Disclaimer: I don't own Negima or Ranma 1/2.

Rise of Prodigies

Chapter Seventy-Six: Epilogue - Happy-kun!

Negi was in his office that he had been given in the home that he currently shared with his father and Albireo Imma-san in the extensive underground labyrinth of Mahora. Even after the ritual to cement Mundus Magicus' place in reality, Negi, as one of the major architects of the ritual, had continued to monitor the situation in the magical world, so as to ensure that there were no unforeseen consequences. To that end, Kurt-san and Theodora-san, among others, had been sending him updates. Reports that he was currently reading through only to be interrupted when a sudden holographic screen appeared next to his head and released a chime to indicate an incoming Web call.

"Urashima-san?" Negi said with surprise as he took note of the name on the screen that indicated the caller and answered the call.

"Good day, Springfield-san." Keitarō Urashima greeted as the call from Mundus Magicus connected.

"Hi Urashima-san." Negi returned easily. "Why are you calling? Are you having trouble with the Hina Blade?"

The archaeologist's, who had been introduced to Negi by Ranma-sam, family coincidentally were the guardians of the cursed blade that Tsukuyomi used in the final battle against Cosmo Entelecheia and Negi. Thus after the conclusion of the war, he had handed it to him for safekeeping.

"No, I'm not calling about the Hina Blade." Urashima-san said with a shake of his head. "I handed that off to my sister and she has seen to it that it has been returned to the secret vault where it should be sealed away. I'm calling you about something else."

Negi nodded. Outside of contacting him to handle the Hina Blade, Negi had also sought the archaeologist out so he could help him check out various places previously connected to the Mage of the Beginning. Strictly speaking, Negi need not have made arrangements for this to be done. He should have left this to the authorities on Mundus Magicus, but he was not that kind of person. He was a major part of the fight against the Mage of the Beginning and even though the Outsider had been defeated, he still felt the need to keep involved in the post-victory cleanup.

Thankfully, he was not alone in carrying out this important task. One such helper was Urashima-san who had agreed to take on the task Negi had asked of him and had been working on it ever since the Mage's defeat. Which meant that if he was not calling about the Hina Blade then it must be because he had found something.

"What have you found?"

"It seems that the latest set of ruins I've explored appears to be an abandoned lab." Urashima-san said, preparing to turn the view being projected by the magical call before suddenly pausing. "Uh, what I've found here is stomach turning. You want to see it? If not, I can just describe it to you."

"I sent you to search for these places, it's only right that I see what you've found for myself." Negi said as he took a steadying breath. "Show me."

Urashima-san frowned before finally sighing and turning the view being projected so that Negi could see a room filled with test tubes, each of which contained various grotesque slime-humanoid hybrids that looked like something that came out of that The Thing horror movie that Father had him see the other day. It was such a disgusting sight that Negi had to swallow his bile as he threatened to lose his lunch over the horror on display through the call.

"This isn't even the most horrific thing that I've found here." Urashima-san said with a frown before he schooled his features and continued. "But nightmare fuel isn't the only thing that I found here. But to show you what I mean, I need to go outside. Give me a minute."

Negi nodded and involuntarily breathed a sigh of relief as Urashima-san moving away from the horrific room of test tubes meant that he could no longer see the terrible sight.

It took Urashima-san a few minutes but soon he made it outside where his wife, Urashima Naru-san, was waiting while holding an orange colored blob of amorphous slime.

.

The orange slime

"What's that?" Negi couldn't help but inquire as he stared at the slime. It, rather adorably, waved a pair of pseudopods as if they were arms in a welcoming motion.

"The only surviving experiment of the Mage's in this lab," Keitarō-san informed him. "An amazing one."

"Amazing?" Negi asked skeptically.

Naru-san nodded, "Yeah, touching its surface seems to cause immediate euphoria, which intensifies the longer you touch it. And the feeling seems to last long after separation from the creature. A duration that is extended based on how long you've been exposed to it."

"Wow!" Negi said genuinely amazed like Keitarō-san implied he would be.

"So you think Ranma-sama will like it?" Keitarō-san asked.

"Huh?"

"It's a slime, right?" Naru-san said with a smile. "She's a slime goddess, so giving it to her is fitting."

"Oh, right. I'll check with her but I'm sure she'll love it."

"Then we'll send it over soon." Keitarō-san told Negi with a smile. "In the meantime, we'll contact the authorities and get this place cleaned up."

"I'll leave that to you guys." Negi said with a nod. "Oh and thank you again for doing this. On your honeymoon no less."

"Don't mention it," Keitarō-san said while Naru-san nodded before they signed off.

After her traumatic experience as the prisoner of the Mage of the Beginning and her return to Earth, Anya had decided to stay in Mahora. With her parents, along with the rest of the formerly petrified villagers of her hometown, recovering here after Ranma-sama had used her divine power to free them and it being a place where the Outsider could be readily reached if something went wrong with their rehabilitation, staying in the Japanese town was a no brainer. More importantly with Ranma-sama here, she could be safe! She was at least an acquaintance of the Outsider and the goddess wouldn't let anything happen to her friends and acquaintances!

And to finish her training as a Mage and to earn a living, Anya had chosen to continue working as a fortune teller. Which was what she was doing right now. It was a slow day however and thus whilst waiting for a client to visit the little store she had rented in downtown Mahora, Anya let her mind wander.

Damn that stupid Negi! And curse my stupid past self and its silly crush on him! If not for him and my idiot past self, I would never have gone to Mundus Magicus and gotten imprisoned by Cosmo Entelecheia! I wouldn't have- No! Don't think about it! I don't want to relive it! Think about something else!

Desperately searching for something, anything, that might serve as inspiration for her, her eyes quickly fell on a picture of Ranma-sama that served as the centerpiece of the small shrine to her goddess that she had set up in a small corner of her tiny shop. A shrine that also included a smaller photo of the goddess' mate, Eva-sama, as well.

Thinking of her goddess and her mate's relationship sent a shiver down Anya's spine. Forgive my blasphemy, my goddess, but just the thought of what spawn you and Eva-sama might conceive together is spine-chilling. They will be the most divine of creatures of course but I also have no doubt that they will be utterly terrifying.

Deciding that she had courted a smiting from her goddess as much as she dared, Anya desperately turned her attention elsewhere once more and settled on just feeling discontent at the entirety of her life situation.

"How the hell did things end up like this!?" She said with a sigh. "Why couldn't Negi just stay the little silly boy like he was when we were kids. If he had-"

Then I'd be able to snag him for myself and not be on the verge of losing him to those elf, technomage and robot hussies!

Her thoughts were cut short when the wards she had set out at the entrance of her shop sent a mental chime ringing in her head to inform her that she had a customer. Reacting immediately, she discarded her distracting thoughts and put on her business face.

"Welcome to Anya's Fortunes." She greeted the relatively familiar face of Yukihiro Ayaka, the class president of Negi's class at Mahora Girls' Junior High, as she pushed her way through the curtains that separated Anya's work area from the front of her shop.

"Good afternoon, Cocolova-san." Yukihiro-san greeted as Anya gestured for her to take a seat across from her. "I am here for you to tell my fortune with your magic."

Of course you are! That's my entire business model! Anya thought but did not say, instead hiding her exasperation behind her professional mask.

"Can you be more specific about what you want to know?" Anya asked as the blonde took the offered seat. "The more narrow you make things, the more accurate your fortune will be."

Ayaka nodded in understanding and with a blush revealed what had brought her there. "I would like a fortune about whether I have any chance of ending up with Negi-sensei."

Why! Why was everyone still so obsessed with that useless Negi!?

A few hours later, Anya's work day was finally at an end and she was making her way home. During the process of which, she found herself taking an elevator up to the apartment in the complex where she now lived with her parents.

Argh! It's been a long day. Anya thought as she released a relieved sigh. I can't wait to just kick off my shoes and just relax, maybe take a long soak in the bathtub.

Maybe it was her thoughts that jinxed her, maybe it was just her horrid luck, but just as she thought she was about to get a chance to relax, the elevator cab suddenly jerked to a stop.

"Huh? What happened?" Anya asked the empty elevator as she stumbled a little and looked around her worriedly, just in time for the lights of the elevator cab to flicker.

"I-Is, is this a malfunction?" The young fortune telling fire mage said as her heart began to race.

She had barely finished speaking before the lights suddenly cut out completely, plunging Anya into darkness whilst she was trapped inside a small metal elevator. Thankfully, the lights quickly turned back on, flooding the cab in light. That, unfortunately, did not help at all. Not when the similar environment had her mind skittering back to her time locked in a tiny cell as a prisoner of the Mage of the Beginning.

"No. No! NO! NOoooo~!" Anya screamed her throat roar as she threw herself at the elevator door and began banging at it desperately. "I was free! I was FREE! FREE! I don't want to be here! I want out! OUT!"

Completely lost in her panic, Anya did not even think to use her magic. Or press the elevator's emergency call button or any of the probably dozen or so other options that might be available to her. Instead, she was just overcome with an immense sense of helplessness. The same helplessness that she had felt at the mercy of the monstrous Mage of the Beginning. Objectively, she knew that wasn't the case. However, her logic was smothered by her fear. All the various panic management techniques that her therapist and other mind healers had taught her and might have helped her in her current situation not even coming to her mind as it was instead overwhelmed by flashbacks of her time as a prisoner of war.

"NO! NO! NO! Lady Ranma saved me! She saved me!" Anya screamed in her native English, too far into her hysteria to keep speaking Japanese. "Lady Ranma! Right! Lady Ranma saved me! She can save me again!"

With that thought in mind, Anya immediately fell to her knees and began desperately praying.

"Great Lady Ranma, please hear me. Your humble servant beseech thee, save me from my tribulation! Your unworthy servant, Anna Yurievna Cocolova, begs you, SAVE ME!"

"Anya-san, I'm here. What did you want?" Ranma informed the Welsh girl a good fifteen or twenty minutes after she had begun praying for her help as she teleported into the elevator cab the pinkette was in.

Why the delay? Well, that had been the result of Ranma having been having a nice soak in the expansive bath of her dorm complex when she had first heard Anya-san's prayer. - And isn't receiving prayers now a strange new experience? - Not realizing the urgency of the situation as even though the words were almost desperate, that wasn't exactly unusual for prayers in general, the Outsider had opted to finish her bath before checking in on Negi-sensei's friend. Considering she had been in the bath with Haruna, Nodoka - And aren't the two of them even more inseparable nowadays than they were before the trip to Mundus Magicus? -, and Eva-chan, with her mate having decided to pay them a flying visit specifically to share a soak with her, she had felt no impetus to hurry things along. Especially as though they were in public and thus could not get too frisky, she and Eva-chan had still been able to enjoy enough fun to make things worthwhile.

Though, those happy memories were immediately set aside when the situation in front of her finally registered. Unconscious and curled up in a fetal ball in a corner of the elevator, Anya-san looked terrible. Especially as it was clear by the smell and the puddle under her that the poor girl had soiled herself in her distress.

"Anya-san!" Ranma cried out in alarm as she grew a set of pseudopods out of her back that she used to gently pick up the passed out girl. "What happened!?"

The Outsider was tempted to use her Origin Sight to answer her own question however her curiosity warred with her lack of desire to find out what could possibly trigger such an unnerving meltdown. The latter feeling ultimately won out and when combined with Anya not waking up to answer her question, Ranma decided to just leave things a mystery for now.

Besides, there were more important things to worry about for now. With that thought in mind, Ranma made sure that she had Anya held tight before teleporting to the nearest hospital so the other girl could receive the treatment she needed.

"Ranma-san." Ranma heard Negi-sensei greet her as he exited Anya-san's hospital room where the pinkette was sleeping under the watchful observation of her parents.

"Negi-sensei," Ranma greeted her homeroom teacher with a nod. "Took you long enough to show up."

"Sorry," Negi-sensei said, shooting her an apologetic look. "I was in a staff meeting and only heard about what happened to Anya a little while ago. I came as quickly as I could."

A quick glance at him with her Origin Sight confirmed that the boy teacher was speaking the truth so Ranma just let out a breath and alongside it, released the annoyance she felt with Negi-sensei over this issue.

"Do you know what happened?" Ranma asked, shutting down her Sight immediately after having confirmed what had delayed the teacher.

Negi-sensei nodded. "Anya's parents told me when I visited her in her room."

"Do they intend to keep vigil with her the whole time she is here?"

"Did you expect anything less?"

"No, I suppose not." Ranma said with a shrug.

"Ranma-san, please don't take offense to this but can I ask if you can use your powers as an Outsider to heal her mind?"

"Anya-san's parents asked me the same so I'll tell you what I told them." Ranma replied. "I probably could heal Anya-san's mind with my power but I've never done anything like that before and I don't know if messing with anyone's mind would affect them in unforeseen ways, so I don't want to risk it. Her parents agreed."

Negi-sensei frowned but nodded in understanding.

"For now, I think the best we can do is eliminate as many scenarios that might trigger Anya-san and that starts with getting her family a new place where she doesn't need to take an elevator."

The child teacher nodded. "I'll speak to Dean-sama about arranging somewhere for them to live that meets that requirement and otherwise ask around to see if there is anything that can be done."

"I will look into it too."

At that, they both turned to look through the glass window of the hospital room they were standing outside of and watched a sedated Anya rested on a bed, flanked by her worried parents, sleeping in what she hoped was restful slumber. And as she did so, Ranma felt strangely helpless despite her nigh omnipotent power as an Outsider.

"Ranma-san, what are you doing here?" Negi asked in surprise as his goddess of a student suddenly walked into the living room of the apartment in the Mahora underground labyrinth where he currently lived with Father and Albireo-san. The latter two of whom were away practicing in one of the many training grounds that made up the vast ruins that Mahora was built atop of and thus not present at the moment.

"And why are you carrying that slime?" He added as he pointed at the orange slime that had been recovered from one of the Mage of the Beginning's abandoned labs and which the Outsider was currently carrying in her arms.

"I'm here to thank you for arranging for the Urashimas to send Happy to me, he's been great." Ranma-san said as she teleported into a seat across from the coffee table that Negi-sensei had been sitting at whilst doing some marking.

"You named him Happy?"

"Fitting name, no?"

Happy waved a couple of its pseudopods joyously, making burbled bubbly noises.

"Look, he agrees!"

"He certainly does." Negi couldn't help but agree with a smile.

"Anyways, I didn't come here just to show off Happy. I'm actually here to complain."

"About what?" Negi asked quizzically, while Happy hugged Ranma-san in apparent response to her anger.

"It's impossible to stay angry with you around." Ranma-san muttered with a sigh.

Politely ignoring that, Negi-sensei redirected the conversation back on track. "What were you angry about anyways?"

"The Slime Sisters are jealous of Happy."

"Oh!"

"Exactly! They've been insufferable." Ranma said with a tired sigh, causing Happy to squirm cutely in a bid to cheer her up.

"Sorry."

Happy adorably stretched out multiple pseudopods and used them to hug both of them, leaving behind some slimy residue in the process.

"You're right," Negi noted with a dreamy smile, his body relaxed and suddenly freed of all his stress. "You really can't be unhappy when Happy is around."

"Yeah." Ranma said with a sigh before quickly shifting to a more serious tone. "That's why I'm thinking of giving him to Anya. You know how she hasn't been recovering from her time as the Mage of the Beginning's prisoner well."

Negi winced. That was an understatement. If what he'd heard about Anya's mental state was anything to go by, she'd developed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from the experience and having learned what the Mage had put her through, he could understand why. And whilst she'd improved greatly since their return from Mundus Magicus thanks to treatment by the mind healers, both magical and mundane, she was still far from well.

Negi nodded, "Yes, I think that's a splendid idea. It should certainly help Anya with her PTSD."

Ranma-san nodded, "Agreed. Happy should make a perfect service animal for her."

Happy burbled, making his body jiggle up and down.

It seemed even the little slime agreed.

Anya smoothed out her outfit in a nervous fit as she arrived at the cottage of Eva-sama. She had been delivered a letter from one of Ranma-sama's, her goddess, slime familiars that ordered her to pay her mate's home a visit at this hour. And now that the time had come, Anya found that she was beyond nervous and with her heart beating miles a minute in response, she had to muster up all her courage just to reach up and knock on the door twice.

It was opened not a moment later by Chachamaru-sama, the divine couple's maid robot.

"Greetings, Anya-san." The gynoid greeted with a bow of her head, which Anya quickly returned. At least she knew some of these Japanese customs.

Offering her a smile at this show of appropriate demonstration of Japanese courtesy, Chachamaru-sama turned back towards the interior of the cabin and addressed some of its other occupants. "Master! Ranma-sama! Your guest has arrived!"

Some rustling could be heard as Chachamaru-sama turned back to her and coughed into her hand. "Please give them a moment to let them make themselves presentable."

Anya's cheeks turned a luminous red at the implication. A-Ah, Ranma-sama, in such a state!

A moment later, she was let inside and witnessed Ranma-sama and Eva-sama cuddling on a sofa, their clothes looking very disheveled. All whilst an uncomfortable Negi was sitting on a nearby wingbeat chair, eyes shocked and vacant until she arrived.

Alas, poor Negi, his innocence was lost once more. Nakane-nee must have been weeping back home in Wales with how much of a degenerate he had become.

Anya was pulled away from her thoughts when Chachamaru-sama once more coughed into her hand. "Ranma-san, your dress is not fully zipped up."

"Oh, that's very deliberate, Chachamaru. We intend to return to our fun once this chat is over." The blonde vampire that was her goddess' mate said with a chuckle and saucy smirk.

That frank reply caused Anya's blush to spread to her entire body. If she could, her ears would no doubt be steaming like a kettle. And in reply to this turn of events, Ranma-sama rolled her eyes even as a pseudopod crawled out from her back and booped her mate on the head.

"Ow! I'm not even chained up for whip play yet, love!"

Anya felt faint. Was all the blood going to her head? It felt like it!

Ranma-sama elegantly ignored her mate and used the pseudopod to zip up her dress with little issue.

"Eva-chan, this isn't the situation for unneeded sexual commentary."

"Your sexy ass wasn't objecting a few minutes ago." The blonde pouted.

The glare she got silenced the Dark Evangel.

Anya's heart was thankful, she may not be able to handle it if things like this kept up!

Negi coughed politely into his hand, "Perhaps we should focus on why we summoned Anya here in the first place? Shishou, Ranma-san, you two can return to your, er, escapades afterwards?"

Chachamaru-sama, who had just returned from the kitchen with a silver tray of tea cups on it, expressed her agreement. "Indeed, Master, do show some decorum. Anya-san, please take a seat."

Anya turned to Ranma-sama, waiting for permission from her goddess.

Seeing the comforting smile being offered her by the divine Mage of the Abyss, Anya felt a wiggling happiness inside of her take root. And as Ranma-sama gestured to another unoccupied wingback chair, just like the one Negi was seated in, Anya happily and promptly obeyed and took her seat.

She had barely settled into the comfortable chair when the young fortune teller was given a cup of tea by Chachamaru-sama, who gestured for her to drink. Looking at her goddess once more and seeing that she was enjoying her tea, Anya followed her savior's example and drank the admittedly wonderful tea.

Thus everyone, even Negi and Eva-sama, took a moment to savor the tea in comfortable silence. It was only after everyone had taken a few sips of the tea that Ranma-sama finally spoke.

"Anya-san, I summoned you because we have something to give you."

Anya perked up at this, excitement on her face. "Yes! I am at your service, Ranma-sama! I'm ready to serve my goddess in any way possible!"

She hoped her positive attitude would help, but seeing Ranma-sama wince sent her into a minor panic. Did she mess up? Was her wording wrong?! Thankfully, her goddess didn't touch on it and shook her head.

"No, no. As I said, we have a gift for you." She pointed at Anya's lap and a small magic circle appeared. In a burst of light, a bright orange slime suddenly appeared on her lap, wobbling on her legs.

The slime immediately reached out to hug Anya, slinking its way up her body as it did and began making its way to her shoulders, all the while it made cooing noises that washed away any worry of being strangled by the creature out of her mind. In fact, in the slime's presence, Anya felt herself suddenly feeling at ease in a way she had not felt in ages. Her tense shoulders, that had been tight since her imprisonment from the Mage of Beginning, relaxing at last.

On instinct, her arms wrapped around the slime, squishing it pleasantly. Rubbing her cheek against it, even if she got herself all slimy, the pinkette squealed. "He's super cute!"

"Huh, should that have worked so fast?" Eva-sama asked, but she was too happy cuddling the slime to really pay too much attention.

Ranma-sama shrugged. "Happy is just good at his job."

"Yes, Anya. Happy-kun is a slime with the power to engender happiness in anyone he touches. After… recent events, Ranma-san and I believe giving him to you will aid in your recovery."

Ignoring Negi entirely, Anya turned her full attention to Ranma-sama, squeezing Happy in a stronger hug, much to his burbling excitement. "I swear, Ranma-sama, I'm going to revere you forever for this. Even more than I already planned to!"

"Ah, er, uuuuh." Her goddess replied, turning to Eva-sama with a look that Anya couldn't read.

The blonde vampiress however instead looked at Anya with a sly smirk.

"So, Cocolova, how would you like to start a cult dedicated to-"

"Eva-chan, no cults!"

Anya was already planning on worshiping her savior for the rest of her life, so a cult wouldn't be too hard to pull off. She'd just need to work on the funding to be honest.

"And now she's thinking of it. Thanks, Eva-chan."

"It's what I do~"

Done and done! Thanks to Nameless as always!

Happy is love, Happy is life. If anyone disagrees? May they be SMITED. Not sure why the Mage was working on slime beings, but then again, Ranma. So it could have been a gift or an idea to make more. Happy copium slimes for all! Plus, Anya really needed it after all. Again, going realistic with her and her having PTSD over her captivity makes sense. Even for a young talented mage like her. And once more, yes, Anya is pretty much over Negi since he didn't save her. Life is fickle about such things.

Nameless: Why did the Mage work on slime beings? 'Cos they worked on everything. They were trying to make another Outsider and there's no standard procedure for that. They were basically just throwing things at the wall and seeing what stuck. As for giving Happy to Anya? Yeah, it was a necessity to give her a semblance of a happy ending after all the terrible things we put her through. All the best Anya! And thank you for your sacrifice for our story!

You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!