Chapter 2; Meet the Gunslinger, Ice against Guns in a Duel!

After the events from in the Deep Virtua Forest, Adam and Co. Return to the Basilicom and explain to Histoire of the events that happened

"It appears that you have indeed secured the power of Planeptune's Mascot. However…" Histoire says

"We now know that ASIC and its cronies are aware of the Mascots' existence, too." IF says

"Miss Underling said she was gonna take a trip to Lastation next." Compa explains

"We should chase her quick, or she'll get there ahead of us again." Nepgear says with confidence now

"Good to see your spirits up for action." Adam says

"Adam get your shirt back on!" IF shouts at him

"Um, yes… I'm still fighting off some of my fear, but I should be fine now." Nepgear says

"Excellent. I suggest you do as I said and hurry over to Lastation next. Regain Shares and seek the Mascots. Oh… I nearly forgot to give you an important piece of advice." Histoire says

"What is it?" Compa asks

"CPU Candidates like Nepgear reside in both Lastation and Lowee, while Protector Candidates like Adam are in all nations. I recommend you seek their aid on your journey, as well." Histoire tells them

"That would make them Noire's and Blanc's younger sisters…" Compa says

"And each of the Protectors have a brother…" IF says

"CPU Candidates… Other girls like me…" Nepgear says curious at what they are like

"Each nation has their own situation to deal with, so they may refuse at first… but making contact is vital." Histoire tells them "After all, I am certain they share your desires to save their siblings."

"Sounds like we have our plan. Let's get to Lastation!" IF says

"Then let us help out!" Tempest says "I hate not being able to help when times are tough, but I'll do as much as I can!"

"Aye! Let's teach these baddies a lesson!" Ruby shouts out and Kaylin sighs

"I suppose I have no choice but to come along." She says and they head out

"I hope things go alright and the CPUs and their Protectors return home…" Histoire says

"We just need to put our faith in them, they are our only hope to restore peace to this world." A female voice says "but we do have to be aware that 'he' is around somewhere…."

"I wonder how long it's been to this day… Silvia…" Histoire says with a sigh hoping that both Adam and Nepgear can rescue the others

The group gets to Lastation and Nepgear couldn't believe how much machine parts are around the whole nation

"Wow, Lastation is chock full of nifty gadgets and machines…!" Nepgear says looking around

"Now don't get any weird ideas, we are here for a purpose." Adam tells her

"What, I would never… oooh, this place looks like so much fun for tinkering…! It'd be great if we could look around a bit…" Nepgear says with a twinkle in her eyes

"Why do I even bother?" Adam asks himself

"Cool your jets. We have important things to deal with right now." IF says

"Y-yeah, you're right. We have to do our best, or Lastation will be in danger… must. Not. Window shop." Nepgear says trying to resist the urge to get some machine parts

"Iffy, do you know of any leads?" Compa asks

"Well, we should head to the Guild first. We can get intel and take on quests to recover Shares there, too." IF says

"A lot has changed in three years here." Ruby says

"Yes, and with everything going downhill because of ASIC… our only hope is to get the Mascots and possibly recruit the younger siblings of the Two CPUs and the Protectors." Kaylin says while the group heads to the Guild

"They can gather up the info and some quests for us to do, while we are at it we can try to-" before Adam could finish someone bumps into him

"Oh sorry! My bad, I didn't mean to run into you." A guy says and Adam looks at him seeing this guy has black hair and crimson eyes, wearing a black leather jacket with short sleeves, silver trims, opened, no shirt so you can see his mid built body, black fingerless gloves, black pants with a silver belt with pistol holders, has black and silver boots on

"Oh not to worry, I was just waiting for some of my friends to get some quests." Adam tells him

"Oh wow how strange, I was hurrying to get here while someone waited for me by getting some quests accepted." the guy says

"Nice, then maybe we can do it together to make things easier." Adam tells him

"Sounds like a plan, hope the person waiting for me accepts this idea. Oh by the way I'm Noble!" he says

"I'm Adam, these are some of my friends Tempest, Ruby, and Kaylin. The others should be coming out." Adam tells Noble

"Adam, huh? Well all right then, Adam, since we're acquainted now, let's get going and take on the quests together!" Noble says and the two shake as the others exit the Guild building and to a dungeon "Wow honestly I never expected you to have this many with you"

"Sometimes there are few things you can't do alone." Adam tells him

"Yea I guess that is true, Uni won't admit that sometimes she is going past her limits and I go in to save her." Noble says rubbing the back of his head

"Sometimes a pain then? I can understand that, Nepgear usually can't get her act together and fight back." Adam says

"Uh okay… but why are you taking your shirt off?" Noble asks Adam

"It's a bad habit of his, you'll get use to it later." Ruby explains

"Seems odd for someone to strip in front of a couple of girls." Noble says

"Then allow me to show what I can do!" Adam takes his stance and starts using his ice magic "Ice-Make sword!" he forms a sword out of Ice and heads onward and strike multiple enemies

"whoa, he can make things out of ice?! That's pretty cool, no pun intended." Noble says and pulls out his handguns "Well I better not get behind in showing what I can do!" he runs into the battle and shoots the monsters around with perfect accuracy "requip!" his handguns form into SMGs and take out a horde

"Pretty good, now then let's see who can eliminate the most to the end!" Adam shouts out

"You're on!" Noble shouts and makes a run for it and Adam right behind him and they start taking monsters out left and right until they get to the end place of the dungeon "ha! I got 34 kills!

"Yea right, I got 35 kills!" Adam says proudly

"No, I counted 33 for you!" Noble shouts with pride

"Fine let's call it a draw for now-" before Adam could finish he heard Compa and IF get ambushed "IF, Compa!"

"Heh. I got rid of the chaperones with barely any effort at all. Next up… you stupid little brats!" Underling says with a smug look on her

"You may have gotten away last time, but we won't let one of ASIC's Underlings get in our way!" Adam says taking his stance as Kaylin got Tempest into the air in time

"Adam let me help you up" Ruby says grabbing Adam and fly into the air

"Ice-Make Ice cannon!" Adam next forms a cannon and launches ice balls and Noble requip his handguns into a rifle and fires at Underling as both Nepgear and Uni activate their HDD forms and join the fight "Uni's the Candidate?"

"Then that would mean that Noble must be the Protector." Ruby says looking at Noble using his ability to create a platform and get a good angle to fire

"Lightning buff!" Noble shouts and he fires electrical bullets and Adam launches another blast and knocks her away

"Dammit! This has to be considered cheating! Two CPU Candidates and Two Protector Candidates against one normal person?! Y-You'll pay!" Underling shouts angry

"Tempest now!" Kaylin shouts

"Sky dragon's roar!" Tempest blows a large stream of air blowing Underling a far away distance

"I'll remember this!" Underling shouts as she is blown away and Adam is let on the ground by Ruby and Noble lands next to him as they both have their gauntlets out

"Adam… you're a…" Noble starts saying seeing his gauntlet and Nepgear's form

"I never thought you would be also… I guess you are Lastation's Protector Candidate. I came here to look for you." Adam explains and Noble looked to the ground "please, won't you help out? We want to save our brothers and restore Gamindustri…"

"Just stay back!" Noble punches Adam in the face angry and Adam left confused "Why? Why you and not my brother, huh?!" Adam didn't know what to say to him "he wouldn't allow me to go along with him three years ago… I would have saved them if I went! I would have done what you failed to do!"

"... look I'm sorry… I couldn't do much back then… but I know next time will be different." Adam explains

"Keep quiet! I never wanna see you or hear from you again!" Noble shouts and runs with Uni following

"Noble… he didn't want you involved… but possibly be the last hope if they failed to return…" Adam says seeing the Two run off

The group returns to the nation having no luck finding anything about where the Mascot of Lastation is

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

"We must have asked all of the people in the whole nation and they don't even know about it…" Adam says

"That'd be my guess. Man… no option left. We'll pay a visit to this Nation's Oracle." IF says with a sigh not wanting to do so

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

"But Iffy, why didn't we go to see the Oracle first if you knew she'd be able to help?" Compa asks

"My guess is that there is something about her that doesn't sound good." Adam says and IF sighs and they head to the basilicom

"Pardon us." IF says

"Hello." Compa says

"Welcome to Lastation's Basilicom. I am Kei Jinguji, the Oracle for this Nation." She says "And I already know that you have questions for me. Isn't that right, IF and Compa of Planeptune?"

"Smartalec, she probably learned we would come here for the Mascot…" Adam says in his thoughts

"Intelligence gathering is business economics 101. I've gathered info on you both since your arrival." Kei tells them

"Definitely earned that reputation." IF says

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

"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 tells them

"It's worth?" Nepgear asks confused

"Is she bargaining for the info? Seriously?! The world is in peril and you decide to bargain for the Mascot info?! What kind of Oracle is she to bargain with those that are trying to restore the world?" Adam asks himself in his thoughts a bit frustrated

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

"Just what do you want out of this?" Adam asks her

"I'll exchange the information for a… personal favor." She says

"What kind of personal favor?" IF asks

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

"What?! You realize how rare those are, don't you?" IF says shocked

"How rare are we talking…?" Nepgear asks

"I'm gonna say that they are impossible to find in any regular spot." Adam says

"Exactly, and there is no info on where they are. This is an incredibly one-sided trade!" IF says

"How unfortunate. Then, I suppose our negotiation is at its end. Perhaps I misappraised my Intel's value to you." Kei says

"Tch… slimy business weasel…" IF says under her breath making sure Kei didn't hear it

"Understood. We'll go find them. If we do that, you'll tell us what you know about your Mascot, right?" Nepgear asks and both Adam and IF flipped out on what she said

"WHAAAAAT?!" the two shout in shock

"Nepgear are you serious there?! That is almost impossible to… ugh I give up!" Adam says as he facepalms

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

"I don't think we will be releasing that info." Adam says while Kei is confused "I'll say this only once, we won't say a word about the attempt rescue. But in exchange we will explain once we bring the items you need and obtain the info of the Mascot's location, we won't stop until we get it. You understand?" Kei stares at him for a moment "it'd be improper to break the rules of an exchange, aren't I correct?"

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

"Okay, let's do that, then. We'll be going now." Nepgear says and the group exits the basilicom

"That Oracle really knows how to grind my gears! But that was an impressive comeback Adam." IF says

"I'd say that Oracle is to focused on her work than rather give us the location so we can rescue the Goddesses and their Protectors!" Kaylin says

"It seemed as though she is trying her best to keep the nation intact from ASIC's grasps." Ruby says

"Certainly possible, although it just doesn't seem right to just bargain for information when we need it in an instant." Kaylin says

"Now we have to search for the Two rarest materials, in hopes we don't have horrible luck in finding them." Tempest says

"I just hope so, although we might run into that Underling while doing so…" Kaylin says and the group heads onward to search for the two materials

Meanwhile in the Basilicom

Noble is in his room sitting on his bed covering his face with his hands feeling guilty suddenly

"What the hell is wrong with me… I said a lot of mean things to Adam, I am the worst…! He's been through so much, also…" he says talking to himself "I get it. I was told to stay behind because I wasn't strong enough to be of help to the others… if I had gone, I would've made their jobs even harder, rather than easier…" he sighs and places his hands on his knees "and that is why I am doing my best to become stronger!" he then lays on the bed wondering what his next motive will be "but what will I do if I encounter Adam again?"

Back with the group which heads to different dungeon area and gotten far into it

"Nothing around here…" Tempest says looking at their drops they collected

"Of course not, if they were that easy then the Oracle of Lastation would have already got them by now." Kaylin tells her

"If we can't find where those items are, then we might hit a dead end on finding the Lastation Mascot…" Ruby says

"Why all the glum faces?" a girl says getting their attention

"Who are you?" Adam asks seeing the girl in clothes like she is out on an adventure with a sword strapped to her waist

"Whoops! Where are my manners? I'm Falcom. I'm your average, everyday adventurer, as you can see. And also, I have this nasty habit of wanting to meddle in the affairs of trouble folks like you." She tells them

"Wow, an adventurer! Iffy, maybe she knows something. Can't hurt to ask, right?" Compa asks

"I guess not. We're fresh out of alternatives." IF says

"Um, so, we're looking for two gems, Hematite and a Treasure Gem, but we have no idea where to look…" Nepgear explains

"Treasure Gem and Hematite, huh? Never heard of Hematite, but I know the Treasure Gem isn't around here." Falcom tells them "I think I heard more about the one in Planeptune. Was it Virtua Forest? A gem-collecting monster, maybe…?"

"Are you serious!?" IF asks shocked

"I'd take you there if I could, but I'm already in the middle of some other errands. Sorry about that." She says rubbing the back of her neck

"Oh no, that information is plenty! Thank you so much." Nepgear says

"Cool. Your eyes are all full of life again, so my work here is done. Perhaps we'll meet again. Good luck!" Falcom tells them

"Same to you!" Ruby says and Falcom leaves to continue her job

"How unexpected, I never would have thought it would be in Planeptune." IF says unexpecting one of the items to be in the nation they came from

"Let's hurry over and find out if she was right!" Nepgear says and the group starts heading back to Planeptune not knowing someone was watching them getting the weapon to eliminate them

The group goes into the Virtua Forest Depths and search for the gem collecting monster and they find it

"Ice Make; Super Freeze Arrow!" Adam then forms a bow and arrow and launch it at the monster straight at the head killing it instantly in one shot "sniped, and it looks like this is the item we needed, so that's one down and now only Hematite left to find." he puts the gem into his storage

"I'm afraid you'll never find it! You broads and Ice boy ain't goin' nowhere!" After hearing that familiar voice they turn and see Underling with a machine beside her

"I thought she got blown away by Tempest's Sky Dragon roar?" Ruby asks

"That Underling did get blown away, it seems she caught up to us ready for something…" Kaylin says

"It just feels disappointing for how this is going to end…" Adam says knowing that they'll wipe the floor with Underling

"Ugh! Shut the hell up! I'm SO sorry for being who I am!" she yells at them angry "hmph. Not like it matters. After today, those gums will never flap again! Come out, secret weapon!" the machine acts up and walks towards them

"Alright, and I'm not allowing you to call me Ice boy!" Adam takes his stance but the machine moves and shoots out fire like a flamethrower and he gets away in time but annoyed that it stopped him from using his ice magic

"Heh, it's a good thing I came totally prepared for your end!" Underling says with a grin "This monster seals your ability to transform! Let's see ya fight now!"

"We better get out of here Adam!" Ruby says

"Ugh, yea let's make a break for it." Adams says and about to get going until

"Hold it right there!" a girl shouts out getting their attention

"huh?! And who in the hell are you?!" Underling asks the mysterious red haired girl

"How dare you treat such cute girls this way!" the girl shouts at Underling "I've been eyeing them all as potential wifeys, so any more funny moves and you'll face the wrath of Red!" everyone stares at her in a confused expression

"What in the most unholy hell is this chick trying to say? Is she missin' some screws?" Underling asks not understanding the girl called 'Red'

"For my goddess, my CPU, my wifey! I am coming to save you!" Red shouts in excitement

"Huh? W-wait, what? Who, where… why?!" Nepgear is asking confused

"Save those questions for the honeymoon, my lovely. We can go over everything after we deal with this!" Red says with a smile

"honeymoon? What is up with this girl?" Adam asks seriously confused

"she's in love!" Ruby says

"Seriously? This isn't the time to be saying such things!" Kaylin yells at Ruby as Red goes in and uses a flying disc to strike the machine and Nepgear uses her weapon and strike while Adam uses his ice to get around the machine and jumps

"Ice-Make Cold Excalibur!" he forms a large sword of Ice and slices the machine in two

"gah! Taken down by a damn cliche kid who's got brawn and no brains! Dammit, you'll rue this day!" Underling yells out and makes a run for it

"Well that is over with, now about that mysterious girl that appeared." Adam says and looks at the girl that arrived

"Um, thank you very much for your help. You came at just the right time…" Nepgear tells the girl called Red

"Heh! It's only natural to come to my future wifey's aid!" Red says with a smile

"May I... ask who you are again? I don't think we've ever met…" Compa says

"Yeah, this is totally, absolutely the first time we've ever met! In person!" Red tells them which made Nepgear confused at what she meant "call me Red. I'm traveling around Gamindustri to find my perfect wifey!"

"Oh please don't tell me that she is who I think she is…" Kaylin says

"I heard of a rumor of a strange girl running around looking for her soulmate… that was her?!" Ruby exclaims shocked

"I'm having a hard time to accept someone as strange as her searching for girls at a time like this when the world is in danger…" Kaylin says and they allow the girl to tag along with them "I hope this is a good idea to be bring someone like her along…"

"Let's hope nothing terrible happens…" Tempest says and the group returns to Lastation to search for the last material and run into a guard telling the he has seen Hematite and will give them the information if they eliminate a monster in the Rebeat Resort dungeon

"And now we are on our way towards another wild goose chase for someone." Kaylin says with the group fighting monsters

"As well, it is Nepgear's personality to help anyone that needs." Ruby says until they get to the monster and Adam freezes it and Nepgear slices it in half "Well not a problem now, let's get back to that guy now." as they were about to leave Compa sees something small and grey which to IF looks like a rat, though Compa calls it a mouse

"That rat looks weird especially that symbol on it's chest…" Kaylin says while Compa treats the little critter and talks and suddenly runs for it "strange… a rat that can talk…"

"Aw why is it strange? I mean we can talk of course." Ruby says and they leave the dungeon to find the guard and explain that they defeated the monster and Red said something that kinda offended Adam

"I am not perverted, I have a bad habit of doing that because of me learning Ice-Make magic…" Adam says really annoyed

"Well we can understand why you do it anyway Adam." IF says though it still annoys him that Red is gonna be traveling with them. So they get the info and head to Septent Resort to search for the last material they need and find the certain monster to hold it "There. That must be the cat monster we were told about."

"If we can take its Hematite, we'll be able to get the information we need! Okay, let's go!" Nepgear says and were about to go after it

"Halt, cretin! Drop the Hematite, nice and slow…!" Uni shouts with her gun out and just realized Nepgear is there instantly "ack! N-Nepgear!?"

"Geez Uni, why do you have to go ahead so quickly…" Noble says catching up and looks up seeing Adam "Gaaaah! Adam!?"

"You came here for the Hematite also?" Adam asks but Noble didn't say anything but just nodded "I guess Kei asked for your help also… or would you rather get in my way?"

"Wait what?" Noble was confused as Adam took his stance

"Ice-Make Cannon!" Adam creates a cannon and has it fire but missed Noble and hitting something behind "Second time you tried but you failed!" he shouts at Underling that was behind Noble

"Aw come on! You just had to ruin my plan, I'll remember this... you hear?!" Underling shouts and runs for it and Adam freezes the cat monsters and takes the Hematite the monster was holding

"Nice, we got both gems. Now we go and-" before Tempest finished Adam interrupted

"We aren't done yet…" he says and looks at Noble "I am guessing you aren't going anywhere without this… tell you what, if you can beat me in a 1v1 duel, then I will give it to you."

"Alright I accept your conditions." Noble says walking towards him and they raise their left hand and connect their gauntlets together

"Stage Set!" both shout out and the large area around them glows becoming the battle arena and each take seven steps back from each other and a countdown starts as Noble gets his handguns out of the holsters and Adam takes his stance about form something with his ice. 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Start! Noble starts the fight by firing bullets while activating his fire buff ability

"Ice-Make Shield!" he forms a barrier of Ice in front of him as bullets barely get through the ice "Ice-Make Lance!" he forms a ball of ice as it shoots out sharp points of ice going at Noble from different directions and Noble switches one of his guns and shoot the ice and send a fire blast at the shield though Adam gets around and formed a launcher and fire at Noble getting a smack on him until Noble combined his two guns into a sniper rifle and strike Adam's cannon "Ice-Make Geyser!" Adam forms ice around Noble getting him to melt the ice "Ice-Make Cold Excalibur!" Adam charges in and Noble barely had time to react and blocks the attack with his gun but Adam retracted and attacked from a different angle striking Noble. Although Noble had left a surprise by Adam's feet which explodes. After the smoke cleared Noble couldn't find Adam anywhere around

"Hey where are you? I know you can't escape the arena unless you gave up…" Noble says looking for him

"Like I would ever give up a fight!" Adam shouts behind and Noble slowly turns to him and sees multiple cannons aimed at him and open fired doing damage and knock him to the ground, and the system announces the winner of the duel "It's over, l won this duel Noble…"

"I don't believe it… I learned every move that he does… and yet it ended with me losing…" Noble says in disbelief and stands "you may have won, but know I will be waiting for our next match…" he runs off catching up to Uni "... I never noticed the symbol on his chest… where did he get that…?" Noble asks himself as he removes his glove looking at his Lastation nation icon "Fairies… I remember my brother talking about that… days before leaving…"

Alright so I was thinking of putting all of the Lastation part towards getting the mascot. But I decided to stop here and let the mascot obtained and some part of Lowee added for next chapter. I honestly wanted to make them longer. Though I don't want to make them super long like one chapter I did before. So I am putting ideas for the Goddess Protectors story for now as I work on this since I am running out of ideas. Anyway thanks for reading this and I will see you all next time, Brawl on!