Hey. Today's, you know it, the end of the Lowee part. They've gotta move sometime, ya know?

It's also much shorter than my usual chapters.

Please enjoy.

Chapter 29:

"So yeah, we've all decided that we're gonna leave today!"

Neptune, sitting in the lounge of Dusty's house, along with her redheaded partner and owner of said house, lounged back on a couch.

"And you're all certain about this?", asked Dusty.

"Yeah. It was unanimous.", answered Uzume. "Got places to see and be, ya know?"

"It's been just over a day since you guys got back, and you want to leave already? What about Gil?"

"He'll… be fine. He's a tough cookie.", answered Neptune.

Dusty lifted a lip in irritation. "Getting injured like he did two days in a row isn't something that a "tough cookie" can shake off. How do you think I felt when I saw all you back here with only Renna awake and her brother covered in blood and wounds?"

"We went through some of that hurt ourselves!", protested Neptune.

"And yet you're not bedridden like he is."

Uzume scratched her cheek. "Well, that was mostly due to Renna forcing him to rest."

Neptune pointed at Uzume. "Yeah, what she said! He'd be up and about if it was up to him."

Dusty shook his head and leaned on the arm of the couch. "Maybe she has the right idea."

"Well we all agreed to leave, so we're going to.", stated Neptune.

"I know that. I'm not opposed to you all leaving, but not so soon after Gil came back after going through what he did."

Neptune teasingly smiled at Dusty. "Hmm, so you're being protective and stuff? Hmmm?"

Dusty huffed to himself. "Call it that if you want, I'd call it being realistic."

"Being realistic isn't something Nepsy's used to.", said Uzume.

"I figured.", said Dusty. He then grabbed the TV remote and turned it on. "I want you guys to take a look at the news."

Neptune and Uzume drifted their eyes towards the screen as Dusty flipped through the channels. He found the one he wanted and stopped there, holding a hand out towards them. They all listened to what the reporter was saying.

"...early yesterday morning. Here's the story. News reporters arrived on scene, only to be welcomed by the sight of a collapsing building, destroying the surrounding area as well as killing and injuring multiple people. Rescue teams are still coordinating search parties in the ruins.

And yet that was not the only highlight of the day. Numerous amounts of people, all of which are eyewitness accounts, attest to have seen a flying, cyan figure leaving in wake of the destruction. Here is some footage that our team managed to capture."

The TV cut from the news reporter to the perspective of a camera pointing at the building, moments before it had collapsed. In the video, people were lined outside of the building, watching a fire that had broken out amidst the downpouring of rain. A reporter was on the scene, reciting what information they knew.

After that, people started pointing at the top of the building and shouting things like "Look up there!" and "The rooftop!" The camera shot up as the reporter spun to get a look, watching as a cyan burst of light emanated from the rooftop. A crashing was heard, the camera became shaky, and everyone gasped in awe.

Then, the cyan light from before descended through the multiple levels of the building, projecting light out of the windows of each floor as it flew downwards. Constant crashing occurred as it descended, before hitting the bottom floor and shooting through the sides of the building.

The structure gave out, and the building started to topple over, causing everyone to scream and run from the vicinity. As the news team ran away, the camera shakily remained locked onto the building.

The cyan light slowed down, floating midair and into sight. The camera paused and zoomed in on what looked to be a humanoid figure, although it was far too pixelated to pick up any major details.

Multiple pictures from different angles then showed up on the screen, with the reporter voicing how they were the pictures recovered from any salvageable equipment.

"From what can be seen, it appears as though a humanoid figure emerged from the wreckage of the building. Although unconfirmed, many claim it to be the appearance of a new CPU." Neptune and Uzume could both see that Dusty was giving them sideways glances. "...believe that this new "CPU" may be somehow related to a previous incident involving multiple CPUs in which a residential area was heavily damaged in the aftermath of what was assumed to be a major conflict.

But what do you, the viewers, think? Do you think each event is related? What are your opinions on the collapse of the building and the sudden appearance of this so-called "new CPU?"

The Basilicom has put out a statement which says that Lady White Heart herself will be looking into the inci-"

Dusty flicked through the different news channels, from local stations to coverages in the other nations. Each channel he flipped through covered the same topic.

Dusty turned the TV off and sharply glared at the two girls. "You have some explaining to do. And quickly."

Neptune and Uzume looked between each other nervously. "Can't I just say that it was a coincidence? Or are you smarter than that?"

Dusty smirked to himself. "The latter."

"Ahh, great. Uzume, don't you wanna explain it?"

Uzume hung her head. "There's no other way to explain it than how it is. No sugar-coating it, no stalling or trying to get onto another topic."

Neptune nodded to herself. "Yeah, I guess. B-But how about… Um, how about you ask, and we answer?" Neptune leaned forward and spoke softer. "And don't let Renna hear us. That's veeeeery important."

Dusty looked suspicious, but he returned to his normal ways and started asking questions. "We all know that that blue girl is a CPU. There's no other way around it, and I saw it with my own eyes."

"I-Is that so?", stuttered Neptune.

"I don't think it's you…" He looked from Neptune to Uzume. "...And I don't think it's you. Neither of you look like you'd be blue CPUs. More like… red, and purple."

Uzume pondered to herself. "Red, huh?"

"Got something to add?"

"N-No, don't worry about it!"

Dusty then leaned forward. "It's Renna, isn't it?"

Neptune and Uzume looked between each other tiredly before each of them nodded at him.

Dusty took a moment to absorb the information. His mouth hung open while his brows angled downwards. He leaned back and rubbed his chin with a hand before resting that hand against his head. "You're serious?"

"We're serious.", said Uzume.

"Wow… How in the-"

"Keep your voice down!", said Neptune, pointing at the ceiling. "We mustn't let them overhear us!"

"Why, don't they know that you know?" Neptune nervously looked to the side, biting her lip and finally smiling awkwardly at Dusty. "They don't know that you know. They seriously don't know that you know. And why haven't you told them?"

"It's more complicated than that.", said Uzume. "If they know that we know, our situation changes in more ways than you think."

"So you've got a couple of reasons to keep things quiet."

"Exactly. So please don't-"

"I won't. I'm curious, but I won't jeopardize whatever it is that you two are doing." Dusty narrowed his eyes coldly. "Unless you plan on hurting them."

Neptune held her arms out and shook her head. "Geez, no, we'd never do that! Cross my Nep and hope to die!"

"We're doing the exact opposite. We're trying to help them.", said Uzume.

"I sure hope so. Wait, wait… So because Renna is a CPU, what does that make Gil?", asked Dusty.

Uzume scratched the back of her head. "We're… Not really sure about that on our side. We've been told that they're both half-CPUs."

"But you've only seen Renna transform?"

"Yeah."

"We don't even know if he can transform.", said Neptune. She only really thought about that now… Could he transform? Hmmm… She raised a hand to her chin while thinking.

"...Maybe we should leave it at that for now.", said Uzume. "I'm gonna go check up on them."

"I'll do that too.", said Neptune. They both got up and headed upstairs. "You think it was right to tell him?"

"I don't think we had much of a choice at this point. Hey, how about we… talk about something before we go up to them?", asked Uzume. They stopped on the second floor, leaning against the walls of the room. They each slid down until they sat side by side.

Neptune rested her arms at her sides. "Alright then, whatcha wanna talk about?"

"I wanna ask… What was it like to see Renna in her CPU form?"

Neptune pulled her knees towards herself and wrapped her hands around them. She leaned the side of her face on them, looking away from Uzume. "I want you to imagine an animal, alright?"

"W-What?!"

"Bear with me. Imagine an animal that is so ferocious in it's movements. It's super quick and, like, super strong. It's teeth are sharp, and it's claws are similar. Okay?"

"I don't like where this is going, Nepsy…"

"And ya think I do? I'm saying it how it is, since I was awake during ALL of it. So you're imagining that, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Now also put in the picture that it was dead set on a goal. Like it had somewhere to be, or, let's say, something to protect. Alright?"

"Please just get to the point."

"Fine. So all of those things, along with a smile."

"S-She was smiling?"

"During most of it. And there you have it. That was her."

"Geez, Nepsy… that bad?"

"It was." They then sat in silence for a while. The rain outside had died down since yesterday, and that was a contributing reason in their decision to leave.

"Well, Nepsy, we better go check up on them.", said Uzume, getting up off the floor. "Go see if they're both alright."

"I think it's more so Gilly that we should be worried about."

Uzume placed a palm to her head. "Yeah, he came back in such a bad state. And he tells us to care about ourselves! Why's he so… like that…"

Neptune stood up. "Dunno. But we should actually get going, like you said."

"R-Right, right." They both started walking up another flight of stairs. When they got to the top, they walked through a small hallway and through a doorway on the left. They opened it and saw a fairly normal bedroom, with two figures residing by the bed.

Gil was lying in the bed while facing the ceiling, deep in his sleep. Renna rested beside him, and it looked like she had fallen asleep as well while staying by his side.

"Awww, look at them. All snuggly and wuggily.", said Neptune.

"Maybe we should wake Rensy up. Get her to go eat some food or something."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea. She's been stuck up here the whole day." Neptune walked over to Renna and gently shook her shoulder. "Renny? You good?"

After taking some time to stir, Renna looked around herself. She sighed to herself and stretched, making noise as she did so. She then looked between her two companions. "What's going on?", she whispered.

"Checking up on you. Can we… talk? In another room?", asked Neptune.

Renna threw her vision to Gil before nodding and getting up, following Neptuna and Uzume out of the room. She slid the door behind her. "What about?"

Uzume played with her hands. "How… is Gilsy?"

"He's doing better. He told me that… that he was injured even before he came to rescue us, so that didn't help. He's still hurting a lot. Buuuut, him being him, he doesn't like to show it. I pretty much had to force him to rest."

"Quite useful that your water can heal him, huh? Is that why he can go through all this without a problem.", said Neptune.

"Yeah… And I'm glad I'm able to use my magic like this."

"What else can you do with your magic?", asked Uzume, leaning against a wall.

"Well I can go invisible with my dark magic. And I can put people to sleep."

"So you can just force people to conk out?"

"Yeah. Gotta be really close to do it though."

"Huh. I never knew that.", said Uzume.

"Renna…", started Neptune. "I… wanna ask you some questions about last night…"

"Sure. What about?"

"Well, uh… how'd we get home?"

Renna's face stayed unchanged. "Gilly must've gotten us back. I wasn't awake at the time." She looked to the floor and her expression fell. "I hate to think that he carried us home all by himself… How would he even do that?"

Neptune nodded to herself. She knew that was a lie. She'd been awake when Renna carried all of them. And Renna was so convincing, too… "Yeah. And did you hear the news? It's all over the world."

Renna took a quizzical face. "What news?"

"The building that we were stuck in was completely obliterated.", said Uzume. "But that's not what's making headlines. People are thinking that there's a new CPU in town."

Renna's eyes flashed wide for a brief moment. "A… new CPU? Really? Why's that?"

Neptune smiled at her. "They got plenty of footage of this blue flying person-thingy coming out of the building we were stuck in. It's not official, but the majority thinks that it's a new Goddess."

"Really? That's… very big news. Thanks for telling me."

"Think we'll get to meet her?", asked Uzume.

Neptune smiled excitedly. "Ooooh, that'd be fun. Watcha think, Renny?"

"I dunno. I mean, what're the chances of that? If there really is a new CPU, she'd be doing… I dunno, maybe she has her own stuff to do."

Neptune narrowed her eyes slightly. "Don't you think that it's so weird how the CPU was in the same building as the one we were held captive in? I find that to be really strange."

Renna was looking towards the floor. "Me too. I wonder why she was there…"

Uzume nodded. "Same. I'd love to meet her and talk to her. But… why would a CPU need to level a building?"

"Perhaps she knew about the gang's hideout and wanted to deal with them.", said Renna.

"Strange for a CPU, let alone a brand new one, to get involved with other CPU's nations, though."

"I wouldn't know. I haven't really lived in one for a while."

"Maybe there'll be a new nation rising up soon? That'd be pretty frickin' cool.", said Uzume.

"Mhm." None of them made a sound for a good few seconds before Renna's expression lit up. "So, anything else to do before we leave?"

"Other than waiting for Gilsy to wake up, not really. We got all our stuff packed up and ready to go."

Neptune nodded in agreement. "You should get something to eat. Have to stay energized for when we go walkin' and stuff!"

Renna upturned her brows. "I suppose… but I wanna..."

"Don't worry about Gilsy. If you want, I can watch over him for a while."

Renna eyed Uzume. "Really now?"

"Yeah, I don't mind. Suppose I need the rest as well, so it'll be good for that too."

"I guess."

Neptune grabbed Renna by the hand and started leading her downstairs. "Come on, we gotta go get you some food! Uzume'll take good care of Gilly, don't you worry at all." She shot her eyes towards Uzume teasingly. "Isn't that right, you moe monster?"

"Shut up.", said Uzume.

Renna was pulled across the hallway, turning her head to look at Uzume before she disappeared downstairs. Uzume sighed to herself, scratching her cheek as she stood alone with her thoughts. "Why's Neptune so… ugh, forget it." She walked back towards the previous room, peering through as she slid open the door.

She walked inside, her eyes tracked on Gil as she took Renna's previous seat. She placed both her hands on each arm and fiddled with her fingers, looking around haphazardly. "Maybe I should let some light in…" She stood up and pulled open a pair of curtains. She saw that the weather was more akin to light rain at this point.

She sat down again, tapping her foot in a restless manner. "...Maybe I'll look around." She got up and took to investigating the room. It was mostly light grey in colour, with bookshelves and cupboards taking up the wall space. A desk also stood next to the window, but there was no computer present.

"Guess that's what happens when your family moves out." She heard shuffling and quickly spun around. Gil rolled over onto his left side to face away from the light. "Oh… Guess that makes sense."

She saw the dim light shine on Gil. Part of his blanket had fallen off as he'd rolled over, exposing some bandages wrapped around his shirtless body. Uzume meandered towards him and grabbed the blanket to pull it up…

"Maybe… I should have a look at his injuries? Just to be sure…" She gently dragged the blanket down his body so that she had a clearer image of his condition.

Her eyes widened as she saw the multitude of bandages and bruises lining his body. There were dark parts of skin, cuts that were healing, and a gash across the side of his face. "What the…" She reached towards him with a hand, but caught herself midway and brought it back towards herself. "Yeah, that's not a good idea."

As she surveyed his body, she noticed that he was shivering. "Oh, shoot!" She hastily covered him back up in the blanket. She backed away and sat back down. "Even with his healing… Damn, Gilsy, you gotta take it easier sometimes…"

She hadn't been awake during the rescue. Sure, she'd felt the pain that she was put through, and it hurt like hell, but there was nothing to show it. Same with Neptune and Renna. But Gilsy…

"Damn, man… Don't do this…" Uzume was reminded of when she was in a similar state. Back when she first met the little Nepsy and Gearsy, as well as big Nepsy. They saw the humongous purple Dark CPU approaching them when Uzume was all banged up. "Hah… Yeah, that was something."

Uzume leaned her chin on her fist while looking at Gil. She dropped her eyes, eventually closing them. Some rest would be nice…

"Ow, ugh… Dammit."

Uzume opened her eyes and saw Gil shuffling around on the bed, sitting up and facing away from her. He rolled his shoulders, wincing sometimes as he did so. He stretched his arms to his sides and looked at his chest while taking in all the damage. Uzume didn't think that he'd noticed her yet.

He stood up and took the bandages off. There were still marks and cuts, but no open wounds. He looked behind him and saw Uzume, widening his eyes at her. "H-Hey, Gilsy? You… feeling alright?", said Uzume, twiddling her thumbs.

Gil's alarmed face quickly softened as he looked around. "You were looking after me?"

"Well, just recently… Renna's been taking care of you for most of the day. I took over so that she could get some food…"

Gil nodded to himself. "That's good." He looked around some more. "Do you know where my shirt is?"

Uzume half-lidded her eyes. "No. It's all messed up anyway."

"That's fine for now. Better than nothing." He spotted his torn shirt to the left of Uzume, and walked over to retrieve it. He quickly put it on and looked at all the tears and holes.

"How do you feel?", asked Uzume.

"Still… in pain. Not enough much to stop me from moving, but it's there." He stretched around some more.

Uzume's face softened, becoming slightly downcast. "Are you always like this?"

Gil looked at her quizzically. "What do you mean?"

"Always so… so willing to put yourself in harm's way. I mean, I'm not one to talk, and neither are any of us, really, but you… Maybe it's because you've gotten hurt a lot recently, I dunno."

"I'm not sure I get what you're trying to say."

"Honestly, me neither… I think what I'm trying to say…" She stood up. "Is that you should seriously be more careful."

"I'll try."

"Don't just say that and then get injured! I really mean it!" Uzume pouted lightly while shooting her arms down.

Gil was taken aback. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but quickly shut it. "...I'll try harder."

"Yeah, you better!" Uzume was shifting over to her… other mode. "I don't wanna see you get injured any time soon! Scratch that, ever again! You got that?"

Gil looked to his side and scowled. "I'm not sure I won't ever get hurt again."

Uzume crossed her arms and huffed away, looking off as she continued to pout. Gil lightly gave an amused huff himself.

"What's so funny?!", shot Uzume.

"You're… changing."

Uzume raised an eyebrow quizzically. She thought about what he could mea- Oh, she'd begun to go all cutesy again, hadn't she? She shook her head and punched her fists together, clearing her throat to recompose herself. "W-Well the damn point still stands, you got that? I'm not sure if you've always done this in the past, but you've got to take better care of yourself from now on."

Gil didn't answer, looking at Uzume with narrow eyes. "We should go downstairs. Go get some food for ourselves."

"That doesn't answer the question!"

"I'm not sure you'd like the answer I'd give you."

Now it was Uzume who was taken aback. "W-What…? What do you mean…?"

He glanced at her with a sad smile. "Let's go join the others." He turned around and walked to the door, sliding it open for Uzume. "Come, let's go."

Uzume slowly walked past him, looking into his eyes as she did so. She spun around as she entered the doorway, watching Gil slide the door closed. When he turned around, Uzume walked down the passageway.

As they walked downstairs, Uzume pondered over what Gil meant by her not liking the answer he'd give. What did he mean by that?

Later:

Renna and Gil looked over the balcony of the third floor. The wind had started blowing, throwing the light rain that fell to the right.

Renna looked out at the city. "We've gotta be careful, Gilly. I've kinda gotten us on the news. That's twice now."

Gil looked at her. "You say that like I had no part in it. I'm the one that set the fire, we would've been on the news regardless."

"Still. We can't let the world know about us. We don't want people coming after us because of what we are."

"That would be… bad. Even though there already seems to be someone that knows about us."

"Yeah, I am confused by that girl you mentioned. Ava, yeah? You've already told me about her, but how do you think she knows about us?

"I have no clue. But she said that she'd… be involved with us in the future. We'll probably find out then."

Renna lowered her eyes. "I hope she doesn't cause a ruckus…"

"Me too." They then continued to stare out at the city before hearing shuffling behind them.

"Yo, you two. We're jet-set to leave, so come say goodbye.", said Uzume, retreating back downstairs.

Renna tapped on the railing. "Guess we should get to it?"

"I guess we should." They then walked downstairs. There, they regrouped with Neptune and Uzume, organizing everything they had to one last time before they were all ready.

Then, all four of them walked outside and turned around, lined up together. Dusty stood in the doorway to his home, ready to bid them farewell.

"Thanks for having us, Dusty! It was nice gettin' to know ya!", said Neptune, with an enthusiastic finger gun.

"And thanks for letting us stay here. And for… you know, helping us out with the more dramatic side of things.", thanked Uzume.

"And for making the gauntlets.", said Renna. "I'll never forget what you did for us. Thank you."

Dusty smiled lightly. "I'll not be forgetting the lot of you any time soon. For more than one reason."

"Thank you for everything. I'll put these gauntlets to good use.", nodded Gil.

"Oh, I'm sure you will." Dusty sighed to himself. "Well I suppose that's about it. Try not to get yourself too hurt next time, alright, Gil?"

Gil half-lidded his eyes. "I'll try." He looked to the right and saw the three others eyeing him.

Dusty laughed. "Seems like those three don't believe you. You girls gonna keep a close eye on him?"

"You betcha! We're gonna take reeeal good care of him.", smiled Neptune.

"Yeah. I'll make sure he doesn't do anything reckless.", said Uzume, with determination.

Renna stared at Gil. "Of course. I always do."

Gil looked away. He had a really bad feeling about what was to come…

Dusty laughed again. "You've done this to yourself, Gil." he clapped his hands together. "But you'd all best be off. It's not a quick path from here to Planeptune. If I were you, I'd do it over multiple days."

Neptune nodded excitedly. "That's what we were planning on doing anyway! Like a good ol' fashioned camping trip!"

"Then get to it. If we ever meet again, make yourselves known, alright?"

All four adventurers nodded their heads.

Neptune heartily waved. "Buh-byeeeee!"

Uzume saluted. "See ya later, Dusto."

Renna smiled sadly. "Bye, Dusty. Thanks for everything."

Gil smiled lightly. "Goodbye, Dusty."

"Now go. Enjoy yourselves.", finished Dusty.

They all nodded and turned around, heading down the street. As they were about to turn the corner, they all turned their heads and saw Dusty wave at them. They all returned the gesture, and were out of sight.

"So… Where are we headed?", asked Neptune.

They started heading South-West, towards the direction of Planeptune. They were going to trek across the wilderness, pitching up camps as they took in the lands. They all had supplies to last the trip, and they decided to think about how they'd set up in the city when they got there.

So off they set, leaving the city of Lowee, it's streets, and Dusty, behind.

And they welcomed the city of Planeptune as their next destination.

And that's that. The end of that part.

We've been focused on the siblings, Neptune and Uzume for so long, you could say that they've been the protagonists for quite some time. I hope it hasn't felt too dragged out.

But now, the focus will shift back to the main cast of characters. For how long? Who knows. But for quite some time. Things are going to happen.

As always, constructive reviews and comments that you guys leave are greatly appreciated. Helps me improve myself.

That's it for this one.

Goodbye for now!