Ram on the run

Chapter 1: Too far

Lowee to Planeptune Transport Terminal

As the hourly train from Lowee to Planeptune entered the station a small splotch of pink and white joined the flood off passengers departing. In recent years the two nations had become a bit closer opening up many opportunities for work and pleasure across the border meaning the terminal was almost always packed around this time each day. The crush of rush hour foot traffic gave the small girl with long flowing brown hair the cover seen needed to avoid getting too easily spotted.

They had to be after her by now, there was no chance at least one person wasn't in this station looking for her and the odds were better Lowee had already dispatched more than a few agents to each land, air, and sea crossing between them and each nation. Ram was a fugitive now and she knew it, the little CPU candidate was being hunted for sure and the price for being caught may as well of been her life!

Ram had always been known as a prankster and been more than willing to bend the rules in the name of (semi) harmless fun with her sister which almost always came at the expense of either their guardian Mina or their big sister Blanc. This time was different, Ram had taken things too far.

Waaaay too far….

She had done it. Ram had successfully found the line she was never meant to cross and barreled over it in a moment of petty anger doing irreparable damage to her relationship with her sister. Normally that would be bad but it was which sister that made it worse. It had all started when she was playing a game with Rom in their room that morning that Rom was doing just a little too good at for the prideful Ram. They agreed to switch and take turns as they died but for over an hour Rom never made any mistakes, every pitfall was dodged, every attack deflected, every boss beaten on the first try. Ram had tried to take the controller from her hands by force which lead to a little altercation between the two. It was rare for the sisters to fight and it was even rarer for Rom to stand up to Ram like she did. Ram should have known better! Rom was looking forward to this new game for months now and when she had it she didn't want to let it go when they both agreed on when to take turns.

That's when Ram lost her temper and said...it…

With her face flushed with anger Ram had said the absolute, worst, most terrible possible thing a human or CPU could say to another!

Ram had unleashed the most terrible curse in all of Gamindusturi on her own sister!

The thought of what she had said and the look on Rom's face still pained Ram's heart, before Mina could even check on the two Ram had fled the Basilicom and headed to the border. A older woman's scream and the sound of soft sobbing as she left the building told Ram all she needed to hear. With her basic traveling gear she headed through Lowee territory without a word and made her way to the train station linking the snowy nation with Planeptune and Lastation.

The furious sound of her name being called reached all the way to the terminal letting Ram know that her big sister knew what she had done now, more than likely informed by a shaken Mina or a crying Rom. Even though the scream scared her Ram wasn't running away to escape punishment, as much as she was sure Blanc was going to obliterate her the next time they met Ram was running for another reason.

'I'll fix this Rom! I will!'

From the second Ram had left Lowee her goal wasn't to escape punishment, it was to find some way to apologize to her twin sister who she had left sobbing on the floor after what she had said. She knew Blanc was going to punish her dearly and she was ok with that but if she was grounded for the rest of the year she wouldn't be able to find some way to make it up to Rom!

"The coast is clear...I think" said Ram as she checked the station from behind a pillar she was using as cover

Darting out and into the crowd Ram kept bobbing and weaving until she was free of the Lowee affiliated station. While Lowee was probably on full alert there was no way the other nations could have been notified yet, her sister would check Lowee with a fine tooth comb before bothering to get the other CPUs involved. Ram knew Blanc hated asking for help and would despise even admitting something like this had happened on her watch, the candidate couldn't even imagine what the likes of Noire or Vert would say when they heard of what she had said!

As she slipped out of the station her relief was short lived for, while she was free for the moment from pursuit, there was still not much time. The reason she had left for Planeptune was because she needed to speak to someone; possibly the only person she thought could help her right now! Ram had to get to her and explain what had happened before someone else could tell her and turn her against the pink-hatted candidate!

Once she was clear of the station Ram found a less traveled path leading into Planeptune city proper flanked by trees on either side and decided to rest up for a bit beneath the shade of a taller willow.

"Nepgear...You're my last hope here! Please be where I can find you!" Ram prayed as she opened up her handheld

She had avoided using it until now because of the risk of someone tracking her but Ram was now forced to activate the phone feature and call up Gear. After all the movies she had seen Ram knew that using a phone could lead the bad guys right to her but it was the only way to find Nepgear in time. With each button press she prayed there was enough distance between her and her pursuers to give her enough time to find Nepgear and talk to her, even if Blanc knew she was in Planeptune it would take time to locate her in a foreign country.

"Hello Nepgear speaking!"

"Hi, Nepgear? Are you busy?"

"Oh! It's Ram! How are you?"

"I'm reallysorry but I don't have time to talk!"

"Why would you call me th-"

"I need help! I hate to even say it but I need help; really, really, really badly!"

"Gasp! Did something happen?! Is it another evil organization? Is Lowee in danger? Should I get big sis to-"

"No! Nothing like that! Don't tell Neptune! (Sigh) J-Just...can you meet me somewhere?"

"Don't tell sister? Ram what's going on?"

"It's personal ok!?"

"Ek! Ok! I was just finishing up my new robot but I can meet you. Where do you want to meet?"

"Just-Just somewhere where there's not a lot of people ok!"

"Ram are you ok? You sound a little sad, are you crying?"

Ram choked back her tears, she hadn't even noticed she was acting so pathetic!

"I'm fine!"

"O-Ok we can meet near Vitua park in ten minutes. Is that ok?"

"G-Got it! I'll be there! You better not bring anyone else Nepgear or I'll hate you forever!"

Click!

Truth be told Ram felt bad about hanging up like that but she wasn't about to let Nepgear think she was weak! Without another word the rambunctious candidate got up from her bench and began heading towards the park. Nepgear was her last shot at ever talking to Rom again and she wasn't about to be late!