Dr. White's journal of early dimensional travels, entry n°17

Something that took me a while to realise is that if there's one thing you can't predict, it's human behaviour. The world you entered has different everything; morals, culture, maybe even laws.

Nevertheless, there's one thing that tie all humans together, regardless of dimensions, worlds, or whatever. A concept as old as time itself.

Broship.

Leanbox. A land of massive plains, of large bountiful forests, and of technological advances mixed in with ecology. Far from the polluted air of Lastation, Leanboxians appeared to want their nation to be both productive and beautiful.

Of course, the former doesn't work well with the later, which is probably why Leanbox is dead last in Shares. How do I know that? Simple: the Guild has a screen which display the shares every individual nations have. They also display ASIC's Shares, too, which still towers at an impressive "above half the entire world's amount of Shares".

Now that I think about it, Leanbox is the only nation with Shares as low as they are right now. Hell, they only seemed to drop since last time I saw them!

Of all four nations, Planeptune and Lowee are really close together, and a bit above Lastation. The exact numbers are unknown, but I'd say it's close to "above 10% for all of them except Leanbox which is almost at 0".

Why am I thinking about that? Why am I even in the Guild? The answer might be surprising, but I may or may not be dodging my final encounter with Chika. I just can't seem to bring myself to reach for her. I'm getting cold feet, which is absolutely bonkers because I already did the dids, so might as well drop the Shards and get rid of this stupid quest forever!

So I've been doing a few easy quests, here and there. Before I knew it, the whole day was spent, and I booked a room in a random inn.

I didn't sleep, that night. Guilt, fear, and disgust for myself kept me awake for a long while, and the few hours of sleep I got were marred by nightmares. Nevertheless, a new day had started, and I had decided that I could not push it off any longer.

As the Sun rose, I walked in direction of the Basilicom. Hopefully, for the last time.

From the outside, the building is truly impressive. Smooth, huge, and tidy, simple yet elegant, it is far from the militaristic tower of Lastation or the fantasy-like castle of Lowee.

As for the entrance, it's the same as I remember. A big, empty room with just a desk in a corner and chairs to sit in. On some walls, there's some windows to let the light fly in, and some doors on the others. I faintly smile as I realise that, for some reason, I remember which door I took to go to the room that held Leanbox' sharicite.

And at the desk, I see a woman with long hair, and a funky pastel green colour.

I gulp. This journey is finally reaching its end. "Hello again, Miss Chika. I have... I have partially accomplished the mission."

She raises her head to look at me, before rising an eyebrow. "Who are you again?" she asks, before going back to signing some papers.

I say nothing for a hot second, before anger starts to rise inside me. I try to push it down, but can't quite hide it as I talk again. "Gyone, you know, that one dude you sent to the other nations to do some horrible shit so you could avoid a diplomatic incident?"

She scoffs, not even raising her eyes to look at me. "I don't really appreciate those accusations. You should back off while-"

I cut her off by slamming the two sharicites shards onto her desk. She looks at them, and make some strange noises, before extending a hand to grab them. However, I am faster than her, and snatch them from under her nose. When she looks back at me, I can't quite hide my smirk.

"Our agreement was a bit..." I pause for dramatic effect, before letting out a sigh. "Let's say, bullshit, when we first made it, so I'm changing it a bit. I kinda almost died several times and am probably on the watchlist of every nations except Leanbox and maybe Lowee, and now even the higher chains of ASIC probably wants my head, so it would make sense that you gave me a bit more than promised for my trouble." I let her think about it for a bit, before adding "Right?"

She says nothing, and doesn't move. And suddenly, I hear a little chuckle. It's not much, but I can also see her shoulders rising a bit with each sounds she makes. She suddenly rises from her chair, knocking it on the ground, where it laid forgotten.

"Give them to me. Now."

I take a step back, and my hand reaches for my lance. "Money first. The stones can-"

"GIVE ME THE SHARICITE NOW!" she suddenly scream, and throw herself at me, taking me by surprise. I can't dodge it, and suddenly we're wrestling on the ground, or more accurately, I'm trying my best not to get totally overwhelmed by this psycho. Unfortunately, she's strong, way stronger than I am.

As she grabbed my hands to try to forcefully pry them open, I did the only thing I could think of, and bit on her arm, hard. My taste buds registered iron a split second before my ears registered Chika's screams of pain, and she let go of me, leaving me the opportunity to stand up. I put some distance between the two of us, as Chika stands up, holding her bleeding arm and wincing in pain.

"You..." she growls, before taking a step forward. "No matter where we go, you're there to cause us problems. And I'm getting sick of this!" she yells, taking her spear out. "So, I'll only ask this once, Wildcard. Give me. The damn. Shards!"

I close my eyes, and try to calm down, breathing in and out. As I open them, I still can't keep my voice from shaking due to the anger I feel. "Pay me first, you damn lunatic."

We stay still for a long time, looking at each others eyes, before Chika take something out of her pocket. This thing is revealed to be a walkie-talkie soon after, as she yells "I want all of you in the main lobby! You'll know the target as soon as you see him!"

All of a sudden, I hear doors opening behind me, and a dozen of soldiers come out of it, their weapons raised against me. Chika chuckles, and then point her spear at my throat.

I gulp, and get in position for a fight. My hand goes towards my gun, before-

A bang. Pain. Blood on my hands, as I try to touch my shoulder.

And then, nothing.

"Ah, Uni, what are you doing here?"

"Ah, Nepg- I mean, oh. You. I could ask you the same."

"The Oracle of Leanbox asked us to come, but we missed our last boat. Luckily, the captain of this ship was kind enough to take us if we managed to find him a sail- which, well, we did, hehe."

"Wow, I guess Chika's having a lot of troubles then, because she also called Lastation for my help. I think the lack of a Candidate is making them lose more shares than they can get."

"... Hey, Uni? Do you... Maybe want to travel with us?"

"..."

My head hurts. Scratch that, my whole damn body hurts.

I feel cold. So cold... And my body is not answering. I open my eyes, and try to look around me.

Attached to my hands and my feet are iron chains, bounding me to the wall. From what I can gather, I'm in a cell.

That's nice.

My eyes starts to close, so I can go back to sleep, before something snaps inside me. I open my eyes fully, and look around.

The walls are made of cold, hard stone. I've been stripped of almost all my clothes, so I can definitely feel them on my back. The cell itself glows purple, so it's not a normal prison cell- maybe there's magic spells to keep me from escaping?

The memories from what happened starts to come back. Chika, that damn... She betrayed me! She didn't even think about paying me!

A growl escapes my mouth before I can stop it, but barely after that I release a shaky breath.

I see no ways out of this.

For the first time since coming to this world, I am stuck and there's no way to escape.

I can barely refrain myself from crying.

Linda, one hour after the capture

Leanbox' Basilicom

"He might become useful, if we find the right way to convince him. Magic is right to say he's more trouble than he's worth, but he is tenacious, if anything. He'd make a great right-hand man for you, Lieutnant Toxic."

"Are you sure, Sir Brave? Because, well, so far he's been a right pain in our ass. I doubt he'd want to help us- hell, I doubt Lieutnant Kill would allow him to leave alive."

"Then it is a good thing that, no matter how strong she believes herself to be, she has to answer to me first. If she does not obey, remind her who she shouldn't cross."

And he hang up, just like that. Man, of all the Bosses, Sir Brave has to be the fairest. Lady Magic's beyond anything, but he's close enough- and way more of a badass than Trick, that's for sure.

But man, I hate this. How is he here? Why is he here? I am this close to leaving ASIC, and now he's been captured and put in a cell next to Leanbox' Oracle. X-E-Cute has been cackling a lot while looking at something she took from Gyone, and she also gave his weapons to a pair of dumb Captains who barely can use them. It's a fucking waste; even I know that this gun's a work of beauty, and it's this dumbass loser Fredrick who got it. He doesn't even know how to aim! For fuck's sake he's been trying to wack dummies up close with the barrel for the last 30 minutes!

Calm, breathe. I need to go to X-E-Cute's room first, to tell her she's not allowed to kill Gyone, and then... I dunno. What the fuck can I really do?

"Excuse me, I don't think I have understood you. What did you say again, sweety?"

I resist the urge to wrack her face, and force myself to repeat. "I said, nobody's allowed to touch him. Not you, not me, and none o' the grunts. The Wildcard's untouchable."

She screams and burns down a whole stack of paper, before approaching me. "And who are you, runt, to give me orders?"

I notice her reaching for a dagger, so I smirk and just show her my phone. I got a text from Sir Brave just for that moment. That shuts her up for a hot second, before she screams, kick a desk, and storms off the room. Just as I start to smirk, she comes back and roughly hand me a device, and leave again.

I look at it, and forces myself not to swear. What, does that dumbass believe I'll be able to take the Oracle's place? Why the fuck she gave me a holographic images device... Thing?

I try to look for a name. It says right here "Holographo 6000+ deluxe". Our scientists sucks.

Gyone

Leanbox Cells

I'm trying to shake my arms, to maybe get the chains off, but they don't bulge. They make a hell of a noise, though.

I quite like it, actually. So I continue to shake my arms, this time to the rhythm of a music only I can hear.

No, stop. Focus. I need to find a way to escape, can't just play with my chains like a dumbass. Or a child. Whichever, maybe both.

I try to kick the stone behind my feet, nothing.

I'm moving the chains in any direction I can... No weaknesses.

I slump forward, and the chains catch me, never letting me down. I try to put maximum pressure on them, by using every last bit of strenght I have left to try and get my arm closer to my sides... And still nothing.

I loudly sigh. Right, that would have been too oblivious. Now, what didn't I try? Maybe I need to-

"Who's there? In case you didn't notice, a lady needs her beauty sleep! So kindly stop making all that noise!"

It came from that cell next to me. I'm pretty sure I recognise this voice.

"Who are you?" I ask, feeling a weight in my stomach.

"Who am I, he asks? Why, I am shocked, appealed that anyone would not know of me in this building! I am her Lady's most devoted follower, her cutest sister-in-heart-if-not-by-blood, her-"

I exhale loudly, cutting her off. She fake-cough, before answering me for real this time.

"My name is Chika Hakozaki. As you can see, my own Basilicom turned against me."

"The amplifiers are ready, Lieutnant Kill!"

"Good. Bring me Sir Trick's prototype."

"At once, Lieutnant Kill!"

"... This is it. In a few minutes, ASIC will have won the war. And for that, I must thank you. From the bottom of my heart? ASIC recognises your efforts, Gyone Videsar the Wildcard."

Author's Footnote

Hi. Been a while.

Review Time~

Ace-Of-Weeb: I really took a lot of time to think about whether or not the epic clash between Mina and Kei was something I wanted to show or only speak about, and sadly, I figured it would be best to not show it to you guys. Let your imagination fill the blanks, before I shatter it with their next apparition.

AzuMazu: Don't worry, I'm over [looks at time since last update] three months late posting the next chapter D:

Interludes aren't meant to move the story forward. They're a buffer chapter to show how the world react to Gyone's actions. As for Linda, yeah. She might just do that!