Holy wows, these challenges are...FACINATING! ....Aww man, I've been listening to Caulder's theme to much...I'm strating to sound like him...Stil up on Advance wars. Galerians, I accept the challenge, your third sword! That will be the most difficult for me after all. I have never gotten the chance to peek at your story, so I need to do a quick look and hope I can handle him....
If I make an OC for this off the top of my head, they will almost certainly be either an overpowered flat character or one I won't be able to let go of. Negi, get over here!
Donald Forthe: Are you ready to rumble yet?! Can I do the breakdowns?! Please!
"...The heck did you come from?! I thought I stuffed you back in the box of insanity where you belong!"
Donald Forthe: "I got out. I dragged Pat with me to."
Pat: Hi.
"Darn it...fine, bore me readers and do the stats on these opponents. I'll think about how I can handle this challenge."
Donald Forthe: Great! All right, the break down is this folks, in one corner, we have the impressive and powerful yet..shy?! Hell is he shy for?!
"Are you going to be serious or do I have to kick you?"
Donald: Okay, okay. Just about Five foot ten this man stands, and his power, regardless of what he may say, is quite incredible! Don't ever let him hear you say that, though, he will blatantly deny it. Such a...gentleman? Humble man? Anywho, he'll crush Negi and then offer him his assistance...
Pat: Hold it right there Donny. Crush our young Negi? I think not. Negi will wipe the floor with him and leave his broken body to the paramedics.
Donald: Donny huh? This is where we disagree, you see, Teleportation, plus his incredible strength, will instantly win this match, hands down, for Wataru.
Pat: This is where you are wrong, Negi will break his soul with HeartBreaker and shatter him mind whole with Royal magic...
"ENOUGH! Good lord, you two can argue all day, can't you? I'LL do it then! Who are YOU rooting for...I wonder?"
Negi Springfield vs Wataru Shinozaki
Approximate Height: 3 feet 2 inches / 5 feet 10 inches
Approximate Weight: 46 Pounds / 132 Pounds?
Known Specializations: Wind, Fire, / Fire, Wind,
Darkness, Lightning / Weaponry: Blades
Weaponry: Blades, Gun, / Hand to hand
Daggers, throwing knives. / Chi
Hand to hand
Chi
"Bargaining" Chips: HeartBreaker / Teleportation
Royal Magics / Shinmeiryuu Ougis/Techniques
Pros: Versatility, small size, / Strength, speed,
Power, speed / Power, Level headedness
Pat: Wow...you did a whole chart.
'That is why you were in a locked box and I'm still here, now shoo so I can begin writing...and take your Donald with you!! "
+---+
The starting time is...now 9:25 AM
Challenge Four: A Meeting of Minds.
We all have our differences, and you never know who you may see anywhere you go. Sometimes you meet new friends, and sometimes...
You find enemies.
Negi sat, twirling HeartBreaker between his fingers after having wiped it clean of the mess it had gotten on it from his previous battle. He had an hour break before he would be tossed in again into this area they called the arena. How the heck he ended up here was of no consequence, all he knew was that the fighters here were interesting, and no one cared if you used magic here, so here he was. Simply training against air was, well, boring. He fiddled with the meter on his arm.
Who the heck invented these things anyway? They were supposed to go down to signify loss of vitality, it was a way of eliminating your opponent, You didn't kill them, you just beat down the bar until it emptied. The bar erected a shield around you equal to a certain endurance, measured by your strength. The lower it got, the worse you felt, until you collapsed when it drained dry. If you tried to cut someone's head off for example, the shield would stop you, but the opponent would feel the damage done..even if it was not.
To lighten the mood perhaps.
The last opponent had gotten Negi down to a third of his "Health" per se before Negi conked him out, so the boy was a bit eager to see who was his next victim here. Apparently, the higher up you went, the more predetermined "Health" you had. At the start. A measure was added to the winner after every battle, because, obviously, the higher up you went, the more powerful the blows would be, so you needed a higher health for the battle to mean anything...
Honestly, it was just a shield with a bar to show its strength and a nerve stimulator. A simple enough thing for a good enough game. Although, if the blow was powerful enough, it would still draw blood from the opponent.
A whistle sounded off in the distance as Negi looked up. It wasn't his turn, but the guy next to him paled. That was his signal, for there were two different tournaments going on. The boy knew this man was dead meat, for he had barely won his last one, while his opponent won easily. Oh well. Not like he was going to die if he lost...right?
A few minutes later, Negi heard a cheer, and the door to where he was waiting did not open, meaning, just as he suspected, his friend had just lost a battle. Where did people go when they lost though? He saw countless people lose to him, but he never got to see where they went.
Maybe this was all a dream that when you lost, you went back to reality. Or, it was simply his own dream, which, upon winning he would wake up, or lose...he doubted the losing part however, even as rumors of who he was scheduled to fight flew wild. He had twenty minutes left to prepare, so there was plenty of time to be nervous, but Negi wasn't the type now, was he? Look, see, fight, ask questions during fight, or later, who cares. No nervousness before battle, just the travel to battle.
He tightened the laces on his boots, retying them for good measure and feeling the hilts of both daggers there. His hands traveled up to where two kunai were tied loosely to his belt, along with his gun and two reloads. Still, the hand flitted off to the side to feel for HeartBreaker. He had yet to use it in this tourney, but he had a feeling he might bring out his second blade here. His short sword was, as always, sheathed under his shirt, close to his body in front. He felt for his magical reserves, which were just about replenished, and he was at the top of his energy, he was only getting agitated as the minutes dragged on.
Finaslly, a trumpet. His signal, for the final rounds. He got up, and as the doors opened to reveal the sun shining through to play on his face, he stepped forth into his destiny.
((Checking up. 9:55 AM.))
His opponent was opposite him, a teenager, perhaps around sixteen. He couldn't see a blade on him, but that never stopped Negi being wary. His eyes shone an odd, golden hue, and Negi sought to capture them with his own fire red orbs. He wore almost all black, which contrasted Negi in his light brown jean pants and short sleeved overcoat with white shirt. This man stood out, Negi blended in.
An announcer called for bets, while the main speaker introduced the two combatants, but Negi ignored it all, his vision focusing on his one opponent. The signal for the start of the match came, and the boy's hands came out, magic running along them in a brilliant purple hue, shining there as he held it in reserve for but a split second before calling out his spell release to the cool day air.
"Rastel Mascir Magister!"
Even as he called out his spell release, he noticed his opponent had yet to move. What, was he nuts? Nonetheless, Negi rushed him. His mouth opened anyway though, to speak to the man, after all, it was rude just to punch someone just like that yah know!
"Oii, you, the match has started, do something!"
Just as Negi was about to reach him, rearing back his arm for a punch to the gut, the man in front of him neatly sidestepped and simply brought up his foot, almost as if to trip Negi up or hit him in the gut, but Negi managed to jump over it.
"I'm aware of that, but rushing an opponent you know nothing about is unwise."
Negi landed on his feet, facing the opposite direction he had been, his opponent doing likewise. Negi came at him again, his fist once more reared back, but his opponent once again sidestepped, brining up his knee, but this time, Negi, while jumping over it again, grabbed his leg with his free hand and tried to overbalance the man. He wound up on the ground, for his opponent's feet were quite well planted on the ground. Negi sprang up, and eyed him.
"Are you going to continue this or give up?"
Sagitta Magica, Undecim Spiritus
"Oh hell yes, I'm going to continue this."
Lucis!
Springing back at him once more, this time Negi landed about a foot away from him before swinging out his foot for a kick to the kidney, at the same time letting loose his arrows of light near point blank at the other's face. However, Negi was not expecting his response to be to simply..disappear.
"Pardon me. I'm over here."
Negi barely managed to dodge in time. He spun around and dropped to the floor just as his opponent sent a powerful uppercut like punch at him. The uppercut starts low, so if Negi had not gone all the lower, it would have hit him and sent him soaring upward. As it was, Negi, on the ground, performed a leg sweep, which his opponent dodged.
Sagittan Magica, Undecim Spiritus
((Checking, 10:25 AM))
Negi jumped up just as his opponent was preparing to kneel and tried to punch him in his face using his lowered height, but the man sprang off to the side easily. Negi then began to gather his mind together, looking for a way to break his current visage by attacking mentally. His opponent sent another fist at him, which grazed by Negi's head, he had been distracted gathering his mental fortitude.
Ingus!
Once more unincanted arrows sprang from his fingertips and his opponent swiftly avoided them with a few odd sidesteps. Wataru disappeared again, and Negi whirled around just in time to see a foot come up and crash into his midsection. At the same time, Negi let loose his mental attack on the man, raking at his mind with powerful, sharp mental claws, causing him to stumble back and allowing Negi to recover.
"Sagitta Magica, Trginita Spiritus Fulgurans!"
Sagitta Magica, Trginita Spiritus Obscurans!
Darkness and lightning both gathered around his body before shooting forth, and Negi charged after them, building another mental barb as he went. As he expected, Wataru dodged his arrows of darkness neatly before disappearing once more, and Negi jumped off to the side while turning around, but he felt a foot slam into his kidney area.
Damn, I went the wrong way!
The boy released his barb again, not quite the rake he had done before, only enough to really make the man shrink back a bit, and allow Negi to turn him fall into a kind of cartwheel away form to face his front. Negi then realized his opponent was once again still.
"Do you insist on fighting me...really?
Gritting his teeth, Negi rose his fists, which began to condense with chi before he, in a flash, drew out his short sword, transferring the glow to it, pushing energy into it to fortify its potency. He held the blade level even as he rose a foot and tugged out a blade from his boot sole. A dagger and a short sword, both glowing bright.
Veniant Spiritus Glaciales Obscurantes...
"Hell do you think I've been doing, trying to invite you for flipping British tea?!"
"As you wish..."
Negi rushed at him again, now having his two blades held out in front of him as if to spit the man on them, but once more, his opponent disappeared, yet Negi stopped on a dime and spun in a circle, flashing out his chi infused blades in all directions around him. His opponent had not teleported close to him however, not that close. He still needed to jump back slightly however, the reach of the short sword was slightly longer than he had anticipated.
Cum Obscuratione Flet Tempestas Nivalis!
"Ex Somno Exsistat Exurens Salamandra..."
He came again, and even as he came, blades at the ready, he was trying to formulate a plan of how he would get this guy. Negi was fast, but he was faster with that odd..teleportation of his. Negi yelled out to all who cared his next spells conclusion, just as he swung his blade high to try and cut man through the midsection downwards.
Nivis Tempestas Obscurans!
"Inimicum Involvat Igne! Captus Flammeus!"
Wataru disappeared again even as his fiery captor lashed out, but Negi spun around with his blades out and let loose his unincanted spell point blank. Finally, something hit, as his opponent received it full on in the midsection, getting blasted back a distance, Negi grinned then. Yet he was once again, not prepared for another quick teleport, and for the other to finally show some ability on his part.
"Kaze no Ryuu..."
Crap!
Negi jumped off to the side, twisting as he did so to try and avoid the inevitable attack, but he did not know what it was or even what it's range would be, and as such, he landed right in the bull's-eye for it...His opponent's fist was clenched tightly, and then, the forward launch...
"...Kamaitachi."
"Deflexio!"
Powerful cyclones, a whole multitude of them, erupted from his fist straight at Negi, blasting him quite a bit backwards, but thankfully doing no damage, for his spell held, although the attack did eventually shatter it. Yet, by that time, it was enough so that Negi knew a pattern to try and dodge.
"Evocatio Valcyriarum Contubernalia Gladiaro!"
Sagitta Magica Trignita Spiritus Ingus!
((Checking up: 10:56))
When the other let loose his move, Negi revealed himself ready and rushed his opponent, shooting like a madman. Wataru's widened a trifle before he was forced to disappear again and appear behind Negi.
"Age Capiant!, Contra Pugnent!"
Negi's copies surrounded him, a shield to Wataru's attack, and Negi let loose his fire arrows with a deadly accuracy, yet even so, the other managed to dodge most of them, although a few claimed a couple scraps from his sleeves, singeing them.
"You don't fight me seriously and you're going to get yourself killed boy!"
Oddly, this statement came from Negi to Wataru, and it seemed to spark something in him. His feet surrounded in a dark aura, a compilation of darkness upon darkness, and he began to float. His golden eyes burned with a fire that wasn't there before a fire that said, in so few words: "Oh, now It's on." The other disappeared from view just as Negi smiled and appeared at Negi's side, almost getting spitted on Negi's blade, for he had swung it to stay there.
"Key thing about your teleportation. You can't occupy the same space as something else, and in the instant of transport, I don't think you change direction, can you? If someone waits until the very moment you transport, and sticks their blade where they expect you'll be. If you appear there..."
Aestuo continuo in nox noctis meus flamma...
Negi spun around with his blade, slashing down and making Wataru simply jump to the side.
...incidere per obscurum valde levitas, convenio...
"You'll have a blade sticking right through you, won't you? You'd better watch out with tha tlittle trick of yours. What happens if someone forces you to teleport to a specific location and there's a person there, or a weapon? If it's small enough it'll end un inside you, cutting you to bits or completely destroying your insides, and if it's too big...you'll be torn apart won't you?"
...ego sum vestri famulatus rip continuo...
Negi tossed his gun into his belt as he rushed his opponent again, bringing out, finally, HeartBreaker to gleam in the sunlight. He jumped to the side to avoid a kick and spun around to meet Wataru's fist with the fist that held his short sword. The resulting shockwave send the boy skidding quite a few feet backwards, but he was still grinning, like a mad man now.
"Sagitta Magica, Centum et Nonaginta novem Spiritus Obscurans!"
Negi sent arrows after arrows at the boy, in all directions now, from all over his body to prevent him from teleporting and performing a back attack. Negi carefully watched where he dodged and closed the ring of arrows until Wataru was forced to teleport to one area, in which Negi instantly released his deadly creation, the higher arch of the highest mid class beam spells.
Abyssus...Levitas!
The spell barreled at him, and the other was forced to take it head on with his frontal fist out...there was nowhere else to go. The spell only lasted for about six seconds, but it was a devastating six seconds of punishment for both of them, for Negi collapsed on one knee, his magic kaput. Wataru was still standing, and approached him a bit slowly.
"You've fought very well, but I think it's over now. You should go and get some rest and see to your-"
"No."
Negi placed a hand on his knee, and used it as leverage to push himself up, and up, until he was halfway to standing. He had no magic to throw right now, but that didn't mean he was done. He grimaced and forced himself all the way up. His opponent frowned slightly.
"Are you sure-"
Negi actually gnashed his teeth, and animal barely constricted by his leash in this cage.
"Hell no am I giving up. HeartBreaker..."
He held up the blade and it began to glow a blood red. His short-sword shined in the daylight, showing his defiance.
((Checking up 11: 25))
"...will always answer to my call. I'm not done fool. I'm a demon because I've kill so many of them, I've spilt their blood on my hands until it became mine. Now...for real, En Garde!"
The boy rushed Wataru, pushing all of his adrenaline and what little power he could drain from his surroundings into his body and thus his speed. He swung like a madman, spinning, parrying, dodging. Wataru kept an easy pace against him, dodging and teleporting, but the technique, if used excessively, is tiring. It does need concentration and a bit of power after all, just like the shundo. Negi's grin became wider and wider. He was a fighter at heart, and his magic, while his main strength, was only a supplement in the end to his fighting.
Finally, after what seemed to be forever, Negi nicked his opponent on the calf with his short sword, drawing visible blood. The small boy almost roared like the animal he could be. His eyes still burned, and showed that their red color came not only from genes, but from a captive fire that never ran out of the fuel that kept them burning, not until his life was snuffed out, the candle in the wind.
"First blood is mine!"
Still, this did not mean Wataru was done, by far, he was not. He dodged and blocked like hell, and finally, when an opening came, he rushed in with a fierce abandon, calling out another technique that made Negi slam up both his blades in defense.
"Honoo Ryuu...Maouken!!"
The powerful blast seemed to shake the very earth they stood on, and Negi was sent skidding back so quickly, you could swear he was flying. He slammed into the wall of the stadium, not a petty thing, for they had been all the way on the other side, and created a crater with his body, he coughed, and a single drop of blood came from him. He saw his bar for the first time. It was less than half, and had turned yellow. Wataru's was still green goddamnit! Although it two was hovering very near to where Negi's was. The tiny mage grinned.
"I fight best when I'm backed into a damn corner boy! Watch yourself!"
Wataru had come at him to follow him to the wall, but Negi pulled himself out, even if he did so painfully, first and dodged off to the side, swinging his chi infused blades out. Once more they entered into a fray of slashing and dodging, only this time Wataru was not afraid to pull off his "Demon God's Fist". In fact, he tried it twice more, sending Negi flying into another wall a second time, but the third Negi finally managed to dodge.
"Kaze no Ryuu, Kamaitachi!"
The cyclones came, and Negi artfully, although, admittedly warily, dodged them. Negi's smile had faded into a set determination, and his eyes said plainly his will to stay alive. His little health bar, by this time, had finally turned red, but Wataru had finally turned yellow. Negi knew it had been a long while, and he had been steadily forcing his body to draw magic as fast as he could from his surroundings, but it still wasn't enough...still not yet.
He pushed harder, forming a spear of thoughts to launch at him all the while, and finally managed to make HeartBreaker land, slicing a thin line along the other's arm...making the other grimace, stumbling back. Negi capitalized by shooting off his mental attack, slashing out again to catch him with his short sword along the other arm, saying as he did.
"HeartBreaker's effect is quite sinister. It makes a person relive their worst memories...feeling the pain, the loss, the sorrow that they had at that time, only multiplied and formed into a weapon. It hurts, doesn't it?"
What kind of honorable person uses that kind of weapon?!
Wataru might have been struggling with memories with a shaken mind due to Negi's mental attack, but he still saw the boy rush at him and raise him blades. Wataru kicked him right in the midsection, sending him flying, but not before Negi slashed down and had his blades make two long cuts all down his right leg, the one he had kicked with. This prompted a return of the plaguing memories.
Finally the boy's health was red! Brilliant, glorious red! Negi landed on his feet, a bit painfully, but launched himself back in the fray, raising his short sword high. He spoke even as he did so, letting Wataru know he had "over-heard" him.
"I told you, I am a DEMON! I have little to no honor in how I defeat my opponents! If I don't deem them worthy! I deemed you worthy to feel the sting of this weapon, accept it!"
Wataru quickly dodged off to the side, but Negi's short sword was there, slicing up and catching him across the chest. Yet the other would not give up and caught Negi right in the face with a well placed upper cut, sending him soaring upwards.
"Honoo Ryuu...Maouken!!"
The hit caught Negi right where it hurt, in the middle, sending him flying further upwards and to slam into the ground not long afterwards, far away from a panting Wataru. His bar was empty.
"Strong...so young but strong...you are quite an opponent.."
Yet, the other stirred. It was barely visible, but if one looked closely..no the bar was not empty. A sliver remained, and that sliver allowed Negi to stand up, ever so slowly.
"I am not...."
Standing up fully, he was panting heavily and a mess, a torn, bedraggled mess, but he was still Negi and he stuffed his short-sword in his belt and held HeartBreaker in his left hand as his right finally glowed with magic, renewed, sweet, magic.
((Checking in 11:55..I need to end this...NOW! I've got class at 12:10...))
To Sumbolaion Diakonētō Moi
"This battle my friend, while fun, is over..."
Negi clenched his fists, drawing as much magic as he could, almost to the point where one could see it coming into him. Wataru could feel that this was not good, and rushed him, he cursed the fact that he had "spammed" his Teleportation earlier on, and now could not use it, he was too tired of mind.
hē Krustallinē Basileia! Epigenēthētō, Taiōnion Erebos... Haiōnie Krustalle!
"Sorry it had to end this way, maybe we'll see each other sometime, for a real good fight to make this one look pansy."
He was halfway there, just a bit more and he would be there, he rose his fist, bleeding from numerous of his own wounds, he put his determination into the last bit, his Demon God's Fist.
Pasais Zōais ton Ison Thanaton, hos Ataraxia! Kosmikē Katastrophē!
He was there, and just as he reached and was unleashing, Negi held out his own free hand, stabbing straight out with HeartBreaker at the same time.
"Bite Me."
The Ice exploded all around him, just as HeartBreaker stabbed and Negi felt the blast form the Demon God's Fist. Both of them were blasted backwards as the whole earth seemed to tilt off its axis, and in the end, both were face down on the ground, and both of them, very definitively, had empty bars....
+--1--+
Time out: 12:02. Here my friend, Galerians, is my strike! Who wins? Well, between Negi and Wataru, it looks like a tie! Although I don't think I quite handled Wataru correctly, but I tried. I'll let you decide.
Words: Approximately 3853
Time: Two hours and seven minutes.
To class!!
...and I'm back. My class was CANCELED! Good lord. What AM I doing here today? I came here at seven because the bus was incredibly fast and roads empty, waited around until nine for my class, go to my lab classroom, find out my first three hour class is canceled, decide to do the challenge, do so, get up at 12:02 to get to my other classroom for that class, and find out at 12:12 that that three hour class has ALSO been canceled. I was supposed to be here until five o clock, the extra two hours for homewrok...but now what am I supposed to do now?
ArchangelWings! I'll take your challenge then! Although I wonder if you mean the original Negi or My Negi. Ehh, My Negi would be harder to do...OKAY THEN, I'LL DO MINE, MUWAHAHA!
Pat: You really must excuse him, he's off his meds. Donald: Really? But wasn't he always like this? "Didn't I tell you to leave? Did I not tell you to take your Donald with you?!" Pat: He was like this before you dunce, when we were still around. "...And you're the reason I'm like it again! Now scram!"
Start: 1:16 PM
+--2--+
Challenge Five: Medicine Supreme
Why? She really wanted to understand. They had called her too childish, her acrobatics held no real meaning they claimed. A simple child performing an art, a porcelain doll spinning in a music box. No depth, no true artistry, and so this was the end of the line for her. That stung her. They would not take her, and she had no time to rehearse again. No, there was no going around it, she didn't make the team. How...? She had practiced so hard! But no, she didn't make the cut at all. She had the skill and the moves, but not the feeling the depth of character. She needed to simply grow up.
Her instructor had yelled that at her, that last part, grow up. Grow up, why didn't she. That hurt. A lot. Not just what he said, for he said a whole lot more that brought her to tears, that sent her flying out of the room on the power of her legs, but it was how he said it. He practically radiated the statement "You're useless, you'll never do anything right." from him. All of it coming to crash on her.
She really didn't know where she was going. All she knew was that she was outside, running along a road in which both sides had forest. She was going somewhere, but she neither cared nor wanted to care where. Her streamers where still in her hands, fanning behind her in the wind. She had forgotten her coat, she had even forgotten her usual clothes, still in her gymnast outfit, she ran, the moon light reflecting off her suit.
Sometime later, she stopped, panting. She fell to her knees, now on the hard cement of the sidewalk. It grazed her leggings along her knees, biting her skin, but she didn't notice. She just had to get away from that yelling, it still resounded in her head. Her utter failure. A figure came up, tiny, walking along while being heavily loaded with groceries. She couldn't help but look up, her face was still stained with the tears that had come.
Makie, always bubbly and cheerful, but easy to confuse, and even easier to bring down. Such simple things brought her happiness. You take those away, and she goes down, all the way. They had done that to her, by destroying her dreams with a fail swoop of their hands, dashing her hopes like so many torn roses in a high wind.
"The hell are you doing here...aww crap. I really don't want to have to deal with this..."
The speaker, the figure weighed down with baggage, was Negi Springfield. The said boy put down one set of groceries to fish around in his pocket for a pack of tissues. Now she was annoying her sensei, bothering him, when all he had done was go out for groceries. Couldn't she do anything right?!
Negi found the tissues and handed her the pack, but the girl shook her head, trying to get up and leave him be, but her legs wouldn't hold her anymore, she fell forward nearly landing on top of Negi, but the boy managed to dodge off to the side quickly, catching her around the middle to prevent her from completely falling, but she knocked over a couple of his bags, sending a hail of oranges cascading out of one of them, and a milk carton out of another, which exploded upon contact with the ground, dousing Negi's shoes in milk.
She always made a mess of things, and now look, she had made a mess of Sensei's groceries, she should leave, before she caused any more trouble...but Negi painfully lifted her half upright, so she came to a rest on her knees again. She looked up at him, for he had taken out a few tissues from the portable pack and quickly lashed out his hand, pausing the quick movement to gently wipe away the moisture from her face.
"Of all the annoyances of a day."
See? You're annoying sensei. Yet, when she tried to get up, Negi put his hand on her shoulder, keeping her firmly down. His voice floated to her ears, a mixture of annoyance, anger, and curious concern.
"Oii, didn't you see what happened last time you tried to get up? Stay down and let me see what the hell is wrong will you?"
She stayed still then. After all, he was right, and once again, she was being stupid. Ayaka-lincho was right, always childish, always a failure. That was her. A single tear fell again, and Negi caught in quickly in his hand. He bent down, in the milk, and looked at her face to face.
"Hey, hey, hey. Enough already. Hell is the matter, did someone die?"
She shook her head, violently, making her dizzy... No, no one died, except her hopes, nothing had been lost, except her dreams. She woozed a bit. Tired. That's what she was. Tired. Even a failure needed rest after all. Negi extended his hands and held her steady by her shoulders.
In that moment, she thought. Do failures find help, real friends... love even? His face was so close, yet so annoyed. Why was she thinking like that? Yet, had a boy ever showed interest in her? Not really, no. She was too stupid, too air headed after all. Yet here was the smartest one she had ever known, and he was concerned for her.
Concern is not love you failure.
No, but it's concern. A basis for...what? Care. Basis? What kind of word was that? How did she even know that word? Negi shook her and she realized he had been talking, and she had been falling alseep on him. Her eyes zoomed open, eyes such a similar color to her own looked back at her. Negi blinked.
"Okay, we have life! You're just friggin tired I bet. I'll walk you home, how's that? You've got a nasty scrape o your knee, but nothing to major. Nothing a bit of antiseptic and ointment can't handle. Can you at least stand and hold unto the bridges railing for a bit?"
Oh, that was right, they were on the bridge. Negi helped her up and she leaned against the supporting pillar for the arch the bridge had. She stared into the water looking at it's depths. A single, insane thought flashed there.
What would happen, and who would miss her if she just suddenly, jumped off? Nothing, no one? She would just cease to exist, a single failure gone from the world. She didn't realize, but Negi was shaking her again, yelling.
"The hell are you trying to do girl?! Jump off?!"
She realized her body had moved. Obeying some primal instinct maybe, but her feet were already on the railing a hand on a spindly support wire. Negi grabbed her foot and a quick pull had her tumbling down, right on top of him.
He yelled from where he was, a bit muffled, but she still heard him. She lay on top of him, seeing the stars. How had she gotten there? How had her body known her heart's desire? Why did Sensei try to stop her?
"I don't care what the fricken reason was for you crying, or for you trying to go kamikaze on me, but don't you dare be so fricken selfish again!"
Selfish? She rolled off him, a bit painfully, and watched as he got up to look at her. She was on her hands and knees, like some kind of pink haired cat begging for the spilt milk that had already nearly finished it's seeping into the ground. How could she have been selfish, removing a failure form the world? Her face plainly said that, and Negi answered her.
"Hell, maybe you didn't take your damn Zoloft, But never forget there are people out there who would wonder where the hell you got to, and worry. There are people who care about you, just like any other flipping person out there. Huh?! Stand up, you're making me sick down there."
A single word, a single syllable, came from her, one that dripped with surprise and quite a bit of hurt. It was obvious to Negi that, either she was on drugs, or she was at an all time low.
"Care...?"
He rolled his eyes. Hell. Hell, hell, hell. Why did things like this always happen to him? Walking up to the girl, he grabbed her shoulder, squeezing hard, but not for pain, he was showing support, somehow making the powerful hold bolster instead of pain.
"Yes you idiot. Care. If nothing else, your teacher cares about you. Now get the hell up and let's walk!"
The voice almost forced her up on its own, and she looked at him level eyed. He nodded. At least that was good. He bent down to get what was left of his groceries, and Makie's head fell again.
"Oh but Sensei, your stuff..."
"Forget about it."
He helped her get past the milk and then they walked, every once and awhile Negi stopping to make sure the girl was still with him or not about to fall, or fall asleep for that matter. Finally, they managed to approach the dorms, and Makie popped a question to Negi, making him pause.
"Sensei...are you a friend?"
It was a simple question, yet Negi felt she meant something else by popping that on him. He didn't say anything for a couple more steps, for he had begun walking again after a pause. By the time he got to the door however, he turned around and answered her.
"I'm your teacher. I suppose that's code for educated person whose job it to care about you and teach you...I never had friend's Makie...but if you mean if I am a person who will look out for you, or someone who would worry if you jumped off a bridge...yes. I suppose I am."
+---+
Time out: 2:18
What's the words...what's the words...
1672 words.
......
You decide if I passed that one. Time: 1 hour and 2 minutes.