Kwok opened his eyes.
Which was funny, because he couldn't really recall closing them.
But the sight that greeted his eyes when they opened was dramatically different enough from what he had seen last that he was mildly disoriented for a moment. To orient himself, he his glance around told him a few things.
He seemed to be in a classroom, of sorts. There were rows and rows of desks, each containing a student, quietly reading. What's more, there wasn't a single male student in the class. Each was a young girl, none older than fourteen or fifteen, each smartly attired in a red, plaid skirt, white blouse with a black neck ribbon, or in some cases, a crimson necktie, and finished off with a deep maroon blazer.
As he scanned the room, faces began to become apparent, though they were slighty disorienting in their own way.
Near the back, a very pale girl sat, not looking up as she read. And by pale, she was chalk white, nearly albino. In front of her there was a slightly more normal looking girl...that is, more normal if you discounted the robotic ears sweeping gracefully out from her hair. Another girl nearby had honey-colored hair, short looking from the front, but a long, narrow ponytail became obvious when she turned her head. Bone deep instinct told Kwok she was a fighter.
Beside her, a small, shy looking girl with a mop of midnight black hair sat, reading intently. Her longish bangs completely obscured her eyes and nose completely, but what he could see of her cheeks revealed a faint blush.
Closer to the other side of the room, Kwok noticed a very pretty girl with deep brown hair whispering to the girl sitting next to her, a blonde girl, with pigtails tied up with bell-shaped binder elastics...
Who was looking right at him.
And frowning.
Then there was another, nearby.
Wait a minute... I recognize these girls...
Oh man, don't tell me you stuck me in a 9-year-old kid, Chaos?!
Oh well, could be worse, I guess, I could've been a 9-year-old girl... now what to do...
Kwok dropped his head low, then looked back up with a lost look on his face. Which wasn't that hard, since he really was kinda lost.
"Umm... where am I? Who are you?"
Let's hope faking amnesia works...
Looks of concern began to form on many of the girl's faces and several began to speak up.
"What happened to Negi-sensei?"
"Maybe Asuna hit him on the head one too many times?"
"Nah, it doesn't take that long to..."
The buzz of voices grew slowly louder, with girls beginning to compete to see who would nurse their childish teacher back to health...
Negi was suddenly faced with 31...Wait, a quick glance at Asuna revealed it was only 30 blushing girls who were ready to attend to him...and beat each other, and possibly anyone (Like Negi. >_>) who got in their way, senseless for the privledge...
"Err..." was all Kwok could say.
Instead, he shot Asuna a desperate look for help, hoping she could get him out of this situation.
Asuna had looked mildly concerned, though trying to hide it, until Negi had looked her way. Suddenly, her concerned look had faded to an irritated frown, then she smirked slightly, as if to say 'You're on your own'.
Negi also noticed that some of the girls had begun to push theirchairs back, in preparation for what would appear to be a mad rush to the teacher's desk...
"Ummm..." Kwok tried to come up with an excuse to deter or sidetrack the girls or something.
"Can anyone get me some water or something? My throat is feeling strange."
"I'll take care of that!" Asuna called brightly, grinning almost nastily at Negi. "You guys look after Negi-sensei. Amnesia is a serious thing..."
With that, she slipped out of the room. And, almost as though the shutting door was a cue, all the girls stormed up to the front of the class...
"Negi-sensei!"
"I'll nurse you back to health!"
"Come to me, Sensei!"
Kwok mentally growled.
If she wasn't a cute girl, she'd SO get hers...
"Umm..." he desperately tried to come up with something. "Since I'm not feeling that well, I'll take the day off, so you should study by yourselves and behave!"
With that said, he tries to take off out the door...
Unfortunately, having professed amnesia and a sore throat within minutes to a large group of hormonally charged young girls with budding maternal instincts, then trying to buy them off with a free period was somewhat akin to trying to catch a waterfall in a teacup. The girls stormed out the room after him, calling for him, and offering still more ways to get him healthy again...
Kwok just ran as fast as he could, trying to get away from the girls.
"WAAAAH!" he wailed as he faked crying. "Stop picking on me!"
Unfortuanately, one of the differences between boys and girls is...if boys are confronted by a crying child, the vast majority will flinch away, glancing around with nervous 'I didn't do it' looks on their faces.
Confront a girl with the same crying child, and...more often than not, you get a young girl with an urge to hug the child, and make him feel better.
Thusly, Kwok's act did little to enhance his reputation as a teacher, while simply firming the girl's resolve to care for the little boy.
The group thundered down the hall, pursuing the child teacher, whizzing by the school nurse and the principal. The wizened old principal turned to the pretty blonde nurse, slyly eyeing her generous chest as he did. "Negi-kun's group is enthusiastic again this year, eh, Shizuna-sensei?"
"Mm." She responded. "It's nice he brings such energy to this school..."
Kwok suddenly spun and ran the other way, hoping to find refuge behind the two authority figures...
Unfortunately, this was an ill-calculated move, as at the speed they were moving, now between Negi and the two teachers...was thirty eager girls...
Negi was vigorously glomped, and a tug of war threatened to start until a tall girl with pale blonde hair pushed through the crowd, and wrapped herself around the small boy.
Yukihiro Ayaka fended of her classmates with a stern look. "Don't crowd him! if Negi-sensei is ill, it's best that I..." Her voice dropped to a low purr, "Look after our teacher. It's my duty as president..."
Kwok would do one of those dramatic facefaults at the low purr... if his face wasn't planted rather firmly in the girl's bosoms at the moment.
Now, normally he would rather enjoy a moment like this, but this wasn't normal, and he wasn't particularly into pedophiles either.
Instead, he just opted for trying to speak out a "let go of me..."
Negi's muffled plea went unheard, as it was rather quickly drowned out by the protests of various girls.
Just when he thought that he might never breathe again, a fairly powerful force yanked backward on his collar. Asuna bodily hauled the child teacher from the class president, and set him on the floor, and handed him a cup of water. "He kinda needs to breathe, you know..." she told the class president irritably.
As an aside to Negi alone, she whispered. "You see what fooling around gets you?"
Kwok answered her accusation with a blank look.
"What fooling around? I didn't play around," he whispered in reply. "Anyway, can you do something? I don't want to be crowded by all these girls..."
Asuna didn't seem to hear, as she was engaged in some kind of glaring match with Ayaka.
The other girls were watching the two uncertainly, with more than a few glancing at Negi to restore order...
"Hey!" he lunged and stood between the glaring duo, glaring at Ayaka with his arms outstretched. "Stop that!"
He then sighed and deflated.
"Let's just go back to the room..."
Ayaka looked slightly deflated, though she nodded meekly, while Asuna simply looked irritated. There was general agreement all around, and the girls waited for Negi to lead them back to class...
Kwok dropped his head low and began trodding back to the class.
"Why'd I think it was gonna be easy..." he muttered.
With a minimum of fuss, the girls were returned and sequestered within the class, and the self-study period resumed, leaving Negi with some time to observe and decide his next move...
Kwok sat on the teacher's desk and pondered, resting his chin on his hands in an unconscious imitation of Gendo's famous pose.
Alright, I know where I am, I know how I probably got here, the problem is, what do I have to do and where to go? The dude shoved us all down here before anything was said, bah. And I thought Chaos is supposed to be cool, and not a lamer scared to lose to his sister. Hmm, first thing to do is probably to test if I can access HP-wannabe's magic, and find out if I can get a partner...
I wonder if I should try sneezing right here in front of the classroom... nah. Don't want the dude to get fired from staring at thirty-one naked cute girls. Well, thirty, if you don't count the android... or less, since there's a chibi vampire and probably other equally weird girls in the class...
Aaaaaaaaanyway... magic!
"I have to go out for a little while," Kwok said cheerfully. "So behave yourselves and I'll be right back, okay?"
He stepped out of the room, then looked around to check and make sure no one was around watching, then tickled his nose with the edge of his coat until he can sneeze...
This time, Negi's exit from the class was relatively painless, and he was able to slip out unmolested.
For some reason, he found it was easy to provoke himself into sneezing...and the explosion of air from his nose seemed much louder than it should have...
...Followed closely by some shocked yelps from inside the classroom.
Kwok sweatdropped at the shocked yelps.
What, does it magically target girls' clothing or something?
"Oh well," he shrugged, then turned and headed back into the classrooom to see what kind of havoc he just unleashed.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on who one asked, the clothing in question was mostly intact, though most of the girls seemed to be holding their skirts down, and blushing furiously.
Negi's return to the class brought a few smiles, and a highly suspicious glare from Asuna.
Kwok pretended not to notice the glare from a certain pigtailed girl.
"Anyway, what were we doing again?" he asked, resigning himself to teaching duty for the moment. "I forgot."
A girl in the back half of the class, with ebony hair obscuring her eyes tentatively raised her hand. "You gave us a self-study period, sensei..." Nodoka Miyazaki ventured puzzledly, blushing darkly and ducking her head as the words slipped out. There were general nods of agreement at that, and a few concerned looks at the child teacher.
"Right, self-study," Kwok nodded as if he knew that was the answer. "I knew that. Anyway, I have to go out for a bit, so keep studying."
Kwok walks out of the room with his arms crossed over his chest, thinking.
Wow, this sucks more than I thought... I have no idea what to do or when it is, since the series never stated specific times as far as I can remember... I'm tempted to just cause random chaos around here, but there's probably enough of that normally.
There were a few puzzled looks at that, but again, Negi was allowed to leave the class without incident.
The halls were mostly empty, this being the middle of the day. There was the occaisional noise from classrooms the nine year old passed, but there seemed no one in the halls to meet him...
Kwok pondered on jumping out of the nearest window to see if his magic would protect him, but decided against the decidedly suicidal temptation...
This sucks, I have so much that I can do here, but I probably have to pretend to be a 9-year-old, so there's not much I can do... need to test how my magic works... I know there's a few things he can do without his staff... oh yeah, the prank.
Kwok walked back into the room again.
"I just need to grab this here," he grabbed the chalkboard's eraser. "I think I need to, uh, clean this."
He walked back out again, and made sure that no one was watching, then lobbed the eraser up into the air.
Stop!
Negi felt a slight tug at the corner of his mind as the Eraser headed into the air...and, indeed, it wavered at the apex of it's trajectory, almost hesitating before it fell.
As it clattered to the ground, Negi knew he almost had it, but there was more to it than that...
Hmm, must need to chant spells, even if mentally...
"Spellbook, spellbook..." he pondered aloud, then felt around all over his coat to see if he can find a book of some sort.
Strangely, he felt no books of any kind in his coat, though...no, wait, there was one, thin one, but that turned out to be the class listing...
Alright, I guess magic is out of the question... at least until I find a list of spells or something.
He went back into the classroom, then sat down behind the teacher's desk with his legs crossed in a lotus position, and rested his hands on his lap, closing his eyes to meditate to see if he can sense any magical energies in the air, or even just anything out of the ordinary.
Negi's meditation didn't detect much out of the ordinary. There DID seemed to be ambient magic in the room, but it was like a fine mist, swirling around, but not quite touching the people in the room...
Save himself. The threads of mana seemed to brush gently at his skin, not quite in full contact, but close enough to grab hold...
Kwok smiled slightly as he seemed to be heading in the right direction.
Hmm... need something to test on... and lifting erasers isn't good in front of the entire class... need someone who wouldn't suspect anything or anger easy...
Without any physical movements, he tries to see if it's possible to control and "command" the ambient magic to wrap around and lift Nodoka's skirt.
The mist seems to respond to his thoughts, but the command barely stirs a slight flicker of the fabric, being too weak to even attact Nodoka's notice.
Hmm... must need something more... I wonder if visualizing works.
This time, he tried to visualize a hammer being made out of the mist of magic, and mentally drives said hammer into the blackboard behind and beside him.
The black board made a loud bang, but was otherwise unaffected. Negi DID notice that the hammer disintigrated on impact with the chalkboard, however.
Kwok pretended to be started and jumped up.
"W-what was that?" he asked, looking about the room. After a little while, he shrugged and returned to his previous. "Must be nothing."
Hmm... the hammer broke when it hit... what could this mean? Lemme try something else...
He tried to form a large fist from the mist of magic around the room, and tried to held it in place. Getting up from his seat, he pretended to stretch, all the while keeping his attention on the hopefully magical fist, then made a punching motion in the air, and tried to drive the magic fist towards a window, keeping it in synch with his punch.
Suddenly, the bell rang, jarring everyone slightly, and disrupting Negi's concentration, the fist dissolving into its component mists. The silence was broken by the muted hush of conversation as the students waited to be dismissed...
Damn! Right when I try to pull something off...
"Okay!" he said cheerfully, like a 9-year-old would. "I guess class is over now! You guys can go!"
The girls all smiled at him as they filed out for lunch, a few pausing to fuss over him, and Asuna not even looking at him once as they left the room. Finally, He was alone, and the sounds of girls conversations filled the yard...
"Well, I guess I'm alone again..." he said to himself.
Before I go any further, I guess I should keep trying to figure out how my magic works... I'm gonna need it sooner or later.
He closed his eyes and decided to see how far he can control the ambient magic in the air.
I'll start from the basics, instead of the more advanced spell he used against the chibi vampire...
First, he decided to try to resume what he was doing before he was interrupted by the bell, but this time he drives the magic fist towards a wall.
Something occurred to him right after he finished that try, and tries to tickle himself to sneezing again, while trying to keep his magic senses open and aware during the sneeze to see what changes his sneezing power creates in the magic around.
"aaaachOO!"
Negi heard himself sneeze as he aimed the fist, and, as he opened his eyes, he found the fist had dissolved...in fact, the force of the sneeze had violently shoved the ambient magic away from him in a wind-like wave...
Okay, I think I get that...
Kwok decided to wait until the ambient magic goes back to normal, then tried to mentally create the same wind-like wave that he felt in an effort to recreate the sneeze effect...
Within moments, like water eddies in a river, the mana in the room drifted back to normal, though Negi DID notice that natural movements of the mana streams disappeared almost instantly, while the things like the hammer, and the fists took longer to break up...in fact, the more concentration he invested in the forming, the more durable the construct seemed...
Kwok pondered a short few seconds on his discovery, then decided to stick to the basics for now.
Shooting his hands out in front of him, he tried to create the same wind-like wave as his sneeze, except this time more controlled, one that bursts forth in a large beam instead of all around the room.
With a hard shove, the air in front of the boy mage was sent in a moderate gust, focused on the far wall...
Damn... not good enough...
He repeated the last motion, only this time he tried to rush the magic away from him faster, so it can be a more powerful wind.
The results this time were better, though still somewhat ineffectual, the mana streams resuming their places almost immediately.
Kwok decided to try something else, still hoping to get some satisfactory results while barehanded.
Closing his eyes to help concentration, he crossed his arms in front of himself, then thrusted them out in a Moko Takabisha/Kamehameha motion, while making the ambient magic in front of his hands into a large beam that shoots forth.
As soon as Negi closed his eyes and concentrated, the improvement was dramatic. Rather then the moderate gust that had occured before, a literal battering ram of air burst from his hands, literally throwing desks to the side, crashes echoing in Negi's ears as the battering ram struck the far wall, with a resounding boom, a spiderweb of cracks starting in the plaster...
"Yes!" Kwok cheered as he heard success reach his ears, and raised his short arm in the air in triumph.
Then he opened his eyes, and saw what he just did to the room.
"Oops?"
He tried to sneak out of the room as discretely as he can, pretending that he didn't know what happened...
And, as he was slipping out of the room, he felt a sharp pain on the top of his head.
Asuna retracted her hand, glaring at the boy. "What the hell are you doing in there?" she asked, annoyed. "You really want people to find out your secret?"
"I-I don't know what happened!" Kwok pleaded innocence, faking panic. "I was just stretching and everthing just started flying!"
Asuna scowled. "Yeah, right. The resident magic expert doesn't know why things were crashing around by themselves while he was alone in the classroom?" She folded her arms and sniffed. "I'll be your lookout. Clean whatever you did up."
"It's true!" Kwok persisted as he went back into the room. "I didn't even touch anything!"
As he got back into the room and closed the door, he decided to try out more magic instead of moving the furniture back by hand.
Closing his eyes again to concentrate, he tried to wrap the ambient magic around a desk and tried to lift it up and move it back to its proper place...
Somewhat clumsily, the desk sat itself back into place, though Negi could feel the strain. With concentration, his magic improved, but without the staff, it took a toll on him...
Kwok sighed softly.
"I guess I'll do this the old-fashioned way... by physically moving them, so I don't pass out from overexertion or something..." he muttered. "Damn kid can't do that much without a staff, I guess..."
And so he went about physically moving the furniture back to their rightful place, one by one...
Although it was tedious work, Negi was astonishingly fit for a nine year old, and it only took him twelve minutes to re-arrange the tossed furniture.
Asuna came in when her was finished, sighing and shaking her head. "What's wrong with you today?"
To tell or not to tell... that is the question!
Well, somewhere in between sounds good.
Kwok smirked.
"I'm not Negi. I'm someone else, and just got suddenly and mysteriously flung into one 9-year-old Negi Springfield's body and come to consciousness in the middle of a class. How's that for an answer?"
Asuna eyed Negi, struggling with that for a moment before shrugging. "I THOUGHT you were more trouble today. Where's Negi-bouzo?"
Kwok shrugged.
"I have no idea. I don't even really know how I got here."
Asuna sighed. "Geez...Why does this always happen to me?"
Kwok blinked.
"What do you mean 'always' happen to you? What always happens to you?"
"YOU do." Asuna replied. "Or he does, I guess. I haven't decided if you're telling the truth yet. What're you doing here, anyway?"
Kwok shrugged.
"Your guess is as good as mine. So am I telling the truth yet?"
Asuna sighed. "We'd better get out of here before we get blamed for that crack in the wall." she decided, ushering Negi from the room. "And start thinking before you use those powers...or Negi's, or whatever!" She griped, checking the hall before shooing the boy out.
"Hey, I had to check to see if I can use it..." Kwok replied sheepishly, looking at the damage he did to the wall before going out.
"So where are we going?"
"Somewhere where I can keep and eye on you." Asuna responded. "If you're not Negi-bouzo, what are you?"
Kwok feigned a hurt expression.
"'What' am I? Gee, thanks..."
Asuna frowned. "He was a pest, but he had a better hurt look than that." She scoffed. "Where is he?"
"That's because he's a little kid and he's probably actually hurt," Kwok smirked in reply. "And I have no idea where he is. For all I know, he could be dead. Or he could be running around in my body like I am in his."
"Hmm...From the sound of you, it's probably an improvement." Asuna smirked. "What are you doing here, and how can we get him back?"
Kwok levelled a flat stare at Asuna.
"Hey, if I don't know where he is, how do I know how to get him back?"
"Why do you wanna get him back so badly?" he smirked. "Developing a crush on the adorable little magical teacher?"
Red-faced, Asuna rounded on Negi, cracking her knuckles. "He's less of a twit than you are." she growled. "And Something tells me having YOU teach our classes is asking for trouble..."
"What's wrong with me teaching? He teaches English right? I can do that," Kwok nodded.
Asuna eyed Negi. "Can you? What's a dangling participle?"
"That's when there's no noun or pronoun for a participle phrase to modify, like 'Running around the block, nothing was in sight.', where there's no pronoun in the whole sentence for the 'running around the block' part to indicate WHO is doing it," Kwok nodded in reply.
At least I THINK that's it. I think English 12 only passingly mentioned it...
Asuna frowned, but she couldn't dispute it, though she looked uncertain. "Alright, maybe you can." She conceded grudgingly. "But that's not really the point, is it? Where is he? What are you doing here?"
Kwok smirked.
"Didn't you ask that before? Or is concern about your handsome little teacher getting to your pretty little head?"
Asuna hit Negi over the top of the head. Hard. "You didn't answer." She said flatly.
"Ow!" Kwok feigned a cry of pain, and whined like a little kid. "If you hit me again I'm going to cry!"
"And I said I don't know."
Asuna frowned. "You don't know where he is, or you don't know why you're here?"
"Both, kinda," Kwok replied.
"Why do you want to get rid of me so much?" he feigned a hurt look. "Do you hate me that much?"
Asuna frowned at Negi. "You tried that already." She observed. "Hmm...Maybe I should take you to a temple..."
"A temple?" Kwok sweatdropped. "What for?"
Asuna shrugged, a hint of a smile beginning to show. "Well, if you're not going to help, then I've gotta get Negi-bouzo back, somehow...maybe you can be exorcised?"
Kwok looked slightly sad.
"Why do you want me gone so much? How can you hate me so much already?"
Asuna narrowed her eyes. "You showed up, and stole a helpless kid's body, trashed our classroom, and you're stomewalling me when I ask questions. Sorry, but You haven't given me any reason to trust you. for all I know, you could be a demon." She replied coldly.
"Negi's a pain, but he doesn't deserve to have his life stolen like that."
Kwok twitched and looked like he was about to explode at Asuna, then suddenly deflated.
"Alright, I guess I kind of deserved that," he said reluctantly. "I'll answer your questions then. But you better keep an open mind."
"First of all, I wasn't lying to you when I said I don't know how to get Negi back. All I know is that I'm flung into this universe. There's apparently more than one universes out there. I'm one of the eight or so champions chosen to fight for the side of the Order. We were to be scattered to chosen universes to fight the champions of Chaos, and if we lose the multiverse and everyone in it will become Chaos' plaything, which is supposedly not good. But we got flung into random universes before we could be given instructions or what not when Chaos decided not to let the side of Order have an advantage, so I basically don't know a thing of what's going on. All I know is that I'll probably have to fight someone or something eventually, that's why I tried to see if I can do magic even though I'm not Negi. If you think I'm crazy, then I guess I can't convince you otherwise, I have a hard time believing what I just said too, it's totally crazy."
Asuna looked somewhat less hostile at the end of Negi's rant. She paused, and Negi belatedly noticed that she'd led him outside, where some of the girls could be seen, eating lunch from their bento in the sunshine.
"I'll take you at your word for now." she told him reluctantly. "Keep a low profile, and don't tell anyone else." she instructed, waving to someone in the distance. Negi could see a pretty young black haired girl smiling and heading their way at Asuna's gesture...
"Of course I won't!" Kwok cheerfully replied, waving enthusiastically to the approaching girl.
Asuna winced. "Put at least a LITTLE effort into acting like him..."
Kwok smiled sheepishly.
"I'm not good at acting... otherwise you wouldn't have caught me so easily, now would you?"
Asuna sighed. "At least try...No one's supposed to know he's...you know..."
Konoka Konoe approached them, and waved a greeting. Asuna smiled back at her. "Can you feed him?" Asuna asked her friend, smiling. "Baka forgot his lunch, and I need to go do something..."
The black haired girl smiled and nodded. "Sure." She offered a hand to Negi as Asuna dashed off. "I made a bit extra today, Sensei..."
Kwok smiled at the black-haired girl.
"Thanks!" he accepted, thinking it should be alright, since Negi eats her food at home anyway...
Konoka smiled, and led the boy back to the tree she had been eating under with a few other girls from class, humming pleasantly, and when they arrived, she handed him a bento, smiling happily.
"Enjoy!"
"Thanks!" Kwok smiled and accepted the bento, and soon began munching down.
"Why did you make extra today?" he asked, trying to stir up a conversation...
"Haven't you noticed?" She smiled. "Asuna's been in training for the sports fair coming up...Her appetite's gotten bigger..."
"Oh no," Kwok looked surprised and and abruptly stopped eating. "Then I eat this, Asuna will be hungry..."
Konoka giggled, shaking her head. "Don't worry about it. Unless I'm wrong, she's gone to buy lunch again." She shook her head. "She sure likes looking after you, Negi-kun..." the demure girl said slyly.
Off in the distance, a strange, plane-like sound could be heard, but it sounded odd, and not like a normal passenger liner...but...almost like a fighter plane?
"Umm..." Kwok stuttered, trying to think up a Negi-like response. "That's because she's like a big sister!"
I've never seen a plane in the Negima universe, he thought as he heard the plane-like noise, while forcing a smile to not let out a clue about his thoughts. Don't tell me I have to fight a fighter jet or a fighter pilot or something...
Konoka giggled again, smiling at the boy and nodding, beginning to eat her own lunch, pausing as her chopsticks deposited a small amount of food in her mouth. "That's a strange sounding plane..." She commented curiously.
As she and Negi watched, the plane drew closer, and closer, until Negi could make out the distinctive shape of Spike Spiegel's fighter from 'Cowboy Bebop', the Swordfish approached the school, swooping low overhead, then slowing down, slowly circled the school building, before gracefully attempting to land on the lawn.
Girls shrieked and ran for cover as the large, exceedingly loud fighter slowly barrelled toward them, stampeding, en masse, into the shool building, as the red fighter slowly rumbled along, headed for the building itself...
***
Within the cockpit, Spike's walkie-talkie crackled to life. Jet sounded perturbed. "Spike! Spike!"
Ginn pulled the walkie-talkie out of his pocket, and hit the speak button while unstrapping himself from the cockpit chair.
"Yeah?"
"Damn." Jet sounded relieved. "You're still alive. What the hell happened, bud? You're as see through as the city, now..."
"I told you, I'm fine. I just found a place to land, and I'm gonna walk around and see what information I can gather, just like usual, right? You monitor things up there, and see if you can get Ed to grab as much information as she can."
Ginn looks around.
"Right, right. Just check in regularly." Jet suggested. "It's gonna take her awhile to gather anything, with the sensors acting up, but we'll call if we find anything."
Spike's cursory inspection of the grounds revealed an officious looking building, made from brick and feating many windows...which, in turn, featured many wide-eyed schoolgirls staring out them at the fighter.
Likewise, on the neatly kept grounds, heads were beginning to poke up from behind bushes and trees, watching warily...
Ginn looked at the school girls, and one thought came to mind.
Jyoshikosei ga suki dakara...
But he snapped out of it, and asked a question.
"So. Where am I?"
Kwok ran to where he saw the large fighter landed.
"Hey, what did you do that for?" he pointed. "You were scaring my students!"
"Perhaps you could tell me where the airport is, then?"
Kwok almost visibly did an "Eep!"
"Uh, well, I don't know," he answered. "I just transferred here not too long ago."
"Then you're in no position to tell me where to land."
Ginn looked around.
"Where is this, anyways?"
"But you just don't land in a SCHOOL!" Kwok cried. "There're students all over the place!"
"And this is Japan, haven't you figured out by looking at the people here?"
Konoka cautiously approached Negi from behind, looking up at the Fighter with frank curiousity. "I've never seen one like this before..."
Kwok scratched his head.
"Actually, I haven't seen one like that either," he looked back at Konoka. "I wonder where it's from..."
"Maybe the JSSDF?" Konoka asked, looking up at Spike curiously. "Are you a test pilot, sir?"
"No, I'm a scientist. Which way to Tokyo?"
Konoka blinked and shrugged, pointing in a northeasterly direction, brushing a lock of black hair over her ears.
Another voice of a young girl sounded from behind Swordfish, only this one spoke more casually than Konoka, and louder. "You try flying that to Tokyo, and the JSSDF will shoot you down..."
"Then I'll walk there. Ginn started walking in that northerly direction, taking his gear with him."
Kwok turned to look at Konoka.
"I'll be back... I think," he told her. "I'm going to talk to that strange guy."
He started walking to catch up with Spike, then started speaking once he knew they'd be out of earshot of everyone.
"Alright, who are you? That plane you came in from doesn't look like anything from this universe."
Asuna, who'd spoken earlier, walked up to Konoka, her hands on her hips. "What's he doing now?" she asked her friend, and only got a slightly concerned shrug in response.
"Sensei will handle it, I guess..."
"I'm Spike. Thats the Swordfish II, my plane from the Cowboy Bebop. And I don't know which planes of existance you've been on, but I suppose you should get out more.
"Wrong series, dude," Kwok smirked. "This isn't Cowboy Bebop. This is Mahou Sensei Negima."
"Whatever it is, I'm still Spike, that the plane I flew in on is still the Swordfish II, so try to fix that into your narrow little world."
Ginn keeps walking.
"Before you continue, a moment of your time then."
As the voice speaks, out from behind them, Spike and Negi notice that everything has gone still...unnaturally so.
"Cool, you froze time!" Negi spoke excitedly, already knowing who it was. "Think I can do that with my-err... Negi's magic?"
Ginn turns around to look at the newcomer.
The newcomer turned out to be Remy, who'd ignored Negi's question, and waited for Spike to turn before speaking.
"I apologize for arriving late." he said, without preamble. "But I'm glad I caught you before you left your fighter behind. I've arranged for a clear flight path into Tokyo, the JSSDF won't notice you." He told them. "And...You should probably take the boy along, as he's a member of your team." he added, almost apologetically.
"Well thank you very much, that will help me out."
Spike turned to look at Negi.
"And why should I take this brat along?"
Remy glanced at Negi, and it was clear he knew who'd ended up in that particular body. "I have no earthly idea." he muttered under his breath. Speaking a little louder, he went on. "He is, in fact, a member of your team. He and his guardian may prove useful." He suggested.
Ginn looked at Negi and one thought crossed his mind.
Meat Shield.
"Fine, so long as he can find space in my plane that isn't taken up by me, my equipment, or my plane. Oh, and he can't touch anything as well."
Ginn started walking back towards the plane.
Kwok fumed silently.
Here I am, trying to be nice, and these two are being a bunch of bastards. I have half a mind to ignore them and stay here.
Then he remembered how all the girls were so concerned for Negi, and how much Asuna seemed to want Negi back.
Fine...
"I'll come..." he spoke up, his voice a low growl. "On one condition. If I'm going to ask Asuna to come with me and help, you better treat her way better than you treat me."
Remy smirked. "Shouldn't you ask for better than that?" he offered. "Though I wouldn't worry. Asuna-san is something of a brat, but she should get along fine with Mister Spiegel. "
With that, he vanished, and the ordinary sounds of the day resumed, the girls apparently not having noticed the stoppage.
Spike however, found a blond girl with her hair tied in two long pigtails with bell elastics, dressed in the school uniform standing in front of the Swordfish and watching him curiously.
Kwok wondered what Remy meant by his comment about asking for better, but shrugged it off when he left.
After time returned to normal, he walked up next to Asuna.
"Asuna-san, can I talk to you for a minute?"
Ginn watched the girl curiously back.
Asuna glanced at Negi. "Does this have to do with what we were talking about earlier?" she asked, glancing at Spike, then back to Negi
"Yes," Kwok nodded in reply.
Asuna folded her arms and frowned. "So what's going on, then?" she asked. "He's a friend of yours?"
"Friend? No," Kwok answered truthfully. "I don't even know who he is."
Which was true. He knew the new guy was Spike, but not who was inside the body.
Asuna sighs. "So then what's going on?" she adds, glancing at Spike, and hoping one of them will explain things, a slight blush falling over her cheeks as she examines the tall man discreetly.
Kwok paused for a moment to think about how to begin.
"Alright, I told you before that I was thrown into this universe to fight, right? This is where it begins, I guess. He's one of my teammates, so I'll eventually have to fight alongside him."
"Anyway," he continued, trying to make his voice sound as sincere as possible. "Will you come with me, to help me fight? I need you."
Asuna began to blush in earnest. "Me? What can I do?" she asked, flustered.
"Lots more than you think," Kwok answered. "You're the opposite to what I am now. You're the physical to my magical. You can make up for what I lack in power, and I can complement you with what I know about magic. Assuming I ever figure out the abilities and spells, that is."
And it's always nice to keep a cute girl around. If nothing else, cute girls are easy on the eyes.
Asuna eyed Negi carefully. "...Right. Alright." she mumbled. "What do we do?"
"Not sure, really," Kwok replied honestly. "But if he's leaving, so should we, since we're teammates and all."
Asuna raised her eyebrows. "What about school, sensei?"
"Yeah, I was wondering what to do about that..." Negi confessed. "I was going to just yell loudly and hope whoever responsible for me being here will notice, since they're supposed to be all-powerful and all... but didn't want to sound like a crazy lunatic yelling for no reason or something."
"Any ideas?"
Asuna gave Negi a slightly frustrated look. "I don't really know what's going on." she pointed out. "Don't YOU have any ideas?"
"If I did, I wouldn't have to ask, would I?" Kwok sweatdropped. "I wonder if Spike knows something."
Kwok began to think, and conjuring the image of Remy and the woman in his mind.
C'mon, you two omnipotent people... you're the owner of the multiverse... can you hear my thoughts? If you can, I kind of need your help here...
Unfortunately, all Negi could hear was a soft buzzing, the mental equivalent of a 'dial tone'...
"..." was all Kwok could say. Or rather, not say.
"Figures," he muttered. "They expect and ask all sorts of crap from you, then when you need 'em, they're not here... I should've known."
Kwok turned and walked up next to Spike.
Ginn wasn't really paying attention, so he missed that part. But it doesn't matter.
"You all set, kiddo? Then lets get going."
Ginn started walking back towards the plane.
"Hey wait," Kwok called out after Spike. "Do you have any idea how to contact the ones that sent us here? Not Chaos, but the two on our side. I need to ask them something."
Ginn starts climbing in the plane.
"Not a clue."
Asuna blushed, and started following Spike into the fighter, glancing at Negi. "Well? What do we do?"
"Go along, I guess," Negi replied, reluctantly following. "I'll see if I can do something later. But if I can't, then I'm sorry."
Asuna sighed and nodded. "Right..." She glanced across the field at Konoka. "We'll be back as soon as we can!" she called, and the black haired girl nodded seriously.
"I'll tell grandfather." She called back. "Be careful."
"Ack!" Kwok piped up as he suddenly remembered something. "I forgot something! I'll be right back!"
He took off and ran back into the classroom, in search of Negi's staff.
Ginn sat in the plane, waiting for Kwok/Negi.
Asuna climbed into the cockpit, shyly avoiding Spike as she found a perch, avoiding the controls as best she could.
Kwok ran back out into the plane a few minutes later, staff in hand.
"Sorry 'bout that, forgot this thing."
Asuna rolled her eyes at Negi as he clambered into the cockpit. "How are you going to fit that thing in here?" She observed sourly. "This barely has room as it is!"
"..."
Kwok slammed his head against the wall of the plane, repeatedly.
"Well, there's gotta be SOME way to make this work... this thing's kinda needed."
"Tie it to the wing?" Asuna suggested.
"Yeah, that could work..." Kwok looked around to see what he can use to tie things with. "I'd have to tie it REALLY tight though."
"You have anything I can tie this with, Spike?"
"I'm gonna wait about 5 more minutes. Why don't you try shrinking that thing, if you're such a good mage."
Kwok doubted he could do it, but he decided to try anyway.
He closed his eyes and tried to imagine the staff, then imagining it shrinking it size.
OOC: Sorry for the late post ^_^;;
OOC: *GM STABBIES FOR KWOK!* >_>
IC:
Strangely, he found he COULD see the mana weaves within the staff with a little effort, and by pulling on them, the staff abruptly shrank...to the size of a toothpick.
However, he doubted that was a good thing, as the magical aura from the staff was now extremely strange...
Kwok sweatdropped.
"Well this can't be good... probably can't use this right now when it's like this, and don't know if I can even use it if I can turn it back..."
"Oh well," he shrugged. "At least it's small now, so we're ready to go."
Ginn finally started up the plane, turned it around, and accelerated to a takeoff.
...And the three of them winged their way off toward Tokyo...
(Continued in 'Once upon a Shrine!)