-On the rooftops above the Budokai stadium-
“Asuna-san, wait for me!” Mei gasped, struggling to keep up with the girl while balancing on the roof tiles.
“Come on, Mei-chan! Didn't you try to fight in this tournament? You should be in better shape...” Asuna snorted, looking back. Mei was trailing quite a bit now that her legs had stopped falling out from under her.
“I am in good shape, you're just insane! You really can't do this Asuna-san! Your body isn't up to it!” Mei wasn't about to let this go, despite all evidence to the contrary.
Asuna snorted. “My body is perfectly fine, you guys just over-estimated how tired I was. I mean, you thought I'd still be asleep right now, didn't you?”
“You should still be asleep! It makes no sense! Recovering from that sort of exhaustion so easily would be inhuman!”
“Are you saying I'm inhuman?”
“No! No, of course not! But please, you have to stop pushing yourself! You're going to really do damage!”
“Alright, alright. I'll stop,” Asuna sighed, slowing down.
“Ah! Thank you Asuna-san. At last you-”
“We're already here anyway.”
“Huh?” Mei looked around. It was true, the main ring was just ahead of them. And kneeling on the lip of the roof-top ahead of them was...
“Hey Class Rep! What the heck are you doing up here?”
... A sizeable portion of Asuna's class, including Ayaka Yukihiro, the class representative and official busybody of 3-A. Said busybody spun around in a panic when Asuna called out to her.
“Ah! I'm so sorry officer, I was trying to stop them, but I-... Wait.” Ayaka paused in her dramatics and actually looked at who she was apologizing to. “Asuna?”
“Geeze Ayaka, you guys shouldn't be up here, it's dangerous!” Asuna was oblivious to the glare Mei levelled at her that would have surprised anyone who knew the sweet tempered girl.
Ayaka, now assured they hadn't been caught by a teacher, folder her arms and sniffed. “That's rich coming from you, idiot. Though I suppose one shouldn't expect better from a monkey-girl.”
Asuna's eyes narrowed. “What did you just say?!”
Her blonde nemesis just raised a palm to her mouth and laughed. “Oh hohoho”
“Why you!” Mei grabbed Asuna's shoulders just as she lunged forwards to wipe that look off Ayaka's face. “Hey!”
“Asuna-san, you said you'd calm down!”
“Let go of me Mei-chan, I'm going to... to... ohhh...” Asuna slumped in the shorter girls arms, grimacing.
To anyone who didn't know her, Ayaka's switch from snooty rich girl to concerned friend was astounding. “Asuna? Hey, Asuna, what's wrong?”
“Oh, she's just pushed herself to far again,” a tied sounding Mei told her. “She'll be back up running around in a minute. I can't get her to stop.”
“Hey, I ain't a kid. Don't talk about me like one,” the girl grumbled, pushing herself out of Mei's arms to stand on her own two somewhat unsteady feet.
“You are a child if you can't listen to someone who's trying to help you. Honestly Asuna...”
“Pft. She wants me to go back to bed.” She grunted, shaking her head and letting out a breath.
“Well then maybe you should,” Ayaka said, giving Asuna a stern look.
Asuna threw up her arms. “I can't, I have to see Negi's fight!”
Ayaka blinked, and then winced as she realised that she was about to become the bearer of bad news. “Oh. Ah, Asuna... I hate to have to tell you this, but... You missed it.”
“Huh? Missed what?” Asuna steadfastly ignored the sinking feeling in her stomach.
“Negi-sensei's fight. It's over. He... lost.”
-Far below Mahora-
“It's right behind us! Someone do something!”
“Really would have been nice if any of us had remembered this was a dead end back when we started running!”
“Takane-san, can you fly us out?”
“I'm... not sure. I don't know if my shadow armour can take that sort of weight...”
GRRRRYYYAARRGHHHH!!!
“On the other hand, now seems like a good time to learn!”
At the entrance to the Budokai stadium, many members of the spectacularly thick crowd were suddenly finding themselves uprooted and tossed unceremoniously out of the path of a small blonde girl rushing for the competitors entrance.
“Keh keh, Mistress is fun when she's in a hurry.” Chacha-zero skipped along, watching people fly this way and that.
“I'm not going to wait for you Zero!” Eva yelled back, not even bothering to look back as she charged. “I wont miss this chance for anything!” Not even that red-haired freak of nature Kagurazaka. If her guess was right and Al- or Ku:Nel as he was going by today- truly was about to summon the Thousand Master himself into his fight with Negi, or had already done so, she had to be there. Even if there was nothing he could do about the curse binding her to the school and sealing her powers... She had to see him again.
“You'd better wait for me Nagi!” Please let me be in time!
“... Oh.” Asuna deflated. She'd missed the fight. This whole trip had been pointless. “... How'd he do?” she asked, staring at her feet. Why'd she been so desperate to see it anyways? And why did she feel so empty now? What the hell was happening to her?
“Oh he was magnificent! Such a display would of course only be worthy of our great Negi-sensei! To fight so passionately, and against his own father of all people!” It wouldn't be Ayaka if she didn't lavish praises on Negi. That wasn't the part that caught Asuna's attention though.
“Wait, he's fighting who?” She looked up, putting aside her troubling thoughts. “It can't be...”
It didn't slip past Mei, either. “You mean Nagi-sama? Nagi-sama is here?!?”
“Who?”
“Nagi Springfield! Negi's father! The most famous and powerful mammmph!” Asuna clamped her hand over the excited girls mouth.
“Mei, remember what happens to mages who spill the beans about magic to normal people?” she muttered out of the corner of her mouth. Mei froze, then swallowed. She did not want to be spending the next few years as an ermine.
Ayaka was not so easily thrown off. “Asuna, what's going on?”
“Uh...” Quietly Asuna cursed Mei's fan-girlish nature.
Ayaka's eyes narrowed “How exactly does she know Negi-sensei's father?”
“Ah, she... she...” Asuna groped blindly for an answer. “She... is... Negi's... sister! Yes!”
“Eh?” Mei stared at Asuna open mouthed. Her reaction was nothing compared to Ayaka's however.
“WHAT?!?” Asuna winced. Of all the stories to come up with, of course she picked the one most likely to rile Negi's self proclaimed 'older sister' figure up.
“Asuna-san, what are you doing?” Mei whispered, beginning to panic.
“His sister or an ermine, Mei-chan, you choose,” Asuna whispered, before turning back to her blonde haired enemy. “You heard me Ayaka. This is Negi's sister Mei. She came to Japan for the festival.” The fact that she was fighting with her rival helped her get past any reluctance to lie quite nicely.
“This is the first I've heard of it!”
“It was a last minute thing.” The more Asuna talked, the more Mei looked like a deer in the headlights. It didn't help that the rest of Ayaka's group were staring at her.
“Heyyy... weren't you in the budokai earlier?” Yuna, one of Ayaka and Asuna's classmates asked, flipping through the tournament's site on a laptop. “Your name isn't Springfield...”
“Ah, no it's-”
“She's really Negi's cousin!” Asuna jumped in again, to wrapped up in the story now to let anyone else start telling it. “He just thinks of her like a sister...”
Ayaka raised an eyebrow, and the rest looked a little disbelieving, even Mei. Asuna shrugged. “Hey, it's Negi, you know what he's like.”
There was a tense moment. Ayaka looked Mei up and down suspiciously. Asuna could've sworn she heard the young mage whimpering under the stare.
“She's not buying it Asuna-san...”
The redhead grinned slightly. “Wait for it.”
“Oh, Negi-sensei has such a sweet and loving heart. You must be so proud of him Mei-san!”
“Ah... Y-yes, of course,” Mei stammered out. She gave Asuna an incredulous look.
“That's Ayaka for you.” The girl in question smirked. “As long as it makes Negi sound good she'll fall over herself to believe it. 'Sides, he really is that close with his cousin.”
“So it's true then?” Mei let out an 'Eep' as Ayaka dashed up to her, her eyes sparkling. “That Negi-sensei is an orphan searching for his father?”
“Um... That's kind of personal, isn't it?” she stammered.
Asuna wasn't so easy going. “How hell do you know about that Ayaka?” Mei was right, that was personal. Very personal!
“It's all over the Internet Asuna. See?” Misa, another member of the group, held up her laptop. Asuna frowned and grabbed it.
The bottom dropped out of her stomach the instant she read what was on the screen, and it only got worse as she continued on. “How did... Who did all this?”
“Chao. Has to be.” Muttered Mei, huddling over the computer with her. “Look at all this! It's not just this story, there's videos of the tournament out too...”
“But there was a ban on cameras! Chao even made sure none of them worked inside the stadium!” Asuna hissed, glancing around to make sure none of the others were listening. No one was, though the pair were getting some odd looks. From everyone.
Mei was oblivious. “Yes, for spectators. Chao's been filming this whole thing herself and putting it out for everyone to see. She was just luring us into false confidence with her 'rules'.”
“Go faster Takane, faster!”
“Do you ever shut up Misora-san?” Takane snapped, the stress of the situation understandably getting the better of her. “I'm flying as fast as I can! The shadow armour can only take so much strain!”
“Faster!!!” Misora yelled from where she dangled next to Setsuna, clinging to Takane's flying shadow for all she was worth. Kokone hugged her back tightly, trying not to look down at the beast climbing up below them.
“Maybe if I dumped some of this useless weight...” Takane gave Misora a meaningful look. The young nun wisely shut up.
“You're sure there's no other way to go faster?” Setsuna inquired calmly, looking down.
“Yes! Stop asking, all of you!”
“A pity. It's gaining.”
Takane's blood froze. “Eh?” She looked down. She wished very much that she had not. It was true, the Demon had gained a great deal of ground, it's long reach more than making up for it's lack of wings.
Misora whimpered “What do we do?”
“Calm down. I have a plan.” Setsuna stared down at the demon, taking stock of it.
“Really? The Nun's voice filled with hope.
“Yes.” She released one hand from it's grip on Takane's armour and pulled her sword from it's scabbard. “Takane, Misora, you have to reach the surface and call in reinforcements to contain this thing.”
“Takane blinked. “Wait, what are you-” Setsuna let go. “Sakurazaki!”
Setsuna spun in the air for a second, before the back of her shirt burst open and her wings unfolded. Her drop slowed a little as the demon looked up. Roaring once more it grabbed for her.
“Haaaa!!”
Her sword flashed through the air, slicing into the beasts palm.
The winged swordswoman spun around as she passed the half robotic creature roaring in pain, and finally got a proper look at the thing. She had to suppress a shudder as it reminded her of the demon that had been summoned in Kyoto not all that long ago. The one they had kidnapped her Oujo-sama for. And the one Negi hadn't even been able to scratch with all his power. Granted, he'd come a long way since then, but these things were certainly nothing to sneeze at. Although clearly Chao had been modifying the thing. Over half of it was covered in bulky looking cybernetic armour with the occasional spark or dot of light riddling the skin.
“Sakurazaki!” Setsuna's head shot up. Takane hadn't moved.
“Go! I'll hold it here as long as I can!”
“But...”
“I'll be fine! Just go!”
Takane, looking for all the world like she was being forced to cut her own heart out, turned and resumed her now somewhat faster flight upwards.
Misora, however, didn't turn away. “Be careful Setsuna!” Kokone waved down from over her shoulder.
Setsuna grinned. “Don't worry about me.”
“Do you think we should be worried about the stadium locking down like that?”
“Maybe it's one of Chao's plans?”
“Maybe. Well, if it is we'll be here to deal with it. Right Kotaro-kun?”
“Hmph.”
“Oh, still upset about losing to Ku:Nel earlier? Not to worry, I'm certain you'll have your match with Negi-bozu in time - de gozaru.”
Setsuna gritted her teeth and banked left, hard. The Demons claws missed her by inches. This was getting difficult. She had to stay within it's range or she'd lose it's attention, and it would wreak havok before reinforcements arrived.
The Demon lunged at her again, forcing her to dodge upwards out of reach. She was becoming rapidly aware that she was running out of room to manoeuvre as the ceiling grew closer and closer. The Demon was much, much faster than anything it's size had right to be. The fact that it regenerated any damage she managed to inflict was not helping either.
“Come on Takane, I can't do this forever... Huh?”
The Demons head twisted around, glaring at her.
GRRYYAAAAAHHHHHHGHHH!!!
-Zpt-
Sparks began to erupt from the base of it's neck and rain down into the darkness below. The beast roared again, opening it's jaw wider.
“What is it doing?” Setsuna wondered aloud, staring. Her instincts were screaming at her. Something was very very wrong. Her attention caught on it's mouth. Was it... glowing?
Her eyes widened. “Oh no!” Lunging to the left she was just in time to avoid the energy blast that shot out of the Demons gaping maw and exploded through the roof with a deafening boom.
“Such power...” Setsuna stared in shock at the sunlight streaming through the new skylight. What the hell was Chao playing with?!?
Unfortunately the momentary distraction was far more than she could afford. When she looked back, the Demon's hand was already closing around her...
“It really was his father after all. He looks just like Negi's memories.” Asuna bit her lip, kneeling at the edge of the roof over the stadium proper, a little way away from Ayaka's group (Mei had decided that she needed space to recover faster). “But that makes no sense, he's been missing for 10 years!”
“That's so cool! The Thousand Master himself!” Mei was shaking slightly with excitement.
“Hmm. Well, if he's actually found his father, good for him, he's been looking a long time. But something's off about all this. And... Wait.” Asuna pointed out to the middle of the ring, where the two finalists were talking with... “Hey, what's Eva-chan doing out there?”
It was true, Evangeline, looking very out of breath, had entered the ring and was talking with the pair. But before Asuna could make out what they were saying...
Rumble
The Stadium shook. That was the only warning they got before a solid beam of light cut through the ground underneath the ring and blasted upwards, ripping apart everything in it's path.
“NEGI!”
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(Posted Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:15)
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