Chapter 1: Undercover

Amadeus' POV

It's been three years since the CPUs mysteriously vanished all of a sudden and this new organization calling its self ASIC showed up and started handing out these illegal chips everywhere and because of that, people have no choice but to believe in this organization more than their goddesses. The nations' shares are starting to disappear and based on what I've been able to make out so far, the shares are all going to some place called the Gamindustri graveyard.

I was walking along the streets of Planeptune with those words running around my mind. Who could blame me? Everywhere I look I see these heretic characters giving away illegal chips to virtually anyone they see. Some even tried to give me some, but there's no way I'm taking any of that to use it, I only take it as a way of keeping a low profile, but I throw it away as soon as I get the chance.

My name's Amadeus Kenway, I'm 18 years old, but I still look like a pre-teen boy and I run a small workshop/factory here in Planeptune with my little sister, Minerva. I know what you're thinking; how could a small factory/workshop have a place in the land of purple progress. Well, believe it or not my inventions have specific functions that even Planeptune's most pristine inventors can't match, when we show them off in the annual Gamindustri expo. I've been working undercover to infiltrate ASIC for the last 3 years; trying to get Intel, get the dirt, know their goals, infiltrate their warehouses, find their weak spots. And after years of undercover work, I've finally found an opportunity to hit ASIC where it hurts the most and that plan is going to start tonight.

With all my thinking about ASIC and the illegal chips, I didn't even notice that I was in front of my workshop now. It was really hard to miss my workshop, I bet you can spot this shop from 5 miles because unlike most of the buildings here, my workshop has steampunk, mechanical theme; sounds old school right? Even the interior looks like it belongs to 19th century mechanical steampunk city rather than a futuristic Planeptune one.

"Big Brother?" shyly looking at me from the door to her room with book in hand with her lavender colored eyes and waist length lavender-white hair was my 8-year old sister, Minerva. I just smiled at her before walking over to her and petting her head affectionately.

"Yeah, I'm back, sorry I kept you waiting" she shook her head; saying that it was okay.

"Ummm…Is L-lady N-neptu-"

"No." I said with a rather disappointed tone and she just looked down sadly.

I knew that she was going to ask that; my sister really adores the purple sisters. There was even a day when Lady Neptune saved her because she got lost in the forest during a camping trip. So, I understand if she'd be disappointed.

"Hey, Come on now. I'm sure she'll show up real soon, so chin up okay" I tried to cheer up, but she was still looking down.

"It's been…a really long time since…"

"You've met Lady Neptune before, haven't you?" I asked before she can get herself down even more. She looked up at me, before nodding slowly.

"uh-huh"

"What was she like?" I asked with a growing smile on my face.

"Well…uh…she was really pretty and she was really tall…"

"What else?"

"She was really really brave…she fought off all the monsters…and saved me"

"Go on"

"She was really strong"

"You see? Lady Neptune is really strong and she wouldn't let anything bad happen to her people, right?"

"R-right"

"So, she'll just show up out of the blue and save us all, like how she did for you, because…"

"She's really strong" That cheered her up a bit.

"There you go, now go get some sleep, Lady Neptune wouldn't like it, if she found out that little girls like you were still awake by now" I looked pointedly at the clock that said 7 o'clock. She giggled, before she hugged me and ran off to her bedroom.

I sighed.

"Time to get to work" I picked up my steampunk laptop, a sword, two guns and a few other essentials for tonight. I put them all in a floating mechanical suitcase that I invented, it'll follow me wherever I go and will give me whatever I need whenever I need it. It still maintains the mechanical steampunk theme that all of my inventions have and it just sort of floats by my waist.

I walked into Minerva's room to see that she was already fast asleep; I smiled at the sight before closing her door tightly. I walked out of the workshop and closed the door. A vault-like door suddenly descended from the top and covered the windows in brass-like shutters with a huge combination lock.

"This'll keep her safe, while I'm out."

I've been staking out the warehouses where they get the illegal chips for a few days now and I've also been trying to come up with ways to get my nation's shares back. I knew that this sounded like a goddess' job, but with neither of them showing up for three years now…things are going to go south real fast, unless someone gives a helping hand.

I was wearing my usual outfit brass goggles on my head with brass mechanical headphones, a waist-length black leather vest with holsters and a bunch of tools over a brass-colored long sleeve shirt with leather bracers with tools going around it, Black jeans with black boots under it, as well as, a few harness-like holsters on my thighs with different tools as well.

I looked at my laptop again and it was showing several red dots moving inside the ware house, I fiddled with the buttons for a little while longer, before the screen shifted into a live video feed. I managed to install a hidden camera inside the warehouses where the illegal chips were being stored.

They were all piling up crates full of those illegal chips. I bet they're planning on giving all of these away tomorrow, like they've been doing for three years.

Well, that's all going to change.

I pressed a few buttons on my laptop again and a steampunk-themed mechanical floater hovered from my storage case and in front of me. I started controlling it with my laptop in first person point of view. I aimed for the ventilation duck and when it was directly hovering over it, I hacked the ventilation system with my laptop; making the vent reverse motion and start sucking in air, instead of blowing it out.

I then ordered my probe to let out a particular gas, which was blown all throughout the whole warehouse. I watched them start to panic, before they opened the doors of the warehouse.

The gas wasn't anything dangerous; it was just a type of sleeping potion that anybody can buy in the item shop, which will make them fall asleep right about…now

"They all fell like sack of potatoes…hehehe" I said as I watched them drop to the ground of the warehouse; they even spilled out some of the crates' contents. As soon as that was over I came out of my hiding place and put my gas mask on, which was just a carved, brass-colored, metal mask that covers the bottom-half of my face.

I ran through the thick fog of gas and felt my way to find the crates. Despite the fact that I turned off my probe, the gas was still really thick.

After a few minutes of planting charges on the crates I left the warehouse and proceeded to my hiding place again. The charges won't detonate and set everything on fire because that would potentially blow my cover; they're just programmed to scramble the illegal chips, to the point where they'll be unusable. Once that's done, the people will stop supporting ASIC and bring the faith back to my nation will be a piece of cake.

I can't stop now; I have another target in mind. I fiddled with my laptop to hack the security cameras around Planeptune to find my next target; a fresh shipment of those illegal chips heading for one of the warehouses. I need to intercept the shipment before it gets to the warehouse because, judging by camera 48, that warehouse is heavily guarded with one of the CFWs.

"I need to make my move now" I closed my laptop before running full pelt to intercept the truck's path.

In about 5 minutes the truck is going to pass by this road, according to the sec. cams. I took out two pole-like machines and installed it on one side of the road, before installing the other one on the other side.

I activated it with my laptop and sure enough translucent screen/film appeared in between the two poles that I installed. I fiddled with my laptop again and the screen disrupted before showing an exact replica of the road, except with an armored van and a sign that said 'checkpoint'. I looked at my laptop and it was showing the exact same thing. I checked the time and the truck is going to pass in exactly 2 minutes.

"I better get in position then" I said, while closing my laptop and adjusting a pin like machine on my bracer. My clothes suddenly changed with a static animation and now I looked like a police officer. I walked in front of the scenery and waited for the truck to arrive.

When it did, I just blew my whistle and raised my hand as a signal for the driver to stop. I walked up to the side window and tapped on the glass, while holding up my 'badge'

"Is there a problem officer?" The driver was a pale gray-skinned girl with green hair, while wearing a gray hoodie. She looked to be really impatient judging by how she kept on tapping her fingers on the steering wheel.

"License and registration please Ma'am" I said in my best 'official' voice and she handed me her documents and that's when I saw her name. Linda, huh? By the looks of things, she's more of an underling in ASIC than anything else.

"Could you hurry, it up my boss is gonna get all over my case if I'm late with this delivery" She pointed to her back and I just brought out my laptop, while I was still facing her.

"I just need to check your documents' authenticity ma'am, this'll only take a minute or two" that was a lie, I couldn't care less about her documents, because what I was actually doing was controlling another machine-probe that will penetrate her truck from beneath and plant the charges on the crates.

My laptop was displaying a third person POV of my machine and right now it had just brought out its laser cutter and was currently cutting a hole underneath the truck. It was about to cut all the way through, when…

CLANG

I winced mentally at the sound that the cutout made when it fell on the ground; luckily I was able to dodge the probe in time, but that sound isn't going to go unnoticed.

"Did you hear something?" Not good. I need to distract her, somehow.

"No"

"I'm pretty sure I heard something, like a clanging sound" she said and her brows were furrowed in suspicion, while I kept on controlling the probe, which was currently installing 8 out of 20 charges. My heart was starting to beat faster, but I had to calm it down because she might get suspicious if I get nervous.

"Must be some faulty parts in your old truck here, honestly, you should think about getting it tuned up before taking this anywhere else" I made up an excuse to keep her distracted.

"What? You an expert on cars or something?" She's distracted, but she's getting skeptical. Not good.

"I've been maintaining the cars, trucks, weapons, and pretty much everything in the station for nearly 2 years now, I'm an engineer." Lies.

"Wait, you just keep the good stuff working, while others get to break them" Good, I get her attention.

"Well, all you can do is, wait for your chance to show off and hope some of your stingy old bosses give you sideways glance" I feel like an idiot for speaking like this, but this is usually the type of speech that she will understand here, plus I need to get her attention away from the noise.

"Ha, I know what that feels like; it's been forever since I was stuck here, moving these chips from warehouse to warehouse and giving them away the next day." She leaned back and continued complaining away as I controlled the probe out of the truck with all 20 crates disabled. Of course, they're going to notice if a hole was suddenly on the bottom of their truck, so I had to weld the piece back.

TSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH Not good.

"Seriously, what is that?" she got up and started looking around before opening the door and stepping out of her truck. The welding was still halfway done I need to come up with an excuse to distract her.

"Ma'am, I'm afraid I need to see what's in the truck"

"W-what?"

"I need to see what's in your truck" Just a little bit more and it'll be done.

"Nothing just some chips you know" illegal chips, to be exact.

"What kind of chips?"

"Oh you know…the usual" Good she's getting flustered.

I was still controlling the probe and it had just finished welding the piece back onto the truck I then controlled it to get under cover, while I said.

"okay everything seems to be in order, drive safely now" I handed her back the documents and her license because I've done everything that I needed to, plus some extra Intel.

She drove past the screen, because it was an intangible film/screen that anything can pass through. Even Planeptune hasn't come up with anything like this before.

I reverted back to my normal attire and studied the info I got from the 'extra' documents that she accidentally gave me.

"Hmmm…So there's going to be a fresh shipment of 15 trucks going out in 4 days' time" the only problem is that I wouldn't be able to intercept all of that, let alone plant the charges in the warehouse themselves. I already know the location of all the warehouses and I already know that they get new shipments every 4 days, but even with my machines I wouldn't be able to hack all of those chips and I'm sure by tomorrow ASIC is going to get cautious when they're chips start going haywire on the people. I won't be able to do this again and if I was able to, it's going to be a lot harder.

"Sometimes, I wonder why I even bother doing this" I mean I am just an inventor and owner of a small workshop/factory of unique machines. So, why am I doing this?

It's the very next day and sure enough the morning is filled with shouts of protests and angry mobs complaining.

"What in the world is this?"

"My daughter has been crying about her faulty chip all morning"

"What kind of chip is this?"

"How could you do this to us?"

"We should've never trusted you"

"Where's Lady Neptune?!"

That's what filled my morning as I tinkered with my new machine on the table, while waiting for Minerva to wake up.

"Big brother, what's with the noise?" She said softly, while rubbing her eyes and walking towards the table. She was still wearing the over-sized lavender night dress that she found in the closet and she also had a book in her other hand.

"Oh, just some people complaining about ASIC's faulty chips"

"Eh?" she looked fully awake as soon as the news left my mouth. "r-really?"

"Yes, and by the look of things, people are starting to believe in the purple sisters again"

"That's great" and for the first time in a long time she looked genuinely happy.

"Come on I'll fix you up some breakfast" I said, while holding her hand and leading her to our kitchen. She was still timid and shy, but she had a bounce in her step that had gone missing for 3 years.

"T-tell me more" she said shyly, albeit happily, when we arrived in the kitchen and she took a seat on one of the chairs behind the breakfast nook.

"Well…a lot of people started falling in line so that they can get the chips from ASIC, because they had no choice" I said, while fixing her up a glass of milk and a stack of pancakes. "But then, when they got the chips it started fizzling out, before it just broke" I said before sliding the plate of pancakes and the glass in front of her. She started munching on the pancakes, while listening intently to me.

"So the people got mad at ASIC, accusing them of taking advantage of them and then they started cheering and believing in Lady Neptune and Lady Nepgear again"

"T-that's great, they should always believe in the purple sisters"

"Exactly, so you shouldn't get sad, either you should always believe in them"

"Mhm" she bobbed her head happily.

"Okay, so finish your breakfast and I'm just going to check on the situation outside, okay?" she nodded happily in agreement, before I stood up and walked to the front door of my workshop, where everyone was still complaining and protesting.

Okay, time to work undercover again. I went inside and changed my attire with the machine to make it look like I worked for ASIC.

"It's showtime"

I was currently driving a truck load of these (faulty) illegal chips to one of ASIC's headquarters here in Planeptune. Of course, they don't want any of the chips in the warehouses to get to the distributors here in Planeptune, but I have a recorded order from one CFW Trick; saying that I am to drive a truck load of shipments to each and every one of the distributors here.

So, if they decide to check why I was delivering these, then I would simply play them the recording of my voice, which was altered to sound like Trick's, giving the order to me and just in case they decide to double-check, I rerouted all their communication routes to a program on my laptop, which will give them a response from their 'CFWS' that will be favorable for me.

"This is going to be a slam dunk" I said nonchalantly as I made a final turn to one of the ASIC headquarters here, which was in a dungeon of somesorts, when-

BRAAAAAAAAKKKKKKKEEEEEEE

I stopped the truck in the nick of time to see pink-haired girl in a one piece swimsuit-like outfit with blue eyes, digital wings and…a beamsaber.

"L-lady Nepgear" It can't be…she's here…and she looks well

I hopped out of the truck and my eyes were wide in awe at the assortment of characters here. There was a peach-haired girl with a cream sweater and boots, with a mini-skirt and a 'C' clip, a brunette with a leaf bow and green eyes wearing an over-sized blue trench coat and a black one piece outfit underneath, a red haired girl that had a yoyo and some sort of ancient dragon outfit I think, a young girl with a bunny outfit, and a blue-haired girl with a jumpsuit-type of outfit with goggles and a scarf This is…unreal.

"Stand down, please don't make me hurt you" Lady Nepgear was pointing her beam saber at me, while looking at me with a pleading expression.

"Halt, Evil doer we cannot allow you to continue your export of evil. Prepare to fall to Justice" the blue-haired girl said in a serious tone, while striking….a pose?

"He must be delivering them here, so that they can give more of them away" trench coat girl concluded. This is definitely not going as planned.

"That's so evil, why do you keep on giving these chips away. Don't you believe in Nep-nep and Ge-ge anymore" peach-haired girl said and I froze with shock.

"You…actually…think that I would stop believing in Lady Neptune and Lady Nepgear" I said with derision laced in every word, before scoffing disbelievingly and shaking my head exasperatingly and chuckling with the atrocity of the idea.

"You make it sound like it's not true, the evidence is right in front of us" bunny girl said.

"You are clearly wearing the evidence in front of our eyes, so prepare yourself" red-hair girl said, while taking a fighting stance with her yoyo.

I managed to compose myself long enough to deactivate my disguise and look at them seriously, albeit downcast.

"I have been working undercover for ASIC in the last three years, just so I could get into their heads and find Intel on how to cripple them; to sabotage their plans in the right time. I threw my pride faraway just so that I could help Lady Neptune and Lady Nepgear"

They seemed to show no doubt, but I knew that they'll want some proof.

"How can we trust you?" I knew it. I nodded towards the back of the truck, before I started walking to the back myself. I heard footsteps behind me so I assumed that they trusted me with this. Once we were in front of the door I opened it to show them the crates of illegal chips and showed them the charges that I planted on the crates.

"this-" I was going to explain the mechanics of the charges, but Lady Nepgear beat me to the punch.

"Whoa, these charges infect the chips with a virus that'll shut them down for good. This is amazing." Nepgear said in awe and sparkly eyes. I never knew that Lady Nepgear would be such a fanatic around machines.

"I was going to deliver these faulty chips to one ASIC's headquarters to stop the people from believing in ASIC, but as you can see…" I gestured to the front with nonchalant wave. "Plans have changed"

"So you planned all of this, to help the goddesses regain their shares?" that's pretty much it, yeah.

"It must be hard to work for the villain, while trying to aid Justice" Seriously? She's crying and striking a pose too?

"So you've been working undercover as an ASIC employee to get Intel on how they work and what their plans are and when you got enough, you started taking them down on you own" Lady Nepgear concluded and I just nodded.

"That must've been hard to do; swallowing your pride like that" So true, trench coat girl.

"Working for ASIC instead of fighting it for three years is a small price to pay, if I would be able to help my goddesses" I said humbly because it was true.

"But wait wouldn't ASIC, not want to have more of their faulty chips?" Peach girl said confusedly.

"She's right, if your faulty chips had been delivered before, then they wouldn't any of them delivered" trench coat girl said.

"Well, technically they don't, but I rerouted all outside communication to the CFWs with a program that will give the caller a response saying that these are a fresh shipment, when in truth, they're all faulty" I explained and Lady Nepgear still had her sparkling eyes.

"WOW, how did you do that?" Okay, now Lady Nepgear is invading my personal space.

"Umm…I have this device that alters my voice according to who want to sound like" I said honestly albeit, uncomfortably.

"Really?!"

"Gear, come on we still have to report back to Miss Histoire" Trench coat girl said.

"O-oh right…ummm" she looked at me brightly with an expression that could melt anyone's heart. "Would you like to come with us?"

"I'd like to, but I can't. I still have to deliver these chips and look after my sister, but I'll stop by when I get the chance"

"Okay, come whenever, you're welcome to stay there with us if you'd like." Lady Nepgear said sincerely.

"You've earned the right to stay there; especially after all you've done in the last three years" Trench coat girl said. I thought about Minerva who could be in potential danger because of what I was doing now to ASIC and how they would soon pinpoint the cause of the problem, I wouldn't be able to keep this undercover work for long.

"I may take you up on that offer" I said with a smile, before turning back my clothes to my ASIC uniform and going to the truck, but something was constantly gnawing at my chest; a question that I needed the answer to. "Lady Nepgear?" She turned back to me with a curious look, while I had a morbid one.

"Is Lady Neptune…" I couldn't bring myself to say the word, it was like poison. I felt my resolve sink even before I got the answer.

"Sis is still alive, and I'm going to gather all the other CPU candidates so that we can save all of our sisters" She said determinedly with a passion that suddenly boosted up my conviction.

If Lady Nepgear was trying this hard to save Lady Neptune and the other goddesses, then the least I could do is give them a little help anyway I can.

"Hey, I got a fresh delivery here with your name on it" It just so happens that the receiver of these truck load of chips was Linda; the underling, which isn't good at all because there's a small chance that she might recognize me.

"What? Boss said to cancel all deliveries for today." She said matter-of-factly, albeit suspiciously.

"Look, CFW Trick himself, told me that this was clean batch and that I should deliver it ASAP to Planeptune"

"And I'm telling you that all orders were cancelled and that I shouldn't accept any deliveries until further notice"

"I'm sorry, but are you really going against a direct order from a CFW?"

"…"

"In that case…" I walked over to the nearby telephone in this distribution branch and dialed a specific number making sure that she saw it.

"What's going on here, Chump?"

"Some guy is giving us this new batch of chips"

"Chu, but I thought we ain't supposed to take any deliveries, Chump"

"that's what I said, but this guy told me that…"

"Hello, CFW Brave sir…" This is a bluff there is absolutely no one on the other line, but just in case she checks I'll activate the router.

"…"

"…"

Good the underling and the rat are keeping quiet.

"Well I'm trying to deliver this batch of clean chips, but…" I covered the speaker and turned to them. "What re your names?"

"L-Linda"

"P-irachu, chump" they both looked pale as ghosts and were completely buying the charade.

"…Linda and Pirachu, just refuses to accept them…Yes I did tell them that…Yes, they still refused, perhaps you can make them understand sir" I pretended to have a conversation with CFW brave before holding the phone out for Linda and she just looked at it like it was the most terrifying things she's seen in her life.

She shook her head urgently.

"It appears that won't be necessary, sir…thank you for your time" I hung up the 'call' and they immediately got to work with getting the chips out of the truck in a panic.

"This is just too easy"

Nepgear's POV

"So he has been working undercover as an ASIC employee for the last three years; jus to find useful information that could potentially bring them down?" Histoire said in awe as we finished telling him about the guy that arrived in ASIC's headquarters.

"I had a hard time believing it myself, to think that someone would go to these lengths just to try and help gather up some shares." I said with surprise and awe as well.

"We've been gathering all that faith for the last three years, but we never saw anyone else doing what he was doing. It's like a breath of fresh air to say the least" IF said with respect, while referring to him.

"Still, throwing away your pride like that and working for an organization you hate just to gather information and Intel for three years is no easy task" Histoire said with quiet admiration.

"It must've been hard for him, putting up with all that; thinking that he was alone" Compa said sadly and I couldn't help, but feel the same way. It really must've been hard to believe in someone you hadn't seen in three years, while working for an organization you hate just to gather information.

"Well, He's not alone with the fight and he knows that now. So, maybe he'll give us some info to help bring down ASIC as well." IF said confidently, before…

BEEP BEEP

"Hmmm? my phone?" she took out one of her cellphones and began reading it with a raised eyebrow. "It's from that undercover guy. He said that he successfully delivered more of those faulty chips and riots are starting to erupt in Planeptune against ASIC and that he rerouted all communication lines that ASIC distributors have with the CFWs and Now's our chance to try and rake up some shares. He also said that he'll be coming here with his sister, Minerva"

"How can you be certain that it came from him?" Histoire asked suspiciously. I admit there was no guarantee as to who the sender was.

"because it says that this message will self-destruct in five seconds"

"Eh? That's not possible IF he can't make text message self-destruct with the pho-"

SPARK SPARK SMOKE

"…"

"…"

"…"

IF's phone just short-circuited before starting to smoke.

"I stand corrected" Just then a guard appeared and she was escorting a young girl with lavender eyes and hair with a book in hand and over-sized dress outfit.

"Excuse me, Lady Nepgear, but this young girl claims that you told her brother that she was allowed to come and stay here in the basillicom" the guard spoke and I just looked at the girl who was shyly looking down and if I didn't know better I thought I saw her holding back laughter.

"O-oh um yes, I did tell her that, where is his brother?" I said and the guard smiled before fiddling with something on her uniform before her figure disrupted with a static animation, before turning into the boy that we met in the cave.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Amadeus Kenway, at your service"