"Are you sure you want to go ahead with this?" IF asked me.

"Yes." I said, rolling my shoulder. "I can't just use my Kimber for everything, I need to know how to use something else."

"Okay, but why did you ask HER for help with this?" Asked IF as she gestured to Neptune, who was standing opposite of me a bit aways, a wooden katana in her hands.

"Do YOU know anyone else that knows how to wield a sword?" I asked.

"Well there's-" IF began, before I cut her off.

"Who DOESN'T happen to hate my guts?" I deadpanned.

"I'm sure they don't hate your guts, Bryce…" IF deadpanned.

"They might as well..." I responded, grabbing a wooden bokken that I was given a few minutes ago.

"You ready to lose!?" Neptune asked from across the field.

"I thought this was training!?" I yelled back.

"It is! I beat you into the ground, and eventually you'll learn how to get good." Said Neptune, a smirk on her face as she held her hands on her hips, a content smile on her face.

"...I take it back, ANYONE who could teach me hates my guts." I muttered. "Yeah, any chance I can back out!?"

"Nope!" Neptune said, charging at me. I quickly bent my knees as I held my weapon in my hands, awaiting her first strike.

"Dual Edge!" Neptune shouted, swinging her katana down hard, as quickly held up by bokken to block it, the force of the blow staggering me a bit.

"Gnh!" I grunted, as I barely held my ground against Neptune.

Neptune just smirked as she slid her blade down to the ground, bringing my bokken along with it. My grip didn't leave the sword, but I was wide open.

The next thing I knew, I was clutching my nose as I had received an elbow to the face.

"Mother Fffffffff…." I groaned, moving my hand away from my nose, good not broken.

"Variable Edge!" Shouted Neptune, as I looked down just in time to see her Katana reel back, before swinging at me, sending me into the air.

"What the hell!?" I exclaimed, before realizing Neptune had jumped up after me. "Son of a bit-"

I was unable to finish as I was quickly slammed into the ground.

"Ow…" I moaned out, pulling myself up. I quickly picked up my Bokken, which I had discarded whilst I was worried I had suffered a bloody nose.

"Okay…" I said, spinning the sword around in my hand. "Let's go…"

I quickly ran at Neptune, as I went for a thrust attack.

"Thunder thrust!" I shouted, my blade pointed at her midsection.

Neptune just smirked, as she easily redirected the attack to the side.

"Cross Combination!"

"F*ck me…" Was all I was able to get out, before being battered around, and sent into the air.

I quickly learned from last time, as I blocked the next attack, however forgetting that I was in the air and I was still being slammed into the ground.

Side note, the basilicom staff will now have to deal with a man sized crater now, so there's that.

"...Ow…" I squeaked out, not feeling like moving.

"Da na na na, na na, na, na nah!" Neptune sang the final fantasy win theme as she gave a piece scene, clearly not taking notice I was currently imprinted into the ground.

"...Uh, Nep, I think you overdid it…" IF said, looking down at me as I refused to move from my spot.

"...My everything…" I muttered.

"Oh he'll be fine." Neptune said. "Let's just get Compa to heal him and then we can go back to training."

"Dear god, please no…" I muttered.

"There is no god." Neptune said. "And you're talking to the only thing close to that right now."

"...IF… I want you to clear my browser history." I said.

"We haven't given you access to a computer." IF said.

"...IF… I'd like access to a computer, so that you have a reason to clear my browser history…"

"Come on, help me get him out of there Nep." Said IF.

"Oh fine." Neptune said, skipping over to me. "No peeking~."

"I'd prefer to not feel more pain, thank you very much." I deadpanned.

"Also, what kind of skill name is 'Thunder Thrust'?" Asked Neptune.

"Don't ask, please…" I said, closing my eyes.


It's been a week and a bit since then. I have, for the moment, not taken up Neptune's training. Instead, I've been resting, since apparently, a wood katana CAN cause concussions.

I think it's gone now, but still. It was a pain in my ass.

I walked out of the room I had called my home for the past 7 seven days and walked out to find… nothing.

"Uh… Histoire?" I called out.

I was soon greeted by the tiny fairy, as she levitated out of room off to the side.

"Oh, Bryce. You're up early." Said Histoire.

"I've done nothing but sleep for the past seven days. I think I'm fine now." I said. "But uh… where, IS everyone?"

"Vert had invited them all over to Leanbox for a party." Said Histoire. "And since the… issue of the other nations not exactly being very… open, to you…"

"I understand." I said. "That, and I was just finishing up recovering from the concussion."

Histoire nodded. "If you need me, I'll be in the Sharecite room."

I nodded as I watched her head out of the room. "...Now what the hell do I do?" I asked myself, looking around. "...Why not check what Nepgear is up to?"

I walked into what I assumed to be Nepgear's 'Lab' of sorts. It was an empty office space that was remade to be a bit more open for tech stuff.

I closed the door behind me as I looked around.

"...Hmm…" I put my hand to my chin as I looked around. "...It's a lot of gaming stuff… accessories, processor boosts, portable mods for consoles… And a few plans that turn the basilicom into a mech…"

I stopped. "Okay, that's awesome and all, but not exactly helpful."

What exactly was I even looking for.

I let out a sigh. I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my cell phone.

"...Wonder if I could get some files transferred over…" I thought to myself, before punching in a few familiar numbers.

After a few seconds of waiting, a voice that seemed to have a distorted tone to it answered the phone.

"I'm not in the mood for any telemark-"

"Anonydeath, It's me Bryce. Is the channel secure?" I asked.

"When is it not?" The familiar voice of Anonydeath was undistorted as we got onto business. "How are you holding up, Bryce?"

"Well enough, I'm not rotting in jail, so there's that." I said. "Hey, remember that back door we installed in Lastation's R&D division, was there any chance you found the files for those web shooters I… acquired?"

"Even if I didn't, I still made my own blueprints off the ones you stole. When you let me take a look at them, I did it then."

"Okay, so can you email me the files?" I asked.

"Already done." Said Anonydeath.

"Thanks." I said. "I should get off the line now. Talk later."

I quickly hung up, before moving over to my email as I pulled up the files.

"Okay... Let's get down to business!" I sang to myself, raising a fist in the air, before looking around the workshop. "...And to figure out how to even put it together."


"I give up!" I exclaimed, flopping onto a nearby chair. "...I'm going to need to ask Nepgear about this later then."

I sighed, before pulling my phone out. It was late, very very late.

I gave one more look around the room, before noticing a weird machine that had the words 'Do Not Touch' labeled on it.

"...Imma touch it." I said to myself, walking over as I looked it over.

"Let's see… Fabricator Prototype, has a tendency to blow up items that it doesn't like fabricating… needs blueprint files to use…" I said to myself, before a smirk came onto my face.

"...Let's try it." I said, plugging my phone in and transferring over the files for the right wrist mounted web shooter.

After about 5 minutes of waiting, a dinging sound was heard as the item was sent out, the screen saying the word 'success' on it.

"...Now let's try the other one…" I said to myself, starting the printing process, only to be alerted 3 minutes in to hide.

I jumped to the side, as the machine exploded from the inside, the outer machine was fine, but whatever it was making inside, not so much. The inside looked like a spider had just emptied it's spinneret in an explosion.

"...Okay, so I only got one for now then…" I muttered to myself.

"Bryce…?" Asked Histoire from another room. "What was that sound?"

"...uh… nothing?" I said, walking out of the room, attaching the web shooter to my right wrist, hiding it under my long sleeves.

As I walked up to Histoire, I saw she was just finishing up a call. "What was that about?"

"A strange woman attacked Neptune, Vert, Noire, and Blanc, and is currently holding them hostage with something called anti-share crystals." Said Histoire.

"What about the others, they alright?" I asked.

"The candidates as well as IF and Compa are fine. They'll be heading home while I research these 'Anti-Share Crystals'." Histoire said, floating into another room.

A few seconds pass as I stand there, hearing the door close immediately gets me fighting with myself.

"...Don't even think about. Don't even think about it…" I muttered to myself, before cringing in uneasiness, and running over to my room.

I quickly ran over to where I kept my Kimber Warrior, before strapping it to my leg.

"...Headphones are required." I said, grabbing my Bluetooth headset. It was plugged in for a while, so it was basically fully charged. "Okay, I'm ready…"

I then turned around and grabbed a grey plaid scarf.

"Just in case." I said, wrapping it around my neck. "Now then… To hope that this turns out better than expected."

I quickly walked over to where Histoire was, only to find her busy researching, and by that, I mean she was so busy that nothing would grab her attention for a while.

"...I'm so going to regret this…" I said to myself, before walking to the balcony.

"...I'm going to die." I said, before jumping off the balcony, quickly entering a free fall.

"OH MY GOD!" I exclaimed, before firing a web line to the side of the basilicom, as I shot into the air, flying into the city.

As I arrived, I quickly shot another line, quickly realizing how restricting web swinging is when you only have one shooter on one arm.

I pulled the scarf over my nose, so most of my face was covered. Now it was just a matter of getting onto a boat to Leanbox.

Which was actually surprisingly easy to do. All I did was just walk in and I was off. I don't even think I bought a ticket.

Yeah I am SO getting yelled at for this later.


...Where the f*ck do I go!?

It's been at least half a day since I arrived in Leanbox, and all that's happened has just been me aimlessly swinging through the city.

"This is honestly a pain…" I muttered. "...Seriously, you would think finding the basilicom would be easy, but finding the damn R&D division was easier than this!"

Then again, I didn't find said division, but still. It's the thought that counts.

I let out a sigh, before I felt my phone start ringing.

"...Hello?" I asked, standing on top of a tall building.

"Bryce? Where are you right now?" Asked the voice of IF.

"...Why?" I asked back, avoiding the question.

"No reason. It's just that apparently people have seen someone web swinging through Leanbox for about 12 hours just now." Said IF. "You wouldn't happen to have anything to do with that, right?"

"...Well, you see, there's a funny story there-"

"Bryce! Why are you in Leanbox?" Asked IF, whilst in the background you could hear who I assumed to be the candidates talking in the background.

"Alright… but you can't be mad at me." I said.

"Bryce…" IF said.

"Alright First… I was minding my own business!"

"How does minding your own business have anything to do with this!?" Asked IF.

"Fine… I overheard the CPUs are being held by some weird lady and she's using Anti-Share Crystals to drain the CPUs of their power." I said. "So… being the guy who I am, I rushed over here because I acted before thinking it through."

"...Where are you?" Asked IF.

"Let's see… I'm on top of the… 3rd? Fourth tallest building in Leanbox." I said.

I could hear IF sigh over the phone, before the line was disconnected.

"...Well sh*t…" I muttered to myself. "...Do I just wait here then or…? Wait, thinking back on the animation… they were in some barren field… I COULD go looking for the CPUs… but it's a character development episode for the candidates…"

I sat on the top of the building waiting, before a few armed guards walked up behind me.

"Sir, you'll be coming with us." Said one of them.

"Where to exactly?" I asked, standing up but not looking at them.

"Miss IF, has requested we grab you from… up here." Said one of the guards.

I sighed. "Fine, but no handcuffs!"


I walked into the Leanbox basilicom, rubbing my wrists as a pair of handcuffs were removed.

"Why was that necessary?" I asked.

I wasn't given a response, as the guards quickly left the room.

"..." I just turned around, before looking at the door in front of me.

I took a deep breath, before letting it go. "...Here we go…"

I slowly pushed open the door, as a loud squeaking sound was heard as I opened the door, drawing everyone's attention to me.

I just stood there with a 'this is fine' smile on my face. "That door needs to be squeaked, I mean oiled."

I mentally slapped myself, as I looked around the room and it's inhabitants.

IF was looking at me with slight disappointment, Compa was smiling at me, though it wasn't a normal big one.

Nepgear was looking at me in confusion, while the other candidates had ranging reactions.

Uni looked at me with uncertanty. That makes sense, the last time I saw her was when I webbed her face when we took the twins…. Oh right, Rom and Ram.

I just rubbed my arm in embarrassment after getting a quick glance at Rom and Ram.

Rom was hiding behind Ram, while Ram was giving me the hardest glare she could.

To be honest, if looks could kill, she probably could have killed me there. Not because of how scary her glare was, but because I was still a bit ashamed for the whole helping Trick thing.

"...Can someone else please talk now? This is really awkward…" I said, looking off to the side as I rubbed my arm.

"...You do realize that you broke our trust right?" Asked IF. "You left the basilicom, on your own. There are many things we could probably charge you for right now because of that."

"...Yeah, I realize that now." I said. Walking over to a corner, as I flopped down there. "...I guess I'm sitting here until you guys rescue the CPUs or something?" I asked.

No response.

"...Fine then." I said, closing my eyes.

I opened them again, before looking over at Rom and Ram.

"...Sorry about the whole kidnapping you thing." I said, though knowing that there really wasn't anything I could say to make it any better. "...I… can't really say anything else to convince you I'm sorry."

I looked over at Uni.

"Sorry about webbing you in the face." I said, before looking at Nepgear.

"Sorry." Was all I said.

"What are you saying sorry to me?" Asked Nepgear.

"...I MAY have used the fabricator in your workshop to rebuild this thing." I said, rasing my arm up to show the webshooter attached. "And… the other one might have blown up while being fabricated."

I sighed, before standing up. "...Good luck guys."

I walked out the room, closing the door behind me.


I sat on the balcony, watching as the others drove off to save the CPUs.

"...Why am I ever here?" I asked myself. "...Seriously? I leave what I can basically call prison, to try and save people who didn't need my help in the first place to be saved… and… now I'm just sitting here contemplating it all."

I closed my eyes. "The only reason I thought of even going along with this was because I might have been able to earn back the trust of the other CPUs…" I said. "But I had to have had their trust to begin with... And I've probably just made it worse..."

"...Honestly, there are days that I even start to question what's the point…" I said to myself. "...Why am I the one who has to go through this… why couldn't it just be someone else…?"

I let out a sigh, before closing my eyes.

"...You know what? I don't care any more." I said, standing up. "...I don't care if they want it or not, I don't care what kind of prison sentence will await me, god damn it, I am going with them and saving them."

I opened my eyes, a fire contained deep in them showing that I was going with this plan. No matter what.

"Time to run as fast as I can." I said, firing a web strand at the balcony ledge, before jumping off, the web line acting as I cord so I didn't break my legs on my way down.

"...They went… That way!" I said, looking at the tracks their vehicles made.


I watched from a bit afar as IF, Nepgear, Compa, Uni, Rom and Ram all got out of the vehicles, and stood up.

"...Arfoire already knows that I'm here, but the others don't." I said to myself. "...I need to find a precise opportunity to sneak into the fight. Whether that be on Arfoire's end, or right now."

I thought on this, before realizing that it would maybe be better to get into the fight at a latter time.

"...Nepgear awakens her full potential soon… I can't have it not happen, so I need to be careful." I muttered, creeping around the area.

"Let's hope this works…" I said to myself.


I currently stood at the opposite side of where the candidates stood. Having only just gotten here a bit later than I would have wished.

"...And Arfoire is winning… that's nice." I said to myself, looking at the weird transformation that she had undergone.

I had stood up fully at this point, and it seemed nobody had noticed me yet.

"...This is good, now to just get over to the giant Anti-Share Crystal, and f*ck sh*t up." I said to myself, sliding down into the large hole.

I looked up again, seeing that the rest of the candidates had now transformed.

"...Okay, this might go better than hoped…" I muttered to myself.

I looked at the Anti-Share Crystal, finding that some weird hand shadow things were wrapping around the CPUs.

"...Need to hurry." I said, looking over at Warechu. "...Time for a bit of… distracting…"

I relaxed myself as I walked over to Warechu, the rat having not noticed me yet. I looked to my right to see IF and Compa staring at me.

I just gave a quick wave before walking up closer to the rat.

"...So what exactly does this do exactly?" I asked him, causing Warechu to jump, before turning around.

"Grunt!? What are you doing here!?" Warechu exclaimed.

"I forgot that's what you guys called me." I deadpanned. "Seriously, Underling had it better than this."

"What are you doing here!?" He asked.

"What's it look like?" I responded, aiming my Kimber at him. "Turn the Anti-Share Crystal off. Now."

"I don't know how to do that!" He said.

"But you turned it on! How could you not know how to turn it off!?" I asked.

"Does it look like this thing has an off switch!?" Warechu asked me.

"Gah…!" I put away my gun before looking up at Arfoire. "...Okay, now I'm doing something."

I felt myself break into a sprint, as I ran at the Anti-Share Crystal.

The eyes of the goddesses turned to me in shock, as they probably weren't expecting me.

"Surprise, even more surprise, oh my god plot twist- yeah get it out of your systems." I said, firing a web line to the top of the pyramid, as I began to ascend.

"What are you doing here!?" Noire asked me.

"Well, I wasn't going to stay back at the basilicom and do nothing!" I said. "...I don't want to be that guy anymore…"

I shook my head as I reached the top.

"There really isn't any way to get in there." I said. "So… I'm going to kick Arfoire until she stops what she's doing."

"And that'll work?" Asked Neptune.

"Don't know. But at least I tried." I said, before jumping off the pyramid and firing a webline at Arfoire's shoulder.

The reaction was almost instant.

"What the hell is-"

Arfoire didn't have enough time to really react, as my feet connected with her face, as I used the momentum of the attack to bounce off her, before firing another webline and repeating the process.

"Bryce!?" Purple Sister asked in confusion.

"Hi Nepgear!" I said, my fist flying into Arfoire's face. "Not the best time!"

"I'd agree!" Arfoire said, grabbing my neck with her left hand. "I was wondering where the seventh was…"

"Congrats, you found me…~" I said, before webbing up her face, causing her to drop me.

I quickly fell down, only now realizing how high up we were. I felt my descent suddenly stop as I felt someone grab my arm.

"How did you find us?" Nepgear asked, looking down at me, from her position of holding me up so I wasn't dying of fall damage.

"I uh… followed you guys." I said. "Wasn't really any other choice. Also, congrats on the whole HDD thing, but it really isn't the time for that. We need to save your sisters."

I heard the sound of White Sister (Rom) gasping, as we looked over at the Anti-Share Crystal, seeing that the CPUs inside were being consumed.

"Oh no, Blanc!" White Sister (Ram) cried out, as we all stared in shock.

I looked down and saw IF and Compa fire their weapons onto the Crystal, only for it to have no effect.

"What the heck is that thing made out of?" Asked Black Sister.

"Yeah, I'd like to know the same thing." Said Purple Sister, as Arfoire floated down next to us, free of the webbing on her face.

"It's made out of Anti-Energy and it's killing your sisters as we speak." Said Arfoire, as she barreled into an attack, that caused Purple Sister to drop me on reflex to block the incoming attack.

Only for all of us to crash into the ground anyways.

"Ow… Why is it always from the air…?" I asked myself, pulling myself up, holding my head, feeling a bit dizzy.

I looked over to see the Purple Sister look up at the Anti-Share Crystal as it finally turned black.

"NOOOO!" Purple Sister screamed in horror, as I my fist clench the dirt beneath me.

Arfoire just laughed, as she turned to Nepgear.

"So, how's it feel to be an only child now?" Asked Arfoire, the only answer she got were sobs.

"Everything you did was too little to late, but cheer up kid, you'll see your sister again." Said Arfoire. "In fact, I'll reunite the two of you right now."

I felt my muscles ache, as I pushed myself off the ground. I took one shaky step forward, as I looked up at Arfoire.

"How about… you pick on someone your own damn size…" I said, exhaling heavily, drawing my gun.

"You look like you're about to pass out." Said Arfoire. "Now, I am a bit curious, but… who exactly are you?"

"...I'm just some stupid kid." I said, walking in front of Purple Sister and the other candidates. "But honestly, I don't care… you want to get to them, you have to go through me."

"That shouldn't be to hard then." Said Arfoire.

"Maybe…" I said, smirking. "But then again, I'm just buying time."

"Then you can die first!" Shouted Arfoire, charging at me.

Suddenly, four lights emerged from the Anti-Share Crystal, and the next thing I knew, Purple Sister was in front of me, blocking the attack.

"You're wrong about my sister…" Said Purple Sister. "And our other sisters too!"

The other candidates pulled themselves into sitting positions, looking at the Anti-Share Crystal.

"Noire's still alive…" Uni said.

"What!?" Arfoire growled out, looking back.

"See, time stalling… I think I did good enough…" I said, collapsing onto my hands and knees. "Give her hell girls... I'm just gonna stay here and... rest..."

"Hyaaaa!" Purple Sister let out a roar of defiance, as she pushed Arfoire away from her, cancelling out the attack.

Arfoire flew higher into the sky, as the other candidates stood up.

"Our sisters aren't dead." Said Purple Sister, a blue aura of sorts surrounding her. "They're still fighting."

"We're not going to give up either." Said Black Sister, the same aura now surrounding her.

"We'll fight!" White Sister (Rom) said, followed shortly after by White Sister (Ram). "And we'll win!"

All the candidates at this point were surrounded by this energy. I just sat there, a smile on my face as I gasped for air.

"I swear on my life we'll defeat you. We'll put body and soul on the line!" Purple Sister said. "We'll be the shining in the darkness!"

As soon as the words excited her mouth, the aura surrounding the candidates merged into a ring of colour and energy that pulsed out. The sky filling with loads of sparkles, or stars. I couldn't exactly tell.

"What the… Don't tell me, this is Share Energy Resonance…" Arfoire said in shock.

Arfoire's armour started to shatter and come apart.

"What's happening, my anti share energy, my beautiful miracle?" Arfoire asked in confusion. "There erasing it somehow."

Arfoire quickly rocketed away, however the candidates were right on her tail.

However, the force of their take off knocked me onto my back, and as it currently stood, I was in no condition to do anything really.

"...It's surprisingly beautiful…" I said to myself looking at the sky.

The sound of something shattering caught my attention, as I rolled over to see the Anti-Share Crystal shatter, leaving only a crater in it's wake.

"...Give it a moment…" I said to myself, as the sun rose up to my left.

I looked up, seeing the four goddesses were alive and okay.

"...Good job guys." I said, pulling myself up, wobbling a bit. "...This is your victory."

I was very far away from them at this point. Honestly, I'd walk further away if my body would let me. This wasn't my victory, I hadn't earned such a thing.

I looked on as the CPUs had their moment with their sisters, feeling a bit of a sense of… longing.

"...Not surprised really…" I said to myself. "...It's family, something I… don't have anymore..."

I felt a tear start forming in my eye, but I quickly wiped it away.

"..." I looked back at the CPUs and the Candidates, a smile on my face.

Finally, Purple heart started looking around for something specific, and then she finally locked eyes with me.

I gave a sad smile, before my vision started to darken, causing me to place a hand on my head as I wobbled from side to side.

I quickly lost my balance, as I collapsed onto the ground. My vision becoming a swirling mess of black, blue, green and purple.

The sound of someone panicking was the last thing I heard before I passed out.