Mahou Sensei Negima! Fan Fiction / Pani Poni Dash! Fan Fiction ❯ I Am Negima!?, AND SO CAN YOU! Act I ❯ Chapter 7: "Pursuit of a Legend is a Dangerous Art!" by Ichijou ( Chapter 7 )

Scheme!? Final Mix

Episode 7: “Pursuit of a Legendary Creature is a Dangerous Art.” By Ichijou

“Sonic the Hedgehog. The Devil's Swan. Wow, Mahora's become a cesspool of legends,” Evangeline remarked coldly, dressed in her kimono and stirring tea. Chachamaru was likewise preparing ramen. A calm Takamichi had also sat opposite of the vampire girl, calmly waiting for preparations. “I'd have to say, that whoever's pulling the strings to this little scheme is putting on quite a show.”

“Huh,” Takamichi simply responded. “It looks like what was just a legend here actually exists somewhere in another dimension. But are both of them truly legends here?”

“According to the reactions I got from that bondage hentai (she could practically hear the involuntary “NO!” Cygnus was screeching somewhere), it's not so much that they're the actual legends in this universe so much as they seem to fit them due to circumstance...” Eva answered. “A blue hedgehog is certainly not a chupacabra, but his looks and shadowy movement seem to fit the legend to a T. They haven't even bloody noticed that he isn't sucking people's blood, much less livestock. The dark boy, on the other hand, seems to fit his nomenclature, considering his swan guardian. But...”

Takamichi had a sort of mirthless smirk about him. “Something tells me that this isn't the whole story.”

“The boy is but a little distraction from the Star Crystal, ” Eva took another sip of tea. “The darkness he exudes may be different, but that power of his is far too similar to disregard. The style of that dark boy's powers remind me of a tale I once heard—a story of a formless demon called Mephiles.”

“Mephiles?”

“Heh, a demon derived from Mephistopheles—'he who shuns the light'. Makes sense considering how obsessive that boy is over the darkness.” Evangeline answered, “Mephiles the Dark was said to have been sealed away many years ago after a failed experiment with a mad scientist who tried to summon a god. However some time later he escaped, vowing to seek revenge against those who sealed him. Something so formless and evil would no doubt be attracted to all the darkness created from the stolen Star Crystal... but that's just a guess for now.” With the ramen now ready, Chachamaru quietly served her master and her guest. “Eat up,” Evangeline commanded.

“So you think there's a connection between this Mephiles and Cygnus, huh?” Takamichi regarded the girl as he easily sucked up his ramen.

“Probably. One thing that I'd need to understand further is how he associates himself with Rokugou.” The girl coolly answered as she herself sipped tea. “The boy becomes a living paradox around her. It's as if she's the only reason he's actually sane.”

“Oh ho? I think you'll like what I have to say,” A voice boldly announced. Takamichi and Evangeline turned to see a caped figure in the doorway. “Afternoon tea with a green Mist. Love and Bravery's Ambassador of Friendship. They call me... the Black Rose Baron!” The dramatic figure swept down and sat equidistant between the two of them. “Would you mind if I sat here?”

Evangeline looked somewhat irate. She picked a black rose petal out of her tea, and said with quickly deteriorating tact, “Okay... as long as you keep your black rose petals OUT OF MY GODDAMN TEA!”

“Ah, my apologies.”

With both speed and grace, Chachamaru also served the new visitor some tea. “Please, have some.”

“Ah... I'm fine, thanks.”

“Sit down, shut up, and drink your goddamn tea,” Eva muttered, sipping on hers.

“I only said that because I knew you'd say that line,” the Baron had answered wittily. As Eva let out a string of curses in response, the mysterious masked person continued. “It seems like the boy is already smitten by the blue-haired maiden. It appears he's trying to pull a Zeus to Rokugou's Leda. He was hand feeding her yogurt the other day.”

“Just when I didn't think he could be more perverted,” Takamichi shook his head. “It seems like everything is going okay, but we should still keep an eye on the boy just in case. If what Evangeline says about his connection to a powerful demon is true, then the young lady's safety should be of our utmost concern.”

“Negi and his partners should be more than able to take care of Cygnus should he get out of hand,” The Baron added.

“Oh please,” Eva snarled. “They're too busy chasing after blue hedgehogs and trying to survive algebra to care about him at this point. If Cygnus doesn't bother them he could make babies with Rokugou before they even noticed.” She turned to the Baron. “Besides, what's with you and the disguise anyway? We know who you are.”

The Black Rose Baron didn't miss a beat. “You may know who I am, but my identity cannot be revealed in this story.”

“There better be a freakin' sequel then,” The vampire girl muttered.

xxxx

“Hey, PAY ATTENTION!” Becky bellowed. “Do you want to pass this algebra madness or not?!”

The Tuesday session of the extra math lesson wasn't going as well as the child teachers had hoped. Granted, since the weekend adventures of spotting the chupacabra and dealing with the insidious plans of the Dr. Eggman shadow, things had returned to their normal hectic pace. But ever since they had gotten used to Becky's amazing math teaching skills, they had more or less went back to their chaotic selves, many still wondering if Negi and Becky would get hitched and run away on an underage honeymoon. After a particular bout of marveling over Negi and Becky's cuteness together getting so bad that several members had taken to shouting at Negi to “Put it in!” Nodoka had started crying in response, and Chisame and Evangeline (who had actually came to class that day) actually conspired to kill the entire class together, Becky decided she had enough. “SHUT THE HELL UP!” she had bellowed.

Lessons continued for a short while, but unfortunately that chance crashed and burned the moment Rei decided to wisecrack, “So guys, who wants to bet when he'll finally put it in?” The class had raged back to its chaotic self in seconds. Rei kept quiet, with a sinister grin to match.

“ENOUGH OF THIS NONSENSE!” Class representative Ayaka bellowed. “How dare you insinuate such vulgar qualities to Negi-sensei! Simmer down and pay attention!” She whirled over to the mystic Ichijou. “As class representative of your school, why don't you exert more control over your classmates?”

The other class rep eyed her equal from her vintage point beside Konoka. She coolly asked. “Do you want me to? You're doing such a fine job; if I had to act there would most certainly be death.”

Ayaka's strong resolve was no match for the creepy countenance of the other class rep. The mortified girl could only sit down in silence. The uproar continued, although at this point some were now talking about the new class rep in town. “Holy crap! Somebody set the class rep up the bomb?!” Kazumi Asakura asked in shock. There was all sorts of respect hailed for the new class leader in town. Becky sighed and waved the white flag. These people were impossible.

We cut to after class, where the sullen child teacher walked away, defeat written all over her features. “Huh, this is getting stressful... I might even have gray hairs by the time this is all over!” She sulked.

“Becky-san?” The gentle voice of the world's youngest and greatest ladies' man called out. “Are you okay?”

“Negi...” Becky turned to the boy. “Our classes combined would drive even the most hardened teachers insane!” She shivered as she clutched his hand. “They're all way too scary... And... I'm starting to feel homesick...”

“Becky,” Negi did something the older girl did not expect—he hugged her. Smiling, he whispered, “I can imagine the feeling. I live a long ways away from home, and I miss it every day. And true, this class is truly daunting. But it's all you can do, huh? As I told you, Becky-san, I'll help you every step of the way.”

This was so much of a shock, Becky's eyes watered. Not liking the fact that this boy had her completely enraptured, she simply stood back, accusing him with still watery eyes. “You're too kind, you know that? You're a bleeding heart!”

“My heart bleeds all over the place,” Negi said in stride. “I guess it's how I am.” Oh Negi, you lady killer, you! Becky pretty much couldn't do anything but hug him again. Negi patted her back. “We should probably check on the chupa team.”

“Okay...” Becky softly added. Aren't they the cutest couple ever?

xxxx

“Huh, despite all the people here and even the new additions, I can't help but feel something, or someone is missing...” Asuna furrowed her brows in her attempt to solve the mystery of her gut feeling. Indeed, there was quite a pack here in the Chupacabra Research Society. Newcomers Akira and Makie sat alongside the regulars and most of Becky's entourage was here...

“Where's Ichijou-san?” Kurumi asked the golden question.

“No clue,” Rei shrugged. “After all she is Ichijou-san. I don't see the bookworm here either.”

“I don't see Konoka-san around here,” Akira observed astutely.

Asuna noticed this convenient un-roll-call and jumped in. “Geez, who else isn't here? Setsuna probably convinced her to go to fortune-telling club again. But why opt out now?! We're getting closer to catching the chupacabra!”

“Errm,” Nodoka spoke up. “Haruna said she was looking for Yue Yue.”

“Is this how things usually go?” Akira asked Kaede.

“More or less,” The ninja answered.

“Okay, okay!” Asuna shouted, slamming the board and stunning everyone into a temporary silence. Satisfied, Asuna stood straight and addressed the team. “Our Chupa Team has been called to order... So! We have an issue here: we finally found the chupacabra! Sounds good, right? But unfortunately it won't be as simple as we thought. We've got to catch it.”

“So the chupacabra is a really fast blue thing, right?” Rei asked. “How are we gonna catch it?”

“I can lasso it!” Makie offered, completely missing the point.

“Go home.”

“Lure him in with meat buns!” Himeko crowed, her hands mimicking a crab's. “Or giant enemy crabs!”

“That's not helpful at all!” Rei hissed between clenched teeth.

“Glasses girl has a point. The chupacabra's a much faster creature than we anticipated. How can we catch the damn thing if it's fast enough to snatch bait before we even blink?” Asuna asked.

“Ooh! I know!” Kurumi asked. “Chaos Control!”

“Huh?” Everyone turned to stare at Kurumi.

“If we use Chaos Control, we can freeze time and catch it!” Kurumi said. “It's easy! You just take a Chaos Emerald and use it!” Helping her, Makie pulled out one from the collection of four they had. “Just take one aaannnddd...” Clutching it together, they yelled, “CHAOS CONTROOLLL!”

It didn't work.

“Ah?!” The girls sank in disappointment.

“You both fail at life.” Rei stated in her usual disinterested tone. “That Chaos Control or whatever is a power specific to the shadow that possessed you. You can't use it.”

Both girls froze in white. Ouch. Doesn't look like they'll be moving for a while.

“Excuse us,” Negi meekly entered, as if trying to sneak past a sleeping guard. Becky was right behind him. And they were holding hands. Of course, I don't need to point out the fifty kinds of bad moves that was, because everyone else noticed.

“Ah! Becky-sensei and Negi-sensei are the couple of the year! How cute!” Rokugou marveled, even sashaying to her own words.

“Wah?!” They split apart immediately, shock on their faces. “Th-that wasn't what it looked like at all!” Negi tried to do the damage control like a Sony executive, but just like said executive, it was too little, too late.

Becky found herself next to the shy Nodoka. The girl, hands clasped close to her face, told Becky, “I admit you look cute with Negi-sensei... but I won't lose to you!”

“Eh?” Becky blinked.

“Umm, can we get back to business here?” Asuna tapped at the blackboard. “We still need to figure out how to catch the chupacabra!”

“Asuna-san... whatever you have planned, I'll be willing to help,” Negi said simply. “...within reason, of course!” He added quickly. “I'm sure that we'd all like to catch that chupacabra too—”

“I'm not a chupacabra!” A voice complained over by an open window. The twelve people in the room turned to see the blue chupa—err hedgehog with an irritated look on his face. “I'm a hedgehog! HEDGE-HOG!”

There was a pregnant pause.

Asuna was the first to react. “It's THE CHUPACABRA! GET 'IM!”

“Oh, OH SHI—” Sonic hopped off his perch and split, with Asuna and most of the gang hot on his tail. The team showed their preparation for this memorial event (or lack thereof) by arming themselves with butterfly nets. The blue hedgehog is surely doomed! -coughYEAHRIGHTsputterhack-

However, just as Rokugou bringing the rear and chasing after her friends, Becky placed a hand on her wrist. “Hold it!”

Rokugou looked at her homeroom teacher in confusion.

“Rokugou, we're going to have to ask you to stay here,” Negi said gently.

“But... why?” The girl asked.

“We don't want Cygnus making off (or out) with you again!” Becky answered sharply.

“Yeah, no offense to you, sis, but you're just walking bait if Cygnus decides to attack,” Kamo added, coming out of nowhere as usual.

“Please understand, Rokugou-san,” Negi said gently. “We're worried about you. We don't know what he might do to you; he might even try to use you against us.” Negi twirled his staff, quickly muttering in Latin as he set a barrier around the school. “Tel ma... amoris!” Rokugou saw some light flicker outside. “So long as you don't go outside, Cygnus can't get in. Please understand, Rokugou-san...” Negi pleaded again. Becky dashed to the table and scooped up two of the chaos emeralds.

“I'm coming with you this time!” Kamo interjected, hopping on Negi's shoulder.

“Okay...” Rokugou said somewhat sadly. The two child teachers gave sympathetic looks as they dashed out the door and behind the rest of their class. The nice girl turned sadly back towards the mostly empty room. Makie and Kurumi were still frozen white for being called failures. Then there was that suspicious black substance on the ground... too bad Rokugou didn't notice it until she stepped in it. “Ayah!” She squealed as nasty dark tendrils wrapped themselves around her.

Kurumi and Makie still did nothing, as they were failures.

“HA HA!” Cygnus crowed, appearing in a wave of darkness. “Thinking you could outsmart me by putting up a barrier, eh, Negi? Did you ever think of how that would work if I'm already inside the barrier? Now have a taste of tentacle po—oh goddammit,” Cygnus cursed his sudden massive nosebleed.

xxxx

“Hey, Secchan...” Konoka asked. “Do you read much?”

Somewhat put off by the question, the Shinmeiryuu swordswoman took a moment before answering. “Ah... Aside from a few Shinmei texts, I haven't had much time to read for fun...”

“That's too bad, Secchan,” Konoka turned her back on the other girl playfully as they strolled into the school's library. “We didn't skimp out on chasing the chupacabra just so I could go to fortune-telling club, you know. I wanted to check this library on some mythology.”

The familiar bell chime echoed, and Setsuna and Konoka turned to see Ichijou there, her face calm and distant as ever. “Ah, it's the princess and her lady knight.” One can only wonder if Ichijou is listening out for the yuri horde.

“Ah, it's my evil double!” Konoka returned in the same tone. Whether Ichijou cared or not, she showed no signs of it even registering.

“Ojou-sama, we shouldn't be using such comparisons,” Setsuna advised. She then turned to Ichijou. “In any case, I'm quite surprised to see you here. What business do you have here?”

“Ah,” Ichijou lightly smacked a fist into an open palm. “I was wondering why the lovebirds were together instead of chasing the strange blue rat. (“I'M A HEDGEHOG!” Sonic said somewhere.)”

“L-Lovebirds?!” Setsuna stuttered in absolute embarrassed horror. “What type of insinuation are you trying to make?! There is no such relationship between me and ojou-sama!”

“Huh, that sounds kinda cute!” Konoka smiled, making Setsuna sweat more bullets. “But why would we want to do that? Secchan and I are friends!” The collective cries of frustration from the yuri horde could be heard all the way from the United States as all those fans probably threatened to leave the story. Setsuna sighed in relief, although on the inside there was probably a twinge of disappointment. But since both Konoka and I (the author) are no yuri haters, the girl continued. “But then again, that might explain why Secchan always panics when I want her to kiss.”

The samurai was back to sweating bullets. Oh shit, she's been discovered! No doubt Konoka would have her thrown out and sent back to the Shinmeiryuu, where she would be disgraced for all eternity! But no such thing happened, because Ichijou did a lifesaving thing—she moved the conversation in a completely different direction. “Do you want to know about Cygnus?” she asked. “There are quite a few things I can tell you about.”

“Oi! Did somebody just say 'Cygnus'?” From behind a shelf of books, Miyako dashed onto the scene, a grin plastered on her face. “'Cause I'm pretty sure I heard somebody say 'Cygnus'.” The fourth person missing from the Chupacabra Research Society stared at the three of them, but recognized that it was Ichijou that spoke. She sighed in disappointment. “Gah, this will go nowhere quickly.”

“What I'm about to say cannot be missed,” Ichijou countered seriously. That stopped Miyako in her tracks. “Cygnus... is not of this world.”

“We already knew that!” Miyako complained. “God, can't you say something more useful?!”

“What you don't know,” Ichijou went on as if Miyako hadn't made that outburst. “Is that he is not of the world we have been to either. The dimensional holes that we have been traveling to all go to the same planet: the one the blue hedgehog is from (“About damn time somebody got it right!” Sonic shouted somewhere.).”

“That explains a bit,” Konoka answered. “But what does that have to do with Cygnus?”

“Cygnus is on this world, because this world has the closest gateway to his home world.” The girl mysteriously answered. When the other girls shared puzzled looks, Ichijou continued. “The darkness he seeks is the key to that gateway.”

Miyako rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “That explains his motives a bit... and with the seven chaos emeralds, he could control unparalleled darkness and get home in no time. But... why all the exaggerated antics? He could've asked us to help him get home! He didn't have to invoke the whole damn Stockholm Syndrome on Rokugou and use her as a bargaining chip to keep us away!”

“Cygnus doesn't trust the 'good guys', especially since they're near non-existent where he comes from,” Ichijou nonchalantly answered. “Well, guys are pretty scarce where he comes from, too...”

“Ah, Ichijou-san seems to know a lot about Cygnus!” Konoka answered.

“But just how does she?” Setsuna asked. “Between the three of us we've been hunting much more fiercely for information about Cygnus, but all we've seen is the normal Greek Mythology and the constellation.”

At this, Ichijou simply bowed her head, a soft smile on her face. “Even if I told you, you wouldn't believe me. Even now you probably doubt my words. You'll simply have to see for yourself.”

The timing of those words couldn't have been any better, as a dark shape glided through the halls just at the edge of their line of vision. Setsuna knew exactly who that was. “Cygnus!”

“Let's go after him, Secchan!” Konoka said.

“Ojou-sama...” Setsuna didn't think that was a wise idea, considering that there was no Negi and no Chaos Emerald amongst them. Even though Setsuna and Ichijou could hold their own, there was no telling what insidious tricks the Gary S—err Dark Swan would pull. Nevertheless, Negi needed to know. Without a word between them, Konoka pulled out an emergency cell phone and tossed it to Setsuna. Setsuna dialed Negi's number—no dice. “I can't reach him. He's likely in the other universe.”

“Damn it,” Konoka hissed, the curse shocking Setsuna. “We can't let him get away!”

“Ojou-sama,” Setsuna was sweating yet more bullets, this time more fearful of Konoka's now forward attitude. She stopped just in time to see Ichijou already out the door. With a small grin on her face, she motioned the other three girls to follow her. Seeing little to no choice, the girls followed her out the library in pursuit of the darkness.

xxxx

The serene green palm trees were the first thing Sonic saw as he made an escape back to his world. Indeed, he was back in the Green Hill Zone, a place known for peaceful, rolling hills, a large, crystal clear lake and a lot of grass. “Huh, I'm back on my old stomping grounds,” he simpered. “Nice to be home—WHOA!” Only quick reflexes allowed him to dodge the net that was aimed for his head. He flipped away and landed to see that Negi and his entourage had already arrived.

Asuna, who had cast the net, was currently pointing at Sonic with said item. “We're gonna catch you this time! You can't hide from us!”

“O RLY?” Sonic taunted. “I know this place like the back of my hand! Catch ya later, chumps!” And with that, he dashed off.

“After him!” Asuna crowed, immediately sprinting behind the blue hedgehog.

Most everyone else stood stock still. Perhaps they realized the futility of chasing a creature many times faster than they were—or at least, unlike Asuna, recognized that blindly chasing him would do them no good. In any case, they huddled together to cook up a more elaborate plan.

“Everyone, we should probably split up,” Becky said. “And use our abilities to the fullest.”

“What if we run out of energy...?” Fuuka began.

“...and right into trouble?” Fumika finished.

“Just leave it to me!” Rei had somehow gotten her hands on a miniature grill and was already cooking. “If you get hungry, just come back here. I'll have food ready.”

“In that case...” Negi prepared his staff. “All Partners... show me the power within you!” With that, all the girls felt pinpricks to their souls again. He then focused on Nodoka. “Miyazaki Nodoka... contract... activate!” From the strange orb he summoned, he pulled out a card. A bright light flashed, and Nodoka found herself plus one book and one pair of glasses.

“Cosplay card!” Kamo cheered.

“Nodoka-san. Please read Sonic's mind and find out where he is,” Negi requested.

“Okay!” She opened the book, and like magic (hur hur okay not funny), a picture of Asuna chasing Sonic appeared. The drawing looked rather juvenile, like the planning stages of a Genesis Sonic game, but Nodoka seemed to understand what was going on. “'Gee, this is fun. Let's play some more!'” She read out loud. Although that on its own wasn't helpful, Nodoka did see that the picture was a good clue. “Asuna-san is chasing him by a ridge!”

“Got it!” Negi said, immediately hopping on his staff and preparing to take off.

“Everybody, split up and cover more ground. We'll be around to help out!” Kamo said just as Negi sped away.

“Got it!” The gang split up, not unlike what people would do to solve mysteries, leaving Rei to cook on her own near the entrance.

xxxx

The swan-shaped darkness slithered across the school grounds, past the garden and the lake, and into Library Island. Once there, Cygnus emerged slowly, scoping his surroundings. There he saw one girl idily browsing through books. Just as he was about to simply stroll on by, somebody called out “Yue!” Cursing his luck, he hid amongst another row of books as none other than that pervy girl Haruna dashed by. Apparently she knew this girl he came across by accident, as she then said “Thank goodness I found you!”

“Oi, Haruna.” A monotone voice answered back, likely belonging to this Yue. “Both you and Nodoka have been busy this weekend, I see.”

“Yep... one of these days I'll show you, though,” Haruna responded. “But I'm kinda worried about Nodoka.”

“Really?” Cygnus could hear the slurping of the drink. “She may now have Miyamoto-sensei to err... contend with, but I think she's fine with that.”

“Now that you put it that way...” By now, Cygnus had tuned out most of their conversation, instead opting to listen out for when opportunity would allow him to sneak past. However, upon thinking about it, he wondered why exactly was he sneaking around in the first place.

Screw the rules, I'm the bloody darkness! Were his thoughts on the matter, and Cygnus was about to reveal himself when a shout was heard.

“Cygnus!” Goddammit. Nearly tripping on himself, he nearly missed Yue and Haruna turn towards that voice. Konoka and Setsuna sprinted in, followed by that weirdo from Peach Moon and the girl with a shining forehead. It was Setsuna who had called out the name. “Show yourself, coward!”

“Yue-chan! Please step back!” Konoka added.

“What?!” Yue nearly jumped back in surprise; her friends looked quite ready to kill something. Seeing his time to escape, the boy smoothly extracted himself from his hiding place as a swan-shaped shadow. The darkness formed into Cygnus as he skated past Yue, shouting “Not quite yet!”

“After him!” Miyako shouted. The four girls chased after the dark boy, but Haruna called out a warning, “Hey, it's dangerous chasing after that bondage hentai!”

“Yue-chan, Haruna-chan, I'm sorry, but I'll have to explain later!” Konoka shouted before turning back and chasing after the others. Yue stood there in shock; Haruna just sighed, somewhat frustrated.

When that shock died down, however, Yue turned an excited eye towards her friend. “You are going to explain this, right?”

“Trust me on this one, I will,” Haruna answered seriously. “But only after we chase those clowns! C'mon!” Faster than the shorter library girl could react, Haruna tugged her friend's arm and sped after the mob.

xxxx

“Whoohoo!” Sonic cheered as he jogged to evade the vicious net swipes of Asuna. “This is the greatest fun I've had in ages!”

“Dammit... stop—” She swiped. “Moving—” Swipe. “So—” Swipe. “FAST!”

“Heheh,” Sonic suddenly came to a rounded hill. He jumped off and landed on the ground right below the sudden incline. Landing gracefully, the blue hedgehog simply turned to Asuna and crowed, “C'mon, step it up!” Of course, Asuna kept going so she ran straight off the incline. However, once sailing off, she spotted the blue hedgehog again.

Asuna gracefully adjusted her body and prepared to swipe once more with her net. “TERIIAAA!” She bellowed as she dived in for the attack...

“Huh?” She noticed she was stuck in mid-air. Looking behind her, she saw some very elastic hook had caught onto her clothes. And it was stretched to the limit. “Uh-oh.”

“Meep meep!” Sonic taunted like a car horn. “You're too slow!” He dashed away.

“EEEYYYYAAAAAGGGHHH!” Asuna sailed into the sky and disappeared with a ding. So long Asuna Kagurazaka! Nice knowing you...

xxxx

“CYGNUS!” Setsuna bellowed yet again. “Your shenanigans end here.” She took a fighting stance as Konoka, Ichijou, and Miyako gathered behind her.

“Don't count on it,” Cygnus sneered. “I've still got my trump card,” The darkness opened up in front of him. Rokugou was—come on now, take a guess—bound and gagged! Totally expected from the bondage hentai— “GET ON WITH IT!” Geez, you're still no fun.

“Rokugou!” Miyako shouted.

“Typical bondage hentai actions!” Setsuna accused. “I'm not even surprised!”

“I thought Negi-kun put up a barrier...” Konoka shrugged. “Guess it was useless...”

“Anyway,” Cygnus continued, fairly irate at this point. “I dislike having to use Rokugou in this fashion, but since you hero types keep bothering me, I have no choice but to use cheap tactics... I've gotten this far, you're not going to stop me.”

“Just what are you trying to do?” Konoka implored.

“Haven't I told you before?” Cygnus said, tossing his head up and regarding the girl with a grin. “Bring ultimate darkness to this world, so I can go home. But for now...” Cygnus picked up the girl. “Let's move to another place less innocent. I can feel the hatred for me within your hearts.” He stepped backwards, disappearing in a warp hole.

“You—!” Miyako snarled, about to give chase, but Ichijou stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. “Ichijou-san?”

“You have to stay here.”

“But... but why?!” Miyako was about to rage, and her forehead shone brightly with her indignation. “I'm about to kick his ass! I haven't even managed to get my cosplay card yet!”

“The plot demands it, of course,” Ichijou answered as if it was a legit answer, and quickly disappeared. Ha. As if.

“Besides,” Another hand on her shoulder stopped her again. There was a horrible sense of dread as Miyako turned to see a rather vicious Haruna sneering at her. “You get to explain what's going on to me AND her,” She pointed backwards. Miyako stared back to see a curious Yue, casually sipping on a juice box. Her jaw dropped.

“B-b-but?!” Miyako turned, only to see that the other three had already disappeared. “I-I thought you already—”

“Apparently not as much as I thought I did,” Haruna boomed, getting close enough to collide into her chest.

Yue almost looked uninterested in her plight. “Haruna, keep it PG-13 please.”

“I am so screwed right now,” Miyako lamented. In more ways than one, lass. In more ways than one.

xxxx

The gray gaze of the sky muted the three girls as they saw themselves in a strange new world.

It was a cold place—snow fell lightly from the sky. Various bones of colossal creatures and former humans alike were strewn about. Indeed, this was a type of skeleton graveyard. “Huh... strangely doesn't feel all that cold.” Setsuna uttered softly.

“Kinda beautiful in a twisted way, eh, Secchan?” Konoka asked.

“Perhaps,” Setsuna answered wearily.

“Well isn't that amusing,” a voice crowed. The girls turned to see Cygnus standing atop of a massive backbone. His leer was as twisted as ever. Taking on a stereotypical evil villain laugh, the dark boy continued. “Going on a date you two? Maybe you should cut the crap and get hitched some day!”

“Silence! Don't bother trying to distract us!” Setsuna snarled. She prepared her sword and took a fighting stance. “You should give back Rokugou and leave—geh?!” Setsuna's eyes bulged. Konoka followed suit, but Ichijou just raised an eyebrow. Yeah, she's still weird like that.

Cygnus, still laughing like an evil villain, failed to notice the giant shape behind him until a few moments later, where he suddenly stopped. Twitching, he slowly turned to his right and saw the bones of a massive Tyrannosaurus Rex, seeming to regard him in irritation. “Excuse me, what the eff r u doin'?” The giant undead T-Rex asked.

Cygnus jaw was unbelievably wide while he shook in fear. Growing even more irritated with the lack of answers, the T-Rex simply chomped down. Cygnus almost screamed like a girl as he high-tailed it away from the creature and into the massive dome structure, cursing like a sailor the whole way.

“You're not getting away!” Setsuna bellowed, and she charged after him. Bad news: the T-Rex was still there, and it didn't like intruders. It roared and lunged for Setsuna.

“Secchan!” Konoka cried fearfully.

It was then Ichijou seemed to press something on her skin. “Master...” She whispered as she sprinted towards Setsuna and the dinosaur. “I request a contract!”

Strange to hear from you so soon... but I'll grant your request! The voice answered. Somewhere on the other end, a shadow focused its magic. Partner... &!&(!) Ichijou. Show me the power within you! Contract... Activate! The shadow pulled out a card as Ichijou sprinted towards Setsuna and the dinosaur. At once her body grew completely white, shining as Ichijou was in a strong red and orange space armor. Her right hand was now a cannon, and she had immense shoulder pads. Ichijou's head disappeared behind a helmet with a green visor. Have fun now, toodily pip!

Wait a second... Ichijou just turned into Samus Aran?!

The new Metroid killer on the block wasted no time in aiming her gun and firing a massive missile right into the face of the dinosaur. The creature roared in pain as it staggered backwards from the massive explosion. It was then that Setsuna gained her senses once more. She jumped backwards and swept Konoka in her arms. “Ojou-sama! Let's move!”

Konoka barely had time to gasp as Setsuna carried her off into safety. As they dashed along, Konoka saw Ichijou in armor form. “You already have a contract?!” Konoka exclaimed.

“For some time,” The class rep answered. Ichijou continued to pelt the dinosaur with missiles as they made their escape into the realm known as the Skeleton Dome.

xxxx

“I found you, Mahooo!” Sonic heard. The blue hedgehog turned to see the strange girl standing before him, excitement dancing in her eyes. “I'm gonna catch you so I can get more meat buns!”

Just behind her, Negi flew in. He jumped off the staff and twirled it as he lowered himself to the ground. “Katagiri Himeko...” He summoned the strange orb and put his hand in, then drew out a card. “Contract... activate!” A flash of white light.

This suddenly got a hell of a lot more interesting, as Himeko got new duds. Her clothes consisted of a dark red dress and matching boots, as well as a giant, colorful, red and yellow hammer. Safe to say that it was WAY too familiar for Sonic's tastes. “OH HELL NO!” Sonic panicked, and quickly dived into a random hole.

“Cosplay card!” Kamo exclaimed again, filling his role for this scene.

“Oh you can't get away from me, Sonic! I won't stop until I make you mine!” Himeko prepared her hammer and dashed towards the... multitude of holes? Uh-oh... Looks like a game of whack-a-chupa. (“I'm a HEDGEHOG!”) “Looks like fun to play!”

Sonic popped his head out of one of them. Himeko brought her hammer down like Thor's judgment, but Sonic's head was too fast. He popped out of another one, and Himeko brought down the hammer much faster. Still a miss though. The game continued, with Sonic poking his head out faster and faster, and the happy-go-lucky Himeko being faster and faster with her hammer strikes.

That's when the Himeko got a brilliant idea. From the same subspace she pulled the hammer, she also dug in and pulled out... a plunger. Negi and Kamo looked on in confusion.

“A plunger?” Kamo blinked.

“Watch!” Himeko put the plunger on the hole she last saw Sonic go down and started pumping like crazy. The good news: the idea worked! The bad news: she didn't pull out Sonic; she pulled out Asuna. And Asuna was not very happy about this.

Negi and Kamo looked on in horror as Asuna sent Himeko careening into a cliff. She smacked the cliff so hard that it caved in, the extra rocks and dirt falling right on top of her. The rocks cleared, and the cliff had now spelled out “SONIC” in huge letters. “Damn, that's good!” Sonic applauded Asuna, appearing out of nowhere.

“Why thanks!” Asuna chirped. She then realized whom she was talking to and bellowed. “HEY! Sit still!” As she pulled out her net and tried to swipe Sonic.

“Yahoo, this is tight!” Sonic cheered as he dodged Asuna's attacks. The angry Asuna continued her chase of the legendary chupacabr—err hedgehog, leaving a frustrated Negi to go help Himeko out of the rubble.

xxxx

High atop a strange collection of plateaus, Fuuka, Fumika, and Becky crouched, waiting for opportunity to come knocking. They had spotted Sonic upon arriving, but without a quick way to reach him, they decided to hide rather than attempt to chase him and fail.

“Miyamoto-sensei,” Fuuka whispered. “What's the plan?”

“Waiting for him to get closer or for Negi to show up and activate our contracts.” The child teacher answered.

“How will that work?” Fumika asked quietly.

“You sure that's gonna work?” Sonic asked. The girls whirled around in shock to see the blue hedgehog lying on his side, looking at them through amused eyes. One hand propped his head, the other was strumming on the soft grass. “I mean, even if I was right here, you still couldn't catch me.”

“D-d-d-d-dah!” Becky stammered, pointing a quivering finger.

The twins reacted instinctively, lunging out for him. Sonic however, was too fast. He practically disappeared, leaving the twins to grab only air. Unfortunately their inertia carried them over a bit too far, and they found themselves over a really, really huge bed of spikes. “EEEK!” They screamed, swimming frantically back to safety.

“I forgot to warn you! You're in the valley of spikes!” Sonic said. “I hope you prepared to get out okay!” And with that, Sonic sped away, leaving the three girls to see that Sonic was in fact, telling the truth. The Valley of Spikes seemed like an uninviting place for some place called the Green Hill Zone.

xxxx

Inside the hallowed halls of the Skeleton Dome, a portal of darkness swirled into existence. The Devil's Swan tore towards her like a bat out of hell, panic in his eyes. He whirled around, sliding to a stop nearby the sole grand throne at the end of the hall. “Geez! I've forgotten how insane this universe can get.” Drawing from the darkness, he picked up Rokugou, who had sat silently the whole time. “Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah,” Rokugou's face tinged red. “Although I'm still worried that you still have those bondage hentai fantasies...” This promptly forced Cygnus's head to introduce itself to the floor.

“That's not funny,” Cygnus sulked as Rokugou restrained herself from giggling. “Anyway, it looks like it could be awhile before I can safely gather the darkness... one Chaos Emerald was surprisingly enough. But with all these lesbians on my tail...” Cygnus grit his teeth. “At this rate, I'll never find my way home.”

“Cygnus-kun... I want to ask something.”

“Yeah?”

“Why are Negi-sensei and the others your enemies?”

“...They're not. But because of my aura, they hate me.” Cygnus held a hand, palm up. Darkness billowed out like a fire as he continued. “This aura instills a kind of belligerence to those around me—anyone close to me gets the darkness in their hearts amplified, often leading to rage and hatred. It's how I feed off of living beings. Being a massive jerk doesn't help much, but... You're immune to it for reasons I can't figure out yet,” He stopped for a pause of mirthless laughter. “How fitting. It was the same thing I used to do when I was still fully human.”

“Eh?” Rokugou blinked. “You mean...”

“Yeah, I'm half-human, half-demon. Or more appropriately, an amalgamation of the two,” Cygnus turned to her, somewhat sad. “I don't regret a damn thing, except maybe not telling you the whole story a bit sooner.” He noticed something and looked at Rokugou one last time. “So, I ought to tell you about my history sometime! That is, if the lesbians don't shout it at me!” Just as he thought, he saw Konoka, Setsuna, and Samus Ara—wait, who was that again?! “Geez, talk about uninvited guests! I can't throw parties if you don't tell me when you're coming! And who the hell are you?” He pointed to the suit-clad Ichijou.

“Long time no see, bondage hentai.” Ichijou answered coolly.

“YOU SHUT THE HELL UP!” Cygnus countered, almost by instinct. Realizing this, he came to a conclusion. “Ah, the weirdo of the group has a contract. Not bad.”

“For the last time, stop running away!” Setsuna snarled, sword ready.

“Secchan...” Konoka said softly, worried about her friend's growing hatred.

“Ah, see my point, Rokugou? My aura has already driven that girl to hatred,” Cygnus announced as he bounded down the steps until he was even with the three girls. “And so I shall consume the darkness in your hearts!” He clenched an outstretched hand, and at once small but intense streams of darkness began to flow from the girls' chests and into his hand.

It would've gone on, but Setsuna had enough of this Ansem parody and lunged forward. She unfortunately missed as Cygnus slid out of harm's way. “You will stop this madness.”

“You don't want me to get rid of the hatred in your hearts? How stupid can you get?” Cygnus asked, setting his hand on the ground as if he were about to make a football play.

“What are you doing to me?” Setsuna asked, somewhat strained. “Why am I... so hateful?” She took another slice, but Cygnus caught the blade with his bare hands. The boy ignored the bleeding darkness and blood mix at he leered back into Setsuna's eyes. “You're using this to your advantage, aren't you?”

“Perhaps,” Cygnus grinned as he jumped up and smashed into Setsuna with a fierce kick.

“SECCHAN!” Konoka screamed as Setsuna crashed and rolled along the ground.

“You don't fool me,” Ichijou whispered, as she fired a powerful shot from her arm cannon towards the boy. Cygnus had his guardian swat it away, and he skated like mad towards the armor girl before spinning like a top and smashing a kick to her face as well.

“What was that again?” Cygnus taunted. “I know I'd like to take the darkness from your hearts, but why can't you just leave us alone?”

“Rokugou-san...” Setsuna, who was at Cygnus's feet, grabbed one of his legs.

“...is in danger from you! That's why!” Konoka finished, grabbing the boy by the hand.

Now one isn't quite sure how this worked. However, when Konoka and Setsuna touched Cygnus at the same time, something happened—he felt pain. Like getting sunk into a pool of lava while being driven insane kind of pain. Something about the both of them touching him at the same time sent Cygnus into a psychotic frenzy. “EEEYYYAAAUUGGHH! GET AWAY FROM ME!” He kicked off Setsuna and smashed Konoka with a mighty blow, sending her flying some feet away before she crashed painfully onto the ground.

That turned out to be a very big mistake.

“OJOU-SAMA!” Setsuna bellowed, panic strong in her voice. Worry and fear quickly changed back into anger. Hatred apparent in her eyes, she hissed, “YOU...”

Cygnus flared with darkness. “Unfortunately you're not Rokugou, so your light is poisonous!” he hissed, still reeling from the shock. “So how about I put an end to this...” He began gathering darkness to blast them to smithereens. However, that stopped when he noticed something very bad.

Setsuna, so consumed by righteous anger and hatred, was drawing the darkness back into her heart... and then some. Uh-oh.

xxxx

“Wow, looks like my luck is terrible. I get the boss fight,” Kaede muttered, assuming a fighting stance against the giant, random Robot Sumo Pig.

xxxx

The normally impassive Ichijou practically took an aggressive fighting stance, weary of the darkness being drawn into Setsuna. Cygnus's magic seemed to have quite the effect on the girl, and this wouldn't be the first time. Although this time around it didn't appear to be entirely Cygnus's fault.

“The hell is with you?!” Cygnus reeled back in horror. “You can't do that! That's cheating! Drawing upon my darkness...!”

The girl clenched her teeth, her visage growing darker, until...

Setsuna gave a near inhuman roar.

Suddenly light reappeared. Her nails became claws, her hair went from jet black to stark white. Magnificent white wings sprouted from her back. The girl rose again, glowing eerily as her wings flapped steadily. Calmly, she put her hands back on Yuunagi. “There were many things I sealed away within myself years ago. But it looks like that darkness unsealed something I am never supposed to unveil again.” Her eyes opened, revealing them to be blood red. “Pay for your transgressions against Konoka ojou-sama in blood.” She made a single sword swipe.

I guess I should mention that the sword swipe was strong enough to tear apart the fabric of space.

“OH SHIT!” Cygnus cursed in desperation as he dodged the world's strongest sword slash. The attack seemed to enjoy tearing apart several bones and walls since it missed its target. Setsuna was now faster, stronger, and pretty pissed off to boot. May God have mercy on the poor soul who earned her ire—oh wait, that's Cygnus, isn't it? “YOU SHUT THE HELL UP AND HELP ME!”

Sorry, dude. Can't do that. Besides, Setsuna had already launched yet another vicious attack. “Shinmeiryuu Secret Technique... Hiken: Hyakkaryouran!” A mad twirling slash of blades was mere centimeters from rendering Cygnus kibbles and bits. The girl immediately segued into another wave of attacks, hitting the dark boy for all of her new self was worth. Cygnus could barely hold his own as the angry girl continued to slash at him. “Sit still and die!” She bellowed.

“How about 'NO'!” Cygnus retorted fearfully, sweeping backwards and skating around to avoid the girl's chaotic attacks. He suddenly slammed the ground, and darkness shot around the floor.

The angry, angel-like Setsuna took flight, flying around a bit before swooping down and unleashing her next attack. “Hykaretsu Ouka Zan!” Thousands of powerful rose-petal-like slashes pelted down on Cygnus like pink, lethal rain. The boy skated like mad through the hailstorm of attacks before getting right under the girl.

“Gloria en obscurum...” Cygnus snarled, drawing in his magic. “Darkness... THUNDER!” A black blast of lighting shot from his arm and shocked Setsuna. While a super effective attack, it wasn't enough. Cygnus got to eat a blade blast to the face, sending him sprawling to the ground. Setsuna dived at him again, but by now the boy was skating for his life, dodging the vicious blows from the vengeful samurai.

All the while, the calm Ichijou, figuring that this was no longer her fight, simply removed her helmet and drank some tea. After all, who was she to interrupt an awesome fight?

Up on the throne seat, Rokugou couldn't take it anymore. “Cygnus-kun! Please! Stop!”

“Rokugou?!” Cygnus turned to the girl. “Don't—” Turning away from Setsuna proved to be a near fatal mistake. The girl slashed him viciously, enough to send him flying towards Rokugou, and he landed on the ground, weakened.

“Cygnus-kun! Sakurazaki-san! Please!” She pleaded. “I-I'll help, just stop!”

“Curse it...” Cygnus strained to recover, standing shakily as he backed away from Setsuna. “I guess... very well then.” He gave Rokugou a grim smile. “Partner: Sayaka Suzuki...” He opened up a right hand, and darkness expanded from it, producing the strange sphere-with-a-hole he would pull the card from. He tenderly put his hand in. “Show me the power within you...” The girl felt that soul pin prick once more. “Contract... activate!” He pulled out the card.

Not even before the white of the card faded away, he knew he made his first true unintentional mistake. “Oh... shit.”

Even the enraged Setsuna noticed. “What?”

When the light died down, Rokugou's clothes had changed again. She was wearing an open white jacket with only a bra underneath, as well as matching white pants and a belt. A disturbing hole lay in the middle of her abdomen. The right half of her face seemed to have the remains of a gruesome mask, perhaps that of a creature with a large jaw. Her left half had the roman numerals “VI” branded on them. And last but not least, six shadows were arranged evenly around her feet, as well as a shark fin on the small of her back.

That was her armor card.

At once Setsuna noticed something very wrong—Rokugou's entire demeanor had changed. And that was only from a mere smile.

OUR THE UH-OH.

“So... hungry,” 'Rokujow' sneered. With movement so fast as to be undetected, the now broken girl landed a lucky shot and smashed Setsuna in the gut with one powerful kick. “Tch, half-demons. Not even a filling meal...” As Setsuna crumpled to the ground in pain, Rokugou went back to the now fearful Cygnus. “Well, well, bondage hentai,” The girl picked him up, rubbing a finger seductively under his chin. “What was it about taking the darkness from people's hearts? Ah, that's how you want to get home. How about I show you how it's done.” With a fluid movement, tendrils of mixed light and darkness wrapped themselves around Cygnus and the girl pulled on a 'string' of it.

“Just a little payback, bondage hentai,” Rokujow walked, towing the boy behind her. Cygnus didn't really care. By now he was totally love-struck by this new Rokugou. The fool left a small trail of drool as he and his now master left the scene. Ichijou was ignored, of course.

Setsuna strained to recover. The surprise attack was a rather nasty glancing blow—she wasn't exactly expecting this level of power from Rokugou of all people. But Konoka... Konoka Konoe, the girl she was supposed to guard, the girl she wanted to protect, and even love so much... She failed on so many accounts. Thanks to that dark boy, her true, ugly form had been unveiled. And she even failed to protect Konoka-ojou-sama from a surprise attack... But how come today, of all days...

“Secchan. Hey, Secchan,” Konoka's gentle voice was heard. Setsuna turned to see the girl beside her.

“Ojou-sama... I'm... sorry. I failed again...” Setsuna said, still curled from the pain.

“...” Konoka turned away. “It's been years since I last saw you like that.”

“You... remember?”

“Clearly. You still look so beautiful with wings. When I learned that... that you weren't entirely human, I still didn't care. I wanted you as my friend.”

“Ojou-sama,” Setsuna ignored the pain as tears of gratitude began to stream down her face.

“Secchan... let's not hold back anymore.” Konoka whispered. She turned her head to Ichijou, who was calmly sipping tea. “Ichijou-san, if you would, please!”

The strange girl answered by randomly pulling out the plot device, and using it, she summoned... a pactio circle under the two girls. Wait what? Setsuna seemed to voice the same confusion. “Ojou-sama? How—” Konoka lifted the girl's head.

Lip lock. The yuri horde goes wild!

“Awah?!” Setsuna bounced back in sudden shock, her face red, but the pain from her gut kick didn't like being forgotten, so it returned with a vengeance. Setsuna clenched her teeth in sudden pain. But that didn't stop the pactio. Negi's cards within her shattered, replaced by Konoka's.

“Animadverto lucis...” Konoka chanted. “O Spirits, hear my call. Return our bodies to the light, which gave us warmth, and heal all pain. Sataaaa andagi!” Konoka giggled at her own fire command as a faint glow appeared about the girls, healing them of all their wounds.

“Ojou-sama! Y-you're...” Setsuna began.

“Yes... you forget why I need protection in the first place,” Konoka playfully stuck out her tongue at the samurai. “I've been a mage for about as long as Negi-kun... granted, my parents didn't want me to know about it—they wanted me to live a carefree life. But I've known for a while. I just perfected that spell. I guess I need Negi-kun to teach me more, though.”

The girls suddenly stopped as they saw Ichijou walk towards them. “Ichijou-san?” Konoka asked.

The strange girl offered a hand. “We should go.”

“That's right... we still have to stop Rokugou-san and Cygnus-san,” Setsuna said. Grabbing Konoka's hand, she took Ichijou's. The standing girl pulled the other two up on their feet. “Let's go, ojou-sama.”

“Just between you and me... I prefer Kono-chan,” Konoka gave a cute pout, in which Setsuna was completely powerless to. By now the yuri horde was probably ballistic with glee.

“I... I still can't—”

“Secchan...”

“One day soon, ojou-sama!”

“Better hurry, our scene's just about over,” Ichijou calmly reminded them. And it was, considering that they were already on their way out of the throne room and back into their world.

xxxx

The scenery here was nice, Rei had to admit. From atop of the hill she could laugh at the poor fools as they attempted to catch the blue hedgehog, survive the Valley of Spikes, take out a random Robot Sumo Pig and otherwise do idiotic things. However, one person was simply idling nearby. Rei was surprised to see Akira simply lounge about and watch the setting sun (and her cooking). Deciding to see why she didn't bother with the idiocy of the rest of the gang, Rei popped a question. “So what's up with you? Why aren't you chasing him around?”

“I can't say that this is my kind of thing,” Akira shrugged, an apologetic smile on her face. “Besides, there's a beautiful lake. It'd be nice if I could take a dip, but they'd might seriously need me if trouble started.”

“That strangely makes sense,” Rei said, a slight chuckle escaping her lips because of that fact. She turned back to her cooking—only to see Sonic taking a sample of it. “HUH?!”

“Whoa! This may be no chili dog, but this is good!” Sonic said, enjoying the delectable food.

“HEY! YOU CAN'T DO THAT!” Rei bellowed. From her pocket, she produced a Chaos Emerald, no doubt probably pulled from the same depths as the plot device. “Nobody touches my food before I let them...” holding said emerald, Rei allowed the power to unlock her contract. The normal bright flash of light led to Rei pulling her cosplay card—her Eggman suit. “...no one.” She finished.

“Eggman?!” Sonic reeled back. He then pointed an angry finger. “Don't even count on your schemes working this time!”

“This is my cosplay card, you idiot!” Rei retorted. “And why are YOU being serious business, anyway!?”

Akira only looked on in amusement.

“Watch this,” Rei produced a strange remote, something more resembling a gray stick. She pressed the red button at the top crowing, “Behold! My latest and greatest creation!”

There was silence.

“Huh?” Rei blinked. “There was supposed to be an awesome machine that would make stuff explode.”

Well, something did explode. That something being the cliff Akira was sitting on. “Awah?!” Akira lost balance, and not even her quick wits or strength was enough to recover and get to safety on time.

Rei, panicking at her mistake, raced to try and catch Akira before she fell off to her doom.

Sonic, however, was faster. “AKIRA!” Sonic bellowed, already trying to catch the girl. He reached out a hand, nearly clawing at the air as if it were an obstacle. Akira too, tried to reach his hand, as it was the only thing they could do.

They caught each other just in time.

Sonic remembered jumping to save her, and wondered why they were dangling as opposed to sailing down to the ground below. Feeling the strange sensation of being pulled up, Sonic lent his strength as well and helped Akira back up. Much to his surprise, he found Rei dragging him back to safety. “Huh.” Sonic said.

“Well, it was the only way I could help Akira,” Rei simply stated. There was no room for argument.

Sonic smirked. He dashed away, landing on a palm tree. Illuminated by the sunset, he then faced the two girls. “It was fun, hanging out with you guys. Maybe someday we can play again! After all, we may live in separate dimensions, but we all share one sky, one destiny!” He added a thumbs-up with those last words.

Akira smiled.

Rei growled, “Why are you so damn cheesy?”

“Not my fault you're lactose intolerant,” Sonic quipped. He turned to see the tired faces of the others returning. “Looks like my show is over! I'll catch you guys later!” And leaving a slight blur of darkness, the blue hedgehog sped away into the sunset.

There was a moment of silence between the two girls as the others approached.

“It's been fun, hasn't it?” Leave it to Akira to break the ice.

“You could say that,” Rei answered, just before the first angry stomach growled, in demand of its sacrifice.

xxxx

Negi and the others sighed in defeat. As they all marched back into their world through the portal, they wearily took a look around to make sure no one who wasn't magic affiliated was looking. “Geez!” Asuna griped. “And we were so close!” Yeah. Right.

“I guess it can't be helped,” Becky sighed, her voice back to her bored tone.

“Don't worry everyone!” Negi Springfield in his normal cheer attempted to cheer up the class to his level. “Next time we see him, we certainly won't miss!”

“I trust Negi-sensei's words!” Nodoka added cheerily.

“Heheh, that was surprisingly fun,” Rei smirked, despite her harsh defeat earlier. “I'm gonna rematch that bastard though...”

“You guys...” Akira began, catching everyone's attention.

“Akira-san?” Negi asked, wanting her to continue.

“I think... Sonic is a shadow. The last one,” she added thoughtfully.

For the most part, this was met with gasps of surprise. However, Rei met that with a raised eyebrow. “O RLY? What gave you that idea?”

“That could mean that the chupacabra is the master of shadows!” Asuna had already spun a conspiracy theory. Joy. “And that Cygnus brat is just a puppet!”

“Don't quit your day job,” Rei muttered.

“How?” Becky rubbed her head in confusion. “If he's a shadow, then that means—huh?” Becky's attention caught something else, and her thought was never finished, lost in the depths of nothingness, never to return! Or maybe—“GET ON WITH IT!” Spoil sports.

“Becky-san?” Negi looked at the confused girl for a moment. He then slowly followed her eyes (and everyone else's) until he saw somebody. “Rokugou-san?”

Some distance away from them, in the middle of the gymnasium where they appeared, Rokugou was standing there. Cygnus was on the floor, bound and what looked like both completely beaten and love-struck, Her right foot was on his rump.

“Rokugou?” Becky ventured quietly.

Asuna wasn't so tactful. “About damn time somebody toasted Cygnus! You should've been there! That chupacabra kept us going around in circles, through loop-de-loops, through those nasty spikes—”

All it took was three words to stop everyone in cold, dead silence. “Cut the shit.”

To say that this had a shocking effect would be an understatement. Everyone but the girl in question had their faces etched in complete disbelief. Since when was Rokugou like this...? But then they noticed her appearance. White jacket and pants. The disconcerting hole in her abdomen. The half broken mask on her right side. And most of all, that dark sneer. Who was this in front of them? “That so-called blue hedgehog is the least of your worries. Within my heart I hold a massive appetite... For all of you to go down, that is.”

Her eyes half shut, she chuckled. “In honor of the bondage hentai at my feet and the hunger that consumes my soul...” Her eyes flared open, with a stare as cold as ice and a grin that would make the Cheshire Cat proud, “...I'll make you hate me instead.”

Negi's ever-growing pack of partners now face a disconcerting new foe—Rokugou herself. Why exactly is she this way, and what is she about to do? Our fearful heroes wonder just what they're up against as this episode ends. Tune in next time!

&!?

“Hey, this is Shichimi, mya!”

“And this is Motsu.”

“And I'm Mesousa...”

“We've been forgotten in these past episodes, but it's just our luck that we get the crisis episode, mya!”

“Next time! 'May Rokugou Have Mercy On Your Souls...'”

“...by Mesousa.”

“It's our turn to rise as the heroes for the next episode! In a good way.”

“But I'm too weak to be a hero...”

“Don't count on it, mya.”