Chapter 8 Vol 2: Dreams, Teen's and Magical Energy Beams...
A/N: Hey all... Nothing really to say... *Cough* Ummm, on to the show then.
Unknown place, Unknown time...
John's first conscious thought when he came to was, that hurt like a BITCH! A curious fact that UNSC combat psychologists had noted a few years into the war that the SPARATAN II's almost never cursed, aloud or even mentally, unless they where experiencing a level of pain that would render most people catatonic. As the Spartan regained his mental footing he began to look around.
A white featureless plane as far as the eye could see stared back at him. After a few more seconds of inspecting his surroundings and seeing nothing John decided to check himself out. Everything looked fine except for the small green gem that had adhered to the back of his left hand and the small complex tattoo on his right hand's palm. The tattoo general shape was of two black crescent's bracketing a small white sphere. What made the design complex where the blue stylized Greek letters that where superimposed on both crescents as they spiraled into the white sphere.
His greek was a little rusty but after a minute or two he was able to figure out what they spelled out.
"The River Styx is mine to tame, where I'll be kept warm by Hades flame. While the Heavens above and the Hell's below, scramble to find a place for every mortal soul, it will be I who always deal's the final blow. And while the dance of life and death goes on, the last thing the universe will hear when it ends will be my final song."
After that morbid little poem, one word stood in the center of the white sphere in blocky blood red greek letters, "SHRIKE". John stared at his right hand for a few moments before tearing himself away to look at the gem on his left. The gem itself was of a deep emerald color and as far as he could tell it was also a perfect half sphere. John, after a few moments of debiting with himself, cautiously reached out and poked it with his right index finger.
At his touch the gem announced in weirdly accented greek, "Standby mode off. Project SHRIKE online. Loading Aries subliminal training program. Estimated time until completion... 4 days, 12 hours, 37 seconds. Starting program." A few seconds later a single a black dot appeared on the white horizon. A half second later another appeared next to it, this pattern continued until John decided to ignore the phenomenon.
What really captured his attention was the shadowy figure that was approaching him. At about two dozen yards the shadow started to gain some definition. At about 15 feet the shadow gained female traits. John stood rooted in place as the shadow became someone he considered family and would gladly give his life for.
Kelly...
Last he heard she was M.I.A. on Onyx along with the other SPARTAN II's. For the first time in a long while John was overwhelmed with emotion. He wanted to run to her and embrace her, laugh at the fact that she was all right, or break down sobbing at the fact that they where the only two left. His emotional turmoil came to a abrupt halt when Kelly raised her head and stared at him with eye's so dead of emotion that John knew that the image in front of him was not his long term teammate/friend.
John tensed and asked, "Who are you?"
"Why do you fight?"
John was taken aback by the question. The shadow started to circle him and repeat it's question.
"Why do you fight, Spartan 117?"
The question really struck a cord within him as he never really thought about why he fought before. After he started to see the other SPARTAN II's as family his reason to fight went from 'I don't know' to 'I fight for them'.
"I fight for my comrades."
The shadow cocked it's head as it stopped in front of him and shifted forms into that of the SPARTAN II program creator, Dr. Catherine Halsey and placed it's hands in the lab coat's pockets that the doctor habitually wore.
"Why do you REALY fight Spartan? You're comrades are dead and/or missing. There must be more to you're reasons."
John was once more sent reeling. The shadow was right, his reasons had shifted during the war from 'I fight for them' to 'I fight for them and all of humanity' all without him realizing it.
In a firm voice John replied, "I fight for humanity!"
The shadow shifted form to that of Linda in full armor.
"Then why did you help the Arbiter? You could have ignored him or killed him and still accomplished you're mission. You could have even used you're AI to fire all the Halo rings except the one near UNSC controlled space, probably destroying the Covenant Empire, and insuring Humanity's future."
The Spartan felt sick at the thought of doing what the shadow described. Why do I feel this way? I've killed thousands before, so why would the thought of firing the Halo rings give me such a feeling? A soft in the back of his mind gave him the answer, Because you're not a monster...
But all those life's I've taken... The voice replied, Yes you've taken many life's, but it was always in defense of life that you took them. Many of you're fellow Marines, ODST, SPARTANS, Navel Personal, and Civilians are alive today because of you. You destroyed the Ark to protect a GALAXY. You are not a bringer of death but a chooser of the living!
I understand now I think.
Squaring his shoulders John faced the shadow and spoke in a voice filled with as much conviction as he could muster, "I fight for LIFE!"
The shadow smiled and shifted forms again to that of Cortana.
"Well done Avatar. You'll have a great decision to make in the future, but, for now sleep with the knowledge that you have found you're true purpose."
With a wave of it's hands John's world faded to black.
Dimensional Sea, TSA Hull Number-117 Lady Luck, 9PM
(A/N: Remember time flows differently in the dimensional sea.)
It had been three day's since the Lady Luck had received the strange signal and Lt. Rick Kato was once again manning the D.D.S. station. To kill some time Rick had pulled out a well leafed through book titled Potter Harry: How to cause trouble and get away with a slap on the wrist. The console beeped at him a minute later.
The Lt. put his book away and started to type away at the keys languidly, but, after a few seconds with increasing speed. After he finished typing, he pursed his lips then sighed. "Another one, uh?" He typed a few more commands and a com window opened up in front of him showing him the Admiral himself.
Jack looked up from his slouch at the window and asked, "Yes?" Rick cleared his throat and in his most professional manner possible, "Ahh, Admiral the D.D.S. just picked up another signal from the universe we are heading toward and I thought you'd like to see the data I have compiled." Jack smirked at the younger man, "Still on the Chiefs shit-list?" Rick blushed and started to stutter out a apologize, when Jack waved him off. "Calm down son, I'm just messing with you. Please send me the data... There it is, thank you." The com window vanished and Jack chuckled.
After a few minutes Jack was staring at the holographic window containing the data muttering to himself, "That's impossible... they all died off... wait! That it! A descendent! Yes!" Taking a few seconds to compose himself, Jack typed a bit and another com window opened a minute later. Captain Julie Sinclair appeared with slightly blood shot eye's and stared at the Admiral, "Yes?"
"Tell me Captain, what where the three major powers during Midchilda's final war?" Julie squinted at something off screen, "Sir. I just got to sleep. Can this wait until my shift comes up?" Jack smiled, "Please, indulge an old drunk." Julie sighed, "Fine." Cocking her head to the side she gathered her thoughts. "Well... there was us, the Mid, the Belkins, and the Zeno's who remained neutral to that whole war." Jack nodded, "What happened to them Captain?"
Julie narrowed her eye's at him, "We beat the Belkins and their survivors became citizens of Mid. The Zeno's where overwhelmed by the Belkins before that and 97% of their population where wiped out. The other 3% where never found." Julie stared hard at the Admiral, "Sir., what's this about?" Jack's smile became even deeper, "Tell me Captain, what do you know about the Zeon?"
The Captain decided to play along since the Admiral wasn't being forthcoming. "Well, they appeared about two-hundred and thirty years before the war started. No one knows where they came from, they just burst onto the global scene and started a technological revolution. They where the first to take a scientific approach to magic and in the end they where the one's who created the first Intelligent Devices and their own breed of I.D.'s, Integrated Devices. They where also responsible for giving ancient Belka the dimensional drive and they where the only other country to survive the Fall(1)... Wait, are you saying that signal we picked up was from a Zeon shifter drive!"
The Admiral shook a finger at the com window and said with a amused smile, "Not yet, tell me more." The Captain did not look amused but decided to play along, "During the final war, Zeon mages where considered the best in the world. They where the only country that where able to fuse a I.D. directly with the mage, insuring that ALL of the mages mana could be used, thus the name Integrated Device. This meant that a A ranked Zeon mage had the power of a S rank and a Zeon S rank could hold off a small squad of SS ranked mages. That's all I remember about Zeon and the final war. Now, what's this about sir.?"
Jack leaned back in his chair and smirked. "Lt. Rick just picked up a signal on the D.D.S. Care to guess what?" Julie shook her head and Jack's smirk deepened, "It was a Intelligent Device activation pulse. What type of pulse you ask? Well, I did a quick search on the Mid-Net and the pulse matches that of a Zeon device activation kept in some obscure governmental archive." Julie stared at Jack for a few seconds and asked in a quiet voice, "You think there's a survivor don't you?"
"I'll do you one better. I think the remaining 3% made it here in a ship and the one who activated the Device is one of there descendents." Julie frowned, "Descendent?" Jack sighed, "Julie, according to my calculations it would of taken a ship with a Zeon shifter drive forty three year's to make the trip to where we are going. And even people in cryo need to exercise every two decades or so. So, yes, descendent."
Julie frowned, "Forty three years? It only took us a week to make it here and we where only a day away from Midchilda." Jack scratched the tip of his nose and continued, "You have to remember Captain that our shifter drive is hugely more efficient and our understanding of the effects of dimensional travel is much greater than it was then. The only thing preventing us from being scramble across the D-Sea is the bubble of reality that surrounds the ship. Our perception of time is controlled by the bubble and before we left it was set to Midchilda time, a feature not available on older drives. They all used a default time setting, even if no one knows where the Zeon got the it from."
The Admiral scratched the back of his left hand absently, "By the old time scale we have been traveling for twelve years and in another three years we will arrive at our destination. But that's besides the point now, because in six hours we will be in position to teleport some observers in. What I want you too do Captain is to go through the Marine's dossiers real quick and select those who have the smallest criminal records. Don't worry about NCO's (Non Commissioned Officers), I'm going to personally select several to provide leadership. After you've done that forward the data to me then get back to sleep."
Julie was annoyed at missing some sleep but nodded, "And what are you going to be doing sir.?"
The smile that Jack's face now sported was not nice in the least, "I'm going to be putting the fear of god in a certain bunch of thieves."
Steps Leading to the Kansai Magic Association Headquarters, 3PM
Negi sighed for the 78th time since they had left the Laughing Dragon and Asuna had to use all of her willpower to not smack him upside the head. "STOP THAT! I SWEAR TO GOD THAT IF I HEAR YOU SIGH ONE MORE TIME I'M GOING TO HANG YOU BY THE ANKLES FROM SOME TREE IN THE WOODS AND COVER YOU WITH HONEY!" Let it be said that Asuna could never control her mouth in the same fashion. The volume of Asuna's voice caused Negi to take a few involuntary steps back.
Tears started to come to Negi's eye's. "John-san still hasn't woken up yet Asuna-san! It's been four day's!" Asuna looked anywhere but Negi and said in a soft voice, "I know..." She then cleared her throat and looked directly at Negi, "I know Negi-bozu but worrying yourself to death won't help anyone, so try to relax a little bit, ok?" Negi nodded and took a deep calming breath. He gave Asuna a bright smile, "Thank you Asuna-san I'll try to remember that in the future."
He then turned to the steps and said in a bright cheerful voice, "Let's go!" Asuna, meanwhile was looking at the back of his head thinking, I wonder if he's bipolar? A loud pop of displaced air scared the crap out of both Negi and Asuna, who after calming themselves, turned around and spotted... A chibi Setsuna?
A brief round of question and answer insured. The chibi Setsuna was really a sikigami created by Setsuna to watch over Negi and Asuna. All three humanoids (Plus one magical Ermine) turned back to the step's. Negi looked over his shoulder at Asuna, "Maybe you should bring out your fan." Asuna nodded and started to mumble random Latin words, ending with, "Caltu Verada Nicto! ...Humm, I thought for sure that was going to work." Negi and Shiki-Setsuna gave her a deadpan look, "It's Adeat, Asuna-san and please don't reference the Evil Dead in this fic. It's hard enough to maintain the fourth wall as it is."
"Wha...?"
"Never mind, lets go!"
Definitely bipolar...
Unknown to any of them a certain Librarian decided to fallow them.
Same place, Thirty minutes later...
"IF I WANTED THIS MUCH EXERCISE, I WOULD OF GOTTEN A TREDMILL! WE HAVE BEEN RUNNING FOR THIRTY MINUTES AND I'M GETING TIERED, SWEATY AND I HAVE TO PEE REAL BAD!" As the echoes of that rather frank out burst started to die down, both Shiki-Setsuna and Negi shared one thought, I did not need to know that. Chamos thought's on the matter involved several things that where biologically impossible, and one out right violated the laws of thermodynamics.
Both Shiki-Setsuna and Negi gave Asuna a reassuring pat on the shoulders as she lay defeated on the ground. Negi coughed into his fist and asked Shiki-Setsuna, "We are obviously in a spell of some sort and I was wondering if you had any Idea's as to what type of spell we are in?" The little shikigami placed her chin atop her fist, "Humm... I need to test something. Come with me Negi-sensei! Please stay here Asuna-san."
Asuna gave a languid wave and rasped tiredly, "Fine by me. I'm just going be dieing slowly here." Negi nodded and ran with Shiki-Setsuna ahead of Asuna's prone figure. A minute or so later Negi nearly ran over Asuna, coming from the other direction. Shiki-Setsuna hit her fist into her open palm. "We're in a infinite time space/spell! In other words where trapped in the Thousand Gates until either the mage who cast it banishes the spell or it runs out of energy!"
Cue freaked out Asuna, Negi and Chamo. Shiki-Setsuna tried to clam everyone down but only ended up making it worse. As Negi's panic reached it's worst, a clam female voice spoke to him, calm yourself Negi Springfield! You're a teacher, so ACT LIKE ONE! Negi stopped what he was doing at the moment and looked around. He turned to Shiki-Setsuna, "Did you just say something?"
"I've been trying to get you and Asuna-san to clam down for the last five minutes and you ask that NOW?" Both Negi and Asuna stepped back cautiously. The little shikigami took one claming breath and said in a overly pleasant tone, "Oh, look a rest stop was caught in the time space field too. Both of you should take a break before one of you go crazy!" Negi and Asuna exchanged glances and shared the same thought, are you sure it will us who go crazy?
Negi took another look around the area for the owner of the voice he had heard. Chamo noticing that Negi had stopped asked quietly, "Aniki, what's wrong?" Negi shook his head, "Nothing Chamo. Must of imagined it..." Chamo shrugged (A action that would of had a biologist scratching his head) and took out a ermine sized cigarette and muttered, "Weird..."
Irony folks! You gotta love it.
Rest stop, Thousand Gates, 15 minutes later...
Whoa, he's fast! Was Negi's only thought as the boy who had bumped into him earlier that day in a game center's fist was about to meet his face. A minute or so earlier Negi, Asuna, Shiki-Setsuna and Chamo where talking about the affects of Negi's contract with Asuna when a giant spider fell from the sky with the game center boy standing on it.
Asuna managed to beat the spider with one blow of her fan and started to attack the beanie clad lad when he counter rushed her and used some charms to knock her away. The boy rushed Negi then and managed to blow through his last ditch spell. The situation now looked rather grim to Shiki-Setsuna as she watched the fight.
The world started to get a little bit fuzzy as beanie boy's fist came closer and Negi felt something react within him, something older and a lot more deadly. Pivoting around on his right foot and crouching at the same Negi drove the blunt end of his staff into his attackers gut. The combined energy of Negi's pivot and the other boy's momentum caused the air to get knocked out of beanie boy's lungs.
While the other boy just started to react to the massive blow to his belly, Negi rose from his crouch and grabbed the other boy's shirt. Using the leverage he had gained Negi threw the other boy in a textbook perfect Judo throw. The other boy had enough sense to minimize the damage from the fall and managed to tuck himself in a ball mid flight.
This turned out to be a good move on his part, because the space his head would of occupied otherwise was now being filled with the heavy end of Negi's staff. A few feet away Asuna stood with her mouth open a bit as her eye's flashed shock and recognition, "No way! He was moving like John. When could he do that?" Chamo stood on her left shoulder a second later, "What do you mean Ane-san? Aniki is just really strong!"
Asuna shook her head to clear away her shock and rushed to Negi's side. Meanwhile Negi's attacker was just then coming to his feet clutching his stomach. "He... hahahha, not bad small fry." Not too far away Nodoka was looking at the book in her hands with concern. Nodoka also held a contract with Negi and the book in her hand allowed her to read the thoughts of those around her. What was that Negi-sensei?
Her book text had changed into a different color (silver) and the image on the top of the page had become startlingly realistic. The text of the page was different from how Negi normally thought too. Lean, Pivot, Duck, Staff Strike, Shirt Leverage Point, Throw, Enemy Will Be On Ground, Finishing Strike, Enemy Evaded Strike, Assume Defensive Stance. The picture and text resumed their normal color and Nodoka sighed with relief.
Meanwhile Negi was shocked as well, Was that really me? What was that? The world went blurry and the same women's voice from earlier started to speak. That, young Springfield, was one of the effect's of being a Caller. Negi tried to look around to see who was speaking to him but his body felt like was underwater. I'm speaking to you with my mind Negi and I need you to listen even if I've stretched a few seconds into a minute.
What you just experienced was some of John's skill's bleeding into the link you share. In effect, you just became a master staff fighter and a adept in a few different martial arts. You need to be careful child, you're body isn't used to the strain, mental and physical, so in a long protracted fight you'll lose. Now, I'm not telling you this for free so I need to deliver a message to John when he wakes up. The one who unsealed the Hudson Casket wait's for him in Colorado.
Negi's mind was filled with so many questions at this point that he could only ask one.
Who are you?
My name is Cortana, but don't tell John that. Oh, and Nodoka... Good luck...
Nodoka 'eeped' in surprise and looked up from her book but saw no one in the area and blushed a little when she looked at the picture. It was a depiction of her and Negi getting married and a large badly drawn hand was giving her a thumbs up. Negi shook his head to clear it of some the questions that riddled his mind and looked at Asuna, "I have a plan."
Asuna's, Shiki-Setsuna's and Chamo's ear's perked up a little at that and a few seconds later after a bit of whispered conversation Chamo threw a smoke charm while Shiki-Setsuna set it off. Negi's attacker, who had lost his beanie thanks to the gut shot, was waving around his hand angrily to clear some of the smoke, "COWARD! Why are you running? WHY? Come out and FIGHT ME!
In a clearing not to far away Negi turned to Asuna, "Are you hurt Asuna-san?" Asuna smiled and patted Negi on the head, "I'm fine brat. So tell me what this plan of your's is and it better be good, we where winning!" Negi shook his head, "No, he's been holding back the whole fight and I for one, don't want to make him get serious. Anyway, here's my plan..."
About a hundred meters away Nodoka was continuing to read when she heard someone yell, "Found you! Huh?" The black haired boy who had yelled tripped when he saw who it was and ended up looking up Nodoka's skirt. Both blushed deep crimson and separated. The black haired boy coughed into his fist and asked, "What are you doing here nee-chan? Didn't you see the 'no entrance' sign?" He looked around seemingly agitated, "Well that doesn't matter now there's going to be a fight around here so it's dangerous to stand around. I'll shut down the trap later to let you out nee-chan so just stay here 'k?"
Nodoka, meanwhile, was freaking out. It's him! The strong boy that Negi-sensei is fighting! What should I do? What can I do? Looking down she saw the card clutched in her right hand and had a idea. That's right! The card! Nodoka took in a deep breath and asked, "Um... my... my name is Miyazaki Nodoka, what's yours?" The boy smiled and pointed a thumb at himself, "My names Inugami Kotarou! See ya later pink panties nee-chan!" With that unique good bye said Kotarou took off in search of Negi.
"Adeat!" The book appeared again in her hands and Nodoka thought, Inugami Kotarou. He doesn't seem like a bad boy.
Thousand Gates, A few minutes later...
Negi and Asuna stood in the middle of the gates and waited for Kotarou's arrival. Not being one to disappoint Kotarou came them bounding atop the aches a few seconds later yelling, "Let's go small fry! You and me mono-ah-mono!" Negi started to chant a spell and a second or so later ended with, "Contra Bugnent!" Seven spectral versions of Negi flew at Kotarou, who chortled, "You finally getting serious about this fight!"
As Kotarou finished off the seven air elementals with a combination of hand to hand and throwing knifes, Negi was finishing his next spell, "Sagitta Magica Serius Fulgralis!" A dozen magical beams of light flew at Kotarou just as he finished off the last spectral Negi, catching him flat footed and destroying his shield charms. As Kotarou readied to attack again, Negi finished his last and most powerful spell, "Fulgrantio Albicanis!"
A beam of pure lightning based mana flew at Kotarou covering the area where he had stood in steam. Kotarou, unbeknownst to the other's be knownst to us, used one of few ninjustu techniques he knew, substitution at the last second. Negi waited for the steam to clear with baited breath, hoping the fight was over. When the steam cleared Kotarou stood looking a little worse for ware, but other wise unharmed.
Kotarou started to laugh, "Hehe... haha... hahaha... HAHAHAHA! YES! That was awesome small fr- wait, I mean Negi. Now, let's kick it up a notch." With that he rushed Negi and Asuna. Asuna summoned her fan and counter charged. When Asuna was close enough she swung her fan with all of her strength but Kotarou used a burst of speed to doge her attack and started to attack Negi. Kotarou went for a gut shot but Negi blocked the attack with his staff. The force of the blow sent Negi skidding
Kotarou, not as surprised this time, instantly reacted and bounded forward throwing a left hook at Negi's face. Negi used the blunt end of his staff to block the punch, and used the skinny end to trip Kotarou forward. Kotarou did a forward front flip and barely ducked under the baseball style swing that Negi launched with his staff. Asuna had recovered by then and attacked with her battle fan. "Leave Negi alone, I'll take you on fighter... guy... thing!" Asuna slashed at Kotarou a few times but he managed to doge all her attempts.
Kotarou tripped her to gain some more room to fight. Kotarou decided to even the odds a bit and started to collect nearby shadows around him. "Listen onee-chan, I'm not a fighter. I'm an Inugami-Tsukai! And you better remember it!" The shadows took on the shapes of dogs and started to howl. "Listen guys! Go play with that onee-chan!" The shadow dogs ran and leapt at Asuna. They started to lick her all over... yeah.
"Ahhh.. haha, what's with these dogs!" Negi blushed just looking at the scene, but managed to tear himself away from Asuna just as Kotarou threw a barrage of punches Negi's way. Negi used his staff to block most of the punch's but several got through and sent Negi flying into a nearby boulder. Kotarou rushed Negi as he was getting up while gathering nearly half of his ki into his fist, insuring that if he landed a blow he would emerge the victor.
"I've won! Time to finish this!"
Time seemed to slow for Negi and he could only think of what he was leaving behind. The class, my friends, my family. Suddenly memories started to play across his vision, but, strangely enough they weren't his memories.
A fog blanketed field. Bodies dressed in gray armor littered the ground along with what could only be described as monsters beside them. Two figures in green armor covered in mud started to talk amidst the carnage. "What happened here?" The other figure shook his head, "The 281st made their last stand. Took a few company's of the buggers with them, too."
Looking around the other figure in green pointed at a rather large pile of monster bodies with the body of a man in a gray uniform nearby. "And that?" The other green figure shook his head and held out a small piece of paper to the questioning figure. "That's the Major. Gave up the ghost to protect some civvies who where to injured to move. Took out a few squads but died from one too many plasma rounds. Wrote that with his last moments I think. Greek, from the looks of it. You speak greek don't you? What's it say?"
The other figure took a deep breath and started to speak...
"Here I stood, and I could do no other..."
With those words the world changed for Negi. Negi started to speak words that he always knew, but could never remember until now. "From The Void, I Call Upon Thee! John-117! Caller Contract Activate Until My Foes Are Dust In The Wind!" As the world sped up again Kotarou slowed a bit at the rapid babble of words but when no spell was forthcoming he put on a extra burst of speed.
Shadow's covered Negi's eye's as Kotarou neared him. Asuna watched on helpless while Chamo and Shiki-Setsuna struggled against the shadow dogs. Nodoka gasped as her book started to fill up two pages at a time. Konoka's father (A/N: Couldn't find his name when I was writing this) looked up from his calligraphy as a strange power filled the air.
As Kotarou's fist neared Negi's face, Negi looked up again and with a seemingly lazy motion stopped the Inugami's fist with his open palm. The ground behind Negi exploded, creating a trench about 15 yards long, four yards wide and one yard deep. Kotarou was flabbergasted and more then a little angry. Gasps resounded throughout the clearing as the two human's, ermine and shikigami at Negi's action and his eye's.
They had changed from a warm chocolate brown to harsh unforgiving silver.
Kotarou was about to attack again when Negi simply closed his hand around the Inugami's fist. With inhuman strength Negi pulled Kotarou off his feet toward a spot to his left.
The Inugami instinctively protected his face.
Negi swung his staff one handed at Kotarou's gut.
The swing connected and launched the Inugami two dozen yards away. Kotarou landed and lay still. A pin dropping could be heard in the silence that fallowed. Negi's only thought on the matter where the words of a dead man.
"Here I stood, and I could do no other..."
Negi knew whose memory that was, it was obvious now that he thought about it. It was John's. That was what John had to deal with for a few decades. It made Negi proud to have known John and a little ashamed that he was going to give up that easily when other's have had it so much worse.
Never again.
Wheeze'ing laughter broke Negi out of his thoughts. It seemed Kotarou was not out of the fight yet. He started talking as he changed into some other form but Negi ignored him in favor of preparing a spell. Just as Kotarou looked up after finishing his transformation into some half dog man thing, Negi had finished his spell using 75% of his remaining mana.
With a whisper Negi said, "Fulgrantio Albicanis!"
A massive beam, nearly two yards around, of electrical mana flew at the transformed Inugami. The beam slammed into Kotarou's chest and sent him airborne again. The Inugami's back broke through one of the gates arch's, coincidently destroying all three charms needed to break out of the time/space spell.
Negi spoke quietly, "The Caller Cancels The Contract..."
As the strange feeling of strength left him, exhaustion set in. Turning to Nodoka who had arrived to watch the tail end of the fight Negi smiled and muttered, "Hello..." He then turned to the other's who where rushing to him and smiled again, "Good, their safe..." Just as the other's and Nodoka reached him his eye's changed again from harsh silver to warm brown and then he passed out.
His last thought before blackness took him where on words that where going to become his personal motto.
"Here I stood and I could do no other..."
As the other's crowded around Negi's prone form, Asuna who had a distinctive feeling of deja vu, asked the group, "Now what?"
TSAB Hull Number 117 Lady Luck, 2AM The Next Day...
Lt. Mayweather was considered but one oddity in the freak show that was the rest of the crew, but he was unique in that he had a valid medical reason to be the way he was. It involved a costume party on a rare shore leave, a head injury, drunk paramedics (They where also at the party) and another head injury.
Medical reasons aside, he still tended to get on the nerves of Ensign Jacobs who worked the navigation station with him. If I hear one more 'arrr' I'm going to disembowel myself and strangle him with MY intestines. Ok, maybe he did more then get on the good ensign's nerves, but let it be said that Lt. Mayweather was good at his job, very good, better then any other navigator in the TSAB in fact.
That was the main reason Captain Julie put up with his quirks and that discussion was once again proven sound when the Lt. turned around and announced to Admiral Jack, "Arrr! Cap'n, coming up on universe-1173437!" Jack checked the ships clock after a moment of surprise, "One hour, five minutes and thirty-two seconds early. Nice job Mayweather! How'd you manage that?" Mayweather gave a theatrical wave of his hand, "Tis no trouble if you have knowledge of the rocks and tides."
The Admiral was about to respond when the main elevator door opened disgorging Captain Julie. "Don't question it sir. Trust me. You'll end up with one hell of a migraine and need of a shrink." Jack smiled at the Captain. How does she always know when I'm about to say something I shouldn't. The Captain did not smile back, "How are the Marines?" Jack gave a lazy wave, "There fine."
The triplets on the weaponry station started whispering amongst themselves.
Hear No Evil, "I heard the Admiral threatened to space the whole lot of them if they didn't get their act straight!"
See No Evil, "Really? I heard he threatened to keel-haul the Marine CO!"
Shoot Evil In The Face, "I heard he was going to shove is his Intelligent Device Selphie up the Marine CO's a-" Julie coughed into her fist and said in a slightly reprimanding tone, "That's enough you three!" As one the triplets stood and saluted.
H.N.E., "Where-"
S.N.E., "Sorry-
S.E.I.T.F., "Captain."
Julie returned the salute, "As you where.." After the triplets returned to their station, Jack looked Julie in the eye, "Gather the troops Captain. Where in range to teleport to the source of that signal. When it shows up again I want to be ready." Then Jack smiled and said in a cheesy tone of voice, "Make it so number one!"
Julie, deadpan, spoke, "Been watching Star Trek again?"
Jack cocked his head to the side and spoke in exaggerated voice, "Yeah. How'd you know?"
End Chapter 8
Musical Inspiration
John's dream: Disturbed, Haunted
Lady Luck: Star Trek TNG, Opening Theme
Negi and the Steps: First Negima! Anime Opening Theme
Same Place: First Negima! Anime Closing Theme
Rest Stop: Metallica, St. Anger
Kotarou vs. Negi Round One: Prodigy, Smack My Bitch Up
Here I stood and I could do no other: Disturbed, Indestructible
PREVIEW CHAPTER 9
Zeio: Hahaha!
Chamo: Why are you laughing?
Zeio: Because I have time to write stuff like this now!
Chamo: Um, Zeio-san, I noted that I don't get a lot of screen time in this fic, why is that?
Zeio: Oh? That's simple! I don't like you!
Chamo: *Utterly crushed*
Zeio: Anyway, John! Why don't you come out and help me with the preview.
John: Can't, I'm in a coma remember?
Zeio: So? Get you're method acting ass out here on the double!
John: *Still lying down* ...
Zeio: Fine! Negi get down here and help me.
Negi: Can't, I'm unconscious remember?
Zeio: Oh no you don't! *Haul's Negi to his feet* Up and at'em!
Zeio and Negi: *Both take a deep breath* Next time on Negima! Void Caller Chron-
Zeio: Oh crap where out of time!
Till Next Time, all!
Chapter 9: Awakenings, Movie things, and something else that rhymes!
A/N: So, how was it? I plan on including the music stuff and the preview from now on. Oh and PM me about who you want to be paired up with John and Negi. One more thing, I'm looking for a beta and if anyone is interested PM me! Talk to ya'll later...