Chapter 20: Restoration and Dimensional Friends

Brian stood in the ruined Sharicite Room, much of what had once been a part of the room had been either destroyed completely or had been blown across the Basilicom. As he glanced around the room the only thing that remained intact was the Sharicite itself, it was dim and appeared to look dead but a small light shimmered from its core, signalling that it was still operational.

As he looked at it Brian wasn't quite sure how it was going to work out, he feared that if he failed then who knows what would happen to Neptune and Nepgear, not to mention Planeptune. On the other hand what happened if he succeeded but something happened to him instead?

"Well, I know of one thing; I must help the Nep sisters and restore the Sharicite, even if I remain unappreciated by the citizens of this city," said Brian.

He placed his right hand on the Sharicite and waited, what he was waiting for was unclear even to himself, he didn't know what he was expecting to happen. He then remembered what he said to himself a while ago; 'I just need to focus on my willpower'. With that in mind he began to focus, well, he didn't really know how to focus but he was willing to give it a try.

"Come on! How hard is it to focus my energy into the damn Sharicite?!" he yelled.

Since he was alone in the ruined room he didn't expect an answer, and an answer he didn't receive. After attempting to focus his energy for over five minutes he started to get agitated.

"This … is … ridiculous!" he shouted to himself. "Just focus … focus … FOCUS! There's more than one way to activate my power without anger, that's for sure."

The Share Energy then began to glow around him once more, but more fiercely this time, he stood up and placed his right hand over the Sharicite once more, he looked into it and saw his reflection; the Share Energy was bright across his body and his eyes were flaring blue.

"Yes! It's working! Now then, time to restore the Sharicite."

Suddenly Share Energy started to flow from his hand and into the Sharicite, causing it to shine brightly, the plan was working so far. He kept focusing the energy into the palm of his hand and moved it into the Sharicite as it continued to glow, but Brian then felt tired due to the strain of focusing the Share Energy into the Sharicite.

"Must … keep … going," he grunted.

The entire room began to shine as a result of the Sharicite regaining the Share Energy, yet Brian continued to pour more of the energy back into the Sharicite, he felt dizzy and even more tired than before.

"I'm … getting … too tired," he mumbled as he lost focus and fell to his knees, he could still feel Share Energy flowing through his body but for the moment he was content; he had returned some of it back to where it should be.

"Finally, I've done … something … good," panted Brian. "Dammit … I might loose consciousness, that just … keeps … happening to me, huh?"

He crawled his way to the exit of the Sharicite Room and proceeded to grab a large piece of metal, which was part of the debris, and used it as a walking stick to get him to the elevator. But as he got there the elevator opened and he saw someone as his vision darkened.

"Hey, you alright there?"

"… and so that's what happened," Histoire explained to everyone on the video chat.

"We should have stayed there," said Vert. "It would have been better for us to have been there instead of leaving."

Chika gave a worried look towards Vert before looking at Histoire. "How's the boy and his friend coping now?"

"Brian is figuring out a way to restore the Sharicite by using his power, and as for Angel, well, he seems to have settled in comfortably," replied Histoire.

"Still, I find it disappointing that Blue, or whatever he calls himself now, lied to us about his true name," pouted Noire.

"Noire is right, I find it saddening even if he did have a valid excuse," commented Uni.

"What's done is done, and besides, he did have a reason for it," said Blanc. "From what you've said, Histoire, it would seem that Brian is determined to restore the Planeptune Sharicite, so I can still trust him."

"I hope Neptune will be alright," mumbled Noire to herself, which everyone heard anyway.

"Hmm? Did you say something, Noire?" asked Vert with a cheeky grin on her face.

"What? NO! I didn't say anything about hoping Neptune will be alright or anything so don't get the wrong idea!," yelled Noire.

"You do realise you just admitted that you were worried about her don't you, Lady Noire?" smirked Kei, causing Uni to chuckle.

Noire glared at the two of them and shook her head furiously. "No no no no no no! You've got it all wrong!"

"Whatever you say, tsundere queen," said Blanc with a grin.

As Noire continued to protest against everyone Blanc was tapped on the shoulder by Mina, who looked rather ecstatic.

"Yes Mina? Was there something that you needed?" asked Blanc.

"You need to take a look at this report," replied Mina.

Blanc took hold of the report and gazed at it, suddenly she became astonished and quickly turned back to the video chat.

"Histoire, the Shares of Planeptune are rising," reported Blanc.

"What?" everyone exclaimed.

"Then that would mean that Brian actually did it, he found a way to restore the Sharicite," said Histoire while smiling.

"But what would happen to Brian?" asked Kei.

"I … I don't know," replied Histoire honestly. "I'm not sure what will happen to him. I'll get someone to check on him. Angel! I need your assistance."

Everyone on the video chat watched as a brown haired boy with purple eyes walk beside Histoire and glanced at her and the video chat, he appeared to have little interest with what was going on at all.

"Yeah? You need something?" asked Angel disinterestedly.

"Yes, can you go to the Sharicite Room and see if you can find Brian please? He's managed to restore some of the Share Energy back into the Sharicite."

Angel shrugged. "I suppose I can do that, though you may want to tell IF and Compa to look out for Neptune and Nepgear as well."

Histoire nodded to Angel before he left the room, he didn't look concerned and he didn't appeared to be worried at all. When he closed the door as he left the office Histoire sighed.

"He's going to be a problem," sighed Histoire.

"So that's Angel? He looks bored as hell, and sounds utterly rude," commented Noire.

"Don't judge a book by its cover," retorted Vert. "There may be more to him than meets the eye, just like Brian."

Histoire nodded. "Anyway, I have to go and inform the others about the news, farewell for now."

The others said their good byes and the video chat was turned off. Histoire floated her way down the corridor on her tome towards the main room, when she got near the bedroom she heard the voices of IF and Compa along with what sounded like Neptune and Nepgear, even though they sounded groggy it still sounded like them at least.

"What the nep? What's going on? Weren't we in a cave having a seizure of sorts?" asked Neptune.

"Yeah good to see you too, Neptune," said IF sarcastically.

"Oh, right. Good to see you, Iffy," greeted Neptune as she rubbed her eyes.

Compa was crying as she jumped at Neptune and hugged her. "Nep-Nep! Welcome back!"

Nepgear tried getting out of bed but fell back onto the covers of the bed with a grunt. "What … what the goodness happened to us?"

"You both had a loss of Share Energy," explained IF.

"Wah? Did Nowa release a new game to take away my popularity?" asked Neptune half jokingly.

"Actually, it was those Dark Captains that tried to steal your Share Energy, they almost succeeded until Brian got in their way and absorbed it, plus he caused a lot of damage and no one in the city thinks highly of him," replied IF.

"Wait … Brian? Who's that? And why did he cause so much destruction in the city?" asked Nepgear.

"Well, you see … Brian is Blue's true name," responded Compa. "And as for destroying a large area outside the Basilicom, he kinda got carried away with a new combat move."

"Eh? Blue is this Brian guy? Where is he?" asked Neptune.

"I believe he may be in the Sharicite Room," replied IF. "It looks as if he managed to get it working again now that the both of you are up."

"Goodness … is someone going to check up on him?" asked Nepgear.

"I heard Histoire call for Angel to go fetch him, so there shouldn't be any problems," replied IF.

"Angel? Who's that?" Neptune and Nepgear asked.

"A friend of Bri-Bri who followed him into the portal and ended up here earlier today," replied Compa. She had taken the liberty of calling Brian 'Bri-Bri', much to his own self pity.

"Sounds like an interesting guy," said Neptune. "When can we meet him?"

As soon as he get Brian up here," answered IF. "But for now, just rest."

"Hey, you alright there?"

Brian's vision was darkening but he could recognise the person standing in front of him; it was Angel.

"Oh, hey there. Do you mind if I get in the elevator?" asked Brian.

"Be my guest, I was sent to fetch you by Histoire anyway, from what I saw all those other Goddesses you told me about were concerned about the situation here, and then they asked about you."

Well I'm fine, just rather dizzy, loosing my sight and feeling like I could loose consciousness at any moment."

The two of them got into the elevator and ascended to the higher levels where they were being expected by the girls. Brian looked through the see-through glass of the elevator and saw the setting sun in the horizon to the west, many people would call it beautiful but Brian and Angel wouldn't call it that, to them it was just another normal event that occurred at some point during the day, for the day they had today was rather eventful.

"So, how was your first day in Gamindustri?" Brian asked Angel.

"Hmm … I'd call it bizarre as no other explanation comes to mind," replied Angel.

"That was kinda the same response I thought of for my first day. Still, it's better than being back at home and preparing to go to school."

"Damn right about that."

When they reached the floor they wanted they got off the elevator and walked down the hallway, Angel had to support Brian has they walked when Brian dropped his metal rod before getting on the elevator. They were approaching the main room when suddenly a flash of light purple and white ran towards Brian and smashed into him, sending him down onto the ground on his back. When Brian looked at who or what smashed into him he found Neptune hugging him tightly.

"Uh … why are you hugging me Neptune?" asked Brian. "Oh, and nice to see you."

Neptune looked up at Brian with a small smile. "Good to see you too, Brian," said Neptune, almost holding herself back from yelling.

"Ah, so they told you my real name then? Don't worry about it, I was going to tell you and Nepgear my real name at some point durign the today or even tomorrow you know."

"Hey, don't worry about it, but anyway … thanks for everything you've done for us."

Brian smiled and patted Neptune on the head. "It was nothing, but I doubt your citizens are going to like me since I kinda destroyed a part of the neighbourhood."

"That can be fixed up easily and I hope quickly," said Histoire as she entered the hallway along with Nepgear, IF and Compa.

"I'm glad my plan worked, although not all of the Share Energy was returned I'm afraid," explained Brian.

"Well, what's done is done," said Histoire. "But now with some Share Energy back I'm sure Neptune can be convinced of the need to do some work."

"What?! Nepu! I ain't gonna doing work," complained Neptune as Nepgear, IF and Compa chuckled.

"It isn't a choice, Neptune," snarled Histoire.

"Brian, help me!" pleaded Neptune.

Brian could only chuckle as Neptune begged for him to help her while Histoire continued to lecture her about the need to do work now that she has a reason to raise her Shares, it was starting to become a normal evening once more in his mind.

"And this is where Brian sleeps."

"Ooooooo, the bed looks soooo comfy."

Brian had been silently awakened by two voices in his room, well actually it was one of the guest rooms but he claimed it as his own for the moment, but he wasn't pleased that he had been awakened by two people barging into his room just to take a look. He could recognise the first voice he heard as Neptune but the second voice, which sounded as if it came from a sleepy girl, he couldn't recognise at all.

Must be someone new then, I've already met all of Neptune's friends … at least I think so anyway. Damn they're getting loud, can't they just shut up?!

"Hey, Brian, wake up already," demanded Neptune. "If you don't wake up I'm gonna do something to ya."

Brian continued to stay still as he tried to sleep in and ignored Neptune's attempts to get him out of the bed, finally she stopped talking and Brian silently sighed with relief. He thought that they had finally left him alone, but when he heard someone jump into the air and land on his body did he realise he was utterly wrong.

"GAH!" yelled Brian.

"Finally, you're up," beamed Neptune as she continued to stand on Brian.

"Of course I'm awake! Who wouldn't be awake when a small Goddess jumps onto you?!"

Neptune giggled and sat on his chest. "Whatever, Bri-Bri."

Brian gritted his teeth when Neptune called him by his nickname. "I've told you to never call me that again."

"But I like it, so therefore I can call you it whenever I want to."

Brian sighed in disbelief, he knew that it was nearly impossible to argue with Neptune, unless you happened to be Histoire, so Brian would usually give up arguing with the pudding obsessed Goddess. His attention was then caught by viewing the sleepy girl who had accompanied Neptune to rid him of his beauty sleep.

She had fair-pale skin and pink eyes while her hair reached waist length with messy bangs framing her face while her hair was in a big braid held with a pastel pink frilled ribbon. Her outfit consisted of a loose powder blue top with a frilled neck segment with a bright pink-purple bow and a long white section in the centre held with a white multi-piece belt with a purple piece, it also had pink cloth sections with ruffled white lining and single white stripes on the sleeves. She wore a dress that had small button-clasped sleeves with peach and white lines, the skirt is of an uneven length while she wore pink bear fuzzy slipper. She then walked up to the bed and stood close to Brian.

"Hellooo there, how are you?" asked the sleepy girl.

"I've been better, yet I've also been worse I suppose," replied Brian. "Anyway, who are you?"

"My name is Plutia, Goddess of Planeptune," came the response.

"Huh? I thought Neptune was the Goddess of Planeptune."

"Of course I am, but Plutie is from a different dimension where there's another Gamindustri," explained Neptune who was still sitting on Brian's chest, much to his discomfort.

"Well, I'm not surprised actually," remarked Brian. "It would make sense that there would be different versions of Gamindustri somewhere. So then, Plutia, do you come here often?"

Plutia nodded. "Yep, but I don't stay here long though, apparently time runs faster in my dimension when I'm here and time moves slower here if I'm in my dimension."

"Hmmm … so then, if a day passed here then it could have been over a month or two back in your home?" Brian asked Plutia.

"It's something like that," replied Plutia.

"Nepu both, too much weird info!" groaned Neptune.

"It's called science, a very important piece of life for anyone," explained Brian.

"Whatever. Oh, Nep Jr. has made some breakie if you want any."

"Alright then, just get off me and I'll be on my way."

Neptune beamed at Brian as she got off his chest and followed Plutia to the kitchen, leaving Brian to close the door to his guest room after he had gotten out of bed. He sighed and looked at a mirror that hung near the bed, he looked at his reflection and touched the mirror where his eyes were reflected, they flared blue for a second before returning to normal.

Now what? Even with the Dark Captains still roaming around I know that I can't stay in Planeptune for much longer, the locals don't seem pleased to even look at me, even the guards aren't very friendly in their attitude towards me even though I'm a friend of the Goddesses. Urgh, I've gotta speak to Histoire about it.

Once he got changed from his black pyjamas and into his usual attire he opened his door and walked to the main room, but once he approached it he saw something, or rather someone, running towards him. It looked like a large bee with a human face from the distance, but as it got closer it looked like a little blonde girl in a black and yellow jumper that had a tail, she also wore a pair of shorts and sneakers. She also looked to be wearing paw gloves. Her eyes were blue and she had two oversized hair bobbles on top of her head. The girl jumped and smashed into him.

"Wha-URGH!" grunted Brian as he fell to the ground from the extreme force of the hug.

"Yay! Now I can get Nep's pudding!" yelled the small girl excitedly as she jumped off Brian and ran around in circles.

"Guh … Nep's pudding huh … Neptune!" grumbled Brian as he struggled to get up.

"Oh goodness, do you need help, Brian?" asked Nepgear as she ran up to him from the kitchen.

"Yeah, I might need a helping hand for once."

Nepgear was quick to get Brian onto his feet, when he managed to stand up he looked at the little girl running in circles around them. He was stunned that someone that young could muster the strength to almost knock him out just from a hug, and he had a feeling about who may have put her up to it.

"Tell me, Nepgear, where is Neptune?" Brian asked in a too-calm-to-be-sane voice.

"Um … she's in the kitchen looking for pudding last I saw her," replied Nepgear, unsure what was going to happen to her older sister.

"Ta very muchly," thanked Brian as he left the bewildered Nepgear and the excited kid behind.

As he entered the main room he looked for the kitchen and saw Neptune scavenging through the fridge, obviously the Basilicom had run out of puddings and Neptune was having a bad time believing it, or there was a pudding or two left at the back of the fridge and she was having a hard time trying to reach it. It looked as if it was serious either way as most of Neptune's body was in the fridge, leaving her long legs exposed. Brian walked up to her and cleared his throat loudly.

"Hello there, Neptune," he greeted in the same too-calm-to-be-sane voice.

Neptune stiffened when she heard Brian's voice and quickly got out of the fridge to look at him, she had a slightly worried look on her face.

"H-h-hello there, Brian, how are you?"

"I've been worse, but tell me; did you happen to have convinced that little air head of a girl to smash into me? I heard she was going to get one of your puddings once she got off me."

Neptune gulped nervously, she couldn't help but notice that Brian's eyes were flaring blue again. "Err … I might have done something like that … but it was to get you acquainted with Peashy that's all!"

"Peashy? Who's Peashy?"

"The girl who smashed into you, of course."

"Fine, I'll believe you, this time. Next time don't tell Peashy to smash into people like that again, alright?"

Neptune sighed with relief when Brian started to calm down and his eye returned to normal. As Neptune resumed her mission to scavenge for pudding in the fridge Brian walked over to the couch where Angel and Plutia were, they seemed to be getting on alright even with Angel's personal 'tastes', but as Brian got close to them he felt a shiver go down his spine. Obviously something wasn't right with their personalities, but Brian decided not to delve into it and instead decided to leave them be, so he then walked up to Nepgear and Peashy who had re-entered the room.

"Hey there," greeted Brian.

"Oh, hello there, Brian," responded Nepgear. "Are you alright now?"

"Yeah, just shook Neptune up a bit but we're fine. By the way, I heard from your older sister that there was some breakfast around here somewhere."

"There's a plate of food for you on the table."

"Thanks Nepgear, well, I'm off to eat now."

As Brian sat down at the table and ate his plate of food, which consisted of fried eggs and bacon on toast, Angel and Plutia were still talking about Gods know what from what Brian could hear. Brian decided to ignore them as he continued to eat, so he missed what they were talking about.

"So what is it like back in your dimension?" Angel asked Pultia.

"It's similar to here, except with a few changes," replied Plutia. "There are other Goddesses there as well."

"Quite interesting."

So far it had only been small talk but they were getting along pretty well, in fact Angel was beginning to enjoy Plutia's company as he found her amusing, even if he didn't show it. As for Plutia, she found Angel to be an interesting guy and was doing her best to befriend him.

As Brian ate his food he was getting interrupted constantly by Peashy who wanted some of his food and, after many attempts to shoo her away, he finally gave up his bacon to her, he sighed and shook his head as he watched Peashy sit down happily on the chair next to him while eating his bacon.

Well, at least she thinks highly of me now that I've relented and given her food. By the Gods are all kids like this? If so I can't imagine what Blanc would be like when it comes to Rom and Ram.

For the next few hours the usual chaos ensued; Brian attempted to read a book in peace but the attempt was a failure as Neptune and Peashy kept interrupting him, Angel too the opportunity to swing his two-handed sword around the place, Nepgear and Plutia would talk at times and would include Neptune if she wasn't annoying Brian while Histoire, who entered the room at some point, merely sighed.

After trying to read in peace for three hours Brian was getting fed up, but before he could voice his problems something got everyone's attention; the sounds of microphones from all across the city were being turned on and the same voice, or voices, was speaking through it.

"… well screw you too. Oi! Shut up! Can't you see I'm doing something here?!" shouted two voices at different times. The first voice disappeared with disgruntled grumbles, leaving the second voice to himself,

"Urgh. Anyway, greetings residents of Planeptune City, there is no need to panic, this is just a message for a certain someone out there in your beloved city."

"That voice, I've heard it before," mumbled Brian. "It's one of the Dark Captains, the one that nearly killed me."

"This message is for the one who calls himself the Shadow Walker. Shadow Walker, if you are somewhere in the city then come and find us, we need to … solve our issues. Come and find us along the southern outskirts outside of the city if you want to know more."

The crackling noise of the microphones died and all eyes in the room turned and looked at Brian, who was starting at a wall in front of him. He sighed, stood up and quickly walked to his room where he strapped on his set of throwing knives, his sword and his hat. As he left his room and headed down the hallway to the elevator he was stopped by someone grabbing onto his right shoulder, Brian turned around and saw Nepgear with a dreaded look on her face.

"Don't go, they'll kill you if you go," pleaded Nepgear.

"I want to know why they went through all that trouble just to lure me outside the city, plus I want to beat some of them up," responded Brian.

"Then let us go with you," said Neptune. "We gotta make sure you remain safe."

"I'm afraid I have to agree with the air head here," groaned Angel. "I know that you prefer working alone in these type of situations but in case if we ever get back to our dimension I need you to give me some more gaming advice and, not to mention, some money so I can get extra delux items for my characters."

"Fine, but you guys can only participate when necessary," sighed Brian in defeat.

"Can I come along too?" asked Plutia.

"Yeah sure, why not?" moaned Brian. He didn't want anyone to go with him but at least he felt safer in numbers.

As the group left the Basilicom to head for the south Histoire and Peashy were left behind, this left Histoire with some time to call IF and Compa and let them know of the situation.

Good luck everyone, may you all return safely.