Author's not – Man, have I been in a rut. I just, I dunno, lost my drive. Guess what got me back into it? Reading my own story. I guess I don't completely suck.
Baka purple – Glad you like the fluff, there's a lot more later.
Daughter of ether – Thank you. And donut-shaped Kanka would be AWESOME.
TzuiAssassian – It's a good idea, and we'll see what happens.
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The Lee standing across from him looked more akin to a killer robot than the happy-go-lucky man from before. Negi shivered under the sheer pressure of the glare.
"What's wrong, Lee?" Lee tensed.
"Zazie.. has a headache."
"A headache? I've had those before. Yeah, they're pretty bad, but-" Lee cut him off.
"Not a normal headache." Negi gulped.
"What do you mean?"
"It has to do with the rising amount of dark energy coming from the world tree. I myself have a headache, too. She seems particularly sensitive, though. Probably because she spends a lot of her spare time there." Negi gulped again.
"So it's getting worse?"
"Oh, hell, yes." The announcer cut in at that moment, before Lee could tell Negi any of the specifics.
"Ladies and Gentleman, welcome to the Mahora Martial Arts Tournament Finals! A most interesting match up today, between two-time finalist Negi Springfield, and his own student, newcomer Lee!" Applause broke out both for the kid teacher and the underdog.
Lee smiled darkly, "I'm sorry, sensei, but it looks like I have to tell you later." He dropped into a fighting stance.
"For now, though, I have to win."
The announcer held up his hand. Negi dropped into a stance similar to Kuu's.
Oh yeah, Kuu Fei said she taught Negi martial arts. This should be interesting.
The announcer dropped his hand. "Fight!"Lee immediately launched a barrage of air pressure from his fist, looking for a quick kill. Negi had vanished, though, and quickly reappeared behind Lee. Lee turned into a low roundhouse kick, sweeping Negi's feet from under him. He fell, hard.
Lee looked down at Negi.
"That's it?"
"Not even close." Negi got up and yelled, "Cantus Bellax!" And immediately began to glow with magical power. He dropped into his stance again.
"Now the fight REALLY begins."
"Whatever you say, Sensei."
Negi pulled instant movement to appear in front of Lee, but immediately spun around Lee's countering fist.
"Sagitta Magica!" And arrows of light pounded into Lee from a dozen different places. It was all he could do just to catch all the blows on his blocking points. As soon as the last arrow hit, Lee pulled his own instant movement, going beside Negi. He used the leftover momentum and dropped to one hand, bring his leg up for a neck chop.
Negi went flying. After a hard landing, he got up slowly.
"Very nice. But still not enough." Feeding himself more magical energy, Negi pulled a double instant movement, counting on Lee's fast reaction time to react to the first before the second happened.
It worked perfectly.
Lee, once he had completed his spin only to find a rapidly disappearing image, sighed.
"Damn."
Negi's elbow caught him in the small of his back. Using his hands to twist himself, he landed hard on his back and kicked up with his feet, sending Negi, who had charged in after, up and over his head.
Negi used a magic arrow to right himself, only to be meet by a dense line of air pressure to the stomach. Gritting his teeth, he pushed through it, landing on the bare edges of the ring.
"You may be able to send air pressure from every part of your body, but they don't have anywhere near the power of Takahata's." Lee sighed.
"Don't I know it."
Negi flung out a hand. "Sagitta Magica, Aer Capturae!" And Lee's legs became roped with hard lines of air. Negi used instant movement to close the gap, and the launched into a Chinese kenpo influenced assault.
Lee was being pressed hard. Not being able to move his legs was more of a liability than he was willing to admit. However, using the fact that his legs wouldn't move at all, he used Negi's own spell for support while he twisted with his waist and blocked with his hands.
Come on, legs, MOVE!
The image of Zazie crying in pain confronted him. Yelling, he broke the spell.
Too late.
"Kenotetos Astropoteta De Temneto Dios Tykos!" (Think axe of thunder. REALLY BIG axe of thunder.)
BOOM!!!
Damn.. this hurts even more then the kanka.
When the smoke had cleared, Lee was flat on his back. He forced his limbs to move, and move they did, albeit slowly. He felt like he was bruised on every part of his body, and the after affect of the lightning wasn't helping. Despite all this, he smiled.
"Good job, Negi. That last spell was really good." His smile grew wider.
"Now I can really cut loose." Negi frowned in puzzlement.
"What do you-" And then he gasped.
Lee was shimmering, like a mirage.
"What the- Lee what's happening?" Lee smiled.
"My final technique. You see, our bodies can only ever access 10 percent of its full strength. Any more, and we'd literally work ourselves to death by existing at that rate for so long. However, there is a way to overcome that barrier, using mental control and sheer willpower. It's what you're seeing right now. The energy I'm generating by mentally lifting my limits needs to continuously be expended, or my muscles would burst."
Lee shrugged. "Of course, though, there are drawbacks. I can only use this once, and for only a set amount of time. My personal best at being at 100 percent power before I would have died is…well, about a second."
"A second? All I have to do is survive a second and you're toast?"
"It isn't that simple. For that one second, I will be constantly moving at the rate of instant movement. With every part of my body."
Negi gasped.
"And that's not all. You see, I thought once, 'huh, what if I did instant movement while still at 100 percent'" Lee grinned. His shimmering increased.
"You're about to find out."
The ring exploded. Negi couldn't even see Lee, he was moving so fast. Then, all of a sudden, he was being pummeled on every part of his body, seemingly all at once. The blows came in so fast that each one felt like a kanka hit. He just couldn't believe at how fast Lee was moving.
And then it was over. His one-second up, Lee dropped to a knee, breathing hard.
Negi swayed slightly, and then collapsed, out cold.
The announcer (Who had to dive behind the wall to dodge the debris from the ring.) peeked out.
"I-I-is it over?" Lee nodded.
"Well, then… umm… Lee is-is the winner!"
The audience went wild.
Later on…
Lee met Negi under the world tree later.
"Hey, sensei, sorry I had to go that hard, but it was the only way, you know?" Negi shook his head.
"No, Lee, that's alright, I'm glad that I got to fight you. I hope you'll teach me that move someday, though!"
They both laughed. Lee turned serious after he finished, and sighed.
"Alright, from what I understand, the world tree rises in power during the festival, right? So, if the third day is the climax, then whoever is in charge will probably make his move then."
Negi slammed his fist into his palm. "We have to get to him before that!"
Lee nodded. "I know, but how? And while we're at it, who, and where? There's too many questions that still need answering." They both nodded grimly.
Lee said, "I'll look for anything suspicious tomorrow. We'll find him. And we'll stop him."
Negi nodded again.
Zazie's room, later…She tossed and turned, desperately trying to get some sleep, to get away from her monstrous headache. In desperation, her thoughts turned to Lee.
I'm glad he won, although I'm sad I missed the fight. Mana said it was the fight of the century.
Zazie giggled at the memory of him giving her his trophy. He'd tripped over his feet after she had smiled, thanking him, and landed right on his head.
"I thought Libra masters didn't lose their balance?" She had said.
"Be quiet." Lee said, although it was muffled because his face was still firmly planted on the floor.
Later on, after everyone else had left, he held her hand and promised her the time of her life tomorrow. Zazie had melted.
He looked so tender… She grinned a little at the memory. Sighing, she finally drifted of to sleep.When the nightmare's found her.
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Yes, I copied from Naruto for Lee's final attack, but I also modified it, so I don't completely suck.