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Chapter 17: Holding Back

Dimension: Ultradimension

Nation: Lastation

Location: Cafe Sunlight

Time: 8:30 PM

Point of View: Tamazaki

We're in a cafe now… and I don't know why. After we successfully managed to sneak out of the hospital, we decided to look around for a place where we could talk in private. Terra refused to go back to Planeptune, and even if he didn't, I don't think Tizius is strong enough to carry two people across the entire land...

While we were walking around, we found a cafe that was still open at this time of night, So, we decided to step in. The place and service aren't that bad, actually, I'd say that it's pretty good! Though, that's not what we came here for.

Terra was going to tell us everything. He was going to tell us why he left for a year, who was that person he was talking about earlier, and most importantly… what did he want us to do to help? Once again, I can't decline to help because I don't want to die, and I actually want to go home.

"Alright, where do I begin…" Terra sat back into his seat. "This is might be a long one, so I hope you're prepared for me to talk your ears off."

"It's fine! We have food and drinks!" Tizius was sipping his drink, which I think was apple juice. "We'll be fine for a very long time!"

"That's until you consume everything and ask for seconds…" I muttered and also took a sip of my own drink, which was lemonade. "Anyway, we're ready. Start from the very beginning."

"... Okay. Even though this all happened 10 years ago, this was before I happened to meet Tizius." Terra saying that had reminded me of what he had told me earlier, which caused me to shiver. "I was… either 8 or 9 at the time. I lived a somewhat happy life, my parents didn't have a lot of money, but they did their best to provide for me and… my sister."

WHAT?!

As if on cue, both Tizius and I spat out our drinks… right onto Terra. The guy didn't seem to be too happy, but what did he expect?! He just told us that he had a sister! I've never ever once pictured Terra having a sister instead of a brother! ... Man, wait until I get back home. Those two are going to be so damn confused!

"YOU HAVE A SISTER?!" Tizius seemed even more surprised than me, but that was probably because they've known each other for a long time… also, he's being loud again. "How come you never told me that, Terra?!"

"... I'll get to that part in a bit." Terra was wiping off the lemonade and apple juice from his face. "But yeah, I have a little sister and her name is Saori. The both of us got along pretty well, and even though she was the type of girl who would have multiple pretend boyfriends at school, she would always tell me that I was always her number one… Oh, I should also mention that it sibling love sort of thing, and we didn't love each other romantically. That would be pretty weird."

"Yeah, that would've been really weird. Right, Tammy?"

… I'm just not going to answer his question and pray that Terra continues with his story… and continues it quickly.

"But then… s*** hit the fan, and everything in my life had suddenly started to go downhill. One day, both me and my sister overheard our parents talking about some things that were definitely illegal, but we didn't know at the time." Terra continued. "However, what we did know was that they were talking about shipping us off to someplace across the ocean."

"Shipping you…?" I repeated.

"Yup, those were the exact words we heard. It was summer around this time, so we had thought they had meant they were going to be shipping us off to some summer camp for the next few months… But we were wrong. We were VERY wrong." Terra shook his head. "You want to know where they were sending us? Cause I'll tell you! They were sending us to some sort of camp… but I thought of it as a prison."

"Prison?" Tizius looked kind of confused. "Wait, does that mean that you've dropped the soap before in the showers and got-"

"No, you idiot! It wasn't that kind of prison!" Terra smacked him across the head. "Anyway, my parents shipped us off to that camp, and we weren't the only kids there, mind you. We were one pair of many children whose parents had shipped them off to that camp for some reason."

Are there really that many parents who would just give up their kids so easily…? Just hearing this makes me a little angry because I technically have a daughter… who I haven't seen in 6 years now.

"That place was terrible. They were constantly abusing us, overworking us, and overall, just treating us like garbage. We all wanted to go home, and we kept begging for them to take us back to our parents." Terra was tapping his glass, which was filled with soda. "But one day, the asshole that ran the prison decided to bring us all together and told us… that our parents brought us there on purpose and weren't coming back to get us."

"...Huh?" Tizius and I put our glasses down.

"That prison camp we were in? Yeah, it was filled to brim with kids that whose parents couldn't accommodate for them. Saori and myself were included, and the two of us couldn't believe the words that were coming out of his mouth."

"If your parents couldn't take care of you, then why didn't they just put the both of you in an orphanage?" I asked. "They should've just done that instead of putting you guys in that Hellhole."

"That's a good question, and fortunately, I have an answer." All of the sudden, Terra slammed his fist onto the table and knocked over all of our drinks. Tizius had already finished his, mine was practically done, but Terra still had a full glass. "Because they wanted MONEY!"

"Money?"

"For some reason, that camp was looking for children that fulfilled certain criteria. My sister had all criteria needed, while I was only missing one. However, they just let slip that by because it wasn't that important or something, I don't know." Terra said. "If those children were brought to that camp, then whoever brought them there would receive 10 million credits… EACH."

"That much?! Why did they give so much money just for a bunch of kids?!" It does seem PRETTY weird that they're giving so much just for a bunch of children.

"This was during Gamindustri's Golden Age, so having that much money was normal… makes me wonder why my parents were broke as f*** but I don't care." Terra shook his head. "But after they told us that… the camp became an absolute nightmare. A good majority of these kids had suddenly turned into a bunch of wild animals. Those who acted like this were just… punished."

"Those children must have been beaten really badly… I don't want to think about that." If only Tizius knew how ironic what came out of his mouth was...

"I told my sister on that very day, that I would protect her with my life, and would find a way to get us both out of that prison," Terra said. "I attacked anyone who did as much as talk about her behind her back, regardless of their gender. I didn't care, I just wanted her to be safe."

"Question: Why did that camp need so many children in the first place?" I asked. "What could those children do that adults couldn't?"

"Well… the ass who was in charge made us search day and night for Sharicite Shards, and APL Souls." I know what the Sharicite shard is, but an APL Soul...? "In case you're wondering, an APL Soul is something that allows a person to transform into an APL… if they meet the requirements that is."

"So that's where that criteria stuff from the beginning came from…" If that's the case, then that's basically the same thing as a CPU Memory, except for APL like us… err, like Tizius in this case. I still haven't been able to transform… maybe I'll be able to if I got my hands on one of those though…

"Yeah, but… it's not always a guarantee that you'll become an APL. If the person using the APL Soul isn't fit to become an APL, the Soul will transform them into a monster." Terra said. "I've seen it happen before and… it was terrifying. That place was both a prison and an experimental camp. They would make us gather all these APL Souls, and then would take a couple of kids to use them as subjects. If it failed, then those kids were killed on the spot."

"Did any of them… pass?" Tizius tilted his head.

"There were a few that did… but, they all ended up dying because they couldn't control the power." Wait, were girls apart of this equation? I've never met a female APL before… actually, would that even be possible? Back in the catacombs, Hinato did say that they were a rare case… but he never said that they didn't exist. "My sister and I never got tested on… well, I never did, but I'm unsure if she's been tested on."

"Unsure? How were you unsure? Weren't the two of you together all the time at that camp?" I asked.

"That's where I start getting into the main part of the story." Terra just then realized that he spilled his drink all over the table, and started to clean it up. "After sometime… a group of us decided that we would escape from that camp. We ended up trying to steal a ship, but as we were about to get out of there, the guards had caught a majority of us. Apparently, one of the kids among us had ratted us out, and they were waiting for their moment to strike."

"One of the kids that got grabbed… Was one of them your sister?" I asked.

"... Yeah. I said a majority of the kids got caught, however only a few of us wanted to sneak away. I wanted to go back for Saori, but those little bastards I was with didn't let me go. So… we got on the ship and sailed away…" Terra sighed. "Throughout the first few minutes we were on that ship, I kept on calling Saori's name. I didn't know how things could get worse… until that f***er blew up the entire ship."

"He blew up the ship you were on?!" Tizius really needs to control his volume levels, he's the loudest person in the entire nation for crying out loud! "That's really messed up!"

"Yeah, well… You wanna know what's even more messed up?" Terra asked a rhetorical question. "When I came to, I found out I had washed up on a beach somewhere near Planeptune. And as far as I know… I'm the only person who actually survived that explosion. I was never able to find anyone else."

"... What happened after that?"

"What happened after that? Well… I spent the next few years searching and searching for Saori. Along the way, I ended up meeting the midget and Tizius, which was good… and bad, I'm not going to try to sugarcoat it…"

"Meeting me and Natty was a bad thing…?" Whelp, you did great, Terra. I'm sure Tizius isn't going to break your neck or anything, but he is going to start crying, and since he looks like a girl… people are going to think you made a little girl cry and are going to jump you.

"No, meeting you two probably had to be… one of the best things that happened to me around that time." Terra muttered that last part.

"D'aww, is someone turning into a Tsundere?" I started to tease Terra. "You tsunderes are just so cute when you're embarrassed!"

…. Tizius and Terra were staring at me as if I had done something wrong… in which I did… and I'm ashamed of what I've done. "... Sorry, that's just one of the side effects of dating Neptune." I cleared my throat. "We tend to randomly start acting like each other for some unexplained reason… But anyway, that's not important right now! Why was meeting those two bad?"

"Well… since I met them, I wasn't really able to travel all over the land like I was when it was just me by myself." Terra said. "Tizius liked to follow me around (and I'm sure he still does), and after searching for sometime, he would start complaining that he was tired and would want to go back home. This made finding Saori a lot harder because I was restricted to certain areas, and Tizius was with me."

"Oh… I'm sorry, Terra." Tizius frowned. "If only I knew, then I wouldn't have been such a pain in your butt all your times…"

"You don't have to apologize, it's fine. I mean… I didn't tell you anything because I didn't know if she was even… alive."

Alive? … Right, they had to have been separated for quite sometime since Terra met Tizius. And that camp wasn't the best, according to Terra's account.

"It continued that way for 9 years, and I was no way in Hell giving up. I wasn't going to stop until I knew what had happened to her." Terra said. "I was waiting… waiting for the day where I would be able to actually go off on my own, but I just couldn't leave a Tizius and Hinato behind… that was until a certain someone came along and sent me flying into a tree."

"I have nothing to apologize for, it wasn't my fault that portal had spat me out in your general direction." I crossed my arms. "But I guess we're getting into more recent events since this is around the time I arrived in this dimension."

"As soon as I left the Basilicom the moment we met Neptune, Plutia, and bitchface." Yep, I was right. He's still holding a grudge to this very day. "I searched for a way back to that prison… and I had actually found it after searching for a few months. So, if you guys were searching for me, and you most likely were, then you wouldn't be able to find me since I wasn't even in Gamindustri."

"You weren't in Gamindustri?" Tizius repeated. "Where were you if you weren't in Gamindustri, Terra? Ooh! Did you get sent to another dimension like a Tammy?"

"That's… highly unlikely." Once again, I don't know if that's the case. He could've been sent to another dimension for all I know. "... Were you in another-"

"No, I was in this dimension the whole entire time. I just went across the ocean to a small subcontinent." Terra said. "It was called Gamarket."

…

…

…

I don't know why, but I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. Something about that name makes me want to curl up in a ball and die, and I'm not sure why.

"I then spent the rest of the time there, trying to find information, or just trying to find Saori. I had tried going to the same camp we were in, but it was completely deserted… as to be expected of course." Terra then sat up in his seat. "... I heard something from one of the locals though. They had told me that the person who was running the prison 10 years ago got sent to prison… in Gamindustri."

"So, is this how you ended up back in Gamindustri? You wanted to find that guy and make him give you answers?" I asked. "Did you even think that he would remember you or your sister?"

"I wasn't sure about me, but I was positive he knew something about Saori, she was there longer than me after all…" Terra scratched. "But… this part is weird. I don't actually remember what happened next."

"You don't?"

"Yeah, I don't. I remember traveling to the nation where this guy was being held captive, but after that, everything is a blur." Terra said. "I just blacked out, and when I came too, I was in that hospital."

"So that's the whole story, huh?" That certainly took some time, we've been in this cafe for close to two hours. Shouldn't this place have closed or something? Cause no one interrupted at all, even during the loud parts (then again, it's the middle of the night, so what should I expect?) "I never expected this to take so long."

"Well, I did say in the beginning that this was going to be a long story," Terra said. "So sorry if it's past your bedtime, but I just needed to tell you all of that."

Terra then proceeded to get up from his seat and stretched. He then looked at me and Tizius, and looked like he wanted to say something, but wasn't really sure that he actually wanted to say it.

"But now, you both know the entire story. You know why I disappeared for a year, and what my overall goal has been this whole entire time." Terra said.

"To be completely honest, I thought you had left so you could become an APL yourself anc have your own nation." Noire left to build a nation, so it shouldn't be weird that Terra would leave to become an actual God… Then again, Noire and Terra are two different people, so I shouldn't compare them.

"...After the s*** I've been through, becoming the leader of a nation is the last thing I want to do with my life." Terra gritted his teeth. "Besides, I don't think I even have the potential to become an APL. I'll probably just turn into a monster like the rest of the unlucky f***s back there."

"Oh, come on. The Terra in my dimension-"

…

…

…

It just suddenly hit me… The Terra, Kashi, and Zest from my dimension… aren't actual APL. All three of them are artificial Gods that were created by Uhrevia with the use of some Genetic Engineering crap. If that's the case then… Oh, f***.

"What were you saying?" Terra asked. "Something about the me from your dimension?"

"Uh… Actually, nevermind. Forget I said anything…" How did that completely slip my mind when I first met them?

"Hey, Terra…?" Tizius got up out of his seat and walked up to him. "What are you going to do now? Are you going to… leave us again?"

Tizius was looking at Terra with a face that would make him feel absolutely guilty… which was what he was probably feeling right now, as well as a tad bit uncomfortable since it's Tizius.

"... I'm-"

"AAAAAHHHH!"

The f*** was that? All three of us looked in one direction and witnessed a woman throw some guy out of the cafe and onto the street… I can smell alcohol, for some reason.

"And a word of advice: Don't ever touch any of my girls, otherwise the consequences will be a lot more physical next time." The woman then proceeded to bow. "Thank you for spending time and money at Club Sunlight, have a good evening."

What… Happened for that event to occur? All I heard was something about not touching that woman's girls and then her telling him to piss off in her own words. The woman closed the door and then looked in our direction.

I don't know why, but I feel like I've seen her… well, not her face, but that outfit she's wearing. It looks a bit familiar, but I can't put my finger on where I've seen it before.

"Oh, my apologies for bothering you boys this late at night with such an unpleasant display." The woman. "That man was causing a bit of trouble in my Cabaret Club, so I had to throw him out."

"Cabaret Club?" Terra looked around. "Isn't this place a cafe?"

"Yes, you're correct. But I rather not get into the details right now, so another time." The woman said. "So, might I ask what you boys are doing here so late? You aren't plotting something that would run my business into the ground, would you?"

"No, ma'am, we weren't doing anything of the sort. We were just talking about… the past." Terra said. "We're going to be leaving soon though, so don't worry."

"Oh, no. That's perfectly fine, you can stay here as long as you like." The woman said. "Three of you seem like you don't have anywhere to go, and I would feel terrible for kicking you out."

… Did she just imply that we're all homeless? Yeah, I'm pretty sure she did! It was in her tone of voice as well!

"No, it's fine. Really. I'm going to be going to-" Terra stopped himself and looked back at Tizius, who was continuing to give him that guilty look. "... No, we're going to be going to Lowee in a just a bit."

Lowee..? Wait, we're going to Lowee?! I totally forgot that nation actually existed in this dimension! If we're going there, that means two things. The first being that I'll be able to see this dimension's Blanc and Kashi, and the other thing being… that guy who did something with Terra's sister is imprisoned there. Why else would we be going to Lowee?

"Lowee, huh? I've heard that it's gotten pretty dangerous over there from one of my regulars." The woman said.

"We'll be fine, Miss. We may not look like it, but we're all combat experienced." I told her. "We're going to be fine, so-"

"Oh, I'm in no way doubting your abilities. The three of you look like very strong boys, so I'm sure you'll be fine. I'd just thought I'd give you a heads up, that's all." The woman smiled.

"Oh.. well, Thank you, Miss."

"Oh, please don't call me, "Miss" or "Ma'am" Well, what do you want us to call you then, Mommy or something? "My name is-"

"YOU WHORE!"

The same guy that woman had thrown out earlier had suddenly come charging in and lunged at the her. As Terra and I were about to act we witnessed something that was absolutely… stunning.

The woman had moved so fast, it looked as if she teleported behind him. The woman then proceeded to grab him, face him towards her and unleashed a barrage of punches into his stomach. She then proceeded to knee him, and as he was holding his stomach, she raised her leg so high that it was by her face, and had hammered him onto his knees. How could it get worse for this poor guy, you ask? She then proceeded to grab one of the stools, and used it as a golf club and sent that guy rolling out of the cafe.

…

…

…

"... As I was saying. Just call me Ryuka, boys." She just… did that and… how the… HOLY S***! THAT WAS RAD!

"What… What was that?!" Terra shouted.

"WILL YOU BE MY MOMMY, RYUKA?!" Tizius shouted.

What's going on everybody? My name is Acallaris, and I hope you all enjoyed this chapter… even though there was a lot of information being spat out.

So… Terra has a sister named Saori, who's he's been searching for all this time, huh? And from the looks of it, those three are going to be heading off to Lowee to find more clues about Saori's whereabouts. What's going to happen there? Well, we'll have to find out… eventually! Cause this is the end of the cycle.

This is the end of the 2nd cycle, so that means that the next time I post a chapter, it's going to be for Re;Start1. So I hope you all are looking forward to that! (Also, that chapter may or may not take me an extra day to post, but I'll try my best to get it out in 2 days)

Also, were any of you surprised to see that I'm using Hyperdevotion Noire characters in this story? No? Well good! I'm probably only going to use two characters from that game, and Ryuka is one of them. Why Ryuka? Cause I love the YAKUZA games. There's your answer.

But, that's all I have for now. Thanks for reading once again, and I hope to see you guys next time!