I went to the Virtua Forest, the same forest from before, alone, to practice. as tomorrow, me, IF and Compa will be transported to the Gamindustri Graveyard. I shudder about the nightmare from before, the five girls entangled, a giant murderous robot, I didn't want both to be real. however, thinking about it will get me nowhere.

(this is a good place to start.)

I stop walking, close my eyes and imagine where enemies should be standing as I pull from my pocket a handle that extended into a technological sword.

(just focus on the enemy.)

as I open my eyes, it instantly turn crimson. I dash towards the images, slicing each one as quickly as possible. In reality, I'm just slashing branches.


I gave the wooden sword to Histoire, knowing that it belong to a goddess.

"are you positive about this?" the fairy asks.

"it doesn't belong to me, so yes..."

"that also means you're gonna be unarmed, huh?"

"it's true, I have no weapons..."

I frown over that thought. The fact that I'm helping them, even though I'm just a complete stranger, as well as the fact that I'm unarmed makes me feel worse... however, the little tome fairy looks like she is going to reassure me. I can tell because she is giggling.

"do not worry," Histoire says "there is a shop that sells weapons here."

"that requires money and I don't have any..."

"as I said 'do not worry'" she simply gave me some money... at least that's what I think

"IF, please escort Yuri to the weapon shop"

"alright, but first," IF says as she points at my torn clothes "you might need some new clothes"


as IF and I go to the shop, I feel a little uncomfortable with the coat that she lent me. I look at myself at a glass window nearby, unintentionally stopping, to look at the coat. it's a simple black coat with a tint of white on the sleeves.

"hey, slow poke!" IF shouts as she is a bit distant from me "do you want to be left behind?"

"oh, right!" I said as I run towards her "sorry!"

we arrive at the weapon shop, however it didn't look like how I could picture it. instead having a gothic theme, it look more like it came from a science expo. I let my mouth open in awe of the sight.

"are you just gonna keep your mouth open?" she says.

I shook my head, just to get that expression out of me "no."

as we enter the shop, again, I am at awe at what I'm seeing. the interior design is futuristic, with holograms and metallic floor. I shook my head, again.

"alright, what kind of weapon do you use?" IF ask me.

I cross my arms and think about the whole thing.

(should I be using swords again...? Or something else?)

while I continue to think about it, IF was laughing, probably at me.

"are you serious?" IF said "that was just a rhetorical question."

I felt really stupid about it. however, I didn't cringe or facepalm over it, instead I simply smile and said "oh, I see."

however, she just sighs over that reaction "you're no fun."

"I'm sorry, but let's just find me a sword?"

"alright."

after a few minutes of observing and holding each type of sword, almost none of it felt like I have a connection. Although I love to lecture about this, I'd rather not bore anybody reading. Another few minutes later, I laid my eyes on one sword that interests me. the sword is a single edge blade, almost looks like a Dao, but with technology. as I place my hand on the handle, it was more than just a single-edge sword. I grab the tech sword and quickly went to the counter.

"Excuse me," I said to the man in the counter "can you tell me something about this sword?"

"oh, this thing?" the man said with a smile "sure. what do you need to know?"

"is there something more in this sword?"

"you noticed already? I guess I can tell you the Fusion Edge's features."


As we leave the shop, she looks at the sword in curiosity. I retract the blade, leaving only a handle, and put it in my pocket as it is small enough to fit.

"so you're okay with that?" IF says. I nodded in response to her.

"okay, then how about I test you?"

"excuse me?"

"I said I'm going to test you." she says again "I want you to show me if you got what it takes to fight ASIC."

We went to the Colosseum, which took me by surprise. although, the architecture is not like one of the ruined cities, but much like the whole of Planeptune, it is futuristic. I told IF that I wanted to site see the whole building, until I was in the arena. The very thought of me fighting a residence of this world would be good experience, however she didn't seem like she can fight with heavy equipment...

much time has passed, IF and I are in the arena, stretching for the fight. After that, she materialize her weapons, a pair of Katars.

(I see now. So she moves fast with a Katar on each hand.)

I reach out on my pocket, grab the handle, attract its blade out and take a defensive stance.

"So... Are you ready?"

"If you are, then I am as well."

This time, I didn't want my eyes to turn crimson for this fight, as it is not appropriate... yet.

"Alright, then here I come" she dashes towards me, typical for anyone in melee combat. as she is in range, IF prepares to swing here left arm in a horizontal. I reacted on blocking that but she instead crouches in front of me.

(a feint!)

IF attacks me with a sweep, which I jumped, then she rapidly attack me with her katars as I land. I manage to block every single swipe, then pushed her back with a kick in abdomen.

(she's good, and fast.)

"hey, Yuri?"

"what is it?"

"are you holding back?"

"what makes you say that?"

"don't play dumb! I can tell that you're holding back because you're exerting less effort on defense."

I smiled upon what she said. after all, she caught me.

"okay, then"

"good, now-" before she could say anything else, I'm already in-front of her, preparing to swing. she responds in defense, however I retracted the blade, which made me spin and gave her a kick in the same spot as before. I attract the blade again and charged at her as she sticks her landing, so to speak, then we started parrying and swiping our weapons. she breaks our clash by kicking me back.

"you're good, really good" she says.

"I should say the same thing to you."

"Now, I don't need to hold back."

"what do you mean?"

"I mean this! Demonic Inferno!"

She casts a magic circle that symbolizes fire in my surroundings, in which I was able to jump up from the explosions.

(This is magic. much like my sister's!)

when I look at IF, she is smirking. that's when I realized it, a little late...

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH"

A pillar of flames engulf me. that's also when 'he' started to slow down time and talks within my head.

"You seem to be in pain."

(this is nothing.)

"oh don't act like a tough guy. you- or rather we- will die if you do."

(and you might kill her if I let you go!)

"toché." 'he' says "but remember that you'll never save those girls with that miniscule amount of power."

(what are you saying?!)

"I'm saying 'you should let that fly unseal our powers'"

(and did you ever think that Croire might release you?!)

"big deal..."

(what?!) 'he' sighs, as if he is bored.

"you know what? just focus on the fight."

(answer my question!)

"I've said too much."

(wait!)

as 'he' resumes time, the scalding pain from IF's magic returned as I am still in a pillar of flames. I let my eyes turn crimson as I let out my own spell. "Repel!" an unknown force burst out of the pillar of flames. I landed on the ground, in pain of that magic, I look at IF with these crimson eyes. "so this is what you meant?"

she charges at me again, this time I didn't want to wait for her to strike and charged at her. as she is about to attack, I retracted the blade and extended the blade on the other end of the handle, which, in size, looks like a parrying dagger. she swings her left arm and I block it with the blade, locking it in place as I grab her left arm and throw her down to the ground. as she tries to stand up, I grab her right leg and slam her to the ground twice. as I realize that I am starting to act like a beast, I moved back from IF, feeling afraid of what I'm feeling. she stands up, in pain from the thrashing.

she sighs from what has happened "looks like I took you way too seriously that it almost felt like a death match... ow."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that" I said in worry.

"it's fine..."

"let's just head back and have you treated..."


we returned to the Basilicom, Compa had a worried look on IF as I told her what happened

"Yuri" the tome fairy said "can you with me to talk?"

I look at Histoire with confusion "okay..."

we went out of the room and entered another room that seems to be the living room. Histoire looks at me with seriousness in her eyes "tell me, are you from another world?"

I am shocked at question concerning where I am, I stayed calm and answered her "yes, I'm from a different world. a world that had chaos."

"I see and is 'Yuri' truly your name?"

"no, it's simply a nickname. my name is Uri Thaddeus, and from where I'm from, I was called a Paladin"


I breath a sigh, tired of swinging the sword on branches.

(tomorrow is the day. can I really save them...)

I continue to think about tomorrow as I leave the forest, retracting the blade in its compact form, returning to the Basilicom to rest.


A/N

hey, hey. Sorry that it took me after Chinese New Year to finish this and I wanted to build up Yuri's real name but that's not the case. Believe me, I tried but any idea I made was scrapped. anyway, as I said in the last notes... Nepgear, Uri, take it away!


NEPSTATION

Nepgear: Hello, and welcome to Nepstation.

Uri: Where everything that happens here means nothing to the main story, and the fact we can see what others are saying.

Nepgear: oh goodness, I'm still so nervous about this.

Uri: if you're that nervous, try thinking everyone is a vegetable.

Nepgear: I don't think that's gonna work

Histoire: please, you two, get back to the program.

Uri: oh, right.

Nepgear: I'm sorry

Uri: anyway. here in Nepstation, as explained by the author, will be where the questions answered, as he wanted to do it in the fun way.

Neptune: hey, why am I not in there? I'm the Protag of the series.

Histoire: Neptune, it is clearly stated that the current protagonist in this is Uri.

Uri: ANYWAY! this is also where we put data about characters. I know that the readers have the knowledge the CPUs and the Candidates already, but since I'm an OC, we'll have you know that.

Nepgear: and since this is the first, we won't be answering questions. instead, we will reveal information about the OCs in this fanfiction.

Uri: with that said, the first one will be... me?

Nepgear: goodness, is there something wrong about that?

Uri: uhhhhh no, not really. it just confused me

Nepgear: okay, if you say so.

Full Name: Uri Thaddeus
Age: 18
Sex:male
Favorite color: Azure
Current Weapon: Fusion Edge

a Paladin who rallied with his fellow Paladins to send the demons back to hell at a young age of 8. Currently his powers are sealed, but his combat capability is still formidable.

Uri: and that's it.

Nepgear: WHAT THE GOODNESS?! you are that young?

Uri: well, yes. let's not talk about that. we're out of time.

Nepgear: oh, really?

Uri: it's been fun while it lasted. I'm Uri

Nepgear: and I'm Nepgear

Uri: see you guys real soon