Chapter 12: Daily Progress Journal
Tap, Tap…
Vladimir turned around, looking for the source of the noise. The further he went in the dark and wet cave, the louder the noise became. The flight of stairs was incredibly long, and when Vladimir got to the bottom of the stairs, he started hearing a tapping noise.
Tap, Tap, Tap…
"Seriously, life isn't supposed to be like a bad horror movie," Vladimir said to himself.
Tap, Tap, Tap…
"SHUT UP!"
Silence…
"What do you know, it wor…"
Tap, tap, tap…
"Alright, that's it. Dragon Activation, Dragon of Fire!"
Flames spewed from Vladimir's body. He shot fire out around the cave to light it up. Rats darted everywhere on the ground.
"That's weird. There should be a magical barrier here to prevent all life signs from entering. Did the barrier break? I can still sense strong magical energy here."
Vladimir continued through the cave. The tapping ceased when Vladimir activated his dragon.
Plop, plop…
"Stupid stalactites. Now you're going to annoy me."
Since the cave was now lit, Vladifmir could see that there were many stalactites and stalagmites in the room, but there weren't any in the middle of the room, as if they marked the boundaries of a bridge. The path was straight. Vladimir continued onwards.
Vladimir entered the room at the end of the pathway. The room was a perfect cylinder. At the top of the room, there was an orb of light made of magical energy. The entryway was the only door in the room. Along the sides of the wall, there were pits. A bridge led from the entryway to a round platform in the center of the room, where a large stone obelisk sat.
"Is this it?" Vladimir asked himself. He took a few steps forward, watching out for traps.
"That's weird. I was certain something would happen."
He took a few more steps forward. Again, nothing happened. Vladimir walked carefully all of the way to the obelisk. Many inscriptions were engraved in it.
"Hmm… these symbols aren't something I'm familiar with. Could it be a foreign language?" Vladimir asked his dragons.
"Unlikely. They look more like runes of the old kingdoms," replied one of Vladimir's dragons.
"Runes? Wasn't that art lost in the war several thousand years ago? Can any of you figure out what was written?"
"All of these runes were engraved to form a barrier that would be impossible for even the strongest of mages to break. If what was sealed here was the Dragon Lord of Darkness, then the seal probably wasn't strong enough to contain something so powerful."
Vladimir walked over to a tablet on the ground. On it was a note that said:
"Runes are symbols created by mages and given to humans so the humans could protect themselves from magical beasts. If the right symbols were made, they would make a rune, a magical letter that absorbed elements from the environment to form pure magic, much stronger than that of a mage. The only runes that were made were those that could make barriers and seals, and those that could make remedies and heal injuries. It would've been dangerous for the humans to be able to make runes that could create magic far greater than the magic of the mages. The humans were jealous of the mages for being able to use magic that could influence the outcome of even the greatest of wars. One day, a man appeared to a large kingdom. That man, The Dragon Lord of Darkness in human form, entered the gates of the king's castle. He befriended the king, and gave him the power of destructive runes. The king sent diplomats to every kingdom in the land that wasn't part of the Holy Magus Empire, the largest kingdom the world ever knew that was comprised of most of the world's mages. The kingdoms that the king sent diplomats to weren't that big, but the diplomats told the kingdoms' kings of the new runes, and the kingdoms formed together, forging a new country that rivaled the size of the Holy Magus Empire. The king of the new country, the one that befriended the Dark Dragon Lord, started a war with the Holy Magus Empire. This started the war that split the world in part. This war was the war that caused the deaths of roughly 75 of the world's mages. The mages used their powers to form a new world, a world where only magical beings existed. The outcome of the war was the destruction of both empires. The man who stopped the war ordered that all documents concerning runes be destroyed, and the Dark Dragon Lord was to be sealed. The man had a shrine built deep in the mountains, and had the seal of the Dark Dragon Lord placed there. He used every rune in existence at the time to make a barrier around the cave. However, the shrine was soon forgotten. And the man, unknowingly, gave his son up as an offering to the dragon. Now, the seal is broken, the Dragon Lord is free. He seeks to obtain what he wanted to obtain those thousands of years ago; the power of a god."
That was the end of the letter.
"That's weird. This letter isn't that old. It was written on in Modern English. And some of the stuff on it sounds familiar."
Vladimir turned around to head of the shrine. But before he did that, he copied down many of the runes onto a notepad.
"Well, I guess I should go set up a camp outside. I'll copy the rest of the runes tomorrow."
Vladimir made a camp right outside of the cave.
"Hmm… I wonder how Negi and everyone else is doing…"
Meanwhile, Thousands of Miles Away…
Kyoto, Japan
"Excuse me! Trolley coming through!"
A woman was pushing a trolley through the hallways, but she was practically running and almost hit some of the students that were in the halls.
"I'm back… oh everyone's asleep," Asuna said as she walked into her room. Nodoka, Haruna, and Konoka were asleep in their futons on the floor. Yue was sleeping in a very odd position in a chair by the window. She looked as if the slightest movement would make her fall out of the chair.
"Well, I'm going to patrol the rooms down the corridor," Setsuna told Asuna.
"M'kay. Let's change shifts later," Asuna replied. "I'll keep a constant watch on Konoka, so don't worry."
"Sorry about this, Asuna. If anything happens, call me."
Setsuna walked off down the hallway. Asuna sat down, getting ready for bed.
"Who is it? Asuna?" Konoka said as she wiped her eyes.
"Ah, sorry. I didn't mean to wake you," Asuna said as Konoka got up and walked towards the door. "Wait, where are you going?"
"Toilet."
"Oh, um… take care. I guess that can't be helped."
Konoka made her way down the hall, towards the restrooms. She opened the door and saw something on the toilet. The thing turned around and Konoka saw a person in what looked like a giant monkey suit.
"I'm still using it… Just kidding!" the monkey woman said as she grabbed Konoka.
A Few Minutes Later…
"Konoka sure is taking a long time," Asuna said.
Yue came skulking through the hallway towards the restroom.
"I need to use the toilet, too," she moaned.
Setsuna suddenly became aware of a magical presence.
"This aura!"
Setsuna dashed through the hallways to Konoka's room.
"Asuna-san, where's Konoka-ojou-sama!?" Setsuna yelled.
"The toilet," Asuna answered as she pointed down the hall.
Yue, Setsuna, and Asuna ran down the hall to the restroom.
"How long has it been!?" Setsuna asked.
"Hau… ten minutes," Yue answered.
Asuna knocked on the door and asked, "Konoka, you are in there, right?"
"I'm still using it…"
"See," Asuna said.
"Konoka! I can't hold it anymore!" Yue yelled.
"You are Konoka-ojou-sama, right!?" Setsuna asked.
"I'm still using it…"
"Is that so…"
Setsuna and Asuna were looking at each other in suspicion. Yue, however, was throwing herself around on the ground and groaning a lot.
"I'm approaching my limit!" Yue yelled.
In her frenzy of throwing herself around on the floor, Yue hurled herself at the door. The door shot open and revealed that no one was inside. There was, however, a charm stuck to the toilet.
"I'm still using it…"
"A talking charm?" Asuna asked.
"We've been tricked!" Setsuna yelled.
"What should we do!?" Asuna said.
"Do whatever the hell you want! Just let me use the toilet!" Yue screamed as she ran inside and slammed the door shut behind her.
Meanwhile, Outside the Hotel
"And that's how you use a contract card, if you ever make a contract with someone."
Negi was talking with his ermine about the contracts a mage can make.
"Oh, I see. So I can telepathically communicate with my partner, teleport them to me, and activate their weapons, abilities, etc. I'm going to go ask Asuna to make a contract with me so I can try this out."
Negi ran into the building looking for Asuna. Asuna and Setsuna were running out of the building looking for Konoka.
"Ah, Negi!" Asuna yelled. "Konoka's been kidnapped!"
"What!?" Negi screamed.
"Hey, what's that, Aniki!?"
The ermine pointed towards the sky. A giant figure was falling from the sky. It crashed right in front of the group.
"A MONKEY!?" the group yelled in unison.
Negi saw that the woman in the costume was holding Konoka.
"Attack, my hordes of perverted monkeys!" the woman in the monkey suit yelled.
The monkey-woman jumped away through the night while the party tried to defeat a bunch of small monkeys that came from nowhere. Setsuna brandished her sword and cut through all the monkeys with it.
"Dang! She got away!" Setsuna yelled.
"Negi, maybe we should do that contract thingy. I won't be of any use if I have to fight against some magical beast."
"Okay. I was thinking that, too."
The ermine brought up a magical circle around Negi and Asuna. Asuna kissed Negi's lips and a blinding light engulfed them. When the light dissipated, Asuna was holding a giant fan and Negi was holding two cards with Asuna holding a giant sword on them.
"Let's go!" Setsuna yelled.
Setsuna was able to pick up the trail of the kidnapper. It didn't take long for them to catch up, since the monkey-woman was in a costume and she was carrying someone. They were at the subway station. The woman just got on a train, and Negi and his group followed her.
"Persistent! Alright, time for my second charm!"
The woman brought out another piece of paper. From it spewed forth a river which shot at Negi, Asuna, and Setsuna. The water filled the whole carriage while the woman snuck to the next one. Setsuna twirled her sword around in the water and made the next carriage open with an underwater whirlpool. The woman opened the doors to the trolley so that she wouldn't drown herself. Then, she ran out of the station, followed by Negi and his allies.
"Setsuna-san, aren't they only supposed to be sabotaging us? Why did they send a monkey-woman after Konoka?" Asuna asked.
"Well, you see… before this started, some members of the Kansai Magic Association were opposed to Konoka-ojou-sama leaving for Mahora Academy. It's extremely likely that they wish to use Konoka-ojou-sama's powers to dominate the Kansai Magic Association," Setsuna replied.
The group arrived at some stairs and saw the woman standing at the top.
"You've done well to make it this far. But can you handle this?"
Two giant monkeys appeared from thin air. Negi got out his pactio card with Asuna and activated their contract as well as summoning out Asuna's artifact. However, instead of the artifact being a sword, Asuna appeared with a fan. Asuna jumped at one of the monkeys and one impact of her fan caused the monkey to disappear, scaring the other one away. Negi jumped up and shot magical arrows at the woman which hit their marks. The woman ran off, leaving Konoka behind.
"That's weird. I expected that to take longer," Negi said.
Konoka woke up.
"Where am I?"
"Konoka-ojou-sama! You're okay!"
Konoka looked at Setsuna and smiled.
"It looks like you don't hate me, after all."
"Oh… well, I wanted to talk to you, too, but…"
Setsuna ran off down the stairs. The group returned to the hotel and went to sleep. And the night passed peacefully.
In the morning, Negi was asked to go with Nodoka's group for free activity. When the day started, Nodoka's friends took everyone away from Nodoka and Negi so that they could be alone. Poor Nodoka could not successfully confess her love for him. Or that was until…
Nodoka faced Negi on the dirt pathway. Her heart thumping from just being in the grace of her beloved's presence. Finally, over all of her mistakes that day, she mustered up the courage to tell Negi what she wanted.
Nodoka turned and faced Negi. Just being able to look at him shook her nerves, but no…this was something she had to do.
"Negi-sensei…" Nodoka took a deep breath. "I really like you. I've loved you since the first day I saw you. I know this is weird, I mean I'm a student and you're a teacher, but...I wanted to tell you how I felt."
With that said, Nodoka ran off in the opposite direction of Negi, afraid of Negi's reaction. She didn't know if she could bare rejection from the one she admired so much.
Negi, on the other hand, passed out. He woke in the hotel. The thoughts of Nodoka's confession ran through his head.
"Co… confession…" Negi blurted out in the lobby.
"What!? Someone confessed to someone!? Who, Negi-sensei?" asked one of the students.
"Ah… um… no. I'm meant confession as the things you do in church," Negi said, but he was really bad at lying. He ran off.
"This looks like a job for her."
Asakura Kazumi just finished inserting more film into her camera when a group of girls from her class came up to her.
"Obscene conduct between teacher and student!? That would be a big scoop!" Asakura said.
"Actually, it was just someone who confessed to Negi. But we need you to find out whom."
"Just a confession? That's not a scoop. But then again, it could turn into one."
Asakura grabbed her camera and went to look for Negi. She noticed Negi walking outside, so she followed at a safe distance behind him. Negi saw a cat in the middle of the road, and a big van was driving down the road towards the cat.
"Watch out!" Negi yelled.
Negi jumped off the pavement and grabbed the cat. The car was dangerously close now. He stuck out his hand and used a spell to bounce the car over him.
"What was that!?" Asakura asked herself. "Wait a minute… this can be my big scoop!"
Negi mounted his staff and flew off into the sky. Asakura took a picture of this.
"Is he a superhero or something?"
Later that Evening…
Negi was skulking around and decided to take a trip to the spa baths. He just got in when Shizuna walked up behind him.
"Fufufu… Negi, I know all about your secret," Shizuna said.
Negi turned around, alarmed.
"You're a mage, right?"
"Did… did you hear that from the principal or something?"
"I don't know about that, but will you please show me some magic?" Shizuna asked as she shoved Negi's face into her breasts.
"Um… Shizuna, I think your breasts shrunk," Negi said.
"Wha… I'll have you know that my breasts are the fourth largest in the class!" Shizuna said.
"In the class!? Just who are you!?" Negi yelled.
"Oh, crap. I didn't mean to say that. Oh, well. I'm the next breaking news reporter, Asakura Kazumi!"
Asakura pulled off the wig on her head and through off the glasses.
"Look, I'm sure we can come to some sort of mutual agreement," Negi said.
After about fifteen minutes, Negi was able to make Asakura keep his secret. However, it wasn't in the way of words. Asakura pressured Negi so much that he snapped and sent Asakura flying through the air. After realizing what he did, Negi went after her and brought her back to the baths. Asakura's phone, which she was using as her camera was broken, so she decided that she would help Negi keep his secret so that she could find out more about the magical society.
That night, there was supposed to be a contest to see who could kiss Negi first. The ermine set up a contract circle around the hotel. Negi went out for a walk, unaware of the contest. He left many faulty clones of himself at the hotel. Everyone thought that the clones were just traps set up by everyone else. By the time Negi came back inside, most of Negi's class was being punished for being out of bed so late at night. Negi found Nodoka and Yue in a lounge area. Yue tripped Nodoka and made her fall on Negi, causing their lips to come in contact with each other. This caused Negi to get his second pactio card, although Nodoka had no clue what it was. However, everyone was caught and in the end, everyone had to squat in the lobby until morning except for Asuna and Setsuna.
Meanwhile in Russia…
Vladimir woke up late in the morning. He found a deer and the woods, so he killed it and ate it. After his breakfast, he went into the cave. However, the obelisk full of runes was crushed when he arrived in that room. He spent the whole day trying to fix it, which his hard work paid off. Late that evening, he finished fixing it and copied most of the runes. He decided to put the rest on hold until the next day.
"Today has been strange," Vladimir told his dragons.
"Yeah, the obelisk looks like it was shattered by magic," one of his dragons said.
"But we didn't feel any abnormal magical energy last night or this morning," another dragon stated.
"So, that means that whoever broke the obelisk can mask his presence with the elements around the shrine."
"I think I know who it is," Vladimir stated. "Hmm… but I don't know why he would be here. I'll cast a barrier around the obelisk so that it won't break again."
Vladimir engraved some runes on the ground around the obelisk. A huge magical field shot around the obelisk.
"Alright, let's go to bed."
The Next Morning…
Nodoka was walking past the group of girls that were praising her for obtaining the prize, which was a card with her on it holding a book. She walked through the crowd and noticed Negi talking with Asuna, Setsuna, and Asakura. Asuna was making a big fuss about something, so Nodoka observed them from afar.
"Negi! What are you going to do about this!? Look at all of these cards you made!" Asuna continued rambling.
"Aw, come on Ane-san," Asakura said.
"Yeah, come on Asuna! What's wrong with making a little profit on the side?" the ermine asked.
"Asakura! You and that pervert, Chamo, stay out of this!" Asuna yelled.
"Honya-chan is just a normal girl. It would be best for her and you if we kept this a secret from her," Asuna explained.
"But Asuna-san, you, too, are just a normal girl," Negi said.
Asuna jabbed her index finger into Negi's forehead.
"How can you say that after everything that has happened!?" Asuna said.
"Alright, let's keep it a secret from her, then," Negi agreed.
"What a waste…the card looked real strong, too. Well, never mind. Here's your copy of the card, Asuna."
"A card? What the heck can I do with it?"
"Well, you can communicate with it. Also, you can bring out your artifact by saying 'adeat' and you can get rid of it by saying 'abeat'."
Nodoka wasn't able to hear the whole conversation, but she heard how to bring out her artifact.
"A…adeat."
Nodoka's card turned into a book.
"Wha…? It turned into a book? It's blank… wait, here's something."
A page in the book had a picture of Nodoka and Negi kissing.
It said, "24th of April, Thursday. I kissed my beloved Negi-sensei today. Kya! It was only by accident! One day, I would like to do it in a more romantic way."
"Nodoka?" Yue said as she came walking through the hallways.
"Ah, Yue!" Nodoka said, alarmed. She looked down at her book and the next page had a picture of Negi holding Yue on the ground and it said, "24th of April, Thursday (Yue). Yesterday was an extremely troublesome day. Negi-sensei pushed me down right in front of Nodoka while she was asleep. I can't believe how stupid it was, but even now I'm still worried about it."
Nodoka slammed the book shut.
"Hmm? What's that book about, Nodoka?" Yue asked.
"It's nothing!" Nodoka yelled.
"Come on! We're friends, right?"
"Hey! What are you two doing here!? Come on and get ready!" Haruna came bounding down the hall. She forced them towards the exit of the building, where she saw Asuna, Konoka, and Setsuna sneaking out.
"Aha! Suspicious! Let's follow them!" Haruna said.
"Ah! Wait!" Nodoka and Yue replied, but it was futile. Haruna was already running towards Asuna's group.
Asuna was forced to take them with her on her way to meet Negi. Asuna was apologizing to Negi. Negi and his group continued onwards with Haruna's group, thinking of a way to get away from them. They went into an arcade and had their pictures taken. Negi found a mage game and decide to play it.
"Wow! Negi-sensei is really good! Is this really your first time?"
"Mind if I join?" a stranger asked as he started the machine next to Negi.
"Not at all."
The game started, but ended shortly. Negi lost to the stranger.
"Not too bad… but you've gotta long way to go before you're a proper 'mage'. See you around, Negi Springfield!" the stranger said.
"How do you know my name!?" Negi asked.
"You typed it in before you started playing," the stranger pointed out. "See ya!"
The boy walked off.
"He's getting away!" Haruna yelled.
While Haruna was making a scene, Negi ran off with Asuna, leaving Setsuna to protect Konoka.
Outside, the stranger walked down the alley.
"I knew it. His last name is 'Springfield'."
"Hmph… So he's the son of the Thousand Master? He will be a worthy opponent. It's payback time."
Those words were spoken by the monkey-woman, a person standing on each side of her; one a swordswoman, the other was a short boy with gray hair. The stranger that played the game with Negi was standing next to the boy.
Negi and Asuna snuck out of the arcade, but were seen by Nodoka. Unable to control her nosiness, she followed them. Back in the arcade, Setsuna started worrying that something may happen to Asuna and Negi, so she got out a piece of paper and made a clone of herself. This clone, however, was being controlled directly by Setsuna, and it was only a few inches tall and could fly.
Negi and Asuna were in front of a huge flight of stairs.
"This is headquarters for the Kansai Magic Association?" Negi asked.
"It looks like the Fushimi Shrine because of all the gates along the path," the ermine said.
"All we have to do is hand the leader the letter right? Let's go!" Asuna said as she started to run off ahead.
"Asuna-san! Is Negi okay?" A floating chibi-Setsuna appeared in front of Asuna.
Negi ran up next to Asuna.
"Watch out for traps. The mages here might not welcome you," the Setsuna clone said.
"Understood, um… Little Setsuna."
With that, Asuna, Negi, and Little Setsuna ran off towards the Kansai Magic Association's headquarters.
Huff, huff
"We've… been… running for 30 minutes," Asuna said, panting.
"Negi, I think we're in an infinite time-space spell zone."
Meanwhile…
Nodoka looked up the stairs.
"Did they go up here?" she asked herself.
"HELP!" Negi's voice entered Nodoka's head.
"Negi-sensei?" Nodoka looked around and noticed that it came from her book. She opened it up and saw a page with Negi and Asuna running. It said, "April 24, Negi. UEEEEE-N! HELP—!"
Meanwhile With Negi…
"Look! A roof! It must be a rest area!"
The group stopped there to assess their situation. However, before they could do anything, a giant spider fell out of the sky with the stranger standing on top of it.
"Holy crap. That's all I can say."
"Be careful, Asuna-san!" Little Setsuna said.
Meanwhile at the Arcade…
"Setsuna! Why are you so spaced out?" Konoka asked while she shook the real Setsuna.
"Ojou-sama! It's you! I about had a heart attack!"
"Let's go!" Konoka said cheerfully.
Unbeknownst to them, the swordswoman that was with the monkey-woman was following them.
"Huhu… I just love strong girls!" the swordswoman said.
Meanwhile (For the Umpteenth Time)…
Nodoka saw that Negi and Asuna were fighting a giant spider by using her book. She searched frantically for them.
Over where Negi and Asuna were, the giant spider lunged at them. Negi activated Asuna's contract while she summoned her giant fan. One hit with her fan turned the overly large arachnid back into a charm.
"So it's true. I heard about a girl who could break enchantments," the stranger said. "This will be interesting."
"You should surrender while you still can," Asuna said.
"Heheheh… woman, I'm not just any magic user."
"Watch out! This guy must be a…" Little Setsuna tried to say.
The stranger lunged at Asuna and Negi with lightening speed. Asuna tried to whack him with her fan, but he was able to dodge all of his attacks. He jumped around Asuna and charged Negi.
"Ras tel ma scir magister flans exclamatio!" Negi yelled.
Negi unleashed several magical beams at the stranger's face, but the guy's speed shattered the impact. The stranger punched Negi and sent him flying through the air.
Nodoka was staring at her book and saw that Negi had been hit. Nodoka was so into the book that she didn't notice that the fight wasn't taking that far from her. They were fighing in the woods right behind Nodoka.
"This doesn't look good. He's too fast for Asuna to hit him. NEGI-SENSEI, BEHIND YOU!"
Nodoka thought she heard something behind her, but when she looked, there was no one there. The fighters ran off from that area.
The stranger palmed Negi's jaw and made him bleed.
"Haha… I broke through your barrier."
"That's not fair!" Asuna exclaimed. "You should of told us that you were a fighter instead of a mage!"
"You were the one that just assumed."
"Alright then! I'm your opponent, now!"
"Fighting is a man's job. I won't hit girls, even the obscenely strong ones such as yourself. Stand and fight, Western Mage Negi Springfield. If this is all you can do, then your father probably isn't that great either," the stranger said.
"Aniki! We must retreat for now!" Chamo said as he threw a bottle on the ground. The bottle shattered and engulfed the surrounding area in smoke. Asuna grabbed Negi and they ran away.
Nodoka was reading her book while she was walking.
"Thank goodness! They got away," she said.
Asuna, Negi, Chamo, and Little Setsuna were sitting around a safe distance from the place where they fought the stranger.
"What the hell is that cheeky brat's problem!? And what's with those dumb ears!?" Asuna yelled.
"The boy is a Kuzoku," Little Setsuna said. "They are wolf or fox type monsters. I guess you could say he's a wolf-man."
"Another monster?" Asuna asked. "This is getting tiresome. Hasn't Evangeline taught you anything about fighting?"
"Well, I haven't actually trained with her, yet. But I do need to get stronger. I believe that if I become stronger, then my quest for searching for my father will be easier. That's why I took training from Takamichi for a month before coming to Japan. I'm still inexperienced, but I want to find my father. That's why I must defeat that guy," Negi said.
"But how can we beat him?" the ermine asked.
"Don't worry. I have a plan."
Meanwhile (This is Becoming Really Cliché)…
Nodoka heard somebody running towards her.
"Abeat!" she said and transformed her artifact back into a card.
"FOUND YOU!" the stranger yelled as he charged Nodoka. "Oh, wrong person. Hey, weren't you in the arcade about an hour ago? You shouldn't be here. There was a sign outside that said 'Entry prohibited', right? There's a fight going on ahead. I'll undo the trap and let you out later. Later!" the stranger said as he turned to leave.
"Ah! Is this the boy that was fighting Negi!?" Nodoka asked herself. "Alright I need to get his name for my artifact to work, though."
"Wait!" Nodoka said. "I'm Nodoka Miyazaki. What would your name be?"
"I guess it would be rude not to answer. I'm Kotarou Inugami."
Kotarou ran off to find Negi.
"Adeat!" Nodoka yelled. "Well, he didn't seem like a bad kid, but…"
Negi and Asuna were standing side-by-side, waiting for the enemy that sought them so. Negi saw him coming.
"Alright. Let's go!"