"Come on!"
Urging the girls to keep up with their pace. Estella climbed onto her jet, along with Uni—fortunately, her ride is a two-seat jet. Nepgear and the twins followed Astro into her jet, before the other rangers also got into their seats.
The jets' engines began to rumble, and their turbines were spinning faster and faster. Astro typed a command into her small HUD, and the large metallic gates slowly slid open, exposing the hangar to the outside air and sunlight.
"This is Major Estella. What's the current status?" Estella called through the jet's radio.
"This is Captain Galaxa, we're hearing you, loud and clear." Galaxa replied.
"Airman Basic Astro on the radio!" Astro yelled. "I got Nepgear and the twins into the ship! We're ready for take-off!"
"Lieutenant Zappa here." The last voice responded, calm and concise as ever. "Awaiting for command, over."
"Good!" Estella smiled. "Now listen up! We've got many airborne hostiles within the perimeter of the base. Once we leave the hangar, we're going to take them out, one by one, before we can make our escape. Got that?"
"Copy that, Major Estella." Zappa replied.
While the rangers were preparing for their take-off, Nepgear was nervously fidgeting with her seat belts and sweating heavily.
"Hey, uhh...From what I've heard, you...haven't done a lot of piloting before. Are you sure we'll be safe?"
"Of course!" Astro nodded. "Just because I'm still working on it, doesn't mean I'm bad at—wah!"
She must have clutched the lever a little too tight, because the jet's thrusters suddenly let out a huge roar, and they were propelled out of their hangar and off the ground at a dangerous speed. Her fellow rangers let out a collective gasp at the sight.
"Dang it, Astro!" Galaxa complained.
"Alright, just move, move, move!"
On Estella's quick commands, her own jet took off, before the rest of the rangers followed suit. Soaring through Balarch's skyline, a squadron of jets soon caught up to them in hot pursuit. Astro's jet was in the lead, whizzing through the air at an intense speed, and all of its passengers were shaking with fright—all except one.
"Weee~!" Ram reeled back in her seat. "This is fun!"
"Uwah! Slow it down!" Nepgear screamed, as the jet made another sharp turn.
"I'm trying!"
Most of the pursuers were tailing Astro's jet, since it was the first one to get out of the hangar. The jet narrowly avoided a hail of oncoming projectiles, as it made multiple barrel rolls in a risky stunt. They were so close to each other now, chatters from the pursuing jets could be picked up by their radio.
"This is Unit-146. We have several wanted criminals on the loose, piloting unauthorized aircrafts within Balarch's airspace."
"All units, beware, these suspects are riding military-grade aircrafts. Pursuit with caution. Eliminate them, if possible."
"Dang, there's a lot of them..." Estella mumbled, as she looked at the cluster of dots on her radar.
"Nepgear, Rom and Ram might be in danger!" Uni exclaimed, her voice fraught with worry. "We have to do something about it!"
"I'm on it." Estella nodded, before she pressed a button, and the automated turrets below the cockpit started rotating. "I'm activating the secondary turrets, but I need a hand, since those can only be manually controlled. Can you use these?"
"Huh..." Uni gave her a thumbs-up. "Of course! Guns are one of my specialties!"
"Great." She smiled, and made a few more types on her HUD screen, before bringing the controller to Uni's seat. "Be careful not to shoot Astro's jet, okay?"
"Got it." Uni smirked. This was going to be the greatest shooting mayhem of her life.
"Rangers, open fire!"
All their jets now began to fire back at the authority's aircrafts, and the bullets soon tore through a few jets' hulls, shattering them into pieces. Uni aimed the turrets towards those near Astro's ship, while they were still regrouping, and fired multiple shots, annihilating all the jets in its way.
"Haha! It's like one of those flight simulator games!" Uni yelled in excitement, as she continued to shoot at the pursuing aircrafts and blast them into oblivion.
"Not sure what you mean, but I guess so." Estella let out a nervous chuckle.
"Major Estella, we got more enemies coming from our left flank!" Galaxa informed them through the radio.
"Got it." She responded. "Zappa, go give Astro a hand. I and Galaxa would hold off the rest."
"Roger that."
"What's wrong with this ship?!" Nepgear whimpered.
"U-Uh, I don't know!" Astro shrugged. "Let me try this button..."
The jet suddenly made an abrupt drop, almost crashing them into the buildings below, earning multiple shrieks of panic from its passengers.
"Bad idea, bad idea!" Astro shook her head, as she frantically spun her control wheel.
In her hurry to move the jet away from nearby buildings, the jet made multiple erratic twists and turns, almost throwing the girls out of their seats while Astro struggled to maintain the balance of the jet.
"Yeah! Woo-Hoo!" Ram was still cheering, in the midst of the chaos.
"R-Ram!" Rom squealed.
"Are you even a trained pilot?!" Nepgear exclaimed.
"O-Of course, I am!" Astro retorted. "Just give me a sec'!"
They were so close to the ground now, they could see the pedestrians looking up at them, and Astro was now rapidly mashing the buttons in her cockpit, trying her damndest to not let the jet bump into any nearby buildings—until she caught sight of something on her HUD.
"Aha! I got it!" Astro's eyes lit up. "Apparently, my ship has an auto-pilot mode that I wasn't aware of..."
Finally regaining control of her jet, she spun the throttle, and the jet soared up above the city once again. Astro threw her hands up in the air, celebrating her success, while Nepgear and Rom were left dizzy in their seats, their heads still spinning from the wild ride.
"Ugh…" Rom put a hand to her mouth. She looked like she was about to be sick.
"N-Next time...Never again..." Nepgear stuttered, in a shaky voice.
"Augh! That's it?" Ram whined.
"Looks like you're back in control, Astro." Zappa chimed in through her radio, as her boomerang-shaped jet caught up to them. "What happened?"
"Uh, just a minor technical issue!" Astro sweatdropped.
"Minor issue?! You were this close to crash-landing into a crowded street."
"C-Come on!" She blushed. "Let's go back to our team already."
"Fine." Zappa scoffed, and started leading their jet back.
"Alright! I think that's all of them!" Galaxa shouted.
The pursuing jets were either retreating or in pieces, and the air was finally clear. Uni fired a few more shots at the escaping aircrafts, before Estella gestured for her to hand over the controller.
"That's enough, Uni." Estella said. "Great job! Your accuracy is top-notch."
"No problem." She bragged. "Shooting guns is what I lived for."
"Heh, sure you do."
"Did I miss anything?" Astro's voice came through the speaker.
"Yeah, a lot." Galaxa sighed.
"Her jet went haywire, because she didn't know that an auto-pilot mode exists." Zappa said.
"H-Hey! All's well that ends well, right?"
"How about my friends?" Uni asked. "Are they doing okay?"
"We're fine!" Ram's cheerful voice chimed in. "It was really fun!"
"I-I see..."
"Well girls, we're clear. Time to leave." Estella stated. "Now, these jets are gone, but it's best if we—"
"Look out!"
A barrage of bullets suddenly exploded out of nowhere. The rangers' jets scattered in time, and dodged most of the hits, but some still struck Estella's jet in a cacophony of sharp bangs.
"Dang it!" Estella yelled into the radio. "What's that?!"
"Unidentified target at 6°clock." Zappa informed her.
A large non-humanoid shape was hovering in the distance, getting closer and closer to their jets, and a grave realization struck them as they heard the furious screams coming from that direction.
"How dare you do that to my Abby?! How dare you!"
C-Grass was back, now sitting inside the cockpit of her mecha. Most of the plating on its chest was charred and melted by the blast, though the mecha itself was still functional enough to fly.
"Be careful! CPU C-Grass is now in pursuit against us!" Estella warned.
"Oh yes, be careful!" C-Grass retorted, before the machine-gun turrets on the mecha unleashed another hail of bullets.
Dodging the bullets was easy enough—it was more of a hassle than a challenge, especially with the gun's short range. Both Zappa and Galaxa maneuvered their jets around the mecha, attempting to flank it and pin it between them.
"Lieutenant Zappa, let's fire at it together!" Galaxa suggested.
"I'm on it."
Both jets' turrets came to life, unleashing a fiery wave of projectiles towards the mecha. C-Grass and her mecha managed to evade their attacks, however, and the few shots that did connect with the mecha just bounced off its plating.
"Her mecha's hull is too durable! Our shots can't get through!"
"Hah!" C-Grass mocked, "What's that, throwing pebbles at me? Idiots! Taste this!"
The mecha switched to the autocannons on its shoulders, and the heavy artillery blasted through the air, leaving a trail of smoke behind. Its firing rate was slow, but each shot exploded into shrapnels in midair, showering their jets with a rain of deadly fragments.
"Look out!" warned Estelle, as her jet wobbled at the impact.
"Woah!" Astro yelled, followed by multiple loud clangs, coming through the radio. "That's a close one!"
Despite their best attempts to evade the shrapnels, the blasts had still wreaked havoc on their jets. Galaxa's ship had large chunks of its paint scratched off, exposing the bare metallic surface beneath, while the hull of Zappa's ship was full of dents, and Uni could not see Astro's jet through the cracked glass panes around their cockpit.
"This is bad..." Zappa mumbled, "Our ships will be slowly torn apart, if we don't find a way to deal with these cannons!"
"Just get me back to the turrets!" Uni turned to Estella. "I'll blast that thing apart!"
"Copy that, Uni." The major nodded, and typed a command into her HUD, "Reactivating the manually-controlled turrets."
Grabbing the controller, Uni adjusted the turrets' trajectory until they were aiming directly at the mecha's cockpit. She clutched the lever tightly, as she prepared to fire another round of blast at the CPU.
"Take this!"
The turrets lit up in a blaze, pouring all their ammunitions onto the mecha's cockpit in a few seconds. None of them could penetrate the tough, durable glass around the cockpit, however, and the mecha wrapped its arms around the cockpit, shielding the CPU from the blast.
"Tch, stupid idiots..." She growled.
The mecha's shoulder cannon extended once again, and its barrel rotated to a lower position. It seemed to be aiming at the underside of the jet, and soon, a bright light flared up, followed by another wave of shrapnels.
"G-Gah!" Uni reeled back, almost dropping the controller as the entire jet shook from the impact of the explosion. "What happened?!"
"We got hit!" Estella exclaimed, before she started typing furiously on her HUD. "Most of our turrets are down! Our engine might not hold up any longer!"
"W-What?!"
"I'll provide cover while I can." Galaxa reassured them, and charged straight at the mecha, unleashing all her ammunitions onto it.
"Hah! Nice try!" C-Grass mocked, as the projectiles bounced off her mecha's hull. "Let me show you what a real blast looks like!
The mecha switched back to its machine gun turrets, right when the jet approached it, and caught the ranger's jet in a storm of bullets, shredding most of its outer hull before Galaxa ducked out of her view.
"D-Dang! That's a lot of them!"
"Haha! Look at you! Not so tough now, are you? You think you can stand a chance against my greatest creation?"
"No," Galaxa responded, "but she can."
"What?" The girls exclaimed simultaneously, through their radios.
"Who?" C-Grass was glancing around, when a sudden yell came from behind her.
"Incoming!"
Astro's jet darted through the air like a shooting star, striking C-Grass and her mecha. Its arms were embedded into the jet's hull from the impact, and the mecha was dragged through the air as the jet flew across the city skyline. Astro prepared another shot with her front laser turret, now pressing against the mecha at a point-blank range, and C-Grass's eyes widened in panic at the sight.
"W-Wait!"
"Have a nice day, Lady C-Grass!" Astro snickered, before she pulled the trigger.
The cyan laser beams hit the mecha, and exploded in a flash of blinding light, slamming it into the ground below. It tumbled through the public road, leaving a trail of broken asphalt in its path, before finally grinding to a halt.
"Yes!" Astro yelled in excitement, as she watched the still form of the mecha, lying on the road. "Guess all that accidental bumpings against other ships and buildings had finally paid off!"
"Yeah!" Ram cheered after her.
"Y-You're crazy!" Nepgear exclaimed, as she unbuckled her seat belts with trembling hands. "First, you nearly crashed us into the ground, and the next moment, you're ramming into someone with a jet. You could've killed us!"
"Hey, that first one is an accident," she shrugged. "And this jet is strong enough to survive the impact. Sucks that I'll have to repaint it, but hey, at least we're alive!"
"N-Nepgear..." Rom cried, as she ran out of her seat, and grabbed onto Nepgear arm. "I w-wanna go home..."
"Astro, you complete maniac!" Estella barged in through the radio. "What in the world are you thinking? Doing that while our guests are inside your ship?!"
"Hey, don't shout at me like that. It was Galaxa's idea to use the jet like a battering ram."
"Galaxa?!"
"I'm sorry, major Estella," she apologized. "It's pretty much the only way to deal with her. Our guns aren't strong enough to pierce through her big toy, after all..."
Estella sighed in disappointment, not really happy with what their fellow rangers' reckless method, despite it being an effective solution in the end. She took a deep breath, before picking up her radio again.
"Fine..." she sighed. "But you better not do it again, while there are guests aboard your ship."
"Ay." Astro replied.
"Let's get out of here, as soon as possible." Zappa suggested, "We might be in danger once she recovers, and calls for backup."
"Copy that, Lieutenant Zappa. All rangers, set your coordinates to Tari. We'll regroup over there, once the heat has died down."
The jets flew away in a tight formation. The girls were smiling, as they watched Balarch's skyscrapers disappear behind the horizon, against the light of the setting sun, rejoicing in their first victory against the CPU. Still, they had the feeling that it was not over, yet.
- Intellastion
Both Nakayama and Sylvania had made their way onto the streets, engaged in a fierce battle. Nakayama kept throwing her decks of cards against her opponent, getting more reckless with each flick of her wrist, while Sylvania retaliated with a barrage of exploding orbs, spawned from the twin crystals in her palms.
She brushed her short, blueish-black bangs aside, and shot down another incoming rune card before it could reach her. The resulting shockwave still caused her long wooly jacket to fly up, swinging behind her like a cape, and her glasses were almost knocked off her face.
Nearby pedestrians were ducking for cover, as the street devolved into total chaos. If they looked up, amidst the explosions and the smoke, they would see two girls standing right in the center of this fierce fight, trapped within an invisible magical barrier.
"Look at them!" Neptune pressed her face against the barrier. "It's like watching a snowball fight, but with explosions!"
"Nep, knock it off! We have to get out of here!" Noire replied, as she made another kick against the magical barrier. "There's gotta be a weak spot in this thing..."
"Alright, I'll help!"
Neptune joined Noire in her relentless assault against the barrier. The card's magic kept it intact, and they were definitely not strong enough to break through the barrier with raw strength, especially without the Hypercube—but that was the only thing they could try, right now.
While the pair was planning their escape, the two CPUs were still throwing their explosive cards and orbs back and forth, without any of them hitting their intended targets. It went on in a loop, until the Intellastion's CPU decided to end it by charging toward her opponent, her hovering twin crystals out and ready.
"Oh no you don't!" Nakayama sneered.
She casted another barrier in front of her, and her opponent's attack did not reach her, at all—the impact was completely absorbed by the barrier. Sylvania continued to push against the invisible field, but she was clearly struggling to hold it back.
"What's wrong with you today? Causing a ruckus around my nation for no reason?" Sylvania snarked, "and why did you suddenly attack my civilians?"
"None of your business!"
Nakayama added another card to the barrier, and doubled down on her assault. Sylvania's arms were starting to tremble, as the barrier slowly pushed her back, until she caught sight of a certain brown cube, glowing amidst the rubbles.
"I-Is that..?"
"Don't even think about it!" Nakayama immediately threw an explosive card towards her opponent, causing her to fall back onto the ground, before she went after the Hypercube.
She dashed towards the Hypercube, and was about to grab it when Sylvania stood back up, and summoned another chain of exploding energy orbs from her crystals. This time, it was a successful strike. Nakayama gasped in pain as she was slammed into a wall by the explosion, but the Hypercube was also knocked out of her hands.
"Hey! I found it first, it should be mine!" Sylvania exclaimed, before she also darted after the cube.
She did get her hands on the Hypercube, but not for long. Another exploding card came flying at her, and struck her right in the face, causing her to let go of the Hypercube. It flew through the air, hit another invisible barrier, and fell onto the ground—right in front Neptune and Noire.
"Wow! I didn't know that would happen." Neptune's eyes lit up at the sight of the cube.
"Great!" Noire yelled, and started banging on the barrier with her fists. "Come on! Little cubey, get us out of here!"
The Hypercube let out a joyful chime as it hovered into the air, and smashed itself against the barrier, breaking it in an instant. Noire caught the cube in her hands, and the battlefield was suddenly engulfed in a blinding flash of light.
"What just happened?!" Sylvania yelled, as she held up her arms in front of her face, shielding her eyes from the light. It soon faded away, and when Neptune looked up, she saw her friend standing in front of her, in her Black Heart form.
"Finally. It's my turn to fight back!" Black Heart smirked, before summoning her giant sword, and switching into a battle stance.
"Wait, what?!" Sylvania rubbed her eyes. "Who's this random girl? And what did the cube do to her?"
"Tch, not again..." Nakayama growled. "Just hand over the Hypercube, and I'll leave you alone! This is my last warning!"
"Why should I?" Black Heart shook her head. "Obviously I won't let you two get your hands on the Hypercube."
"Then you left me no choice."
Another flare of light engulfed Nakayama's body, followed by Sylvania, and when the light was gone, their clothings was replaced by tight jumpsuits. Nakayama's suit was light purple, while Sylvania's were grayish black. More rune cards were hovering around the former, and the latter's twin crystals became a lot bigger, with a colorful light pulsating within them.
She was going to fight two CPUs at once, now—Black Heart gulped at the realization.
"CPU Grey Heart is here! You're going to regret your decision to fight!" Sylvania taunted.
"Try me..." Black Heart gritted her teeth. Beads of sweat were forming on her forehead, but she still held her stance, unwilling to show any signs of weakness.
"Hand over the Hypercube, right now!" Nakayama—now Lilac Heart—barked, and flung an entire row of cards against her.
Black Heart swiftly dodged her attack, before multiple exploding orbs struck her in the back, causing her to lose her balance and tumble through the street.
"Tchh..." Black Heart's face scrunched up in pain, as she steadied herself. "Of course you two would be teaming up against me."
"Noire!" Neptune ran towards her. "I'll help you out!"
"No way!" Black Heart held up a hand. "You'll only get yourself killed. You don't have your powers back, so let me handle this on my own. Just run."
"B-But!"
"Just run!" She screamed.
Neptune hesitated, unsure if she should listen to her friend. Finally, she shot one last glance at Black Heart, and gave her a small nod, before she turned away, and started running in the opposite direction. Black Heart had a solemn smile on her face, as she turned back to face the two CPUs, now united in a temporary alliance.
"You want it? Then come and get it!" Black Heart boasted, raised her sword, and charged straight at them.
- Hideout
"Here we are! Behold, the greatest armory in the entire Gamindustri!"
The first thing the pair saw, after Duchess opened the vault door, was an array of shelves. Glancing around the gigantic room, they were amazed by the amount and variety of guns that were stockpiled all over the place. Fancy rifles adorn the shelves, and smaller handguns were placed on a giant table in neat rows, while the glass cabinets were packed to the brim with ammunition clips and magazines. For a few seconds, Linda and Warechu just stood there, mouth agape and completely speechless.
"This entire room is like a treasure cove, chu." Warechu finally broke the silence.
"You sure have a lot of guns lying around here." Linda turned to Duchess. "Do you really need all of them?"
"Well, what do ya' know? You can never have enough guns. The more the merrier." She shrugged. "Our buddy here has hoarded a ton of rifles and firearms over the years, more than we could ever use for the heist!"
"And who's that?"
"Look to your left." She pointed towards a pile of bullets, and the pair could see an absurdly large rifle lying at the top. "That's Erich's favorite toy, Maschinengewehr 42. I just call it MG-42, since that long name is nothing but a headache..."
"That gun is huge, chu..."
"That's right, but she ain't gonna be bothered 'bout that." Duchess said, "She loves to carry her fancy rifle to every heist. You ain't gonna believe how much she loved to shred the hell out of her foes with it, while laughing like a maniac!"
"So you're telling me that she's a complete psychopath." Linda responded with a deadpan expression.
"Eh, kinda. But hey, from what I've seen, you're just as psychotic as she is."
"Don't compare me to that freak!" Linda barked. "Like I'd ever let that stupid brat boss me around."
"Jeez, at least have some respect, chu..." Warechu muttered.
"You're one to talk! Who dragged us into this stupid heist, huh?" She retorted.
"Hey." Duchess poked her on the shoulder. "If you ain't gonna listen to Erich, then I guess I'll have to be the one bossing you around."
"Oh come on, really?!"
"Of course. We have equal authority, since we're the ones who built this gang from the ground up."
"Huh, really?" Linda scoffed. "I still don't understand how you two manage to get along, with all these shenanigans."
"It's a long story, but don't ya' think we're getting a bit too personal right now?"
"Fine! Where's the next stop?"
"Right, right! Follow me!" Duchess nodded.
The sheer amount of firearms scattered across the floor had proven to be a hassle to their little tour. While Duchess was putting the guns back onto the shelves, Warechu decided to take a shortcut and crawl under the table—and that was when he stumbled upon a short-barrelled shotgun, with a white, glossy cross necklace wrapped around its handle.
"Huh? What's this, chu?" Warechu grabbed the shotgun, before crawling back out from under the table.
"What's what?" Duchess turned back, confused, until she caught sight of the firearm. "Oh, That! Flynn has been looking for it for days."
"This, chu?"
"Yeah." She nodded, as the rat handed over the shotgun to her. "This little fella over here? She treasures it more than her life. In fact, she doesn't want any of us to touch her little gun. She'd probably throw a hissy fit if that happened."
"And what's with the cross?" Linda pointed to the necklace.
"Eh, no idea. She never told us anything 'bout the necklace. Last time I asked, she just gave me the cold shoulder."
"Wow, what a surprise..," Linda mumbled.
"I know you think that she's just a quiet, creepy nun. Well, to be honest, I thought the same, when I first met her. But believe me, there's more to her, behind her grouchy face and blank stares."
"Okay then." Linda nodded. "So, the tour?"
"Yeah, sure." Duchess gestured for them to follow. "Right this way, my fellow minions."
"...Minions? Really?" The delinquent gave her an unhappy glare.
After a long walk—mostly because they kept slowing down for a chat, Duchess finally stopped in front of one of the shelves. She picked up a pistol, together with its ammunitions, and handed it over to Linda.
"You want a sidearm, right?" Duchess said. "Then take this. This pistol is a lot cooler than its ordinary brethrens, so treat it with care."
Linda eyed the pistol carefully, as she gave it a few waves. It was coated in dark gray paint, with shallow lines carved around its handle. By all means, it looked quite mundane and plain.
"Glock .17, baby." Duchess smiled. "Ain't the most powerful, but hey, this bad boy here can shoot. I could pick up a better one later, with more blasting power and a golden paint job, but that'd take too long."
"Out of all the guns you got, this is the one you're giving me?" Linda groaned.
"Ey, you're still a newbie, so suck it up. You gotta' earn your reps, ay~?" Duchess responded with a smirk.
"Fine! Whatever!"
Linda grudgingly nodded as she stuffed the pistol into the pocket of her jacket, still looking quite disgruntled.
"Great." Linda said, "This better be enough for whatever we're facing."
"Hey, we're the A-Squad, after all." Duchess gave her a thumbs-up. "Every gals around here have their own guns to toy with, and I can assure you, you'd be having a blast with it in no time!"
While Linda was still trying to get a grip on her new pistol, the door of the vault opened with a thud, revealing a familiar blonde figure.
"Ah, Gordea." Duchess smiled. "Restocking parts again, huh?"
"Duh." She waved at Duchess. "I thought there should be enough parts in my pocket for the tinkering. Apparently, no. So I have to pick some up again."
"Cool. These newbies still need some training, and I'll talk to you later."
"Newbies?" Linda glared at her, irritated by the nickname. "You know I have the guts to face you head-on, right?"
"Ehh, sure." Duchess shrugged. "But you ain't strong enough to beat me, in the end. My point still stands."
"Fine, fine..." Linda scoffed.
"What's going on?"
Hearing the soft voice, they turned back, and saw Flynn standing behind them, like she had just materialized out of thin air. She was staring at them, carrying multiple bags in her arms.
"Yo, Flynn!" Duchess called out to her, and held the shotgun up in the air. "Guess what we've found?"
"That's my..."
"Yup, that's right! Warechu here found what you've been looking for, in the past few days-"
"Give it back!" The nun shrieked. She immediately snatched the shotgun away, and clutched it tightly against her chest, like it was a newborn baby.
"Woah!" Duchess took a step back. "What's with you and that gun?"
"You're not going to thank me, chu?" Warechu waved at her, which was met with a murderous glare that quickly sent him scurrying behind Linda.
"Hey! You really should thank him, for finding that stupid gun!" Linda jabbed her finger at the nun.
"No." Flynn replied flatly.
"C'mon Flynn, can't you be a little nicer to these newbies?" Duchess smiled, as she put a hand on Flynn's shoulder, "After all, you'd be looking for it forever, if they haven't found it."
"Yeah, cut them some slack, will ya', Flynn?" Gordea also chimed in.
The nun looked a little annoyed that her teammates were also taking the side of their new recruits. After a long silence, she sighed, and spared a single glance at the pair before averting her gaze, still pouting in dismay.
"Fine. Thanks."
"No problem. We accept your thanks." Linda replied, and her rat companion sighed in relief.
"That's the spirit!" Duchess cheered, as she nudged Flynn in the shoulder. "Now you're getting the hang of it!"
"Shut up." The nun gave her a sullen glare. "I'll be going home now. There's something I need to do."
"Oh? What's that?" Linda asked, which earned another frigid look from her.
"None of your business..."
She stormed out of the armory with her shotgun in her arms, tossing the bags aside before she shut the door. Duchess and Gordea were left staring at the gate, together with the pair, until the tinkerer decided to break the silence.
"Here goes Flynn..." Gordea mumbled. "Doing her usual stuff again..."
"What the hell is she up to, now?" Linda frowned.
"I don't know, maybe something personal. That's how she goes about her day, I guess."
"Really, chu?" Warechu pondered, before turning to Linda. "Well, what do you think?"
"As if I care." The delinquent groaned. "I don't even know that lady. Come on! Are we done here or not?"
"Actually, we were. For a while, now." Duchess shrugged. "We only came here to give you the pistol, and that's it."
"Then why don't you just say so?" The delinquent huffed in irritation, which earned a chuckle from Duchess.
"Don't worry! You'll have plenty of time to play around with your new toy!" She assured Linda. "We've built a little playground around here, just to test them out."
"A playground?"
"That's right! Not for kiddie stuff, though..." Duchess shook her head. "It's just a place packed with plain dummy targets. But hey, you could use some practice, being the newbie in our team of die-hard shooters!"
"Stop calling me a newbie!" Linda glared at her. "Just 'cause I'm bad with guns, doesn't mean I'll be bad at everything else! Remember that one time that I almost beat you up?"
"W-Wait..." Gordea stuttered, "You've challenged her to a fight?!"
"She didn't win, mind you~!" Duchess added, with a huge grin on her face, "But unlike some random jackasses who are nothing more than a hassle, she can actually fight against me like a budding badass."
"That's right, chu." Warechu nodded. "Linda can pick a fight against almost anyone. Even CPUs, chu."
The throwaway comment was met with a loud gasp from the pair. Gordea's jaw dropped in shock, and Duchess was rendered completely speechless for a moment, before she started hollering like mad.
"Y-You fought a CPU? All by yourself?!" Gordea exclaimed.
"Oooh~! If it's true, then you're really something special, girl!" Duchess, after she finished laughing, gave her a thumbs-up.
"What?" Linda scoffed. "Technically, I've only beaten up some CPU Candidates. Have you never ever gotten on the bad side of those CPUs?"
"Of course we do~! But their power is too nasty for our raw strength to match, and we can't really face them in a one-on-one battle, even as the biggest, baddest baddies in Gamindustri." Duchess replied.
"Pretty much no one wants to fight directly against the CPUs. Even though you've only fought their Candidates, I guess it's still an achievement."
"How's so, chu?"
"Uhh, let me pick up a piece of paper and a pen first~!" Duchess smiled, before she started rummaging through the shelves, sending papers and objects flying all over the place.
"Duchess! You're making a mess again!" Gordea complained, as she began to clean up after her companion.
"Aha! Found it!" Duchess cheered, before she sat down on a chair next to Linda, and started doodling on the paper. "So uh, about your question—why does no one want to fight CPUs?"
"First, we all know CPUs have divine power. Too much of a problem to take care of, even with me racking up the blasts!"
"What blasts?" Linda asked, bewildered by her seemingly nonsensical descriptions. The drawing did not help—all she could see was a tangled mess of lines, scribbled around a really angry looking stick figure.
"Basically, her rockets." Gordea explained, looked a little unsettled. "I...still don't think it's a good idea, to tear those down from Tari's weapons of mass destruction and stuff them into your regular firearms."
"Nah, no worries." Duchess gave her a half-hearted wave. "Their military is long dead, before we've even begun our first heist in town. No one'll miss them."
"Well, that's true. But what if there's an accident?"
"No worries, no worries~!" She assured, in a sing-song voice. "I got them under control."
"I-I see..."
"Well then, aside from that..." Duchess looked back to the paper, and drew a few more stick figures wearing shades. "Most gangs in the criminal underworld? They ain't gonna have the guts to show their faces in front of any CPUs. Not even a Candidate."
"How about you, chu?" asked Warechu, "Are you good enough to take them head-on?"
"Of course, if we're in a team!" She nodded. "I'm a bit of a lone wolf, but even I ain't going solo against a literal goddess."
"Huh, at least you're being honest." Linda said.
"Ain't like fighting Goddesses is a juicy trend around 'ere. Most would be cowering and begging for their lives, at the mere sight of one." She chuckled. "Now c'mon! How about we go wreak some havoc with our guns?"
"Sure." The delinquent shrugged.
"I'll see you around, Duchess." Gordea waved at them as they passed by, before going back to pick parts off the shelves.
The pair said their farewell, too, before they went out of the door, leaving the tinkerer alone inside the armory, still scavenging around the piles of gun parts—until the door slid open with a thud, and another figure barged into the vault.
"Why ze hell are you here?" Erich frowned, as they made eye contact with each other.
"Grabbing something I need for my fancy inventions. That's all." Gordea smiled.
"Ah, zat's what you're doing, huh." Erich nodded, before she started to stroll through the armory. "Now, where ze hell are Duchess and those punks at?"
"Oh, they left here a minute ago." She informed Erich. "Duchess was giving them a tour. I think she's gonna help your lookalike get a grip on her gun."
"Typical trash-talking punk..." Erich scoffed. "And did they touch ze glorious Maschinengewehr 45 zat I treasure dearly, while they were in here?"
"Eh, not sure. Not like I've seen them going near it." The tinkerer responded with a shrug.
"Ugh, fine. They better not..." Erich groaned, before she picked her beloved gun, and started to caress the iron barrel of her machine gun with an uncharacteristic gentleness. "...You know, this gun ist ze wunderbar craft of mein fellow companions, back in ze old days."
"Huh, that gun really means alot to you, isn't it?" Gordea shot her a curious glance.
"Ja." smiled Erich, "It's ze only valuable thing left, from ze old days. I ain't sharing ze whole story with you, but ze point ist, Maschinengewehr 45 reminds me of mein old peers."
"I see. Guess you still have a soft side, even for a psychopath." Gordea chuckled, and nudged her in the back. "Makes me really think, huh?"
"Bah! I'm ze Feldmarschall for a reason." Erich responded with a rough nudge of her own and a hearty laugh. "If mein fellow peers like to go out in a blaze, then I'll do ze same. Shredding things with bullets is ze heart of mein life."
"Here we are, gals!" Duchess announced. "Welcome to the finest training ground of A-Squad!"
They were in front of a large cavern, barely lit by fluorescent lights. Despite her dramatic introduction, it appeared to be a simple training area, with several barriers erected around a group of decorated wooden dummies. The tables nearby were littered with ammunitions and food wrappers.
"Jeez, so much for the finest training ground of A-Squad..." Linda's voice was reeking with sarcasm.
"C'mon, you know I like to give people some laughs, right?" Duchess winked at her. "Beside, this is where the real fun begins!"
"Shooting wooden dummies with a gun? That's your idea of fun?"
"Nah. Not yet. You just need to spice it up a little..." Duchess smirked.
She picked up a phone from her pocket, and started typing something, while the pair looked on, confused.
"Uh, what are you doing, chu?"
"Nothing. Just getting the party started."
She put the phone back into her pocket, after she finished typing, and the ground suddenly began to shake. Duchess merely chuckled as the pair let out a surprised yelp, struggling to maintain their balance on the trembling ground.
"What the hell is going on?!" Linda yelled.
The ground below them was sinking into a hole, revealing a high stone wall that encircled them, before multiple stone walls suddenly rose out of the ground, blocking off their views. The pair looked up, and saw Duchess standing above the towering wall, glancing down at them.
"Welcome to the maze!" Duchess stretched out her arms. "This is how we train ourselves to become the baddest baddies! It's a good thing that the system's still running, considering that it hasn't been used in quite a while."
"Who would build a training ground like this, chu?!"
"Gordea, of course." She answered. "I used to hang around 'ere a lot, blasting dummy aliens to pieces. Ranger prefers dummy monsters, and Flynn...well, the way she treated those dummy demons, like they were the real thing? Kinda weirds me out."
"So what are we trying to do here? I thought it was just training?!" Linda asked, as she started pacing around impatiently.
"It is!" she smiled, "Imagine yourself, separated from your mates, lost in the middle of nowhere, only to be surrounded by a bunch of freak-shows. What's your plan?"
"I don't know, find a way to escape?"
"Bingo!" Duchess cheered, "You're a quick learner! Now, you have your trusty pistol in your sleeves, or your trusty iron pipe on your back—whatever you run into, just don't hold back! I'll be watching you two from up here. And besides, they're just dummy targets. It's not like they can hurt you."
"Jeez, thanks." Linda mumbled. "That's real helpful to your newbies, huh..."
Now trapped inside the maze, she started walking, with Warechu at her side, her sidearm out and ready as she peeked around a corner. She saw a group of dummies, coated in white paint and holding what seemed to be fake rifles.
"Really?" Linda gave Duchess an unimpressed look, and was met with a playful wink.
"Well, we can just walk past them, chu." Warechu suggested, and started moving towards the dummies.
Just as he walked in front of them, the dummies suddenly burst into motion, which caught the pair by complete surprise. The rifles in their hands turned out to be real, and the dummies fired a rain of bullets towards them, forcing them to immediately duck down and retreat behind the stone wall.
"W-Wha?!" The rat screeched, as a bullet narrowly whizzed past his ear.
"What the hell?!" Linda glared at Duchess. "I thought they're just dummies?! You said they can't hurt us!"
"Yes. But I never say they can't kill you. Killing you is different from hurting you, after all~" She teased.
"Ugh! You stupid punk! After I'm done with this stupid maze game, I'm going to bash your skull in!" Linda shrieked.
Fuming with anger, she dashed out from behind the wall, and unleashed a barrage of wild shots with her sidearm as she ran past the dummies. The first few shots missed their targets, but her last shot did strike a dummy in the chest, causing it to fall to the ground in a heap.
"Eh, not too bad. You really need to work on your aiming, though." Duchess applauded.
"Shut up, you stupid punk!" Linda retorted, before bashing another dummy in the head, with the iron pipe in her other hand.
"Just chillax, Linda girl! I know you ain't feeling it, yet, but at least you should look out for yourself."
"You aren't helping here!"
"Linda, calm down, chu!" Warechu squealed at her, after another shot from Linda's pistol bounced off a nearby wall, and almost struck him in the face. "Just ignore that chump, and focus on finding a way out!"
"Ugh, fine! I've had enough with this stupid gun!" The delinquent groaned, before tossing her sidearm to her rat companion. "You'll do the shooting, while I do the bashing, as we move out of this maze."
"But I can't shoot, chu..." Warechu stuttered, still struggling to get a proper grip on the pistol with his tiny paws.
"Whatever! Just help me out here! I can't fight properly with that stupid gun dragging me down."
"Fine, chu..."
With a sigh, he followed the angry delinquent, and the pair wandered deeper into the maze, holding their weapons carefully and carefully glancing around the corners for lurking dummies as they moved around the labyrinth.
Duchess sat down on the wall, watching over the two new recruits as they wandered around the hollow maze, her expression getting more bored and restless with each passing second.
"Ugh..." She finally let out a groan, and threw her hands up in the air. "C'mon! Show some energy, will ya'? How 'bout charging in and blasting the dummies to pulps, rather than playing it safe?"
"What's going on here?" A voice came from behind Duchess.
"Ah, Ranger!" She turned around, with a smile on her face. "You're just in time! Ready to see our fellas here put up a show for us?"
"Uh, sure..?" Ranger replied as she approached the wall, and sat down beside Duchess.
Below them, chaos ensued as Linda charged at another group of dummies, beating them down in a maniacal burst of rage, while Warechu fumbled with the pistol, struggling to aim the weapon at the dummies without dropping it. The delinquent let out a colorful stream of curses, most of them directed at Duchess, and Ranger winced a little at her language, while Duchess responded with a knowing smirk.
"Duchess, you stupid, stupid punk!" Linda screamed, as she violently bashed another foe in the head. "I'll make sure that you regret ever meeting me, when I get outta' here!"
"Wow. Now she really hates your guts, for some reason. What happened between you two, while I was gone?" Ranger sweatdropped.
"Nah, don't worry about it." Duchess shrugged. "Linda girl would get used to it."
"I-I see.." Ranger let out an awkward chuckle. "So yeah, I haven't seen this good ol' arena being operational since, I dunno, a long time ago?"
"Hey, using it to train our fellow recruits is a tradition. After all, we've all honed our skills here."
"Well, we aren't going to leave this relic rusting any longer, I guess." Ranger nodded.
After another brutal fight against a group of dummies, both of them were panting in exhaustion. Linda wiped the sweat off her face, before strapping the pipe back onto her back.
"Ughh...My arms hurt, chu..." Warechu whined, his paws still trembling from the recoil of the last few shots.
"Fine, just hand it over to me." The delinquent groaned, and snatched the pistol back from her rat companion. "How the hell are we gonna get out of here? That stupid punk is just chit-chatting with Ranger, now! She won't even talk to us!"
"Not like I know how, chu." Warechu shook his head. "There sure are a lot of corners around this maze..."
"Yeah, great." The delinquent sneered. "Just stick close to me. Let me know when you find something interesting."
Warechu nodded in agreement, and the pair continued their walk through the unknown maze. Many torches were hanging on the cold stone walls, and they followed the trail of tiny flames, hoping that the light sources would lead them to some kind of exits that signalled the end of this hellish training session. Shrill cries and roars could be heard in the distance, probably from some kind of freaky dummies they would soon run into.
"I never should've accepted this stupid deal..." Linda facepalmed.
"You sure this is a great idea?" Ranger frowned. "You just hired them, and threw them into a deadly maze for 'training'. They could've gotten hurt real bad."
"Hey, you aren't gonna believe how I met them." Duchess laughed. "They ain't some random jackasses that only work for cheap, easy credits."
"If you say so..." Ranger sighed. "Whatever they're capable of—I know they've beaten the cops, but this whole thing still feels forced. I hope you know what you're doing."
"Have some faith in me, will ya?" Duchess nudged her on the shoulder. "I've seen what they're good at. I absolutely have my reason to believe that they're extraordinary, ey?"
"Extraordinary, as in, better than us?" Ranger tilted her head. "I don't get your wordings."
"I'll always be who I am~!" She winked. "Sheesh, they're so slow. Would ya' please bring us a drink, or a bag of popcorn, while this little show is going on?"
"Ay, ay, Duchess." Ranger nodded. "I think we have some, back at the dining area."
"Good!" She smiled, and leaned back towards the edge of the wall. "While you go get the snacks, I'll be keeping an eye on 'em."
"Yeah, yeah, sure."
After venturing through layers and layers of dungeon-like maze, the surrounding shifted into some kind of grotesque gothic structures. Skulls and bones were scattered across the ground, and the delinquent merely scoffed at the bones, before stepping right over them—probably just some decorations, used to scare them off.
"This part of the maze really looks frightening, chu..." Warechu was shaking, as he glanced around in the dim light.
"Come on, these aren't even real corpses. That punk thinks she can scare us with some shoddy fakes?" The delinquent shot an annoyed look at her companion.
Their footsteps echoed through the hallway as they ventured further into the new area, until they stumbled upon another dummy. This one was different from the rifle-wielding dummies, however, with armor pieces strapped onto its body, and a rusty giant axe in its hands.
The armored dummy let out a bloodcurdling roar, and banged on its chestplate with the axe, before charging straight at them, growling like an actual barbarian.
"Heh..." Linda had a vicious smirk on her face, as she slowly drew her iron pipe. "You want some beatings? Then I'll give it to ya'!"
Author's Notes
So yeah, I didn't expect this chapter to take two weeks likely. Having some time to relax a bit before I came back. Another chapter is done, proceeding to the next 10th chapter in which would become a milestone in my writing passionately.
u/Ryin_silverfish — Proofreader & Editor