Author's Note: Hey everyone! It's been a while. In fact, it's been two years. Negima's over and everything…ew. But this fan fiction shall be FINISHED! Dang, I probably have a new audience and everything… oh well. I OWN NOTHING.
'till the Cows Come Home
Setsuna gazed at the dark, dead field in front of her. Everything had completely changed while she was gone. Setsuna fell to her knees. "I can't believe that all of this has happened…"
Negi fluttered to her side to comfort her. "This wasn't your fault, Setsuna-san. It was Fate's, I mean, Gannondorf, I mean-GAH! You know what! We know him as Fate. His name is Fate!" Negi took a deep breath and said, "We can change all of this. We can save this world!"
Setsuna got to her feet. "You're right!" Setsuna took the Light Medallion out of her pocket to examine it. "I have one Medallion. I just need five more. I can do this!"
"Yeahhh!" Negi cheered her on. "Let's do this!"
Setsuna, all pepped up, took off charging into the field. Several minutes later she stopped and asked, "Wait…where exactly am I supposed to go?"
Negi flew up past Setsuna's head to look around. Something caught his eye and he flew back to Setsuna. "Setsuna-san! There's this dark haze surrounding that ranch. Maybe we should go check it out."
Setsuna nodded and headed in the direction that Negi pointed to. Once she walked through the gates, the atmosphere shifted. Everything felt dark and depressing. Even the horses seemed sad. Setsuna looked around at the sight before her and wondered aloud, "What happened here?"
"Maybe Fate did something here, too," Negi suggested.
Setsuna grew angry. Angry that she didn't stop this. Angry that Fate swept in and took over this world. "Damn that Fate," she muttered under her breath.
"How dare you say the great Fate's name in vain?" Setsuna turned and saw a man with wild eyebrows and a mustache to match step out from behind the barn. He was dressed up like a big shot and had an air of arrogance about him. "The great Fate gave me this ranch. Without him I, Ingo, couldn't have brought out the full potential of this ranch!"
Setsuna pointed at the horses in the corral. "Your animals look terrible! I can tell that you're a horrible man. If you're one of Fate's followers then you're an enemy of mine." Setsuna pulled out her new sword out of its sheath and pointed it at Ingo.
Ingo sneered. "Now now. Don't be so violent. I'm a fair man. Around here we settle things a different way." He moved her sword out of the way with his finger. "How about a wager?"
Setsuna slid her sword back into its sheath. "What kind of wager?" she asked.
Negi popped out of her hat. "Setsuna, don't do it!" he warned. "This man is surely a swindler!" But was ignored.
"How about a race around the corral? First one to the finish line wins. If I win I get fifty rupees and I get to keep the ranch."
"And if I win?"
Ingo laughed out loud. Clearly he thought he would win. "If you win I have to give you fifty rupees and I'll leave the ranch." He laughed some more. "Hell, I'll even give you my best horse!"
Setsuna smirked. "You sound pretty sure of yourself."
"Well of course," said a smug Ingo. "After all, I always win."
Ingo led Setsuna over to the corral and brought over two horses. One looked fit and strong while the other one…
"The hell?! You're making me race on a donkey?!" Setsuna exclaimed when Ingo handed her the reins.
"Well of course! I'm not going to ride an ass! I'm not about that life," Ingo said as he mounted his horse.
Setsuna grumbled as she awkwardly got onto her donkey. Negi flew over to the starting line with a checkered flag. "Alright you two. I want a fair, clean race. Got it?" he added with a glance at Ingo. Ingo, in return, batted his eyelashes as if to say that he was totally innocent. "On your marks. Get set. GO!" Negi waved the flag and the two took off. Ingo was speeding down the track while Setsuna was moving at the speed of snail.
"Go! Move! Come on you damn donkey!" But the donkey moved no faster.
Negi fluttered to Setsuna. "Hurry Setsuna-san! He's almost half way there!"
"I'm trying, but it's kinda hard when you're going this slowly!" Suddenly the light bulb went on in Setsuna's head. She went through her pockets. During her stay in Hyrule she had found some pretty interesting things laying around. Finally she found what she was looking for and pulled out a carrot from her pocket.
"A carrot?" said a puzzled Negi.
Setsuna tied the carrot to the end of some stick she picked up and waved it in front of the donkey's face. At once the donkey speed up like a rocket during takeoff. "Yeah! Get the carrot!" Thanks to the 'extra motivation', Setsuna was almost caught up with Ingo. "Hahaa! I'm gonna win, Ingo!" she shouted at him when they were almost next to him. "Then I'm gonna kick your ass outta here!"
"That's what you think!" Ingo shouted back. Then he did the most dishonorable thing one could ever do during a horse race. He cut off Setsuna and her donkey was forced to slow down so it wouldn't crash into him.
"You dick!" Setsuna exclaimed while Ingo let out a hoarse laugh. Whenever she would try to go around him Ingo would just cut her off again. By now Setsuna's donkey was out of energy and began to slow down. "No, no, no!"
"And the winner is…," Negi waved the flag. "...sigh. Ingo…"
Ingo leapt off his steed. "Yes! I woooon!" he cheered.
"You cheated!" Setsuna cried.
"Well now, I bet you've learned something today. Don't bet with the bad guys. Fork over the fifty rupees that I've earned and get lost!"
Setsuna threw a purple rupee at him. "I'll be back! I can't let you stay here and hurt these animals anymore!"
"Try as many times as you'd like. You'll never take this ranch from me!"
Setsuna walked away and made sure that she was out of sight. Then she used her wings to fly on top of the barn. "What's the plan now?" Negi asked. "Are you really going to challenge him again? He'll just cheat again."
"Yeah you're right," Setsuna sighed. "But I can't leave things like they are now. I have to get these animals out of here."
"So what are you going to do?"
Setsuna thought for a moment and said, "I'm going to set them free. When nightfall hits I'm going to get them out of here."
"Setsuna-san I don't know if that's going to work… And is it really worth it?" Negi asked, but Setsuna didn't answer.
I at least have to do something. Setsuna thought. I'm in this crazy world for a reason. It didn't take long for it to get dark. The lights in the house that Ingo had gone in were out. Setsuna sat up and stretched. "All right. Let's do this." She jumped off of the roof and headed towards the door. But something stopped her. She could hear something coming from the corral.
"What do you think that is?" Negi asked from under her hat.
"I have no idea, but it's worth checking out." As she walked closer to the corral, she could hear more clearly that it was someone singing. Why is someone out this late? And I never noticed another person on this ranch. I thought it was just Ingo. More cautious now, she crept closer to see a girl in the moonlight. She ducked down behind the fence. Setsuna was close enough to see her. She was an older girl, maybe sixteen or seventeen, with long reddish hair that took a silver color in the moonlight. Next to her was something she could not make out as clearly. Setsuna couldn't shake the feeling that she had seen this girl before.
Negi saw her, too. He came out from under her hat to say, "Hey, haven't we seen this girl before?"
"Sensei!" Setsuna whispered. "Get back under my hat immediately! She'll see you!"
But it was too late. The girl had already seen Negi's glow. Startled, she got up. "Who's there?" The other figure got up, too. From what Setsuna could tell was that it was some sort of large dog. The dog crouched in a defensive position and began to growl. "Wait. Easy boy. It's not Ingo." The girl stepped closer to Setsuna. "Wait…you're that Fairy Boy, aren't you?"
Setsuna blushed with embarrassment. "Um, well…I guess. But my name is Setsun-." The girl glomped Setsuna before she could finish her sentence.
"It's me, Malon! Do you remember me, Fairy Boy?" Setsuna could tell that Malon was very glad to see her.
"Yes, I remember you." Setsuna couldn't help but smile.
"Oh!" Malon said as if she remembered something. "This is my animal friend, Kotaro. Now it might be strange, but he talks and-."
It was Setsuna's turn to interrupt. "Kotaro-kun?!" she said, shocked.
"Yeah it's me, Setsuna-neechan." Kotaro stepped closer to Setsuna.
"Kota-kun!" exclaimed Negi. "Why are you in your beast form?"
Kotaro laughed. "And why are you a fairy?"
Negi puffed his cheeks. "It's not my fault! This is what this world changed me to!"
Kotaro scratched behind his ear with his hind paw. "I know what you mean. Ever since I got here I've been in my beast form and I can't change back! No one likes me and I keep getting junk chucked at me!"
Malon was surprised. "So you're all from Kota's world?" she asked. "He's been telling me about his world and how he doesn't know how to get back."
Setsuna and Negi told Kotaro and Malon about their adventure so far. "And now we have to collect these Medallions," Setsuna took it out to show them. "And once we collect all of them and free the sages, we can beat Fate. And I think after that we can go home."
Kotaro nodded slowly. "Count me in! I wanna help so that we can get home as soon as possible."
"Say Kota-kun," Negi said. "How did you end up here?"
"Well, I woke up one morning and found myself out in the middle of a field as a dog. I tried to change back, but I couldn't. I saw a village nearby and tried to ask for help. I guess the sight of a giant talking dog freaked them out because the villagers started to throw stuff at me and men were attacking me! I was hurt pretty bad. I limped out of there and blacked out by the ranch. When I woke up I was in a barn and Malon-neechan was sitting next to me. She had treated my wounds and everything! I hide out during the day, but at night I come see her. She's lonely here".
"I'm sorry," Setsuna said. "What happened to the ranch, Malon?"
Malon had a sad look in her eyes, but answered Setsuna's question. "One day a man by the name of Fate came to Lon Lon Ranch. He demanded horses for him and his men. My father, Talon, refused and said that he'd never help an evil man like him. Fate..," Malon sniffled. "Fate just laughed. He had his monsters chase Daddy off the ranch and threatened to kill him if he ever came back. I saw all of this from behind the barn." Malon wiped a tear. "I wish I could have done something, but I was a kid. I didn't know what to do."
Negi flew over to Malon and tried to reassure her. "It's ok, Malon. It was probably best for you to not get involved."
"Yeah… Then after dealing with my dad, he forced Ingo to give him the horses. Then he said that he would be back every year for more horses and we had to raise more or else he'd kill us. The first year Ingo and I did as we were told. What else would we do? But then on the fourth year, we didn't have enough horses. That year we had a food shortage and some of our horses didn't make it. Fate came back and was outraged that we didn't have enough horses. We tried to explain, but Fate didn't care. He had decided to kill us. Ingo pleaded for his life. He promised that next year he would have better, stronger horses and that he would serve Fate. Fate liked this idea and let us live. But ever since then, Ingo had become so cruel… He would whip and beat the horses. I tried to stop him, but he would to the same to me… So I've been stuck here."
"That's some story," Negi said sadly. "I'm so sorry…"
Malon's story struck Setsuna hard. If it's this bad here, it must be bad elsewhere! I have to do something! "Malon, I promise I'll free you from this."
Malon smiled. "Thank you, Setsuna."
"Wait. No more Fairy Boy?"
Malon shock her head. "No, I think I like Setsuna better."
"After all," Kotaro added, "I think Negi is the real Fairy Boy!"
"I am not!"
Malon laughed then suddenly stopped. "Wait, I have an idea! You lost to Ingo because you rode a donkey, right?"
Setsuna sighed. "Ugh. Don't remind me."
"Well, maybe you could ride Kota!" Malon said excitedly. "Ingo has gotten so cocky that I bet he'll think that he'll still be able to beat you even while you're riding a giant dog."
Setsuna pondered the idea for a moment. "You know…that could just work! But do you really think that Ingo's that cocky?"
"Trust me. He is."
Negi bounced up and down. "This is great! We're gonna free the ranch!"
Malon smiled. "Whenever I want to see Kota I sing this song that my mother sang for me when she was still around. He usually comes running whenever I do." Malon sang softly. It was the song she was singing earlier. Setsuna pulled out her ocarina and played along. Even Kotaro howled along, too.
The next morning Setsuna woke up on the barn. She hopped off and walked towards the corral where Malon was tending to the horses and Ingo was bossing her around. When Ingo caught sight of Setsuna, a smug smile spread across his face. "Well, look whose back. Ready to lose again?"
Setsuna ignored his taunt. "I want a rematch. And this time I'm going to win."
"Ha! I'd like to see that. Malon! Bring me my horse! And bring this girl her donkey."
"Wait! Would you mind if I raced on my own steed?" Setsuna asked.
Ingo snorted. "It doesn't matter if you raced on a dragon! I'm still gonna win!"
"Alright. If you say so." Setsuna pulled out her ocarina and played the new song she learned last night. Seconds later, Kotaro came bursting though the ranch. He looked bigger in the sunlight. His fur black and spikey. His paws huge and powerful.
Ingo broke out laughing. "Nice cat yah got there! WAHAHAHAHAA!"
"I'm a dog, not a cat!" growled Kotaro, but he was ignored.
This time Malon was the one with the checkered flag, Negi perched on her shoulder. "Racers! Mount your steeds! On your marks. Get set," she waved her flag. "GOOOO!"
They took off. Setsuna had made an early lead. Ingo was throwing swears at her back while she and Kotaro were whooping with joy. Kotaro had made sure to kick back plenty of dirt back into Ingo's face. From the finish line Malon and Negi cheered them on. In record time, they crossed the finish line while Ingo was still yards behind. "And the winner is Setsuna!"
Setsuna jumped off Kotaro and high fived everyone. Ingo ran up to them steaming. "HOW COULD YOU WIN! THIS ISN'T POSSIBLE!"
"Sorry Ingo. Maybe you shouldn't bet with the good guys. I believe you owe me fifty rupees." Ingo grumbled as he gave Setsuna her money. "A deals a deal. Get the hell out of here and never come back."
Ingo looked outraged. Suddenly, his face took on this eerie calm look. "Alright, alright. You win. I guess I should get going now." Malon cheered, but Setsuna sensed something was off.
As Ingo walked towards the gate, he pulled a crossbow out of nowhere and pointed it at Setsuna. "HAHAHAHAAAA! I'm not going anywhere! And neither will you. You will all stay at this ranch! And if you try to leave, I'LL KILL YOU!"
Setsuna sighed. Why can't these guys be honorable? Setsuna did a roundhouse kick that shattered the crossbow. Chunks of wood flew into the air. Ingo's face filled with fear. Quickly he spun around and tried to flee, but Kotaro was on his tail. Kotaro swiped him with his paw and it sent Ingo flying headfirst into a rock. There was a loud crack and Ingo was still.
Setsuna ran up to Ingo to see the damage. To her surprise, Ingo slowly sat up, clutching his head. "Ow….owwww…what on earth happened? And why does my head hurt?" He looked up at Setsuna. "Who are you?"
Setsuna sensed that the evil aura that had previously clouded Ingo was gone. Malon ran up to Ingo. "Is he ok?" she asked Setsuna.
Unsteadily, Ingo stood up. "Miss Malon! There you are! Where's your father? Ow…I can't remember anything… Did you feed the chickens yet?"
"Chickens?" Malon said puzzled. She whispered to Setsuna. "We haven't had chickens in over seven years…do you think that the blow erased the last seven years from his memory?!"
"I think so!" Setsuna exclaimed.
Ingo looked utterly confused. "Miss Malon, where is your father?" he asked again.
"Um, he's doing business somewhere," Setsuna answered for her.
Ingo nodded. "Ah yes, he must be in Kakariko Village. That's where he does most of his business. Now if you don't mind me, I'm off to go feed the chickens!" He stumbled away.
"That's right!" Malon said suddenly. "If my father would be anywhere, it would be in Kakariko Village!"
"I'll go look for him," Setsuna offered.
Malon smiled at her. "That would be great. You've done so much to help me. You've saved the ranch, Ingo is back to normal, and my father is coming back!"
"And soon you won't have to worry about Fate coming back," Negi added. "'cuz we're gonna beat him!"
"Hop on, Setsuna. That field is huge! It'll be easier if you had me to carry you around. Plus, you're not that heavy and I want to help!"
Setsuna hopped onto Kotaro. Malon waved goodbye. "Will you visit me sometime?"
"Of course!" Negi replied.
After saying their goodbyes, Kotaro took off towards the exit. Setsuna remembered what Sheik had said about Kakariko Village. Alright. She thought. Things are finally looking up! Now to go to Kakariko Village!
END
More soon folks.
