Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material of the Hyperdimension Neptunia series or the Halo series in this story as they belong to Microsoft, Compile and Idea Factory…

I'm still alive, people!

Neptune: Wait! He isn't dead! SUPRISE, SUPRISE!

...Can you please not...

Neptune: Can you please stop being a party pooper?

Shut it, Nep...


CHAPTER 3: A DIVINE HUNGER

Meanwhile with Nepgear and the girls...

After Rookie departed from the girls to travel up north to Lowee with the Twins. Nepgear, IF, Compa, RED, Broccoli, and the new addition, 5pb. woke up in the Leanbox's Basilicom as they say their goodbyes to the Oracle and Cave while they exited out of the Basilicom. Suddenly, Nepgear's N-Gear began vibrating in her pocket as she pulled her device out to wonder who is calling, it was Histoire. "Oh, Histoire's calling me..." The group soon stopped while Nepgear answered the call. "Hello? This is Nepgear"

"Greetings, Nepgear. Where are you right now?" Histoire asked.

"Leanbox. We got the Mascot's help, and we were about to head back to Planeptune" Nepgear answered. "Also, Rookie got himself injured and now being looked after by Rom and Ram!" She added.

"I see, I got word from Chika about the incident" The Tome responded. "But I apologize for asking you to change your plans, may can you take a trip elsewhere first?" She requested which confused Nepgear. "The island off the west coast of Planeptune is currently under siege by ASIC troops" She explained the sudden change of plans which surprised the entire group.

"That tiny island? Why would they attack there?" IF questioned.

"Is there some super-secret facility on it or something?" RED guessed.

"It is merely my assumption, but I believed they plan to build a new base of operation there" Histoire predicted. "If they do, it will become a great threat against Planeptune and our shares"

"So typical. So annoying, nyu" Broccoli commented with an annoyed look on her face.

"Luckily, I have called and dispatched a squad of four to defend against their attacks, but I would like you all to aid them" The Tome suggested as the group looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

"Understood. We're on our way!" Nepgear loudly said which made the Tome smiled at her end, inside the Basilicom.

"Excellent! I'll give you the coordinates of the squadron's whereabouts and be waiting for your arrival" Then Histoire gives Nepgear the coordinates of the squad. "I would advise you be careful over the island, there have been cases of non-ASIC activity around the island" She noted then soon hangs up on her.

'What does she mean by that?' Nepgear questioned, confused of what she meant of 'non-ASIC' activity...

"Alright, my wifeys! Onwards to... Uh... Wherever that island is..." And RED soon runs back to the port but realizes...

"RED! You're going the wrong way!" She was going in the wrong direction, running away from the port as IF notifies her, RED stopped in a split second and now running in the other direction... The RIGHT direction...

"I know that!" She responded while IF facepalmed in disappointment and the group followed RED to the port.


Buck

Location: Occupied city center

6 hours after drop...

After Buck soon realized where Dare might be, he suddenly orders Mickey who is piloting the hijacked Phantom to turn back to the city. His team drops off Buck at the city center while he orders them to parked the Phantom in a shipyard and therefore, they left the city center, leaving him on his own. The ODST soon makes his move, going through multiple streets and encounter Covenant patrols and Phantoms with searchlights which he tries his best to avoid direct contact with them because one of the Covenant patrols have a pair of Hunters with them. Luckily, he doesn't have to deal with them as he sneaks himself past that Covenant patrol group.

'Damn. All the entrances to the underground are locked tight' As Buck complained about the doors locked, he continued to find an entrance that isn't locked till suddenly, he heard a phone ringing, turning his head around to see a public phone booth. 'Huh? What's this?' Buck was confused as he came closer and when he answered as well as getting some data about navigating through the city, he saw that the Superintendent is online which makes him very confused. 'The Superintendent is online? This makes no sense... The Superintendent wouldn't be fully operational due to the slipspace rupture' He commented as he received a beacon from the Superintendent.

"Buck? Is that you?" Suddenly, he received a transmission which shocked him. "They've got me cornered!"

"Veronica? Veronica?!" He tried to contact her but heard nothing but static...

Buck quickly looked around the area, finding out where the beacon leads to till he finds a highlighted door.

'Hmm...?' Buck then opened the highlighted door which leads to a broken elevator shaft, seeing only a wire as he looked down the shaft and saw nothing but darkness. "That's a long way down..." He commented but prepares to jump onto the wire, putting his MA5C Assault Rifle on his back and quickly leaped towards the wire. "Whoa!" After latching himself onto the wire and held tight, Buck then drops into the darkness.

A few minutes later...

After descending into the elevator shaft, he finally reached the underground of the city and as always, it's deserted with a few crates. "I'm low on ammo! Buck, if you can hear me, I'm on sublevel nine, near station t-" As Buck was about to respond, he heard static yet again.

"Damnit!" He cursed but know that Dare is on sublevel... Unfortunately, he glanced at the wall which written 'Sublevel 07'... "And damn it all to hell..." And cursed again after noticing this. Going through the cold, dark tunnels of the underground, Buck encountered and killed some of the Covenant who are patrolling through the tunnels. He overheard a pair of Grunts having a brief conversation, heard that the entrance Buck had come from wasn't sealed due to the Yanme'e building a hive somewhere in the underground. After dealing with the patrolling Covenant while traveling, he picks up a conversation from his COMs.

"Do it, Vergil, now!" A lone survivor shouted.

"Construction Ahead. Expect delays..." Then hears the Superintendent speaking.

"I'm gonna die here! You hear me?!" The lone survivor shouted in frustration as Buck soon heard a Brute along with a squad of Grunts up ahead.

"This way! We got it trapped!" The Brute yelled.

'Oh, not on my watch!' Buck frowned, grabbing a dropped Plasma Pistol on the ground and charged it fully, he blasts the Brute with a charged plasma shot which weakens him and sent out a killing blow with an Automag bullet in the head. The Brute's death caused the Grunts into panic mode which they've killed one by one as Buck then looked over to a door, he opens the door and it reveals that the lone survivor was an NMPD Officer holding an M90 Shotgun as he relieved.

"*Sigh* Thanks, trooper. They almost had me..." He stated.

"No problem, officer. What's seems the matter?" Buck asked.

"I'm trying to get down to the next level checking my team, but... This stack is locked down tight." The officer explained and the ODST walks over the Data-stack which is locked...

"Welcome! Access Granted!" It was soon unlocked when the ODST came over which confuses Buck entirely.

"Well. Looks like you got the magic touch..." The officer quietly whispered to himself as Buck opens the stack, Drones began to fly out of it which startled them. "Buggers! Look out!" He warned as he started firing his shotgun as well as Buck firing his Assault Rifle on the flying Drone. *Dakkadakkadakka* *Boom!* With a few shots fired at each Drone, they stumbled to their death. *Thud!* *Thud!* *Thud!*

"What's wrong with you, Vergil?! You trying to get me killed?" But the NMPD Officer was furious at the Superintendent.

'Vergil? Is that the Superintendent's nickname?' Buck tilted his head in confusion.

"Warning! Hitchhikers may be escaped convicts!" 'Vergil' stated which the two sighed in disappointment and they jumped into the stack, entering a circular room with an unlocked door. The Officer opened the door and noticed that it's pitch black in there.

"Can't see a damn thing in there..." The Officer commented.

"Alright. Stand beside, Officer" Buck then moved the Officer beside him as he turned on the flashlight on the shotgun while Buck activates his night vision. As they entered the dark tunnels, both saw Drones eating dead bodies on the ground and it was gruesome with blood and ripped flesh. They began killing off the Drones on the bodies as the Officer ran towards the bodies to investigate and noticed it's his team.

"Son of a bitch!" He cursed as he went into a passageway and it was far more bloody than here... "These are my guys. Buggers got all of them!" Shouting with bits of anger in him, Buck felt depressed seeing all the dead bodies, reminding him of what happened back at the Fall of Reach.

"Sorry that I'm not fast enough..." Buck apologized to the NMPD Officer.

"No worries, trooper..." The Officer responded then thought to himself. 'Now I'll have to check on the Doc myself...' And frowned as the two continued to walk through the passageway, the Officer looked at the ODST and asked. "So, what are you doing here anyway?"

"Finding someone in these tunnels..." Buck answered which made the Officer worried, that he's looking for the Doc as he asked him again just in case...

"What's its name?" But Buck didn't respond to his next question. "Don't want to tell me? That's alright. We all have secrets..." He stated as the two walked a closed door, Buck told him to wait. Opening the door and looked around, he saw nothing but with his night-vision on, he sees Brutes with specialized armor with a single red glowing eye on their helmets, equipped with Covenant Type-3 Anti-personnel Incendiary Grenades and Type-52 Mauler Pistols. Buck noticed that those Brutes were using Active-Cloak as he saw only their highlights around the Brutes which the Marines referred to them as 'Brute Stalkers'.

"We got a couple of Brute Stalkers out there" Buck notified the Officer behind him.

"Great..." The Officer huffed.

"But I got a plan" Then the ODST pulled out a Plasma Pistol that he picked up when he came to the stack. "I'll blast them with a charged plasma shot while you get the killing blow with your shotgun. Got it?" And the Officer nodded with the plan. "Alright. On a count of three. One. Two..." When he spoke out 'two', he soon charges up the Plasma Pistol and the Officer pumped his shotgun with an empty shell came out of the weapon and felled onto the floor. "THREE!" After he spoke out 'three', he aimed the Charged Plasma Pistol at the nearest Brute Stalker and fired as the Brute soon lost its Power Armor as well as its cloaking ability and the Officer followed with a killing blow on the vulnerable Brute Stalker. *Boom!*

"AAAAAAARRRRGGGH!" The Brute Stalker screamed in agony, suffering a direct shot in the chest as his dying breath alerted the other Stalkers nearby before falling to its death.

Another Brute Stalker which is uncloaked came and saw the scene. "HUMANS!" It yelled as the Stalker then cloaked with the environment, taking out its Mauler and start blasting the two which both Buck and the Officer took cover.

'Damn... This is gonna be a rough ride' Buck commented himself then he repeated the same strategy, charging up the Plasma Pistol again and blasted another Stalker as the Officer followed with a killing blow again...


The Rookie

Location: Lowee's Basilicom

Thirteen days after drop...

After a wake-up prank made by the Twins, Rookie felt something was off after he was pranked as Rom is being more confident with him but also grown a bit hostile towards Ram which he knows that sometimes happened with siblings but this is different. Rom and Ram were often together like little sisters and was rarely separated from each other, one time he remembered that when he and the girls visited Lowee to look for their Mascot, heard that Rom has been kidnapped by Linda but soon rescued by the girls and not surprising, Ram.

Rookie continued walking till he entered the dining room where Rom and Ram began eating their breakfast of cereal and a glass of milk (Because Blanc said their boobs will grow if they drink lots of milk... Best advice from Blanny the Flatty-Poo... She seriously gonna kill me...).

"Oh. Morning, Mister Rookie" Mina greeted as she came out of the kitchen with a plate of toasted slices of bread with butter and jam next to it. "Feel free to eat with the Twins, Mister Rookie" As she put down the plate in the middle of the table, she went back to the kitchen and Rookie sat down. He took out his helmet and put it on the ground and again like anyone such as the Twins who never seen him without the helmet is surprised or shocked as he began eating the breakfast made by Mina while the Twins continued eating till their plates were empty. After they ate everything and drank their drinks (Rookie was drinking a glass of water) as the three wiped their mouths with napkins, Rookie put his helmet on before they cleaned up the table because Rom and Ram were taught by probably Mina.

'Ahh~ It's been so long to eat a prepared meal...' Rookie commented as he remembers that all he had during missions was nothing besides this prepared was Ready-to-Eat (M.R.E) rations. After putting the dirty plates into the kitchen's sink which the kitchen was occupied by a fair-skinned maid with chest-long sandy-blonde hair and bright brown eyes.

It's none other than Financier herself. "Thank you, Miss Rom, Miss Ram and..." She then looked at an unfamiliar armored soldier and stared. "...And you are?"

"This is Mister Rookie. Mister Rookie, this is Miss Financier, she's one of the maids that work here and a close friend to our big sister" Rom confidently introduced him to Financier.

"Oh... It's a pressure to meet you, Mister Rookie" Financier shakes the ODST's hand as the only response was a nod from him which the maid tilted her head.

"He doesn't talk that much" Rom added.

"Or maybe because he's too shy to talk to girls..." Ram jokingly stated which she received glares from Rookie and her twin sister. "...What?"

With a couple of minutes later, Rookie and the Twins decided to some fresh air by going outside the Basilicom as the Twins say their goodbyes to the Oracle, she responses with a wave and a warning to them about strangers which they understand. Exiting the Lowee's Basilicom, they adventured out to the city which has snow falling from the clouds that covered the skies as they went into a snow park that isn't far away from the city.

"Hey! Catch!" Walking through the snow, Rookie was suddenly struck by a snowball on his helmet. He turned around, seeing Ram with an evilly smirk while holding a snowball till she threw at him again but the ODST dodged it. But the snowball then hits her twin sister which she was suddenly surprised by it.

"Ram~!" She moaned but she created a snowball and throw it back at her.

"Whoa!" Ram dodged her snowball. "Ha! You miss-" But got hit by a snowball... By Rookie... "Oh~ This. Means. War..." Then she created a snowball before she battle cries. "SNOWBALL FIGHT!" And the three began fighting each other with snowballs but... Deep into the woods was a person spying from the distance with some binoculars.

"There they are~" It was Linda, the Underling as she was spying on the three having a snowball fight, a breeze of wind flew past her, giving her some chills. "Damn this stupid wind- achoo!" Then she sneezed. 'I should've gotten some warm clothes before jumping in...' She thought and the Underling pulled out a Dark disc, covered with frost. 'Prepare yourselves. Cause it's payback time, you brats!' Then she threw it and ran away...

Meanwhile...

Rookie and the Twins were still having a snowball fight as the ODST used his uninjured right arm to grab some snow. While they continued the snowball fight, a loud roar echoed to them. *ROAR~!* After that, they all stopped in motion.

"What was that?" Rom asked till they heard sounds of something stomping towards him and suddenly, a huge bear appeared from the woods. The bear was very tall, doubling the man's average height, its fur is pure white with blue icicle-shape spikes on its back as the claws have the same color. *ROAR!* The bear began to charge at the three with its eyes of fury stared right into Rom as she stared back, right into the eyes. Rookie noticed that Rom isn't moving out of the way, she's frozen in place. The ODST quickly ran to her and threw her out of the bear's sights, only to be heavily smacked by the bear's left arm, hitting a tree as he felt a shock throughout his body and grunted in pain.

"No!" Rom loudly squealed.

"Grrr~ Rom! Need a little help he-" Ram tried to get her twin sister to help but she ignores her and ran to Rookie. "Are you even listening?!" She angrily shouted before the bear slams its claws onto the ground, creating ice shards from the ground. Ram quickly transform to her HDD Form and flown out of the way from the ice shards. "ICE COFFIN!" She yelled out, throwing large ice onto the bear as it created smoke with sparkles.

"Ha! Take that, you stupid bear!" She mocked but as the smoke cleared, the bear was standing, meaning that her Ice Coffin did only a scratch on it as well as making it mad...

*Growl~* The bear gritted its teeth with eyes frowned in anger, it then stretched its back upwards as the icy spikes began to glow brightly. *Roar!* And with that roar, the spikes start to burst into the air and heading towards Ram like missiles, whistling. Ram quickly dodge them and mocked the bear.

"Ha! Is that all you got?!" But she heard whistling behind her and she turned around, the spikes that were blasted off the bear's back circled back to her. "YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING ME?" Her eyes were widened with shocked and start dodging.

With Rom...

As Rom quickly ran to Rookie who is laying on the tree. "Mister Rookie! Are you alright?" She asked with a worried face.

"Ow! Why are these dangers always come on EVERY CORNER?!" He complained, feeling the pain from the bear's heavy smack as he tries to get up but soon fails.

"Let me help yo-"

"No. Don't worry about me, worry about your sister!" Rookie interrupted which made Rom realized that she left her twin sister to fight the bear, she quickly turns around, seeing Ram in her HDD form fighting the bear while dodging homing spikes which the bear kept firing them from its back. Ram looked to the ODST then back to her twin sister. "I'll be alright. Now GO!" As Rookie ordered her, Rom obeyed as she transformed to her HDD Form and soon flew off to help Ram.

'Now then. Time to bring out m- Shit!' Rookie was about to bring out his Gun-Blade but realized that he didn't bring it with him at all. 'Must be back at the Basilicom!' He thought and started to look over his equipment in his Rucksack but. 'Damn, same goes with my Rucksack! *Sigh* How the hell am I going to help the twins?!' He thinks of something useful till the ODST noticed that he got some Flashbangs on his belt and a single Frag Grenade, getting an idea. Pulling himself together, he got up and pursue the bear which is chasing the twins while firing its icy spikes at them, as for the Twins, they lured the bear from him for his safety.

With the Twins...

While Rookie is chasing the bear, both Ram and Rom continued the 'Hit 'n' Run' strategy. "AIR BLAST!" Both shouted in unison, creating strong winds against the bear as it has taken damaged and knocked back a little bit. "Oh my- Why won't you just die, you stupid bear?!" Ram furiously yelled at the bear as both Rom and herself used everything they had against it but only taken little to no damage. The bear then sends out a huge roar throughout the area which scared Rom, sending chills to her spine as the Ram told her to be brave. "Be strong, Rom. We'll show that bear not to mess with us, candidates and- Huh?" And with her eyes looking around, she saw Rookie coming to them. "Grr~ Why is he DOING HERE?!" She shouted as the bear which she called it stupid isn't that stupid. The bear turns around but...

"ICE COFFIN!" She sends down large ice onto the bear, interrupting it as the bear turns back to the Twins.

"Keep it busy, Ram!" Rom then dived down to Rookie for an explanation which Ram didn't appreciate it.

"Rom! Stop going aw- Whoa!" She dodged a wave of incoming spikes as she cast down large ice onto the bear. "You want some of this, you big meanie?! ICE COFFIN!"

Meanwhile, Rom dived down to Rookie with a worried look on her face. "Mister Rookie! What are you doing here?" She questioned him.

"I know how to beat that bear" Rookie answered which raised Rom's eyebrows.

"How?" She asked.

"If I put this Frag Grenade in its mouth, this should be enough to kill that thing in one shot!" He explained as he pulls out an M9 Frag Grenade. "But I need you, two girls, to hold that bear and force it to open its mouth so, I can shove the grenade into it"

"That seems scary~" Rom doubted as her body shivered.

"Don't worry, I won't get hurt like last time. Trust me" Rookie gave her a thumbs up, Rom became worried but soon trusted him because she believed that he can do the impossible.

"Alright... I will tell Ram" She replied and she flew away to join Ram who is getting tired distracting the bear from them. "Ram! Mister Rookie has an idea to beat it!" She said to her twin sister.

"About time, Rom! I'm getting tired of you going to that dummy!" Ram stated but she heard that the ODST has an idea. Rom, on the other hand, wasn't too happy about her statement but she doesn't have time to rant. "So, what's his idea, Rom?"

"We need to hold the bear an-"

"Wait... HOLD THAT STUPID BEAR?!" Ram questioned her with a shocked face. "Is that it?!"

"Just let me finish, Ram!" Rom shouted at her twin sister for interrupting her sentence. "We need to hold the bear and force it to open it by using explosion!" She finished her sentence.

"...I hope this plan works, I'm super tired of throwing ice on that stupid bear" Ram hoped. "Alright, you know the spell I taught you?" She asked her twin sister about the spell and Rom responded with a nod. "Okay! HEY, YOU STUPID BEAR! You smell like a toilet!" Then she yells at the bear which gets its attention as the bear turned to them.

*ROAR!* The bear then roared again but with anger, launching a couple of spikes from its back which the Twins dodge it. Rom then cast a 'Giant Tornado' that was taught by her twin sister onto the spikes that came back after the Twins dodge them, forcing the spikes to be grounded.

"Altogether, Rom!" Ram shouted as the Twins hold their staff tightly. Both of them yelled out. "ICE HOLD!" The bear's feet starting to freeze into ice as it spread all over its body except the head itself. "EXPLOSION!" The two yelled again, creating explosions at the bear which it hits its eyes which caused the bear to scream in pain. Opening up its mouth to let out a long scream of pain given Rookie a chance to throw his last Grenade into the bear's mouth, activating the Grenade with a touch of a button on top, he dashes towards the mouth of the beast.

'Here goes nothing!' The ODST threw his Grenade into the bear's mouth, after its scream of pain, the bear soon closed its mouth but felt something inside it and dropped into its throat. Suddenly...

*BOOM!* The Grenade was set off, causing it to explode inside the bear's throat as it leaves nothing but a huge hole along with blood pouring out of it. The bear groaned and fell onto the ground with its glow faded into darkness but instead of sitting there dead till it discovered by people or other monsters, the entire body soon turns itself into nothing but air, small piece by small piece of the body.

Rookie watched the bear's body fade away as Rom and Ram turned back to their normal selves and watched with him. "Well... Good riddance..." He commented as Rom jumped up into the air with joy.

"We did it, Ram!" She shouted but noticed something odd, Ram isn't responding. "Ram?" She tilted her head till...

*SLAP!* Out of nowhere, Ram slapped her face with an angry look on her face which shocked the ODST. "WHAT THE HELL, RAM?!" Rookie shouted but Ram ignored him as her twin sister looked at her with tears out of her eyes.

"*Sob* Why did you do that, Ram~? *Sniff*" Rom sadly asked her.

"I have been dealing with that stupid bear ALONE, ROM!" Then Ram began ranting. "Every time that armored dummy comes around, you ALWAYS rush your butt to meet him! EVEN IN BATTLE!"

"But Ram! I'm not like that. I just want to check on him" Rom responded.

"Oh yeah, sure~ While I DODGING ICY DEATH SPIKES FROM THAT BEAR LIKE I AM IN A BULLET HELL GAME! And you wanted to check on him?!" Ram replied but Rom shook her head with her body trembling in fear.

"N-n-n-n-no! That's not-" Rom was shaking like a shivering person, unable to speak till her twin sister realized something and boldly stated.

"Oh, I get it now! You care about him more than big sis, are you?!" She shouted which caused Rom's eyes to widen.

"WHAT?! W-wh-wh-what a-are s-s-s-s-saying?!" Rom shockingly questioned.

"What I am saying is that ever since you met that dummy, you suddenly went all lovey-dovey on him" Ram paused for a couple of seconds, making a disgusted look on her face. "It's his fault for making you bonkers, his fault for caring for you like that stupid CPU dummy, IT'S HIS FAULT FOR YOU CARING FOR HIM MORE THAN OUR BIG SIS-"

"IT'S NOT HIS FAULT!" Rom interrupted her twin sister with a loud shout that silenced her as her tears dripped onto the snow as well as her body falling on her knees. "*Sob* *Sob* *Sob* Why? W-why you are s-s-so m-me-mean to th-them?" She sadly questioned.

"Because I don't trust them!" Ram responded and explained her predictions. "Ever since our big sis disappeared, Miss Mina said to us to never talk to strangers! What if those dummies were using you for that ograni- orangi- organination- Argh~! A GROUP THAT DO BAD STUFF!" She encountered some difficulties in pronouncing the word 'organization'... "I will NEVER give my trust on those dummies! Even the ones who act nice to us, I will never trust anyone but you, Rom!" She stated while her twin stands there, staring at her with a saddened look on her face as Ram stretches out her hand to hers.

"Can you... Trust me?" She asked politely to Rom. As the few minutes of silence passed, Rom then reached out to her twin sister's hand and when she was about to grab her hand, she violently slaps it away. Shocking her sister, tears started falling rapidly from Rom's eyes as she glared at Ram then ran away from her without saying a single word... "...Rom..." Ram's reaction to this was upsetting, clenching her fists in pure anger and overwhelmed with negative emotions like she was backstabbed by her own twin sister and then... She let out her emotions out... "FINE! THEN I DON'T TRUST YOU EITHER, YOU- STUPID- FUC- DUMM- WH-" Overwhelmed with so much anger and rage inside of her soul, she took a very deep breath and let out something that she has never done ever before...

"YOU STUPID FUCKING DUMB WHOOOOOOOORRRRRREE~!" Ram roared with pure anger, loudly swearing her lungs out which her voice traveled so far around her, birds were scared off the trees and no doubt that Rom has heard her voice. "AAAAAAHHHHH~!" Furious she is now, she ran the opposite direction deep into the woods.

'...' Rookie was utterly speechless, he has no idea this would happen but he was dead on right. Those two had created a rift between each other. 'I should have stopped them...' And if he had able to stop them, he will only make it worse...

'But no time for messing around! Argh! It's all my fault for making them hate each other! I gotta fix this!' The ODST make a pursuit to find Ram as she ran into the woods which might contain monsters, but he worried about Rom as well but hoped that she'll be alright going alone...

'Just hope to God that Rom will be alright going alone...'


Back with Nepgear and the girls...

After Nepgear and the girls except for Rookie departed Leanbox and back to Planeptune, they went to a small island next to the main continent west from Planeptune. The girls were now walking through a forest with Nepgear holding her N-Gear which has the coordinates of the squadron's whereabouts. "According to the data Histoire gave me, they're not that far away" Nepgear stated.

"Ugh~! It's been like hours-"

"It's past thirty minutes, RED..." IF interrupted while checking one of her phones as RED was quickly becoming exhausted from all of the walking.

"But it felt longer~" RED replied then looked at IF with a lovely smile on her face. "Mind if you carry me on your arms?" She asked her and the brunette turned her head around with a blushing glare at her.

"Wha- NO! I am NOT your knight in shining armor, RED!" She shouted as she turned back. "Gear, how far is the squadron now?" She then asked Nepgear.

"They should be... Here?" Nepgear looked around the area, still in the forest. "...That's weird..."

"What's the matter?"

"It said we're near the squadron location but they're not here. Goodness, this can't be right..." She answered IF's question while she trying to figure out what's wrong with her N-Gear.

"Don't tell me it has bugs in it, nyu?" Broccoli bluntly asked.

"No. I checked with my N-Gear's condition very often. I doubt that it contains any bugs or viruses..." She stated. While Nepgear continued to figure out why her N-Gear acting weird like that as she checked her device. Above the tall trees of the forest was black machines that shaped like a skinny person. Wearing red goggle-like visors and equipped with claws sharper than steel, they hang on the side of the tree trunks up high as they stalked their prey.

On the ground, Compa felt a cold chill on her spine. "Umm... Is it me? Or something doesn't feel right around here, Iffy?" She asked her as the brunette shrugged her shoulders.

"I think it's the wind" RED guessed. "But... If there monsters around here? Then I'm certain we'll beat th-"

"LOOK OUT!" Interrupting her sentence, a female looking person dashed out of the bushes above the girls then sliced the robot in half as it dropped down from the trees for the killing blow. Shocked at what has happened from their own eyes, they saw a young women holding a ninja sword. She has orange hair along with orange eyes with musical note irises as well as an earpiece microphone and a red ribbon around her neck, wearing a white, opened button-up shirt with blue circles on the shoulder blades and black lining, a black, pleated skirt with a gray jacket wrapped around her waist with her shoes matching her shirt in design. She also had two swords on her left side with one of them being used. "Are you alright, ma'am?" The woman asked RED which she was in shock as well.

"Wow! That was amazing! Thank you for saving me!" But she gleamed with joy, thanking her.

"Your wel-"

"EEEEEEK! THERE'S MORE OF THEM!" Compa screamed, pointing at more of the machines all dropping down from the trees. The girls then ready themselves for combat as the machines stood up from their feet when one of them screamed.

*Scream!* The machines then split up and began to surround them with their bodies lowered toward the ground, crawling.

"W-w-what are those things?!" The nurse asked as her body shook with cold chills.

"Crawlers!" The young woman answered. "Well... We don't know what they're actually called. We just call them that because they crawl like a spider!" She honestly explained as the 'Crawlers' continued surrounding them till one of them pounced at the girls but was sliced by the orange hair woman. Suddenly, another girl but with long dark gray hair comes to aid them in running towards them with fists clenched, one of the 'Crawlers' reacted and started to charge at the girl with its claws. The machine strikes with a swift slash but the girl was swifter, dodging the attack and counter with a few punches as well as a powerful punch right in the face which sent it flying, leaving the rest to fall into the ground. Another one dispatches its group which is surrounding Nepgear's group, the 'Crawler' charged at the girl as she readied herself for the slash. The machine knew the mistakes from the 'Crawler' that got its head blown off, faked its first attack which the girl dodged its claw as the 'Crawler' whipped back when the girl threw a punch onto the machine. Lucky, she was able to dodge it but almost as the tip of its claws touched her right cheek.

"Ahh!" She flinched in pain but felt a bit of satisfaction? Am I reading this right...? Whatever... The 'Crawler' found itself an opening, ready to slash her into pieces till...

"GET AWAY FROM HER, YOU BASTARD!" Suddenly in a blink of an eye, yet another girl but wearing a black and white cat-looking hat came out of the woods and kicked the machine away from the girl. The 'Crawler' was off balanced after the kick but managed to regain its footing, the girl soon pulled her futuristic daggers and charged at the 'Crawler'. "PEERLESS WILD BLADE!" The girl yelled when she is close to the 'Crawler' as she went into a dance of slice 'n' dice, cutting off its both arms, create deep cuts and in the end, she cuts its head off as the rest of the machine's body fell into the ground. With the girl with the cat-looking hat saved the dark grey hair girl, Nepgear who's in HDD and her friends manage to fend them off which leaves one 'Crawler' left.

The machine decided to retreat, began to leap onto the tree to the next till Nepgear shot the 'Crawler' down with her Gun-Blade which the beam sliced it in half, falling into the ground with a loud clack. "Well... I think that's the last of them..." IF commented as she looked at the three girls that appeared out of nowhere to aid. "And you are?" She asked while Compa noticed a wound on the dark grey hair girl and ran to patch her up. The three girls then introduced themselves...

"Oh! My ninja name is MarvelousAQL! But call me Marvy..." The orange hair woman revealed herself as MarvelousAQL.

"CyberConnect2's the name! I'm new in this dimension" The one with a cat-looking hat revealed her as CyberConnect2. She's a short girl with choppy short hair, green eyes and has pale yellow tattoos on her body. Wears a white and green top with a black top underneath, a green and white shorts with an orange belt and green buckle a logo on it. Long black gloves that end right before her tattoo on her shoulder. And over those gloves is another pair of gloves but with short white and green gloves, she also has a black fox tail with a white tip as well as her pair of boots that have the same color scheme with most of her outfit but with a green gem on the toe of her shoes. But what's interesting about her was that she stated she's 'new' in their dimension...

'...What...?' Nepgear and the girls were very confused about what she just said but Nepgear will ask her later.

"An-and... I-I-I'm T-Tek-Tekken... I-It's n-nice to m-me-meet you all..." And the last girl reveals herself as Tekken. She's in her mid to older teens, has a slender body and a slightly tan complexion with red eyes and long dark grey hair as well as a silver Tekken charm, attached to two chains as a necklace. She wore a red and black strapless sports bra and torn blue gi pants that has a red flame design on the bottom of the left leg which on the right leg, her pants were ripped which reveals an orange inside and exposed a small portion of her blue and white striped panties... Hasn't she noticed that? Probably so... Anyway, her pants were tied to her waist with a red and black martial arts belt. She also doesn't wear shoes but has a pair of silver bracelets on her right ankle. Not forgetting her black fingerless gloves covered with red cestus gloves, each with six silver spikes. The girls noticed about her shyness, how she not very good at interacting with other people which reminded a certain person who came along... IF looked at 5pb. and came close to her.

"She has a similar personality to yours, Lyrica..." The Brunette noted which the idol sightly blushes.

"W-w-wh-what a-are sa-saying?" She questioned as IF simply shrugged.

"I dunno... Just something I noticed..." She answered which she received a small frown from 5pb...

"And you must be Nepgear, CPU Candidate of Planeptune, right?" MarvelousAQL asked the Candidate just to be sure.

"Yes, I am" Nepgear answered. "It's nice to meet you three" She then greeted as the other girls introduced themselves.

"Wait a second!" RED suddenly shouted. "Ain't there four of you wifeys?" She asked them.

"You mean Falcom? Yeah, she decided to stay put at the town nearby and defend it just in case those robot things were able to sneak past us" CyberConnect2 explained as she pointed out the robots the girls had fought and destroyed. "Wanna come?" She asked them and the girls obviously nodded, they soon followed the three girls to a nearby town where they meet with the girl who is defending it named 'Falcom'. Falcom's appearance was that she has short red hair with a silver headband on the top along with orange eyes. She wears a white tank top with a belt-buckle under a blue jacket and white coloring on the inside part of the sleeves as well as a blue and white skirt along with a brown belt. She also wears long stockings with blue boots which have a similar color scheme to the rest of her outfit and a pair of black fingerless gloves.

They all had a conversation about the ASIC's location for their base of operations, Falcom appeared to know where the ASIC is building their base of operations which surprised most of the girls. "I like simple, nyu~" Broccoli commented. Unfortunately, Falcom has to stay here to protect the town which she said to them it's the closest town near the ASIC's base of operations, Tekken and CyberConnect2 decided to help her defend the town while MarvelousAQL goes along with Nepgear's group to hit the enemy's HQ.

"Sounds like a good plan. Let's foil their plans, girls!" IF loudly stated, Nepgear's group along with MarvelousAQL waved back to the three girls at the end of the town as they walked their way to the ASIC's HQ.


Unknown location...

But somewhere on the island where ASIC is currently building their base of operations, there were already built buildings near their base but not like the ASIC would make... The buildings had greyish, crimson like of color scheme with metal plating. One of the buildings had a huge drill that is spitting out hot blue plasma onto the ground, a few other ones look like temporarily futuristic battle tents, and the final one is a large teleportation pad with three tall pillars. "Damn it all! Another wave of bloody Scythers-bots has been compromised, arrggghh!" A muscular man groaned in stress, his body is mostly covered with armor with an exception of his arms and bandages wrapped around his hands that were stained with blood. His head is covered in a unique looking helmet that exposes only his mouth as he wields a hammer that has been scarred in battle, seeing tally markings showing how many kills? Victories? From God knows how long... 'It would be easier if our army weren't too depleted after the war... Just why does Incendio able to bring an actual entire squad of troops while I get shitty robots and ASIC soldiers that doesn't do shit!' He thought, questioning about the shithole he's in as ASIC soldiers roamed around his base while building THEIR base...

"Look's who back!" He then heard a young woman's voice, turned around to see Linda back from the large teleportation pad. "This thing is awesome! *Tap* *Tap* I didn't know you guys had this kind of stuff!" She taps her foot on the floor of the pad while throwing a device up and down.

"Oh great, it's Captain Cannon Fodder..." He muttered loudly as Linda heard his mocking and was a bit upset.

"HEY! It's Captain Linda, I got a promotion just to lead these useless idiots over there, Corporal... Aaaaaaaaah~" She forgot his name which gives him a tick mark on his forehead till she remembers his name. "Oh yeah! Corporal Edgelord!" Yeah... 'Remembers' his name.

"It's Corporal Primer, dumbass!" The man who revealed himself as 'Corporal Primer' yelled at Linda. "And do I look like I'm wearing black armor?!" He questioned and received no answered from her. "Just as I thought, you damn shit. Now get back to work!"

"Oh excuse me? I-"

"I'm gonna pound your skull into the ground if you don't get your ass to work! NOW GO!" Primer interrupted her as he pushes her with the top of his hammer, Linda has no choice but to obeyed his order because of two reasons. One is that she has no knowledge about these people nor their technology. Ever since the CFWs made an alliance with the unknown fraction, they have been a mystery to not only the members of ASIC but the all across Gamindustri. And two, she doesn't want to get in his way due to his appearance, especially risking herself making a deathwish with these people. Walking away with a mutter, Primer soon turned to the ASIC soldiers who were staring at him during his conversation. "What are you little shits staring at?! Get back to work or I'll smash your skulls!" He savagely shouted at the soldiers which went paled and quickly went back to work.

'I wish I wouldn't work with these idiots but...' He sighed as he wished. 'Remember what the General said about-' Then lifted his hammer and put it on his right shoulder as he smirks evilly. 'The plan to destroy Planeptune and their faith on the puny Goddesses!'

'...'

'Heh...'

''Hehehe...'

'Hehehehe-ahahahaHAHAHAHAHA-HA!'

'THE TASTE OF REVENGE DRAWS NEAR!'


Author's notes:

Neptune: Jeez~ They're never going to give up, are they?

That's the Black Legion in a nutshell...

Neptune: Like seriously, Acey~ It's like I'm spending ten minutes watching a single cutscene explaining most of the lore. *She groans* It's an utter nightmare!

That came out of nowhere... Well, at least you can skip it *Suddenly, Neptune's face quickly went onto Ace's face... Point blank...*

Neptune: And what happens if you CAN'T skip it?!

Then do something else to kill some time...

Neptune: ...

...

Neptune: ...

...

Neptune: ...

...My brain went blank for some reason...

Neptune: Oh I know~! *Soon breaks another fourth wall, leading to another world* Let's go in an ADVENTURE! You know you adore adventuring throughout the Multiverse~!

Ufufufu~ You just read my mind~ But what this lead us to?

Neptune: *She shrugged* No idea! But that's the fun part! BOING LIKE A KANGAROO! *She jumps into the fourth wall as Ace rolled his eyes, he jumps into the fourth wall, awaiting new adventures*


[Quick note]

Sorry about the long wait, I got a writer's block which was a nightmare to me!

It's very hard to figure out how to make siblings (The Twins) hate each other (Hopefully, this might work...)...

Seriously, it's one of those reasons why I had this block...

What about the other ones? Well, it's the same ones as I said in my previous chapters...

But due to my brain not in the right place, I began to work on other stories...

Some are in my profile and some aren't revealed just because I don't have any ideas for them and I don't want to beat a dead horse...

...

...

Oh yeah! I forgot! The thing about including Tekken, CyberConnect2, and MarvelousAQL (Not Falcom, she's already there...) was actually an idea popped out of my head by a conversation with 'Optimus14'. As well as plans for one of them...

...

...

What am I doing with my life, anyway?