Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth: Generation of True Gods
Chapter 5: Lastation Part 2: Our Promise and Past
AN: Hello, viewers! A main chapter has finally been posted! The Yuugita family aren't here with me, but as one of the main sponsors of this story, I have to be here!
Tetsuya: *Munch!* *Gobble!* *Gobble* we're also the mains too you... *Munch* know.
AN: It's rude to eat while you talk, go back to the cafeteria!
Tetsuya: Yeah, yeah. (Leaves)
AN: Ahem! So like said, read this chapter, viewers! (Didn't have that much to say anyway.)
-?-
"….So far it's gotten a little boring hasn't it?"
"Hm….. But! If I did that… wait, but I'll probably get caught though… hmph, whatever!"
"Hmhmhmhm… Ahahahahahahahahahah!... *Choking noises!* *Choking noises!*"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…Ha….. That was close, but… MAN! This strawberry short cake is the best!"
…
-Endless Zone-
From what Arisa had said, she had found a Treasure Gem in a place called Endless Zone in Lastation. They had been walking around for half an hour to look for it.
"Hey Arisa, are you really sure the Treasure Gem is here?" Tetsuya lazily said as he walked around the place.
"Yes, yes, I remember I got it from here." More specifically, Arisa had found the gem embedded in the arm of a dead Ancient Dragon.
"But still, nothing at all…" A disappointed Compa said.
"C'mon. If they were this easy to find, that Oracle would have them already." IF replied.
"I guess running around without directions will get us nowhere fast…" Nepgear quipped.
"…" Nepgear sighed and closed her eyes. Apparently, there was no Ancient Dragon here.
"Why all the glum faces?" Nepgear opened her eyes to see a woman who had suddenly appeared in front of them.
She had fair skin and she looked to be almost around Tetsuya's height. She had orange eyes and short, rusty brown red hair styled similarly to Kei's with a silver headband on top.
Her clothes consisted of a white tank top with a brown belt-like segment on the top and bottom underneath a blue and white jacket with gold accents. Her skirt is white with thick strips of blue in the center and worn with a brown belt with gold details and a small orange and black pouch attached to it. She wore black fingerless gloves, black stockings, and blue boots with white, black, and gold accents.
"Huh? I'm sorry, who are you?" Nepgear asked.
"Whoops! Where are my manners? I'm Falcom. I'm your average, everyday adventurer, as you can see."
"I also have this nasty habit of wanting to meddle in the affairs of troubled folks like you."
"Wow, an adventurer! Ai-chan, maybe she knows something. Can't hurt to ask, right?"
IF put a hand on her chin before looking up. "I guess not. We're fresh out of alternatives."
Nepgear was the one to ask the question towards her. "Um, so, we're looking for two gems—Hematite and a Treasure Gem—but we have no idea where to look…"
Falcom also put a hand on her chin. "Treasure Gem and Hematite, huh? Never heard of Hematite, but I know the Treasure Gem isn't around here. I think I heard more about the one in Planeptune. Was it Virtua Forest? A gem-collecting monster, maybe…?"
"Are you serious!?" IF yelled towards her in surprise.
Arisa put a hand on her chin, "I did hear a type of monster like that in Planeptune, but I didn't think it would be true…"
"Well, we don't know if the rumors are true but let's stick to it." Tetsuya said. Arisa nodded her head.
"I'd take you there if I could, but I'm already in the middle of some other errands. Sorry about that." Falcom rubbed her head.
Nepgear bowed in sincerity. "Oh no, that information is plenty! Thank you so much."
"Cool. Your eyes are all full of life again, so my work here is done. Perhaps we'll meet again. Good luck!"
"Thanks a bunch!" Compa also bowed as well.
IF put her hand on her head, thinking, "How unexpected. I never would have thought it would be in Planeptune."
"Let's hurry over and find out if she was right!"
"…Yeah." Tetsuya replies.
"Hooray!" Compa and the twins yelled out in happiness.
…
But the group didn't know that a certain someone had followed them to Endless Zone. That "certain someone" was the Underling, the one working for ASIC. She gave a dark snicker.
"Uh-huh… Going back to Planeptune, are they? Heh, heh, heh… Just you wait. Our super-secret anti-CPU weapon will blast you all to dust…!"
…
-Virtua Forest Depths-
Returning back to Virtua Forest Depths, the group managed to avoid some monsters till they reached the innermost depths of the forest. Arisa was leading this time as she knew what the monster was. While Arisa did, the rest of the group looked around for small monsters that would ambush them. IF took this time to scoot over to Tetsuya, who noticed.
"Hey."
"Yo." He put a chocolate Pocky stick on his mouth. After he said that, a moment of silence came between them. A few seconds later, Tetsuya responded again. "Is there something you need?"
"…" It looked like IF was trying to find the words but couldn't, though Tetsuya patiently waited. After another few seconds, she finally responded, "…Hey… Can you not tell anybody of this?"
"Just as long as it's not something important… fine."
"Thanks." IF looked relieved as she sighed.
"When Arisa said that I tried to jump to protect Nepgear too… she was right." The Guild member looked slightly down. Tetsuya still patiently let her continue the conversation.
"I felt helpless when I saw Nepgear about to be attacked by that Underling… it reminded me three years ago when Nep-ko and the other CPUs got captured… of how weak I was."
"…" As she continued, Tetsuya chomped half of the stick on his mouth and swallowed it. She didn't notice and continued.
"I really feel jealous of you Tetsuya." IF said in a quiet tone. "You saved Nepgear from being attacked by that big Dogoo and again when the Underling tried to attack her first. You were already there before me…"
"IF." Tetsuya suddenly answered in a stern but a monotone and friendly voice; this took IF aback, he had finally said something while listening to her. He let out a sigh and closed his eyes in a bit of an irritated matter before chuckling.
"I'm glad you finally decided to talk about it," IF, once again taken aback by the spiky pink hair boy, yelled out, "W-what?!" The group stopped and turned to look at the female Guild Member with slightly shocked and curious faces.
"Um, what's wrong IF-san?" Nepgear asked with a sweat drop.
When IF was about to answer, Tetsuya answered first. "Oh, she thought she saw an enemy but it was actually a bug instead, so nothing to worry about, okay?" Nepgear slightly nodded before saying "Oh, okay…" The group quickly began walking again and returned to looking around. IF sighed and punched Tetsuya's arm, making him say "…Ow" in his usual monotone way.
She pointed at him. "The hell you mean, 'Oh, she thought she saw an enemy but it was actually a bug instead, so nothing to worry about, okay?' I'm quite perceptive for your information!"
"I see…"
"Hmph, you see I'm in the Planeptune's Intelligence Division!"
"I see…"
"I've known Nepgear, Nep-ko, Compa, and Histoire more than you dp!"
"I see…"
"I've also know about more stuff than you think too!"
"I see-"
"Enough with the 'I see", do you even react to what I was saying to you!?"
Tetsuya pointed towards his headphones. "No not really, I was listening to loud music on my headphones while you were talking." IF gritted her teeth and blushed immensely. This was a un-IF trait of her to show. For some reason, this teenager, who somehow behaves like a child with a monotone face and pink hair, was around Neptune's level of teasing, perhaps even worse.
"Y-you…" It looked like she wanted to punch him in the face, but before she could think of going through with it, Compa caught everybody's attention.
"What about Scary Dragon Monster-san over there?" Compa pointed at a huge brown dragon.
"Yeah, that's it! The Ancient Dragon!" Arisa yelled out. The dragon noticed them and let out a loud roar.
"I get the feeling that's our target. Let's strike while we have the initiative."
"Right!" Everybody yelled out as they took out their weapons. This was the first time Tetsuya had seen a huge monster, bigger than the Fenrir that they fought and saw.
The dragon roared again before running towards them. Akako and Aoko went first as they yelled out, "Alright, we're going first!"
"Yeah!" Aoko yells out, as they began running in synch. The weapons they had were twin daggers. They shared as they only had one set.
"Akako!" Aoko looks at Akako as the red-head signaled her, "Alright!" Then, both of them brought something out from their backs. Wait, from the back?
The thing they grabbed was another set of daggers except these had big hilts with the blades sealed by their respective scabbards. They took out the scabbards and quickly placed them in their pockets. The blade's length was the same length as the one they're currently using.
They both yelled out their move, "Fatal Kill DOUBLE!"
The twins first slashed the legs of the dragon which made it roar in pain. Then, they stabbed their daggers into the legs. They jumped on the handles of the daggers and used Tetsuya's sword style, and before anybody knew it, they slashed the dragon, but from opposite sides: Akako on the left and Aoko on the right. But they weren't finished as Aoko threw her dagger to her twin sister. She continued to use the style as she did something with the daggers.
She slammed the dagger's pommels together, which connected the daggers together, forming a spear with blades. Akako yelled at Tetsuya, "Hey Nii-chan, watch this!"
Akako threw the spear to Aoko, who managed to catch it. Aoko then threw the spear at the Dragon's forehead.
"RooooooOOOOAAARRRRRRR!" Both ran towards the head using its arms as paths for them to run on. As they reach up to the head, both of them took the spear out. Then, they took out the connected daggers and with one on their hands, they stabbed the monster's head again with all of their strength.
"Haaaaaaaaa…!"
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh…!" With a mighty force, the Ancient Dragon fell to the ground, with the twins quickly grabbing all of their daggers and running towards the group, specifically towards Tetsuya.
"Hey, Hey Nii-chan! Did ya see that!"
"Yeah I saw that, your training really worked out huh, in this world I mean…"
"Eheheheh…" Aoko and Akako rubbed their heads, but all joy was stopped when IF pointed towards the supposedly dead Ancient Dragon.
"It's still alive, don't lose concentration!" It slowly started getting up till it was standing again. Its eyes sharpened as it roared again.
"GGGGAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
Arisa had a hand near her eyes as she looked at it, "Hmph. Since Akako and Aoko gave the monster major damage, we just need to use some SP skills!"
'I wonder why they're called SP skills?' Tetsuya thought for a moment before going first.
"Let's go, Strike Dash!" He threw one of his swords towards the dragon, hitting it towards the chest, then twirling back to Tetsuya like a boomerang. IF came next.
"Alright, Demonic Inferno!" Light gathered in her hand and as she twirled, saying the name, a bunch of explosions surrounded the dragon before a huge pillar of fire appeared.
As the pillar appeared, Arisa was already behind the dragon and waited for the moment till the pillar was gone. "Heh, see my move! Lacerate Score!" Flipping her sword in 360 degrees and catching it, she sliced the dragon with lightning-like speed. She let out one more huge slash. "Nepgear go!" The woman yelled out.
Nepgear tightened her grip on her sword and dashed towards the monster. "Mirage Dance!" She slashed and slashed at the dragon till she quickly dashed behind her enemy and let out one huge slash on it.
"RAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHH!" Finally, the dragon came crashing down and didn't get up. Something popped out of its arm and dropped to the ground, which turned out to be the Treasure Gem. Aoko went and grabbed it and showed it towards the group.
"Yes! We got it!"
"This is a Treasure Gem? Yippee! We finally got a gem thingy!" Compa excitedly said as she looked at the Treasure Gem.
"All that's left is the Hematite. We'd better hurry up and find it as soon as we can…"
"I'm afraid you'll never find it! You losers ain't goin' nowhere!" A tomboyish voiced yelled out. As one, the group turned towards the annoyingly familiar voice.
"Ugh. This one again. You're persistent for a bottom-tier peon, Underling."
"I feel sorry for you to have to come and lose to us so many times, Underling-san."
"No matter the market, underlings have to handle all the hands-on grunt work, don't they?"
The Yuugita family was nodding to what IF, Compa, and Nepgear had said. Tetsuya was the only one with eyes open and having a blank expression as he nodded as well.
The Underling burst in anger as several tic marks appeared on her head. "Ugh! Shut the hell up! I'm SO sorry for being who I am! Hmph. Not like it matters. After today, those gums will never flap again! Come out, secret weapon!"
"Finally learned that underlings like you need to come at us in droves, huh?" IF mocked her.
"We can't afford to waste any time. I'll activate HDD and finish them all in one fell sweep!"
The Underling laughed at them. "Man, kids are stupid! You really think I wouldn't have prepared for that nonsense."
Then suddenly, a burst of light hit them. "What the goodness!? Wh-What's going on…?"
"Gear-chan, is something the matter?" Compa asked.
Nepgear looked around herself. "I…can't activate HDD…Why…?"
"Because I came prepared, idiot. This monster seals your ability to transform! Let's see ya fight now!"
"This could be bad. Compa, let's get out of here!"
"You betcha!"
"Hold it right there!" A sudden loud voice yelled out towards them. Everybody looked to see who it was.
"Huh!? And who in the hell are you!?"
The person showed themselves. "How dare you treat such cute girls this way!"
The person was a young girl with a short stature and childlike physique. Despite her physique, she has a very well-endowed chest. More than IF even. She also has very fair skin and black eyes. She has bright red hair with some of it from the left side of her head worn in a fashion similar to a side ribbon that looked like an R, held by a black ribbon with yellow beads on the end. She has white highlights that looked kinda similar to Tetsuya on her right bangs and on the ends of her tied hair.
The girl was dressed in a Chinese attire consisting of black and red colors. The top is dark gray and black with golden lining and ruffles with small red X-shaped strings under her breast and a belt like piece. At her chest is an opal blue Magatama. She wore red unattached sleeves with small pink cherry blossom and petal patterns around the bottom, with golden lining and black at the bottom. At the top, just below her shoulders are black ruffles. Her skirt consists of four big petal shapes resembling her sleeves, with a pair of shorts underneath. She wears similar black and red shoes.
Around her body is a golden dragon, which looked to be her pet.
"I've been eyeing them all as potential wifeys, so any more funny moves and you'll face the wrath of Red-chan!"
"…" The Underling went quiet.
"…" The whole group also went quiet as well.
Finally, the awkward silence was broken by the Underling. "What in the most unholy hell is this chick trying to say? Is she missin' some screws?"
The girl called Red didn't listen and yelled out, "For my goddess, my CPU, my wifey! I am coming to save you!"
"Huh? W-Wait, what? Who, where…why!?" Nepgear questioned, exasperated. The group was asking the same question.
"Save those questions for the honeymoon, my lovely. We can go over everything after we deal with this!" Red yelled out as she took her weapon which was apparently a yo-yo. And a huge one at that.
"Kh! Whatever, go get them!" The Underling shouted out to the robots. Now, everybody had their weapons ready to go and battle. One of the machines came first and tried to attack Red.
"Ha! Take this, robotey!" Red yelled as she smacked the robot with her yo-yo and another one with a twirl.
"Hieeyah!" One more smack to the robot and to everybody' shock, the first robot was smashed to pieces.
"Wh-What… What the hell happen!? How did a stupid kid do that?" The Underling shouted in shock. Well, everybody was shocked that a girl who wanted wifeys was actually a really tough cookie.
"Come one everybody, concentrate! Another one is coming!" Tetsuya yelled as the other one came. He deflected the robot's attack with one of his blades, making an ssshhhhhh sound. As he continued to deflect its attacks, something glowed in his pocket.
"Huh?"
"Hey, Tetsuya, don't lose your guard!" Arisa yelled which caught his attention as the robot whirled its unoccupied arm before letting loose a punch. This action immediately prompted him to use the other sword.
He tried to push the robot away from him but it was strong as hell. "Nnn…Ghaahhhhh…"
*Plop*
Suddenly, the glowing thing came out from his pocket, which turned out to be the pocket knife. It was between them and Tetsuya stared at it, until another overwhelming light came from it again.
"Wha! Not again!"
…
…
…
…
…
-?-
Pitch black. The same thing happened when Tetsuya talked to Histoire in his supposed dream. When he opened his eyes, he saw nothing but himself, as he was letting out a soft glow. A voice called to him.
"…..Yuugita Tetsuya, do you desire something in life?"
"Huh? Aren't you that…"
"Do you want this power? This power you were born with?"
"…Power?"
"I'm not the one who sealed your powers in that pocket knife, though right now, I'm presenting you with a choice. You can decide whether to use this power or not, but if you choose to harness this power, prepare for the eventual backlash. Once you do, another you will unlock on the way."
"What's this power?"
"….That's something you'll have to discover on your own, and when you do, know I will be there."
"….Who ARE you anyway…."
"…Haha… That is something you will find out soon. I will meet you in my real form when the time comes. I mean, I have to protect your stupid ass from these life-and-death situations, you know."
"…"
"Now then… Oh, I have to go now; we'll meet again though, you'll be glad I gave your power back to you… or not, depending on the situation. Oh well, bye-bye for now!"
"Huh? Wait, I need to-"Once more, unconsciousness smacked Tetsuya right in the head and his eyes closed unwillingly.
But, despite his vision blurring, he saw the pocket knife, now glowing a bright red, floating towards him, enticing him to grab it. Once he grabbed it, the red light shone brighter. His body glowed brighter as well as flames surrounded him the dark space.
His pink hair turned to the color of flames and spiked a little bit more up. His blue ocean eyes that were closed opened to reveal red-orange eyes that gave off a glow brighter than the flames surrounding him.
The pocket knife that was broken had a blade now. No. Blade wasn't the right word. It was a glowing blade, more specifically, a blue lightsaber. He lifted the blade and took a look at it. The flames acting as the wind; his bangs had blown over his newly colored, stoic eyes.
"Now Yuugita Tetsuya, use the power you unlocked to your heart's content!"
…
"T-Tetsuya-kun!" Tetsuya was back again, with Nepgear yelling towards him.
"W-What's with that new look?" IF said, as shocked as Compa. Tetsuya looked at himself; he was still in his regular clothes, but when he took a look at his reflection (provided by a conveniently-placed puddle on the ground), he saw some changes to his appearance.
His hair color was replaced with the color of flames, his eyes turned red-orange with the pupil as a power symbol. "What…?" He looked at his hands, he had dropped his swords and the only one he had on his hands was the pocket knife. Or light saber to say, with a blue-colored blade.
"What!? There's another CPU, I didn't get told this! How did he transform?! These robots are supposed to seal a CPU's transformation! Dammit, everything is messed up!" The Underling yelled and had her hands on her head.
IF shouted a warning. "Tetsuya look out!" The robots that Tetsuya was fighting against were now floating towards him. But Tetsuya wasn't looking at anywhere but only towards his pocket knife, with his bangs covering his eyes.
*SLASH!*
Tetsuya hadn't looked up, but he slashed the robot in one, precise move. The slice ended up splitting the robot in half as its pieces fell to the ground. Everybody looked shocked. The last one went for Tetsuya, and this time he didn't use the blade.
Finally, he moved to face it and had his fist balled up and covered with fire. He punched through the last one; the flame melting its insides. He then pulled his arm out and moved away as the robot exploded.
The Underling looked shocked as she stared at them. "Gah! Taken down by a damn cliché kid whose got brawn and no brains! And a CPU! Dammit, you'll rue this day!" She quickly ran away.
IF clapped her hands. "You can't help but praise the woman for her ability to escape at the speed of light." After all that trouble, Nepgear went to say her thanks to Red.
"Um, thank you very much for your help. You came at just the right time…"
Red proudly pointed to herself. "Heh! It's only natural to come to my future wifey's aid!"
"May I… ask who you are again? I don't think we've ever met…" Nepgear asked.
"Yeah, this is totally, absolutely, the first time we've ever met! In person!"
"In…person?" The CPU Candidate questioned.
Red pointed towards herself again. "Call me Red. I'm traveling around Gamindustri to find my perfect wifey!"
IF said. "Oh, wait. I've heard about some 'unusual' girl who's always running around, looking for her soulmate…"
"Oh I heard about that too." Arisa claims. "Are you telling me that's you?"
Red looked surprised as her eyes sparkled in amazement. "Amazing! People spread rumors about me! That's super-de-duper!"
IF began to question her. "What are you doing way out here? Don't get me wrong, I appreciate that you helped out and all, but…"
"Y'see, I've always wanted to have a CPU wifey, and when I heard you three left Planeptune, it was my big chance!" Red stated her reasons.
Her eyes sparkled again and sure enough, you could see some twinkles around her. "Sure enough, I managed to find you, especially my goddess, in such a dime romance novel situation – in danger!"
"Your goddess…? Um…is that…me?" Nepgear pointed towards herself.
As if Red ignored her, she continued her ramble, "Can't you hear the bells of marital destiny ringing for us!? This meeting is the start of our life together!"
"Um… Uh… Goodness… I don't really see where this conversation is going…" Nepgear scratched her cheeks in confusion.
Again, not listening to anybody, she continued, "Okay, so basically, take me with you! There's no way I'd let my wifey out of my sight when trouble is afoot!"
"I do hereby solemnly swear to protect my wifey with my lifey!" Red put a hand on her chest.
Nepgear looked flustered as she looked to IF and Arisa for help "Uh…huh… Um, wh-what am I supposed to do in this kind of situation…?"
"It's your decision, IF-chan."
IF thought for a moment before smiling it off. "Let her join us, I guess. After all, you can't deny that she's pretty strong."
"Having more friends is good for your health!" Compa recommended.
"Yay! Huzzah, et cetera! Awesome! I hope we'll be together forever, my wifey goddess!"
Nepgear finally regained her composure and told Red. "Um, I'm sorry, but could you please not call me a goddess like that? I'm only a CPU Candidate, you know… I'd be much more comfortable if you just called me Nepgear."
"Ooh, that's my girl! No need for me to be so formal with my wifey, right? Then…let's have some fun, Nepgear!" Red cheerfully yelled out with a hand in the air.
"AGHK!" Everybody looked to Tetsuya to see that he was holding his chest while coughing.
"Tetsuya-kun!" Nepgear rushed over towards him, as his transformation ended and was replaced with his normal hair and eyes. The blade of the pocket knife was gone as the pocket knife itself reverted back to its usual broken state. Luckily, Tetsuya was able to gather his breath and told them that nothing unpleasant occurred. They were relieved and began heading back to Planeptune once again. Arisa told the details of what happened to Histoire while excluding details about Tetsuya's transformation.
…
-Lastation-
They returned to Lastation again. They finally had the Treasure Gem but now they needed the Hematite. IF asked a question towards Red about the Hematite. "So we still need some Hematite, but we don't have a single lead. Know anything about it, Red?"
"I know that I know nothing!" Red said in a jolly way without any consent or fear of what to say.
IF sighed as she put a hand on her head, "Far too chipper for such a useless comment. Not that I expected you to actually be of help."
Nepgear said, "What should we do? We need Hematite to get that information…" As they talked, a man suddenly approached them.
"Pardon me. I happened to overhear your private discussion… You are seeking Hematite, yes?"
Compa looked at the person. "We certainly are, but who are you, Mysterious Man-san?"
The man saluted like a soldier. "Town security, ma'am. I recalled seeing a deposit of Hematite in a dungeon I visited before."
"Wow, really!? Could you please tell us where that dungeon is?"
The guard had held out his hand to stop Nepgear. "Hold your striped stockings, girlie. I'd be happy to tell you, but how about you do me a solid in return?" IF looked angry as it reminded her of the bargain they had with Lastation's Oracle.
"Why does this guy piss me off? Oh, right, 'cuz he sounds just like Law of Equivalent Exchange-san."
Ignoring IF, Nepgear immediately replied. "Yes, sir! We'll do anything!"
"Great. There's a monster causing problems over at Rebeat Resort. Mind giving it the ol' what-for? My unit had been tasked with hunting it down, but we were in way over our heads…"
"This sounds like a ton of fun! Leave the pummeling to us!" Red yelled out.
"We'll go defeat that creature right away, so please tell us what you know once we return," said Nepgear.
"You got it. Good luck. We're all counting on you." The guard said waving out to them as they departed to the location of the monster.
"…" The guard didn't notice but Tetsuya was looking back at him with a stare until he looked forward again.
The guard watched as the entire group disappeared from his sight. "…Did I do good?" The guard quietly said; he turned around as a shadow appeared. It was the Lastation Oracle, Kei. She walked to the guy.
"Yes. I thought they'd be more leery of the request, but simple minds want simple tasks. Or is it desperation?" She put a hand on her chin, a look of curiosity on her face.
The guard raised his hand as if he was asking a question to her. "If I may be so bold, couldn't you have just given them the information without the wild goose chase?"
"It's bad business for one entity to go easy on another. But not getting the materials would be problematic…"
"Then again, I did give them the very same intel I gave to her…" Kei whispered as she smiled and thought about the person.
…
The group was stocking on some medicine because they almost ran out. While they were heading to the medicine shop, Nepgear looked at Tetsuya, who had a stern look, and kept looking down with his arms crossed. Finally, she caught his attention by speaking out to him softly.
"Tetsuya-kun, are you alright?" Nepgear said with concern in her voice. He looked up immediately, before shock appeared on his face.
"Oh… It's nothing." He looked down again, though he couldn't help but shiver for some reason. It definitely wasn't from the guard earlier, though he was still suspicious of him, but from something else entirely.
His train of thought broke off when someone accidently bumped into him.
"Oh! Sorry, mister." The girl said before she ran off to the opposite direction of where the group was walking towards.
"Heh? Eh?" Suddenly, Tetsuya began touching his shirt and pants.
"What's wrong Tetsuya-kun?"
"That girl… she stole my wallet!" As fast as lightning, Tetsuya had already begun running towards the direction of the thief.
"B-but Tetsuya-kun! What about the others?"
"Just tell them I'll be there soon, it shouldn't take long!" He yelled before completely disappearing from her sight. She looked more worried now but she began running to the others to tell them what happened.
As for Tetsuya, he finally saw her and before he was about to do anything to get her from behind, he accidently yelled out towards her.
"Hey, you!" The girl noticed and with a shocked face, she began running too, to get away from Tetsuya.
"Hey!" He held out his hand towards her but of course she didn't stop so he had to chase her now. Tetsuya began running once again after the thief. Some people just looked at them because they didn't look like they didn't want to intervene. Tetsuya was catching up towards the girl but when he was about to grab her arm, she quickly sped up to the side of a building.
It caught him off guard, showing he was shocked that the girl had really good reflexes before chasing her again. Luckily, guards were there to finally appear for his sake.
"Stop!" One guard tried to stop and another tried to block but to their surprise, the thief jumped and flipped over them, landing smoothly on the ground.
"Wha- how did she!?" The girl looked back and showed a sly grin at them before running once again. Tetsuya moved past the officers as he chased after her.
'Damn! She's good, how come I had to get robbed by her?!' He thought in anger. Somehow, he got a feeling this chase would take a while.
But it felt familiar somehow. Very familiar.
…
"E-everyone!" Nepgear shouted as she finally found them, waiting outside of the shop they were in. IF was the first to head toward the exhausted CPU Candidate who was catching her breath.
"Where the hell were you? And Tetsuya too, where is he?" It took a while for Nepgear to catch her breath before telling them what happened.
"Ha… ha…! S-someone stole Tetsuya-kun's wallet!"
"Eh!" Everybody shouted. Arisa grabbed Nepgear's shoulders and asked, "Hey, what did the thief look like?"
"U-um… well… I think she was a girl and she had-" Nepgear stopped for one moment thinking about the thief.
Yes, the thief had something that looked similar to Tetsuya. Of course, she had the same hair color as Tetsuya!
But would that count? Many girls in Gamindustri had pink hair.
"Do you remember, Gear-chan?" Compa said in a worried voice, the CPU Candidate finally mustered enough courage to answer.
"She… had the same hair color as Tetsuya-kun's…"
"…What?" Arisa, Akako, and Aoko were the only ones to say that as their entire expression turned into one of complete shock.
"…Did this girl… have green eyes?" Arisa slowly says.
"Huh? Well, I couldn't see her face at all…" Nepgear said that but she remembered seeing small flecks of green on her face, though the thief's face wasn't visible.
…
After a while, the thief and Tetsuya finally stopped, but only because they were now exhausted from all the running and other shenanigans.
"…Ha!... *Cough* *Cough* Finally… you stopped!" He was slightly bent over, resting his hands on his legs while taking deep breaths.
"Heh… You too… you really haven't changed, have you?" The thief said who had her back to Tetsuya.
"!"
Haven't changed? ...What did she mean?
"Wait… This voice…!" The girl turned around to face Tetsuya. The girl's face was concealed a bit by her white cap, but her smile wasn't.
"Y-y-you…. H-how…..?" For the very first time, Tetsuya was completely caught off guard as the girl slowly took off her cap.
She merely continued to smile as she finally showed her face.
…
Uni was still wandering around Lastation because she was getting prepared to go to a place that contained something. She sighed before recalling, "I almost got lost until someone helped me find the location of the place… she seemed so friendly. I wonder if I could meet her again…"
She sighed once more before smiling to herself to concentrate. She skipped around, remembering the name the person told her.
Flashback…
After finally getting the new rifle, Uni went to buy some ammo for it just in case for backup. She exited the gun store, stretching out her arms.
"Whew, I got backup ammo, scope, guns, which include rifles, assault rifles, Gatling guns, pistols, shotguns, snipers…" The only gun she always brought and adored was a normal black rifle which she always used. While she talked more to herself, she accidently bumped into someone.
"Woah! Sorry!" The person said with their arms up.
"Ack! Um… It's okay; it's my fault actually for not paying attention." Uni said to the person.
Uni couldn't really see the person's (girl's) face, but when she turned, she noticed that she has long pink hair and was wearing a short-sleeved jacket that's white on the outside and lavender in the inside (from what Uni saw). It's worn over a light pink tank-top that has short frills on the bottom with thin ribbons on the sides of the same color. She wore tan shorts, with red sneakers and white socks. On both of her index fingers were silver rings.
To top it off, she wore a white newsboy cap decorated with a splatter of pink stars. Two button decorative pins are attached to the cap. One button pin was that of a yellow smiley face, but with a sly tongue sticking out of its smile. The other one was a white wing, with blue markings splashed on the tips.
'Wow, she looks the fashionable girl type…' Uni thought as she took a good look at the girl who was dusting off her shorts. While she was doing that, the girl suddenly looked shocked.
"Oh no! I totally forgot the route to the Basilicom!" She began to panic and walk all over the place.
"Do you have something to do there?" Uni said to the still panicked girl.
"Huh? Yeah, I do! I have to meet the Oracle, but I forgot the route to it!"
Uni, remembering the directions of where the Basilicom was from here, told the girl, "You just need to go far right up and then take the left turn… and there you have it!"
Her face brightened up. "Oh! Thank you very much!" She began shaking hands with Uni before asking a question to the Lastation's CPU Candidate.
"Hey, miss, what's your name, I want to repay you later!"
"O-oh… it's okay, but it's Uni. What's yours?" When she asked that question, the girl had let go of her hands and started scooting off.
"My name is Kousei Kohane!" The girl happily yelled out with a peace sign over her left eye before quickly leaving.
Flashback ended…
"Perhaps she would be my friend too…" She still wanted to make up to Nepgear of course, but right now she was busy and plus she didn't know where Nepgear or the others were. But she would always have one thought that would stay in her head.
'Tetsuya-kun might be like that and stuff, but he's really nice actually!' Yes, he had demonstrated this when carrying her at the Christmas event they were at and said he would repay her like Kohane said. Uni skipped happily as she slightly blushed.
She seriously couldn't tell why that moment always made her giddy and happy at all.
Special event: Valentines!
Nepgear: It's Valentine's Day huh...
Akako: Why don't we make chocolate for Nii-chan?
Nepgear: Eh! But is it okay?
Arisa: What are you talking about? Tetsuya is going to accept it, what else is going to happen, he's a glutton you know.
Nepgear: Well... Okay.
(Few hours after making chocolate)
Arisa: Hey Tetsuya!
Tetsuya: Huh, What is it?
Arisa: Do you know what day is it today?
Tetsuya: ...Free buffet day?
Arisa: No! It's Valentine's Day!
Tetsuya: ...What?
Aoko: Nii-san, we made some chocolate for you. IF-san, Compa-san, and Nepgear-san did so as well.
Tetsuya: ...
Akako: Huh? Why are you so silent, Nii-chan? You should be happy!
Tetsuya: I am but-
Arisa: Don't be an dense idiot and accept it already.
Tetsuya: ...'Kay.
Akako: I know Nepgear-chan, IF-chan, and Compa-chan for some reason didn't want to give it to Nii-chan, but he looked like he was reluctant to accept for some reason, I wonder why?
Tetsuya: *Mumble* *Mumble* What... should I.. do... What should... I doooooooooooooooo!
AN: WAHOO! This chapter is finished, finally!
Akako and Aoko: Yeah!
Tetsuya: It's not over yet though.
Arisa: A few more chapters to go people!
AN: A lot of interesting things happened in this chapter today, but more will come! It is time for us to part people!
Yuugita Family: Yeah!
(Everybody leaves.)
