Chapter 21: AQL
IF, sized up the attacker who stood under a working light while the one above IF was shattered, leaving her in the dark of the night, only being illuminated by the surrounding lights. Without breaking eye contact, she spoke. "Treat her wound, Compa. I'll deal with this."
Compa immediately obeyed and jogged over to take RED from IF's arms. With her hands now free, IF brought out her weapons and got into her battle stance before eyeing up her new opponent. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
The ninja glared at IF. "Don't play dumb with me. You're holding them right now! The weapons!"
IF paused for a moment and looked at her qatars. "...These?", she asked, "Some guy who works at the weapon shop in Planeptune gave them to me. Said that whoever left them never came back, or something."
"Do you really expect me to believe that someone would be that irresponsible? Giving away someone else's property? You must have stolen them!", the ninja replied defiantly.
"I'm telling the truth! Come on, we're not really gonna fight over this, are we?", IF sighed. For just a mere instant, IF blinked. That was enough time for the attacker to throw several kunais at IF, giving her only an instant to react. All IF was able to do was block to avoid getting hit in any vital areas, specifically her face and torso. With IF's view obscured by her own arm, she was blinded from the attacker's next move. The attacker dashed through the air to strike IF with her sword. This time, IF was able to deflect the attack with her own weapons. Their weapons were now locked together, with both girls struggling against each other to push the other person's weapons away.
"Damn it! Can't you see that this is all just a big misunderstanding?!", IF growled, before pushing the ninja back.
"Hand over those weapons! Then, I'll back off!", the ninja replied before pushing IF back. Both parties ended up disengaging a few steps backwards.
"Who the hell even are you?", IF asked, not letting her guard down.
"My name… is Marvelous!", the ninja replied, "...AQL!"
"MarvelousAQL?", IF muttered. "Even for me, that's a pretty weird name."
"She would know. Her name's 'IF'!", Nisa shouted, from the sidelines.
"A pretty iffy name, if I do say so myself", Compa added.
"Yeah! What does 'IF' even stand for?", Nisa replied.
"I'm not even sure myself…", Compa muttered.
"...Get back to healing, Compa!", IF barked. She turned back to face Marvelous. "Besides. My name's short and simple. Your name… it's completely bloated, like your…", IF's words trailed off, distracted by Marvelous' shirt.
"Every name means something", Marvelous replied. "Allow me to spell it out for you!" In an instant, she vanished, and reappeared behind IF, slashing at the unsuspecting brunette. "M, for 'Marvelous'!"
IF couldn't respond in time, and took the whole blow from behind. When she turned around to face Marvelous, she had already vanished again. Instinctively, she performed a spin attack to repel any other attacks, and was able to block the next blow.
"AQ, for 'Artistic Quality'!", Marvelous shouted before vanishing once more. IF, eager to not get surprised again, stumbled over to place herself underneath one of the working lights in an effort to track down the ninja before her next attack.
"L..", IF was able to hear Marvelous before she could see her. She looked around frantically, wondering where she's strike from next. Suddenly, she noticed something off about the lighting as a shadow began to grow beneath her. Her eyes widened when she realized there was something huge coming down on her from above.
"...is for 'Liveware'!", Marvelous cried out. She descended rapidly, bringing down a giant futomaki down upon IF. "And together… I'm Marvelous, AQL!"
"...Aw, crap!", IF muttered before bringing her weapons up. She leapt into the air towards the oversized sushi roll and began to slash away at it, dicing it up so she wouldn't be crushed by it. "Heaven Demon!", she shouted.
Pieces of of chopped sushi were sent flying in all directions as IF sliced them, making a mess of fishy proportions around her. For Nisa, this was the perfect chance for a late night snack. The scarfed heroine caught several pieces of sushi and snacked on them as she watched the battle. "Letting good food go to waste is a crime!"
IF ended up slicing the entire futomaki into hundreds of smaller sushi rolls, leaving nothing left of Marvelous' enormous food item. Now uninhibited, IF leaped into the air towards the ninja to try to strike her directly. Her weapons lit up with flames as she approached Marvelous, ready to strike with another vicious combo. "Flame Soul Slice!"
Marvelous reacted in a split second and brought out her sword to connect with IF's weapons. They both clashed, temporarily suspended in mid-air as the impact caused a shockwave around them, powerful enough to cause Nisa's scarf to flow like it was being blown by the wind. The wind extinguished the flames surrounding IF's weapons, causing her attack to be no different than a normal strike.
IF kicked herself away from Marvelous and landed back onto the ground. Marvelous landed just in front of Nisa, Compa and RED, with her back facing them. The ninja paid no attention to any of the other girls, only showing interest towards the Gust of Wind. IF, seeing Marvelous in such an exposed position, called out to her allies. "Why aren't you doing anything?!"
"Stay out of this! I only care about getting the weapons back from her", Marvelous said to those watching from the sidelines.
"You heard her, IF. Sometimes, you have to prove yourself to others. Show her your resolve!", Nisa shouted. IF grit her teeth, showing visible displeasure with Nisa's response.
"I'm not leaving without those weapons!", Marvelous called out.
"Yeah, yeah, you said that already. What are these things to you, anyway?", IF replied.
"AQ… and L… they're all I have left of them", Marvelous explained. "We were on an intel gathering mission in PC Continent. They shouldn't have had any idea we were there. But somehow… they did. I was the fastest one, so… they held them off so I…" Her voice cracked as her words trailed off. She wiped her eyes before continuing. "...I bare their names along with mine, in their memory."
Nisa's eyes lit up as she made a connection within her head, a sense of deja vu coming over her. She had heard this tale before, from K-Sha and Lid.
"What, and I'm supposed to just chuck these things over to you because of that?", IF scoffed.
"No...", Marvelous replied, "...You're supposed to lose."
"Bold words for someone who attacks by throwing food at people", IF muttered.
"Trust me, I have other moves you won't be able to take so likely", Marvelous said, bringing her hands up in front of her bulging chest. She performed several hand signs before placing one hand on the ground, resulting in a puff of smoke enveloping the ninja. When the smoke cleared, Marvelous was surrounded by a multitude of copies of herself. The real Marvelous then pointed towards IF, prompting her copies to all move in simultaneously to attack the brunette.
IF was able to fend off the first couple of them, but was very quickly overwhelmed. Soon, the copies began to hold her down and tried to pry the weapons away from her.
Nisa watched with her arms crossed, her grip tightening as she held herself back from intervening. She couldn't help but let the words spill out of her lips. "IF, you're better than this!"
Something clicked in IF's mind, causing her to yell with rage. She kicked several Marvelous copies away and slipped away from their grasp. She blasted everyone around her with flames and began to take on the bulk of the ninja's dopplegangers. Something overcame her, and her eyes flickered with a hue of red. For an instant, Nisa thought she saw IF's outfit's color scheme completely change from it's ordinary colors.
One after another, Marvelous' copies leapt towards IF to attempt to take her down, only for the brunette to slice through them with ease, vanishing into smoke upon taking lethal damage. Marvelous watched from afar, surprised at how easily IF was defeating her clone army.
"Impossible… She never displayed any abilities like this when I was studying her!", Marvelous thought. "What is this power?!"
IF continued to rip through the small army of clones in a display of fire and fury, leaving fiery destruction in her wake. "Come on!", she shouted, "I'll send each and everyone of you directly to hell!"
"I didn't expect my words to resonate with her this much", Nisa thought to herself. "What's gotten into her?"
Marvelous watched in increasing panic as IF disposed of what remained of her barrage of copies. She had to think of response, and fast. "I… I need to rethink my strategy!", she thought. Just as she was about to make her escape, IF was already charging at her with a high speed combo. Marvelous used her sword to block and deflect IF's rush attacks, and found complete success.
"Her attacks… she's just swinging wildly!", Marvelous thought. The ninja responded with a calculated strike to the head, stopping IF in her tracks and seemingly snapping out of whatever had come over her and leaving her in a complete daze. Having stopped the brunette in her tracks, Marvelous began to make a run for it. On her way out, she paused as she made direct eye contact with Nisa, who was still watching from the sidelines. After a painfully long moment, Marvelous continued to run and made her escape, completely uninhibited by Nisa.
Nisa walked over to IF and snapped her fingers a few times in front of IF's face, receiving no response. She nudged the brunette's shoulder a few times, and causing her to fall over. Nisa looked over to Compa. "Compa… I don't know what that ninja did, but IF's completely out of it!"
Compa tossed RED over one of her shoulders and walked over to IF before easily tossing the brunette over her other shoulder. Nisa watched in shock.
"I didn't know you were this strong!", Nisa blurted out.
"I have to help carry patients all the time at the hospital. Things like this are pretty easy for me!", Compa replied.
"I see…", Nisa muttered. She looked around the dark parking lot and crossed her arms. "Let's go find some place to get some shuteye." Compa nodded and the two girls made their leave.
Underneath a nearby car, Warechu remained, shaking with fear. "Th-these girls are scary strong, chu…"
The next morning, IF's eyes fluttered open. She groaned and rubbed her head before sitting up from her resting position. When she looked around, she didn't recognize where she was at all. All she could tell was that it was a bedroom.
"Alright, where am I this time?", IF muttered.
A few moments later, Broccoli appeared at the door. "She's awake, nyu", the little girl said.
"Excellent. This is clearly a testament to the healing properties of Doc P", MAGES. replied.
"We were lucky to get a test subject on such short notice", Vio added. "Let's call her friends to let them know she's awoken."
MAGES. took out her phone and started calling Nisa. "Hm… she's busy. I'll try again in a few minutes."
"Marvelous? I wouldn't know about her", Lid spoke to Nisa over the phone, "We were never told about other operatives unless we had to interact with them during out missions."
"I see", Nisa replied. "I have another question, then. She mentioned that she and her teammates were compromised on a mission. I thought it sounded like what you had told me before, so… what do you make of that?"
"Another leak?", Lid replied, "...If what you're telling me is true, then that could only mean that there was a traitor in our organization."
"A traitor?", Nisa said.
"Yes… somebody must have been leaking info about our operations on PC Continent to some of the factions over there. I didn't know that we K-Sha and I weren't the only ones affected by this", Lid continued. "Whoever it is, must be a high ranking operative. Someone with enough security clearance to access the list of operatives currently working within PC Continent."
"Hm. Maybe this is worth looking into", Nisa replied.
"You want to find out who the traitor is?", Lid asked.
"I can't help but feel like I have to intervene. People's lives are on the line, here. Who knows how many other people will be in trouble because of these leaks?", Nisa explained. "That ninja, Marvelous… and you and K-Sha. Nobody else should be left to suffer because of this!"
There was a pause on Lid's end of the conversation. "...If that's the case, then you should head to Lastation. That's where the organization K-Sha and I worked for is based. I'll text you the details."
"Thank you, Lid. I promise, I'll get to the bottom of this!", Nisa replied. The call ended, and after a few moments, Nisa received a message detailing the whereabouts on the organization and other details she needed to know about it. Before she could read it, she received another phone call. "Nisa, here!"
"Nisa. It is I, MAGES.. V has come to", MAGES. greeted.
"Who?", Nisa replied in confusion.
"Er, I mean IF. IF has awoken", MAGES. clarified. "I'm not sure where that came from."
"Oh, good! I take it that your drink worked?", Nisa asked.
"Of course it did. Such is the power of the ultimate beverage", MAGES. chuckled.
"We'll go pick her up as soon as we can!", Nisa said, before closing the phone.
"Was that about Iffy?", Compa asked.
"Yup. She's all fine!", Nisa replied.
"What a relief!", RED cheered.
"That's what she should be saying about you. Last time she saw you, you pretty much took a bullet for her!", Nisa said.
"Hehe! I definitely gained some relationship points because of this. One step closer to the hotel event!", RED declared with a wink.
"Come on, we have some filling in to do. We're going to Lastation", Nisa replied.
"Lastation? What for?", Compa asked.
"There's something I need to investigate. I'll tell you both about it on the way", Nisa explained before beginning to lead the way. It didn't take long for them arrive at MAGES.'s self-proclaimed "laboratory", which was really no more than an apartment above a TV shop. Once inside, Nisa explained her plans to go to Lastation to everyone present.
"An interesting quest", MAGES. muttered. "...Perhaps I'll go with you."
"I'll go as well. Perhaps there is a connection between this organization and the one I worked for", Vio added.
"In that case, I'll stay behind and get the Doc P mass produced, nyu", Broccoli said.
"Well ain't this a crowd", IF sighed.
"We'll easily be able to cover way more ground like this", Nisa responded promptly to IF. "This will be an intelligence gathering mission. Stealth is a must!"
"Interesting. That would be a refreshing change of pace", IF replied.
"I don't know how I can help, but I'll stick around and support you the whole way!", Compa said.
"M-me too!", RED blurted out.
"It's settled, then. To Lastation, we go!", Nisa declared, pointing forward.
"Actually, it's that way", MAGES. said, pointing in the opposite direction.
"I'm pretty sure it's that way, nyu", Broccoli butted in, pointing in another direction.
"Don't be silly. It's definitely that way", Vio added, pointing in yet another direction.
"You know what? I'll just look it up", IF shrugged before taking out her phone.
With this chapter of their adventure coming to a close, what awaited our heroes in Lastation? Just how deep the the 'traitor' conspiracy go? What new wifeys will RED acquire? Is this the last they've seen of Marvelous? What sort of direction will Elsa take Athletic Enterprises into? Who else will our heroes meet on their adventure?
Find out in future chapters of…
Makerdimension Neptunia!
CHAPTER 21… AQL... END.