Chapter 6: Skills
Firedude: Sorry to leave you all hanging folks. I had a term paper over the past few weeks and other things went down, so I really didn't have the time for this, terribly sorry. Anyway, the votes are in. 1 vote for Gym, 1 vote for either basketball or kendo and 1 vote for anything but kendo. It's a little bit of an odd vote, but because gym was the only definite vote out of the bunch I declare it the winner. Sorry, to other voters who might've been leaning towards something else, but I have to side with the definite votes.
Blaze Shadow: Well just because terminators can dominates hordes of relentless enemies without breaking a sweat doesn't mean they always win… who am I kidding? Hm, I myself am actually ashamed to admit I overlooked the Gray Knights; I'll figure something out though. As for the imperial guard, trust me, you'll see about them.
Disclaimer: I do not own Negima! or any of its characters, nor do I own the War Hammer 40,000 franchise or any of its characters.
Firedude: Alright, chapter six of the Negima! cult of chaos saga is up and running, please review.
February 9th 2008. Athletic Grounds, Mahora Academy.
Andruu continued to look around the athletic grounds at all the women around. I may draw too much attention to myself if I stay out here... I should probably do something inside. Andruu quietly snuck around the side of the grounds to a door on the side of the building. He quickly slipped inside and closed the door behind him. He looked around and saw there was no one in the immediate hallway. Alright, lucky break... I know the captain said it's alright for me to be here, but I can't shake the feeling that I don't want to be seen. Andruu stopped and looked down the hall towards the corner where he heard footsteps coming from. He felt himself panic a little and looked for a quick exit. He found a door next to him marked gym and moved into the room. He slipped the door shut behind him and listened until he heard the foot steps die away. "That was close…" Andruu muttered to himself.
He was about to open the door and leave again when he stopped himself and turned to look at the room he had entered. The room was filled with various weight lifting machines and exercising devices. There were heavy bags in the far corner along with sparring gear. And best of all, the room was void of any people. Not too many people are in here... it's perfect for me. Andruu grinned as he looked between all the machines, trying to decide what to do first. "My, my you look like a little kid in a candy shop." Andruu stopped and looked to the side. A tall girl in a school uniform and gray hair stood smiling, leaned against the wall. Andruu turned towards her, keeping a solid stance before replying, "Who are you…?"
The girl let out a bit of an amused grunt and moved so quickly to behind Andruu, it seemed like he teleported. "I'm Kaede Nagase, chuunin of the Koga ninja clan." Andruu practically jumped out of his skin, frightened by Kaede. He whirled back around only to she that she wasn't there anymore. He looked around a bit frantically, trying to figure out where the mysterious girl went. "I told you who I am, now who are you? You definitely don't look like you go to this school." Andruu's eye's widened as he realized her voice was coming from above. He looked up to see her kneeling on the ceiling with a wide grin. She dropped back down next to him and continued. "I mean, you're a guy right?" Andruu watched her carefully and replied, "Yes I am, I'm Andruu Tanthius… your Dean gave me permission to be here."
Kaede sat down on a nearby bench and tilted her head slightly with her same eerie smile. "So then why are you trying to sneak around the school then?" A pair of giggles came from behind Andruu as another voice said, "He's probably just embarrassed that there are so many girls here!" Andruu was about to look behind him, but before he could even turn around, the Narutaki twins had landed on either one of his shoulders still giggling. "You're probably right sis; he's probably from one of those all guys' schools!" Said Fumika as she pulled on one of Andruu's cheeks. "So how about it mister!? Have you ever even seen a girl before!?" Fuka giggled and pulled on his other cheek. "And you've got such a silly name! I bet you're a foreigner aren't you!?" The two twins laughed as they continued to pull on his cheeks.
Andruu felt anger building up inside himself until he just finally yelled, "Release me vile creatures!" The sudden outburst and the fling of arms scared the two girls off his shoulders and they jumped down next to Kaede. "What are the three of you anyway!? There's no way you're normal humans! And human implants haven't been invented yet!" Kaede jumped up from her bench and walked over to Andruu, her expression more serious. "You know… I take offence to that." Andruu just stood there a little shocked at her sudden change in demeanor, not knowing how to reply. She suddenly took his hand and placed it on her chest and with a wide smile said, "These aren't implants, they're real." The Narutaki twins laughed at this and Andruu pulled away and jumped back, blushing wildly. "H-Hey! What's wrong with you!?"
Andruu let out a frustrated sigh and said, "Forget it, I came here to work out and I'm going to…" He turned and began to walk towards the work out machines when Kaede said, "How about a contest?" Andruu stopped and turned back towards her. "Where'd that come from?" Andruu asked raising an eyebrow suspiciously. She smiled and replied, "Does it matter? Or are you just afraid of what I'm capable of?" Andruu thought about it for a minute before replying carefully, "What did you have in mind?" Kaede just continued her strange smile before answering, "Hmmm… how about a little sparring match?" Andruu thought it over a bit more. I've had sparring matches with sisters of battle before and they're just as deadly as or even more so than space marines. And it's obvious this girl is not ordinary, so she might be just as strong. Andruu then nodded with a smile and replied, "Fine, I accept."
Kaede grinned and turned to the twins and said, "Alright girls spread the word! I've got a challenge!" The two twins cheered and ran out into the hallway, searching for people to tell. When the tapping of their feet disappeared down the hallway, Kaede turned back to Andruu and said, "I know who you are and why you're here." Andruu blinked with a little bit of a dumbfounded expression on his face. "Um… what?" Kaede just smiled as she continued, "I've been spying on your little base for the past few days. It's amazing how much you can learn about some people just by eavesdropping." Andruu let out a long sigh, looked to his shoes and rubbed his forehead. "Wonderful…" He then looked back up to Kaede and said, "Well, I want to see how powerful a space marine from the future is. And I'll cut you a deal." Andruu gave her a skeptical look and replied, "What kind of information?"
Kaede walked about slowly as she replied, "Well, if I found out all about you guys in such a short time, imagine how much I gathered on these seven chaos artifacts." Andruu's eyes widened and he took a couple steps towards her. "Where are they!?" She smiled and put a finger up to silence him. "I'll tell you what I know, if you can beat me." Andruu let out a slight sigh of frustration. "Fine then, but know this. I will not hold back." Kaede just smiled and replied, "I wouldn't have it any other way."
Forest, Mahora Academy
Captain Agemman pushed through the heavy brush quickly in the direction pointed out to him by Jonas. He finally made it through the thicket of trees and came to a small cave, where Ferrox laid with a huge gash in his body. Angelos quickly ran to his side and check his pulse and look him over. "Will his body repair itself?" Agemman asked concerned. Angelos shook his head. "His pulse has weakened significantly, and the wound is too grave to be healed on its own, even with his advanced platelets…" Jonas frowned and kneeled down next to him. "Is there anything we can do?" Angelos sighed and stood up. "Well, even if I got him back to the base and did surgery there I wouldn't be able to do much but ease the pain until he succumbs." Agemman cursed and stomped the floor.
Yaven walked up next to the two and said, "My lord if I may speak…" Jonas looked up and said, "Oh, yes go ahead." Yaven nodded and looked down at the wrist of his clawed hand it slid open to reveal a small panel of buttons. "Before I came to the palace to help defend, I was on a freighter ship delivering top secret blue prints to the other side of Terra." He pressed a series of buttons and his eyes opened wide and a blue beam shot out. A hologram then appeared in the air in front of him. Jonas took one look at the blueprints and his eyes widened. "Yaven! How long have you had this!?" Jonas demanded looking them over. "Ever since we first met up sir, and I believe that it's the only way to save Ferrox now." Jonas shook his head violently. "No, this is out of the question. If we built one without approval we will surely be executed."
"Silence marine!" Agemman called as he walked up to them. "But sir, building this now-!" Agemman quickly cut off Jonas and finished, "Will save a marine… I don't care about protocols right now marine… We are stranded here without any other help. If we lose a member of our squad now, the chances of the futures survival fall. Can you two build it?" Jonas gritted his teeth nervously before saying, "Yes, but we'll need a little time and lots of supplies." Agemman nodded then looked towards Angelos who had picked Ferrox up. "Can you stabilize him long enough for the machine to be completed?" Angelos nodded and turned towards him. "It will be difficult and very painful for him… but I'll do my best." Agemman nodded and called, "Alright! Let's hurry then!"
Library Island, Mahora Academy
Cassius, Tigurius, Nodoka and Yue all emerged from the depths of Library Island with huge stacks of books all loaded on a cart. "That was quite impressive; the most valuable knowledge is guard by traps to protect them." Tigurius said to himself. "Yes, and we found many valuable books on the Warp and the Cult." Cassius added as he pushed the cart. "This was definitely a mission accomplished." The two of them continued to talk as Yue and Nodoka walked a bit ways behind them. "…They're definitely weird, but they seem okay." Yue said and Nodoka nodded to her statement. "Yes, they stopped several of those traps easily… Yue, do you think they might be military?" Yue shrugged and replied, "I don't know, I suppose anything is possible."
Suddenly, the sound of the Library doors opening and slamming sounded throughout the building. This was followed by the sound of someone sprinting frantically. "Nodoka! Yue!" someone called out as they sprinted towards them. When she finally stopped in front of them to catch her breath, Yu sighed and said, "Haruna… you know better than to run in the library like that." She smiled at them and replied, "Sorry Yue, but I really needed to find you two." Nodoka gave her a concerned look and asked, "What is it?" Haruna pointed out towards the school and said, "You gotta see this. A guy showed up at the athletic ground and now he challenged Kaede to a fight!" Cassius and Tigurius looked at each other, thinking the same thing.
Track Field, Mahora Athletic Grounds.
Kaede and Andruu stood on opposite sides of the track field squared off with each other. The side of the track closest to the school had a huge crowd of girls all standing there cheering and calling out to them. Ayaka walked up behind the crowd and called out, "What's going on here!?" Makie, who was in the back, turned around and smiled, "Hey Ayaka! There's a fight going on!" Ayaka's eyes widened as she repeated to herself, "A fight?" She grinned and said, "It must be Asuna isn't it? The girl is so brutish-." She was cut off by a punch to the back of the head. She growled, rubbing the spot as she heard a voice behind her say, "Next time you start bad mouthing me Ayaka, make sure I'm not right behind you." She turned around to see Asuna standing there with Setsuna and Konoka behind her. "Hey! Watch it bells or-!" Ayaka stopped wide eyed and said, "Wait… but if you're here, who is fighting over there?" She asked pointing towards the track field.
Konoka put a finger to her chin and thought about it. "Well… I heard that someone had challenged Kaede to a fight." Ayaka blinked a couple of times and replied, "Really? Is it Fei Ku?" Asuna shook her head and replied, "No that's the thing, Fei Ku is training in the mountains and we wanted to see who else would even try." Konoka scratched her head a bit and said, "Yeah, it's so strange a guy would come all the way from the men's academy to challenge her." Asuna nodded a little and replied, "Yeah well, Kaede is pretty famous around-." The information suddenly hit the three and they all turned towards Konoka and shouted in unison, "A man!?" Konoka laughed a little and replied, "Whoops, did I leave that out?" Setsuna's eyes were wide with shock as she thought to herself, Could it be...!? She then turned and pushed her way to the front of the crowd.
When she finally made it to the front, her suspicions were confirmed as eyes were met with the sight of Andruu. "Andruu! What do you think you're doing!?" She called out to him. Andruu looked over towards her and called, "Oh, hey Setsuna! It's been a while hasn't it!?" Setsuna growled with frustration at his nonchalant attitude. "You know him Setsuna?" Ayaka asked as the rest made it to the front as well. "Well, kind of-." She was cut off by Makie who pushed Ayaka to the side to get to Setsuna, "You're going to introduce me to him right!?" Setsuna was taken off guard by Makie's question. A small laugh came to the side followed by, "I wasn't expecting you so soon." They all turned to see Mana standing there with a small smile.
"Mana!? When did you get here!?" Asuna asked shocked. She let out an amused grunt and replied, "I was the first one here. Along with them." They all leaned over to see Eva and Chachamaru standing there with her. "You're here too!?" Ayaka said surprised. "The fool is going to get himself killed; I couldn't pass up the opportunity to watch him fall." Chachamaru spoke without looking over at them, "Normally I would not encourage such words from the master towards someone we know, but my sensors indicate he does not stand a chance." Ayaka just looked out towards the field and scowled, "They just better not make a mess of the track, and I don't want to be the one stuck cleaning up any blood." Asuna let out a small laugh and her eyes widened at a sudden realization. "Oh yeah, I just realized." The girls all looked over at her as she continued, "Where's Negi? He would usually be here by now if something like this was happening."
Eva laughed in an amused fashion and replied, "You don't have a very good memory do you? Negi and Kotaro went with Professor Takahata on that errand for the dean." Asuna thought about it a bit and replied angered, "Wait! I didn't hear about this! Ugh! He's gonna get it when he gets back!" The Konoka laughed at how Asuna was acting as the two continued to square off. Andruu just watched slightly mystified by how they were acting. "It's strange." Kaede raised an eyebrow as he just continued to stare at them. "What's strange?" Andruu just shrugged and replied, "Well, I'm sure it's normal for your time period… but in the future I come from, happiness is a rare thing…" Kaede looked at him a bit puzzled and said, "What? Come on that's got to be impossible, you seem just about as normal emotionally as they come." Andruu just shrugged and replied, "Yeah well, I'm kind of an exception. Anyway, how does this work?"
Kaede grinned and replied, "We fight until the other says mercy." Then in the blink of an eye her trademark large windmill shuriken appeared in her hand. Andruu stood there blinking and yelled out, "Hey wait! That's not fair! I don't even have a weapon!" Suddenly his short sword landed on the ground next to him. Andruu looked down at the sword as a voice from the crowd called out. "You left it in front of the garage from before." He looked up to see it was Eva who called him. "Oh, thanks I guess." He called back. Asuna looked down to Eva and whispered, "You know him?" Eva closed her eyes and said, "Never seen him before in my life."
Andruu picked up the short sword and then looked between it and Kaede's weapon. "This is hardly fair… but I will not back down!" He got it ready and charged Kaede with a battle cry. But before he could make it in range, she disappeared. He stood there looking around, trying to figure out where she went. Suddenly eight Kaedes appeared around him. "…Oh shit." He said to himself as they all laughed and then charged him simultaneously. Each of the Kaedes swung at him, but Andruu dodged each blow and got a stab in on each one, only for them to disappear in a puff of smoke. He had got them all but she was no where to be found. "Where'd she go?" He whispered to himself. "Up here!" He looked up in time to see Kaede falling down towards him. He rolled to the side but Kaede landed and jumped over to him. When she got next to him, she delivered a hard kick to his side and set him flying a few yards.
He pushed himself up and groaned a little bit. He got back into a fighting stance as Kaede laughed a bit and called out, "Good job, now how about I try out..." She made a hand sign and suddenly disappeared. "My new invisibility jutsu!" Andruu let out a sigh of frustration and whispered, "This is going to be a lot harder than I expected…" He looked around trying to figure out where she went to, not seeing any grass move or foot steps being made. "Wonderful…gone again…" He then heard a familiar voice call out to him. "Do not let her confuse you Tanthius! Focus your mind!" Him and the crowd turned to see Tigurius, Cassius and the library girls standing there watching with the cart of books. "Yue? When did you get here?" Asuna asked. "A couple seconds ago, Haruna and these two insisted that we came here immediately." She said pointing to the Librarian and the Chaplain.
"Fancy meeting you two again." The two looked to see Eva standing there. "You… you're the girl with the red thirst aren't you?" Eva just grinned and replied, "Yes I am… you're the numbskull who promised to open the warp for me." Tigurius just put on an amused smile and replied, "We've got the research right here, and we'll find it out for you soon." Cassius let out a small laugh then called out to Andruu, "Come on Corporal! You can do this!" Andruu nodded towards him and closed him eyes just listening. "What's he doing?" Setsuna asked. "He may be young, but he's already received some of the space marine implants. One of which is the Lyman's ear, allowing him superhuman hearing." Makie listened carefully and said, "I don't hear anything. Can he really hear that much better?" Tigurius nodded solemnly as he continued to watch.
Nothing happened for another minute, but then his eyes shot open and he yelled, "There!" He called out and spun around to swing his sword, a suddenly visible Kaede dodging out of the way. She jumped back a couple steps and everyone in the crowd gasped, not expecting him to find her. A few people clapped briefly but then when back to silence. Kaede laughed and said, "Wow, wasn't expecting that." Andruu grinned and replied, "You'll find I'm full of surprises." The two then squared off again and prepared to charge each other once more when someone called out from the crowd and pointed up to the sky. "What's that!?" Everyone stopped and looked up to a purplish vortex in the sky.
"By the Emperor…not again." Andruu whispered to himself. He shot a look to his two comrades and they both nodded. Cassius pointed towards the door and barked towards the crowd. "Everyone inside now!" He and Tigurius proceeded to Shepard the slightly panicked flock of girls into the school as Andruu and Kaede just stared up at the sky. "What is it?" Kaede asked Andruu. "It's the warp… it's opening up and it's got the chaos aura. This can not mean anything good for us." Tigurius pushed the cart inside after the girls and slammed the door closed. The two then ran out to the field to join the two. "We have to make a decision now. We may not be able to fight them without our armor." Andruu said getting ready. "It matters not; these heretics must be slain regardless." Tigurius said as he watched the rift expand a little more. "I say we stand and fight, we'd be forsaking the emperor and our mission if we didn't. Besides, they will undoubtedly try to take over the minds of these students, we can't abandon them." Kaede smiled and spun her shuriken, "Well, guess we're making a stand then." She commented as a large being began to descend from the rift.
Firedude: There it is chapter 6. I apologize again for not being able to post it earlier, but I'm going to try to post regularly again. Please review, let me know that you enjoy my work… or hate it either or .