Transitions

by Sereg

"I have no idea what that is!" – Pinkamena Diane Pie

"I don't want to put a damper on your ... ingenious plan, but didn't Catgirl Waitress beat us up?" Purin asked as she raised an eyebrow and bit her lip.

"That was a few chapters ago. Things will be different now." Ameko nodded with conviction.

"How?" Suramui spread her palms.

"Well, we keep losing off-screen." Ameko lifted a finger and closed her eyes. "So, we need to get trained by the master of the off-screen victory!"

"Negi post-timeskip?" Suramui asked as she cocked an eyebrow.

Ameko stroked her chin. "Well, he's not available. So, I mean Jack Rakan!" She gave a large grin.

"But how are we going to convince him to train us?" Purin asked as she leaned forward.

"Simple!"Ameko said as she raised a finger. "We'll convince him that it'll be funny!"

(/)

"Who's Cassandra Cain?" asked Haruna as she leaned back and raised an eyebrow.

"Interesting question-yo!" said Chao as she raised a finger. "If you'll follow me, I'll be able to tell you more." She beckoned Haruna towards the supercomputer.

Haruna narrowed her eyes but slowly followed, leading her golems in a v-shaped formation.

Chao sat on a swivel-chair in front of the large keyboard and began typing. A map of Mahora opened on the display and a list of students was called up. "If you have a look at Mahora's records, you will see ..." She jabbed a key hard.

The display turned red and a glass tube rose around Chao as she pulled her hand back. Chao swivelled to face Haruna with a grin. "... that I've upgraded the lab's security system-yo!

The red screen displayed the message, "Intruder alert!" which it began reading aloud in robotic, repetitive monotone as weapon turrets rose around the laboratory.

Haruna turned from side-to-side wildly as an increasing number of weapons pointed at her and her golems.

Chao wiggled her fingers in a wave as she smiled and the chair lowered into the floor, taking her with it. "Zaijan!"

(/)

Evangeline practically skipped as she whistled innocently, leading Amalthea to her basement with one hand and holding the book with the other. Amalthea had to lean forward due to the height difference, but despite the awkwardness of the resulting gait, she had a smile on her face.

They entered the resort and Eva froze and scowled as she starred at the mess. "I have got to get the other Chacha units to clean this up." She smiled. "But no matter! We have more important matters to attend to."

She led Amalthea into a large room and began marking the floor with chalk. Soon she had created an almost perfect magic circle, full of intersecting lines at carefully measured angles. She looked up and discovered that the reason that it was almost perfect was that Amalthea had been following her around, smudging the chalk.

"What are you doing, you stupid, stupid robot!-?" Eva cried as she flung her arms up and down. "Now I have to start all over again!"

Amalthea tilted her head and opened her mouth in the shape of an "O". Then she straightened her head, smiled and clapped.

Eva placed her head in her palm and then looked up again. "Look!" She dragged Amalthea back to her original spot. Then she held onto her shoulders and looked into her eyes. "I need you to stay here for the spell to work anyway, so just wait here." She lowered her hands.

Amalthea grinned and began clapping again.

Eva took a step backwards while facing Amalthea. Amalthea took a step forwards.

"No!" said Eva as she leaned forward and pointed at Amalthea. "Bad robot!" She walked back again and pressed on Amalthea's shoulders until she was sitting on the floor. "Sit! Stay!" She began to walk away and Amalthea simply cocked her head. "Good robot!"

Eva completed the circle once again and raised a hand. She gave a smile. Finally a technically unliving being that her own powers had had no part in the creation of had fallen into her lap. While previous attempt at using this spell had all failed, this time, there was no reason why it would not work. As dark magic swirled around the room, she chanted, "Lic lac la lac lilac! O maledictionis exaudi precem meam! Sed reddam et retribuam in debita mea! Considera quod mutatum est, et sunt similes! Et ipsa reliqui! Ministerium meum finite!"

Evangeline grinned as the final flash of light went off. A bubble of magic burst from the resort and quickly grew out from the cabin. It swept along the school with none being any wiser. One-by-one, all class lists and records with Eva's name and/or photo were replaced by those of Karakuri Amalthea.

Eva raised her head to the ceiling, curled her fingers into claws and laughed. "Mwahahahahahahahahaha! I'm finally free!"

She froze. A glint had caught her eye and she turned to face it. There, on the edge of the room, watching the whole proceedings, was one of Asakura's cameras. Eva scowled and grit her teeth. She grabbed the camera with one of her strings and yanked it into her hands where she crushed it. "Asakura!" she screeched. "Where are you hiding!-? Come out or I'll hunt you down!"

(/)

The slime girls and their harem walked through the portal and into the ruins of the Old Ostian Palace.

"Wow. This place is a dump, " said Eiko.