There is no limit to the number of challenges one member can make, as long as I try to limit it to one or maybe, later one, two challenges per chapter from two different people. Personally, I think I can handle this one. Konoka watching Asuna shatter and die? My, my. A tragic event indeed! Magic cancellation is kaput! Let's see what this author can come up with.

MORE THAN TEN WORDS?! THAT'S UNTHINKABLE!

Ha ha, fine. Let's see, and I know this is going to be far more than ten words. Poor Konoka. By the way, those of you who are reading, this, my next chapter for Young Negi is already about three fifths done. I can almost expect to have it done tomorrow, but tomorrow follows a Monday schedule, and Mondays are hectic for me. I might get it done, I might not, if not, Friday...although Friday is another crazy day.

Goal of Young Negi Chapter length currently set at 50 kilobytes, fifty four is optimal. Current amount is 31.7 KB.

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Challenge Two: Sundering Indomitable.

I could only stare. My mind was completely blank. What was I to do?! Set-chan, where was she when I needed her?! Asuna...

Run.

A true friend is there till the end....even as the stone crawled up her body like a fast moving disease, she managed to keep a good face on and told ME to run. "Bad people" were after me.... That was all before the stone encased her mouth, and the cracks followed. Daddy...he too had been fighting stone. Was he like this now? Oh please no, don't let me be all alone here...

I never liked being alone...

I take a step back, unconsciously. It can't be. Asuna was too strong, too healthy. What was this, that turned people into stone? Who were these bad people? Is my father dead? What about my classmates? Did Set-chan even suffer this fate too? Where was Negi-sensei? If I look, will I see his glasses set in stone?

This is a nightmare...

I can't stop my hand from reaching up to touch her. I don't know why. Some evil within me needs to touch this to see if I'm not dreaming. Please, let this just be some nightmare I can scream and wake up from.

..but why can't I wake up?!

My touch sets off a chain reaction, and before me, Asuna's body crumbles into dust, her head falls and shatters upon the ground in a dozen pieces...yet those eyes still stare at me. Blank now, accusing, hurt. My own eyes must be wide enough to pop out of my skull by now, and I fall backwards, scrambling on all fours.

Will they at least let me escape this dream?

I want to look away, to block that sight from my eyes, but I can't. My head won't turn. It just won't obey me. My body is no longer mine, and I fear that, perhaps, I am affected to. Perhaps this disease takes the strong first and slowly creeps up upon the others.

Consuming all perhaps?

Somehow I can still see her eyes, even from where I am on the ground. That stare is all consuming. It numbs my mind, even as my body continues to try and slip away. Instinct, that's what it's running on, instinct. Yet, I feel my back bump into something.

It's no dream, is it?

I don't need to look to know it's the wall, but still I manage to turn around anyway, and I see that, no...it's not the wall.

"We're sorry for your inconvenient...

A curious feeling overtakes me. It creeps all the way up my body, stiffening me, consuming me. Maybe the stone has finally caught me to, for I can't even squeak. A boy, with piercing eyes and a pale face to match his silver head, stares down at me, his face emotionless, just before all goes black.

...tragedy..."

I'll be seeing you again soon, won't I Asuna?

"I'm sorry I didn't listen to you. Looks like I got caught anyway..."

+--1--+

Interesting. I'll cut that one here. How long is it by the way?

The actual challenge is around: 505 Words, not including the introduction and things, or the title. Meh. It is more than 10.

+--2--+

A second challenge huh? Okay then. You are awaiting my counter strike? Well, here it is then! You sunk my battleship! I will destroy two of your war tanks and tank your cruiser with me!

This challenge is named in honor of the theme I used to write it, which is an Advance Wars battle theme from Days of Ruin. Ehh you say? You used a battle theme to write a love tale? If you hear the song, you'll understand. It's Isabella's theme, the name is this challenge's title. It fits for Negi though. No, you don't have to spell it out, I got it, and yes, I am brave enough to take on my own work!

Challenge Three: Lost Memories.

It was the weekend, and a clear, beautiful weekend it was. A bright, early morning sun was out, and Anya somehow found herself out of her bed and down the ladder at this hour. She was confronted by Negi, who, at five of clock in the morning on a weekend with nothing to do, was snoozing on a table top, test papers graded and neatly stacked off to one corner.

His glasses had been pushed up to bunch his front bangs, and his face, was for once, blank of any bitterness. He was asleep after all, and at sleep was perhaps the only time he could look his age, something Anya couldn't help but notice.

Here, this way, Negi didn't look like a powerful Magi-sensei, or a dedicated teacher, he looked like a cute kid her age. Negi had always caught her with his power, his skill, his casual hero attitude, but he had always wore a hood in school...she never really got to appreciate his looks too much.

She knew what she was doing was wrong when she reached out to touch his hair, but she couldn't help it, it was such a similar color to hers, and it proved just as soft to the touch, yet, as expected, that simple touch sparked Negi into action.

He snapped awake, pulling his short sword, which he wore close to him just about everywhere except the shower, half way out before he saw who his "attacker" had been. He relaxed a bit as his eyes narrowed, his face going right back to its original poker-ready, stance.

He spoke in a whisper to her. She always noticed how he talked to her. With others, he used such big words, or bad ones. With her, he tried to keep them small, and kind. Why? It was true she didn't understand most of them, but it made her feel like he was babying her...

'Anya...why did you wake me up?"

Why? She didn't mean to. She just...touched him. Negi was such a light sleeper, one could swear he was in the army or something before. Awake and ready at the slightest provocation, ready to slice!

"I..I didn't mean to..."

Negi sighed and his shoulders slumped. He pushed back the chair he was sitting in and took a glance at the table top. It was clean, not a drop of saliva. Getting up, he walked to the room where everyone slept and grabbed his toothbrush. He was up now, so most likely he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. Anya followed him.

"Magi-sensei...."

He turned his head a bit to the side as he walked to go to the bathroom, indicating he was listening. She paused a bit, Negi was so...what? She had no words in her vocabulary to describe the boy.

"Can we play today?"

The sentence came out of its own volition, and Negi paused in mid-step. Play? Since when did he play? Play of all things? Play?! Why that was, that was just...just...play. Hell. Play. That word was something he...never thought about. Anya's question had caught him quite off guard this early morning. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, but the idea seemed novel for the weather.

The rising sun seemed to agree with him there, if he was more poetic, or stupid in his eyes, he would have said it was eagerly awaiting him to try this novel idea of playing. Anya covered her eyes with her hands when Negi slowly turned around, ready for the inevitable blast that would come.

Yet it didn't. Instead, she felt hands, just the right size to match hers, grasp her wrists and pulled her hands from her face, to reveal Negi's face just a bit closer than she was ready for. She instinctively moved back, but was anchored by his hands holding her arms in that same simple way. She could see Negi swallow before answering.

"Play huh? Well...it's not like I have anything else to do today...but the first student who asks me a question or wants some study time I'm back here, okay? I was planning on checking if we needed anything from the grocery, you can come with me...then maybe we'll play."

Memories...they are funny things.

Did he actually say maybe? Was he serious? Maybe the early morning was something that even had an effect on the powerful sensei...

A bit later, Negi walked along with Anya, his hands were full of groceries, so there was no stopping Anya from latching onto one of his arms like she had done at Kyoto. He rolled his eyes at first, but after awhile just settled into the routine. He picked up a couple strawberries he didn't need for her, after all, if they were going somewhere, why not get something? Nothing wrong with giving the girl strawberries, right?

They made her lips a bit too red, as if she were wearing lipstick. He took out a napkin, and shaking his head up to the heavens at the girls ditzyness, dutifully wiped the mess from her mouth. For some crazy reason, she blushed, which made him feel a bit off kilter.

The time you have lost, growing so fast, Negi.

Who the hell told the girl to look so...cutish like in a helpless blush, huh? He must be on some kind of drugs. Early mornings....

Finally, the groceries were put away, and Negi settled into this..."play" stuff with Anya. They had gone back out, for Negi did not want to hear any cat calls from Asuna or Konoka about him being around Anya playing a game...

They ended up, in all of the things to end up in, a sandbox. Hell if he understood it, but Anya was making a mess of her current clothes with sand, while he tried to keep his suit clean. Seeing this, Anya picked up a handful of the stuff and, grinning wickedly, threw it at him right in the face, which and unsuspecting Negi allowed to hit dead center.

"The hell!?"

He didn't know why, but he picked up a handful of his own and chucked it at her.

I'll give you that back. All those times you could have had.

The shot heard around the world, this crossfire turned into a fully fledged sand war, in which both parties job was to make the other a complete mess of dry and wet sand or the dirt underneath it. Negi actually opened his mouth to call a cease fire once, but swallowed a ball of sand instead.

In the end, both of them wound up lying side by side, staring at the sky, covered in sand and breathing heavily, but somehow smiling. Yes, Anya had to make sure but yes, the boy had a small smile on his face. The clouds were beautiful and the day was still brilliantly young.

Anya couldn't help but laugh, one cloud looked like a seal up there. Negi turned his head to look at her a bit, and then his smile cracked once, a bit wider. He remained that way, just watching her laugh at the different shapes the clouds made in her mind.

So much time he had lost, growing up, huh? He began to point out odd clouds, asking her what shapes she thought they were. Anyone who passed just thought they were two little kids. After all, those who knew Negi-sensei wouldn't think he'd be caught dead in a sand box, covered in grime, but that didn't matter.

What mattered was that, for once, he was happy, happy without needing a reason, just happy, and Anya had been the cause.

All those...Lost Memories.

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That's it for that one, I'm out of time, not time in challenge wise, but I have to hightail it to class time. Total words here...1292. Fits perfectly, but does it pass the test? That's up for you to decide.

MFT, awaiting your judgement, and your next bout.