Mahou Sensei Negima! Fan Fiction / Pani Poni Dash! Fan Fiction ❯ I Am Negima!?, AND SO CAN YOU! Act I ❯ Chapter 8: "May Rokugou Have Mercy on Your Soul..." By Mesousa ( Chapter 8 )

Scheme!? Final Mix

Episode 8: “May Rokugou Have Mercy on Your Soul...” By Mesousa

“In honor of the bondage hentai at my feet...” Rokugou, transformed by the power of the armor pactio, leered coldly at her friends. “I'll make you hate me instead.”

The rest of the class could only stare in uncomfortable silence, not sure how to treat this situation. Why was Rokugou like this... surely this was the work of dark forces—wait, that is a terrible joke. “Rokugou-san,” Negi said, always the diplomat. He figured why she was angry. “If you're upset about being left behind, then I apologize... I was only looking out for your safety—HARGGH!” To everyone's horror, Rokugou's hand shot forward, grabbing Negi by the neck. From a distance, one would probably surmise that a samurai was about to behead a chicken.

She hoisted him up with ease, leering at the boy with cold eyes. “That's not my problem here!”

“Negi-sensei!” Many of the girls reeled back in horror, not certain how to take this situation.

“ROKUGOU!” Rei barked. “What the hell is wrong with you?!”

“Oh?” 'Rokujow' turned her attention to Rei. “You of all people should know the rush of feeling evil... am I right?” The girl sneered as Rei stepped back in complete shock. “Don't be tempted to call the kettle black.” She dropped Negi onto the ground, who gasped and inhaled deeply to get back lost air.

“Rokugou... san...” Negi strained to recover. “What did... Cygnus-san... do to you?”

“He is guilty of nothing,” The girl answered simply. “But he did awaken something... I wonder if this current form of mine has unleashed something.” She took a rather morose face. “But I'm so hungry... So powerful and yet so hungry...!” The serious look got replaced by a jaded grin. “I guess I'll do bondage hentai a favor and eat all of you.”

Everyone's eyes shrunk at this evil shocking revelation (tm). It looked like Rokugou was looking for a fight... and a fight in the middle of school was about the last thing anyone wanted. But...

“Rokugou...” Asuna started. “If we beat you, will you turn back to your normal self?”

“No guarantees,” the girl crouched, as if ready to pounce on the team. “Besides I'm bored... let's make things interesting. Worth a shot though, isn't it? ”

“I think so,” Kaede stepped up to the challenge.

“We'll help too!” The twins chirped.

“Get Negi-bouzu out of here!” Kaede shouted to the rest of the group. “We'll hold Rokugou off! If she fights anyone else here it could be disastrous!”

Faced with little choice, Negi focused his powers. “All partners... show me the power within you! Contract... activate!” He opened up the magic sphere and grabbed the cards locked inside. He pulled out a whooping nine cards.

Kamo gasped at his luck. “Six armor cards, three cosplay cards... Not bad at all, big bro!”

“Negi-sensei! With me!” Akira scooped him off and ran past Rokugou and into the halls. “We need to find the others!”

“Wait for me!” Asuna called after her, but she was gone in a flash.

“I'll help find the others too!” Nodoka said, and she sped away behind Negi and Akira.

Asuna looked at the remaining force, somewhat annoyed. “Miyamoto brat, you're coming with me!” She scooped up Becky and ran off in pursuit of Akira.

“Hey! Put me down!” Becky screeched, but to no avail. “ROKUGOU!” Her call was unheard, or rather ignored, as Rokugou was too busy carefully watching who would stay behind. The girl mewled as Asuna carted her away, with Rei following in hot pursuit.

That left Himeko. “Rokugou-san...” She gripped her hammer tightly. “Maybe if I bash your brains in, you'll turn back to normal!” She announced in a singsong voice as she leaped up for an attack. Rokugou would have none of this shit; she simply curled herself a bit before shooting straight up, opening her jaws wide. She bit down with a mighty -CHOMP- and Himeko was swallowed whole. Wow, epic fail right out of the gate. Maybe she would have gotten better luck with an armor card...

Rokugou spit her out, dismayed. Himeko crashed into a wall somewhere, unconscious. “Eugh, don't bother! Too sweet!” Rokugou said after a short while, turning to Kaede and the twins' shocked faces. “I hope you guys aren't as weak as that fool,” her demonic smirk returned, as the three now ninjas took fighting stances, their faces as serious as possible. Well considering that the twins were scared beyond belief, they had no choice but to look serious or else their fear would be bloody obvious. Rokugou took a fighting stance herself. “Don't hold back now, you might not live otherwise.”

The twins struck first with a volley of kunai. Rokugou dodged those easily; she even managed to kick Cygnus safely into a corner while she was at it. She countered by sliding her foot down and launching a vicious kick at Fumika, who barely dodged.

Kaede dashed forward, launching a multitude of rapid-fire punches. She knew that the twins, despite their armor, were nowhere near her level of power. If she could keep Rokugou focused on her... The good news was that line of thought was working so far. Although Rokugou blocked the blows, Kaede did well enough in keeping the pressure on the girl.

“Not bad!” Rokugou said, somewhat impressed. “Every single drop of all you got!” She finally returned the favor. Bad news: Kaede couldn't guard against an apparently twilight-charged punch. The girl sailed into the wall from the erratic mixture of darkness and light, crashing and nearly causing the wall to crack.

“Kaede-nee!” Fuuka squealed in horror. In a rage, she whirled back to Rokugou. “How dare you!” she squeaked, throwing a barrage of kunai at the girl. Rokugou merely squatted, dodging the hail of wicked ninja knives as she took to the air. She dive-bombed Fuuka with a kick, and sent her sailing into her twin sister, both who crashed into a defeated heap.

“Meh...” Rokugou muttered. “But... what's this?”

Suddenly she could see them. Swirls of darkness wafting from the defeated girls.

Rokugou opened her mouth wide and devoured it. It tasted so good... “Bondage hentai eats this way, doesn't he?” She sounded almost like her normal self. “Well... maybe I could do him a favor, and gather darkness for him...” Rokugou stepped outside of the gym, leaving the fallen ninjas behind. And thus, the girl begins cutting a dark swath between her own friends— “A little less dramatic, please.” HOW ABOUT 'NO'!

xxxx

“Akira-san, have we seen the others today?” Negi said as he ran alongside the girl. “I don't know where they went, but if Rokugou-san finds them first...”

“I have no clue,” Akira answered. “But they might be back at the room...”

“I think Kurumi-san and Makie-san might still be there,” Negi burst into the main school building, running as fast as he could. “Meanwhile, where has Konoka-san gone?” He whipped out a cell phone and rapidly finger-punched numbers. He brought the phone up to his ear—busy signal. “Dang it. Where did she go?”

xxxx

“Ichijou-san, are you sure this is the right way?” Setsuna asked as they continued through the barren skull-filled land.

“...” Ichijou stared for a moment, her face blank. As if she suddenly remembered something, she pulled out the plot device. “Aiyah. It's on the fritz.”

Setsuna introduced her face to her palm.

“Looks like we won't be able to challenge Rokugou-san again,” Konoka sighed dejectedly. “Oh, I hope Negi-kun's doing okay...”

xxxx

Kurumi sighed dejectedly. “Awww... they all left us behind again!” The sun was setting, giving off a beautiful yet creepy twilight feel into the Chupa Research Team room. “But geez, it's been silent for a while, hasn't it?”

“Yeah... but where did everybody go?” Makie blinked. “There's three Chaos Emeralds here, they only took one.”

“Is that so?” The girls turned to see... some sort of shark fin slowly making its way towards them. The of course, panicked, squealed, and jumped on the table. However, when Rokugou emerged from the earth, their fears were assuaged... slightly. “Relax, I only want to eat you... for a little bit.”

“Rokugou?” Kurumi blinked.

“Gosh Rokugou-san, you look kinda cool,” Makie said, likely a horrible mistranslation but oh well.

“Maybe... so why don't you sit still while I eat you?” Rokugou sneered, snarling and lunging up with a vicious bite. The girls squealed in horror as Rokugou took out half the table in an attempt to eat them. As they scrambled about in abject horror, they almost foolishly forgot the Chaos Emeralds nearby.

“Wait...!” Kurumi shouted. “The Chaos Emeralds! If only...” She began to scramble back towards them, in an attempt to rescue them... and herself.

But YOU'RE TOO LATE, Kurumi! You fell for Rokugou's trap card! It was all the two girls knew before Rokugou emerged from the earth again, snapping both in one huge bite.

There was a moment of silence as Rokugou siphoned out the darkness, before spitting them out. Surprisingly enough, they were still conscious, huddling together as if they had both seen a truly horrifying movie rather than barely surviving being eaten alive.

“Not bad, but...” She sighed in annoyance, only to turn around and see a horrified Negi and Akira standing at the doorway. She grinned again. “Somebody tastier is here...” She lunged for an attack.

“Rokugou-san! No—!” Negi started.

“SCREW THAT THOUGHT!” Rokugou heard to her left. She moved just milliseconds before a mighty sword crashed down where she was. Asuna landed in front of Negi before wrenching out her sword. “How about you drop out of that armor form, and stop eating people?!” She assumed a fighting stance.

“Rokugou...” Becky stepped in, squeezing past Negi and Akira and standing beside Asuna. “I want you to get back to normal!” She looked up at Rokugou with sad puppy-dog eyes. “I don't like you like this!”

“Huh,” Rokugou regarded both of her new foes. Asuna would be amusing, but even with evil clouding her mind, she did not feel like attacking Becky. “In that case I'll see if Asuna's idea is worthy!” She bellowed, dashing towards Asuna. The sword wielder swung her mighty blade to counter Rokugou's fierce, twilight-charged attack.

“Negi... get out of here!” Becky turned and shouted at him. “The others are still at Library Island! They don't know what's going on!”

“But Becky-san—!” Negi started.

“Go, dammit!” She started throwing various things at him. This included a chair, some random piggybanks, a chainsaw, a pokeball, and an axe. The chainsaw freaked him out, so he had no choice but to run, Akira following him.

The sullen Becky, satisfied that he was gone, turned back to the fight Asuna was having with Rokugou. It was now or never...

xxxx

“WELCOME TO MY KITCHEN!” The T.V blared.

“What exactly are you watching again?” Ku Fei asked Satsuki, tilting her head in confusion.

Satsuki stared dreamily at the T.V, admiring the man on it as he fervently whipped up an unknown dish. “Cooking with Higashizawa. He's such a dreamy cook. Using such rare and powerful recipes, he's known for dishes like 'Sakuraba Sushi' and 'The Dessert Ends With You'.”

“TIME FOR A TASTE TEST!”

“Guy sounds crazy,” Ku Fei said, munching happily on crab meat buns. “But it's nice to see you fired up.” There was a moment of power. “By the way, where's Rei and Chao? Feels awfully silent without them...”

“I'LL POUND YOU!”

“He can pound me anytime...” Satsuki answered dreamily.

“Errmmm...” On second thought, Ku Fei suddenly found it wise to be very, very quiet.

xxxx

Drat, that non-sequitur moment totally interrupted the awesome fight scene! Now Rokugou stood over a defeated Asuna. “Not bad, not bad at all, but still inferior. The darkness in your heart was great, though.” She laughed as Asuna groaned from the pain. A can of whoopass does not a good lunch make. She turned to Becky, who was of course, shivering under a curtain. “You're too cute to fight, so stay there while I defeat all those other losers!” This grin of hers softened just enough for Becky to stop shaking, but she still didn't dare move. “Smell ya later!” And with that, she disappeared in a twilit flash.

xxxx

“Argh, I still can't contact Konoka-san!” Negi grit his teeth as he and Akira continued running towards Library Island. “Becky-san said they all went to Library Island, but why can't I reach her?”

“It's likely they're in the other world, aren't they?” Akira answered. Their running led them towards the bridge connecting the school to the isolated island. However, as they crossed it, Negi felt a familiar presence yet again.

“Rokugou-san... she's still too strong,” Negi slid to a stop and prepared his staff while Akira followed suit. “We need more time...”

Negi saw a shark fin pierce through the earth like water before Rokugou emerged, that twisted grin of hers ever present. “So many fools, and yet I'm still so hungry,” The grim-jawed lass said. “Geez, I ate the ninjas, I ate the sword girl, I ate Himeko, Becky is no fun to fight (though making her question if she likes girls was worth a laugh), the failures were tasty, and I don't even know if that half-demon has enough spine to challenge me again...”

“Half... demon...?”Negi blinked.

“Anyway, you feel like being dinner yet, or will you be an entertaining fight?” Rokugou asked, taking a somewhat lazy stance and nasty grin.

“If you want somebody interesting to fight, why don't you take me,” Rei bellowed from some distance behind Negi. “I'm pretty sure I got something worth picking on,” Rokugou looked past Negi to see Rei in that Eggman suit once again, an equally nasty grin on her face. She was standing atop of a huge machine, consisting of a metallic platform and four huge, spider-like legs. The technical masterpiece stomped towards Rokugou as Rei switched her attention to Negi. “Run along, I've got things here.”

Negi and Akira stared for a moment, quite shocked that Rei was willing to stall for them. However, he shook this off. “Thank you, Rei-san,” he whispered, and taking Akira's hand, he sprinted past Rokugou and into the library.

An unamused Rokugou walked towards Rei. “Oh, what a shame. I thought you were smarter than this, Rei. Bigger does not always equal better. Didn't that fat man teach you anything?”

“Unlike the fat man, I'm actually smart,” Rei retorted, keeping her snide grin. “I've seen a lot of things coming, and yet still have a lot of things I'm up to. For instance, I already know why you're like this.” Rei had the machine rear up and use one of its legs to come crashing down on Rokugou. But the agile girl merely hand-sprung out of harm's way. The machine continued to stomp towards Rokugou.

“O RLY?”

“Yah, YA RLY,” Rei answered. The machine jumped into the air, sailing over the transformed girl and landing behind her. It swept a leg to smash her again but it missed. “Some cards pull a personality change to maximize their usage and powers. For instance, you couldn't control all that power as your nice self, so Cygnus turned you into a bitch.”

“Tch, and you aren't one already?” Rokugou retorted. “Must be, trying to kill me with this shitty machine!” Rokugou gathered twilight in her right hand and smashed a leg with it. The machine lost control and slumped down, causing Rei to nearly lose her balance. Rei snarled and tried to attack with the free legs, but the faster Rokugou decimated them all. Leaving the broken machine in its defeated state, the blue-haired girl picked up Rei by the scruff of her shirt and tossed her onto the bridge.

Rei clenched her teeth as she slid to a stop, no doubt contracting some nasty bruises on her butt from getting it rubbed like sandpaper. She looked up as Rokugou walked closer. “As I thought. You're just some chump without those Eggman machines. So... do you hate me yet?”

“O RLY?” Rei's nasty grin returned. “But that's not even half of the reason you're trying to drown yourself in evil. As a friend, I know what makes you tick.”

“Don't try me,” Rokugou nearly snarled.

“Even if you'd never harm a fly, there's a darkness in your heart that makes dark boy pretty appealing!” Rei laughed. “It even works both ways! You decided to take the direct approach so dark boy wouldn't have to dirty his hands. You can't be truly evil, because none of us are dead yet! ”

“Dammit, don't try me!” Rokugou opened her jaws wide and lunged.

Rei whipped out a random switch and pressed a button. “GET A LOAD OF THIS.” For no reason at all, two large laser guns popped out from under the water and fired at Rokugou. The targeted girl clenched her teeth as she had no choice but to flip over the attack and further enter the bridge. Rei smirked at this, further challenging her with another “GET A LOAD OF THIS!” and another two lasers popping out from the lake and shooting at her. “GET A LOAD OF THIS! GET A LOAD OF THIS! GET A LOAD OF THIS! GET A LOAD OF THIS!” Rei cackled madly as Rokugou was now dodging all kinds of lasers. “GET A LOAD OF THIS! GET A LOAD OF THIS! GET A LOAF OF THIS!”

The loaf of bread randomly smacking her was the last straw. Or the last loaf of bread. WHATEVER. Rokugou's patience thinned out to nothing as she raged towards Rei, charging twilight all the way. “YOU GET A LOAD OF THIS YOU CRAZY BITCH!” And with one punch she sent Rei skyrocketing into the air.

“Auuugghh!” Rei screamed. “It looks like I'm BLASTING OFF AGAAIIINNN!” And she disappeared into the sky with a tiny -ding-.

“Hmph,” Rokugou snarled. She refused to admit it, but Rei was shockingly close, if not entirely correct. “I'm already this deep... for bondage hentai, I'll finish this...” She stepped inside Library Island, continuing to search for Negi (or some strong foe).

xxxx

“...so that's how it is,” Miyako finished explaining what she knew about magic and Negi's goals to Yue and Haruna.

“Thanks for the re-briefing,” Haruna smiled.

Yue was smarter than this. “Some things makes sense, and yet...” She took a sip of her juice box. It was certainly refreshing, although most other people would find her drinks downright nasty if not poisonous. No offense to Yue herself! “This is quite unbelievable.”

“HUH?” Miyako didn't take this too well. “You live with a talking frog thing and a fuzzball that thinks its a cat (she pointed to Shichimi and Motsu), a chupacabra is on the loose, random references to the internet show up on the walls for no reason (she pointed to a random sign that said 'A CAT IS FINE TOO'), and you still don't believe everything I said?!”

Haruna took a hearty laugh. “That's Yue for ya. Always the most practical.”

“Not that,” Yue answered simply. “I'd think I'd rather see it in action... you know, magic.”

“Magic, huh...” Miyako thought again, her forehead gleaming.

“We don't have any on our own, but I can show you something when we get back to the club room...” Haruna said. However, before she could say something else, another something caught her attention. “Eh?”

This caught Miyako's attention. “Huh?”

“What's that rabbit?” Yue pointed.

After being shafted out of appearances so many times, Mesousa decided to finally make his appearance! The unlucky rabbit, however was lost. The good news was that he found Miyako! The bad news was that he was still pretty much lost. Oh, and the other two mascot characters were a threat to his screen time, or whatever you call parts of a fanfic. But he wasn't sure what to make of this strange girl pointing at him. “I'm... lost. And I don't have my starring role.”

“Is that it?” Yue was not interested.

“Ah! The failure rabbit,” Motsu peeked out from behind some books. The local school library may be easy to navigate, but for a puny, emo rabbit, that was not always the case. “You are wondering where your starring role went, yes?”

“Maybe...” The soft rabbit winced. “Or maybe I'm just lost.”

“I know where your starring role went,” Motsu grinned deviously, something very wrong and evil ticking in the frog's mind. Then again, this is Motsu we're talking about. If it was wrong and evil in actuality he'd be frog paste by now. “It... was devoured.”

“D-d-devoured?!” The already fearful rabbit was shaking uncontrollably at those words. “B-b-by who?”

“Mephiles... the DARK!” Motsu boldly announced, with terrible lightning flashing at his announcement. A stray bolt of lightning decided that it had enough of this shit and said “I'd hit it... with the fist of an angry god!” and so Motsu was fried to a crisp by a stray bolt of lightning. “...stupid lightning effects!” Motsu croaked (pun obviously intended, just so I can laugh at your groans!), smoke puffing out of his burnt mouth.

“More like Mephiles the Dork, am I rite?” Shichimi bounced up and down to that mysterious rhythm again. “That's what this Cygnus person feels like, mya!”

“Speaking of that...” Haruna started. “Something kinda concerns me.”

“What's that?” Yue asked.

“The same reason I even bothered for a recheck on what's going on,” She whirled to Miyako again. “What the hell is up with Konoka trying to chase that bondage hentai?!”

“Why are you bloody asking me?!” Miyako shouted back defensively. “I don't know what kind of hidden grudge Konoka-san's got!”

“Cygnus...” Yue murmured. “I'm not sure why that name reminds me of this, but... have you heard of the tale of a man named Orpheus?”

“Orpheus?” Miyako blinked.

“Yes... somebody wrote some really detailed fiction about that man. It's so detailed, and the fact that you're talking about magic, I'm wondering if it might be real... as a matter of fact, I've seen a few of his books around Library Island...” Yue said. By now, everyone's attention was on her. “The books are pretty interesting. It was said he did many experiments involving travel through the universe. It was said that he also discovered and bridged relations with a civilization on the moon.”

“Civilization... on the moon?” Miyako blinked in disbelief. “Hey wait a second! That means people could be living on the moon?”

“Eh... I think it's quite possible,” Yue rubbed her head. Geez, who knew that fiction could possibly be real... but surely it couldn't be...

“One shouldn't dabble in the magic world so freely. They could get in big trouble... in a good way,” Motsu admonished.

“SILENCE, FROG I COULD'VE SWORN I'VE SEEN BEFORE!” The irate redhead kicked him away like a perfect soccer pass. One would probably laugh in glee at the ownage. She turned back to Yue, absentmindedly scooping up Mesousa in the process. “So what's this about a scientist? And why does the name Cygnus remind you of him?”

“Ah...” Yue went back into her tale. “From what I remember in those books, aside from his strides in interdimensional travel, he focused more private research on two things—the concepts of 'darkness' and 'hatred'. Many people felt that darkness was born of negative emotions, and those that wielded it were fated to evil and hatred. Orpheus sought to prove that theory wrong. He conducted many macabre experiments that involved playing a person's hatred like a puppet, and tried to extract 'darkness' from it. I noticed his writings suddenly got more twisted as this progressed.”

“Eh?” Miyako twisted her face a bit. “How creepy...”

“Oh ho? I remember that book!” Haruna added. Dropping her voice slightly and adding a conspiratorial grin, she continued Yue's tale. “There was supposedly an incident that drove him over the edge during a trip to the moon. Rumors of what happened to him afterwards vary from a homicidal rage to being snatched by Lord Mephiles. Morbid ending to that tale, but it really was a good read.”

“So if he was driven mad on the moon...” Motsu thought out loud, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Then that means he was literally a lunatic, correct?”

“If you put it that way—” Yue began, practically feeling a sweat drop form on her head.

“THE MOTSU WAS RITE AGAIN!” The crazy frog declared.

Mesousa, of all people, was the first to see the logical fallacy. “B-b-b-but in order to be 'RITE AGAIN' that would imply there was a first time!” He sobbed.

The frog sank. “Don't ruin my references.”

“Would anyone even get your references?” Yue and Miyako said in monotone together.

Miyako switched the subject back. “That Orpheus guy definitely reminds me of Cygnus...”

“Ah, now I remember why the name Cygnus reminded me of that tale of Orpheus...” Yue banged a fist into her open palm. “In Greek Mythology, a man by that same name was put amongst the constellations as 'Cygnus' after his death.”

“Touching story,” Haruna added, pretending to weep for added effect. Yue wisely ignored this.

“Ah!” A startling discovery mentally assaulted Miyako's brain. No wonder I couldn't find anything on Cygnus... Maybe he went by another name! Hehehehe... nothing escapes history! “Hey Yue, where are those books by Orpheus you talked about?”

“Oh those?” Yue asked. “Ah, I think they're—” Bad luck, she got interrupted again.

This time, it was Nodoka. “Miyako-san! Haruna! Thank goodness you're here! Rokugou-san has—” she looked besides the girl with the glasses to see her dear friend Yue. Yeah, the one who's not supposed to know about magic. And here she was in armor form, about to talk about a lot of things she shouldn't. “Y-Yue?!”

“Why Nodoka!” Yue's eye held a predatory gleam, a rare but dangerous sign. “You have a lot of explaining to do...”

“More like she's got a lot of getting her ass kicked to do, am I right?” The three turned to see Rokugou standing there, much to their surprise and horror. “My, I was about to chase Negi-sensei again, but seeing as your power was closer, I decided to find you instead. So,” she assumed a fighting stance, the many shadows around her growing more menacing. “who's lunch first?”

The girls were sweating bullets, while Yue looked between them, completely bewildered. “Huh? What's going on? Why's Suzuki-san like that?”

Haruna muttered, “Deep trouble and bondage hentai, that's what's going on.” This answer only confused Yue further.

“Miyako-san!” Nodoka tossed her the magic stone of transforming without Negi, a Chaos Emerald. How she got it, not even she knows—she suddenly knew she had it (Thank you, plot device!). “Yue, step back!”

“I don't get one?!” Haruna complained.

“I'm very sorry,” Nodoka bowed apologetically. Haruna sighed, stepping back with Yue.

“Watch and learn!” Miyako bellowed, holding out the red gem. She focused, drawing out the pactio through her body as she let the power seep through her. A white light flashed, and when all was said and done, she had on what looked like a frightening red mix between a jester suit and pajamas. A freaky white mask with a long nose was attached to the upper right side of her head. But most of all, her forehead shone even more ominously than it had before. “Whoa... really weird cosplay.”

“Nice... want to try dying in it once?” Rokugou taunted, shoving her hand forward.

By now, Nodoka's powers were at full force, and she was already reading Rokugou's mind for the attack. “Miyako-san, watch out! She's going to try and shove a blast of light and darkness at you!”

Just as the girl predicted, a rush of twilight tendrils shot out towards Miyako. To her own surprise, Miyako flew and weaved out of harm's way. “Nice, I can fly in this one!” She stood a bit. Focusing her energy on that shining forehead of hers, she smirked. “Try this!” A nightmarish laser shot towards Rokugou.

Good news: it was an easy dodge.

Bad news: Miyako summoned mirrors, and the laser bounced off of it and back in her path.

Rokugou grinned savagely, preparing for a counterattack. This could finally be an interesting battle...

xxxx

A cell phone chirped, much like a mechanical bird.

A thoroughly defeated Rei, lying on the ground, answered it. “Hello? Yeah... completely got my ass kicked. Rokugou's unstoppable... huh? Yeah...” Rei imagined the pain all the other defeated girls must be feeling. Kaede, the twins, Asuna, Becky was probably crying somewhere, likely even Kurumi and Makie were tasting defeat somewhere. “He hasn't shown up yet, no... I've got my eyes peeled... Say, could you push for armor form next time? ...Hehe, I'm sorry, I'm sorry... Hey, I gotta split, the readers are getting pissed that we're cutting into a fight scene... I'll chat later. See you soon.”

And with that, Rei clenched her fist, closing the phone. She sighed, laying down on the grass where she crashed. “Maybe I'll get to have some of your meat buns next time?”

Looks like Ichijou wasn't the only one with a hidden partner.

xxxx

“Satisfying, but still boring,” Rokugou regarded her fallen foes before her. Miyako and Nodoka couldn't hold their own for much longer than anyone else she trumped this far. Yue had no pactio as of yet, so she was little more than a horrified NPC acting as a spectator to a fierce battle. Haruna stood her ground protectively against Yue, but could do little else. Suddenly, Rokugou leered in Haruna's direction. “Why don't I munch on you next? If you stay still it won't hurt.”

“You...” Miyako strained to speak, but that failed miserably, as her lines for this episode ran out.

“Screw that thought,” Haruna countered, her grin hiding her bravado well. “Looks like that bondage hentai did a number on your personality.”

“Perhaps he did,” Rokugou answered coolly. “But I followed him. You, on the other hand... who have you been following?”

“Me,” It was a simple and powerful statement, but one Haruna took seriously, ignoring her own nervousness.

“Would you follow yourself... TO THE BOTTOM OF MY STOMACH?!” Rokugou bellowed, lunging for the bite.

“Rokugou-san!” A voice bellowed, sounding out to the girl. The blue-haired girl of destruction stopped mid-assault, turned to see Negi and Akira, standing atop a bookcase. Each assumed a badass pose akin to a shounen manga male lead as Negi spoke. “Stop this madness at once!” He held out his staff. “I will engage you... please, just leave my class alone!”

“Is that so?” Rokugou quirked an eyebrow, a dark grin crossing her face. “Mages aren't suited for taking a beating... let's see how long you last,” Rokugou sprinted after the boy, quickly wall-jumping up a tall bookcase before picking up speed at the top, seeing as Negi and Akira quickly fled. She sprinted after them viciously, interested in the possibility of them actually putting up a fight.

This left only the fallen heroines, Haruna, and a shivering Yue. After Rokugou had left, Yue finally moved, although she was still shivering as if someone just dumped her in the North Pole. “Nodoka...?” She ventured.

“Nodoka!” Haruna rushed and cradled her for the second time this year. “Get yourself together!”

“I... I'm okay, Yue, Haruna...” Nodoka breathed. She smiled weakly. “Funny how you're doing this again, Haruna... I'm sorry Yue-Yue had to see the world of magic like this.”

“Nodoka...” Yue began. Magic really was getting dangerous...

“And I'm also sorry... that I—no, we—hid this from you.” Nodoka coughed.

“Nodoka... don't sound like you're dying!” Haruna half-complained, half-whined.

“But I'm so bruised and tired that I sound weak...” Nodoka complained back, a stream of tears falling from her face. She fell out of her armored form and back into her normal clothing. “I don't wanna die...”

“Nodoka... relax,” Yue softly commanded, laying her down. “It looks like only Negi-sensei and Ookouchi-san can stop her now... huh?” She looked up, a familiar shadow standing over her. “You—”

“Hey... mind telling me where they went?” The shadow asked.

xxxx

The center of Library Island... one could consider it the heart of Library Island. If this place fell to darkness... wait. Wrong fanfic.

Negi and Akira sailed here, feeling that this was the best place to conclude the battle... or at least stall Rokugou out long enough for her to return back to normal. Negi landed, and Akira stood nearby as he surveyed the area. “This looks like the only spot... Shame, Akira-san. I've been here once before, and the scenery here is beautiful, if a bit weird.”

“I think it is, too.” Akira responded. “For instance, I like the pool over there,” she pointed to a large circular area, surrounded by what appeared to be a lake.

Negi sighed. “Akira-san, why are you so predictable with water?”

Akira shrugged, a simper on her face. “Guess that's just how I am.”

Kamo popped out of Negi's pocket, turned around, and panicked. “AIYAH! Pay attention, she's here!”

“So this is where you're hiding?” The two of them turned to see Rokugou's savage grin. Much like a gangster who was here to collect, Rokugou had arrived to distribute—a can of whoopass, that is. “Or the more likely thing here is you're about to fight me, which is... what is that internet term again? Oh yeah, 'lolworthy.'”

Negi clenched his teeth and stepped forward, but Akira suddenly blocked his path. “Negi-sensei. Allow me to deal with her.”

“Akira-san?”

“I'm number six on the class roll, too. I think it's only fair I get to see just who is the superior 'Rokugou'.” She answered, cracking her knuckles. She leered down her foe.

Rokugou interest GET. “IS THAT SO?” If her shadows weren't prominent before, they were now. The almost flower-like arrangement seemed to grow more menacing as Rokugou took a fighting stance. “Let me show you what it's like to talk out the side of your mouth girlie.”

They stared down each other for a while. That's how it started.

Rokugou dipped into the earth and lunged first.

Akira assessed her options—this was the first time she had transformed, much less her cosplay form. She could attack with her brute strength or attack with the strange, sword-like branch she had with her.

As Rokugou snapped her jaws on her like a Great White Shark, Akira tried the branch.

Rokugou's jaws sank right in, nearly destroying the branch, but it was more than enough for Akira to stomp down on the girl. At the last second, Rokugou took a handspring and jumped backwards, landing steadily before lunging forward again with her own punch. Akira evaded this just as easily, only for Rokugou to add up the ante and start rapidly punching. The water girl opted to block this round of attacks instead, walking backwards to avoid being overwhelmed by the furious attack. Rokugou sneered, seeing an obvious advantage, charged one powerful twilight punch...

A few seconds later, she was eating a row of nasty geyser blasts. Tossed up in the air like a rag doll, the once-nice-now-insane girl clenched her teeth and sought out where the other girl was. Turns out Akira had just landed some distance away, as if she leaped across a row of them.

“Huh, interesting power,” Akira muttered as she landed and slid to a stop. She rose and sprinted towards the other girl. Rokugou's eyes flared before landing and countering Akira's punch with her own. The hot-blooded punching between the two ladies continued until Akira suddenly smirked, twirling that branch. Four geysers smashed Rokugou into the air. “You like this?” She taunted. She rode another wave of geysers across to where Rokugou landed, sending her airborne again.

“Interesting! But let's see you pull that again!” Rokugou bellowed. She dived towards Akira, screaming “TERIIAAAA!” liken a banshee the whole way. Akira countered with a blast of geysers, but that unfortunately didn't stop Rokugou from landing a shounen villain kick(tm) to her face. The girl tumbled to the ground as Negi looked on in horror.

“Akira-san!” He shouted.

As Akira struggled to recover from that attack, the now vicious Rokugou stepped towards her. “Even as defeat awaits you, I give you credit for being a better challenge than the fools in the past,” she stopped in front of the girl. “But now your fate is sealed...” She grabbed the girl by her neck. “We shall go together...” She tossed her up into the sky, and Rokugou disappeared within a swath of twilight tendrils. In a series of brutal attacks, Rokugou smashed into Akira with shounen villain punches(tm), forcing Akira to reel from shounen heroine shock(tm) as she spiraled higher and higher. Negi and Kamo of course, could only look on in shounen bystander horror(tm).

Rokugou prepared her final attack at the apex of the swirling mass of twilight. She aimed a fist, shot straight towards Akira...

The water girl caught it.

“Gotcha now!” Akira smirked, and with mighty force smashed her into the ground with that branch. Rokugou strained as Akira bellowed out the dreaded words “DANCE, WATER, DANCE!” Rokugou kicked out from under the girl and stood up.

She was facing ten water clones. She had ten seconds to defeat all of them.

It only took her one.

“Our the uh-oh,” Akira noted. She was rewarded with a punch to the face.

The girl strained to recover. With a small smile, she put on some glasses. “You wouldn't hit a girl with glasses on, would you?” She was rewarded with a punch to the face. The glasses broke.

Akira strained to recover again. With a small smile, she said, “Hey Vegeta—” She was rewarded with a punch to the face.

“Akira-san!” Negi panicked, flailing like a man with his pants on fire. “Stop fooling around!”

Rokugou's annoyance grew. “I'm fed up with this madness! I'll make you hate me!” She flipped and aimed a powerful kick at Akira's head. However, the swimmer merely shot her hand up and blocked the blow.

“This doesn't suit you at all,” Akira grabbed Rokugou's outstretched leg and flung her away. Rokugou, anger flaring, stormed back and fired massive, twirling tendrils of darkness and light. Akira evaded these easily and smashed the other girl with a kick to her side. However Rokugou recovered easily and seemed to phase right back in front of the girl—a flash-step. Rokugou unleashed a fury of twilight punches, but Akira simply evaded all of them. “You should be...”

Rokugou kneed her in the stomach, sending her airborne.

“AKIRA-SAN!” Negi yelled uselessly for about the third time.

The girl flash-stepped again in front of Akira, ready to smash her again. She aimed... But at once she realized something dreadfully wrong.

Akira had that calm smile on her face again, and she had her palm near Rokugou's face. “...the nice young girl from before.” Akira finally finished that thought, and Rokugou suddenly ate a blast of water all the way down to the ground, which she hit so hard the floor cracked and the earth shook with a mighty -BOOM-.

And that, my friends, is what I call a shounen pwn(tm).

Akira landed on the ground. Gazing at the fallen girl, she still had that soft smile on her face. The other girl had fallen out of her armor form and was back to her normal self. Seeing this, Akira was relieved... so she sank to her knees.

“Akira-san!” Negi cried, rushing to her side.

“She's amazing, big bro!” Kamo said. “She managed to single-handedly defeat someone that nearly everyone else failed at!”

“Yeah...”Negi looked at the fallen girl before him, her eyes shut, her body not moving. “Akira-san, is she...”

“You...” Negi was surprised to hear the angry voice of Cygnus. The snarling boy stood at the entryway of the giant atrium, his face contorted with hatred. It appeared as if he had just teleported from a high-speed blast of darkness, perhaps the moment Rokugou had been defeated. Darkness billowed from him, rage apparent on his features.

“Cygnus-san,” Negi prepared his staff. “What is the mean—”

“How DARE YOU do that to ROKUGOU!” Darkness blew like a fierce wind, and Negi and Kamo were blown away. It took about twenty feet before Negi could finally hold his ground. Akira, on the other hand, didn't move at all.

The really bad news: that's exactly what Cygnus was counting on. “You... Face. Judgment.” He brought his arm back, and made a slashing movement. The resulting wave of darkness tore through Akira.

Or would have, had a certain blue hedgehog not gotten in the way.

Negi looked on in shock as Sonic stood there, the darkness slowly splitting his body in two. Surprisingly, he only stood there. Had anyone but Cygnus been looking at him, they would've seen a soft smile on his face. “Not exactly how I wanted this partnership to end... but you got to protect your friend... right, Misora?”

“Misora...san?” Negi blinked.

“It's up to you...” Sonic faded to darkness and disappeared in two halves, and both halved burst out of existence. One half left a green Chaos Emerald. The other...

“Misora...” Akira whispered. “I was right.” Aforementioned Misora slumped to the ground, breathing heavily, but otherwise okay.

“Misora-san was the chupacabra?!” Negi shouted incredulously. He then turned to Cygnus, who was now carrying Rokugou and hovering in the air. “You—”

“While you are all ASSSAVAGES for nearly killing your own friend, I do have to thank you for making it easier to move forward with my original plan.” Cygnus bellowed, grinning nastily. The white and green emeralds hovered around him as he floated higher and higher. Suddenly, they moved apart, and a massive portal, reeking of darkness appeared. “Soon, I will plunge this entire dimension into darkness!” If anyone saw Cygnus pointing to the portal, they ignored it. “If you want Rokugou back, I will be waiting for you... deep within the Heart of Darkness!” He laughed maniacally as he disappeared into the portal, Chaos Emeralds with him. The portal, however, remained.

“No... Rokugou-san!” Negi called desperately. He readied his staff, prepared to give chase...

“Hold it, bouya.” Evangeline's voice stopped him.

“Evangeline-san...” Negi stopped and looked past Akira and Misora to see the girl standing there, Chachamaru of course by her side.

“You idiot... by defeating Rokugou like that, you severed that boy's only link to his sanity,” Evangeline scolded, much to the wide-eyed shock of the others (minus Chachamaru). “If he continues to fester in that darkness of his, he'll be driven completely insane and start flooding more than that pocket-dimension of his into darkness. He houses the dangerous spirit Mephiles the Dark after all.”

“But isn't that all the more reason to stop him?!” Negi questioned.

“Yes, bouya, but not alone.” Evangeline answered. She stepped aside, and Negi saw a shocking sight.

All of his students, the ones already affiliated with magic, were standing there. Beaten up, weary, and out of their pactios, but with determined faces. Apparently Konoka, Setsuna, and Ichijou had returned as well. “Everyone...” he gasped. He ran over to them which at that moment he bowed his head down. “I'm sorry for getting all of you involved like this...”

Through the crowd, a small, blond-haired girl in a lab coat marched up and smacked him on the head. “You idiot! We're your partners!” She hugged him.

“Becky-san...” Negi shed manly tears of happiness. “...everyone. So I have one selfish request.” He faced everyone. “Will you help me?”

“YES!” Came the collective answer.

He noticed Asuna-san was sobbing, however. “Asuna-san...? Why are you crying?”

“S-she took my role,” Asuna pointed at Becky. “I hope you guys have a wonderful time together...”

“Asuna-san!” Negi flailed.

“Get a grip!” Konoka added, chuckling.

“While there's a few of you who know a few things you shouldn't,” Motsu made a random, badass appearance by walking out of the shadows. “Considering the nasty circumstances, I will let that slide.” Shichimi and a shaking Mesousa followed him. “Well now! It appears our heroes are now walking into the final dungeon (after maybe a strategy session or two)! With that cursed dark boy threatening all worlds with the power of darkness, can they keep him in check? TUNE IN NEXT TIME!”

Hey, those are MY LINES! Motsu was squashed into frog paste by a random foot.

-&-

“I am Cygnus... the harbringer of darkness, the Devil's Swan. Those fools who journey into the Heart of Darkness... will suffer within their own hatred for all eternity. Perhaps my origins are finally worth revealing to Rokugou...? Next time: 'Those Who Know Nothing... Understand Nothing.' by Cygnus. Open your heart. SUBMIT TO DARKNESS!”