Author's Note: Ah, rewrites; aren't they such a joy to do? Anyway, for now, just the obligatory warning; I don't own 'Toaru Majutsu no Index'. Anyway, onto the revised story!

Chapter 1: Rough Day

Aki Arc

"Argh, why can't I improve?" lamented a black hair girl with a flowery hairband wearing a Sakugawa Middle School uniform. She was sitting on a bench just outside of said middle school, whilst the late winter sun beating down on the back of her neck in spite of the cold nip of the air. But she didn't care about the sun or the cold air; no, she was annoyed with the blasted sheet of paper in front of her.

Like many in Academy City, the black hair girl was a student that was attending several of the various schools to become a high-level esper. Being an esper to many was akin to being super human; being able to contort the world to your own will was the goal. They were ranked from Level 0 to Level 5, with 0 being basically a normal person and a 5 being a one man army. Sadly for her, she was, despite her effort, still listed as a Level 1 'Thermal Hands' esper, which meant that her ability made her perfect for acting like a human thermos.

"This sucks," the girl continued to curse her lack of progress. "I can't do anything other than keep things warm or cold in my hands, which doesn't do me any good when I am in the field."

She was about to continue, ranting about how she wasn't anything like her Judgment partner, a Level 4 teleporter, when she felt her skirt lifted from behind.

"Oh, today it appears to be white panties!" announced a girl that was taller than her to the world.

"Saten, why must you flip my skirt?!" the girl demanded, getting up and pulling her skirt down to prevent anyone else from seeing her choice in panties.

"Ara, ara," Saten Rikou tried to placate her friend. "Uiharu, it's our thing you know; you get lost in your world, and I bring you back to reality by flipping your skirt! You would be lost in fantasy without my assistance!"

Uiharu Kazari glared at her best friend, puffing her cheeks in anger. She couldn't count all of the times Saten had flipped her skirt, but despite all the times she never not gotten embarrassed by it.

"It is certainly not our thing!" scolded Uiharu. "Don't you realize how embarrassing it is for me to have anyone passing by and see under my skirt due to you flipping them?" Saten paused, before relenting.

"Ah fine, I won't flip your skirt so often," Saten replied, ignoring the angering look on Uiharu's face. "Oh guess what happened today?" Uiharu sighed.

"I didn't level up and I got my skirt flipped by you," Uiharu replied mournfully. Saten again paused, before shaking her heads.

"Well, beside that, I am now a Level 1 esper!" Saten replied happily. "It is so nice to see that everything that has happened finally is paying off!" While Saten was beaming, Uiharu was mentally crying.

"Great, Saten has finally leveled up, not that I should be upset with her, but I couldn't improve myself," Uiharu thought to herself. "Ever since I first took the PCP, I haven't leveled up. Will I always remain a pathetic level 1?" Shaking herself from her mental self-berating, she smiled at Saten.

"That's good to hear," Uiharu praised her friend. "At least you leveled up without help from the Level-Upper."

"Ehehe, right," Saten said uncomfortable. "I rather not be reminded of when I was in a coma due to my stupidity."

Uiharu nodded quietly. The Level-Upper incident was an all-round terrible situation for everyone involved. Those that used the Level-Upper ended up going into a coma, several people were badly injured as a result of those users abusing their new found powers, and finally Anti-Skill and Judgment had a field day getting the users to the hospital and dealing with the AIM burst. Overall, a lot of chaos with little to show for it, except that it led to the incident with Kihara Therestina Lifeline, which was another disaster.

"Well, how about you?" Saten said. "You've been a Level 1 for a while now, so perhaps you leveled up as well?"

"Sadly no," Uiharu replied. "Still a Level 1, still getting nowhere with my ability." She frowned, causing Saten to hug her friend.

"It's okay," Saten calmly said. "You'll get there eventually, just give it time, maybe find someone to help you, and perhaps you'll level up."

Uiharu smiled, if only to appease her friend. Inside however, Uiharu wanted to bemoan her fate. Due to her ability's rather plain ability, low level, and oddly enough rareness, even if she could afford a personal trainer, like a great deal of students in the higher end schools did, she couldn't find one. Also, Judgment didn't allow for any training outside of how to deal with suspects and following the code of conduct set forth by Judgment, so she couldn't even go to her colleagues for help training.

"Why can't I find anyone to help me out?" Uiharu mentally groaned. "It isn't fair that my ability isn't flashy like Level 3 electromasters, teleporters, or even psychics, and thus I can't find any trainers. I can't help any of my friends in the field with my weak powers, only provide support through the headset."

"Hey, Uiharu, how about we go to your station and see if Kuroko and Misaka are in the office, perhaps they will have some suggestions on how to improve your ability?" Saten suggested. Uiharu pondered for a moment; if anyone knew how to Level up, it would be those two, considering they were Level 4 and 5 respectively.

"Okay, sure, just let me put away this," Uiharu said, folding up the results of her SYSTEM scan before sliding it into her pocket. She prayed that her friends might have a solution for her.

"Eh heh, well, not to bring you down, but I don't think I would be suitable to helping you out with your ability, sorry," replied a girl with brown hair and eyes. She was wearing the brown vest and plaid skirt of the Tokiwodai winter uniform.

"Ah, but Onee-sama, you are the perfect person to help her!" spoke a girl with auburn hair and twin pony tails. "You went from Level 1 to 5, so you are more than adequate to train Uiharu! Besides, I think that you would look good in a-"

The auburn hair girl would've continued on a tangent, going on how some perverted delusion had it not been for the brown hair girl promptly sending a bolt of lighting at her.

"Kuroko! Get your head out of the gutter; I'm not interested!"

Uiharu sighed; "Those two are at it again. I wish Misaka would get with someone, anyone, if only to end this tirade."

In front of her were Misaka Mikoto and Shirai Kuroko, two of her friends and both very powerful espers. Kuroko was a Judgment agent just like Uiharu, though unlike Uiharu she was a very capable Level 4 teleporter, being able to apprehend suspects with her unique ability and fighting style. Misaka meanwhile was the Level 5 'Railgun', the number 3 most powerful esper in Academy City. She routinely manages to help out with major cases and is capable of controlling electricity unlike any other esper, earning her the nickname 'the electric princess'.

So after getting to the 177th Judgment branch office and allowing Saten to bask in glory at her new found power (Level 1 Aero Hand), Uiharu explained her situation and asked if either of them could help. Unfortunately, it seemed that Misaka couldn't help, and Kuroko tried to be a pervert, again.

"But seriously, back to your inquiry, I wouldn't be able to help," Misaka said, turning her attention back to Uiharu, ignoring the charred and limp body of Kuroko. "I'm an electromaster, and I have no experience with what I guess would be thermal manipulations. I don't know the models and theories behind it, so anything I say will be pointless. I guess it could be compared to going to a computer engineer to ask for help fixing a car; it be a waste of everyone times."

"If you want to improve your ability and thus your level Uiharu, you will need to find someone who has a ability similar to yours or knows the mathematical models of your ability," Misaka continued, drumming the couch arm passively. "I know it sucks to hear I can't help, but I mean, I rather you get help from someone who knows what they are doing rather than getting inaccurate information from me and end up hurting yourself."

"But isn't there something she can do that doesn't involved find someone with a near identical ability as hers?" Saten asked. "I mean, I had issues because I didn't have anything to base my ability off of. With that barrier out of the way and knowing what I have, I can at least build off it. So right now I think she needs to grow her ability, so are they any techniques that she can do to increase her power?"

Uiharu saw Misaka tapping her chin, trying to think. She began to build her hopes up, only to have them crash down with what Misaka had to say next.

"Um, not really," Misaka replied. "I mean, most of the techniques they teach in middle school are what I would suggest, so if they aren't working, I'm afraid I don't have any other suggestion. There are those that insist that working your mind and body will improve your ability, but I know of some espers that have a lot of power despite being out of shape and I know of espers who are in perfect health with little ability power, so that isn't true. Your best bet is to find someone who can train you. Perhaps you can find a specialist in thermal manipulation."

"I've tried," Uiharu stated calmly. "However, most won't see me as they mostly deal with pyrokinetics and thus when they see my ability and level they tend to dismiss me right out of the gate. And I don't know anyone in Sakugawa Middle school that has an ability similar to mine."

Uiharu sighed, leaning in her chair. "This freaking blows, I just want more power to protect my friends, is that too much to ask for?" She was roused when the office door open.

"Hello Uiharu and Kuroko," said the voice of the well-endowed station's chief of the 177th branch, Konori Mii. The black hair Level 3 clairvoyant wore a frame of glasses, sweeping her gaze upon the office. "Oh, hello Saten and Misaka, I didn't know you two were here as well. So, what are the four of you up to?"

"Not much, other than dashing my dreams of being useful to this office outside of being behind the computer," Uiharu muttered. "I was asking Misaka and Kuroko how to improve my level, only to hit the brick wall that is reality. Life's so unfair."

Konori frowned, taking a seat at her desk.

"Well, don't feel too bad," Konori replied. "I struggled with my ability, mainly because my ability is rather rare. But I managed once I studied up on it and gained a reason to level up." She was about to continue when her phone went off. "Hold on a sec, let me answer this phone call and then we will figure out how to help you out Uiharu."

While Konori was answering her call, Uiharu mentally cursed her luck and bemoaned her luck. She couldn't believe that Misaka, a Level 5 and the third most powerful of the city, couldn't help her out! If there was anyone that could help her out, she was certain it was her! But it seemed like…

"Uiharu, Kuroko, we have an emergency in District 17," Konori spoke up, interrupting Uiharu's thought. "Skill-Out is rioting for unknown reasons, but it appeared several groups are firebombing several buildings and have attacked a couple of lone Judgement and Anti-Skill officers already. We've been called in to assist in the containment of the situation."

Misaka was about to stand up, but Konori laid a hand on her shoulder.

"No Misaka; I know you want to help, but this is strictly a Judgement and Anti-Skill operation. The higher ups don't want rumors of the riots to spread, as it might cause similar situations in the other districts. Your involvement would reveal the riots, and thus until the situation is contained, you can't, I repeat, can't help, alright?"

"Eh fine, but seriously, the riots would be over with me helping you guys," Misaka pouted. "But fine, I understand. Though if you guys need my help, don't-"

"Yes Onee-sama, but we can handle ourselves," Kuroko said, standing up proudly. "I will return to you in one piece; perhaps we can-"

"No Kuroko, get whatever perverted thoughts you have out of your head now!" Misaka all but shouted.

In the midst of this, Uiharu sighed; yet another assignment where her computer hacking skills would be for naught and yet she would be getting in harm's way. Seriously, was there no way for her to be any way useful in the field or able to protect her friends?

"Oh no, this isn't good!" Uiharu cried, scrambling up the stairs, trying to evade her pursuers. She knew she shouldn't have pushed forward without Kuroko's supports, but someone needed to act. But what she should've and what she did were two different things.

About ten minutes ago, Uiharu, Kuroko, and Konori had arrived in District 17. The riots had blown up into what could be best described as a small insurgency uprising. No longer were Skill-Out content with small fire bombings and beating up officials, no, now they were actively hunting and trying to kill espers with the few smuggled fire arms they had procured though underground means along with using homemade bombs that were akin to demo charges. Anti-Skill had begun deploying en masse, but they needed Judgement's espers to help coral Skill-Out to them. In some cases that meant being bait (for the lower level espers), and others that meant terrorizing them towards Anti-Skill (someone with the level of Kuroko's skill and ability).

However, whilst Kuroko was busy pinning down one group of Skill-out thugs, Uiharu had seen a group of Skill-Out with bundles of Molotov Cocktails and some heavy duty slingshots. She didn't know what they were planning on taking out, but she decided for once not to sit on the sidelines and be a mere onlooker. She had picked up brick (not the best thing to use, but it beat an empty beer can or a damaged baseball), and chucked it at the bundle. While it didn't break all of them, it did shatter a few, but it brought the entire group's attention onto her.

Which now explained why she was currently running ragged up yet another flight of stairs, not entirely sure how to escape the now enraged Skill-Out thugs. Uiharu grimaced as she ran up yet another flight of stairs, her breath becoming ragged. Damn it, why didn't I ever think to train for endurance more seriously, Uiharu asked herself. She however faced a bigger issue; she was nearing the roof. If she got to the roof and Kuroko wasn't able to get up there to extract her, Uiharu would be trapped, with no means to defend herself.

Uiharu cringed at the thought of what would happen to her; she wasn't a fighter, not in a long shot! She was at best a support operative, relaying information and digging through the online trove that was the internet to support her colleagues in Judgement. The few times she got into anything remotely physically dangerous, Misaka or Kuroko (or even Saten!) were there to bail her out!

She rushed forward through the door, her fears confirmed as she scanned the roof top; there was no other way down. No fire escape ladder, or other access entrance, nothing. Uiharu was well and truly trapped.

"There you are you fucking freak!" shouted a voice. Uiharu turned and saw the apparent leader of the Skill Out group that had been chasing after her standing in the doorway, a terrible smile on his face. "Well, I got to admit, for a freak, you did manage to put quite the chase, but alas, its time to put you in your place!"

Before Uiharu could brace herself in any manner, the lead thug dashed forward and sent a punch straight into her stomach. Uiharu felt all the air leave her body as the sheer power put behind the punch. She tumbled onto the ground, which only seemed to embolden the lead thug. She tried to get up, but the thug took the opportunity to kick her in the chest, sending her a little bit into the air before collapsing back down onto the ground.

"How pathetic, you make me and my boys sick," the leader sneered, bending down over Uiharu, who couldn't do anything other than curl up, the pain being too much for her. "We are trampled, left to rot in our shit and not a mind given to when one of ours is killed, but the moment a precious freak as yours is hit, you send an army after us! What do you have to say freak, before I let my boys do whatever it is we want to do with you?!"

Uiharu saw that behind the leader, a group of four boys with less than savory gleams in their eyes stared at her like a piece of meat. She shuddered at the thought of what they would do, and she felt anything she could or would've said catch in her throat. However, the silence was broken by a new voice.

"Hey, what do you guys think you are doing with her?"

Author's Note: Yes, this is indeed a rewrite of my very first story. Some of you may be wondering why, others may be joining us for the first time and wondering what this story is about. Well this A/N will hope to explain both.

For those wondering why I am doing a rewrite of this story after year+ long hiatus, the reason is because of numerous factors. The biggest of these factors is because I royally screwed up with the timeline present in TAMNI. It's obvious that I never read the light novels when you see how Kakine is portrayed, that I never mentioned Othinus, or how in general there are conflicts in with my story and the cannon storyline. Thus with this rewrite, I hope to fix this problem, amongst others, which I shall now proceed to explain.

The next issue became apparent when I began the Dark Binds Arc; too many god damn characters. Its fine to have many characters; it's not fine to try and jam face time for every character in every chapter, which is what I did. In addition to this, having too many characters meant a disorganized Arc line, where the progression of an arc was dragged out painfully.

Finally, when I introduced the alchemist, I tried to make two stories in one; it wasn't effective in the slightest. The merging of events was sloppy at best and terrible enough that after writing 36 chapters and 152,000+ words, I've decided to do a rewrite.

So what will the rewrite do differently than the original story did? Well, here's a bullet list of things I hope to accomplish;

More detailed and focused chapters.

Improved character development and interaction.

Revising many of the arcs so that they smoothly transition from one into the next.

New arcs to highlight characters earlier on than they did in my previous attempt.

Detailed explanations of various aspects, including powers, characters' triggers and morals, and the science behind certain elements.

A rational UiharuXKakine that doesn't break canon yet is reasonable within my story.

For those new here, what is this story about; well, when it began, the original was about Uiharu trying to have a developed power, which quickly morphed into her becoming a power hungry Level 5 in a undisclosed amount of time that also involved alchemists. Yeah, it made sense when I was writing it, but hindsight is 20/20, and even I must admit, I fucked up. But as I stated, the problems that plagued that original will not (hopefully) be recurring here! So here is the main meat of this story, also presented in a bullet list;

Uiharu's growth from Level 1 to 5 with both trials and hardships in a reasonable manner.

Multiple Arcs that will account follow largely Uiharu, with mini-arcs focusing on other characters and their lives.

Uiharu X Kakine that makes sense, there isn't enough of it on this site, and I think mine was one of the first.

A rational evolution to the Gates of Hell Arc (read the original to get an idea of what I'm talking about).

So as you see, there's a lot to cover, most of which I haven't covered. But this is to get the gist across. Anyway guys, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I wish that you guys follow me on this new and improved story. As always, please follow, favorite, and review the story, and I'll see you next time.

PS: At the end of each chapter I will do an Author's responds section, where I'll answer questions, react to comments, and give my insights based on the reviews you guys give out. It will be after the A/N, and the text will be italicized as well as bolded so you guys know whether or not you want to skip or not. If you like that, please do take the time to read them. If not, you're free to skip at your leisure.