Mahou Sensei Negima! Fan Fiction ❯ Miscalculation ❯ Chapter 12

“You want what?” asked Eva, biting off each word carefully.

 

“Um, well, if any of the others in our class manage to pass our `test', we will need badges for them as well,” Negi explained. Eva's cold eyes studied him.

 

“Do you know how much work goes into making one of those?” asked the blonde terror. “Not to mention the investment of persistent spell energy, the technology foundation, the binding spell that links them to the user…you have no idea what making those costs me,” she stated derisively.

 

“But, you make the other badges,” Negi began. Eva bared her teeth. Negi couldn't help but notice that her canine were longer than normal, even with the moon at half-phase and the two standing in broad daylight. He had taken his free period to find his mistress. As usual, she was napping with Chachamaru on the roof of the main junior high class room building.

 

“Yes, I did,” agreed the short vampiress. “But that doesn't mean I can spare the magical energy to make one for the entire class, moron!” she snapped. “Not to mention that the technological under-pinning of the badges originally came from Chao!” added the woman he called `mistress'.

 

Having been serving as Eva's pillow while she napped, Chachamaru said nothing. She knew, however, that the technology that was used in the badges Eva had made for the members of Negi's group was an off-shoot of the technology that Chao had developed in creating her; and she knew that Hakase could replicate the technology without any noteworthy difficulties. And mistress has several more un-coded badges in her possession, too, thought the gynoid. Why is mistress making such a big deal about this?

 

“Well, couldn't Hakase…?” began Negi. Eva scowled at him, and he broke off.

 

“The technology is the lesser issues, Negi,” said Eva, “the bigger issue is that I have to invest the power in the badges. I am already maintaining the Resort as our training ground and stronghold, and now you want me to use more power?” she asked him. Negi blinked.

 

“Um, well, isn't that why you suck my blood?” he wondered. Eva hid a smile.

 

“Yes; well, that and because I can,” she amended herself arrogantly. “But that little investment isn't nearly equal to the drain, you know!” asserted Eva.

 

“Um…” Negi tried to think of a solution. “What if the rest gave you some blood from time to time as well?” he hit upon the most basic solution he could think of. Wish Chamo were around; he knows more about this sort of thing than I do, Negi thought briefly.

 

“Feh,” Eva snorted delicately. “Your blood is valuable because you are the son of the Thousand Master, and a mage. The other girls, despite their skills, lack that pedigree,” she argued. Now, there is only really one path that you should be able to see, my disciple, thought the self-proclaimed evil magi.

 

Seconds passed. “Ah!” Negi exclaimed. “What about Konoka?” he asked eagerly. “She has really powerful latent magic talent! Amagasaki used her power to summon hordes of demons in Kyoto, and her healing power is strong enough to undo the petrifaction curse that Fate and that Count guy used! Wouldn't her blood work as good as mine?” pressed Negi. Eva slowly smiled at him.

 

“But would you really feed your partner to me, Negi?” purred the blood sucker. “Me, who is a wanted and feared criminal? Me, who has a price on her head? Me, who is bound here by a curse your father put on me? Would you feel good about letting me feed from Konoka?” mocked Eva. Negi considered her words carefully. “And what of Setsuna? Sworn to protect her precious `Ojou-sama', what would she say about your plan to feed Konoka to me? Do you think she would agree that your position gives you the right to bare Konoka's neck to my fangs?”

 

“Um,” Negi thought about it. “But, if…”

 

“Tell you what, Negi,” Eva said, her tone back to light and teasing, rather than dark and mocking, “you ask your teammates. If any of them are willing to pay a little, I'll agree to make some badges for any new members; on the condition that their blood is good enough, and that the new members must pass my test,” she said. Negi thought about that.

 

“Ok, mistress,” he said. “But, other than Konoka, I don't think that any of them are magic-users,” he observed. Eva smiled.

 

“Though it is not magic as you know it,” she said, turning back to Chachamaru in preparation to nap again, “Setsuna is possessed of unique gifts, as is Asuna. I have also never had occasion to taste a ninja's blood,” pointed out the vampiress as she settled back down, her head on Chachamaru's thigh. “Now go away,” ordered the blonde imperiously, flipping her hand at him. “Tonight, you are facing off with me - personally,” she leered at him, eyes slitted. Negi gulped.

 

“O…ok!” he managed. Eva remained his greatest opponent, and he knew that that night in the resort, he would probably need Konoka's healing after Eva was through with him.

 

-

 

The group once more teleported into the resort, ready for another training cycle. Eva greeted them, wearing her transformed form. Standing taller than all of the Wings, she was wearing a leather corset with half-cups, the upper edge of her nipples visible, while just below the corset, a pair of leather panties clung to her like a second skin, thin and supple enough that Negi could see the contours of Eva's sex through the black leather. She also wore stockings and a garter belt.

 

“What's up with the trashy clothes, Eva?” asked Haruka, grinning.

 

“And why the adult illusion?” wondered Asakura. Not far from Eva, Chachamaru watched silently.

 

“Today, I am sparring with Negi,” Eva said, ignoring the questions. “The rest of you will have something to discuss and some choices to make while my apprentice and I are sparring. Negi,” she said, turning her attention to her disciple, “have you told them yet?” she asked.

 

“A little,” he admitted. Eva smiled, the tips of her fangs visible.

 

“Then tell them the rest. I will expect them to have made up their minds by the time I am done with you,” she said, her tone darkly anticipatory. Her cat-slit eyes touched on Konoka, Setsuna, Asuna and Kaede briefly. Each met her gaze without flinching. The last four, thought Eva.

 

Negi quickly explained to the group what he and Eva had talked about. Several of the girls showed shocked surprise, but not all of them. After a quick summary of things, Eva interrupted Negi. “Ok, that's all they need to know to make their choice,” she said. Half the girls were asking questions of her or Negi or both, but Eva didn't answer and didn't allow Negi time to answer either. In a flash of light, they were gone, leaving Chachamaru behind.

 

“After them!” yelled Haruna!

 

“Yeah, we can't leave them alone after hearing that!” Asuna agreed.

 

“Which dome did they go to, Chachamaru?” asked Setsuna.

 

“I am not allowed to say,” said the partner of Eva. “Furthermore, the transport circles are disabled for the next four hours,” added the gynoid.

 

“Don't make us fight you, Chachamaru,” said Kotaro. Chachamaru settled into a fighting stance that reminded the group of the stance Chao had used in the Festival conflict.

 

“If that is your desire, I await you,” said the girl, one of her arms pulling off her Goth maid outfit, revealing a pair of black plastic short shorts and a small plastic top. The group held their ground, aware of just how dangerous the gynoid was in close combat.

 

“I...I'm sorry, Chachamaru,” came Nodoka's voice. “Adeat!”

 

“Good idea, Bookstore!” cheered Kazumi. A moment later, Nodoka gasped. “What's wrong?” wondered the taller girl.

 

“Chachamaru erased her memory of Eva's destination!” Nodoka said. “I can't read what she no longer knows!” The group blinked.

 

“That is a problem,” Chisame admitted. The only real weakness of Nodoka's artifact is that it can't reveal what isn't known. But for Chachamaru to erase her memory to prevent Nodoka from reading her mind is unexpected.

 

“Hey! Chisame!” hissed Kotaro, elbowing the girl. “Use your artifact!” he murmured. It took Chisame only an instant to understand. Asuna and Setsuna seemed to be on the same page, too.

 

“We'll keep her busy, Chisame-chan,” breathed Asuna, slipping her own card free. “Who knows what she might do if we don't,” added the primary partner of Negi. “Ready?” she asked. “Go!” she yelled, activating her artifact as Setsuna, Kaede, Ku and Kotaro bum-rushed Chachamaru. Behind them, Chisame activated her own artifact.

 

To hack Chachamaru seems a little too much like raping a friend, but… she pushed the thought aside. Breaking her firewall will prove to be nearly impossible, the girl concentrated on the challenge before her. Assigning her `mice' their jobs, she dove into the fight as well, the physical melee already in full swing. Seeing Ku fly over her head, Chisame bit her lip. Guess Chachamaru isn't holding back, thought the hacker girl. Then neither will I!

 

“Kazumi!” came a whisper by the pineapple-head's ear.

 

“Yes, Sayo-chan?” asked Asakura calmly, Ku running back toward the fight, a smile on her face even though a trickle of blood was at the corner of her mouth.

 

“Are the meetings always this….?” the ghost trailed off, unsure what words to use.

 

“Nah,” smiled Kazumi. “Sometimes they're boring,” snickered the girl. She dove aside as Asuna was sent skidding along by a kick from Chachamaru that had flung the kanka-reinforced girl sliding along like a soccer ball. Her harisan was still tightly gripped. “Sure you don't want to break out the sword, Asuna?” asked the intelligence specialist.

 

“Not if I can avoid it,” Asuna replied sourly. She's still my friend and teammate, even if we're fighting just now, Asuna thought.

 

“Hold on a second!” Konoka said, touching Asuna's side. “You're bleeding,” she noted, healing the damage. Asuna nodded before using her form of instant movement to re-engage Chachamaru, smoothly taking the place of Kaede - or one of her shadow clones - as it was lofted a good thirty feet into the air by a spinning strike from the robot girl.

 

“Ouch! That's gotta hurt,” noted Yue dispassionately.

 

“Only if it is really her,” shrugged Nodoka. Yue sighed, activating her own artifact.

 

“Maybe there's something in here that can help us,” she thought out loud, turning pages. When Setsuna crashed into the stones at Konoka's feet, Yue glanced up from her book.

 

“Tell the others to avoid direct line engagements with Chachamaru,” she observed. “I think that her most powerful attacks are designed much like karate's primary forms,” shared the girl. Setsuna - freshly healed by Konoka - nodded.

 

“Right,” she said, stripping off her shirt and bra, her wings snapping open. “Let's try some angle attacks,” she muttered, easily lifting off and climbing over the furious gang battle. A yelp preceded Kotaro's tumbling form arching toward the second-line people. Konoka clucked her tongue as she raised her hand to heal him as well.

 

“Chachamaru is tough,” noted Sayo, almost completely visible in the magic-rich atmosphere of the resort.

 

“Yes,” agreed Nodoka, her book still open. “Her current body was built with all the data Chao collected from the Festival Tournament, so she knows pretty much all the weaknesses of our styles.” The girl checked her book. “Even so, she is holding back.”

 

“Holding back?” wondered Chisame. Maybe in the physical battle, but she's not pulling any punches in here!

 

“Yes,” Nodoka nodded, still looking at her book. “She has not disengaged the safeties on her heavier weapons yet, and is only using hand-to-hand techniques.”

 

“What does she have?” wondered Kazumi.

 

“She can apparently transform her arms and legs into bladed weapons with a material shift feature, and she had magical and non-magical beam and kinetic weapons available to her,” Nodoka replied. “Oh, and it looks like she has some sort of turbo mode capability, but it's dangerous to use for some reason,” revealed the mind-reader of the group.

 

Kotaro and Ku arrived in a tangled mass. Konoka healed them again before they dashed back to the action. “Good thing she is holding back,” noted the healer of their group blandly.

 

“Asakura,” Yue cut in, “your artifact might prove useful, after all,” she said. Kazumi frowned, but activated her artifact. “There is a secondary form of your artifact, much like Asuna can switch between her banishment harisan and her sword,” Yue explained, reading from her book. “The secondary function may prove useful in this situation.”

 

“Ok, so what do I do, and how does it work?” wondered Kazumi. Yue took a breath, and began to explain what she had learned through her artifact.

 

-

 

“Well, well,” came the voice of Eva, “what have you been doing in our absence?” she wondered. She was back in her true form, her arm around Negi's waist, the young mage nearly slumped over her. Eva was naked, her clothing having been sized for her transformed form as well as having suffered considerable damage from her own fight with Negi. Negi was down to a tattered pair of boxers himself, his face and body bloodied and bruised.

 

“Negi!” exclaimed Konoka, hurrying over to him. Eva bore some minor scratches, which were fading even as she stood there, smiling at the exhausted group littering the stone patio outside the main hub's hall. Konoka quickly healed the young man. Only Konoka, Nodoka, Yue, Chisame and Kazumi were conscious; as well as being the only ones with any clothing left. Chachamaru was laid out on the stone bench, her chassis decorated with faint signs of heavy fighting. One `antenna' was slightly crooked, and a handful of heat-dissipating `hair' was cut off as well.

 

Around her, almost like fallen corpses of her enemies, were the entire front-line fighting contingent of the White Wings. None of the `corpses' were bleeding, but all of them were asleep, and from the cracked, broken, shattered and burned patches of stone - as well as statues, benches, railings and plants - it was clear that there had been a hell of a melee not that long ago.

 

“I admit I am surprised that you managed to bring down Chachamaru,” Eva noted, lowering Negi beside Chachamaru.

 

“They did not, Mistress,” replied the gynoid, sitting up. “It was a close thing, but I defended myself successfully,” she stated. “How is Negi?” she asked a moment later, examining the young man, a hand delicately touching his forehead.

 

“Passable,” shrugged Eva. He has grown faster than I had thought, she mused. Not that he had been a dangerous threat to her, but she had been forced to pull out a lot more stops than she had thought she would have to in order to beat him down. And then of course, I fed off him, she thought, smiling. Good to know that my powers are returning to what they were before Nagi put that stupid curse on me.

 

“Um, Eva?” came a voice from over her left ear. Eva glanced up.

 

“Yes, Sayo?” she asked the ghost.

 

“Is it possible…” the ghost paused, “that is, could I have a badge?” asked the ghost.

 

“Since you don't have a physical form, that's pretty much pointless, isn't it?” Eva asked. Sayo sighed, disappointed.

 

“I guess,” she said, her form fading a little.

 

“But,” Eva said unexpected, “there is something I can do for you that will be much like a badge for you,” she smiled.

 

“Really?!” squealed Sayo. Eva nodded.

 

“Come with me,” she said, moving toward the building, Sayo floating along beside her happily.

 

When she emerged again an hour later, most of the fighters were back up, though they were clearly tired. Sayo was nowhere to be seen. Eva had on a robe, though it was loose about her, not having been tied. “Since you are awake,” she said to the group, “what have you decided?”

 

“Well,” began Yue, only to have Konoka cut in.

 

“I agree,” said the healer.

 

“Ojou-sama!” protested Setsuna.

 

“It's not an unreasonable request,” Konoka said slowly. “And when you think about it,” she went on, “Eva could probably do this without asking, couldn't she? I mean, she did it for all that time before we knew about her being a vampire, and if she is as powerful as she seems to be, could we really stop her? Short of killing her, I don't think we can. And it is true that we have been using the resort and the badges freely, so isn't it only fair that we give something in return?”

 

“But, Ojou-sama, to let her feed…!”

 

“You could turn into a vampire, too!” Haruna jumped in.

 

“No, as a matter of fact, she won't,” Eva said drolly. “To turn someone requires a lot of effort and most importantly consent of the party. There is a ritual, too.”

 

“And she's been feeding off Negi for a while, and he's still all right,” Asuna said slowly.

 

“Still…” Setsuna protested.

 

“It's ok, Set-chan,” Konoka smiled at her best friend, “you'll be there to protect me, right?”

 

“Of course, Ojou-sama!” Setsuna immediately replied.

 

“Good,” Konoka said, “then after Eva-chan gets my share, she can get your share.” Setsuna blinked.

 

“Wha…?”

 

“Sorry, Konoka,” said Asuna, “but I don't think that letting Eva feed off Setsuna right after you is a good idea. Right, Kaede?” she said, glancing at the ninja.

 

“Right,” said Kaede, nodding. “I will go after Konoka,” said the ninja. “Setsuna and Asuna will keep an eye on things,” she added delicately. Eva smiled a sharp-toothed smile.

 

“Very well,” said the vampiress. “After you all eat and bathe, I'll collect my `rent',” she nearly purred. “Any others volunteering?” she asked. Slowly, all the members raised their hands. Eva licked her lips. Finally, she breathed to herself, I have them all.