AN: Just realized that I made a small muck-up when describing how Shelly fired. I said that energy built up around the muzzle, when this isn't the case. You'll see the error fixed in this chapter. You'll also notice that Neon starts calling Uni "ma'am". It was actually a mistake for her not to do that with Neptune and Nepgear—I'll keep this trend throughout the rest of the story.

"I'll put this simply." Uni took a deep breath and said as calmly as possible, "What in Gamindustri are you doing?"

"Huh?" Neon nervously sat up straight, even pounding her fist against her chest out of habit. "Uh…ma'am! I was, uh…cuddling with…Shelly…ma'am…" Her composure seemed to whittle, eventually being completely lost as she stopped talking and resumed stroking her weapon.

How do I even respond to this? Uni tried desperately to figure out a course of action, but found herself overwhelmed by the oddity of the situation. While Neon was still asleep, Noire had left to do a quest, leaving the sleeping girl in Uni's hands. All was well until she had actually woken up—nothing was the same after that.

"Do you…not like having guns in your room?" Neon laid Shelly on the couch, though she clearly seemed uncomfortable. "I can move her, if you want."

Uni waved her arms in refusal. She stammered, "N-no, that's not it! Guns are fine with me! It's just, I've never seen someone get so…close…with one before." Her voice trailed off as she thought of the girl before her cuddling with her weapon awkwardly.

Neon perked up upon hearing this. She energetically asked, "Do you have any guns, ma'am? I'd love to seem them!"

The Candidate wasn't quite sure how to react to this. She was glad that she had found someone who shared her interests, but at the same time, this was somewhat extreme. "Y-yeah, I do. They're in my room, if you want to follow me."

"After you, ma'am!" She stood up, but suddenly stopped and pulled her arms to her chest. "Ah! S-sorry!" She walked as lightly as possible towards the balcony doors, letting out a sigh of relief when she got there.

"What're you apologizing for? You haven't done anything yet." Uni was slowly beginning to lose her patience, but kept a calm demeanor about her nonetheless. She figured that, with Noire temporarily gone, it was her duty to properly introduce this helpless girl to Gamindustri.

"You've got such a nice carpet, ma'am. I don't want to track dirt through the room." She pulled the trigger in her armor once more, releasing the mechanisms and allowing her to exit. "I almost forgot, since Planeptune's floor is mostly tile."

The Candidate watched the scene unfold in front of her, with especial interest in Neon's newly revealed form. "You really don't have to, b

ut if you insist…" She turned towards her room and gestured for her to follow. "My room's over here."

Neon sheepishly chuckled and said, "After you, ma'am!" When she walked, she kept her shoulders tucked in and her figure as narrow as possible, as if there were tight-fitting walls on either side of her. The only sound emanating from her were the impacts of her boots on the ground and her quiet, sharp breaths, as if she was waiting for something to jump out at any moment.

"Here," Uni pointed inside her room after opening the door for Neon. "Take a look around. This is what I've got."

The girl entered the room nervously at first, but upon seeing what was within, she lost all inhibition and burst into energy. "Oh my god! Oh my god oh my god oh my god…" She repeated this phrase several more times until stopping for breath. "You've got all kinds of stuff! Full auto, semi-auto, bolt action, lever action, pump action, belt-fed, drum mags, and box mags! 7.62, 5.65, 9mm, .308, .50, .5mm! Rifles, carbines, shotguns, handguns! Everything!" She clapped her hands together and sighed romantically, the same way a lovestruck girl in a cartoon might. "This place is heaven!"

"Uh…do you want to touch one?" Uni felt as though she would regret that question, but it seemed natural as a welcoming process.

"Oh my god, can I? Can I, can I, can I?" Neon bounced like a young girl at the prospect of handling foreign weapons.

"Y-yeah, go ahead. Just make sure you don't…" Her words fell on deaf ears as the earthling dashed ahead, trying to pick a weapon that particularly piqued her interest. "Break anything…"

Neon plucked an automatic assault rifle from the wall delicately, as if the mere act of touching it too forcefully might ruin it. "Ehehehe…now, then…what makes you tick, darling?"

Uni was about to offer her a chance to disassemble the weapon, but it would have been a waste of breath. Within a few seconds, Neon had expertly picked apart the weapon, laying the parts across a table as if she were looking at a blueprint. She carefully handled and caressed each part lovingly, whispering something inaudible to each one. Once she had "examined" each part, she put the weapon back together and replaced it on the wall.

"Thank you so much, ma'am! Wait a minute, hold on…" She tilted her head in curiosity before asking, "What's your name, ma'am?"

It took you until now to ask that? Uni just barely stopped herself from letting out a sigh that might signal irritation. She took a moment to compose herself, then said, "I'm Uni. Neptune probably told you about us being goddesses. I'm a goddess too, although it might be more accurate to say 'goddess in training.'"

Neon happily encouraged her, "Someone who likes guns and keeps them in her room is surely a great goddess! I'm sure you're fine, ma'am." She walked out to the doorway before turning around and calling out, "As a show of good faith, I'll let you handle Shelly!"

She tried to hide it, but Uni grew excited at this prospect. Shelly was distinctly unlike any weapon she'd ever seen, and she had wanted to examine it ever since she first saw it.

"Here she is, ma'am," Neon said while gesturing at Shelly the way a spokesperson would. "My pride and joy, the love of my life—Shelly. I made her myself."

Uni walked over and squatted down next to the weapon, analyzing the details carefully. "Where's the magazine? And why is it so wide?"

"Hey! Don't call her fat! She's just big-framed!" Neon ran over and sat cross-legged next to the gun. "Shelly here is one-of-a-kind. I made her myself with scraps I found laying around."

"So how's it work?" Uni's curiosity was now maximized as she stared at the gun's strange characteristics. It was in the shape of a rifle, but it was wide and had a hole running through the middle with a lens at the base of this hole. It was painted a sleek chrome color, with golden stripes along the body and a heat warning at the muzzle. "It doesn't seem to be an ordinary gun."

Neon thought for a moment before having an idea, "How about I shoot some targets? There's no better way to show off a gun than by firing it." She looked around the room in search of something before settling on a large wooden box that had yet to be broken down. "It isn't the greatest target ever, but Shelly's a bit different and it doesn't matter."

The Candidate made sure the box was empty, shaking it a few times and looking inside. After this was done, she gave a thumbs-up and said, "It's good. I'll set it outside, so come out when you're ready." She took the box and, although it was large and unwieldy, she shuffled through the door and out onto the balcony. Meanwhile, Neon re-entered her armor and picked Shelly up from the couch, holding it in low ready.

"Alright, are you ready, ma'am?" Neon raised the weapon before looking behind her and realizing, "We might want to leave the doors open." Seeing Uni's questioning gaze as she opened the doors, she vaguely said, "You'll see once it's done. And you should also stand rather far away from the box, too. Just saying."

Uni hesitantly complied and watched eagerly as Neon aimed the weapon at the makeshift target. As she held the trigger down, she noticed that energy was building at the base of the tunnel in the rifle's body. When it was just large enough to fill the tunnel, the earthling loudly declared, "Fire!"

What happened next truly shocked Uni. As soon as she released the trigger, Neon was sent flying backward, catapulting through the open doors and onto the couch, sliding the furniture piece about a meter back. At the same time, a massive beam of energy cracked through the air from the barrel, forming a large hole in the box and propelling it through the air, and it would have plummeted to the ground if not for Uni's readiness to catch it. In her hands, the box was extremely hot, and fire was forming around where the blast impacted.

"So, how was it?" Neon got up and, after sliding the couch back into place, walked back out to the balcony. "Impressed, ma'am?"

Uni shook the bewilderment from her eyes before responding, "Just what was that? And how did you build that from scraps?"

"I suppose I should explain now," Neon reasoned. "Shelly obviously doesn't use bullets, ma'am. She's a special weapon that relies on cold fusion to…uh, I'm not even sure what she does," she said sheepishly. "When I said I 'made her myself', I really mean that I had some scientists tell me what to do, then I just stuck the pieces where I needed to. I didn't pay attention to the lecture at all, ma'am." She blushed a tiny bit and turned away, placing her gloved hand on the back of her head shyly.

Uni chuckled to herself. She was beginning to see some parallels between this girl and Neptune. "That's alright. It just doesn't seem safe to only have a weapon that blows you back so much when you use it. I was going to offer for you to keep that gun you were handling back there."

"R-really?!" Neon jumped up, no longer caring about her armor's boots touching the carpet. "T-thanks, ma'am! I'll be sure to keep it safe!" She dashed back into Uni's room, and although her eyes were hidden by her helmet, it was obvious that she was glittering with excitement. Within a few moments, she rushed back out, happily holding the gun and skipping back to the couch.

"You…really love guns, don't you?" Uni already knew the answer to this, and was asking as a sort of facetious joke.

"Of course!" Neon sat up straight, her newly acquired gun laid across her lap. She held up her fingers and dreamily said, "The only things that even come close are heavy metal music and flavored water! Though, the flavoring in Earth doesn't taste all that great…"

Where do I even begin with this girl... Uni sighed internally and looked out the window, a smile forming across her face at what she saw. "Noire's almost back. I'm sure she'll have a lot of questions for you."

Neon shot up and ran out towards the balcony, loudly exclaiming, "Crap! I'm about to meet the goddess of another nation!" She dashed out to greet Noire, sliding towards the edge and narrowly avoiding a collision with the railing. As she reoriented herself, she slammed her fist onto her chest and straightened herself out, standing stock still as Noire looked at her, confused.

"May I ask what exactly you're doing?" Noire touched down on the balcony and deactivated her transformation, flipping one of her twin-tails back for dramatic effect.

Neon realized what was going on and sheepishly lowered her arm. "S-sorry, ma'am! I was just so used to being back home that I forgot…" She continued talking after this, but her voice trailed off and her composure was lost. Eventually, she fell to her knees and put her hands over her head, muttering something incomprehensible to herself.

"What have I come back to?" Noire asked the one question she may never receive a conclusive answer to.