WolfGear Presents: Negima? The mage and the Gunslinger
Pairings: Negi X ku-Fei Kaede X OC
Chapter 34: Festival part 15-Present vs. future round 2-operation break out!
I don't own Negima!
It was the dawn of the final battle with Chao, earlier Jack and Negi gathered together the full force of their group, Ku-Fei, Kaede, Fuuka, Fumika and Setsuna and Konoka. They told them mostly everything that has been going on, Chao's plan to expose magic, the true power of the time machine and the world tree. Now in the cool summer morning they prepared for battle in Eva's front lawn, because Negi knew the villa had been booby trapped by Chao, so she could win without a fight. But Negi wasn't about to make the same mistake twice having their meeting place outside of Eva's cottage still proved a good cover from plying eyes.
The group when about their pre-battle preparations, Negi looked over his equipment he had gathered together his most power antique artifacts that he had collected over the years. A focus ring that would could take the place of his staff if he lost it during the battle. A magic gun heavy modified by Jack and a ragged cloak that with fire resistance properties. Across the clearing Jack was thoroughly cleaning his guns making sure they were in top form for the battle. He even had brought out his second pistol again and placed them in the cross draw position. On his back was his sawed-off 12 gauged shotgun and strapped hidden beneath his coat was his new artifact, the Tenryu- twin hilts that from a blade of energy when used.
Nearby Kaede was going over her own gear, sharping all of her ninja tools, which was a lot if you looked behind her to see the huge pile of kunai, shiriken, kodaichi, and many, many more that she keep hidden on her person. Where she kept them nobody really knew.
Next to her was Ku-Fei going through some basic positions with her staff. Most would think that she would be hesitant to fight against her friend, but it was anything but that, in fact she was excited! She wanted to go toe to toe with Chao and anything else her friend could throw at her, and she guessed she should stop the existence of magic from being revealed too. But really she was just thinking about the fight that was to come.
The remaining members Setsuna, Konoka and the twins were preparing as well. Setsuna sharpened her sword to the point where she could gently run her finger across and cut it with ease. Konoka made sure she had her spells memorized by heart and practiced with the magic rings that Negi had given her to help her use defensive magic. And finally the twins were practicing with their scroll weapons, they had gotten used them more and could now do basic Ki attacks, though Jack told them they couldn't fight against Chao, Chachamaru or Mana because they would be too inexperience to do anything. This hurt their feeling a bit but soon rejoiced when he said they could take out the robots.
"Really, you'll let us fight? No joke?" They asked, excited by the prospect of fighting robots. It was just like a video game!
"Yes," Jack said at a length. He didn't really want them out there but they needed all the help they could get, if Negi hadn't told him that Chao's robots just strip clothes, he would have never let them go. "But still be careful and don't think of it was a game. This is a real life battle and you could still get hurt." He warned, not that it seemed help any because the two pinkettes where all ready chatting away.
Ah those two, he sighed, remembering his first battle, it was a blissful, bloody memory filled with lots of explosions. Yeah, those were the best, but this time he didn't want those things, he just wanted to get this over with and return to the quieter life he had when he first came to Mahora. Not that those days were any less hectic, thanks to the two in front of him.
He ruffed the twin's hair loving, they maybe just a year younger but their appearance always had him thinking they were like his own kids or little sisters. But the harmony was quickly broken, when Jack heard a familiar "Click".
"Take cover!" He told everyone in the clearing, pulling the twins with him as he took cover behind a nearby tree. He could hear the whistling sound of bullets past through the air. He checked to make sure the others were alright, finding that they were he breathed a sigh of relief, and then pulled out his own guns and look out around the tree. There was no one in sight but that didn't mean they weren't there.
"Alright come out here now you assholes! I got a bone to pick with anyone who tries to hurt my friends, so you better be ready to meet your maker!" He taunted, he knew that the shoot wasn't Mana. There had only been six shoots total. Not enough bullets for the mercenary's SIG 45s, each of them had at least 15 rounds in a clip. And the gun was a familiar one, one very familiar to Jack, it was a .357 magnum.
Silence filled the air as the group waited for their attackers to make a move, but nothing happened. They continued to wait for a few more minutes just in case the cease fire was a ruse to make them lower their guard.
Finally after twenty minutes of waiting, Kaede decided to take a rise and jumped out from cover with her gaint Shuriken acting as a shield. However instead of bullets like she was expecting. Shuriken about half the size of her own (think about the one Yuffie uses in ff7) spun dangerously close then flew harmlessly pass her. Kaede was confused. Then to her surprised the blades doubled backed like a boomerang and flew straight at her!
With homed reflexes attaint through years of practice. Jack took aim and fires his guns at the spinning blades that were just moments away from slicing up his girlfriend. The bullet hit the steel blade with a "tink, tink" knocking them of their course and then the blades buried themselves deep into the ground.
"You alright Kaede," Jack called from his position.
Kaede nodded.
"Good, now listen were going to switch places. You take the twins away from here and Setsuna will take Konoka. Me and Negi will stay behind and deal with these guys." It may not be at the greatest plan, Jack thought but it was the best he could come up with at the moment.
A silent signal was sent to between the two, and then suddenly they jumped across the field. Jack had just taken position behind Kaede's fallen Shuriken when a horrified scream pieced the air. Turning around quickly, he saw the girls trapped inside a blackish sphere then disappear into thin air!
"KAEDE, FUUKA, FUMIKA!" He yelled in anguish. Behind him he heard Negi yell for Setsuna and Konoka as they to disappear in the same black sphere.
"Jack, what's happened to them?" Negi asked distressed. He has just seen five of his students disappear into thin air! And he was powerless to do anything! Then to his horror the same happened to Ku-Fei, who was crouching beside him. He waved his hands around where she had been, but it was too late she was gone!
Negi was in such a state of shock that he didn't notice till was too late and he too was disappearing. The last thing he saw before the darkness completely entrapped him was Jack picking up Kaede's shuriken and hurling it into the air.
When he finally came too, a bright light blinded him momentary, putting his hand over his eyes to try on block out the light. But them he heard them. They were faint at first then gradually they became louder till recognition set in.
"Girls, I'm so glad you're alright!" Negi cried from his position on the ground.
Now that it was clear that Negi was going to be ok. They gave him some place and now that the bodies were out of the way, Negi could see where they were. White sandy beaches, tall white marble tower and blue oceans. Yep, there was no doubt about they were in Eva's villa, which means that they were sent a week into the future, because of Chao's booby trap. Whatever they were hit with must have teleported them into the villa. It seemed like something Chao would do, but yet somehow it didn't. But there was a bigger question that needed answering. Where was Jack?
Looking around, the cowboy was nowhere in sight, he asked the other if they had seen him but they shook their heads, no. A feeling of dread filled his gut, if Jack had somehow managed to escape being sent into the villa with them. Then that means he most likely went after Chao himself, and not knowing what happened to them he was bound to be filled with rage and that usually leads to trouble…big trouble, he corrected.
Negi stood up, surprising the girls, "Come on we need to get out of here and find Jack, then we need to find a way to fix this mess." The girls gave a confused look. "Just fellow me I'll explain on the way."
Outside the group hurried along trying to as inconspicuous as possible. Along the way Negi explained his theory to the others. It was a little hard to belief but the facts supported it. The festival was clearly over, and if you need any more concert evidence the date on the newspaper was more than enough. As they continued wonder, Negi started to breed the small hope that Jack hadn't done anything that would have caused too much of an uproar, not that exposing magic the world wasn't an uproar. But that hoped soon died as they stumbled across a crater the size of the world tree, at least it wasn't in the place of the world tree itself or things would really be bad.
"You stop right there Negi!" A voice commanded. The group turned and found Professor Gandolfini standing behind them. "You'll be coming with me, it's yours and Jack's fault that this as happened! We already have Jack in custody, so come along peacefully."
Negi laughed, softly at first then full blown laughter that would have belonged to a madman. As he clutched his sides with one arm and pointed the other mockingly at the dark-Skinned mage, still laughing.
"YOU… (Laugh)…capture Jack… (Laugh) …the only way that would happen is if he was knocked out! Because there is no possible way you bunch of low level pansies could ever take him!" He mocked, and then as if someone flipped a switch, he grabbed the professor by his neck tie and pulled him down to eye level. "Tell me, everything you know now!" He said in a voice that promised pain.
"Ok," Gandolfini replied shaken by the young mage's change in demur. "Chao had disabled most of the mage teachers. Takahata had her cornered but somehow he got taken down. Then Jack appeared destroying everything in his path. He incarnated all of Chao's robots in an instant, (that's how the crater was made) practically destroyed Chachamaru and left Mama Tatsumiya bleeding on the ground, it was the most amazing think I ever seen and it only took him a minute! Then he confronted Chao herself. I never have seen such powerful fire magic in my entire life. There is no way to describe it, but it seemed like Jack was about to win when two strangers come to Chao's aid. One was a man in a black duster coat and cowboy hat. The other was a woman dressed as a Kouga Ninja. They took down Jack in a matter of seconds! After that they disappeared and Chao revealed magic to the world. That's all I know." He finished, and then fell into darkness as Negi hit a nerve to knock him out.
"Alright girls, we need recuse Jack, go back in time and stop Chao from relieving magic." Negi said ignoring the fallen teacher. "Here's the plan. Setsuna and Konoka, you two take the twins to this location under the world tree. Well me, Ku, and Kaede go and get Jack out of the underground prison. I know the way so it shouldn't take too long to…"
"I would like to make a change to your plan, Negi Bozou." Kaede interrupted. Valuing the ninja's opinion he motioned her to continue. "I think it would be better if I went alone to rescue Jack, well you and Ku go with the others. It will be too hard for Setsuna to protect Konoka and the twins on her own if some of the more powerful teachers show up and capture them. Bringing us right back to where started."
"But Kaede you can't possibly…"
Kaede shushed him, "remember who you're talking two Negi-Bozou." She whispered then disappears.
Meanwhile thirty stories underground, Jack heavy restrained, watched is capturers with hate filled eyes. "You fucking idiots! Let me out now and I may let you live!" He cursed, pulling at his bonds while Takahata and Seruhiko interrogated him or at least they tried to. For the past week they have gotten nothing out of the cowboy but curses and injuries. Proving that you can hurt someone with just your teeth after Mitsuru Nijūin tried his hand at interrogation. Akashi still trembles in fear when he sees Jack's toothy grin.
"Calm down Jack, we're here to help you, but you need to helps, now tells were Negi and the others are." Seruhiko said smoothly, it was his turn after all the other teachers failed. He hoped his laid back approach would have better results than the others tell me now strategy.
With a hidden smirk he ushered the teacher closer and being the fool he was Seruhiko took the bait, "So you what to know where they are huh," he whispered.
Seruhiko nods.
"Ok, their… (chomp!)"
Biting hard enough to draw blood, Jack firmly tugged at the mage's ear. Erecting a moan of pain each time and finally in a great display of strength, smashed him head first on to the cement floor; knocking him out cold.
Takahata sighed as he dragged the downed mage across the floor. How far have they fallen, first Chao defeats them and now Jack, who is chained head to toe in lead chains and other magical restraints and he still manages to beat them! He is starting to really question the skill level of his fellow teachers.
"Well Jack, I can't say I understand everything you told us…you know the time travel thing and Chao's plans but I have a feeling that you guys have some sort of plan to fix this. I'm not in any real position to help you guys, so I think I'll go take a 10 minute break. I hope that's enough time." He said with a knowing grin. He knew he could trust the cowboy and his former students and most of all Negi the son of his hero.
Jack returned the gesture, "Yeah I think that's more than enough time any longer and you might fall asleep old man."
"Yeah, you're probably right there," he stops at the door. "By the way, I thought you would want to know that Thomas, Rubi, Kataro and Sayo have all disappeared, most likely their staying low somewhere, to avoid any punishment, not that the council has any authority over them, better that they play it safe, now that they have some else other than themselves to look out for."
"Yeah, thanks and don't worry we'll fix this mess. You can count on that."
"I know,' Takahata says as the door closes.
Standing third stories above ground was Kaede who was thinking of the best way to get down the stairs without wasting unnecessary energy or running into traps. Just running down the stair would take too long and waste a bunch of energy. So it was time to do things the ninja way. Grabbing a rope and claw, she firmly dug the claw end of the rope into the ceiling and tied the rope securely around her waist and jumped.
The wind blew through her hair whipping it wildly about as she made her decent. The rope being magic kept pace, growing longer and longer. Till finally the ground was insight! Whispering the enchantment the rope stopped extending just one inch away from Kaede hitting the floor.
"That was a close one de-gouzu."
Quickly cutting herself down, Kaede found herself at the bottom of the stairs. Amazingly it only took thirty seconds. As she observed the area she found no trace of any sigh of ambush, but her enemies where mages, so traps could appear out of thin air.
Kaede stepped through the entrance to the prison, then jumped back just in time to avoid the snapping jaws of one hungry looking Cerberus! What happened next was instinct. Drawing two of her gaint shuriken from where ever she kept them, she threw them at the Cerberus, cutting off all four of its legs. To her surprise the legs regenerated and it leaped for another attack, smashing the ninja into the wall behind her.
With a groan, Kaede pulls herself from the rumble and launches another assault with kunai and explosives. Once again the beast healed as soon as the damage was done. This made her start to think that there was something missing. Focusing on the breast again she found that it had no presence, she could see it, but her senses told her that it wasn't there.
"An illusion, like Genjutsu," she concluded. "That shouldn't be too hard to get rid of."
The key to fighting an illusion was to first realize that what you see wasn't there, once you did that it was rather simple. You could defeat the illusion with a release technique or take out the illusionist. Usually since the illusionist is too hard to find, it's easier to cancel the illusion the problem is how. Kaede wasn't a mage, so she wasn't sure if her technique would work.
Then she remembered what Jack did during the tournament to gain her ninja powers, meaning she should be able to do the same.
"Partner Jack, grant me all of your power, activating contract!"
A blinding light emits from her body, then fades revealing Kaede dressed in Jack's Gunslinger attire, a duster coat, cowboy hat and boots and of course his pistol. "Now, let's see anti-magic bullets, ah here they are!" She exclaims, finding the red tipped projectile. With speeds that could rival Jack himself, Kaede loads the gun and fires at the beast making it disintegrate. Leaving a Chibi sized mage behind.
"(sniffle) (sob) (hiccup), D-d-daddy!" the Chibi mage cried running across the bridged to the unmistakable form of Mitsuru Nijūin one of the mage teachers and Takahata beside him.
"Mitsuru-sensei, Takahata-sensei, Chibi-Chan," Kaede addressed them tipping her hat. "I trust that you won't be trying to stop me anymore. Because I wouldn't want Chibi-Chan to see her father receives matching bite marks on his nose."
Takahata held up his hands in defeat, "No not at this moment. I still have a few more minutes of my nap left. So there's not much I can do to stop you."
"Thanks, sensei," Kaede smiled brushing past them.
Inside his ceil Jack managed to get one of his hands loose from his bonds and retrieved the knife hidden in his boot and cut free from the chains with a little fire magic. Anti-Magical chains or not they still had a melting point, but even though he was free of his chains there was still the three feet thick wall make of anti-magic material to deal with.
"Ok, let's start with something small, Baring Knuckles!" Clutching his fingers into a tight fist and adding a little fire magic. Jack's knuckles burned red hot as he bounded against the door, after about a dozen hits or so it became relevant that he wasn't doing any damage. "Alright, how about this, Pyro ken!" Boots a blaze, he delivered an earth shattering kick at the door but still nothing.
"Clearly normal spells aren't going to work, and this room already reduces my power by half, so it's time for something a little more extreme." Jack told himself grabbing the knife he used earlier. He didn't like using these kinds of spells because of the backlash, but he didn't have any other choice at the moment.
"Oh one true God, grant me the power of the sword that guards the garden of the forbidden tree, Angel's Sword of Flame!" Jack's Knife became a sword of holy fire the flames were so hot that they were even making him sweat!
One slash was all it to cut through the metal wall melting it like hot butter. He quickly discarded the knife which had turned to liquid from the heat and stumbled weakly out the hole. He approached the desk next to the prison and found all his equipment there. After checking to see that everything was in working order, Jack was ready to go find the others, till he felt a familiar presence behind him.
"Well, I gotta say I'm diggin' the new threats...Kaede."
Author's note
Hey guys I just wanted to let you knew that in the coming weeks I'll have to start working in the fields and stuff, so my updating might become a little more erratic, and Once May 6 comes around I'll be graduating from high school and returning to my Job and generally living life, but don't worry I'll still be updating till august for sure after that I don't know. I'm hoping to have this story done by then if I continue to write that will be up to how much time I have when I start college.