Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth: Generation of True Gods
Chapter 4: Lastation Part 1: Twintail Girl and a Huge Bargain
AN: AHhhhhhhh MAN! I'm very sorry that I didn't bring the chapter here, but finally I finished it through this stressful week!
Tetsuya: Well, I guess that's good because you finally updated for once in two months.
Arisa: Yep.
Akako and Aoko: Hmm Hmm
AN: Hey! ...Well, yeah, I don't own Hyperdimension Neptunia, only you guys, oh, I just said the disclaimer.
Arisa: You could have led us do it.
AN: It's okay, next time, but I should say... Get to reading this chapter, viewers!
-Planeptune's Basilicom-
"Sorry for that weird moment, but we should reintroduce ourselves, I'm Hoshikawa Arisa!"
"And I'm Yuugita Akako!
"…I'm Yuugita …Aoko…"
Oddly, all of them did poses together: Arisa was in the middle looking like she was going to flap her hands like wings while the twins stood at her left and right with their hands also like Arisa's, though Aoko looked embarrassed since her face was beet red. Everybody just sweat-dropped in response while Tetsuya slammed his face on the table.
"You don't need to do those stupid poses again; you guys already did that the first time you came here! And why am I the only one doing homework!?" Tetsuya grimaced, pointing a wooden pencil at them while trying his best not to snap it in half due to his annoyance.
"Hm Hm! Nii-chan, we already finished ours already!" Akako and Aoko brought out their homework and thrust the papers to his face.
"What!?" He took the papers and quickly looked through them, making his grimace more pronounced, with his mouth hanging down.
"Tetsuya, Tetsuya. You don't get it do you? You need your education ya know, I'm your mother you know."
"Adopted. Mother."
"Huh!?" Nepgear, IF, and Compa yelled out.
"What?" Tetsuya said with a blank expression on his face.
"Well, it's just that we thought you guys are related because you look like each other and stuff!" IF stated out loud pointing at the two family members. The whole family put up expressionless faces that were equal to Tetsuya's current expression. There was a moment of silence.
"Sigh…" Tetsuya closed his eyes while letting out an aloof sigh.
"It may be true that we kinda look alike but Arisa is my, Akako, and Aoko's adopted mother. To be more specific, she's our guardian."
"So does that mean… Tetsuya…"
"Yep, I'm pretty much an orphan to finish your statement." Those words gave the silent mood a sad tone to it.
"I-I'm sorry…" Nepgear said despite not doing anything.
"No, it's okay. No time for that sad stuff. We should prepare to go to Lastation."
"Oh… Okay!" Nepgear's sad faced beamed with a bright smile now along with Compa, IF, and Histoire.
"…Right after I finish my last math homework…" Tetsuya said in dismay. Everybody had to chuckle at his mention of homework. Right now, they were facing a serious situation, but for now, the mood was light.
…
-Few minutes of preparation-
"Alright, we got everything!" Compa happily exclaimed as she put her bandages and miscellaneous items in the bag.
"Compa-san, here are the drinks." Nepgear carried a handful of water bottles and Nep Bulls in her hands.
"Thank you, Gear-chan!"
"So how was it?" Histoire had asked about Arisa's progress on the Shares now. She shook her head and said in a serious face, "Hmmm, still not good. ASIC, as usual, still has a lot of Shares." Histoire gave a disappointed look and sighed.
"I see," was the only response she gave of the report.
While they were still talking, Nepgear was helping Compa, IF was looking at her pink phone to contact her friends in all the nations, Akako and Aoko were whispering to each other about doing something to their older brother, and Tetsuya finally finished his last math homework.
"Finished!" He immediately dropped his pencil and held both his arms up in the air in joy. "Alright, now can we go?!" Arisa looked back to Tetsuya while she finished talking with Histoire.
She sighed but smiled as her current expression returned to her usual, carefree face. "Alright, alright, we can go now. Just get your stuff."
"'Kay." He started walking to the Nep sisters' room to get his stuff but he then paused his steps.
"Hey, Arisa, can I ask you something?"
"Hmm, what?" She questioned back at him while fixing her red, unbuttoned shirt.
He grabbed his knife from his pant's pocket and showed it to Arisa. "Arisa, how did you come to know this world? Also, what's with the pocket knife?" There were a lot of questions Tetsuya wanted to ask of his guardian. Was she really the one who told Histoire about him when he arrived? The pocket knife didn't do much. He remembered it being broken before, and when he took the time to fix it, he couldn't pinpoint what the problem was, so it was left in that broken state before now.
He also remembered Arisa and his younger sisters always going somewhere on the weekends leaving him alone for a while before coming back later with weird treats and materials.
He never asked as he thought it wasn't his business. Though one time he did wonder and was about follow them, but they had vanished as if into thin air.
"Ah." Was the only thing she said in a calm voice. "I guess I gotta tell you guys now." She stretched out her arms in the air.
"You're going to tell us now Arisa!?" The twins said excitedly as they appeared on Tetsuya's back.
"Oi." Tetsuya grunted but the twins didn't listen.
"The truth is… you guys… you guys are really…" Her bangs were covering her face as she said those words slowly till finally…
The whole family was waiting for the answer. Was it going to be consequential or something really good?
"You guys are just special, that's all!" Arisa happily said as she rubbed behind her head.
"…"
Then immediately, Tetsuya, Akako, and Aoko fell down anime style when they heard what their own guardian just perhaps stupidly said. Even Nepgear, IF, Compa, and Histoire would also agree with what the siblings were thinking of: What a stupid line she said. It somewhat reminded them of Neptune in a way.
"Stupid, old hag! What the heck!?" Tetsuya had gotten up and punched Arisa in the stomach in anger for what she said.
"Ow! Hey, it's true!" She said while writhing on the floor from Tetsuya's punch.
Tetsuya sighed, "I guess I'll have to find out myself as usual?" Arisa gave him a big smile.
"Of course!" She began to get up as Tetsuya gave another sigh, though it sounded aloof. That was when Arisa noticed something on the counter.
"Oh, you got guns already?"
"Yeah, Nepgear bought them." Tetsuya walked over to Arisa's side as they looked down on the guns. The older woman grabbed both of them and looked at the guns' details.
"…"
"Arisa?"
"I'm confiscating these."
"Wha! Why!?" He yelled as Arisa put them in her pockets and looked at Tetsuya with a stern face.
"A child like you is far too young to use adult stuff, Tetsuya." As the adopted mother and son began to argue, Akako and Aoko whispered to each other.
"I'm pretty sure she said that because she lost her guns too…"
"Yep, and even though she was the one who taught Nii-san how to use a gun, her pride won't admit it." The twins sighed at their guardian and older brother.
…
-Finally, arriving at Lastation's Guild-
After Tetsuya and Arisa's argument died down, they went on their way to Lastation and had finally found the nation's Guild.
"Not much foot traffic here today…" IF claims as she looks around to see not that much people in the Guild.
"This place must be firmly under ASIC's control. Hmm… I hope we can get legit intel…"
"Oh, while you gather information, allow me to go and accept a few quests." Nepgear says before walking at the counter.
"I'll come too." Tetsuya walks beside Nepgear.
"Thank you, Tetsuya-kun." She said with a slight blush. Arisa, Akako, and Aoko gave the two smug faces while walking towards IF and Compa. Tetsuya glared at them.
The both of them reached towards the counter that was occupied by an accountant.
"Excuse me, I'd like to see what quests are available."
"Excuse me, I'd like to see what quests are available." Tetsuya looked towards the voice that mimicked Nepgear's words.
"Huh?" Nepgear said.
"Hmm?"
It was a girl. She looked to be around Nepgear's age but was a bit shorter than her and Tetsuya. She was a light-skinned girl with long black hair with most of it worn down reaching her chest with some of it worn in pigtails held with light blue and black ribbons. Her eyes were red. She was wearing a black dress with milky blue lining, an odd belt like piece with a bow behind it and a big circle with white lining connecting the dress to her collar. She wore long fingerless black gloves with milky blue coloring at the top and short boots with a similar color scheme. On the left side she can be seen with a small device that is most likely a cellphone with a cute, white cat face on it. Tetsuya did have to admit, the girl is cute.
'She looks to be about my age… Should such a young human girl really take on such dangerous work?' Nepgear thought as she looked at the girl who looked at her too.
"You two here to do quests, too?"
"Huh? Us? Y-yes, that's right." She stuttered for a moment. Tetsuya nodded to agree with Nepgear.
"Huh. Are sure about this? I mean, you guys are still just kids."
"Huh? B-but, you're a kid, too…" Nepgear said with a dismayed tone with Tetsuya looking a bit firmer at her comment towards them.
"I'm an exceptional exception. You have no idea how tough I am. But I need to get stronger so I can…" The girl closed her eyes as she thought about that person.
"So you can…?"
"…" Tetsuya was still looking at the girl as Nepgear said that, as he remembered something as well.
He remembered that as the girl's eyes opened as she began talking again.
"Uh, nothing. Why are you looking for a quest here, anyway?"
"I wanted to help the people of this nation, and try to regain Shares for the CPUs."
When Nepgear said that, the girl looked irritated by her speech.
"Wow, aren't we serious? That speech makes you sound like a goody two-shoes honors student." Even Tetsuya had to admit, Nepgear was a bit too much of a good girl but he had no problems with that unless her confidence was broken.
"Wh-What the goodness is wrong with being serious about a serious problem?" Nepgear said back towards the girl.
"You could've said something more simply like 'I just want to get Shares' and bam." He said with a blank expression.
"N-not you too, Tetsuya-kun!"
"Hahaha! Sorry, sorry. I haven't talked to a girl my age in a while." The black-haired spoke again with a chuckle.
"Come to think of it, it's been a while for… No, I've never met a girl my age before. Everyone's older than me."
"Really?" Tetsuya asked curiously. Nepgear nodded her head towards Tetsuya in reply.
"Uh-huh… Well, my name is Uni. What's yours?"
"I'm Nepgear and this is Yuugita Tetsuya-kun." Nepgear introduced herself and Tetsuya, with him just waving a hello while taking out a chocolate Pocky stick and putting it in his mouth.
"I hope we can be friends, Uni-chan."
"Nepgear, huh? All right then, Nepgear, Tetsuya, since we're acquainted now, you wanna team up and complete a quest together?"
"You mean…you and me? And Tetsuya-kun too?" Nepgear questioned.
"Yeah. I always do this stuff alone, so it might be a good change of pace to try working with someone else."
"Okay, yeah! That sounds like fun. Let's go together!"
"I'll tell the others." Tetsuya said as he walked to them.
"Thank you, Tetsuya-kun!" Nepgear waved back at him as he walked away and began discussing with the others about taking the quests with Uni.
…
-Rebeat Resort-
After spending some time at the Guild, the group went to Rebeat Resort as most of the quests listed this place as a location. The place had a blue ocean that spread as wide as they can see with circular paths.
"Wow, so you made a cute little friend while we were at the Guild?" Compa said as she looked at Uni and Nepgear.
"Oh. So you two weren't doing quests all by yourselves." Uni remarked as she began to smile triumphantly.
"I guess that's to be expected. I mean, those arms of yours are like, paper thin. But Tetsuya seems to know how to handle himself though."
Nepgear began to poke her index fingers together as she tried to explain, "N-Nuh-uh! I'm not weak… Well…okay, maybe a little, but…"
"Hey, hey. Don't tease her." Tetsuya said with Nepgear blushing at his kind words.
"T-Tetsuya-kun…"
"Yeah, yeah. Enough already. Don't start the self-deprecating nonsense again." IF said, stopping the conversation.
"In any case, there are eight of us, this quest will be a joke. Let's get it over with quickly, all right!?" Uni yelled out with a fist pump to the air.
"Yeah!" Everybody yelled out in excitement.
"Alright, since there's eight of us like Uni said, we should split up in two groups with four people in it." Arisa now says as she pointed a finger at them.
"First of all, Akako and Aoko, you'll go with IF-chan and Compa-chan. Me, Tetsuya, Nepgear, and Uni will be together. Alright, IF-chan, here are the quests you guys are going to do." She used the -Menu- and sent the information to IF's phone.
"Got it. Alright, let's go." The twins and Compa began to follow IF as they went towards a path veering to the left.
"Well, since that's settled let's get going!" Arisa also did a fist pump in the air and then began walking forward with her group.
…
The Underling watched as she saw the two groups going on their separate ways. "Tch! They already made it here… At this rate, they'll totally be getting in my way…" She said as she got an idea in her head.
Now with an evil smile, she said, "Fine. I'll finish them off this time, and I'll do it before they know what hit 'em."
…
Tetsuya's group had monster slaying quests. The objective was to beat some small monsters.
"So Arisa, what monsters are we hunting?" Tetsuya asked; he really didn't check the -Menu- because he was just too lazy to do so.
"Well, for us, we're hunting a few Babyvaders and Frog-in-the-boxes, but it shouldn't be a big deal since we only need to hunt a few." Arisa says as she looked in the -Menu- again just to check some stuff.
Uni and Nepgear were behind the two and were talking to each other.
"Ah, that's why they're traveling with you right?" Uni asked.
"It was supposed to be just me, IF-san, and Compa-san, but Histoire-san claims more people were coming which are of course Tetsuya-kun, Arisa-san, Akako-chan and Aoko-chan. I was really surprised!"
"Heeeh… Hmmmmm?"
"What's wrong?" Nepgear asked Uni.
Uni put a finger to her cheek. "No… it just feels like I heard about Arisa before or something."
"Really? Oh, IF-san said one time that she also knew Arisa-san as well." Nepgear had put a finger to her cheek as well.
"Hmmm… Hey Nepgear." Uni asked, changing the topic.
"What is it, Uni-chan?"
"Tetsuya… his appearance is just really…"
"Weird right?" Nepgear had actually said the word Uni was about to say.
"Y-yeah." She didn't want to be mean, but of course boys rarely (and not at all unless it's bleached) have pink as their hair color along with spiky hair and flame-like bangs on his right side. Plus, he looked really aloof, a bit cold as well.
But, Uni was surprised when Nepgear happily gave a warm smile and said, "Tetsuya-kun might be like that and stuff, but he's really nice!"
"…"
"Ah, but when Arisa-san, Akako-chan and Aoko-chan do something bad, he surprisingly has a short temper…" Nepgear lightly rubbed behind her head while she just laughed it off.
"Ah, hey guys, there they are!" Arisa pointed towards the monster she spotted: three, small packs of Babyvaders and another small pack of Frog-in-the-boxes.
"Well, everybody! Get ready!" Tetsuya got his twin blades out and Nepgear brought out her beam saber. Arisa had in her hand a regular-looking sword. Uni had a big rifle in her hand that was so big she had to use both hands.
Tetsuya was the first to attack and his first monster to attack was a Frog-in-the-box. The frog quickly dissipated from Tetsuya's swift attack.
"Nice, Tetsuya!" Arisa gave a big thumbs-up as she attacked a Babyvader with a fast slash. The battle was going at a very good pace as seemingly everybody was able to finish off the monsters with just a few attacks. Nepgear slashed two Babyvaders with a few quick slashes before moving as Uni intervened and shot them down with her rifle, making them disappear.
"Alright, just two more!" Uni yelled out as she pointed her gun at them. But then suddenly, one of them went viral.
"Gh! It went viral!" Tetsuya yelled as the frog undergone a small change by becoming a bit darker in color.
"Come on, a frog shouldn't be so hard to beat." Arisa said.
-1 minute later-
"Kyaaahhh!" The frog was chasing after Arisa, trying to hit her with its box.
"…Arisa, really?" Tetsuya said in anger while Uni and Nepgear sweat-dropped.
"Hah!" Arisa immediately disappeared in a flash only to appear behind the frog, flipped her blade in a complete 360, caught it with ease, and sliced it with lightning-like speed.
"Lacerate Score!" That was the move named Arisa as she had let one more huge slash, ultimately destroying the monster in smithereens.
"T-that was so fast!" Uni said in shock as she stared at Arisa. Arisa just rubbed behind her head and smiled a bit awkwardly.
"No, no! It's just a normal move! Don't compliment me. Teehee!"
"I don't think that was a compliment Arisa…" Tetsuya said but she didn't listen as she rubbed her head.
-A few more minutes later-
The group destroyed the last few monsters. Uni stretched her arms in the air as she yelled, "There, all done! What did I tell you, easy or what?"
"We finished so fast… Uni-chan, you really are strong."
"Same goes for you, Nepgear. Better than I thought, anyway. Nowhere near a match for me!"
"Aw, now you're flattering me."
…
IF's group had finished their assigned quests relatively around the same time as Arisa's group, so they met up for the time being.
Compa looked over to the two girls and smiled. "Heehee, those two are already such close friends." IF went to Compa's side as she also looked at them too.
"Looks that way. It's the first time I've seen a sincere smile from Nepgear since we rescued her."
"But I'm a bit jealous, too… I mean, I've known Gear-chan for way longer than that girl…" Akako and Aoko were going towards Tetsuya and Arisa but they couldn't help but to overhear IF and Compa's conversation. "Hey did Compa-chan just say 'girl'?" Akako asked Aoko.
"Somehow, I feel kinda weird and scared when I heard that." Aoko said, though they knew Compa didn't mean any harm.
"Oh, stop it. Don't get jealous over kids being kids."
"The hell you think you brats are doing. Having a picnic in the middle of a dungeon!?"
"Huh?" IF and Compa looked towards the source of the interruption.
…
"Gaaaaah!" IF and Compa's screams were loud enough for the other group to hear.
"IF-san? Compa-san?" Nepgear said in a worried tone.
"Heh. I got rid of the chaperones with barely any effort at all. Next up…you stupid little brats!" They recognized that voice. Yes, it was the Underling.
"Who's this?" Uni questioned as she glared at the Underling.
"I think her name is Underling. She's one of the ASIC's low-ranking peons." Nepgear explained with Tetsuya nodding and Arisa saying, or rather yelling, "Yeah! The annoying peon!"
"Argh! I told you to stop calling me that!"
"ASIC, huh? Stay back, Nepgear. Let me handle this one." Uni began to step forth as Nepgear did as well.
"No way, I'm fighting too. I can't let her get away with hurting my childhood friends!"
"Hey, quit with the yappin', wouldja? You caught me off guard last time, but now I'll beat you to…a…huh?" The Underling stopped her sentence as she noticed something strange happening to Uni.
A pillar of light surrounded Uni and as it covered her, Tetsuya had one thought running through his head.
'Uni is a CPU Candidate… Wait, does that mean that she's…!?' However, his musing was interrupted by Arisa.
"Hey, we've got to get to the twins' group first! We'll let Uni and Nepgear handle this."
"Haaaaaah!" Nepgear yelled as she transformed before Uni. After the transformation finished, she readied her gun blade as Uni lifted up her rifle, which was even bigger than before.
"Y-you're kidding me! What the hell, man!?" The Underling freaked out as she saw the two girls transforming in front of her own eyes.
Uni now had white hair which was tied as pigtails curled into ringlets while her bangs spiked outwards with the side parts shorter and very curled. Her eyes became bright green with the power symbol as the pupil like Nepgear. Her outfit resembled a black bikini with very tall boots and gloves. Her outfit had silver lining and circle-like shapes.
Nepgear was the first to attack the Underling with a slash. The Underling didn't have time to prepare as she was still in a state of shock. Before she could counterattack, Uni fired her rifle as it blasted green, bright bullets.
"Agh! Hey!" She yelled out. Finally, she did a counterattack as she swung her baton at Nepgear.
"Ah!" Nepgear shrieked as she got hit, but Uni avenged her by shooting her again with her huge rifle. The Underling tumbled over but as she was about to get up, Nepgear prepared her skill: Mirage Dance.
"Take this, Mirage Dance!" Nepgear swiftly ran towards the Underling, and with a quick swipe and a twirl, she swung her beam saber. As if she was a mirage, she disappeared for one second and…
*Slash!*
Came Nepgear's final slash. The Underling was badly hurt as she got up and said out loud.
"Dammit! This has to be considered cheating! Two CPU Candidates against one normal person!? Y-You'll pay!" The Underling cowardly ran away with a smoke grenade.
"I didn't know there were smoke grenades in Gamindustri." Tetsuya said as he looked a bit shocked.
"Hey, says the one who makes similar stuff." Arisa happily played off to Tetsuya, but he sighed.
"And says the one who either gets me the materials or leaves them on the floor." He retorted back to his adopted mother while the twins chuckled.
"Nepgear… You're a…" Uni looked towards Nepgear in shock.
"You too, Uni-chan…? Then you must be Lastation's CPU Candidate! I came here to look for you!" Instead of shock like Uni, Nepgear exclaimed in happiness.
"Tch!" Uni clicked her tongue, but Nepgear didn't seem to notice.
"Could you please help us? We want to save the CPUs—our sisters—and protect Gamindustri…" Nepgear went closer to Uni till…
"Don't come any closer!" She slapped Nepgear's hand away from her as she was about bring an arm to her.
"Huh?" The Planeptune CPU Candidate cluelessly said.
"Why? Why are YOU here and not my sister, huh!?" Uni yelled to Nepgear.
"Oh… That's…" Nepgear didn't know what to say.
"She didn't let me go along with her three years ago…"
"I could've saved them if I went! I could've done what you failed to do!"
"I…I'm really sorry… I couldn't help back then, but… I'm doing my best to rescue them now."
"Shut up! I don't want to ever see you or hear your voice again!" Uni began floating away fast from Nepgear as she didn't want to see her face.
"Wait, Uni-chan!" Nepgear began running after Uni but to no avail as the albino twin-tails was already going faster than her.
"Ouch… Damn Underling, ambushing us from behind like that…" IF cursed before putting an arm on her back to soothe the pain.
Compa cradled her head with her hands. "My head's gonna have a big bump… Huh? Wait, where'd Uni-chan go?"
"Uni-chan…" Nepgear whispered as Uni disappeared from her sight.
"Hey, hey! What happened!" Akako yelled out as she and Aoko finally caught up to the others.
"Well to be exact…" Tetsuya said. They explained what happened when they heard IF and Compa's screams.
"Woah… Uni-san is the CPU Candidate of Lastation…" Aoko put a hand where her mouth was in shocked.
"Well, we don't know yet…" Tetsuya slowly said as he looked over Nepgear and began walking towards her. Now he was close enough to see her face, it looked sad and depressed.
"Nepgear."
"…Ah! S-sorry, Tetsuya-kun…"
"No problem, you should transform back to your normal self, you'll lose a lot of energy right?"
"Y-yeah." She did what the pink hair boy said and was back to her normal, cute self.
"Hah… Well, we should go back to Lastation for now." Arisa sighs in stress. Despite the easy adventure in the wide Rebeat Resort, it became stressful for everybody as the Underling just barged in and while finding out Uni was a CPU Candidate was a great thing, she had ran away from anger.
…
-Lastation-
"We aren't having any luck with finding the Mascot, are we?" Compa said in a disheartening tone. She was right, the people around Lastation didn't even seem to know where, or even know about, the Mascot.
"We asked around as much as we could. Maybe nobody here knows about it?" Nepgear started poking her index fingers together in her usual way.
IF sighed as she put one hand on her waist. "That'd be my guess. Man… No options left. We'll pay a visit to this nation's Oracle."
"Oracle? Oh, that's right. Every nation has someone like Histoire-san to help the CPU, right? Nepgear says.
"But Ai-chan, why didn't we go to see the Oracle first if you knew she'd be able to help?"
"Honestly, I still don't want to go. The Oracle here doesn't have the best reputation, so to speak."
"That reputation here is indeed terrible." Arisa sighed as she rubbed her head.
"What kind of reputation?" Tetsuya said.
"It's that kind of business." IF said but Tetsuya still remained clueless as to what 'that kind of business' meant but otherwise went along with the group to the Basilicom.
"…But there's one thing…." They knew that everybody was staring at them. More specifically, they were staring at the only boy in the group, Tetsuya.
"Look, mama, that guy has weird hair."
"Hey, don't point at him."
"Wow, look at the guy, he's pretty cute."
"But what's with the hair color, does he like pink?"
Tetsuya grimaced as people began talking about him; he had always wondered why it was always him that was the center of attention. From their reactions to him, this world probably have no guys with pink hair. But, the group ignored the people and went straight into the Basilicom.
-Lastation's Basilicom-
"Pardon us." IF said as she opened the door to the Basilicom. Inside it resembled somewhat to Planeptune's Basilicom, in some way.
"Hello." Compa said after IF went in first.
There was only one person in the Basilicom, which was perhaps the Oracle.
"Welcome to Lastation's Basilicom. I am Jinguji Kei, the Oracle for this nation." The Oracle, though female, looked like a short boy with pale skin and short silver hair. Her eyes are a bright aqua blue color and she wore a near-formal black suit with gold lining any many buttons. She wore shorts instead of pants. Below the shorts she wore black high socks with white detailing and slip on black shoes with small blue and silver detailing on the top. Two long tails flowed from behind the jacket with blue coloring inside.
"And I already know that you have questions for me. Isn't that right, IF and Compa of Planeptune?"
"Huh? How do you know us…?" Compa spoke in shock to what Kei said.
"Intelligence gathering is business economics 101. I've gathered info on you both since your arrival."
"Definitely earned that reputation." IF said in amusement.
'Is this what IF meant by 'that kind of business'?' The pink hair boy thought as he looked back and forth between IF and Kei.
"Um, we're looking for your nation's Mascot… Do you have any information on where it might be?" Nepgear asked.
"Whether I do or don't is irrelevant. I'd first like to ask you how much my information would be worth to you."
"Its worth?"
"Of course. Properly exchanging information through an agreed-upon value system is the key to any business." Kei says.
"But we don't have a lot of Credits…" Compa said as she dug into her coin purse, looking for Credits.
"That's fine. Money is not required. Rather, I would exchange the information for a… personal favor."
"What kind of personal flavor?"
"Our nation is currently developing a very special item. All we lack are some crucial materials."
"Perhaps you've heard of these. We need a Treasure Gem and a good chunk of Hematite." When Kei said what the crucial materials were, IF and Arisa looked deeply shocked.
"What!? You realize how rare those are, don't you?" IF yelled out in shock.
"How rare are we talking…?" Nepgear asked.
"So rare that you won't find them at any regular vendor. There's no info about where to find them, either." IF explained to Nepgear about the rarity of the materials. "This is an incredibly one-sided trade!"
"How unfortunate. Then, I suppose our negotiation is at its end. Perhaps I misappraised my intel's value to you." Kei had put a 'smile' on her face.
"Tch… Slimy business weasel…" IF clicked her tongue while saying that.
"Understood. We'll go find them. If we do that, you'll tell us what you know about your Mascot, right?" Nepgear says.
"Well, there is one more thing that I want to know. I also need information on what happened three years ago, and about the recent rescue attempt."
"You even know about our going back to the Gamindustri Graveyard!?" Compa looked surprised.
"Circumstantial evidence. Call it a hunch. But how could I be wrong with Nepgear-san standing before me now?"
IF glared at Kei, "You knew about Nepgear all this time?"
"Well? Is Noire all right? Why is only Nepgear-san back?" Kei began questioning them.
"Well, Noire-san is still with the other CPUs, and—"
IF suddenly shut Nepgear's mouth with one of her hands. "Clamp that mouth shut, Nepgear. Business is all about equivalent exchange, isn't that right?" IF smirked at Kei. "Isn't it hypocritical of you to overstep the very 'rules' of business you imposed on us?"
Kei first had a silent shocked look but smiled and closed her eyes. "Huh. A valid point. My apologies. Very well, then I would like to ask you to find those materials first."
"After that, we can exchange all the information we possess. That is quite a bargain, you know."
"Okay, let's do that, then. We'll be going now."
"My, my. How amateurish of me to allow my emotions to lead a business negotiation…"
"Please be safe, Noire…" Kei silently whispered to herself.
…
-Outside of Lastation's Basilicom-
After the group left the Basilicom, IF had a smile on her face, though she looked angry. "That Oracle really knows how to grind my gears! But I did have a pretty sweet comeback at the end, huh?"
"You were a super cool cucumber, Ai-chan!" Compa praised IF.
"Still, we need to find a Treasure Gem and Hematite. Any ideas on where to start looking, IF-san?"
"If I knew that, they wouldn't be as rare as they are. There was a rumor that some monsters collect rare gems…"
"Oh, I think I know." Arisa had her hand up as everybody looked at her. "I went to this place before and I managed to find one there."
"EhhhHHH!" Everybody yelled out.
"Hey, don't yell so loud. Besides I only found it by pure luck after beating a monster."
"So do you have one Arisa-san!" Nepgear said but when she did, Arisa suddenly looked the other way. Tetsuya had to pull her face hard to make her face them again.
"Looook at us, hagggggg…"
"Hey, rude!" She punched Tetsuya's head hard enough for a bump to appear.
"Okay, to be exact, I… ah…"
"So?"
"AlrightIlostitsoyeah, aha,let'sgogetthatTreasureGemandHematite!" Arisa began running ahead of them.
"…I think she lost it." Tetsuya said in a monotone, rubbing the bump he got from Arisa's chop, while the twins nodded in unison.
"Then… should we go and beat up every monster we see?" Nepgear said.
IF sighed. "That makes it sound so savage, but it's the only choice we've got." The group began chasing after Arisa to go to the place Kei said that the Treasure Gem would be at.
-?-
"Ugh… I said some really nasty things to Nepgear, didn't I…? She's been through so much, too…" Uni, in her room, on her bed, was now regretting what she said to Nepgear. She didn't mean to, but three years had passed and her older sister still wasn't back. Nepgear was perhaps the very first female friend she ever made since she never really did the 'normal girl activities'.
"I get it. I was told to stay behind because I wasn't strong enough to be of help to the others… If I had gone, I would've made their jobs even harder, rather than easier…"
"But…But that's why I'm trying so hard to become way stronger!" Uni yelled to herself as she flipped herself so her back faced the ceiling.
"What'll I do if I run into Nepgear again…?" She stuffed her face in her pillow, and began thinking about how to apologize until she remembered Nepgear's earlier words.
"Tetsuya-kun might be like that and stuff, but he's really nice actually!"
Despite thinking that, she knew right now that that wouldn't solve anything. For now, she'll keep that thought in the back of her head.
AN: Wow! What a turn of events, well I'm pretty sure the group will figure something out, with Arisa's guidance perhaps but yeah.
Arisa: Of course! I'm the best and mature of the group, count on me!
Tetsuya: You forgot to mention the oldest part.
Arisa: You say something?
Tetsuya: Nothing.
AN: I don't want a fight in the theater, cause the Editor probably get mad again.
Arisa: Oh yeah, where is Editor?
AN: Just looking at something in her computer as usual but we should close this chapter now.
Everybody: Right!
(Everybody left the room except Author)
AN: Alright guys! I probably won't focus on the main chapters right now because I might write a Christmas chapter here. Sorry no events this time, I don't feel like it right now but perhaps for the next chapter. But like usual, see ya!
