Magister Negi Magi is owned by Ken Akamatsu and Kodansha Ltd. Tokyo in Japan, and by Funimation and Ballantine - DelRey in the United States, NOT by me.

SPOILER ALERT! AU story occurring after c189.

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"Feh... By then I'd pretty-much grown immune to that sort of humiliation."
-Takane Goodman. Author of: "What Doesn't Make It Into The Tales About Magisters."

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Ala Alba in the World of Magic: Tales From the Fireside.

Chapter Twenty-six: Progress and Loss. (Day One.)

Ever since returning to her hotel from the previous night's Damashi concert, Misora Kasuga had been feeling drained and increasingly feverish. Common medicines didn't help, so she had gone to bed, praying for the escape from pain loss of consciousness would bring. Eventually, after most of the night had passed in restless suffering, she gained the blessed relief of slumber only to have it quickly ruined by a fevered dream.

(Wherever she ran, there were only statues. Life-like, unbelievably real. An entire silent city, filled only with statues. In one place, three young Ma-Jin girls, their ice-cream cones empty, with the former contents sticky puddles beneath their hands. In another stood a family, the Nek-Jin daughter smashed on the ground after falling from her father's shoulders, while a balloon moved in a gentle breeze before the sightless eyes of a young Inu-Jin boy. Every street and plaza was filled with endless, similar scenes, one after another, until increasingly panicked wandering brought her to those she'd arrived in New Ostia with. Takane Goodman, Mei Sakura, and her own Magister Cocone were just as silent and still as everyone else. Falling to her knees, she began pouring out her inability to understand what was going on through tears until a light brighter than anything she'd ever seen before came and blotted the entire silent city from existence...)

Waking in a tangle of clammy, sweat-soaked bedclothes, Misora groaned from the sensation her body was burning up. Slowed by the stiffness of fatigue, she disentangled herself from the disorderly mess on the bed, climbed unsteadily to her feet, and staggered over towards the bathroom. Thinking to splash cold water on her face, she pressed the switchpad and was hit with so much visual pain it drove her to the floor without even a whimper.

Already weary due to her Ministra's restlessness, Cocone Rosa didn't realize what the heavy thud might mean until she saw that the bathroom light was on, and Misora gone from their bed. Sitting up, she rubbed at her eyes, then noticed the still form lying in the bathroom doorway. Out of the bed and at her Ministra's side in an instant, she found Misora shaking as if suffering from chills, but covered completely with sweat. Despite frantic prodding and shouting, Misora's only response was a faint groan.

With panic threatening to overwhelm her, Cocone cast about the room for some thing that would help her know what to do. Finally, her eyes fell on Takane Goodman's uniform cap, left in the room the night before when she and Mei Sakura stopped in for a bit of conversation before returning to their own room. ("Big Sister Takane... she'll know what to do!")

Completely unaware she was doing so, Cocone ran crying from the room. Crossing the hall, she began pounding on the door there while shouting for Takane Goodman to come out and help her.

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Straining to be heard over the crowd, even with the deep, easily projected voice normal to his kind, a Tiger-stripped Nek-Jin announcer spoke the words those filling the New Ostian Arena had been waiting for...

"WELCOME, EVERYONE! TO THE TWENTIETH WAR'S-END ANNEVERSARY CELEBRATION! AND TO THIS YEAR'S NAGI SPRINGFIELD CUP PRIZE-FIGHTER TOURNEMENT!"

If anything, the crowd's excited cacophony grew louder. Some would later claim they heard the cheering all the way to Pinhe Village on New Ostia's coast. Eventually, the crowd grew relatively quiet, and the announcer was able to continue.

"This year we have many returning fighters, including several pairs from past years, such as the Kys'shira brothers from Vairocana, the Ash'm - Pyro team from Elfenholt, and the Arcer - Tos'ka team from Tristan! In addition, there are many new teams participating this year, including the team from Granicus city, where the winner was a young man who shares a name with this tournament!"

Again, the crowd's cheering drowned him out for several moments. "Nagi Springfield, upset winner with his partner Kojirou Oogami in the Granicus City Minerva cup, capped his participation in that tournament with a spectacular solo grudge match victory! Will his winning streak continue? Or will one of the older participants like the Kys'shira brothers, or the mysterious wild-card entry from Argye knock he and his partner out of the running?"

"All I can say is; YOU'LL HAVE TO STICK AROUND TO FIND OUT!"

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After placing her VAIO on it's small table inside the Magic-circle drawn on the floor of Nagi Springfield's suite in the New Ostia Arena, Chisame Hasegawa turned to where her bodyguard Chachamaru waited patiently nearby. "Ready Chacha?"

Wearing her ten-year-old body, but still every bit as dangerous as if she were full-sized, Chibi-Chachamaru made a slight bow. "Ready, Miss Hasegawa."

One annoyingly silly magical-girl incantation-dance later, Chisame found herself standing at the control station of the Spiritus Electronicus. While people across the Magic World were distracted by the opening of the Nagi Springfield Cup, she was going to implement an originally rejected idea revived during the trip from Granicus City. In addition to Kazumi and Chachamaru's pictures from the gate-port, Sayo Aisaka was bringing in a number of images of Fate Averruncus's attack on the Magistrate of Tengboche. As a backup plan to her less aggressive information work, Chiu's new job was to infiltrate a trojan program into as many different servers as possible. If it became necessary, they would then be able to flood the MahoNet with images of what Fate Averruncus had done in Megalo-Mesembria and Tengboche.

An act of last resort Negi had reluctantly agreed to, such a sudden release of information about Fate was intended to be a distraction to those pursuing the Ala Alba. In the resulting confusion, it was hoped the group would be able to follow their original plan to escape home through the inactive, but hopefully still functional gate port in the ruins of the fallen city of Ostia.

Doing this work with just three sprites, Chiku, Daiko, and Hanpe, would be slow, and had some small risk if she was discovered, but there was one more strong advantage Chiu knew she possessed. "Ready, V-Chao?"

Shimmering into existence next to the control station, the virtual reality representation of Chao Lingshen's information manipulation program, V-Chao, as she had asked to be called, gave a bow to acknowledge Chiu's summons to action. While Chiu acted as primary attack and defense, drawing any response that might occur onto herself, V-Chao would do the actual work of infiltrating and placing the information trojan into the necessary servers that were the target of Chiu's operation. "Yes, Mistress Chiu."

Taking a deep breath and letting it out as a long sigh, Chiu pressed the control that connected her artifact to the MahoNet. "Let's go."

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Haruna Saotome had been given just a week, with mandatory interruptions for training, to complete her latest two projects. Both were General Audience doujinshi telling two of Negi Springfield's stories with a 'Nagi' twist. One was 'Nagi vs. the Vampire Princess.' and the other 'Nagi's Kyoto Adventures.' That had been easy enough to do, especially by using multiple golem copies of herself summoned from the Imperium Graphices. What had worried her the most though was how she would get them printed.

An hour after their arrival in New Ostia, the problem had been solved.

Now, if she could only find some way take the magical printing processes, and an army of printing sprites with her when the Ala Alba went back to Mahora! Production of future doujinshi would be a snap, and as 'Net Idol Chiu' dominated the on-line world, "Paru-sama' would come to dominate the semi-annual Comiket!

Chachamaru had been Chibi-Paru's first customer. After helping to carry the boxed books to a booth Nagi's reputation secured for Paru in the New Ostia Arena, the gynoid had asked for two copies of each book. Questioned by a grinning Paru if that was all she wanted, Chibi Chachamaru had blushed and quietly asked for sketches of herself and Professor Springfield on the blank inside cover pages. One had been of her current chibi-form standing with Negi, and the other of her teen form with 'Nagi.'

Watching Chachamaru hold the first book with utmost reverence, Haruna finished the second, then repeated the job in the other books with sketches of Professor Springfield and Evangeline McDowell. Still blushing while nodding her thanks, the gynoid had turned and left to go help Chisame with her work.

After a few other curious customers came by the booth, Yue Ayase and Nodoka Miyazaki showed up with similar requests. Yue asked for drawings similar to Chachamaru's, but Nodoka, showing an unusual boldness, asked for two sketches showing her kissing Professor Springfield! Several more customers soon came by, word of her books began to spread, and the next several hours became a non-stop round of signing, sketching, and selling. When a lull finally came, she decided it might be a good idea to hold back copies for her class and a few others at Mahora. If Chao Lingshen ever came back, she would give the girl her copies then. If not, maybe she could deliver them in a time capsule or something. As for Asuna... she would put Asuna's copies on the girl's memorial when they finally returned to Mahora...

"Excuse me Miss..."

Chibi-Paru paused in counting out books and looked up to find an old, gray, Tiger Nek-Jin standing in front of the booth. "Would you like copies of the books, Sir?"

Nodding, the Tiger-man held out several Ten-Drachma coins, then continued to stare as Paru made his change. "Miss, I understand you might be reluctant to answer this, but is it possible you're an associate of a young lady who occasionally goes by the nick-name; 'Bookstore?'"

Unable to prevent a startled reaction, Chibi-Paru turned to face the Tiger-man while casually reaching for her artifact. "If you don't mind MY asking, Sir, who are you that you want to know?"

(-)

Chiu watched as V-Chao completed downloading the Ala Alba's information trojan into the network servers in Ariadne and Nyandom. Thanks to Katrina Adenaur, Konoka Konoe and Setsuna Sakurazaki's connections, they could use less-difficult access means to load the program in those two cities. Being the easiest, they were the first, and provided a reasonably uncomplicated test run for a job that would probably grow increasingly difficult. The servers located in the Bounty-Hunter's Guild city of Antigone, the city of Elfenhoft, and Megalo-Mesembria, with one odd exception, were expected to be the most difficult to infiltrate.

All out of proportion to it's size, the small city of Argyre had the strongest MahoNet server defenses of any location within the Magic World. That made Chiu VERY wary, and she'd not gone near it in any of her foray's into the MahoNet.

A pair of status-bar displays in front of V-Chao reached one-hundred percent and vanished. After checking information displayed in several other windows, the dark-haired V-Chao turned to face Chiu. "Downloads complete. Where to next, Mistress Chiu?"

Brief manipulation of controls and information displayed in her own windows was followed by the bringing of a map of the Magic World up as the primary window. Chiu examined it for a moment, then reached out and tapped three new cities. "Since security in Ostia, Tristan, and Orestes is low-end average, we'll do them next, then spread out further from there."

Nodding, V-Chao opened three new windows. The task bars displaying the progress of the infiltration process had barely begun to advance when the default ocean motif of the Spiritus Electronicus suddenly flared and changed into a blasted plain, with volcanoes erupting in the distance and lava flowing across the ground below.

Chiu and V-Chao's voices both sounded instantly with the same command; "CHIKU! FIREWALL REINFORCEMENTS, NOW!"

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Shiori Hohoemu smiled. Master Fate had been right. If she just set her traps and waited, Kasayo McDowell's blogger would come to her. Strength of signal and the fast response to her exerting dominance over the virtual perception image told her the person was close. Maybe even in New Ostia like she was. Even so, it wouldn't matter if she met the person face-to-face or not, this was going to be the end of their battles. With a single touch, her sprite system launched multiple brute-force attack and password breaker programs, as well as dozens of less obvious infiltration programs.

It was only a matter of time. She wouldn't let this insolent net-user escape to interfere with Master Fate's plans again!

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Another fireball from a dragon-type attack program burst against the firewalls of the Spiritus Electronicus, causing Chiu to cover her eyes against the bright flash. After glancing around to see that her three sprite commanders and V-Chao were okay, she returned to maintaining and reinforcing the artifact's defenses.

"Mistress Chiu!"

A few keystrokes sent another electronic firewall layer on it's way before Chiu turned to face her Sprite Commander. "What is it Chiku?"

At his command, a window containing a listing of various programs appeared before Chiu. "Mistress. All the attack programs are quite powerful, but of an easily dealt with type. The real problem is the rider programs. Mostly Key Sprites trying to hack your artifact, but also a few other infiltration types we haven't seen before. We've tried to hunt them all down, but with four of us on other missions...' Chiu grimaced at the implication of Chikuwafu's unfinished sentence. "...I'm afraid, Mistress Chiu, that I must STRONGLY recommend terminating this session before something bad happens!"

With a look of indecision on her face, Chiu started to reach for the log out controls, but a spark knocked her hand away.

"NO! CHIKUWAFU! Continue reinforcing the firewalls!"

Chiu glared at V-Chao as she rubbed her tingling hand. "What are you saying? We need to get out and regroup!"

Turning and showing the manic grin on her face, V-Chao shook her head. "No! You mustn't! This may be the attacker who tried to take down the blog! You have to keep going! I've started working on a program to shut her down, but I need more time! Come on! Where's the 'Never-give-up!' spirit of the Chiu who started out fighting me at Mahora-Fest with just a laptop?"

Chiu grumbled at being dressed down by something she'd still considered 'just' a program, but V-Chao's jibe did make her think. ("Counter-attacking... when it looks like I'm headed for certain defeat?") Now her expression grew more confidant, and V-Chao instantly smiled in response. ("Well... I never gave up back at Mahora! No need to start now") Filled with renewed determination, Chiu indicated with a wave of her hand to Chikuwafu that she was going to stay. "Chiku! Modify the old Chao program escape button as an emergency log-out, then you three get out!"

"Yes! Mistress Chiu!"

When the three sprite leaders had gone, Chiu looked over at V-Chao and gave a thumbs up. "Okay! If you need to infiltrate something from our end, why don't we try this..."

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After much frantic searching, Ako Izumi finally found Akira Okochi resting in the verandah level arena staff break room. "Akira! I've been looking all over for you!"

Standing in response to Ako's frantic countenance, Akira straightened her uniform and wondered what crisis required her personal attention now.

Pausing just a moment to catch her breath, Ako pointed back towards the area she was working in. "Mister Phlippir's here!"

Groaning, Akira fell back into the seat she'd been in. "Is he already drunk?"

Shaking her head, Ako gave Akira an excited smile. No! That's what's so surprising! He says he wants to talk to you about something!"

With faint hope showing on her face, Akira began to think she might not have to waste another evening keeping the rowdy Iru-Jin quiet. "Did he say what about?"

"Something about a swimming competition near the end of the festival, I think..."

Intrigued, Akira stood back up and indicated for Ako to lead the way.

After dropping Akira off with the excited Phlippir, Ako returned to waiting tables. Just as she was about to refill an Inu-Jin's kohi cup, Nagi Springfield and Kojirou Oogami's match against the Kys'shira brothers of Vairocana came on over the monitors.

Seeing the admiration for the hated Springfield in the debt-slave's eyes, Hau Pepelu wondered if she'd found the thing she'd been looking for. "Say Miss, do you like that fighter named Springfield ?"

Her train of thought derailed by the unexpected question, Ako blinked at the seated Inu-Jin, then suddenly realized the tired-looking girl had spoken to her. "Ple...please forgive me!" Quickly returning to her task, she refiled the Inu-Jin's cup, then stepped back and bowed. "He is a friend. We had some problems, but he's still a friend... I hope..."

Hau felt her eyes narrow slightly. "Have you tried to make up?"

Sighing, Ako shook her head. "No, but he promised to come see me tonight in front of the arena, so maybe..."

Raising her glass, Hau gave the object of her extreme interest a salute. "Well, Miss...?"

Ako bowed again. "Izumi. Ako Izumi."

Hau smiled. "Miss Izumi. Best of luck to you then!"

"Thank you very much!" Smiling brightly, Ako bowed again and moved off to the next table.

Watching Ako go, Hau saluted her once more. ("No. Thank YOU! Miss Izumi!")

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Frowning, Shiori wondered just who Kasayo McDowell's blogger was. Even though she seemed to be making progressed breaking into their system, they persisted in resistance. Anyone else would have given up or been overwhelmed long ago. Considering that, she began to wonder if the person might possibly be using an art...

A sudden, persistent beeping broke Shiori's concentration and presaged the sudden opening of a new window within her Sprite Regiment management system. One of the stealth programs she'd sent out had located the controls for her opponents power supply. By extension, she located the lines leading to the processor for that person's system. With a grin of triumph, she ordered the sprite regiment to begin forcing the power supply to discharge as rapidly as possible into the lines leading towards the processor.

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V-Chao watched as Chiu slowly drew the main-line of the defensive firewalls back. As the front began to narrow, focusing their opponents attacks, the edges of the firewalls appeared to be disintegrating. In reality, V-Chao was using the fading cinders as cover to send out a variation of the program she used for dissemination of information. Once enough of the tiny 'If-Then' loop programs gathered in their opponents system, they would begin self-replicating until every available byte of RAM memory was completely occupied and the system crashed.

Still concerned over Chikuwafu's warning about unaccounted-for infiltrators, Chiu glanced once more at the window showing her system's status. One indicator displayed something that shouldn't have been a problem. ("The VAIO's battery is getting low? We charged it just this morning!") Before she could investigate further, a piercing alarm began sounding in the control station. ("Processor overheat alarm!") Looking back at the battery monitor, she knew right were the opponents hidden programs had gone. "CHAO! EMEGENCY LOGOUT! WE HAVE TO GO NOW!"

V-Chao heard the alarm and turned towards Chiu. The girl raised a fist, hesitated until she saw V-Chao reach for the connection to the MahoNet, then slammed that fist down on Chikuwafu's emergency logout button.

(-)

One small energy spike, a tiny flicker as the defenses collapsed, and Shiori finally had the satisfaction of watching the system of Kasayo McDowell's blogger crash in a satisfyingly final manner. Just as she allowed herself to relax, more windows than she could count began opening within her own sprite regiment control system. Filling the virtual reality field faster than she could think, the cascading loop of opening windows continued until her own system crashed. Everything remained blank for a few seconds before a single window opened. It briefly displayed an octopus-girl sticking out her tongue and pulling down a lower eye-lid with a tentacle, then it to faded into non-existence.

Several minute passed before Shiori could bring herself to even try to restart the sprite management system. Even after an attempted restart with her system disk, nothing happened. Finally, she gave up and began to laugh. ("How interesting! To think someone with the ability to shut me down even existed!") The laughing quickly faded into a look of determination. (Now we see who can recover first!")

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Opening her eyes, Chisame found Chachamaru and the three sprite leaders leaning over her. "What happened?"

After helping Chisame sit up, Chachamaru handed Chisame a glass of water. "You logged out just in time. Even so, system shock from nearly being trapped in the Spiritus Electronicus rendered you unconscious."

Chisame nodded, took a small sip of the water, then set the glass aside. After briefly rubbing at her temples, she noticed the scent of melted plastic. Looking over at the small table containing her VAIO, she could see even from the floor the warped keyboard and heat-damaged monitor. "My VAIO..."

Chachamaru looked over at the sub-laptop, then back at Chisame. "Destroyed."

Not sure if she should be angry over her narrow escape and loss of the computer, or relieved she was unharmed, Chisame ground her teeth and tried to think about what to do next.

"Mistress Chiu! We're so happy you're okay!"

Looking down at the three ridiculously fawning sprite mice swarming around her, Chisame suddenly realized they shouldn't even be there. ("They need active electronics to remain in existence...") Turning, she looked up at Chachamaru. ("Kazumi still has my phone...") "Chachamaru..."

"Yes, Chisame?"

"Just how electronic are you?"

Surprised by the question, Chachamaru settled back on her heels. She considered Chisame's question for a moment, then allowed a small smile to grace a face growing more and more accustomed to expressing emotion. "If you are asking if I can interface directly with the Spiritus Electronicus, I am unsure. However, if it is possible, then that would allow me to take a more active role in attack and defense when you access the MahoNet."

Pointing at the melted laptop, Chisame gave Chachamaru a look of concern. "What about the risk?"

Now Chachamaru almost looked insulted. "I assure you, even though our opponent will be alerted now, and the risk will be correspondingly higher, Chao Lingshen and Satomi Hakase gave me defenses which are VASTLY superior to those of a MERE laptop!"

Without hesitation, Chisame got up and removed the table and the now worthless laptop from the inactive magic circle. Turning back to Chachamaru, Chisame gave sigh of resignation, then held out her magical girl's wand once more. "Pardon me while I dance, Chachamaru."

Chibi-Chachamaru gave Chisame a grave bow, but was still smiling. "Please. Go right ahead."

(-)

Having secured Mama's permission to leave work early, Ako Izumi waited outside the slowly emptying New Ostia arena, wringing her hands and nervously pacing the entryway steps. Now, with the chance to at least partly make amends so quickly approaching, she wondered what words of apology could possibly make up for what she'd done to Professor Springfield in Granicus City... or for what had happened in Megalo-Mesembria.

Hearing the scrapping of shoes behind her, Ako turned to see the short Inu-Jin from earlier on the verandah. Just as she was about to say hello, the angry-looking girl made a gesture with her hand and said something in what sounded like Fren...

"Ma marionnette hypnotisee, Ako Izumi."

Hau Pepelu watched in satisfaction as Ako Izumi's eyes glazed over. When the debt-slave's blank look and stillness confirmed the doll-maker spell had taken hold properly, she reached out to take the pale girl's hand. "Come along, Miss Izumi."

"Yes, Master..."

(-)

("Ah... a new theme. I guess that's only natural, considering who I'm interfacing with.") Expecting to see the 'Ocean' theme of her laptop's screen-saver, Chisame was mildly surprised when the control station of the Spiritus Electronicus was surrounded instead by a more electronic theme. It reminded her a little about a movie she'd seen involving electronic ghosts, or some such. "Well, this theme certainly fits you, Chachamaru, but as a cosplayer, I can't say much about your dress!"

Looking down at her one-piece, swimsuit-like torso covering, teen-form Chachamaru wondered what was wrong with it. "This is what I wore during our Mahora Fest battles..."

Shaking her head, Chiu began manipulating the controls to fully reactivate her artifact. "Well, since you can use nanites or some such to modify your arms, why don't you dress up like that MosKos character from Genshike Saga, or whatever it was called."

While Chiu reactivated the Spiritus Electronicus, Chachamaru started searching through her data storage for information on the character reference that had been suggested to her. Just as she began to narrow the possibilities, Chiu's artifact became fully active.

As Chikuwafu, Daiko, and Hanpe began rapidly constructing and rebuilding defenses, Chiu turned to face Chachamaru. "Okay. Since V-Chao isn't here, I hope that means she successfully escaped onto the MahoNet. "I'll reconnect us, but I want you ready to sever the link the instant anything threatening happens, okay?"

Even as she bowed to accept Chiu's command, Chachamaru found the reference she was looking for and began internally writing a costume program to match it. "I am ready. Miss Hasegawa."

Cautiously, using one of the extra accounts she'd purchased under the names of the stay-behinds in Wales, Chiu extended a data link back towards the MahoNet. As soon as the link stabilized, a return link came back. Without making any attempt to complete the connection, the data stream stopped, and a tag labeled 'V-Chao." appeared.

Chisame reached out to accept the link without hesitation. There was a short delay as the link allowed itself to be checked for authenticity, then V-Chao once more appeared in her place next to Chiu's control station. "Please forgive my possibly abandoning you, Chao."

V-Chao shook her head. "What you did was correct. Even If I had been lost, Chachamaru could still have downloaded me again, though your work would have been considerably hindered by having to start over." Noticing Chachamaru, she gave Chiu a look of admiration. "That you so quickly managed to return to the MahoNet speaks well of your abilities of perception and logical thought, Miss Hasegawa."

Blushing, Chiu gave a small cough, then became serious. "What of the opponent?"

A malicious grin was part of V-Chao's answer. "Completely shut down. Because of their skill, I have no doubt they'll recover, but not as quickly as this."

"What about the blog?"

Reaching into a virtual pocket, V-Chao pulled out a disk. "Down because your VAIO fried. However, I created this backup within your artifact, then took it with me when I fled. Unfortunately, there is something I failed to save." Chiu had started to show a look of thanks, but it quickly turned to one of worry. "All of the original information for the trojan program intended for the MahoNet servers is gone. It will take some time, but I should be able to recover the necessary data to rebuild it from the servers in Ariadne and Nyandom."

Pocketing the disk she held, V-Chao gave Chiu a serious look. "I would suggest you stay off-line for several days while I work. I'll put the blog back up in twenty-four hours, with a suitable explanation for why it was down. At the same time, I'll get the information trojan rebuilt and continue distributing it per our earlier plan."

When V-Chao suddenly turned and began nodding in approval, Chiu looked over to see Chachamaru now dressed in the slightly racy four-color 'armor' of the character that had been suggested to her. "Good enough. I'll see if I can find any useful equipment in the markets, then be back in three days."

V-Chao bowed. "Good luck, and be careful. Your opponent is close. It is possible they may attempt more, permanent, means of dealing with you, should they discover your identity."

Chiu gave a start, then nodded. "Thanks for reminding me about that possibility." She watched V-Chao exit back out into the MahoNet, then turned to Chachamaru and the three Spite leaders. "We're out of here."

"As you wish, Miss Hasegawa."

"Yes! Mistress Chiu!"

(-)

Finally able to escape from swarming media reporting on the Nagi Springfield Cup for the remainder of the Magic World, Negi Springfield, in his cloak-covered 'Nagi' form, walked out onto the steps in front of the New Ostia arena expecting to find Ako Izumi there. After a few moments of waiting and casual searching, he went back into the arena to find Ako's supervisor, the Ku-Jin Mama. When Mama said Ako should already be outside, he began to worry. Giving the Ku-Jin a quick bow of thanks, he all but ran back out to the arena entrance.

After several moments of frantic searching and calling out Ako's name, Nagi spotted Ako's number one tormentor walking down the steps, looking around as if expecting to meet someone. "TOSAKA! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MISS IZUMI!"

Feeling a bit of pavlovian fear at first as Nagi Springfield grabbed his leather jerkin, Tosaka finally heard what Negi had asked him and quickly grew angry. "What are you talking about? I haven't seen her outside her station on the verandah since yesterday!" Remembering what happened after Jay Lane Cabot delivered him to Mama, he grew angry enough to force his number one personal annoyance to let him go. "Anyway, every time I get near that empty-headed girl, Mama winds up pounding me!" Seeing the growing worry in Nagi's eyes, Tosaka couldn't suppress a sneer. "Might be someone ran off with your pretty girl-toy, stupid brat! Serves ya' right if they URKK!"

Grabbing Tosaka by his jerkin again, Nagi bodily lifted Dolnegus's spiky-haired guard into the air. "Tell me what you know!"

Confident he had the upper hand this time, Tosaka maintained his sneer. "What's it worth to you?"

Seething with fear and rage, Nagi started forming an unincanted point-blank Sagita in his free hand.

Tosaka saw the blow forming but remained unafraid. "Hit me and I'll NEVER tell you!"

Slowly letting the Sagita fade away, Nagi set Tosaka down gently, then bowed at the waist. "Please... please Tosaka... tell me what you know..."

Surprised to see the smart-mouthed Nagi bowing low, Tosaka stared for a moment, then gave a snort. Though having the cause of so much recent suffering begging him for help was a heady wine, the thought of what Mama might do if he held back convinced him it wasn't wise to push things too far, for now... "I saw her down here on the steps, talking to some short mage in a cloak. I think they started walking away into the city, but I'm not sure about that."

Suppressing a shiver at the implication of Tosaka's words, Nagi straightened up with a worried, but thankful look on his face. "Thank you Tosaka! I'll pay you back somehow!"

Shaking his head as Nagi ran off into the city, Tosaka turned as his two friends and fellow guards started down the steps and called out to him. After waving, he turned back to look after the vanished Nagi Springfield. ("Better get her back quick brat! If she's away from the Chairman's control crystal without permission for too long, the collar's gonna' separate that empty head from her pretty little shoulders!") Recalling the bloody mess that very thing had made of a fellow debt-slave, many years ago, Tosaka violently shook his head to wipe the image from his mind. ("Stupid girl... Good riddance! For all I care...")

Trying to apologize to everyone he bumped into, Nagi ran hurriedly down the crowded street leading away from the arena until he reached it's first intersection. Standing there, blocking several small carts and ignoring their annoyed owner's, he looked frantically back and forth, trying to decide which direction to go in. With fear beginning to make his heart race, he finally ran off towards the Governor-General's Residence. Making his way along another street still crowded, even at such a late hour, with festival attendee's, he finally arrived at a marginally less-crowded plaza.

Many people sat around enjoying a late meal, or talking with friends. Some were flirting with potential partners, and a few were even providing impromptu entertainment to interested onlookers. Of Ako Izumi though, there was no sign.

Reaching into his pocket, Negi touched the new primary card in his small bundle of Pactio provisional contracts. ("No... Nodoka... help... Ako's gone missing...")

Just as he felt the first faint touch of Nodoka Miyazaki's reply, Negi noticed a figure in the crowd that brought all his fear and hatred instantly to the surface.

All around the plaza were dozens of unknowing persons who knew nothing of his sense of loss, or how that figure seemed responsible now for another loss.

Considering the many innocents who might be injured by a sudden release of magical energy, it took every bit of self-control he possessed not to attack the unconcerned looking, white-haired boy on sight.

"Negi Springfield... If you don't mind, I think perhaps you and I should have a little talk."

(-)

Leaving Cocone to care for the fitfully resting Misora, Takane Goodman and Mei Sakura followed the Zu-Jin healer summoned by their Hotel out into the hallway.

As soon as the door closed, the small healer removed his glasses and turned to look up at Takane and Mei. "Well, I've managed to reduce her fever Miss Goodman, but I'm afraid there's nothing else I can do for her."

Feeling Mei squeeze her arm, Takane tried to return the grip with a reassurance she didn't feel herself. "Can you tell us what's wrong with Misora?"

Reaching up, the healer rubbed at the gray fur covering the bridge of his nose. "Neither I nor my sprites can find a cause for what's wrong with her. This type of difficult to control fever can result from being caught by Strangleweed, but that vile creature only exists out on Elysium. You said you haven't even been outside Megalo-Mesembria or Ostia, so I don't see how that is even possible. I did test for it, but the cure won't have any effect, even if it didn't cost one-million Drachma..."

"I know about that elixir... I thought it could cure anything..."

Looking up at the auburn-haired girl clinging to Takane Goodman, the Zu-Jin shook his head. "Not this. After Strangleweed, the closest thing it seems to be related to is magic poisoning." When both girls eyes went wide, he put both paws behind his back and settled into 'lecture' mode. "Normal inhabitants of the Magic World possess from birth an immunity to the ambient levels of magical energy that exists around them. Most people who come here from the Normal World will possess enough of an association with magic that there won't be any problems. Occasionally though, someone comes over who's resistance is weak. If they stay here long enough, the magic starts to poison them. In Miss Kasuga's case, I attempted to augment her defenses, but there wasn't anything there to augment! I can't understand why... Immigration never should have let her in if she was this weak to begin with..."

Clenching her fists, Takane thought about Misora's Magister Cocone. She'd heard that it could be quite traumatic when a Magister and their Ministra were separated by death. How it might effect someone as young as Cocone was too terrible to contemplate. "Is there nothing that can be done?"

Sighing, the healer let his gaze drop to the floor. "The obvious solution would be to send her home. The next best would be to get her to a healing mage, but the few that exist are all in the Normal World right now, and with the gate ports down..."

Mei Sakura felt her brow twitch in confusion. "I thought you were a healing mage..."

Turning back to face Takane's companion, the Zu-Jin shook his head. "No. I'm a mage-healer, not a healing-mage. Trust me, there is a BIG difference, despite the many similarities." When Takane's look of confusion grew to match Mei's, he sighed and straightened his posture once more. "A mage-healer is someone who chooses to learn the healing craft. Experience is a big plus, but they basically can only treat what they recognize from study, or have seen another healer treat. A healing-mage just knows, by instinct, epiphany, or whatever, how to treat an illness or injury. Of course, training helps them in their work, and no learning is ever wasted that expands someone's knowledge, but a healing-mage doesn't NEED the training. Training just makes them better at what they inherently know how to do." A brief chuckle caused the whiskers at the end of his long nose to twitch. "A very rare, precious gift. Some even call them 'Sorcerer-Healers,' since it seems as if they create their cures from nothing!"

Takane felt Mei's grip tighten painfully on her arm. "So, all we can do is help her rest then..."

Suddenly downcast, the Zu-Jin nodded, then turned and walked away.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Mei moved around to stand before Takane. "Big sister..."

Takane was shaking visibly. "I know..."

Reaching out, Mei began to pull on Takane's sleeve. "You know Negi Springfield's here in the Magic World! Konoka Konoe's a healing mage!"

Grimacing now, Takane began to feel the onset of a tension headache. "I know!"

Mei began to feel hot tears streaming down her face. "I know you want to avoid trouble, but Negi's probably here in Ostia! If he's using a glamour, he might even be that Nagi Springfield guy! Misora's one of his students! I'm sure if we could contact him..."

Turning away from Mei, Takane lowered her eyes towards the floor. "I KNOW! PLEASE STOP BEGGING, MEI! It's unbecoming of someone who's any Ministra of mine!"

Trembling, Mei watched as Takane's body slowly began to relax. "You... you already decided to go look for him!"

Nodding, Takane turned back and looked down at the first of her provisional partners. "I'm just trying to decide how to beg Professor Springfield for help, to risk exposure for himself and Konoka, after giving him so much trouble in the past..." Taking a deep breath, she reached into a pocket and pulled out a Mahora Academy credit chit, then placed it in Mei's hand. "This is an extra Dean Konoe gave me, in case we needed to separate for some reason. You're in charge now Mei. Get Misora and Cocone back to Mahora, or at least Cocone, in case something, unexpected, should happen..."

Mei nodded gravely.

After patting her serious looking Ministra's hand, Takane turned to leave.

Watching Takane go, Mei felt worry suddenly well up in her heart, and ran to catch her Magister. "Big Sister! Please be careful! I want everyone to be able to go home!"

Smiling, Takane cupped Mei's chin for a moment, stepped up to give her Ministra a hug of thanks, then turned to walk away again without looking back.

tsuzuku.

(-)

Author's Notes:

virtual Perception Image: How a person perceives the visual representations of programs specifically, and the net in general. A net user who can make their version of this image dominant has an advantage over possible opponents in a net battle.

Processor overheat and cascading windows: One means a computer's processor is burning up, (the warning alarm on my computer was an ear-piercing alarm that made you want to tear your ears off,) and the other that windows are opening on a computer faster than you can close them, eating up your RAM memory like termites chewing on a house... (Close one window, five more open up...)

...both of which I have had the dubious privilege of experiencing.

Trojan program: A hidden or disguised computer program that (usually,) winds up doing something bad. In this case, it is a hidden program that will allow Chiu to explosively distribute the pictures she has from the Megalo-Mesembrian gate port incident, as well as from Fate's action against the Magistrate of Tengboche.

Rider program: another name for a trojan program. In this case, one that is carried by another progam in order to help it bypass another systems's defenses.

Infiltration program: Attack program designed to seek out and enter an enemy system through any unguarded access or temporary break in defenses it can find. Once through, it may hide for later activation, or attack something right away.

Key sprites: Hacking sprites or programs designed to crack a systems access codes or passwords, thus permiting their user to control or alter the system they now have access to.

"Ma marionnette hypnotisee, Ako Izumi.": 'My hypnotised puppet, Ako Izumi.' Hau Pepelu's Doll-Maker spell. Straight-forward mind-control spell. Not effective against an alert target, or a target with high defenses. Only a single target per activation. Does not function in the same manner as Evangeline's Doll-Master abilities.

As four new types have been added since chapter three, and as a matter of convenience, here is a re-listing of people presumed to inhabit the Magic World in 'Ala Alba in the World of Magic:

Kit-Jin: Kitsune(fox)person. (Not the same as In-Jin. Siipo in InuYasha would be Kit-Jin)
Nek-Jin: Neko(cat)person.(The fairy's Ministra, c196 and Mithra in FF11 would be Nek-Jin)
Hu-Jin: A human. (Kazumi Asakura, etc)
Ku-Jin: A bear person. (Mama, the slave-trio's boss, would be a Ku-Jin)
Eru-Jin: Elf-type person. (Pirotase of Loddoss War would be an Eru-Jin)
Yu-Jin: An independent spirit. (Sayo Aisaka)
Kage-Jin: Shadow person. (Vivi from FF9 and the wagon driver in c193 would be a Kage-Jin)
U-Jin: Usagi(rabbit)person. (Momo from BoF2+ and Fran from FF12 would be U-Jin)
Inu-Jin: Inu(dog)person. (Shinju from Minna-de! Nyan-Nyan! Would be an In-Jin)
Yo-Jin: Fairies. (The tiger person's Magister in c196. Cham-fau of Dunbine would be Yo-Jin)
To-Jin: Bird person. ('True' bird people. Not demon-kin like Setsuna)
Ma-Jin: Demon-kin. (The announcer in c196. Akumako from Beast Century would be Ma-Jin)
Ryu-Jin: Dragon-kin. Filia Ul Copt from Slayers, and Rizo of the Canis Niger would be Ryu-Jin)
Gyo-Jin: Mer-folk. Mei-Mah from Beast Century would be a Gyo-Jin.
Su-Jin. Sheep person. (Hitsuji.) Emily Sevensheep of Ariadne may be a half-blood Su-Jin.
Iru-Jin. Dolphin person. Various flying truck/Whaleship captains seem to be Iru-Jins.
Zu-Jin: (Nezumi.) Mouse/Rat person. Moisha from Fred Perry's GoldDigger comic is a Zu-Jin)
Do-Jin: Animal type person. All the rabbit, panda, or other such types from the MSN manga.

Chapter Twenty-seven: Everyone accounted for at last.