Mahou Sensei Negima! Fan Fiction / Pani Poni Dash! Fan Fiction ❯ I Am Negima!?, AND SO CAN YOU! Act I ❯ Chapter 4: "IT'S CATURDAY?!" By Miyako ( Chapter 4 )

Scheme!? Final Mix

Chapter 4: “IT'S CATURDAY?!” By Miyako

If Cygnus were the narrator, he would be proud to announce that this was the worst morning ever.

But he's not, so that's irrelevant—

“GET ON WITH IT!” Cygnus bellowed.

Damn you. Anyway, Cygnus was having... wait for it... the worst Saturday morning ever! The tired and self-loathing boy was carrying a tied Rokugou on his back, en route to Library Island. At eight o' clock in the morning.

“Why, oh why am I kidnapping you? Are you that intoxicating to my senses?” Cygnus groused, more to himself rather than Rokugou. “I could've gotten my ass handed to me in that dorm...”

xx

To tell the truth, it started out well enough. The sneaky swan boy had approached the Mahora dorms at dawn, his epic plan of causing discord by kidnapping that fair maiden again mulling over his head smoothly. “Hopefully those girls aren't morning people... I can strike and be done with it.”

Of course, you know what they say about the best laid plans.

Cyg's first problem came in the form of Nodoka Miyazaki. Sneaking into the room he believed held the girl who caught his attention, he unfortunately found more than his quarry. And unlike Rokugou, the young librarian was awake and reading. And to top it all off, she had just noticed him.

Before the girl could scream, the boy had immediately whispered a spell and sliced forward. A dark energy bound and gagged the girl before her noise could alert anyone. Cygnus breathed a sigh of relief... only for Rokugou to wake up.

At least THIS person was supposed to be awake. "'Sup," Cygnus grinned, using a more subtle version of his attack on Nodoka. By the time the blue-haired lass noticed she was bound, it was too late. "I'm going for an adventure. Wanna come with me? Well, not like you have a choice," Cygnus gloated in his own evil.

“Oh ho? I detect a perv on the premises!” Ay, crap.

Cygnus found himself face to face with one Haruna Saotome, leering at him with a strange dichotomous mix of coy evil and gave seriousness, the latter likely from being a threat to Nodoka. “You must be the boy who was running around last night.”

Cygnus frowned and began to make his escape, but Haruna continued on. “You know, all I'd have to do is scream right now, and Negi-kun and the others would tear you a new—”

“Oh hell no you don't!” Cygnus bellowed, and with one smooth motion, sent a wave of darkness her way, tying her up in the same fashion as the other girls.

But for Haruna, that went exactly as planned. “Iyaaan, how horribly erotic!” That girl was making way too much noise! Cygnus cursed under his breath as he realized he had been played and hastily made his escape before a real conundrum could be made.

xx

“Goddammit, I'm cursed! My mission succeeded, but now I lost my head start! Damned woman,” the swan boy snarled, shaking his fist.

“Hey... bondage hentai,” Evangeline, who had stealthily been behind him the entire time, finally decided to catch his attention. Chachamaru, still faithfully by her side, stayed silent. Alas, the dark boy was still silently ranting about his own idiocy.

“Why do I fail?!” the boy finally raged.

“Because you're a bondage hentai.” Evangeline finally spoke sharply, catching his attention.

“NO,” Cygnus pointed an angry finger at the blond vampire girl.

Rokugou wanted to say something, but unfortunately there was a gag over her mouth, so all that came out was “Mmph.”

“What exactly are you doing, anyway?” The blond vampire asked.

“I figured since they're also looking for the Chupacabra,” Cygnus began to explain himself, a small smirk returning to his face. “I'd distract them and kidnap Rokugou. Meanwhile, I could keep searching in earnest.”

“Or maybe you're just a bondage hentai, planning to do naughty things to your hostage,” Evangeline said.

“NO.” Cygnus was so pissed that he fired a shot of darkness straight at Evangeline. However, the girl only laughed and swatted the thing away.

“Whether or not he is a bondage hentai, there is an attraction between him and 653,” Chachamaru observed as the blast of darkness sailed away.

“What?... 653?”

“Either way, he's just a stupid bondage hentai, nowhere near my levels of evil,” Evangeline smiled evilly.

“NO!” Cygnus clawed his head in frustration. “What do I have to do to make you stop?!”

“Hmph,” The blond tossed her hair back. “You could bring me...” Evangeline pretended to think for a while, looking between the nonplussed Cygnus and the gagged Rokugou. Finally, a random thought struck her head. “...a shrubbery.”

Cygnus's jaw dropped in shock like a dramatic chord.

“Master, a shrubbery has a zero percent relevance to this topic.” Chachamaru pointed out.

“Cygnus's plan has zero relevancy to his actual reason of kidnapping Rokugou. Your point?”

“My apologies, Master,” Chachamaru bowed.

A thought struck Cygnus. “Why are you two following me anyway?”

“We just thought of a way to make this game interesting,” Evangeline answered. “That, and to make sure you don't go too far with that lass you've got. Can't trust a bondage hentai of darkness, can we?”

“NO,” Cygnus's usual reaction went against him this time. The vampire girl laughed. Cygnus sank.

“Meet us inside Library Island, lest we get the wrong idea and send Takamichi after you... or better yet Becky,” Evangeline walked ahead as the boy stopped. “I hear stake burning is pretty popular way to kill things today.” And with hearty laughter, the Undying Mage and her robot servant left.

Cygnus stared for a while, before he heard murmuring from Rokugou. He could make out “Could you ungag me please?” Sighing, he complied.

“At least you don't make me feel uncomfortable when you talk,” Cygnus admitted.

“That's good. I was worried you might enact those bondage hentai fantasies,” Rokugou shyly answered, that blush returning to her face.

Cygnus crashed. Worst. Saturday Morning. Ever.

xxxx

Asuna, on the other hand, felt more relaxed than she had in a while. She stretched, soaking in the morning sun—something she rarely got to do. Often times this was because she had to do the paper route, or sleep in for school... but this time she was up early for no particular reason, and strangely it felt good.

She noticed that Negi didn't sneak into her bed again, yet another unusual thing about this morning. She glanced down at the couch, to see him sleeping there... her mouth upturned at the slightest bit at the sight of Becky sleeping right beside him, hugging him tightly. “Heh, Honya-chan would flip out if she saw this...” she murmured.

“Hey, Asuna,” Konoka was already cooking breakfast. “How unusual, you're up pretty early for a weekend. Are you really that eager to get to Library Island?”

“Huh? Oh, that's what we were planning to do today,” Asuna said, scratching her head. “Meh, I just felt like getting up. And I couldn't resist such a classic scene like this,” She pointed to the sleeping Negi and Becky.

“How cute,” Konoka marveled, but returned quickly to her cooking.

“Mmm...” Becky murmured, still in dreamland. “Sausage...” She giggled... before stirring awake. Realizing what she was doing, she squealed and dashed to the opposite side of the room, throwing various things in Negi's direction. This in turn, woke up Negi who also screamed and dashed to the opposite side of the room, only he was doing more dodging than throwing.

“Becky-san!” Negi complained. “Please calm down!”

“Did you DO anything to me?! I'll never forgive you if you did!” Becky screamed, still throwing things at him. She suddenly stopped and began to hide under the curtains, the “hau hau” still audible from where she was.

Asuna and Konoka could only laugh. “Come on, Becky-san.” Konoka said. “You slept with him, not the other way around.” The girl was completely oblivious to the potential wrong way that could be taken.

Asuna didn't miss that, however. “What she means is, nothing happened, you were just hugging stupid Negi in your sleep.”

Becky wearily stepped out of her hiding place, lulled by the reassuring faces of the other three.

This romantic comedy scene, however, was interrupted with a soft knocking on the door. “Who is it?” Konoka answered in a singsong voice as she went to open the door.

The fair maiden showed great confusion when the twins Fuuka and Fumika appeared, dragging in the bound and gagged bodies of Nodoka and Haruna. Fumika then said, “We have a problem!”

“A really big problem!” Fuuka added, waving around what appeared to be a small note.

Everyone else but Becky merely grimaced.

“AWAH?!” Becky reeled back in horror.

xxxx

“Let me see that!” Miyako snatched the note from Himeko, who had snatched it from Becky, who had snatched it from Negi, so on and so forth. She read it out loud: “'Your Rokugou has been kidnapped by ninjas. Are you bad enough dudes to rescue Rokugou? Signed, Cygnus.'” The girl with the shining forehead sighed.

Once again the gang had gathered within the Chupacabra Research Society club room. With news that Rokugou had once again been abducted, Negi insisted that Asuna call an emergency meeting. “This Cygnus creep is getting on my nerves, and I haven't even seen him!” Miyako griped. “Why does he keep kidnapping Rokugou?”

“It's a distraction,” Kaede observed. “He's after those Chaos Emeralds too, isn't he? He's trying to slow us down.”

“We can't let that happen!” Becky flailed her arms. “We have to stop him NOW!”

“Becky-san!” Negi tried to mollify the angry girl.

“Ummm...” Nodoka began timidly, but unfortunately she was ignored.

“Such disgraceful actions...” Setsuna crossed her arms. “I agree with Miyamoto-san, we need to put an end to his shenanigans.”

“But I like his shenanigans!” Haruna smiled. However, when half of the group leered at her as if she had announced plans for world domination, she eased up a bit. “But I'll bite and say he's gotta stop. Well, at least until we get the emeralds.”

“But if we just keep tailing him, he'll get all the emeralds first!” Asuna countered.

“And the chupacabra will escape,” Konoka and Ichijou echoed each other, causing both of them to exchange deadpan looks.

“But if we don't catch him I won't get any more crab meat buns!” Himeko sulked. Her “ahoge” seemed to deflate with her.

“B-b-b-but...” The twins tried to interject, and everyone began to argue over what to do. It wasn't looking so hot, as everyone seemed to have conflicting ideas on the matter...

...all except for Rei, who had been silent for most of the meeting up until now. She stepped up behind Miyako and began to say, “Hey, hey—”

As if she read her mind, Miyako finished Rei's thoughts by screeching, “EVERYBODY SHUT THE HELL UP!” Rewarded with everyone's silence, the girl sat down, not even realizing she stood up to shout.

Rei stepped up. “By the sound of things, it looks like we have two groups... those that want to chase down Cygnus and those who want to learn more about the Chaos Emeralds.” It was easy enough to come up with a solution. “Those of you who want to deal with Cygnus, step to my left. Those more interested in exploration, step to my right.” Rei stood impassive as the two groups were formed.

“Since I'm the only one who can activate contracts, I will be hunting for Cygnus,” Negi said. His group had Becky, Setsuna, Miyako, Konoka, Asuna, and Himeko. “Kaede-san, please be aware of everything and contact me if anything happens.”

Kaede gave a curt nod. Her and Nodoka's group consisted of the two of them, the twins, Haruna, and Ichijou. Rei explained herself not joining either as “I have business with Chao.”

But speaking of such, Rei noticed Miyako with the fighters. “Hey, Miyako.”

“Huh?”

“What's up with you wanting to fight Cygnus when you can't even fight?”

“Uhhh...”

Becky sighed. “Might as well get it over with. Hey Negi, where's that rat that makes the glowing circle-thingy?”

“I'm not a rat, I'm an ERMINE!” Kamo exclaimed, popping out of nowhere. “And did somebody say, 'pactio'?”

“Yeah, she needs one of those,” Becky jerked her thumb at Miyako, who nervously backed up.

“D-d-d-d-d-do I have to?” Miyako didn't like the sound of her first kiss being with a ten-year-old boy.

Negi bowed his head shamefully as Kamo activated the pactio circle. “Sorry, Uehara-san.”

“You won't do it. Study bug,” Rei's face dropped to a nasty sneer.

“Graugh, FINE!” Miyako bellowed as she stepped into the circle. She still hesitated, however as she saw herself staring at the fairly innocent Negi. She swallowed hard before standing close to Negi. “Let's get something straight. I am NOT a shotacon!”

“Fine with me,” Negi giggled nervously.

The two made a kiss, and Kamo shouted “PACTIO!” to the heavens. Thusly, yet another girl joined the world's largest harem.

xxxx

The vast, empty expanse of Library Island didn't bother Cygnus. No... what was more disturbing was the insane amount of books. Books that lined infinite rows of infinite shelves, books that flowed like a river, books that collected dust, books that lined the place like sardined soldiers...

Rokugou wasn't tied up this time, she stuck by his side, eyes filled with wonder but little else shown on her face. Both of them seemed to be more interested in the collection of books rather than the books themselves. Although there was one book...

A red book caught the girl's eye. She reached out to grab it...

...an arrow whizzed straight towards her, and would've pierced her heart had Cygnus not reacted fast enough to cleave the arrow in two. Darkness left his hand as the boy clenched his teeth. “I don't think I'll be doing that again,” Rokugou chuckled nervously.

“Watch it, girl. This place is booby trapped,” The two turned their attention to their right to see Evangeline staring at them. Chachamaru was of course close by. “Rather not have you die and cause the dark boy to go completely crazy, now would we?” She stepped in front of them; Chachamaru remained where she was.

“What do you want?” Cygnus asked, raising an eyebrow. Then something crossed his mind. “Hold it, hold it! Backtrack: who ARE you?”

The blond girl smirked. “Evangeline A. K. McDowell. Just call me Evangeline. My servant over there is Chachamaru,” Evangeline looked over to see that the robotic girl was petting a cat. “...what are you doing?”

“It is Caturday, Master.” Chachamaru answered. “The cats seem to multiply on Mahora today.” There was another cat that caught Chachamaru's attention. She moved to pet it...

CHOMP The cat bit down on Chachamaru's hand. Too bad it lost all of its teeth. Whimpering from paying for its evil deed, it scampered away.

Chachamaru wasn't sure how to register that though. “...maybe it was angry,” She concluded.

Evangeline groaned. “Whatever.” She turned to the other two. “Now I'm pretty sure you've seen that boy's magical power as well as the strength of all the girls he forms a contract with, right?”

“Yes,” Cygnus answered. “That one girl even had a Keyblade.”

“What's so special about a Keyblade?” Rokugou asked.

“Many dark forces stronger than even I have fallen to that thing. It's the worst Deus Ex Machina ever conceived by the forces of light...”

“While taking a trip down memory lane seems amusing, I don't have the time or patience to care about your knowledge of whatever that key thing is...” Evangeline interrupted. “But how would you like to match Negi bouya with his own game?”

“O... RLY,” Cygnus mirrored Evangeline's dark grin. Rokugou, on the other hand, still had on her poker face.

xxxx

Library Island beckoned our heroes. Negi and his group of girls had entered its bowels some time ago. Now both groups were splitting up to accomplish their tasks. “Ichijou-san, please contact me if anything happens,” Negi said.

“Will do,” The girl saluted. Seconds later, she was already staring back at Konoka. Both girls were wearing rugged jeans, a jacket and a fedora.

“Ojou-sama, it is not healthy for you to continue staring contests with Ichijou-san,” Setsuna tried to gently guide Konoka away from her strange pseudo-twin.

“It's freaky, Secchan,” Konoka answered somewhat listlessly. “She sounds like me, sometimes looks like me and even acts like I do. Could she be an evil twin?”

“No,” Setsuna answered simply. I would be able to tell otherwise... I won't let anything happen to you, no matter what. With that the two groups split up, Nodoka's group heading deeper into the library, while Negi's group followed his lead and kept straight.

As the groups left the area though, a familiar shadow appeared, the morning sun stretching his spikes to look just a bit more deadly than they actually were—which doesn't say much, because they're still deadly. The supposed chupacabra, Chaos Emerald in hand, quietly sped off.

xxxx

For the sake of being awesome, we're going to follow Nodoka's gang first.

Nodoka had settled down with the others, a collection of books at hand. The others were a bit less helpful, simply mulling through titles and disarming booby traps. “I'm not sure what we could find on the Chaos Emeralds... Ah, Negi-sensei would've had a better idea where to look.” Nodoka sighed.

“Bleh...” Haruna sighed. “I've been around this place several times, and for the life of me I still can't find anything.”

“I've looked everywhere,” Fuuka began.

“And I can't find anything on Chaos Emeralds!” Fumika continued.

“I think I know a way to solve this problem,” Ichijou answered. To the amazement of everyone around her, she reached into her shirt and pulled out... a little girl.

...her sister.

The cute, chibi-fied sibling of the strange Ichijou blinked as she observed her new surroundings. Kaede, Haruna, the twins, and Nodoka did nothing to hide their apparent shock. I mean, the girl pulled out her little sister like a weapon. Wouldn't you be shocked too? Ichijou, on the other hand, didn't care. Squatting until she was on even level with her sister, the girl gently asked, “Hey, can you tell us where a Chaos Emerald book might be?”

The other girls were clueless. How would this random child that Ichijou pulled out know how to find a certain book? Nevertheless, Ichijou's sister pulled out a drawing pad and some crayons, and got to work. When all was said and done, the girl happily showed her picture to everyone else.

They were staring at a crude drawing of a cat.

“Ah, my apologies,” Ichijou answered for her sister. “I nearly forgot. Today is Caturday.”

“Caturday?” Nodoka blinked. This was suddenly making less and less sense.

“Caturday is Saturday for cats, mya!” Shichimi landed gently on Nodoka's head, bobbing to an invisible beat. “It's very nice! Every once in a while the cats will start wandering all over campus! All of you need to post more cats, nya.”

“Two can play that game,” Haruna crowed. And with that, she pulled out her own notebook and drew a cat in a similar fashion to Ichijou's young sister. Showing off her superior creation to the girl, however, only got a disdainful “hmph!” and a turned head.

“She's better than you.” Ichijou explained.

“GACK.” Haruna flinched, being forced to hold back her rage against the little girl.

“Who decided to make this Saturday...” Fuuka began again.

“Caturday?” Fumika finished.

“I did, nya,” There was that creepy-eyed cat again. Nodoka's eyes shot open and she backed away in fear. Obviously she doesn't like him. “Caturday is a shining moment for all cats nya.”

Everyone stared for a moment, scrutinizing the cat (and Nodoka's terror). Kaede finally spoke. “Who... are you?”

“I'm God, nya,” The cat proclaimed.

“No.” Ichijou deadpanned.

While this strange conversation was taking place, Ichijou's sister was drawing once again. When she finished, she smiled and showed the picture to the cat-that-thinks-it's-God. “Nya?” The creepy cat blinked. It was a picture of the chupacabra, only blue.

Perfect timing, since a streak dashed by and knocked the cat off the bookcase. “NYYYAAA?!” The cat crashed somewhere amidst the books, promptly setting off several booby traps which probably killed it. Or not. Either way, it had nothing more to offer to this episode.

The group saw the figure dash away into the shadows.

“Was that the Chupacabra?” Fuuka blinked.

“Doesn't matter,” Kaede answered. “We've got bigger problems,” She pointed backwards, drawing everyone's attention to three streamlined robots behind them. They were red, with slim, two pronged feet and guns for right arms. Said guns were already pointing at the group, and to make matters worse they heard the foreboding -chik-chik- of their weapons. “RUN!” She commanded.

Nodoka and the twins squealed and high-tailed it out of there as fast as their legs could carry them. Ichijou stared at Kaede for a moment, a questioning look on her face. Haruna, however, spoke. “Nagase-san?”

“I'll stall them, contact Negi-bouzu and get the others out of here!”

Ichijou and Haruna turned away and sped off after the others.

About now the robots finally decided to fire. The ninja girl dodged the hail of bullets, landing evenly with them on higher ground. She tensed for her own attack...

Before they could even fire a shot, a mysterious shadow ripped them to metallic shreds. Kaede could make the faint outline of the spiky haired chupacabra landing somewhere in the shadows.

A shining yellow jewel arced in front of her, and out of instinct she caught it. “Huh?”

“You can use that!” The creature called out. “Let its power flow through you!”

“Hmm...” Kaede relaxed slightly. The gem began to glow slightly, and power began to flow through the girl. Suddenly she felt that soul pinprick, and focused strongly to bring out that power. When all was said and done, she had her armor card powers. “So that's what a Chaos Emerald can do...”

“Don't get cocky, those robots got backup!” The voice called again.

With that, several robots crashed through, all the same as the three that attacked earlier. Kaede wasted no time in dodging the flurry of bullets.

Now was the time to get serious.

Kaede focused her powers, and several shadow clones formed beside her. One crashed its knee into a robot, tearing it apart. Another back-flipped into the air and sent a hail of kunai into two robots, causing them to explode. Another robot opened fire, but met its end when another shadow clone slammed into it.

The real Kaede charged the last one, dodging its gunfire with ease before slamming it into a wall, destroying it. With the chilling silence answering her once more, the ninja looked around for the shadow. “Not here... I should find the others, just in case there's more.” The shadow clones disappeared, and she sprinted further into the library.

xxxx

“This place is weird...” Becky barely spoke above a whisper as they searched through the infinite library. She raised an eyebrow at the 'waterfall' of books nearby. “Then again, I've been to a lot of weird places...” It sure beat having a jungle with crazy animals and pitfalls though.

“Library Island is one of the largest libraries in the world,” Negi explained to her. “It's also fairly old, so it has ancient booby traps as well.”

“Uh-huh,” Miyako responded, her nose buried in the rows of books. She appeared to be looking for something...

“Miyako-san?!” Negi nearly gasped in surprise, worried about her activating some sort of trap.

“Aha!” A rather archaic yet shiny book caught her eye, a strange, swan-like symbol on its spine. “Is this place really booby trapped?” She asked as she reached for the book.

“Miyako-san!” Negi warned, but it was too late. Her hands were already on the book.

An arrow shot towards her, but the faster Setsuna reacted first. With a single clean swipe, she deflected the arrow. The thing sailed harmlessly onto the floor somewhere further away. “Miyako-san, please don't be so reckless.”

“Yeah. Sorry about that,” She responded, carrying no remorse for her actions whatsoever. She began skimming through the book. “But did you ever think to look up stuff about Cygnus?”

“Eh? Why would we?” Asuna blinked. “He looks like he's our age!”

“Yeah, but then again considering those powers of his, I wonder if he's a bit older than we thought...” Negi began to think about it. Or why he's so fascinated with Rokugou-san. “I guess it's safe now. Go on and see if you can find anything in it, Miyako-san!”

Miyako looked further. “Can't understand a lick... it's all in some garbled text... but I do see some interesting pictures. WAITADAMNSECOND, WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!”

“Let me see!” Becky tried to get the book.

“I'll take it!” Konoka gently snatched (if that were even possible) the book from Miyako. Sure enough, she saw the picture Miyako was raging on about. “Oh dear,” she said, her face turning crimson.

“Ojou-sama, what is it? I think that kind of thing could be dangerous—EE?!” Setsuna attempted to take the book from Konoka and put it back, but one look at the rather shocking picture caused her to go crimson as well. The girl had to struggle to keep mental pictures of Konoka doing naughty things to her out of her head.

“Let me see!” Becky flailed cutely.

“Geez guys,” Asuna said, taking the book away from Konoka. “What could be so bad about—UWWAAH?!” Shock struck her as well. “Is Cygnus really planning to do THAT?!”

“Ooohh! Can I see?” Himeko snatched the book and looked at the pictures, but could only stare in confusion. “Huh?”

“LET... ME... SEE!” Becky stamped her feet and snatched the book from Himeko. She opened it to the page of shock, and afterwards could only stare blankly in shock for the next fifteen seconds. When she could finally speak coherent English, most of those around her could only hear “Must... burn... at... stake...”

Negi and Kamo, the only two who had yet to look at the book, merely peered down at Becky to get a glimpse. Kamo was unimpressed. “What are you guys whinin' about? This art is crappy! And it looks like it was drawn two hours ago!”

“What's going on?” Negi proved himself still naive on the ways of love as he looked at the picture, completely nonplussed as to what was going on. “Why are they in that position, and what does that have to do with Cygnus?”

The girls all exchanged looks before staring back at Negi. “Definitely hasn't hit puberty yet,” They all concluded at the same time. Negi continued to stare at them in oblivious confusion.

“Aw hell, it's the shotacon guild,” The group swung around and looked to their right. Cygnus stood above them, neon-orange eyes gleaming, the darkness swirling about him. Irritation on his face evident, he muttered, “Surely you have better things to do than to hate on me while you've got Chaos Emeralds or a Chupacabra to hunt.”

“Where's Rokugou?!” Becky screeched. “Tell me and I MIGHT not burn you at the stake!”

“Your idle threats don't bother me, girlie.” Cygnus snidely countered. “All you need to know is that she's safe. Nothing else concerns you.”

“Why can't we be civilized about this?” Himeko looked diplomatic... for a moment. “If you turn yourself in now, I get more crab meat buns!”

Cygnus pointed a dramatic finger, eyes wide with shock and awe, began to gasp... and then took a deadpan look and answered, “No.” He stared for a moment, but then began to cross his arms and bow down. “Alas... darkness crawlin' through someone's heart already. Pity I can't take it from you yet.” The swirling darkness around him began to stop suddenly. “You still have business to take care of, so you're not worth my time right now.” His eyes seemed to intensify as he disappeared, leaving only a trail of darkness. He once again ignored Negi's cry of “Wait!”

“Negi! Let's tail him!” Asuna said.

He nodded. “It's going to be dangerous dealing with him from this moment forward, so I will activate the contracts now...” He set his staff in front of him, and it began to glow with power. “Partner: Kagurazaka Asuna, Konoe Konoka, Sakurazaki Setsuna, Miyamoto Rebecca, Uehara Miyako, Katagiri Himeko...” Each girl felt the soul pin-prick as Negi called out their names. “Show me the power within you!” The air seemed to dance around them. Six orbs of incantations drifted from their bodies and formed in front of Negi, who grabbed inside. “Contract... activate!” A bright light flashed.

Konoka was the first to return to normal. Her clothes were now an elaborate Kansai outfit, and she was wielding a powerful looking wooden string of chopsticks, as strange as that sounded. She scored the only armor card. “Yay!” She cheered.

Becky managed to get the last of her forms... cat ears, a skin-tight suit, a tail, and sharp claws. However, she wasn't happy. “Don't tell me I have another messed up card!” A river of tears fell from her eyes.

“No, I think that's good!” Konoka answered.

Setsuna was decked in a pale blue samurai outfit. Yuunagi gleaming bright, she assumed a fighting stance. “You two have cosplay cards,” Kamo noted to Setsuna and Becky. “But as for the rest of you...” Kamo turned back towards the other three and sighed in defeat.

“Not again!” Asuna the wild boar pouted, her now childish face pouting.

“WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!” Miyako the ladybug buzzed around irately.

Himeko the crab stared a bit, “Mahos” fluttering from her mouth before a crazy old idea emerged. “It's not all bad! Oliolioliolioooooo!”

Negi chuckled nervously. “Those of you who have suka cards, please keep back,” he prepared his staff and looked towards the more fortunate ones. “Konoka-san, Setsuna-san, Becky-san... let's move.” And with that he trekked further into the library. All seven were following the trail of darkness.

Although Becky was scampering on all fours. “I'm already too cat-like, nya,” She pouted.

“It's Caturday, Becky-san, it can't be helped!” Konoka answered with a giggle.

As they darted off deeper into the library, they remained unaware of a floating figure following them. A strange, purple thing consumed by flames aimed its glare at Negi and continued on in silent pursuit. This wasn't going to be pretty.

xxxx

When Negi reached a nexus, he saw what looked like a throne seat. Perfect setting for an evil villain to start gloating, only the person there wasn't Cygnus at all.

It was Rokugou.

“Rokugou-san!” Negi gasped in surprise.

“Negi-sensei!” She greeted kindly, standing up. “Becky! Everyone...” She added as they appeared. “Everyone seems to have cool costumes... or is that Negi-sensei's magic?”

“Uh er, Rokugou-san, those are called pactios,” Negi's face fell. “Anyway, are you okay? You need to get back before Cygnus shows up—”

“What was that?” A swirl of darkness occupied the throne seat and suddenly dispersed, leaving the sinister Cygnus in its place. “Oh, I'm sorry! I could've sworn you said 'Get back before I show up.' That's not cowardice, is it?” Though he was grinning, irritation was evident on both speech and features. “C'mon, if Rokugou wanted to get out of harm's way, she would've done so by now... hell, she can still do it if she wants. Are we preparing for some final, epic battle against the source of all evil? It's only the fourth bloody episode, don't you think you're being a bit hasty?”

“Cygnus-san!” Negi bellowed. “Please leave Rokugou alone and stand down before I have to use force.” He stared down Cygnus. The three battle-ready girls behind him took fighting stances as well. The small animals simply cheered on. He was troubled, however, when Cygnus grew a savage grin.

Standing tall, the boy announced, “Pactios, pactios! TWO can play that game!” He focused some magic, curling his index and ring fingers before forcing them back. “Partner...”

This confused everyone. Cygnus, having a partner? As far as they knew, Cygnus worked fairly alone! Rokugou was just a fangirl/hostage... right?

“...Sayaka Suzuki!”

“UUWWEEEHHH?!” Everyone else but Rokugou gasped in shock. How could he have made a pactio with that girl? Or more importantly... why?

“Show me the power within you...” He announced grandly, bringing his hand back to accept the girl's lottery. Rokugou began to float, and a much darker orb left her chest before settling near Cygnus's outstretched hand. He grabbed inside of it. “Contract... ACTIVATE!” He pulled out a card, darkness slowly dissipating from it.

Rokugou herself began to transform. Her old clothes were gone in a flash of white, replaced by a maid's uniform. Her shoes were red heels, though those heels weren't very high. She took a curtsy. With that, Cygnus grinned as he bellowed. “See? I can do it too!” He laid down, head resting on a hand, and began to strum his fingers.

“R-Rokugou?! Why?!” Becky asked exasperated.

Rokugou blushed. “It seemed like a good idea at the time...”

“Are you sure you want to fight us?” Cygnus raised an eyebrow. “A shadow has already claimed one of your souls...” The air seemed to tense at this statement. Everyone froze in horror, worried about their shadows. “It's only a matter of minutes before—oh, what's this?” Cygnus narrowed his eyes. “Looks like we have company.”

Indeed, a fluttering purple spirit set aflame appeared above the crowd. The fire fairy looked down at Negi, appearing to be merely curious. “Fairy...?!” Negi gasped as recognition set in.

“A what?” Becky raised her eyebrows.

Negi's voice suddenly reached a desperate and angry pitch. “Don't touch my students! Your grudge is with me, remember?!”

“Oh what the hell is this,” Cygnus actually sat to attention, eyes gazing strongly at the conflict. Ah, what he wouldn't give to have some Medusa powers right now...

“Leave them alone!” Negi continued.

The fairy did not listen. Instead, it grew a nasty grin of completely obvious evil and summoned a small wave of darkness. It slung a fiery “arm” and watched the darkness sink into the earth, only to explode a moment later. When all was said and done, Konoka stood away from the others.

She twitched and suddenly fled the room.

“Konoka-san!” Negi shouted concern showing on his face. The fairy made a face at him and flew off after her.

“OJOU-SAMA!” Setsuna was the fastest to react, and chased right after her. Negi hopped on his staff and chased the two girls.

Through all this, Becky realized that the dark boy was right—it was pick a fight with him or watch someone else fall to the darkness. She scowled at him, and, along with the “We'll get you next time!” threats from the chibi animals, fled the scene. The animals struggled to keep up.

After a moment of silence, Cygnus stood up and roared. “That thing thinks it can beat me in the darkness? That faker is going down!”

“Yes sah!” Rokugou saluted, slightly panicked by his mood swing. Cygnus disappeared into a wave of darkness, and the young maiden followed suit.

xxxx

“Setsuna-san! Konoka-san?!” Negi called out, flying through the dark halls at breakneck speed. He didn't give a damn whether or not anyone saw him this time—something was clearly wrong with Konoka, and it was all that damn fairy's fault. Considering that Setsuna was still managing to keep a distance from him and yet couldn't catch up to Konoka made him wonder just what that fairy was planning. It was the first time they took someone over and ran for it.

“Negi-sensei!” Setsuna shouted when he finally caught up to her.

“Setsuna-san?!”

“I don't know how that fairy managed to slip past us, likely Cygnus's dark aura was a perfect distraction!” Her eyes widened, as if a nightmarish thought occurred to her. “Negi-sensei, find the others first and meet me back outside! I'll stall the fairy... and ojou-sama,” And with that she was gone. Negi, face grim and disappointed, slowed down a bit and got off his staff.

“Negi-sensei!” The boy saw Nodoka and her group, minus Kaede, approach him. With the exception of Ichijou, they were panting, tired from their running.

“Are you okay?! What happened?” Negi asked.

“Robots attacked us,” Ichijou stated simply.

“R-robots!?” Negi flinched in shock.

“But the ninja stayed behind to take care of them. Also it doesn't look like the bondage hentai was behind those...”

“Ninja... Kaede-san? And... bondage hentai?”

“Cygnus.”

“Cygnus... wait, is that why everyone was... OH NO!” Negi gripped his own head in horror.

“And you just NOW reach that conclusion?” Becky scampered into view, followed by the suka forms. “I won't let him do that to Rokugou!”

“Negi-sensei,” Nodoka said softly, not wanting that conversation to go any further before HER imagination starts going wild. “I'm worried about Kaede-san.”

And speak of the devil. “Ah, you shouldn't be.” Kaede landed down, still in her armor garb. “I learned something interesting today.”

“Kaede-ane-san!” Kamo popped out. “How are you wearing your armor when you haven't had Negi activate it for you?”

“That's what I'm talking about,” The ninja answered. “The Chaos Emerald can activate contracts. The Chupacabra himself showed me.”

“Ooh!” Everyone else said.

“In any case we need to find what's going on with Konoka-ane-san and Setsuna-san!” Kamo said. “We need to get back outside!”

Everyone agreed. Becky however, still had a slight question. “Negi...” She asked softly. “...why does that fairy hate you?”

Negi sighed sadly. “That's what I want to know.”

xxxx

The astronomy room.

It was the meeting place of the fortune telling club, one of Konoka's favorite clubs, and as well the astronomy club itself. In the center of the dome-like room stood a strange clock, keeping time accurate with the revolution of the solar system. The room was dark, with the exception of the sparkling lights that served as the stars, and the strange, pale glow of an artificial moon. When Setsuna entered, Konoka was already down there, gazing at the moon.

“Ojou-sama,” She began, but then saw she had a change of dress. She quite literally was wearing nothing but white. A white dress, long socks and shoes, and strangely enough a headband with cat ears. “Wait...”

“Secchan...” Konoka called in an alluring voice.

“O-Ojou-sama?!” Setsuna stepped back a bit, a twinge of red appearing on her cheeks. “No, the fairy...” As if on cue, that fire fairy showed up, dancing about. Setsuna snarled and prepared her sword. “You.”

“Negi-kun's supposed to be miserable,” Konoka gently grabbed Setsuna and sung, her eyes gleaming. The touch was nigh electric to the guardian. “We should make that happen together. No need to attack Mr. Fairy... How about... a kiss?”

“What?!” This was certainly unladylike by Setsuna's standards, but unfortunately her inner desires were clashing with her outside logic. “N-n-n-n... that is to say, th-that's—”

“Too late, Secchan...” Too late indeed, as it was only then Setsuna noticed Konoka's noticeably larger fangs and those fangs were beginning to sink into her...

xxxx

With the effects of all the contracts gone, everyone was back to normal status as they headed back to the school. However, there was still business to take care of. Ichijou wandered off again, and the twins and Kaede tried to follow her, only to get lost in the process. With the walking club no longer with them, the rest of the gang had no choice but to hunt for the lovebirds-in-denial without them.

Things were uneventful until Negi felt a terrible darkness nearby. “Oh dear... Konoka-san!” With his staff reacting, he followed it quickly.

“Negi!” Asuna picked up the pace behind him, as did everyone else.

Negi's staff shook the most violently as he approached and entered the Astronomy room. It was here he noticed the presence of Konoka and Setsuna. Both of them seemed to be in an embrace, and when they noticed Negi they pulled back. It was here he noticed they had different clothes. There was Konoka's white dress, but Setsuna had on a purple vest, white pants, and gloves. Despite her strange attire there was a certain regal feel to her presence.

“Hi, Negi-kun,” Konoka slurred alluringly. “You do know today is Caturday, right?”

“Konoka-san!” Negi said, alarmed. She was possessed indeed, but there was something different, something wrong... He looked up, and saw the fire fairy hovering in front of the fake moon. “You... let my students go!”

“No can do... I can't stop until you're miserable,” Konoka answered, speaking for the fairy. “But of course, I can make you miserable in other ways...” She cupped his face, her eyes gleaming with lust. “Think about it this way—if you were two years older, this won't feel miserable at all!”

“Leave him alone!” Asuna and Becky bellowed at the same time. They stamped towards Konoka, eyes lit with fire.

Unfortunately, the possessed Setsuna decreed it was Soviet Russia, and in Soviet Russia, the fire lights them. “No one will stand in ojou-sama's way!” She flicked her hand forward, and a rush of flames blasted the entryway where everyone was. Becky and Asuna's asses were on fire, so they screeched like banshees in an attempt to roll them out. The fairy simply swung about in delight. “We'll destroy you next.”

“It's impossible!” Becky said between “hau haus”. “We can't get in!”

“Oh no! Negi-sensei!” Nodoka tried to reach, but the flames blocking the way were too strong.

“Wait a second! Miyako-san's still in there!” Himeko pointed, and sure enough the red-haired girl was still on the other side of the fire, staring as if someone burned a million dollars in front of her face. “Miyako-san! Don't give up! Help Negi-sensei!” Himeko waved.

“What the hell can I do?!” She bellowed. However, she saw Negi now suffering an “attack” from the cat-like girls. “Geez!”

The girls were practically fondling the boy at this point. The only thing he could do was stutter. “N-no! Bad kitties! Very bad kitties!” Which seemed to egg them on more than it did to stop them.

“Come on, Negi-kun... you know you like it,” Konoka's face shined with a dark delight.

Miyako was at a loss. With that, she concluded she could only do one thing.

Stomping towards the girls, Miyako raised a hand, and performed a mighty slap to Konoka's face.

Bad move.

Konoka merely turned to Setsuna, who understood wordlessly. She grabbed Miyako's arm and threw her away.

“Aiyah!” Miyako sailed into a wall and crashed. She moaned softly in pain as she sank to the ground.

“Miyako-san!” Negi yelled.

“Know your place!” Setsuna bellowed. The powerful yet controlled flames revealed her shadow—a cat-like creature, with feathers sticking out of her head. “Those who DARE touch ojou-sama will feel the wrath of Blaze!” She aimed an outstretched hand, and fire gathered, swirling about her palm. She aimed, ready to finish off Miyako...

“Miyako!” Becky screeched.

The fire was already launched. Miyako could do nothing but prepare for a fiery end...

...except it never came, because a barrier deflected the attack.

Miyako saw the dancing flames die out as Rokugou appeared before her, still in the maid costume. “Rokugou...?”

“Miyako-san, I'm glad I came in time,” Rokugou answered.

A swirl of darkness appeared behind both of them, and Cygnus emerged, a snide grin on his face. “Thought so! What I see here is a faker!”

“Faker?” Konoka gasped, but this turned out to be a mistake as Negi escaped her grasp and quickly came by Miyako's side, quickly chanting a healing spell. The girl's body glowed as the damage from the throw was undone.

“You're on my turf, pixie. I'm the real darkness. You. Get lost,” Cygnus aimed his finger at the fairy. It reeled back, as if struck, and nearly shivered in fear. He turned his attention to Negi. “How about giving the angry glasses girl a fighting chance?”

Negi wasn't sure what to make of Cygnus's semi-friendliness, but complied anyway. Whipping out his staff, he said. “Miyako-san, ready?”

“Ready...” The girl stood up and adjusted her glasses.

“Partner... Uehara Miyako! Show me the power within you!” Negi bellowed, summoning the sphere. Miyako felt that pin-prick in her soul as Negi reached inside to pull the card out. “Contract... activate!” A bright light shined, and Miyako's clothes were gone. Her new attire was a simple pink dress and matching shoes. A frying pan materialized in her right hand.

“Huh... I feel like the world could bend to my whim with just a thought...” Miyako muttered. “Although I don't understand the pink dress or frying pan.”

“I had enough of this!” Konoka bellowed, and shot a hand in the air. At once a blast of power shot from beneath everyone. Rokugou once again put up a barrier to shield from the attack, although she had to strain a bit to keep the attack from piercing the shield.

At once, Negi began to prepare a counter spell. “Ras tel—uwah?!”

Cygnus dragged him backwards. “This ain't our fight! Our target's up there,” Negi looked up to see that fairy again, shaking off its strange fear of Cygnus and growing angrier. “We'll boost the distraction a bit by letting them fight.”

“Huh?” Negi blinked, confused. “Why?”

“Because it's fun (plus that fairy's out of safe reach)!” Cygnus crowed. He turned to the two pairs. “So HOW ABOUT IT? Dueling duos, lesbians versus non-lesbians! WHO WILL EMERGE VICTORIOUS?! I think I like this development, to be quite honest,” his hands were making a grand gesture in the air, complete with maniacal laughter.

Rokugou chuckled nervously. “I think you're overdoing it, Cygnus-kun. Please keep your eyes on that fairy...”

“Enough,” Blaze Setsuna took a fighting stance. She sliced forward and a blast of fire shot towards them... only for it to stop in mid-air. “Huh?”

Miyako had stopped it with telekinesis. “Not bad huh?” She sent it back, and Setsuna was forced to flip over her own fire arc. Setsuna came out of the flip with raging sword strike. Miyako countered with her frying pan. Fiery sword and pan collided in a loud and fierce clash, sparks falling to the floor. Both combatants stepped back after a while.

Konoka was in front of Miyako in a flash. “Dark bite... HA!” A wolfish face made of dark power appeared from an arcane symbol, formed at Konoka's hand. Miyako teleported away just as the wolf face snapped. “HA!” Again, except Miyako dodged this one. “HA!” Duck. “HA!” Dodge. “HA!” Teleport.

Meanwhile, Setsuna's body raged with flames, and she charged Rokugou. The maid girl jumped back and deflected the charge with a barrier. Unfortunately Setsuna saw this one coming. She swept underneath the girl, aimed a sword strike, and knocked her skyward from below.

“Rokugou-san!” Asuna panicked. Not thinking, she tried to get past the fire again. “AIYAHH!” She rolled furiously to put out the fire. “It's still hopeless,” she sulked in a perfect imitation of Becky's “hau hau”. Becky patted her back.

Konoka, seeing an easy target, tried to finish off Setsuna's combo with her own attack. She opened a magic portal right above Rokugou, summoning a blast of magic. Bad news was Rokugou disappearing before the attack could even hit. Rokugou showed up once more with Miyako at her side. “Thanks, Miyako-san.”

“Heh, no worries,” Miyako smiled before facing Setsuna again. She twirled her frying pan below her. With her mind, she picked up some debris and fired it at the other two. Both Konoka and Setsuna split away, almost phasing out of sight until—

“To your left!” Miyako shouted.

A magic circle appeared, and that same pale burst of energy shot right towards them. Rokugou was fast enough on the uptake to once again block the attack with no effort. Konoka reappeared, pouting at her failure.

Setsuna, however, had yet to play her hand. She rocketed towards Miyako, sword in hand. Sword met frying pan once again, but this time the flames were stronger. Soon enough Miyako's own pan betrayed her, and the pot was too hot to handle. “Ay-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-dah!” She dropped the pan and Setsuna forced her backwards right onto her bottom.

“Burn.” Setsuna stated simply, rearing back for an attack.

Rokugou would have none of that. She grabbed Setsuna by the arm, slung her over, and bent backwards to slam her right into the ground.

“Ooh,” Everyone outside shuddered at the pain Setsuna was obviously feeling.

“I always wanted to do that in the real world,” A smile was slightly visible on Rokugou's face.

“Why are her panties visible?” Becky twitched, unhappy about that discovery. Others around her also dropped their jaws in slight embarrassment.

“Huh?” This got Cygnus's attention immediately.

“You can't look!” Negi irately knocked Cygnus's head upwards to keep his eyes on the angry fairy hovering near the ceiling.

“What the hell you talking about? You can't look either!” Cygnus did likewise to Negi, more out of irritation that the boy was messing with his face.

Rokugou finally stood up again, and business resumed as normal.

Konoka, on the other hand, was not pleased. “How dare you!” Magic circles were all over the place, and it wasn't looking good. “Take this!” Magic blasts were now everywhere, and Rokugou now actually had to strain to use her powers.

“Miyako-san! Please finish this!” Rokugou said through clinched teeth.

The redhead was already on it. She appeared in Konoka's face, and when the girl's eyes widened in surprise, Miyako pulled an excellent SMMASSSHH attack, striking the girl for massive damage. After successfully canceling the crazy magic auras, Miyako reared her hand back. “PK... FIRE!” A ring of psychokinetic fire surrounded the girl.

“EYAH!” Konoka screamed.

Now the fairy acted. Seeing its vessels lose strength, it dropped out of its safe zone to launch one final desperate attack on the two remaining girls.

“Negi-sensei!” Miyako called.

“Cygnus-kun! NOW!” Rokugou added.

Just what they were waiting for. Cygnus and Negi stopped bickering and suddenly whirled around towards the fairy, breaking out into a full sprint towards it. “Ras tel ma scir magister...” “Gloria en obscurum...”

“Weighted Light... Travel, go beyond the door and SEND IT FAR AWAY!” Both of them bellowed, as their magic grew stronger. “TEL MA... AMORIS!” The two of them slammed their hands into the fire fairy's face. It shrieked in pain before finally ceasing to exist and being replaced by a strange, green disc. With this, the fire around Konoka lit out as if it were blown away, and the darkness within Konoka began to evaporate. She fell, unconscious and back in her old clothes.

“...How many more fairies will try to harm my students?” Negi lamented quietly.

“Huh... I don't like competition. My game is better,” Cygnus snarled. He looked at Setsuna. “Be glad. The real shadow is still here.”

Setsuna shook herself. She was still in those clothes and still nearly on fire, but the possessed/evil aura about her was gone. “Ah...” She said. “I am just a shadow in this girl's body...” She looked over towards Rokugou. “A worthy opponent. So you wish for what's inside me. I admit defeat.” She sat down. “Someday, may you meet the real me.” She made a ninja-like hand gesture, eyes closed. The shadow, and Setsuna's strange clothes evaporated quickly, leaving only a normal Setsuna and a shiny blue Chaos Emerald in its wake. The samurai girl stirred from her pseudo slumber, emerald in hand.

“Setsuna-san!” Negi called. “Are you alright?”

“Ugh... Negi-sensei... don't know what happened...” She shook herself. A thought crossed her mind, and she remembered what was going on beforehand. “OJOU-SAMA!” With speed that would've made the Chupacabra proud, Setsuna was cradling Konoka in a blink of an eye. “Ojou-sama, please wake up!”

Konoka also began to stir. “Secchan...” She opened her eyes. Setsuna's heart nearly broke from the sadness she saw in those eyes. “I'm sorry, Secchan. I gave in.”

“Ojou-sama... why?” Setsuna's voice was soft.

“That terrible feeling... one moment was all that it took for me to completely lose it...” Konoka murmured. “Please forgive me, Secchan...” Her eyes began to water.

“Ojou-sama, it's I that should be asking you for forgiveness. I should have seen that darkness. I should have seen my own shadow, too.” If Setsuna wasn't totally crushed by the sadness by now, she certainly was at the end of her own sentence. “I swear... no matter what, I won't let the darkness take you anymore!” Her eyes were watery as well.

“Secchan,” Konoka smiled again.

Cygnus made a face. Those two... somehow it kinda made his heart hurt. “Hmph...” He glared at the Spirit's Scream Negi now held. That sensation it gave off... it felt extremely familiar to him. “Rest assured that whatever obnoxious darkness that spawned won't be bothering you. After all, I'm the only darkness that can please Ro—”

A massive flying kick silenced Cygnus immediately. “GROKK!” Okay, maybe it didn't.

Becky landed from her perfect attack as the other members of Negi's group swarmed in to surround him. “YOU!” She declared, pointing a vicious finger in his direction. “I won't let you perv on Rokugou as you please!”

Rokugou's cheeks grew red. “Cygnus-kun?”

“It's obvious I'm not liked because my descent to villainy is apparently working,” Cygnus managed a mock salute despite the huge bruise on his face. “I'll be back to win your heart with my awesome evil, my dear!” With that he swept a grand bow to Rokugou faded into the darkness. Along with it, both Rokugou and Miyako were back to normal.

Negi stared for a moment as the fire died down and everyone scrambled towards Konoka and Setsuna, offering words of comfort and body warmth like kittens (hey, it IS Caturday). Despite the peace, his mind ran in chaotic circles. Why did Cygnus help him against the fairy? For somebody evil, this guy is quite simply, not making sense. He feels more socially inept than downright evil...

xxxx

The successful defeat of the Hazuki-like Konoka and Blaze Setsuna would unfortunately only mark the beginning of Negi and Becky's true trials... for you see, the fourth shadow had long claimed its victim. The shadow was no ordinary one, for unlike the others so far, the person it was imitating was not only aware of its existence, but tapping into its powers as well.

Rei Tachibana stood impassively against the setting sun, with Chao and Satsuki sleeping behind her. Her shadow was cast long... the shadow of a megalomaniac. She adjusted her glasses. “So let's see if this universe is ready for... an Eggman Empire.” If her speech was indication of anything, it was the fact that things are rolling right into place for one Dr. Ivo Robotnik. And unless you're the type who roots for the bad guys, this didn't look good at all. What exactly is the mad doctor up to, and how the hell did he find out about this universe? You'll have to tune in next time!

xxxx

Mesousa and Motsu, completely oblivious to the turn of plot twisting events, were playing checkers. And of course, Mesousa was losing.

Horribly.

“You need to step up your game,” Motsu chided.

“I don't have any game to step up,” Mesousa sobbed.

Motsu moved one last piece, taking Mesousa's last piece on the board and obtaining victory. “I win! You LOSE! Good day, sir!” Motsu began to perform horrible dances just to taunt the miserable rabbit.

But for no reason at all, Mana Tatsumiya, still holding a slight grudge from the last episode, showed up beside Mesousa. “Frogs shouldn't have such crappy victory dances.”

“You could summon Armageddon that way,” Zazie murmured, appearing on the opposite side of the rabbit.

“Six points.”

“Sorry.”

“What are you talking about?” Motsu asked. “I'm just keepin' it real—AUUUGGGHHH!” -KABOOM- As if God himself was punishing the frog, a random blast of darkness came and blew him to smithereens—yes, that same darkness Cygnus launched at Eva at the beginning of the episode. When the fireworks were over, there was only a smoking crater and one very flat and burned Motsu at its core.

Mana turned over to Zazie. “On second thought, I will reward you with one (1) internets.”

Zazie shrugged, although there was probably a smile on the inside somewhere.

Poor Mesousa, however, was still hopeless. “I know what goes around, comes around, but that doesn't help matters at all!”

&!X

“Hey everyone... this is Rei. Fat lot of good I get... the first starring episode with me and I'm now the vessel of the world's most irritating take on the mad scientist cliché. Next time: 'I'm Sick of All This Goodness, Give me Chaos Instead!” By Rei. Or Eggman, if you wanna look at it that way. But hey, at least he shares my raw ambition.”