Author Note: Well I finally finished the second chapter after being sick for over a week. I think I might start writing longer chapters for now on since the ones I wrote so far are a bit short. Finally, thank you guys for the reviews It's nice to see feedback, and it's helped me write a little bit better I think.


Shirou before going any further held out his storage disc, and to the confusion of the group instantly changed with a flash of light from his normal outfit to a set of advanced looking armor that is black with white lining covering his whole body except his head.

"Ok, I'm all set to go." Shirou said as if what he just did was completely normal.

"Wait a moment! Just what was that! I haven't seen you do that before Shirou. IF exclaimed.

"Well I won't go into any of the details but I did some modifications so I can easily switch from my regular clothes to my armor on a moments notice." He stated calmly.

All of a sudden Nepgear was very close to him with a strange look on her face like she had stars for eyes, making Shirou a bit uncomfortable.

"N-Nepgear your a bit too close." Shirou said nervously with his cheeks a bit red.

"Oh! Sorry about that." Nepgear apologized as she stepped back a bit then she continued as she started asking a bunch of questions about how he was able to switch his outfit in such a way and had questions about the armor itself.

"Uh, can I stop you for a moment I don't mind answering your questions but can we talk about this later? We haven't finished our quest yet." Shirou interrupted her.

"Heh sorry again about that, I can get carried away sometimes when it comes to stuff like this."

Nepgear said with an embarrassed smile.

"It's fine no need to apologize or anything, no harm was done." Shirou said shaking his head a bit.

"With that out of the way can we get going?"


The party fought their way through a number of monsters; hardly even being slowed down by the monsters. Between Uni with her machine gun mowing down enemies at a distance Shirou sniping opponents at an even longer range with his unorthodox but deadly projection magic thrown in every now and then. Nepgear and IF's impressive melee skills with IF's own magic used occasionally. Finally, with Compa supporting everyone with her healing skills and her own fighting skills with her oversized syringe. They quickly finished the quest.

"We finished so fast… Uni, you really are strong. You're also quite strong too Shirou." Nepgear stated happily.

"Thanks, Nepgear, You're all pretty good from what I've seen." Shirou said with a smile.

"Same goes for you, Nepgear. Better than I thought, same goes for you kid, anyway. Nowhere near a match for me!" Uni boasted.

"Aw, now you're flattering me." Nepgear said

"Um, I'm not really sure that's flattery but whatever." Shirou said with a sigh.


"Heehee, those three are already such close friends." Compa said happily.

IF responded with a smile. "Looks that way. It's the first time I've seen a sincere smile from Nepgear since we rescued her. It seems Shirou is a bit happy too he doesn't really hang out with others that much and keeps to himself usually."

"But I'm a bit jealous, too… I mean, I've known Nepgear for way longer than that girl..." Compa said to IF.

"Oh, stop it. Don't get jealous over kids being kids."

Suddenly a voice called out in anger. "The hell you think you brats are doing? Having a picnic in the middle of a dungeon!?"

"Huh?" IF said surprised but then cried out as she and Compa were knocked unconscious by a girl with green hair red eyes, and was wearing an odd mouse Hood and holding an iron pipe in her hands.

"IF! Compa!" Shirou yelled before he ran in front of their downed forms keeping an eye on the attacker as he checked IF and Compa for any injuries.

"If! Compa?" Nepgear shouted in alarm at what was happening.

"Heh. I got rid of the chaperones with barely any effort at all. Next up… you stupid little brats!" Underling said with a smirk.

"Who's this?" Uni asked.

"I think her name is Underling. She's one of the ASIC's low-ranking peons."

Wow she certainly doesn't pull any punches does she? Shirou thought to himself once he confirmed that IF and Compa were just unconscious and was now preparing for a fight if necessary.

"Argh! I told you to stop calling me that!" Underling yelled in frustration.

"ASIC, huh? Stay back, Nepgear. Let me handle this one." Uni said, but Nepgear had other ideas.

"No way, I'm fighting too. I can't let her get away with hurting my childhood friends!"

"Hey, quit with the yappin', would ya? You caught me off guard last time, but now I'll beat you to...a...huh?" Underling began but then became confused at what started to happen.

"Haaaah!" Nepgear transformed into her HDD form with a shout; with Uni doing the same a moment later. Uni or Black Sister has white hair worn in drills and green eyes, for her outfit she's wearing a black bikini with tall boots and gloves with silver lining and circle shapes. Nepgear's, or Purple Sister's hair turns a brighter shade with a slight pink tone and goes to her knees and her eyes have turned a bright blue, her outfit resembles a white bathing suit.

"Y-You're kidding me! What the hell, man!?" Underling shouted in shock.

As the battle was about to commence.

"Well, I guess they won't need my help for this one I'll just sit tight and watch over Compa and IF. Trace On!" Shirou said then using his projection magic made a wall of oversized swords in a circle around himself and his knocked out companions then proceeded to watch the one sided beat do- I mean battle that was going down. So these are CPU Candidates in action huh? Shirou thought in amazement at what Nepgear and Uni were capable of and without realizing it at the time added their weapons to his reality marble. However, he was aware of what he saw from Underling's weapon. He wasn't very impressed by it.

"You can do this! She's got nothing on you two!" Shirou shouted at the Candidates.

"Hey shut the hell up, kid!" Underling yelled at Shirou as she got ready to fight Nepgear and Uni.


To start Uni began firing her massive gun at Underling forcing the grunt to dodge out of the way as Nepgear closed in with her blade rifle.

A metallic clang rang out when Nepgear forced Underling to block her attack but made the woman stumble back from the powerful HDD enhanced attack, leaving her open to a paralysis shot from Uni.

"Oof!" Underling called out as she took the hit. After being stunned, she was left open for another attack but this time from Nepgear.

"Mirage Dance!" Nepgear called out as she began a series of slashes as she did a dance leaving Underling with a number of scratches, but she wasn't beaten yet.

"Damn it you brat!" Underling yelled in pain as she bashed Nepgear on the side making her yelp but easily kept standing. However in Underling's rage, she forgot about Uni until it was too late as the Candidate mentioned unleashed a barrage of powerful bullets at the peon until she was finally defeated.

"Dammit! This has to be considered cheating! Two CPU Candidates against one normal person!? You'll pay for this!" With that said she fled the area with her tail between her legs.

"Well that didn't last very long, I thought that fight would have lasted longer, it can't be helped I guess." Shirou said as he checked to make sure there were no other enemies close by.

Then Uni started talking again. "Nepgear… You're a…" She was then cut off by Nepgear.

"You too, Uni…? Then you must be Lastation's CPU Candidate! I came here to look for you!"

"Tch" Uni replied as Nepgear continued.

"Could you please help us? We want to save the CPUs—our sisters—and protect Gamindustri..."

All of a sudden Uni shouted.

"Don't come any closer!" Then she slapped Nepgear.

"Huh?" Nepgear said in surprise. Then Uni started speaking.

"Why? Why are you here and not my sister, huh!?"

"Oh… That's…" Nepgear began but was interrupted.

"She didn't let me go along with her three years ago… I could have saved them if I went! I could have done what you failed to do!" Uni said in anger. This made Nepgear start crying as she tried to apologize.

"I...I'm really sorry… I couldn't help back then, but… I'm doing my best to rescue them now."

But Uni wasn't going to listen. "Shut up! I don't want to ever see you or hear your voice again!" She screamed as she ran off somewhere.

"Wait, Uni!" Nepgear tried calling Uni back to no avail. Just then IF and Compa began to regain consciousness so Shirou undid his projections causing them to fade away. Then began to help them up.

"Ouch… Damn Underling, ambushing us from behind like that..." IF said then Compa asked.

"My head's gonna have a big bump… Huh? Wait, where did Uni go?"

"It's a bit complicated." Shirou said as he tried to explain what happened while they were knocked out.

After Shirou's and Nepgear's explanation, and IF explaining the what happened in the Gamindustri Graveyard, and their current objective to Shirou. The group decided to head back to Lastation to continue looking for the Mascot.


The group after arriving back in Lastation looked around for a while for clues about the Mascot. However, they are not having much luck in their endeavor.

"We aren't having any luck with finding the Mascot, are we?" Compa tiredly asked.

"We asked around as much as we could. Maybe nobody here knows about it?" Nepgear said.

"It seems that way, nobody I asked knew anything about the Mascot." Shirou said.

"That would be my guess. Man… No option left. We'll pay a visit to this nation's Oracle." IF said.

"Oracle? Oh, that's right. Every nation has someone like Histoire to help the CPU, right?" Nepgear asked for confirmation.

"But iffy, why didn't we go to the Oracle first if you knew she'd be able to help?" Compa asked.

"Honestly, I still don't want to go. The Oracle here doesn't have the best reputation, so to speak." IF said.

"That is one way to put it from what I heard." Shirou muttered.

The group then set out to meet the Oracle of Lastation.


After arriving at the Basilicom. They see the Lastation Oracle. A short girl with boyish-cut silver hair and aqua blue eyes, she is wearing an almost formal looking black suit with gold lining and shorts.

"Pardon us." "Hello." IF and Compa greeted. Shirou and Nepgear decided to stay silent for now.

"Welcome to Lastation's Basilicom. I am Kei Jinguji, the Oracle for this nation." Kei introduced herself then continued speaking.

"And I already know that you have questions for me. Isn't that right, IF and Compa of Planeptune?" Kei said. Wait she already knows about them? She must have learned about them from an information network or something. Shirou thought.

"Oh, I almost didn't notice you although I haven't heard about you. What's your name?" Kei asked.

"Shirou Emiya, Miss Kei." Shirou politely responded. Kei was in thought for a moment.

"While I haven't heard much about you I'm sure I have heard that surname before. No matter there are more pressing concerns." She replied.

"Huh? How do you know us…?" Compa asked confused.

"Intelligence gathering is business economics 101. I've gathered info on you both since your arrival." Kei responded. Dad taught me about information gathering as well but for a completely different reason instead of economics, Like the best way to take down a target, for example, I don't think it would be a good idea to mention that right now though. Shirou thought to himself.

"Definitely earned that reputation." IF said.

"Um, we're looking for your nation's Mascot… Do you have any information on where it might be?" Nepgear questioned.

"Whether I do or don't is irrelevant. I'd first like to ask you how much my information would be worth to you." Kei said getting down to business.

"It's worth?" Nepgear asked a bit confused. What does she mean by that? Wait... I think she means...

"Of course. Properly exchanging information through an agreed-upon value system is key to any business." Kei replied nonchalantly.

"But we don't have many Credits..." Compa said.

"I don't have much on me either I spent most of my credits recently on some materials and tools." Shirou said with a shrug

"That's fine. Money is not required. Rather, I'd exchange the information for a … personal favor." Kei said cryptically.

"What kind of personal favor?" IF asked cautiously. I'm not sure I like where this is going. She thought.

"Our nation is currently developing a very special item. All we lack are some crucial materials. Perhaps you've heard of these? We need a Treasure Gem and a good chunk of Hematite." Kei said.

"What!? You realize how rare those are, don't you?" IF asked incredulously.

"How rare are we talking…?" Nepgear asked curiously.

"So rare that you won't find them at any regular vendor. There's no info about where to find them, either. This is an incredibly one-sided trade!" IF said.

Kei responded. "How unfortunate. Then, I suppose our negotiation is at its end perhaps I misappraised my intel's value to you.

"Tch… Slimy business weasel…" said IF.

"Understood. We'll go find them. If we do that, you'll tell us what you know about your Mascot, right?" Nepgear said.

"We got no other choice I guess let's get this done quick." Shirou said

Kei, however, had more to say. "Well, one more thing. I also need to know what happened three years ago, and about the recent rescue attempt."

"You even know about our going back to the Gamindustri Graveyard!?" Compa said in shock.

"Circumstantial evidence. Call it a hunch. But how could I be wrong with Nepgear standing before me now?" Kei responded.

"You knew about Gear all this time?" IF asked skeptically.

"Well? Is Noire all right? Why is only Nepgear back?" Kei asked.

"Well, Noire is still with the other CPUs, and-" Nepgear started to explain but was interrupted by IF.

"Clamp that mouth shut, Gear. Business is all about equivalent exchange, isn't that right? Isn't it hypocritical of you to overstep the very "rules" of business you imposed on us?"

"Huh. A valid point. My apologies. Very well, then I would like to ask you to find those materials first. After that, we can exchange all the information we possess. That is quite a bargain, you know." Kei said.

"Okay, let's do that, then. We'll be going now." Nepgear said

"Goodbye." Shirou said. The group then left the Basilicom to search for the materials.

"My, my. How amateurish of me to allow my emotions to lead a business negotiation… Please be safe Noire…" Kei said to herself