"Crap! Keep running!"
Sounds of battle came from the west. Dark crystals flew everywhere, passing by them, often hitting trees or other things in the way of the group. Setsuna would slash at the ones coming towards them.
"They just don't let up!" Kotarou was showing fatigue; They had been running for over half an hour, and the clones seemed to have no intention of giving up.
Finally, it seemed like they were getting a break. They spotted a patch of greens, and heading towards it, the clones backed off. It seemed like they didn't want anything to do with that area.
"What the?"
"Kotarou!" Setsuna tried to get Kotarou's attention, who was focused on the clones, and ran into what he thought was a brick wall.

"Ow! What the hell? You coulda told me sooner before I hit a wall!" He stood up, eyes focused now on Matt, brushing off the leaves on his pants.
"Uhm, Kotarou? That wasn't a wall..."
He turned to the figure. Standing above him was the man with a thousand names. Best known as The Man Who Cannot Die.
"Jack Rakan!" Setsuna bowed to him, who acknoledged her presence.
"Yo. You guys seem to be in a bit of a pickle." He let out a playful chuckle, and after he settled down, he noticed Kotarou had not changed faces.
"You alright, boy? You seem a bit tense."
"... A worthy challenge!" Same old, same old.
"Hey listen, old man!"
"I'm not that old..."
"I challenge you to a battle! If I win, you have to teach me everything ya know!"
"And if you lose?" Kotarou stayed quiet. He had nothing to gamble.
"...Er, I'll give ya this beautiful lady as a prize!" He pulled Setsuna to his side, arm on her shoulder. Setsuna tried jabbing Kotarou, but he dodged.
"Eh?! B-B-But-"
"Sh!" Kotarou motioned to Setsuna, who did not let up with her confusion.
"Sounds interesting. You're on!"

Jack Rakan instantly beats Kotarou down, without even using magic!
"Holy-"
"Hey! This is a T-rated FanFiction, you can't say that!"
"We just had a M-rated section a couple chapters ago, though..."
"Enough!" Rakan threw Kotarou to a tree. Kotarou, stuck to the tree, grabbed it and pushed off it, towards Rakan. They clashed, and sparks flew.
Setsuna had nothing to do but watch and care for Matt, who was still bleeding profusely. She stood up, and turned to the fight.
"Jack Rakan!"
He stopped suddenly, noticing Matt's condition.
"Whoa, your friend's hurt and you let me fight in this bet?!" He jumped to Matt's side, picking him up.
"This isn't over, Gramps!"
Jack flicked a finger at Kotarou's forehead, forcing him to hit a tree and tumble to the floor.

"It is now."

Surprisingly enough, Jack Rakan knew how to extract dark crystals from the body, working easily and finishing in less than five minutes.
"A new record!"
"You did this more than once?..."
Quickly after that, Matt was able to recover. He opened his eyes to see Jack.
"Who..."
"I don't believe I've introduced myself to you! Name's Jack Rakan, friend of both Nagi and Negi Springfield. I'm assuming you're his companion, too?" Matt nodded.
"You fixed me up?"
"Of course! Can't leave a rare dark magician to die, now can I?"
"Well, thanks... Wait, rare dark magician?"
"I don't see too many around here besides Negi!" Rakan sat down, picking at his teeth. Kotarou did the same thing next to him.
"Hey old man, about the deal we had..." Kotarou began to speak, and Rakan widened his eyes.
"Yeah?"
"You see, she's actually that guy's girl. You have to fight him for her."
"Really?" Rakan stood up. Matt, confused and still dazed, tried to start sentences.
"Whoa there, Rakan. Wait-"

Suddenly, Rakan teleports to Matt's position! Reacting, Matt threw punches around his chest region, managing to hit Rakan as he arrives.
"Ouch!" Rakan picked up Matt and threw him out of the bed he was lying in, into the grassy fields they were once in.
Matt jumped to his feet, shooting his dark magic at him. Rakan blocked a few, and jumped right for him. Although Rakan was twice the size Matt was, Matt knew he had the advantage as he was faster.
Irony struck. Rakan hit Matt in the stomach, pushing him back into a tree!
Is this really how I'm spending my time recovering?...

"You focus too much on one target! Pay attention to their surroundings and you can beat them!"

Matt regained focus just as Rakan was about to kick him in the face. He jumped away from the tree, barely missing his foot.
I'll use the trees as cover!
Matt fled into the forest, covering his tracks by climbing swiftly on the branches instead of running on the ground.
Thinking he was safe, Matt reached a dead stop on one of the trees. He saw Rakan scan the area for him.
"Up there, aren't you?" He knew!
Through instinct, Matt shot his magic at a tree closest to Rakan, causing it to fall over and almost crush him.
Just as Rakan blocked the tree, he saw something fly over him!
"You aren't getting away!" Rakan jumped for it, and believed he had caught whatever flew over him.
It was a doll.
"Wha?! I could have sworn-"
"Thunder God! This punch will pierce the heavens! Striking Fist!"
Matt hit him in the face with his magic! Rakan was sent all the way back, into his own house!
The fight was over. Matt had just defeated one of the greatest mages of all time.

"Your magic, there? It pierced my wall of Ki." Rakan pointed his finger at him.
"You have potential to be a great, strong magician."
"Thanks, Rakan." Matt sat down, looking towards Setsuna. She was relieved that he had won.
"Well, since you lost, you have to teach me everything you know!" Kotarou jumped onto Rakan's back, pretending as if he was stabbing him in the neck.
"The bet was only between us two. Not him." Rakan picked up Kotarou and put him down, in a way that was so rough Kotarou immediately fell to the ground.
"C'mon, old man." Matt threw a rock at his chest, which bounced off him with ease.
"Teach him what you know. I want him to be at the same level I am."
"Same level? Last I heard, you were beaten by that Nogi guy! He doesn't seem all that tough, either."
Matt showed fatigue. He knew he wasn't stronger than Nogi. He knew he wasn't stronger than Rakan, either, as he merely used his surroundings and the situation to defeat him. In a one on one confrontation, in the middle of a wide open area, Matt wouldn't have stood a chance.
"I'm going to be staying here longer anyways." Matt touched his chest. Rakan was lucky he didn't hit it, or all the "surgery" he did would have been a waste of time.
Jack showed distrust in Matt. He didn't think Kotarou could stand up to Matt's level.
"Well, you DO need more training, kid. Fine then, I'll train you. On one condition."
"Yeah, what?" Kotarou was already excited at the fact that he was being trained by one of the strongest people in the world.
"You need to get me a date with one of your girls!" Rakan drooled at his daydream.
"Pervert!" Setsuna hit Rakan in the crotch region, and he scuffed.

Several days had passed, and Matt was making a full recovery. They had been taking refuge in Rakan's home, and Rakan had been teaching Kotarou all of his tricks. He wasn't catching on to some of them, however.
"How do I do this?! Is my Ki not strong enough?!"
"You'll get stronger. Don't worry, you can pull off the Negi Fist one day!"

Setsuna walked into the room Matt was watching the training between them in.
"Hey!"
"Oh, hey Setsuna-chan." Matt smiled, closing his eyes to hide the drowsiness in his eyes.
"Is something wrong?"
"No, nothing." Matt turned back around, contemplating his time spent at Rakan's household.
"I'm... Not strong, am I?"
"Yes! Yes you are, Matt! You're one of the strongest mages I know!"
"... Yeah, but not as strong as Nogi." Setsuna was shocked by that statement.
"Don't say that! You can defeat Nogi with more training!"
"Yeah, but I'm separated from Eva-chan!" Matt suddenly felt a shiver go down his spine.

"That boyo is talking about me again..." Evangeline sneezed.

"I can't train without Master being here..." Matt then realized something.
"Wait, you said that Rakan teaches Magia Erebea, right?"
"Y-Yeah..."
"Okay, well then."
Matt jumped out of the window, to Setsuna's surprise.

"Yo, old man!"
"I told you, I'm not that old!"
"I want to learn more about Magia Erebea!"
"... Oh? You know it? No one except Negi and Evangeline-chan have ever learned it."
"I don't know how I learned it, but I know it. Let me learn more about it."
"Well, okay... But I must warn you."

"What?! I could possibly die in my dreams?!"
"In a sense, yeah. Shouldn't be a problem for you, though! You've got high Magic stats. You can handle that!"
"I don't even know what that means."
Rakan threw the scroll to him, and then turned to Setsuna.
"If he doesn't wake up within three days, it's your choice whether to stop him or not. You can stab the scroll with the sword ya got there."
Matt sat down on a bench, beginning to open the scroll.
"Wait!" Setsuna sat next to him, giving him a big hug.
"Please, come back soon..."
Matt threw his arms around Setsuna, digging his face into her shoulder.
"I promise we'll always be together from now on." He could feel Setsuna blushing.
"I'll be back real soon. But no promises." He had a sense of comedy in his tone of voice. Then he opened the scroll. Evangeline popped out!
"Hello, fresh meat." Evangeline showed her sharp teeth.
"What the-!"

"Hey, Nagi."
"Yeah?" Nagi turned around, staring at the woman who was hidden by the sun.
"Your clothes seem too small."
"Well, yeah. We did just change our age, after all-"
SMACK!
"Ow!"
"Are you trying to give us away?"

"Hey, is that Nagi?!"
"He's back!"
"Nagi-san! Notice me!"
"Notice me, Senpai!"

"What the?"
"C'mon. Let's get out of here."
"O-Okay..."

Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

I've been struggling hard writing this chapter, what with school and grades and varsity sports and all that.

Well, I'm going to try and plan to have a chapter up every 2-3 weeks or so, most likely during Fridays or weekends! So look out for it!

And yes, I'm dropping the "Kotarou wanting to become a Magister Magi" part of the original Negima! story. He just doesn't seem like one to me!

Also, I'm going off the assumption that Rakan does not remember Kotarou from their previous fights, as Kotarou was disguised in his older form when they fought. My memory's not fresh from the manga so I'm not sure about the relationships between Setsuna, Kotarou and Jack Rakan.

Personally, Jack Rakan is one of my favorite (if not, THE best favorite) characters in Negima! Just the fact that he's so overpowered makes him such a comedic relief character!

Anyways, I'll see you guys soon! Stay healthy!

Next Time! :

We take a look at how Negi and Evangeline are doing back in the city!

In Another Area