Hey everyone. Ready for a slightly shorter chapter? Because this is a slightly shorter chapter… That's why I asked if you were ready for… never mind.

Anyway, I got nothing else. So here you go:

Chapter 6: The butterfly effect

Undocumented entry

Lastation CPU hotel

POV: 3rd person

"How'd I let myself get talked into this?" Uni asked herself.

The both of them were standing before Geoffrey and Lilith's room. Nepgear was peeking through the key hole to see if either of them were inside or if they already went to sleep. Uni was standing guard, looking out in case anyone would walk by.

"W-well… We'll be out b-before anyone notices… r-right?" Nepgear looked even more nervous than Uni. Even if it was her idea, she never was one to be too confident about risky things. "Alright. I don't see any light. I think it's safe to go in."

Nepgear slowly pushed the door open. The both of them did find it strange that the door was unlocked, but neither of them were going to complain about it.

The room was just as big as their own room and looked exactly the same with the addition of a balcony. The only difference was that instead of two beds there was only a king size bed. This room was probably meant for the CPU to stay.

"I don't see anyone he-" Nepgear was interrupted by heavy laughter of a couple. An ex-couple to be precise. She immediately froze up and searched the room for the source. She could see the two of them sitting on the balcony with several cans of Nepsi on the table beside them. They we were looking up at the clear starry sky.

"Not gonna lie, this stuff does taste a lot better after the third can." Lilith laughed.

"We should buy more cans before we head to Lowee tomorrow." Geoffrey suggested. "Nothing beats a cold drink with ice, right?"

"Won't it be too cold in Lowee for that?"

"Not at all. Where else am I going to get the ice from?" He joked.

The both of burst into laughter once more. Neither CPU candidate understood why they were laughing at such a bad joke, but this was the perfect chance to 'borrow' the journal.

Fortunately, the backpack with said journal was right next to the door on table.

Nepgear took her chance, grabbed the backpack and closed the door behind her.

"I-I got it." Her hands were trembling and she was sweating like crazy.

"You look a bit pale." Uni stated.

"What? I'm fine. Really, I'm fine."

Uni raised an eye brow. "If you say so. Oh look. Hey Lilith. How's it going?" She lied.

Nepgear's face turned completely pale with cold sweat droppings on her forehead. She quickly turned around to see if Lilith really was there.

"H-huh? What? Geez, Don't scare me like that."

POV: Nepgear

We returned to our room to begin the copying process. We took both journals, so we wouldn't accidently take the wrong one.

"Alright. I'll booth up the N-gear's copy program. We'll have the entire journal copied in no time."

Uni took the other normal journal and started reading a few entries. "Huh? Geoffrey is only 22? You don't say… And Lilith… What's this thing they call 'French'?"

"Huh? Hey, Uni. You're invading his privacy, put that down." I tried to take the journal from her, but she held it just out of my grasp.

"You're the one that's copying his entire diary of the future and I am invading his privacy? If we've already gotten this far, we might as well go all the way, right?" A bit out of character, but she wasn't wrong. The N-gear was already 10% done with its copying process. I guess it wouldn't really matter anymore if we checked both journals.

"Oww… You're making me feel guilty for doing this. Maybe we shouldn't…"

"Don't think about it too much, alright. We're doing this to save our sisters, remember?"

"R-right."

Uni resumed to scan the journal. "Hmm… Entry number 4: The Wolf. Up until now, none of the entries were given a title."

I looked over Uni's shoulder to see what she was talking about. "What makes this one so special?"

"I dunno. But let's read."

Entry Number 4: The Wolf

29/12/2026

Today was a snowy day. I hate snow.

Something strange happened today. I met someone at work who recently was employed by the company as janitor. He talked to me as if he knew me. He introduced himself as Vince Wolf. He looks to be around his 19's. a little younger than me.

When no one else was around he told me was from the future. First thing I asked was if he hit his head on the way in or something, but then he started to make these weird specific predictions. Like this thing about my journal. That I would write entry number five with a blue pen with black ink, that I would write entry number 6 with a pencil, that kind of stuff. I laughed and walked off. We'll see about that.

Entry number 8

2/1/2027

All of his predictions came true. Vince is someone to keep an eye on.

Entry number 13: Blackout battle

9/1/2027

Today I was assigned with a dangerous experiment. I'm supposed to use a Ion-scanner, but they only have those in the Biolabs in the basement (out of all places). At least the biolab staff doesn't go to work before 13:00 , so there won't be any lines at the sample fridge. Joy.

The Biolab isn't the prettiest place in the building. There's all kinds of glass containers with dead animals and body parts for experimenting. They were dead long before they were put in that container, but that doesn't make it any prettier.

I also took the stone with me Lilith got me. I can probably go and scan it right now.

I put the stone in the scanner and hit start. It shouldn't take long. I turned around and was faced with a familiar face. Vince Wolf.

9/1/2027

T.O.W. basement: Biolab – 10 : 30

Entry number 13: Blackout

POV: Geoffrey

I turned around and saw Vince. "Vince? What are you doing here."

Vince looked nervous. His hands were trembling and there were sweat drops on his forehead.

"I-… I'm here to complete my assignment." He stuttered.

"Your assignment?" He reached in his pocket and pulled out a gun. I hope this doesn't become a thing.

"I'm… I'm here to stop you from scanning that stone. To stop you… From going to Gamindustri."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Easy now, Vince." I tried to convince him. "Just put down the gun, okay. No need for this."

"… My boss.… Has asked me to kill you right here and right now." Oh right. Time travel. You don't go back in time and tell a random person on the street about it if you don't have a reason for it.

Vince's hand was still trembling. His aim wasn't very steady. I could easily overpower him if I just played my cards right.

"Mister Geoffrey, what is this place?" He asked nervously. "I think I'm about t-t-to… b-barf…"

… Is that why he's so nervous? Not because he's about to kill a man but because there's dead animals and severed limbs in jars around him? Also, why'd he call me 'mister'?... Might as well use it to my advantage.

"Hm? What are you talking about Vince? Nothing strange here." I lied. "You know what we do with these things, right?"

"W-what?" He asked while slowly lowering the gun. He looks absolutely terrified. Usually the one with the gun is the intimidating one.

"These animals were bred for science." I lied. "Everything you see here was made so it could sit in a glass container. For science." Yeah, as if anyone would take their time to breed animals to put them in jars.

"What? T-that's… disgusting!"

"It's the truth." I took a step back. Maybe I could make a run for the elevator while he's busy worrying about those little things. He really must've looked up to future me if he goes in such a mental breakdown because of such a white lie.

"No… No!" He repeated. "I refuse to believe it!" He once again aimed his gun at me. By now I had gained enough distance to duck behind cover.

He fired his gun several times, hitting the scanner with the Purple gem in it and a power box on the wall behind it. For a moment everything went dark. Then the emergency red lights went on. Looks like he's completely lost it.

"S-stand still!" He cried while reloading. I took this time to change cover. I was now behind one of the sample trays. These will have to do. "Hey Vince. Smell the roses!" I cried while throwing a vial with an acid. What acid? No idea, but I know for a fact it has some toxic damps.

I ducked behind cover once more and could hear Vince coughing. Guess I hit him. I took a few vials with me and moved to the next desk.

"What the-.. ugh… I'm… I'm not feeling so well." I took a peek from under the desk, only to be met with more gun fire. I was half across the room by now, but his aim isn't something to be trifled with. After a few shots, he managed to break some glass containers and vials with samples. Crap, gotta move again. It's always a bad idea to stick around unknown samples.

I took cover behind a desk near the elevator. C'mon. Hurry up. Open the door!

"Oh no you don't!" Vince shot a gas canister next to the elevator several times.

"What are you doing!?" I jumped for cover just in time before the explosion. No one's going to be able to leave this room through that way. The gas explosion had caused a fire. At this rate, this place is gonna burn down and collapse right on our heads before any of us can leave.

"If I can't make it out alive, then neither will you." Vince taunted with a wicked smile.

"As if Lily wasn't bad enough with her stupid one liners." He acts like he's about to die. He really can't take sight of dead animals if he thinks he's about to die because of them.

The fire alarms went off and the emergency fire exit on the other side of the room unlocked. Someone should call the police, because these emergency exits are placed very poor spots... Why can we only get to the basement through an elevator or a fire exit anyway?

Vince took a couple more shots at the desk I was hiding behind. I threw more poisonous vials at the madman, but it was just impossible to hit him from where I was hiding. And the room is starting to smell weird. I should probably stop adding random samples to the fire.

"Know what? I'll just leave you here. Hope you die in a fire."

Vince opened the fire exit and took a chair with him. Like a chair would hold the exit. But I don't want to risk it either way.

I grabbed one of the office chairs pushed it across the room. It was rolling at full speed towards Vince. "Oomph!"

"Direct hit."

I ran over to Vince and held him on the floor. "Alright. You're gonna tell me everything about the future, right now."

"J-journal. In my pocket."

"What?" I checked Vince's jacket. Strange enough, he had a journal that was exactly the same as mine, only in this one was filled with entries I still had to write. So that's how he knew.

"Why'd you try to kill me?" I asked. Vince couldn't response. The scanner with the purple gem in it was making loud static noises. It probably is malfunctioning because Vince shot it earlier.

"Uh-oh." Out of instinct, I took Vince and held him before me like a shield. We were still on the floor, so I should be fine, right?

…

No explosion yet.

…

Still no boom. I peeked from behind Vince only to be greeted with a blinding flash. Ah… that's gonna have a permanent effect.

...

After the explosion, I wondered why I didn't just make a run for the stairs. We were right next to them after all. I took the gem out of the broken scanner and left the basement through the fire exit. I think I came in contact with several bio-samples. I just hope none of them were deadly. I've also taken the time to read the 'future journal'. I do not like where this is going.

Also, side not, Vince died because of the explosion. So far his body has not been found, because the entire basement collapsed. I'm amazed the main building is still standing. For some reason they aren't going to try and dig out the basement. Lucky me. Guess I can tell everyone it was an accident due to faulty machinery or something.

Lilith just told me it's my turn to go see the doc.

…

POV: Nepgear

"Well… that's certainly something…" Uni bluntly stated. She closed the journal and put it back in the backpack. "I suppose now we know where he got his future journal from. But why did that Vince want to kill him?"

"I don't know either. Maybe there's something on the other pages."

"I already checked before." Uni sighed. "Nothing but daily life notes. How's the copy process going?"

"Oh. Right." I almost forgot about the N-gear and the future journal. On the N-gear's screen it read 'copy complete'. "It's all done. Let's find today's entry." I suggested.

Navigating a few menu's, I found tomorrow's Entry.

…

The four of us decided to go to Lowee. It's close and we should meet up with Lowee's CPU candidate. Maybe this one will join our party, unlike Lastation's candidate.

…

"Hm… So Lowee is the right call… I guess that makes sense." Uni said. "Oh, we should probably return Geoffrey's bag. He might notice it's gone if we keep it for too long."

"W-wait. We have to sneak into their room again?" I asked with a shocked expression. It was bad enough that I had to do it once. I couldn't bear to do it twice.

"Don't get cold feet now. We're already as good as done." Uni reassured. "We just have to put it where it was before. Right next to the door."

"Well… Oh, Uni. I can't do it. I'll just stand guard this time, alright?"

"You really are hopeless, aren't you." Uni sighed. "Alright. Let's go."

We didn't have too much trouble returning the backpack. We did run into IF in the hallway, but I don't think she noticed us sneaking in and out of the room. It's still early, so we should be able to read ahead on what's going to happen in the next few days.

Entry Number 26

Lastation CPU hotel

POV: Lilith

"Psst. Lily… Hey,Lily, get up. It's nine in the morning."

"mmm… Five more minutes." I rolled over and put my pillow over my head. I'm sure if it's that important it can wait for ten more minutes."

"You never change, do you? Don't blame me for this." With that statement, someone took my pillow and poured something cold on my head.

"Eh!? Pff. Pah. Who!?" I exclaimed. When I noticed Geoffrey holding a can, I realised what just happened. "Bro. You for real?"

"Look, the others are already ready to go and Nepgear said she needs to discuss something with everyone."

I don't see how this can't wait for another fifteen minutes, but Nepgear is the 'leader' after all, so I might as well just get it over with.

I got ready for the day within five minutes. When I approached the others, who were waiting for me in front of the hotel, they all smiled at me.

"Good morning Miss Lily. Did you sleep well?" Compa asked.

"I would've loved to stay for another twenty minutes, but I suppose this must be important. Alright Nepgear, what'cha got for us?"

"Well… You see…" Nepgear started, looking slightly nervous. "I was thinking. Now that we have six members in our party and two of us are CPUs… we… uhm…"

Uni looked a bit annoyed by Nepgear's slow explanation. "She wants to split the group." She finished. "Half of us go to Lowee and the other half goes to Leanbox."…. eh?

"Excuse me, what?" Geoffrey asked with a surprised tone while almost dropping his can of Nepsi… Geez, I know he has a sweet tooth, but drinking that stuff in the morning is pretty bad… Oh, what am I thinking about? Uni's suggestion just turned the whole future journal Geoffrey has upside down. This can't be good.

"Y-yes. Thank you Uni. We decided that we should split up so we can get both mascots in one go. Me, Lilith and IF will go to Lowee while Uni, Geoffrey and Compa will head out for Leanbox."

"But that's… That's madness." Geoffrey tried to counter. IF and Compa were giving him a suspecting look. "What are you talking about? This way we can get both mascots and spare ourselves the trouble of having to cross half of Gamindustri twice." IF folded her arms and raised an eye brow. "I don't see how this is a bad idea."

"W-well… what if.. uhm…" He's clearly trying his best to convince everyone to stick together. Oh dear, I think he's about to snap.

"What if we run into Underling or that ASIC rat again?" I finished. "It'd be problematic if one of us lost because we were outnumbered."

"But we've gained so many levels since we last saw miss Underling. And mister Mouse wasn't that tough either." Compa said. "I don't think we'd lose to either of them, even if they worked together."

She wasn't wrong. We did gain a lot of levels during our search for the Hematite and the Treasure gem. Geoffrey had a defeated look on his face. It looks like the rest of the party already agreed on this. "Alright. I got nothing."

Geoffrey simply let out a 'hmph'. I hope he doesn't do anything reckless because of this.

"D-don't worry, Geoffrey." Nepgear tried to reassure him. "At least you don't have to worry about the snow. Leanbox is pretty warm, in fact. The skies are always clear and-"

Geoffrey raised his hand, gesturing Nepgear to stop talking for a second. "How did you know I dislike snow?"

"E-eh?" Nepgear looked shocked for a second, as if she said something she shouldn't have. W-well…"

"Lilith told me." Uni answered. "She told me when we were talking about where she came from."

"I did?" I don't recall telling her at all. But there's no other way they could've known, so… I guess it's the truth?

"Yeah. You told me and I told Nepgear."

I could hear Compa asking Geoffrey why he hates snow, but I didn't really pay attention to it. "Are you sure, Uni?"

"Why would I lie about such a trivial fact? Of course I'm sure." Well… No need to dig deeper into this subject.

About ten minutes later, both parties were ready and went on their way. This is probably the biggest change in the journal so far. I just hope the three of us will be strong enough to take on Rom and Ram.

-"So let me get this straight. You stole the future journal and copied it, right?"

-"Well, I wouldn't say 'stole', but basically, yeah."

-"Then why the heck did you even ask me to tell you about what happened before I we got here?"

-"Well… I didn't read the entire normal journal because I respect the privacy of others… And I was curious about how you actually got here."

-"… How is that supposed to explain anything?"

Remember when I mentioned something about changing the story completely? Welp. If you thought I was just adding Uni to the party, you were wrong. With Uni in the party, Nepgear is going to make some decisions she wouldn't make on her own. And in case you were wondering, it was Uni's idea to split the parties. Why?... Don't ask me. Not like I'll explain it in the next chapter or something stupid like that.

Anyway, jokes aside, hope you enjoyed the chapter. This one was mostly meant for showing the 'butterfly effect' the journal is having. Until next time.

-Porpol