"Tom, you stupid dummy! This is a very dangerous place! You shouldn't even be here!"

IF and Thomas had stumbled onto Rom and Ram, the twin sisters of Lowee that came to the Expo to deal with an incursion of robots. While Rom and Ram were relieved to see someone other than robots, Ram was taking exception to Thomas being around. Hence the opening line here being a repeat from the last chapter.

"Uh, well-" Thomas tried to explain what he was here for, but Ram was quicker with her retort.

"There's a reason we went around getting everyone out of the entire Expo!" Ram argued, "I can't believe you would be so stupid enough to still be around."

"Uh, Ram?" Rom interrupted, "I don't remember seeing him at all when we were getting everyone away. I did not see IF either."

Thomas grimaced as Ram asked, "So, why are we seeing them here now?"

"We all came here looking to find you both!" Thomas retorted straight at Ram, "We came to the Expo with Lady Blanc and other CPUs to come rescue you."

"Big Sis is here?" Rom looked excited, looking around the corner hoping to see her sister, only to find nothing, "But I don't see her..."

"We got separated from her and the others, when a quake collapsed a tunnel behind us. They are still in the Expo, as far as we know," Thomas explained.

"Is Tom telling the truth, IF?" Ram asked, slightly concerned. As IF nodded, Ram winced, "Drat. Now we're really gonna get it from Big Sis. We went after promising her to stay in Lowee."

"But we couldn't ignore what was happening at the Expo!" Rom pouted, "People were in danger!"

"You two can argue that with your sister when we get back," IF said, "We can't get back the way we came."

"The minecart path is down?" Ram grumbled, "Lame. We've been going back and forth, messing with the robots from the shadows. Like ninjas!"

"Really?" IF was bewildered by this, "How did you manage to do all this for all those days you were here?"

Ram grinned, happy to be able to boast about what they did, "We were prepared! We took a lot of non-peri... non-perisss... non... we took food that could last a long time!"

"Uh-huh!" Rom added, "We used that to keep our energy up, and took turns sleeping when we went hiding."

"That's right! We've been busy exploring the Expo and bringing down the robots' numbers!" Ram continued, "This mine was also connected to the Expo, so we've been using it to our advantage too!"

"I miss the good food back home," Rom complained a little, "We had so much canned fruit and oatmeal bars."

"It's a small price to pay to save everyone!" Ram rationalized, "We won't let those robots bully everyone else!"

IF finally chimed in, "That's all well and good, but everyone is worried about you, including the people you evacuated."

"Those people were scared to come help you," Thomas sighed, "But they have held themselves outside the Expo waiting for your return."

"What? They're still waiting?" Ram looked puzzled, "We told them to seek shelter and everything!"

"The firewall has been keeping some of them from going back home," Thomas said, "And those that live around here are still hanging out in the camp. Point is, they are still holding out for you."

"Firewall?" Ram blinked.

"That must be that weird thing we saw since we came here!" Rom answered, "Is that why we couldn't feel anything from Lowee?"

"You couldn't feel anything?" IF wasn't quite sure what Rom meant.

Thomas clarified, "You couldn't feel the share energy from Lowee, right?"

Rom nodded, "Both me and Ram had to be careful. We didn't feel so strong when we came here."

"I had a feeling something was weird about all this!" Ram was somewhat feeling better about knowing why she wasn't feeling a hundred percent, "I'm guessing Big Sis helped out so we can feel shares again?"

"She did help," Thomas answered, "But it's something the CPUs can do to take down this firewall that's affected all of Gamindustri."

"And the robots?" Ram asked simply.

"They're connected, yes," Thomas nodded, "From what we can guess, there's an old program on the fritz that's confused the CPUs with a viral outbreak. It doesn't make sense, but that's what we got so far."

"We can talk more about all this later," IF said, "Right now, we gotta get back to the Expo to meet with the others. We can't go back the way we came, though."

"Lucky you found us, then!" Ram beamed, "Because we can show you another way to get back there! It's actually close to the other side of the Expo!"

"But Ram!" Rom frowned, "That means we might have to fight the big robot again."

"Oh yeah, that stupid robot toaster's there, isn't it?" Ram said as she looked behind her, turning to look down the tunnel.

"Big robot? I don't like the sound of that one bit," Thomas said as he looked rather nervous about another prospect of a boss fight.

"Take it easy, Thomas," IF tried to calm him down a little, before looking to the twins, "The robot you mention, tell us about it, and is it possible to sneak around?"

"It's a giant blocky thing," Rom described it pretty vaguely, but tried to elaborate, "We had little trouble with most of the robots. Eventually we faced these harder robots, but we figured out they were weak against magic. But then, we faced this big robot thing, and it was really dangerous."

"It was like a combo of those harder robots we faced," Ram added, even as she continued looking down the tunnel, "This stupid dummy was always accompanied by other robots and would have its own magic. It was a stupid jerk and it kept bringing out more of its friends."

"We ran, since it was such a scary fight," Rom shivered, "But it's still around the area. We couldn't think of how to beat it on our own."

"We could sneak around that stupid thing," Ram said, "But we have to make sure it's in a big room we can be sneaky in."

"Okay," IF said as she went beside Ram, "Just help me lead the way around to where we can get back to the Expo. If we're lucky, we can avoid that robot until we meet with the others. That will make things much easier if they are involved."

"Agreed!" Thomas exclaimed, trying but failing not to be too enthused in avoiding a fight with this robot.

"Don't get us wrong," Ram said, trying to save some face, "We could totally demolish that thing on our own! It's just... a very big fight, and we weren't feeling good at the time!"

"I wanna see Big Sis again," Rom pouted.

"M-me too!" Ram grumbled, "Come on! Let's get our sis to help us finish these bullies off!"

"O-kay!" Rom complied simply, and the two led IF and Thomas with them down the tunnel, presumably on the way back to the Expo.

While IF was trying to stay at the head of the party, only for Ram to jump ahead so she could point the way, Thomas stayed in the back, still nervous about what could be ahead. He was not the only one feeling nervous, as Rom was keeping to herself, though walking beside him.

Trying to ease both of their nerves, Thomas said to Rom, "You must've been brave to have done all this so far."

Rom seemed surprised as Thomas spoke, then replied, "I don't know about brave. I am still scared."

"Oh," Thomas said quietly, feeling a bit awkward after that, looking downcast.

"You're still scared too, right?" Rom asked, picking up on Thomas' expression.

"Ah, y-yeah," Thomas admitted, not wanting to lie about something so obviously written on him.

"But, here you are," Rom said as she glanced over at him, "Why did you come here?"

Thomas frowned a little, trying to condense all that's happened into a short reply, only to answer, "It's, it's a long story."

"I like to hear that story when we have more time," Rom said quietly, smiling a bit, "But, even if we're scared, we can both face those fears together."

Thomas bit his tongue. Much as he would like to concur with the statement, he would also like to do that with a full party with everyone else. If this was anyone else he was talking to, he might point this out. However, that look of hope coming from Rom was enough to turn him against it. He just couldn't.

Rom then surprised him by saying, quite simply, "You were going to say something about facing those fears with the others."

Thomas sweatdropped, seeing as how he was so easy to read. It's not as though he was hiding his expression. Still, he was trying to hold back a little there. But no, it was as though Rom just knew what he would say.

"You had me figured out so easily, didn't you?" Thomas muttered.

Rom nodded, "Uh huh!" Thomas sighed, before Rom added, "I can see the same worry I have on your face."

Thomas glanced over to the people ahead of them, before looking back to Rom. Taking another deep breath, Thomas said quietly, "Then you know... we'll have to make sure we succeed."

"We can do it," Rom said in her attempt to assure him, though it was also to help herself, "The others count on the both of us."

"You know, Rom," Thomas said as he laughed a bit, "I was going to eventually try and assure you, but it seems you were more capable."

"Eheh," Rom smiled, "You're too slow."

"Hey! Sis! Tom! Get over here!" Ram spoke in a sharp whisper behind her, as she and IF was heading out of the tunnel. She was waving the both of them over to follow close behind her. Thomas and Rom turned their focus to Ram, and followed behind, as IF turned her head over to look around a corner.

"Checking," IF noted to the three in a hushed tone, before motioning forward, "Coast is clear." She stopped to look again, "We must be getting back to the Expo."

Thomas shivered a bit, "I can feel some of the Lowee cold weather again. We must be nearing the surface."

Ram looked out from the corner, before hopping out, speaking normally, "Looks like that dummy robot isn't here. Usually, me and Rom see it around this part."

The area was a simple clearing, similar to the area IF and Thomas were in when they found the minecart that sent they rode on earlier on. One major difference was that there wasn't another level above them. The other major difference was the amount of crates laying about on the side. The crates undoubtedly saw better days when the mines were in use; however, they made for some pretty decent cover in the clearing.

"We'd hide behind the crates," Rom said in an aside to Thomas, "And let it pass by before moving on."

"Is that so?" Thomas hummed in thought to himself, then asked Rom, "Is this the only place you could get by it between here and further down?"

"Uh huh," Rom said quietly, "There are some areas further down we could hide, but this is a good spot. They never check by the crates somehow."

"IF!" Ram exclaimed, trying to get her attention, "We might be able to avoid it if we see it coming this way. We gotta be sneaky! If we see that thing between here and the Expo before meeting the others, we gotta get back here."

"We'll keep that in mind," IF said, "By the way, if we encounter anything, how are you two good for fighting-wise?"

"We've fought quite a bit," Ram answered, "But so far we've managed. We're running out of recovery items, though."

Thomas blinked, and checked through his inventory, while Rom added, "We still have plenty of healing grass, but not a lot of items to restore magic."

"That... could be a problem," Thomas winced as he scrambled through his list of items.

"Problem?" IF eyed Thomas, seeing the concern look on his face, "Something the matter?"

Thomas frowned, "Uh, well, I seem to have forgotten to buy more SP items during our last stop. I only have three SP Chargers left."

"Only three?" IF blinked, "Really?"

"We haven't stopped anywhere since Randome City, and I don't really use much SP to begin with," Thomas looked more worried, "But, since the twins are heavy magic users, and probably have the best shot against those elemental robots..."

"Oh," IF muttered, "That would be a problem if we got into battle."

"Here," Thomas took the SP Chargers from his inventory and gave them to Rom nearby, "You, Ram, and IF will need to conserve these."

"Um, okay!" Rom said as she took the Chargers with her.

"With that out of the way, let's hurry and get out of here," Thomas was still feeling uneasy, "I'm sorry, I should've bought more SP items."

"Geez, quit being such a downer," Ram complained, "It's still three more than what we had."

"We only recovered SP by sleeping," Rom clarified a bit, "It's why we had to be sneaky around here. We didn't have enough magic to do everything."

"Oh," Thomas was surprised by the responses he got, "A-alright."

"Shall we be off, then?" IF tried to get everything back on track.

"Let's go, Rom!" Ram cheered up immediately, and turned towards the tunnel, moving out.

"Right, Ram!" Rom rushed ahead, carrying the Chargers with her before showing them off to Ram as they walk on together.

"We should probably keep following them," IF said to a confused Thomas, "That means we go too. Snap to it, Thomas."

"Guh, wait up!" Thomas came back to Gamindustri and quickly followed behind the girls.

Although the tunnel continued on, the four could see a lot better thanks to the better lighting from farther down. They were getting closer to the Expo, Ram kept telling IF and Thomas, as they followed what seemed like a very long and winding path. Despite this, there was optimism, as they had yet to encounter any of the robots.

After what felt like a long time, the group could see the end of the tunnel, as well as a hole in the wall. The tracks ended a while back, but apparently the tunnel led to a dead end, at least until recently with the quakes shaking things up.

Unlike the entrance IF and Thomas went through, this was a rather large hole in the wall that led directly to a part of the Expo building. Thomas could identify it as such as the area looked more like a freezer than the actual mines they were going through. The Expo kept the same Lowee theme of snow and winter weather throughout most of its architecture, and the Expo was no different.

Ram looked around the empty tunnel, than bolted towards the hole in the wall, "We're here! See? It wasn't so hard after all!"

"Ram, hold up, there may be something beyond the hole in the w-"

"It should be fine," Ram said as she looked into the area, checking both ways before bounding, "See? Not a problem at all!"

"If Nep were here," IF muttered, "She would say this would've set up a flag by now."

That's because Neptune watched too many television shows and anime! No matter, it seemed IF was right to be concerned, as it was at that moment that Ram heard the sound of rockets being shot at from the other side of the room. Ram, being the small target, dove down to avoid a rocket to the face. Instead, it flew off to the other side of the room she was in and exploded.

"I hate it when even hypothetical Nep is right," IF said as she unsheathed her blades.

Ram got up soon after, irritated more than anything, turning to face whatever attacked her, and bringing out her staff, "Seriously? Attacking me with rockets to start? Ugh, lame! Now you just gave away your hiding spot!"

Getting a better look, she realized what she was up against, as it was none other than the giant toaster itself. At least, that was one way to describe it. Like the rover Thomas encountered in the sewers, it came in on wheels. However, its shape was more of a block or cube than anything, with metallic ports along each of its sides. These ports would open up to fire rockets like the ones fired a moment ago, or to bring out other weapons, such as a machine gun turret. A notable thing, in addition, was the strange lever on its side that moved up and down on its own. It didn't seem to have a purpose, but it certainly made for the visual of a moving toaster. Finally, to finish off this description, this ticking toaster has strange vents at the top of its, er, shape. This is where the strange machine casts whatever magic spells it was equipped with.

All in all, it's truly a... a... what am I looking at, exactly?

"It's a stupid looking toaster, is what it is!" Ram was kind enough to inform me of how it looked. Yes, I suppose that is true, but really, who or what would design this kind of thing? Are we really going to add this thing to the bestiary? I'm gonna have a talk with the author after this chapter's over. Now, where was I? Oh yes, by the way, Ram, you may need to look beside them. There's a couple of robots nearby moving in.

"Huh?" Oh shoot, I distracted Ram too much, as two of the humanoid robots jumped in on the target, missing with their blades but causing a few shockwaves which knocked back our young heroine a few feet. She barely made it to her feet when she was attacked again.

This time, Ram saw a quick blur get in front of her as someone rushed in to stop the robot's attack. "Raster Interrupt!" Thomas had the courage to actually say the name of the move, and parried the robot's move, knocking it back and retaliating with a quick slash at it, this time actually dealing some damage. Knowing this was not enough, Thomas moved quickly to the next part of his attack, turning and finding a less-metallic area to kick at, knocking the one robot into its friend and pushing them away. No, that was not a new move. He just simply pushed the two back.

Following this display, Thomas went into a guarded stance, seething through his teeth, "Back! Off!" Once again, Thomas showed some fire to start off his part in the fight. It slowly petered off, as he saw the damaged robots get back on their feet, and Thomas noticed the giant toaster in the back of the room he rushed into.

"Uh, please?" Thomas asked the robots rather nicely to perhaps reconsider whatever programming they had. This did not go so well, as the robots switched their hands from wielding blades to using turrets. This time, it was Ram who came to the rescue, pulling Thomas away from the incoming fire, and pulling him with her behind some cover.

"Are you crazy? Because I'd believe it with what you did there!" Ram scolded Thomas for his move.

"Whatever it is, sure, we'll go with it," Thomas lamented, keeping his body down under the small little wall that made for their cover, "You have the best shot of taking down whatever that is. Can't have you hurt badly or worse in the opening moves!"

"Okay Crazy Tom," Ram continued, as she turned to get her staff ready for a spell or two, "Just stay outta my way. I'll blast 'em but good!"

Ram waited a moment for a pause in the fire, before hopping over the wall and throwing out some fire spells at the nearby robots. As they weren't the elemental robots, these ones were quickly scorched by Ram's rapid fire.

As this was going on, IF and Rom were trying to come up with a way to get a jump on the enemies, when they heard the sound of gunfire approaching behind them. IF's eyes widened as she saw some robots from the mines catching up to them.

Fleeing from gunfire, the two ran into the room, avoiding Ram's current rampage and diving behind the currently safe cover where Thomas was. Soon, however, Ram saw the other robots coming in from where IF and Rom fled, and fell back to cover.

"This is really bad," IF growled, "The timing's too perfect. Those robots coordinated all this. They must've waited for us to move all this way just so they could corner us."

"Ram, we've gotta do something!" Rom said as clung to the cover ahead of her, "This is scary."

Ram patted her sister's shoulder, "Come on, Rom. We can do this. We have to. Everyone in Lowee is counting on us!"

Thomas shivered some, trying to push back at the fear that would cause him to run in a situation like this. However, since he and the others were cornered, this couldn't be done. "IF," Thomas said quietly to IF, "Can you reach the others via the phone now?"

"Hmm? Right," IF pulled her cell phone out, and tried to contact Nepgear's number, "I'll see if I can reach them. I'll tell them we're on the other side of the Expo. Uh, we are, right?"

The gunfire continued for a little longer, as Ram nodded an affirmative to IF. As IF did that, Thomas took some deep breaths, "We need to buy some time. Rom, Ram, save your SP and magic for attacks and focus on that massive... toaster... thing!" Thomas unsheathed his cutlass once more, and closed his eyes, murmuring to himself a few words.

"Wait," IF scrambled to finish her text as she tried to ready herself for combat, "You're not going out there alone!"

"Join me when you're ready, I'll be trying to keep them off our magic users. I believe you'll do fine," Thomas exhaled once more, and clung to his cutlass as his eyes opened, "Worry not for me."

Before the three could interject, Thomas hopped onto his feet, quickly moving to one corner of the room, trying to draw the attention of the nearby robots. It was easy to call attention to yourself when you're flailing about wildly and desperately trying to dodge bullets. This was extremely insane for Thomas to do, but because of his higher AGI stat, he was able to dodge most of the fire.

This didn't mean he was not feeling some damage, however. As he charged like a maniac at a group of the robots, swinging his cutlass at one aggressively, he found himself ganged up by the others, who smashed his back with a couple of well-timed punches and kicks, softening him up for the robot on defense to counter with an uppercut, sending him reeling and to the floor. The other robots that were firing at the cover paused to watch this spectacle, as Thomas was given a couple of more kicks.

Finally, after doing all she could to get the message out to Nepgear, IF leaped over the cover and dashed right in to intervene. The pause in the gunfire clearly helped with that decision, as she knocked a few of the robots in the way and slashed at the one that was kicking Thomas around.

"Was wondering when you'd help," Thomas winced as he got up.

"Seriously, stop doing that!" IF scolding him, "This is not a time to get yourself killed."

"I have no intention," Thomas said simply as he pulled out a Nep Bull, "I may not have brought much SP Chargers, but I stocked up on so many Nep Bulls, it's time to put them to use."

"Really?" IF cringed, turning around to slash at some of the nearby enemies, "Drinking all those things is not good for the body."

"Neither is getting beaten up by robots," Thomas coughed a bit before using his first of what would be many Nep Bulls. The Nep Bull was designed to be effective healing medicine, and it was. However, it had the unfortunately side effect of not being terribly tasty, and more potent versions tasted worse.

"You have a point," IF said, "So, what now?"

"We keep them away from the twins," Thomas refocused himself, deciding to be more methodical and less, er, insane, "We take on the closest ones, let them attack the big guy. Heal with items."

"Sounds better than charging in wildly," IF muttered, "Maybe we should start now before the robots can finally retaliate?"

"Uh, right!" With that, the battle was officially underway, with IF and Thomas going to the front row. Thomas was still being rather aggressive during the opening rounds. Although the twins were certainly stronger than he was, he couldn't let the robots get in the way, especially if it meant taking down the boss here. Plus, even with three SP chargers, it might not be enough to take down the boss and these enemies.

Thomas was getting some attacks in to start, and jumped in with a slash on a bot. Unfortunately, he was still not particularly strong in such stats, so he braced himself for the eventual counters. IF, on the other hand, made sure to keep close to Thomas so he wouldn't be stupid to get overwhelmed again.

Rom was initially hesitant, as she wanted to heal the humans out in front. It was only when Ram noted their goal that Rom pulled back, and focused with her sister as they began their transformations into their CPU counterparts.

This move stirred the robots back into action, and even the giant toaster of doom was starting to whir. In its first move since wheeling itself in, its gun ports opened and fired several rockets at each of the heroes. The rockets were not terribly fast, but they all had to dash away from their trajectory, as they dropped down and exploded, destroying the cover they once hid behind. Probably should've done that earlier when your friends were shooting, Mister Toaster. Not that I should give the bad guys advice.

As that was happening, another wave of robots came in to replace the ones lost, making things rather frustrating for our heroes, who were bogged down into a fight of attrition. IF and Thomas would tackle on the new reinforcements while the twins would fire bolts of magic at any enemies that got close, or the toaster whenever they had a clear shot. Rom and Ram used Eternal Force Blizzard as their go-to for their shot, trying to damage the various gun ports and anywhere they think could damage the boss. While they inflicted some damage, the toaster - are we really calling it that? - anyway, the boss was awfully sturdy, and on occasion it would fire a couple of lightning bolts or fireballs at the nearby humans.

For Thomas, this was a horrifying experience. In addition to fighting for his very life on the front, he was acting very aggressive. He wanted the enemies to focus more on him, and braced for every punch, kick, bullet, or magic that was flung his way. Each hit hurt a lot, and he was already sick of the taste of Nep Bull as he used his fifth one. If he wasn't sure his body was aching, his stomach sure was telling him. Yet, despite IF's advice to let her take point, Thomas continued to push to the front, stubbornly taking the role of tank in this battle, even as his hit points were not extremely high. He had the inventory ready, and he wasn't going to let any one of those bastards touch even a hair on the twins. Was he being overly protective? Most likely, yes. It certainly made him understand more of how Blanc was handling some of these battles. In any case, he was barely able to hold the line against the seemingly endless waves.

Just as Thomas thought things were starting to slow down, with the waves of robots stopping, another wave came in. It was something that he feared would happen, with a few of the humanoid robots coming in with various elemental 'armor', from flames to ones made of rock, and even one with an icy coating.

Thomas slumped his shoulders, "It's one thing for a boss battle, but a gauntlet like this?"

"They really wanted to take us down," IF tried to get her second wind, which she had been doing for the last few rounds.

"We're gonna need elemental magics against those things just to slow them down," Thomas grumbled.

"We got another problem, Crazy Tom," Ram exclaimed, still using the new nickname she just gave him, "We've run out of SP Chargers already, and our magic's dropping down."

"What? Now? We barely even damaged that boss!" Thomas said incredulously. There was damage at the gun ports, but the giant toaster of magic doom was still lumbering around, peppering the area with lightning bolts and fireballs every now and then.

"We don't know how long we can keep going," Rom said, "We might use a few elemental attacks from our staffs, but they won't be powerful enough."

"We still need more time," Thomas said, his fear evident, "We need to hold them off long enough for the others to arrive. We got to..."

"We don't even know where they are right now," IF noted, "They might be dealing with the same issues as we are, fighting wave after wave of these things."

"We need some more time, that's all," Thomas said to himself, trying to calm down but it didn't seem to be working. He closed his eyes once more, falling back a bit to try and refocus, breathing. His panic was simmering down, but he needed to think of something, anything to stop this from getting any worse.

"Uh, Thomas?" IF jumped in front of him to stay on guard against the approaching enemies, "This is no time to be praying right now. Thomas?"

Looking back, IF could see Thomas looking rather calm with his eyes shut and holding his hands together, grasping the blade in front of him. The odd moment of peace was interrupted as Thomas soon opened his eyes, confused, "Uh? Sorry, I spaced out there, what was that?"

IF sweatdropped, "We're still in the middle of battle."

Thomas eeped, resuming his stance, "Crap! Sorry! I don't know what came over m-"

"Ice coffin!"

Thomas' panic was interrupted by the twins both shouting for their signature ice attack, leaping at the nearest elemental robots and unleashing a rather potent burst of ice. Even for the one robot who was encased in ice, it was a very powerful shot. Even Rom and Ram couldn't believe the amount of damage they inflicted, as the two robots they targeted were quickly vaporized.

"What the hell was that?" IF said, and while she was usually careful with her language in front of the twins, this time she couldn't hold back her tongue.

"Woah! I didn't know Crazy Tom had a little skill like that!" Ram said, fairly certain of what just happened.

"Huh? Me? What?" Thomas was puzzled, as was IF.

"I felt a spell from Thomas too," Rom added, "It restored a bit of our SP, kinda like when I use the Refreshments skill!" For those unfamiliar with the skill, Rom had a skill that, while using some of her SP, would allow others within an area to receive some. Pretty useful for someone with a big mana pool as Rom.

After listening to my explanation, IF shook her head, "Is that what his praying did? Brought back some SP?"

"You saw the damage we did! Boom!" Ram emphasized with a laugh, "Hahaha, let's keep that up and we can turn this battle around in no time!"

"Praying? I was kinda meditating, really, to calm my nerves," Thomas admitted, feeling odd about the whole thing.

"More meditating then, please!" Ram said happily, "I have a lot of pain I wanna dish out!"

"Pretty please?" Rom pleaded, as though Thomas actually needed some extra pressure to stand still and meditate.

"Uh, well-" Thomas hesitated, looking at the still-approaching enemies.

"Let me handle the front row," IF insisted, "Like I've been trying to tell you the whole battle. You want to rely on us, right? So, let us do our damn jobs!"

"Uh, IF? Language?" Thomas noticed this time around.

At this point, IF didn't care, "Just make with whatever you were doing... uh, you are capable of doing that again, right?"

Right on cue, a message box appeared indicating that Thomas had learned the new move "G. Meditation", complete with fancy level up music.

"Your moves have silly names!" Ram teased.

"I noticed," Thomas winced at the new move's name. Really, the name would be fine, but that G at the beginning was going to pester him. Regardless, Thomas sighed, "Alright, I guess I'll keep meditating?"

"Right! Let's mop up these robots!" Ram cheered excitedly.

"O-kay!" Rom said with a bit of flair as the two White Sisters began their attack on the other robots.

"Hey!" IF complained, "You two stay behind me, you got that? Why won't anyone let me take the front in this battle?"

IF eventually managed to take the front, as Thomas closed his eyes and began to use this new move. It was strange using a move that was apparently charging up the CPUs' magic, especially since all he was doing was trying to relax. This was all too weird for him. On the plus side, if anything, he didn't have to take a punch to the face as often.

Well, he thought about that as he incidentally got a punch in the face from a random robot that wanted to interrupt his meditation. Ow.

"Crap!" IF scrambled back and rescued Thomas from a further beatdown. Thomas winced, grabbing yet another Nep Bull to use just in case he was ambushed once more. Perhaps he could find a way to meditate while his eyes were wide open, so he can avoid getting surprised like that.

With a quick apology, IF returned to the front, making sure for certain that there were no stragglers behind to bother Thomas' meditation. The toaster was not going to take this... lying down? Sorry, that line nearly broke me there. The boss continued to fire what it could up front. However, it would soon recognize Thomas' meditation in effect and how it was turning the battle against it somehow. Thus, it switched its targeting from the twins and IF straight to Thomas, aiming for a launch of rockets straight at him.

IF panicked, darting back as quickly as she could, "Thomas! Keep meditating! I'll do what I can!"

Thomas quirked an eyebrow, but kept his eyes shut as he tried to use his move. IF was starting to wonder if this new move was worth the trouble, even as Rom, well really Ram, was enjoying the mayhem she was creating with her boosted magic. Ram laughed and even made some sound effects to emphasize the crash of her ice magic.

IF shook her head and looked back at the slow-moving rockets heading for Thomas. Thinking quickly, she pulled out some old kunai blades she would keep as spare blades, and threw them right at the rockets. The impact was enough to set them off, exploding in air as IF shielded herself. Thankfully for her, none of that hit her or Thomas.

The boss wasn't done, however, charging up some electricity and readying a magic bolt attack. IF could see that it was not holding back, even as the twins were focusing their fire on at the giant toaster. IF dashed and grabbed Thomas just after he finished his last meditation, yanked behind IF who pulled him behind her as the bolt crashed down where Thomas had just been.

Thomas, a little tired after the last meditation, barely had any time to react to the near-hit, as IF stopped and let go of the disoriented man. "That was close, phew," IF sighed, "This is giving me more of a workout than the actual fight so far."

Thomas blinked, "I think I hit my limit on meditations."

"There's a limit?" IF asked, as she glanced back to see Rom and Ram continue to blast the boss with their ice magic.

"Uh, well, more like I just ran out of SP, myself," Thomas winced, "The move does use a bit of my SP to fill theirs up, after all."

"We've got to warn them!" IF said, as she took a few more deep breaths, before beginning her rush back to the front, with Thomas following.

Once IF and Thomas met with the twins, IF was quick to tell them, "We're out of SP. Thomas can't do any more meditations."

"What? Lame, and I wanted to finish this stupid thing off!" Ram was frustrated, namely as she really did feel she was getting close. The boss has plenty of damage all around, with parts of the boss close to breaking open. Unfortunately, none of them were physically strong enough to break it apart on their own.

Just before they could debate more, yet another wave of robots, though of the more vanilla variety, arrive as reinforcements.

"They still keep reinforcing," Thomas complained, feeling rather weak at this rate.

IF, trying still to catch her breath, frowned, "I don't know if we got any more in our tanks to keep going."

Rom looked worried, but still held her staff at the ready, "We can still do this? R-right?"

There was an awkward pause, and Thomas could only close his eyes to pray this time.

"Where are they?"

The sound of an exasperated voice brought the group out of it, as the reinforcements were actually those retreating from IF's call for backup. The Planeptune CPUs soon came into the room to give chase, but it was Lady White Heart of Lowee who was the most vocal, and most noticed. She charged in, full CPU form, and tore through many of the robots with her weapon, dragging some of the defeated robots with her. With a quick look around, she noticed the boss, and threw the robots right at the thing, providing a big dent.

"Big Sis!" Rom and Ram were overjoyed to see their sister, even as Blanc was in a particularly angry mood.

"In a moment, you two! I got a score to settle with that... I don't know what to call that thing, but it needs to die!" White Heart put off the impeding reunion, charging at the large block of machinery and hitting it with her Zerstorung. The boss, weakened by magic over a long period, was busted open by the strong physical attack.

"Nice going, White Heart!" Purple Heart had flown in to take the spotlight, readying her blade, "Now to finish it off it off with Neeep-"

"Stand aside!" White Heart shoved Purple Heart away, and took the center stage, staring down the boss, "You! Not only did I have to endure wave after wave of your stupid contraptions, I had to endure not being with my sisters throughout this entire ordeal! You and your friends have been messing with my nation, my friends, my sisters, and everyone else I care about! You've pissed me off, and I've been meaning to vent this entire act! Now die!"

Blanc has been angry quite often in the past, but it takes a bit to get her really upset. Having waited long enough, White Heart busted out her Hard Break EXE move, a punishing move where she would pummel the enemy with plenty of spin. At one point during this move, she would do an actual hammer throw like an Olympian, tossing her massive weapon at the boss, keep running, grab her weapon as it bounced back, and jump in with a final blow with almost as much spin as earlier. Seriously, it's a surprise Blanc doesn't get dizzy from the whole thing.

Suffice to say, the final blow was enough to set off the chain of explosions that would finally destroy the giant toaster monstrosity. Good riddance. That boss was an eyesore. Plus, I can finally stop talking about how the party fought a magic robot toaster.

The few remaining robots fled through the mines, leaving our heroes to stand down. The CPUs returned to human form, as Thomas sat down on the ground to rest, slouching his shoulders and nearly falling over from exhaustion.

Blanc exhaled after having properly vented against the boss, as she heard the small footsteps of her sisters behind her. Rom and Ram were both a little nervous in approaching her, but they both resolved to speak out to her.

"Big Sis... we're sorry for leaving you alone for so long," Rom was the first to speak out.

"Yeah," Ram added, "We had good reason to, though. We had to deal with this problem ourselves! We wanted to be sure everyone was sa-"

Before Ram could list off their rationale for dealing with this quest, Blanc turned around and, kneeling down, grabbed both twins in her arms for a large embrace. Despite her efforts to hold back her emotions, she was clearly shaken by the whole thing, with tears welling up in her eyes.

"You two don't have to say anything," Blanc said quietly, "You did what a CPU would have to do in a situation like this. I am very proud to have you both as my little sisters. Most importantly, we're here now, and I am so glad to see you both safe and sound."

There was a quiet pause, before the two sisters returned the embrace, crying with joy as the Lowee CPUs shared their tender reunion.

"Once again, good triumphs over evil, because evil was kinda dumb!" Neptune said in a bit of triumph to no one in particular, although she left the Lowee girls alone to hang out with Nepgear and Uzume.

"It's so heartwarming to see them together again," Nepgear beamed, "And I guess now with the boss cleared, those earthquakes will stop now."

"Kinda weird that the boss didn't use that much earth attacks, or quakes," Neptune noted, as if she knew what it was doing.

"Perhaps it was just leading a group of elementals making an annoyance," Nepgear though about it for a moment, "Either way, looks like we scared them off."

"I mustn't cry at this," Uzume held her hands together as she watched the three sisters hug it out, "But it's just so freakin' adorable!"

Meanwhile, another hug was taking place, as Compa leaped and embraced IF from behind, "Iffy! I'm so glad you're okay!"

IF flustered, as she could feel Compa's embrace, as well as Compa's ample chest pressing against her back, "O-of course I'm okay! Still, I am relieved to see all of you here. It was getting kinda bleak near the end there before you all showed up."

"I bet you did a lot of work too!" Compa exclaimed, "You feel all kinds of sore, Iffy!"

"Well!" IF said, trying not to sound like she's boasting, but Compa knew better, "I did have quite a workout through this whole thing. Sneaking around, having a minecart adventure, taking down rockets..."

"Sounds like you gave it your all!" Compa smiled happily at her best friend, "I think I might have to offer something to help your aching body, though. How does a nice massage sound?"

"M-massage?" IF flustered, "A-are you sure that's something that would help?"

"I guess I wasn't really prescribing anything," Compa admitted, "But I thought you needed a little care. You're going to say no?"

"N-n-no, I mean that's not it!" IF corrected herself, "I wouldn't mind at all!"

Compa giggled, holding IF close to her, "I'm so glad! I'll finally be able to try out these new techniques I read about! This'll be great practice!"

"Oh! Great! Glad to be your guinea pig," IF said weakly, slowly wondering if she was going to regret agreeing.

Finally, Plutia walked over to check on Thomas, who had been curled up on the ground, trying to relax after that battle which took quite a bit out of him. Plutia tilted her head at the strange man, and then, politely, gave him a gentle-

"Poke~!"

Only for Thomas to fall over on his side. Plutia was puzzled by this reaction. He should be okay, riiiight?

Yes, he'll be fine. I think?