon, I'm only writing this for pure personal enjoyment…ummm…help…

Hey, you're still here...at least someone is. Well, good, someone's reading the story, that's a relief. First off, sorry to all Arcanius Hina readers, I'm kind of stuck on a particular action scene, but it'll be ready soon, please be patient. The title of Arcanius Hina has been changed to Love Hina: Children of the Exodus, cause I believe that title better reflects the story itself. And in this chapter, a new character will be introduced, Annabelle Armitage, who is due to show up in Love Hina: CE in chapter 10 or 11, maybe even chp 9 if I could squeeze her in. So here's a short preview of a future Love Hina CE character.

Note: There are more than 40 girls in this story, and only a few boys, i.e. Keitarou, Negi, Seta, Takamichi, Lee, Rayce, and Kotarou. Now...it's your turn to vote and pair up these characters with a girl of your choice...who's gonna be the lucky girl? Vote by reviewing.

Here we are, chapter 3, and without further ado…

Chapter 3: Blast It!


Observe…the sprawling disc shaped city of Midgar...it's8 impressive Mako reactors are alive with bluish green light. They all sent streaks of makko energy by gigantic cables to the main citadel, the centre of the city, the Shinra Administration Centre. Now…observe, the small train chugging along through the city. A small billow of smoke marked it's progress through the city. Scene cut----the trains wheels are running at full speed---scene cut--- zoom in the city, the screen gets closer to the train.

The train is flying at breakneck speed….as it got closer to the station…it still didn't slow down…strangely enough. The guards standing guard at the station sweat-dropped as they watched the train reach the end of the line at speeds normally associated with comets. It smashed the buffers, flew over the platform, and slammed into the wall in a giant painful creak of twisted metal.

Steam blew everywhere…the locomotive exploded from all the pent up pressure…a metal wheel bounced out of the explosion due to certain dramatic conventions.

The guards watched with mild interest. It was better to just let things happen, as long as they don't concern you. Life's a lot easier and longer that way. "Hey, what do you reckon happened there?" a guard asked his colleague.

"Hmm…drunk driver, probably?"

"Drunk enough to not see a wall? He must have drunk a ton of absinthe. that's the last time we're handing you the controls…" Asuna's voice came out of the steam and smoke.

"What? It wasn't me. Honest…" Rayce's voice had a slight whiny edge to it.

"Yeah, you're probably the only sod capable of ramming a train into a wall. I mean, how much intelligence do you need to drive a train? It already has tracks to guide the way." Yue's voice floated out of the carnage

"….I think Suu ran off with the brake lever…" Rayce said.

"…Oh…that explains it…only that wasn't the brake lever Rayce, that was the just the pressure regulator."Lee's voice was somewhat distorted by the whistle of tortured steam.

"Oh…which one's the brake lever then?" Rayce asked. There was a loud thump from within the smoke as at least ten people face faulted.

"This one…eh? Where is it?"Asuna's voice was heard yet again.

"…Suu just ran off with something…"This voice seemed stern and stubborn, with a touch of anti-male female pride…it had to be Motoko.

"Who cares, we have guards to fight!" Keitarou shouted.

The guards were just watching the smoke and steam clear when they noticed a number of figures leap out of the settling cloud. "AAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!" Keitarou came flying down carrying a huge zanbattou (a huge broad sword that seems to defy the laws of martial art practicality…i.e. it looks cool up to the point you try hitting an enemy with it.) He landed in a crouch while executing an overhead attack. He had his eyes closed with what he thought passed for deep concentration, along with a heroic smirk on his face. When he opened his eyes, he noticed he had just sliced a button off the guard's uniform. He seemed livid as he unlocked the safety on his machine gun.

"Why…you…insolent…" He aimed the gun at Keitarou's head. But just as he was about to shoot, two large spinning blades spun through the air and sliced his machine gun into scrap metal. Lee landed beside Keitarou and caught the two Schotells (curved blades that looked like huge crescents) that flew back into his hands.

"Keitarou, you could sooner pound an enemy to death with that thing before slicing him." Lee said as he quickly launched the guard into a dustbin.

Rayce landed in front of another group of guards that just appeared and started to spin his scythe around himself. He made a few elaborate twists and spins that seemed to awe the guards so much that they decided to stop and watch. "Hah! How do you like that!" He bellowed. The guards were standing stock still, gazing in his direction.

"Really nice, Rayce, especially that last bit…" Lee said.

"YEAH! THAT WAS MY TRIPLE BLAZING ENTRÉE, ARMAGEDDON STYLE, WITH EXTRA FLOURISH!" He shouted again.

"Yep, especially that last bit, Rayce, the part where your scythe stuck to the ceiling." Said Makie as she swept the guards of their feet with a twist of her ribbon. Rayce looked up at where his scythe had embedded itself in the ceiling.

"Ah….yeah, I was wondering why it didn't come down." He jumped a few times, trying to grasp the scythe handle, while everyone else charged out of the station. Another person drew level with Keitarou as they ran into the reactor facility. The person was huge, huge was the only word to describe him. He had a scar along his right cheek, and one arm boasted a huge gatling gun.

"Hey, Barret-san? What's the mission objective again?" Keitarou asked as they ran down a narrow corridor between a number of wooden boxes. Just ahead, Motoko and Mana had just broken down a door, and where systematically crippling enemy defenses. Mana laid down some covering fire with a shotgun. Motoko entered afterwards, finishing off the remaining guardrobots. A guard landed in a crumpled heap behind them, along with a shower of wood splinters. Kaede, the ninja, was engaged in a battle above them with a particularly skilled guard.

On an overhead cat walk, Setsuna was engaged in a fierce melee battle with another sword wielding foe. Sparks flew where the blades made contact. Another guard came up behind her with a machine gun. Setsuna deflected at least a dozen bullets without even turning around. Ku Fei swung across the catwalk and caught the unfortunate armed guard with a well placed nut cracker flying kick.

"Hmmm, you're the rookie, right? Well, we're here to destroy a mako reactor. Shinra has been sucking up makko energy from the planet for many years, gradually killing the planet. We, AVALANCHE, are a group dedicated to stopping Shinra and save the planet from gradual destruction. Our first task is to destroy all the makko reactors." Barret answered, cocking his gun as he looked around a corner. He turned around the corner and shot a barrage at an incoming wave of guards. A large guardorobot smashed through a nearby wall, with Suu and Sarah riding on its shoulder shouting and screaming with joy.

"Yeah? Well, you'd better remember to pay us the big bucks you promised, cause you'd be up against us here tonight if you didn't promise to pay us more than Shinra did." Rayce ran up to them. Satomi (nicknamed, the professor) was engaged with opening the security lock on a large blast door. She had small notebook computer propped up on her lap with cables connected to the door's interface panel.

"Hey, can't you stop thinking about money? Money ain't everything, y'know. What about life? Birds in the blue sky? Flowers? Grass?" Barret said.

"Can you eat all that? You'd have to be pretty desperate and probably a little on the herbivore side to be able to eat flowers and grass. And don't you tell me you haven't got the dough ready, cause we're on contract here. And I want it in human currency, cold hard gils, not rabbit food." Rayce said.

"How's it going, Hakase(professor)?" Lee was walking backwards towards them with his two schotells at the ready. "And can you tell Yue to shut down that alarm, please, it's killing me."

"Just a little longer…" Hakase Satomi said, her voice muffled by the pencil she was biting.

"Delta 4 to delta 1, do you read me?" A voice came over the com-link.

"Yes, this is delta 1, Yue, what's your status?" Lee replied into the communicator.

"We're facing heavy resistance in the 5b corridor, we're changing plans. We're going to enter the control room through the ventilation ducts, Nadako's already working on the ventilation duct entrance. We're trying to hold off the guards here. Expect delays to the plan. HEY! INCHO! THUNDAGA THIS TIME, OK? NOT ESUNA, WE WANT TO FRY THE ENEMY, NOT HEAL THEM!" Yue shouted over the com-link.

"Right, Yue, proceed at your own discretion. We'll go straight to the 4th reactor. Over. Delta 1 to delta 5, do you read me?" Lee said into the com-link again, while Satomi broke yet another lock on the door. Everyone else was watching Lee intently.

"Yeah, this is Asuna, delta 1, we hear you, what's the sitch? We're proceeding towards the 3rd reactor. Everything's going according to plan. There's very light resistance here…it's almost…too easy…I thought the third reactor was supposed to be heavily guarded. Hey, Chao? How's the progress on that lock,"

"Good, proceed as planned, we're almost at the reactor here." Lee replied.

"Great, we're good to go!" Satomi slammed the notebook shut and pointed with her thumb at the door. It was slowly sliding apart, revealing a huge mechanical facility. Rayce bit something and threw something into the gap between the door. The girl named Setsuna pulled out the grenade from Rayce's mouth and threw it into the gap, and ducked. An ear-splitting KaBOOM resounded through the air.

"That joke's getting old, Rayce," Setsuna said, putting her hand on the sword hilt, ready to enter the door. Smoke slowly billowed out from the gap.

"Gah, you're such a kill joy…" Rayce muttered, humourist extraodinaire, who finds humour in things like putting land mines on seats.

"Try that again, and I'll kill more than just joy." She answered back, pulling the sword an inch from its sheath.

"Yeah, yeah, you made your point. Suu…an extra order of high explosive charges, with a side of C4 and dynamite, with probably a firework cocktail, and make sure you top it off with a nuclear and biohazard sign, hold the mercy."

"YEAH!" Suu rushed up, dragging what looked like the head of an unfortunate guardrobot.

"Is she mental or something?" Keitarou said aside to Lee as they proceeded up the facility. Ku Fei, the dark skinned master martial artist, was sweeping up more guards above them, sending an occasional guard rushing down past them.

"I heard that!" Suu shouted happily as he kicked Keitarou in the head, before returning to her work. Keitarou fell down a number of stairs, smashed through a number of dustbins marked 'bananas' and 'glass waste' before coming to a crashing stop in a conveniently placed watermelon stand.

Lee came down and whispered to him, "She's Kaolla Suu, you don't wanna mess with her, she's a princess of some foreign country."

"Yeah, you don't wanna mess with princesses, them being able to pee through a hundred mattresses and all that." Rayce said, hurling his scythe at a guardrobot that attempted to make a very rude sign with what was left of its fingers, before crackling and blowing up.

"Uhh…pee through a hundred mattresses? I think you've got the fairytale wrong…" Lee said, throwing his schotell at the supports that held up a nearby catwalk, sending a hoard of guards splashing down into a shark tank (What's a shark tank doing here? The author is really going over board. But don't worry, he didn't have the special effects budget to put in live sharks either.)

"Hurry up guys, what're you all doing down here? The reactor's way up there!" A passing girl shouted.

"Hey, oneechan! Wait up!" another girl shouted up at the girl who just ran past them.

"You'd better keep up, Fumika!". The other girl shouted.

"Yeah, we'd better hurry, let's go!" Lee said, catching his schotells and putting them in the holsters on his back. He pulled out a handgun and shot a number of hovering guardrobots that were a bit too close for comfort.

"Delta 5 here…do you read me delta 1?" a voice crackled over the communicator.

"Yeah, Asuna, we hear you. What's up? Getting bored already?" Rayce asked, as they ran up another flight of stairs.

"Almost, it's too quiet here…I suspect something…wait, delta 1, I see something, hey, Chao, what's that? HEY, YOTSUBA! DON'T TOUCH IT! OH, FRIKIN BLOODY HELLISH CRAP! IT'S A…A…" Asuna faltered a bit…

"WHAT! WHAT IS IT! IS IT LENOY CASCKETT, THE HOTTEST COMEDIAN ON GAIA!" Yuna the basket ball player shouted with excitement into the com-link.

"NO! WORSE! IT'S A BLOODY B…" the line was suddenly cut off. There was a faint explosion that seemed to have come from somewhere far away.

"How much life insurance can we claim for team delta 5?" Rayce asked, taking out a calculator. Lee punched him into a nearby watermelon stand, which he narrowly missed…he fell over the railing instead and fell down into the shark pool.

"Ok, list of objectives has been updated, now it includes making contact with team delta 5, verify their situation, and extract them." Keitarou took command of the situation immediately.

"Yeah, extract them, through a straw…" Rayce had appeared again, and Lee punched him in the face again, sending him flying, this time through the watermelon stand, over the railing, and into the shark pool.

A few stories up, by the reactor…

"So, is everything going according to plan?" Keitarou inquired as they arrived at the reactor.

"Yeah, Suu's preparing the bomb now, it's almost done." Ku Fei reported. "But I do think she's having a bit too much fun…" she added in a low whisper, "You never know what'll happen when she starts giggling madly like that…"

"Probably high on bananas again, don't worry." Lee said, looking about uneasily. He knew something was going to go wrong. Team delta 5 has gone silent, there was that explosion…and now Suu's rigging their bomb…it can't get any worse.

Suu…be careful with that, I don't want people remembering me in terms of blast radius." Makie hazarded.

"All done...we've got 20…" Suu turned around and smiled. Behind her was a monstrosity that could have narrowly qualified as a bomb if only it didn't border on human right's violation, especially with the huge biohazard sign and the large anti matter bomb strapped to it, not to mention the Mol Mol sign which was a sure sign of retarded insanity.

"20 minutes? A bit too much Suu…I…" Keitarou started.

"RUN!" The more perceptive and sharp of the lot, such as Makie, Motoko, and Mana, started running at light speed. The suicidally less perceptive of the lot, such as Ku Fei and Rayce, decided to wait and see what all the fuss was about.

"No, it's 20 seconds…and now it's down to 13 sec…" Suu said happily.

"RUN!" Having caught on, Keitarou picked up Suu and started running for the exit, followed by those on which realization had just dawned…there's a monstrous bomb rigged by an insane suicidal maniac bent on apocalypse set to detonate in the next…oh… 9 seconds.

...Ku Fei and Rayce were still wearing blank expressions, standing by the bomb, wondering what all the commontion was about...

...Run Keitarou...Run

...Wake up Ku Fei...Rayce...Wake up...

End of Chapter 3

BTB:Sorry for the really short chapter, but I promise to make the next one longer. Don't worry Mitsune fans, she's showing up in the next chapter. It's the pressure of the approaching exams, I guess, so please bear with me and wait patiently for chapter 4. Meanwhile, I suggest you look up Love Hina: Children of the Exodus, which is also written by me. Yeah, Arcanius Hina has been renamed Love Hina: Children of the Exodus. I thought the new name reflected the true content of the story better. Thanks again for reading, and please review. And Happy Halloween too, while I'm at it.

Everyone: (Stamps through the studio wearing their Halloween costumes)

BTB: HEY! SAVE SOME SWEETS FOR ME!(runs after the others)

Lee: More sweets means Suu, Sarah, Fumika and Fuuka would be high on sugar...

BTB: GANGWAY! (Runs away from hyperactive Suu, Sarah, Fuuka and Fumika,)

Lee: Uhh...Wow, it's halloween already? Incredible, so you've been writing fanfictions for 6 months already, BTB.

Rayce: Hmmm...So now I'm technically 6 months old?

Naru: Now that's a proven fact.

Rayce: That implying?

Suu: (dressed in huge polar bear costume) HEYA FOLKS! (Rolls into the others, making the characteristic bowling strike sound)

Shinobu: (Dressed in her Love Hina Children of the Exodus costume) Puff...I'm here, am I late?

BTB:...He...hey, that costume is for Love Hina CE, that's a serious spoiler.

Lee: Does it matter? The only thing everyone out there cando is read our dialog, right?

BTB: Good point

Rayce: It's the season to be jolly...season for holly...and everything else ending in -oly...

Asuna: It's not Christmas yet...

Rayce: Since it's halloween, we've decided to make it a special edition...now, presenting...the weapons gallery!

Naru: What does that have to do with halloween!

Suu: C'mon, it doesn't matter. I wanna show off all my weapons!

Rayce: Here we go!

Weapons profile

Order: (Name) (Weapon) (Limit Break/Overdrive/Trance)

Lee, 2 Schotells and 2 hand guns,Apocalypse Incarnate

Keitarou, Zanbattou (Cloud's sword),Flee, Eternal Suffering

Rayce, Scythe (Agricultural implement), Triple Blazing Entree with extra Flourish

Naru,Iron Knuckles, Naru Atomic Punch

Shinobu, Staff (Sometimes a frying pan),Healing Heart, Wind of Peace

Suu, Various Projectile type weapons, Barrage from Hell, Princess of Mol Mol

Sarah, Artifact Disc Wing Edge, Midget Slasher

Mitsune, Pandora Daggers, Drunken Arts from Hell

Motoko, The Hinata Blade, Male Splitting Sword (works best on males)

Annabelle, Staff, Compendia Arcana

Makie, Ribbon?

Yue, Staff?

ASuna, Giant Sword?

Negi, Staff, Final Revelation

Mana, Handguns and sniper, Demonic Vision, Nightmare Assault

That's all for now, more will be added later. I'm in a rush, so I'll leave it at this for the moment.