Chapter 25: New Faces, Old Memories

Things could have been worse for the purple sisters of Planeptune, a lot worse. They had been up against the other Goddesses during the Console War, the various species of monsters throughout Gamindustri, an 'old hag' who attempted to kill them, the rise of Eden, a mad CPU that was once the Goddess of a bygone nation and now a few warlords attempting to steal Share Energy for an unknown sinister purpose. Compared to all that what they were now dealing with seemed like a holiday, an annoying holiday though.

As the Planeptunian Goddesses sat on the couch and as Histoire looked depressed whilst floating by the doorway a young blonde girl - who was wearing a light pink dress with pinkish-white ruffles on the neck, chest and sleeves, also included were a magenta bow and a skull in the centre of the skirt, she also wore pink shoes and each had a magenta bow on them - was standing in front of the two Goddesses with a microphone and two strangely clad people stood behind her with cameras, the girl was trying to get information out of them whilst attempting to degrade their reputations. The subject: Brian … sort of.

"He has harmed the lives of many innocent little children, he should not be in the care of the so-called Goddesses of Planeptune, especially ones that are little girls," informed the girl.

"Hey, only little girls call others little girls, missy!" retorted Neptune who was getting rather pissed off.

"How dare you call me a little girl! If anyone around here is the little girl it's you!"

"Nepu! You're the one who's complaining about it, little girl!"

This sort of bickering kept the talking to merely a backlash between the pudding obsessed Goddess and the little blonde girl who may be older than she actually looked. Nepgear looked over at Histoire, who was still unsure about what to do.

"Um, Histoire, why is she here?" asked Nepgear.

"I don't really know, all she said was that she needed to let the world know about the immorality of letting little girls be CPUs while also saying something about protecting the little children from whom I can guess is Brian," replied Histoire. "Then she barged her way up here with those two strange people and, well, this happened."

"Huh, I see. Who is she again?"

"I think she said her name was Abnes, or something similar to that."

The bickering got louder as Neptune and Abnes continued to call each other little girls, suddenly Abnes screamed in frustration.

"I AM NOT A LITTLE GIRL!" screamed Abnes.

"Yikes! Someone is getting angry," remarked Neptune. "Calm down would ya?"

Abnes recovered her composure swiftly before clearing her throat with a cough. She then looked back at Neptune and Nepgear with a determined look on her face.

"Now then, tell me, CPUs, who is this young man that you have kept around here? More importantly, where is he?" demanded Abnes.

"Whaa? You want to meet Brian, or is it Angel? Well it ain't happening, little girl, both ain't here," replied Neptune casually.

"Grrr … I said I'm not a little girl! And what do you mean they aren't here?"

"Like I said they ain't here, they're out and about doing something."

Abnes was getting frustrated, she thought that the guy who had caused the destruction the day before was around the Basilicom somewhere, and she wanted to expose him for everyone to see. Her goal: prove that little girls should not be CPUs, manage the safety of little children and prove that the destructive man is a danger to the country and to all of the young children. By using the man she assumed that everyone would begin to see how misguided the Goddesses were.

"Well where was his last known location? I have to have an interview with him," stated Abnes.

"Wait … I know what you're gonna do. You're gonna have an argument about who is the real little girl around here, aren't you!?" cried Neptune.

Histoire sighed and shook her head in disappointment after hearing Neptune say that, Nepgear looked at Abnes with a confused face.

"Is that true?" Nepgear asked.

"NO!" yelled Abnes. "I'm getting annoyed with this … tell me where you last saw them? And why is there two guys? I thought there was only one."

"There's two because a friend of mine appeared a few days ago, and I suppose you're looking for me," said a voice from the doorway.

Histoire turned around and jumped back in fright, there standing by the doorway were Brian and Angel, both had a threatening frown and it was directed towards Abnes and her two cameramen. What surprised Histoire, Neptune and Nepgear was the different attire that Angel had, instead of his usual clothes he now had a pitch black coat that reached to his hips, a white shirt and dim white cargo pants, he kept the same shoes however.

"Tell me," began Brian as he stepped through the doorway. "Why do you want to interview me?"

"To prove that you're a threat to all little children out in the world," replied Abnes, who was pleased that her main target had showed up.

"Hmm, I see. Well, let me tell you that I am not a threat to anyone unless they get in my way … or happen to be annoying, and you are one those annoying people."

Abnes then knew that she had gotten more then she had bargained for, now she had an annoyed young man staring down at her, his companion wasn't altogether too pleased with her as well as far as she could see.

"W-W-Well t-then, let's get this over and done with," stuttered Abnes. She didn't like the look that Brian's friend was giving her, it looked rather … sadistic, it gave her the shivers.

"Yes, getting this done with quickly. Well then," murmured Brian as he looked at the camera. "I am not a threat to Planeptune, the Dark Captains are, you do best to remember that for I am the Shadow Walker and you won't be seeing me for a while."

With that said he swiftly unsheathed a throwing knife, engulfed it with Share Energy and quickly threw it at the camera, the glass cracked and Abnes cried out with fright along with her camera crew. Brian looked at them and they saw the Share Energy in his eyes, a grin formed on his face as the camera was dropped.

"Go, leave now, or else," warned Brian.

Abnes was quick to answer the warning by running into the hallway with her camera crew, she looked back at them and yelled, "This isn't over, Shadow Walker!" Angel watched them get into the elevator and they descended down to the ground level. Histoire looked at Brian in disapproval.

"There could have been another way to resolve that issue," stated Histoire. "Using threats and weapons like that won't get you anywhere."

Brian calmed down and looked at Histoire with his usual frown. "Yeah, I know, I've just got a few things going on, that's all."

"Well who cares, she was getting annoying anyway," said Neptune. "C'mon, Bri-Bri and Angie, we gotta eat pudding and play games all day!"

"Neptune, I don't believe that is a good idea, you barely got any work done at all," commented Histoire, which got a giggle out of Nepgear.

"Hey, this isn't for me, it's for our Ancient resident and our sadistic male over here, they're leaving tomorrow."

"Oh yeah, forgot about that," remarked Angel. "So where are we heading to first?"

"They will show up in the morning to take you. In the meantime, I suppose you can all rest easy, yes Neptune, that includes you as well, consider yourself lucky," replied Histoire.

"Sweet! Come on guys, we're gonna play games and eat pudding till the sun sets," exclaimed Neptune happily.

Nepgear beamed at the group and hurried to the kitchen to fetch the pudding, Angel followed Neptune to the TV and readied himself for a long day of gaming, Brian, however, stood near Histoire and sighed.

"Hey, Histoire, can I ask for a favour?" he asked the tome.

"You may, what is it it?"

"You are practically the living tome of Gamindustri, correct? You have just about all recorded history of the past within that tome?"

"Yes, I do, at least I believe so. Was there something that you needed?"

"Well, if it isn't too much trouble, can you do some more research into the Ancients for me? Any sources that refer to them and any history records will do."

"I'll attempt to get as much information as I possibly can, it shouldn't take more than three days. Is there something wrong?"

"Not really, I just needed to put my mind at rest, that's all."

Histoire looked dubiously at him, she knew that he was hiding something from them, but instead of asking him about it she thought it wiser to comply with his request and do some research. Histoire then nodded at Brian before leaving the room and headed down to her office to begin her research.

As Brian stood still in the same spot as before he looked down at the broken camera and saw his knife sticking out of the glass, he bent down on one knee and pulled the knife out of the camera with a grunt, after placing it back into his throwing knife belt he looked over at Angel and Neptune who were playing some sort of fighting game, it looked as if Angel was in the lead, much to Neptune's displeasure.

"Aw c'mon! I call cheat!" cried Neptune as she pointed an accusing finger at Angel.

"No, I just happen to be more skilled than you," retorted Angel with an uncaring expression.

"Bah! That's mean! Though I must say, you look snazzy in that new outfit of yours, Angie."

"Thanks, I personally chose it myself. It wasn't too expensive fortunately."

Brian smirked at the two before sitting down on a chair and began to daydream, ignoring everything that was occurring around him. In his thoughts he kept coming back to the vision, for some reason it ached his heart, then it dissolved into thin air and he was looking at his foster parents who had disheartened looks on their faces as they stared at a young boy with a sad face, then it changed into an image of the foster father and the young Brian having an argument, Brian could swear that he could hear the sounds of his foster father's enraged tone. As the scene started to disappear he felt a slight nudge and he awoke to find Nepgear looking over him with a worried expression.

"Ergh … what is it Nepgear?" asked Brian in a slightly droopy way.

"Well, you were murmuring about something and then you started to shift around, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, really Nepgear, there isn't anything for you to worry about."

"Brian … I know that there is something bothering you, you're not giving us the usual facial expressions plus you've been acting differently since we got back from the ruins. Please, tell me what's wrong, maybe I can help with it."

"I told you already, there isn't anything wrong with my behaviour. Besides, if there was something wrong you wouldn't be able to help."

"Goodness, I'm sorry that I asked."

"Don't be sorry, but just remember this: I don't like it when people are worried about me."

"Ok then, if you insist. By the way, what happened to you after you left the museum? Did you get into any trouble?"

"Quite the opposite in fact, well kinda anyway. Everyone kept their distance and several others wouldn't even dare look at me, guess I was right after all; they do hate and fear me at the same time. After Angel caught up with me he decided to get some new clothes, then we came back here and you know the rest."

"At least nothing happened. Hmm, you look hungry, would you like a pudding?"

"If there happens to be a spare one, sure, you might as well give Angel and Neptune one as well cause that big sis of yours is probably expecting one already."

"Yeah, you're right. I'll see if we have any left."

"Are you suggesting that all the pudding that had been bought the day before could have been reduced to nothing?"

"Well, big sis is a heavy eater when it comes to pudding, so it is a possibility."

Nepgear then walked over to the fridge and peered in, she sighed in relief and reached into the cold air of the fridge, pulling out four puddings, Nepgear looked relieved that there were still a few puddings left, but Brian didn't want to guess how many were left. Nepgear then walked up to Brian and gave him a pudding, which he took gladly.

"Thanks Nepgear," Brian thanked her with a nod.

Nepgear beamed a bright smile back at him before walking over to the two addicted gamers, well, addicted was a strong word as Brian had come to sense that Vert was the game addict of Gamindustri. After grabbing a spoon he began to dig into his dish, the taste of the pudding left a good feeling as it went down to his stomach. Now he hoped that he wouldn't become addicted to it as Neptune had and round up as a fat guy. Even as he ate away at his chocolate pudding he could not help but keep thinking about the vision from earlier in the day.

Who was she? And who was the boy that I was seeing everything through? So many questions and no information to gather the answers.

"Who does he think he is?! Damn that Shadow Walker, if that even is his real name!" cursed Abnes as she and her camera crew rested in a surprisingly clean alleyway.

Abnes and her camera crew had fled the Basilicom and continued to run until Abnes complained about how tired she was getting just from running, they then turned a corner and arrived in an alleyway to recover their breath. Abnes fell to the cold stony ground and panted deeply for air, her two companions followed suite, none of them had expected to be kicked out of the Basilicom by an angry young man with extraordinary powers. The question that was on Abnes' mind was what to do next.

As the crew recollected their thoughts Abnes looked up at the sky and watched as a small flock of birds flew through the air, the sky was bright and few clouds were in site, altogether it was quite a good day and it would have been for Abnes if it hadn't been for her target, the Shadow Walker.

"And just when things were going on my side," sighed Abnes. "Now what am I supposed to do? But I do know one thing … this Shadow Walker must fall!"

"You speak of the Shadow Walker, do you?" asked a sinister voice from the shadows.

Abnes and her crew jumped from fright as they heard the voice, it seemed to come from further down the alleyway that led to another street, as Abnes looked at the location of the voice she saw movement coming from the most dense part of the shadow which was around several trash cans, then dark clothed legs came forth and Abnes, along with her crew, were left staring at a black hooded man with a black cloak, a leather belt filled with knives, a ragged black cloth covered the man's armour, the man had a menacing face that was adorned with a few scars that stretched from his chin to his left eye and his right cheek to his forehead. Dark yellow eyes were seen from under his hood and a longsword was strapped to his back.

"W-W-Who are you?!" cried Abnes.

"I'm, well, lets just say that I am an enemy of the Shadow Walker. As for my name, you can call me Agandur's Right Hand, leader of the Dark Captains," replied the menacing man.

"Dark Captains … wait, that Shadow Walker said something about you lot! He said that you're not to be trusted."

"Of course he would say that, but have we done anything to this city? Have we done anything to the citizens of this country? Have we done anything that has harmed anyone at all?"

"I guess not … but what exactly are you doing here?"

"Just looking for some allies to further the cause, we Dark Captains cannot do it alone, there are too few of us to handle everything."

"Cause? What cause?"

Abnes didn't fully trust the strange man before her and she sensed that he wasn't the most nicest of people, but since he was an enemy of the Shadow Walker she decided to inquire about this 'cause' that he spoke of. Who knows, maybe their goals were similar and perhaps they could both ally with each other until there was no need for them to work together.

"Well I suppose I can let you in with some of the details. There are four of us, the Dark Captains, and we are here on this world to bring about unity under a single banner."

It wasn't the complete truth, yet it wasn't a complete lie either as the Dark Captains were planning to bring their master into Gamindustri and let chaos assume the place of order, then the world would be covered in an eternal shadow. Agandur's Right Hand didn't want to spill all of the details to the girl before him, but he did want to gain allies that could prove useful, and from the look of the peculiar group in front of him he may have just found what he was looking for. His master, the Dark Lord, had once said; 'Take advantage of any given situation and reap the rewards'.

"And how would you accomplish such a feat? Will the children of this world be free from bad influences that plague them today?"

Agandur's Right Hand wasn't sure what she was on about, but quickly decided to play along with it by agreeing with her question.

"Yes, of course the children will have everything that they should have, it is only natural after all that they should have all the fun in life. And as for making the cause come to reality, well, there will be a way. I sense that you want to help, at least for a time?"

"Only if the children's needs are answered."

"Very well then, we'll have to exchange information through … what do they call it … phones, that's it, phones. If you don't have one then just go down south of Planeptune until you find an abandoned farmhouse with a ten pointed star, that is most likely where I'll be if you have information, or just want some help. By the way, you didn't say your name, what is it?"

"It's Abnes. So, an abandoned farmhouse then, shouldn't be too hard to find, but what am I going to do in the meantime?"

"Do what you do best. Now, I'll be taking my leave."

Agandur's Right Hand then pulled out a crowbar and bent down to a sewer opening, he then proceeded to wrench the lid open and began to descend into the darkness below, this utterly shocked Abnes who watched as her new 'boss' started to climb down.

"Why are you using the sewers?!" asked Abnes in a serious and shocked tone.

"I'm using to not cause suspicion of course. Imagine what would happen if I casually walk down the street looking like this, I would be held with suspicion, plus I'm not on friendly terms with the resident Goddesses so I want to remain hidden. Now, if you're done asking questions do you mind if you put the lid back on after I'm gone?"

"Uh, sure."

The lid was screwed on tight by Abnes and her camera crew, all were unsure about what to do next. Abnes looked over at her crew and a determined expression appeared on her face.

"Alright then, let's return to base and plan out what we're going to use as evidence against the Shadow Walker and the CPUs. We will taste victory!"

Meanwhile in the sewers the Right Hand was walking along the pavement that was positioned right next to the sewer water, it wasn't a pleasant area to walk down and the stench was next to awful, but Agandur's Right Hand made no complaint about it, instead he continued to trod down his chosen path that led to the outskirts of the city. So far he had been successful with recruiting new allies, but process was slow as there were not many people who would deny their faith towards the Goddesses, not to mention the lack of people who were openly working against the CPUs, in fact he had been lucky to run into Abnes.

"Lets hope that she is useful, for the sake of the Dark Lord's return," mumbled the Right Hand.

Out of all the Dark Captains he was the one who was most engaged with bringing his master back into the world of the living, the second was obviously Severia the Stoic. Though it would be a hard process to transfer the Dark Lord's spirit from one dimension to another the Right Hand had it planned out, and he needed all the Share Energy he could get his hands on. As he walked Agandur's Right Hand couldn't help but remember when he first entered the service of the Dark Lord, it was a time he would never forget.

"Go on, get out of here! Go away!" yelled a random person at a young man. "Why can't you just leave and die?!"

The young lad turned around and stared at the abusive person, his eyes fixed onto the other person's eyes and he then started to walk up to him, causing the abusive man to back off and start walking backwards towards a wooden house that was situated next to several other wooden houses and a stone church.

The young man wore a black cloak that covered most of his thick leather armour that covered his chest, arms and legs, his boots were black as was his gloves, messy red hair adorned his head and dark yellow eyes seemed to pierce people's souls, a longsword was strapped to his back and an unfriendly frown was upon his face. He had no name and was thus called 'The Nameless One', at roughly around the age of eighteen he had made a career as the youngest mercenary in the land, but this fame came at a price; he was hated across the Empire for the jobs that he took, these were normally murder and thievery, not to mention his open hatred for the Imperial government.

"Leave and die? Why would anyone want that? Just imagine who would be around to openly defy the government, not to mention who would take those dangerous jobs that end up with people drowning in a pool of their own blood," retorted the Nameless One.

The man realised he had made a horrible mistake and retreated into the wooden house, barricading himself in with various objects. The Nameless One stared at the closed door without interest as the rest of the citizens of the small town made their escape to their homes and the church.

"Hmm, I could let him live, yet again I could make an example of him," mumbled the Nameless One.

He raised his left hand and a rune appeared, then he uttered one word, "Firebolt", suddenly a bolt of fire came from the rune and flew into the wooden house, it quickly caught on fire and as the flames burnt the house to the ground the screams of the man filled the mid-afternoon air, the Nameless One swiftly walked away from the commotion he had caused and left the town, leaving a destroyed house and one dead man behind.

The Nameless One was not only good at using a sword, he was also adept at using fire and lightning magic, where he learnt it from was unknown. At any rate he continued on his journey to the Northern Wastelands, he had heard rumours from travellers that something or someone was in the north and was calling forth all manner of unsavoury people and creatures to the Wastelands, it was only a rumour but an interesting one and the Nameless One was up for an adventure to see if it was true.

After spending countless weeks travelling from the Imperial north border to the various barbarian tribes that occupied the territory between the Empire and the Wastelands the Nameless One finally arrived at the edge of the mountain range that covered parts of the landscape, beyond that was the Northern Wastelands, it was called that because it was a wasteland of ash, smoke and dust, yet it was also rumoured that there was vegetation up there. The Nameless One then spent a further few days in searching for an easy way across the mountains, then on the third day of his search he encountered something that he hadn't been expecting; an iron walled fortress occupying a passage into the Wastelands. The fortress had high walls and stretched for several miles, a large tower occupied the background behind the walls and the gate was spiked with various iron spikes. When he emerged from the loosely spread trees and approached the fortress he was greeted by guards dressed in spiked and scaled armour, one had an iron crest across his helmet, it looked as if he was the captain.

"Halt! Who goes there?" demanded the captain.

"Just an adventurer, I wasn't expecting civilisation up here," replied the Nameless One.

"We get that a lot up here, but what do you want?"

"I don't know yet, perhaps if I am granted access I will find out."

"You look like trouble, but then again most of the people that come here do cause trouble, perhaps …"

"Let him through, I sense that he will be of use," spoke a new voice that came from behind the captain.

The captain was quick to bow at the new figure before commanding the gate to be opened. The mysterious figure left and as the Nameless One entered the courtyard, which wasn't much to look at, he was greeted by the mysterious figure. It appeared to be a man and he wore grey metal plate armour, black robes flowed from the shoulders and the back neck and covered several parts of the armour, he carried a face-covered metal helmet that was adorned with a spiked iron crown. The man had a clean face, red eyes and shoulder length silver-coloured hair, he appeared to be around 6 ft 5.

"Er … who are you?" asked the Nameless One.

"I am the lord of the Wastelands as well as this fortress, my name is Agandur the Dark Lord," replied the man. "What brings you to my domain?"

"I'm not sure, I was originally here to investigate the place, now I don't know what to do."

"Hmm, I sense that you're capable of fighting just about anything, whether it is with the sword or the hand of magic, you may just be the person I am looking for, Nameless One."

"What do you mean? And how do you know me?"

"I have walked many paths in the Empire and have heard of you, not to mention many others whom I hope will come here, I was originally a wizard of the Emperor's court. Now, how would you like to become my apprentice? I could have use of someone with your talents."

"Well, I can't refuse such an offer like that, I accept."

"Good. Well then, let's get your training under way, who knows, you could very well end up as my Right Hand."

"I will strive to achieve that and become the Right Hand of Agandur!"

"I like that spirit of yours, perhaps you will accomplish that one day."

"Heh, it took years to achieve what I had boasted and I became his Right Hand, and now look at the mess we're in," mumbled the Right Hand. "Master, I swear that you will be brought back and, despite being in another dimension, we will bring this world under your darkness."

He then spotted an exit that led straight to the outskirts of the southern district of Planeptune City, as he neared the rusted ladder that led to the exit above him he had one thing in mind: search for new allies, and he had heard of an interesting prospect to the east of Planeptune City where a Dark Follower had reported of a strange person who worked on a farm but had incredible power.

Lets hope that the damn follower was correct, I need all the allies I can muster around here. I pray to the Dark Lord that the others are successful in finding allies as well.

A/N: This is one of the longest chapters that I have ever typed up, about 5100 words in total! I've also started to create back-stories for the villains as they just need some attention, if you want information about their home dimension then feel free to ask. Have a good day readers.

PS: For some reason I can't read new reviews, an example of this is when I found that there were 11 reviews for this story yet I could only see 10, this is the same for other stories that I read. I don't know if this is a glitch with my computer, my internet or with the website so I apologise if I can't read any new reviews, pm me instead if you have questions or ideas.