Soft.

As Aila slowly began to come to her senses again, the first thing she recognized was that…she was on something soft. Her eyes slowly opened, and she raised an arm above her head as the bright blue sky above her momentarily blinded her. Then, a shadow moved to look down at her.

"Hey." A soft, gentle sounding voice said. As more and more of the world became clear, Aila found herself staring up at…the pretty face of a girl. Gorgeous purple eyes stared down into her own. The girl also had rosy, slightly flushed cheeks and long purple hair. She blinked, her cute eyelashes obscuring her pretty eyes for only a moment.

"Wh-what…where…?" Aila tried to sit up, but the girl pushed her head back down onto the soft thing she was resting on. Her thoughts and memories came flooding back to her as she laid there.

"Wait until you've recovered alright?" The girl said. Her voice was so soothing that in her dreamy state, Aila felt inclined to do as she said. She shifted her head over and found herself looking at…the girl's belly. At this realization, Aila felt clarity rapidly returning to her.

"A-am I…in your…?"

"Y-yeah." The girl said, her face flushing a bit deeper. "I-I figured my lap would be more comfortable than the ground…but I don't mind!" Despite the assurance, Aila shot her, her face burning bright red as all of her sense and clarity finally returned.

"A-ah! I-I'm sorry!" Aila exclaimed, but the girl just giggled.

"It's fine, really. Are you okay?" She asked sweetly.

"I…yeah. I think so. Physically, at least." Aila still felt a little sore from where Tarou had hit her, but otherwise she seemed fine. Yet, as she remembered what had happened previously, she shot up. "H-hey! Have you happened to see another red-haired girl around? Looks similar to me but taller?"

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I haven't." The girl answered. "I saw you tumbling out of the sky and rushed here as fast as I could."

"R-right. She probably landed somewhere else then…" Aila said, before shaking her head, and clearing her throat. "Um…what's your name?" She asked, wishing to thank the stranger.

"Oh! My name is Nepgear. What's yours?" The girl, Nepgear, said with a smile. Aila hesitated, though she wasn't sure why. Whatever the reason was, her hesitation must've shown on her face, because Nepgear's smile faded. "What's wrong?"

"It's…I just…" Aila remembered what Chena had said about the portal allowing them to travel to other dimensions. "Where…am I?"

"You're in Planeptune. Or at least, a forest in the nation." Nepgear answered, though that answer didn't really help much. It did confirm to Aila that she was no longer in Gamindustri, or at least the one she knew. She wasn't sure how much to reveal, however.

"Right. Um…I-I need to…find someone." Aila said as she got to stand up, and almost immediately fell over, Nepgear needing to quickly rush to catch her.

"H-how about you come with me to the Basilicom? You still seem a bit…out of it." Nepgear offered, and Aila perked up.

"Basilicom? Wait…are you…?"

"No, I'm not the CPU." Nepgear said, and in that pause, Aila felt a bit of defeat, but as she continued, her spirits were raised again. "I'm actually just the CPU Candidate." Aila smiled.

"I see…" Aila thought it over. Sure, she wanted to go and look for Red as soon as she could, but it might be nice to get some help, so she finally ceded. "Alright. Let's go." Nepgear smiled, and, before Aila's eyes, she was enveloped in a bright white light. Once it faded, she could see the girl had transformed, and…suddenly had a lot more skin showing. Aila felt bad when her eyes immediately drifted to the girl's chest, now clad in white and showing a lot of cleavage, also showing that Nepgear's chest was bigger than her own, and blushed as she quickly looked away. Nepgear, now Purple Sister, took off, carrying Aila off to the Basilicom in the distance.

Deep in the forest, a tree got sliced so harshly in half that the top of it slid and crashed loudly onto the ground, disturbing about a dozen birds to fly away as a scream pierced the air. It was a scream that eventually morphed into a whimper, then a sob as Red collapsed onto the ground and felt her body rocking as tears flooded down her cheeks.

"I…I'm sorry, Boken…" She said between sobs. "I…I failed you…I'm sorry…" And so she sat there, her tears falling and becoming soaked into the ground as she cried and cried, the wound in her belly still bleeding onto the ground.

"You know, you could've at least told us you were bringing a date." A short girl with similarly purple hair to Nepgear said as the Candidate dropped her off on the Basilicom balcony, before transforming back. Nepgear laughed as Aila simply blushed.

"Oh, don't be like that, Neptune." Nepgear said, and cleared her throat. "This is…" Nepgear paused, "…oh yeah, you never told me your name, did you?" Nepgear said.

"R-right…" Aila said, hesitating once again before she decided to say, "…I'm Aila." She decided to trust that the machine worked and she truly was in another dimension, safe from Tarou.

"Wow, picking up girls without even asking their name first? I thought I raised you better, Nep Jr." The girl, Neptune, said. Deciding to ignore the girl's comments, Aila stepped towards her.

"Are you…the CPU?" She asked, and Neptune looked genuinely shocked.

"You mean…you haven't heard of me? Oh! My heart! It's wounded!" Neptune said as she dramatically clutched her chest. Aila waited until she was done, and once she was done pretending she was dying, Neptune smiled. "Yes, yes I am. CPU Purple Heart at your service!" Neptune paused, before adding "Unless it's something really boring."

"I…I was wondering if you could help me find my sister?" Aila said. "We…got separated, and she's hurt, and I'm scared something might happen to her if I don't find her soon." Aila stopped as it looked like Neptune was crying, though she couldn't tell if it was fake or not.

"OF COURSE I'LL HELP YOU FIND YOUR SISTER!" Neptune said, before suddenly becoming enveloped in a bright white light. Aila immediately knew she'd transformed, but as the light faded, Aila was shocked. She'd seen a few drastic changes between forms before, but nothing like this. The girl's hair became much much longer and darker. She became taller by a sizable amount and her chest was…much bigger. The change was even more apparent when she opened her mouth. "We shall search the entire nation until we locate her!" Neptune, no, Purple Heart, said as she raised her arm in the air. Her voice was deep and sensuous, completely different from how it was before. Nepgear sighed.

"You could do it without all the dramatics, big sis…" The candidate said softly. Either way, Aila was thrilled.

So the three of them searched the area Nepgear had found Aila in, with Nepgear and Neptune searching from the air while Aila navigated on foot. She wasn't fully sure how bad Red's injuries had been, but she didn't want to leave her sister alone in such a vulnerable mental state. She knew her sister, and knew she needed comfort as soon as possible. She debated transforming too, but she still felt hesitant to reveal that information to the others, even though the more time went by, the more sure Aila was that they were in a different dimension. Something about the air just…felt different, in a way she couldn't quite explain, but something that resonated deep inside her. Nevertheless, she trudged on.

"Aila!"

A voice startled her as Nepgear popped down from the trees, causing Aila to slip and fall back onto her butt hard. "Ow!" She cried out.

"Oh, goodness! I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!" Nepgear said as she helped Aila to her feet, with Aila rubbing her now sore butt. "I think we found her!" Aila's eyes shot wide open.

"Take me!" She instructed, and Nepgear did just that, picking up the girl and holding on tightly as she flew her over to a small clearing, where Purple Heart was sitting with someone. It only took a single glance for Aila to recognize her sister, and she smiled wide as she leapt out of Nepgear's arms several feet in the air. As soon as she landed, she stumbled a bit, but ran over to her sister. As soon as Red saw Aila, tears welled up in her eyes and they embraced, with Red muttering apologies through her sobs. The girl cradled her sister, stroking her hair as she assured it was alright, that she was okay.

"I-I think it worked, Red." Aila said softly. Red, who's crying had quieted down a bit, looked at her in confusion. "The portal. I think…I think it worked." Purple Heart and Nepgear looked at each other in confusion, but also gave each other a look of worry. Their worries seemed to be confirmed as Aila explained further. "I think we're in a different dimension. So…we're safe! Tarou isn't here, we're safe…" Aila assured her, and Red took a deep breath as she nodded, apparently feeling the same way.

After a few seconds, Aila looked down at Red's wound. Somehow…it looked…better, already. Even though it couldn't have been more than an hour since they'd fought Tarou. "H-how do you feel?" Aila asked.

"T-tired…" Red answered. "Nauseous. A little dizzy. I…don't think I can stand."

"I can carry you. Especially once I transform, I'll be able to fly you back to their Basilicom." Aila said, and suddenly Purple Heart cleared her throat.

"Pardon me, but…may I ask who exactly you two are?" She asked, discreetly moving herself in front of Nepgear. Red opened her mouth to speak, before she suddenly gasped and fell over, passing out as her wound opened up from the movement and began to bleed again.

"We…I…will explain everything, but can we please get her somewhere safe first?!" Aila asked, the alarm in her voice enough to convince the two that they probably weren't tricking them. So, not caring anymore, Aila attempted to transform, but…it didn't work. She tried a few more times before she realized that she likely didn't have access to her shares here, so unless she wanted to carry her sister on her back, and risk opening the wound further…she'd need the others' help. "I-I…"

"I've got her, don't worry." Nepgear said, walking over and, as gently as she could, picked up Red's body bridal style, giving Aila a warm smile before motioning to Purple Heart to get Aila. When she saw Nepgear readily trusting them, Purple Heart visibly relaxed, and picked up Aila, the two foreign CPUs being carried back to the Basilicom.

"That's…awful!" Nepgear said as Aila finished telling her story. She glanced over to where Compa, a nurse Neptune and Nepgear were friends with, was taking care of Red, lying on a comfortable mat on the floor. "I…I could never imagine one of the other CPUs doing something so…dreadful!"

"Yeah, I doubt Vert would even want to put in the effort to do something like that." Neptune said, back in her human form.

"Sorry for…basically barging in on you like this, and needing to take care of Red and-"

"Hey, you're fine!" Nepgear assured her.

"Yeah, we've actually had several adventures where we've gone to other dimensions. They let us stay in their homes so it would be pretty hypocritical if we didn't do the same for you." Neptune assured her. Aila felt several more questions bubble up, but they all vanished as Compa entered the room and cleared her throat.

"She's stable, for now." Compa said, looking over at Aila. "I'm not sure why…but she's healing remarkably fast, but I estimate it'll still take a few hours before she's fully recovered. She'll probably wake up in a while, but it's important she doesn't move too much once she does, or the wounds still reopen and it'll take even longer for her to heal." Aila nodded her head in understanding. "I gave her some pain medication to help when she wakes up, but again, it's important she doesn't move too much once she wakes."

"Thank you for coming so quickly, Compa." Neptune said, hugging the nurse, who hugged her back.

"Of course! It's the least I could do! And I'll always take an excuse to come see you Nep-Nep!" Compa said. Once the two had finished hugging, Compa made her way to the door. "Call me if you need anything else!" Once she was gone, Aila breathed a sigh of relief knowing that Red was probably gonna be okay.

"We should probably call the other CPUs to come meet you to decide what to do next." Nepgear suggested, and Aila nodded. Neptune shot to her feet, smiling.

"PARTYYYYY!" She shouted as she ran off to retrieve a phone.

"N-Neptune! It's not a…ugh!" Nepgear groaned. Now alone with the girl, Aila felt shyness creep down her spine.

"Th-thank you. For…everything." Aila asked, looking away. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nepgear give her a bright smile.

"Of course! Our duty as CPUs is to help everyone that needs it!" She said, and Aila couldn't help but smile at the sentiment. "I…do have one question though, about Red."

"Yeah?"

"Why's she healing so fast?" Nepgear asked. "Is that something CPUs from your dimension can do?" Aila wasn't quite sure how to answer, so she looked away once she came up with one.

"S-something like that…"

"S-sir! Wh-where are you going?! We need to prepare! Tarou could attack at any minute!" The CPU's advisor shrieked as the CPU started walking to the door, putting on his jacket as he walked.

"I'm leaving." He said, his voice deep and smooth.

"Leaving?! To go where?! Sir, we are in danger!!" The advisor cried.

"I know. I believe in the philosophy of self preservation." The CPU said as he creeped to the door.

"I-I don't think that's a philosophy…" The advisor said, before shaking his head and running over. "P-please! Sir! Are you really going to abandon your people when they need you the most?!"

"Yes." The CPU's cold, flat reply made the advisor stop completely in his tracks. As a cherry on top, the CPU turned and flashed the pathetic man a sinister smile. "You all bore me." And with that, the man left, transforming to fly away as he left his people as if they were nothing.

Which, to him…they were.

"I'm still not sure this is a great idea." Chena said as the two connected the final wires to the portal, preparing for another activation. "Something tells me that Mojin is not gonna like this."

"Screw that jerk. Who cares what he thinks?" Eva asked as she walked over to the computer to see if the power was running the way they hoped it was, happy to see that it was rapidly climbing.

"You always get so defensive whenever he's brought up." Chena noted, and Eva frowned.

"W-well! Of course! He's my rival! Why wouldn't I be defensive!" Eva shouted.

"Uh-huh." Chena said back, giving her a raised eyebrow that made Eva's anger flare. She opened her mouth to retort when someone else spoke.

"Hey, ladies."

Eva immediately leapt in front of Chena to protect her, thinking it was Tarou. Her fears were only slightly quelled when she saw who it actually was. "Ugh, what do you want, Arun?" Eva asked as the man dropped to the ground, his inky black wings folding in on themselves as he transformed from his twisted, horrifying HDD form into his human form, leaving him as just a man in a dark suit that matched his messy pitch black hair perfectly. His deep red eyes seemed to glow as he studied them.

"I got bored, so I followed the scent of interest." He said, sounding as vague as possible. Eva was, unfortunately, used to an answer like this, so she just scoffed, and continued running diagnostics, pleased to see the numbers climbing further and further, almost immediately reaching their goal. Suddenly, there was a hand on her shoulder, and she winced as if it hurt her, looking up to find Arun peering down at the screen. "What's all this?"

"First of all, get your hand off of me." Eva said as she shrugged away from his grasp. "Second of all, it's a portal. Aila and Red traveled through it earlier, and were trying to not only find a way to open it again, but find out where they went."

"Eva!" Chena squeaked. "A-are you sure you should be telling Arun all this? He might be sided with…EEEEP!" Chena cried as Arun looked over at her, smiling.

"Please, you really think he'd side with anyone but himself?" Eva said, and Arun laughed, a ear-splitting cackle that hurt the girl's ears.

"You know me better than I expected." Arun said, his voice dripping with venom despite how smooth and pleasant it sounded. How did such a nasty laugh come out of such a nice voice?

"We used up all the power we had for the first charge, so now we're pulling energy from Bios for a second charge." Eva said. "I…really hope it works because the cables were a bitch to set up." Chena suddenly looked alarmed.

"Hey! Language!" Chena cried, and Eva rolled her eyes.

"You know you can stop treating me like a child." Eva said as she selected a couple options as she prepared the start up, hoping it would work. "Just because you've known me since I was little doesn't mean I'm not an adult now."

"With the way you act sometimes, I'm not so sure." Chena said, and Eva glared at her, receiving a smirk in return.

"It seems the scent led me to the right place." Arun piped up. "Do you have any inkling where this might have taken them?"

"Well, it's supposed to take you to other dimensions, so…unless they're now trapped in an infinite void between space itself…they should be in another dimension." Eva said.

"L-let's hope it's the second option…" Chena said. "Is it ready?"

"Yep! Looks like everything's set. Hopefully the whole of Bios should be equivalent to the antimatter batteries we created." A sudden thought popped into Eva's mind, and she giggled. "I hope Mojin is taking a shower, so when the power flickers, it'll blast him with cold water~" The girl smirked, and Chena just rolled her eyes.

"Of course you'd think about him in the shower." Chena said, and Eva whirled over to her, her face suddenly red.

"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!" She shouted.

"Just start it!" Chena said, laughing to herself. Eva, still glaring at her, grabbed the switch, and yanked it down. Nothing happened for a moment, but after that moment, the power surged, and as the entirety of Bios flickered for several seconds, the Gateway flared to life. The air hummed as the portal activated, and both Chena and Eva cheered.

"Alright! Now we just need to find a point of communication between our dimensions, which hopefully shouldn't prove to be too difficult with the comm tech we've been working on." Eva said. Arun stared in awe at the mystical swirling blue portal, and smiled.

"I see." He said, and before Eva or Chena could react, he suddenly transformed without a word, becoming his twisted shadow form of a CPU before he raced towards the portal and jumped inside. As soon as he passed through, the portal became unstable once again, and the Gateway shut down, the blue glowing swirl instantly disappearing as Chena and Eva stopped midway through celebrations. They stayed in silence for several moments, before-

"GOD DAMN IT, ARUN!"

"Language!!"

"This better be important, I was in the middle of cos-I…mean…I-important business!" Noire said as she walked in through the balcony. The first thing the girl noticed was of course, Neptune as the girl ran up and tackled her in a hug, leaving her to snuggle her face in the CPU's breasts. Noire immediately became flushed as she pried the girl off of her. "'N-Neptune! What did I say about that kind of thing?!"

"But it feels like it's been so long since I saw youuuu!" Neptune said.

"I literally saw you three days ago."

"Three days is a long time when it comes to our unbreakable bond!" Neptune said. Noire groaned, and finally pushed the girl away as she saw a stranger sitting on the couch, looking nervous, not meeting Noire's eyes.

"Who is that?" Noire asked quietly, and Neptune smiled.

"She's why I called for all of you. I don't want to spoil the surprise though, so you'll have to wait~!" Neptune said with a wink. Noire rolled her eyes as she went to sit down, studying the small girl. The girl looked up and briefly met her gaze before looking away again.

Soon enough, Blanc and Vert also arrived at around the same time, transforming into their human forms as they came in for a landing. "This better be important, I was in the middle of paperwork." Blanc said softly.

"And I was in the middle of a game! Thankfully I my team was able to finish without me, but still!" Vert said. Neptune giggled as she gestured for them to sit down.

"We've got a very special guest today!" Neptune said as they took their usual seats. The girl made a drumroll noise before flamboyantly gesturing to the girl sitting before them, a shy blush on her face. "Presenting…Aila! Red Sister, CPU candidate of…er…what was it called again?" Neptune asked.

"R-Reepage…"

"REEPAGE!!" Neptune cried, giving jazz hands. Immediately the other three shot to their feet and ran over to the girl, studying her as they flung several questions and comments at her. New CPU candidate? Who's the CPU? Is there a new nation? Wow, she's so cute~! Aila looked very uncomfortable, so Nepgear, who'd been standing off the side to try to avoid Vert, immediately swooped in to save her.

"Hey, can you back off a bit?" She asked calmly, and Vert immediately did so.

"Of course! Is this a new friend of yours, Nepgear? Because that would be amazing to have two absolutely adorable CPU candidates running around~!" She asked, the hearts nearly visible in her eyes.

"N-no…I-I…um…" Aila stuttered.

"Take your time, okay?" Nepgear assured her. Aila nodded, and took a deep breath to steady her nerves.

"I'm…actually…from a different dimension." Aila said, expecting a reaction of surprise, shock, or outright denial, but…

"Well that's new. Usually it's the other way around, isn't it?" Noire said, and the others nodded their heads.

"You…believe me?" Aila asked.

"Well, I'm assuming you can't transform here? Because you can't reach your shares?" Blanc asked, and Aila nodded. "So there isn't any definitive proof, but…with what we've experienced in the past, it's not unlikely we'd be on the receiving end for once."

"I vote we keep her." Vert said, and immediately all three of the other CPUs glared at her before turning their attention back to Aila.

"Why don't you tell them the whole story?" Neptune asked, and Aila nodded. She proceeded to tell the other CPUs everything that had happened in the past few days, starting with Boken's death, all the way to where they were now. The CPUs' expression grew more distraught the more she spoke, and by the end, they seemed terrified.

"What…an awful person." Noire said, trembling in fear.

"I wanna smash his face in." Blanc said, trembling not from fear, but rage.

"How could he hurt such an adorable girl like you?!" Vert added, looking like she was about to cry.

"L-look, I appreciate it, but…I don't think there's anything you can do." Aila said. "I'm only here because Red went through the portal. I don't think we really have a way back, unless Chena and Eva are able to open a more stable portal, which could take…who knows how long."

"And that's even if our time lines up." Nepgear added, though she immediately regretted it when she saw a look of alarm on Aila's face.

"H-huh?" The girl asked.

"W-well…when Neptune and I went to another dimension once, time worked differently. A year would pass there while only a day would pass here." Nepgear said, only growing more annoyed she'd brought it up as Aila looked even more distraught.

"S-so…it's possible a year could've passed while I've been here?!" Aila said, shooting to her feet, looking ready to have a panic attack. Nepgear quickly rushed over and grabbed her arm.

"I-it's just a possibility! Please calm down!" Nepgear assured her.

"Nep Jr. is right, that was only the one time." Neptune said. "When we went to this other dimension, time didn't run that fast. It isn't always the same."

"Please sit down and relax. I'm sure it'll be fine." Nepgear assured the girl again, squeezing her arm tightly. Aila looked over at her, and took a deep breath.

"I…you're right…I…I shouldn't freak out when we don't even know anything." Aila said. "But…what do we do then?"

"Well…maybe we can ask Histoire? Maybe she can try to connect to the other dimension?" Noire suggested, gesturing to the oracle that had been listening silently off to the side. "Did you have an oracle? Another Histoire?"

"N-no…" Aila said. "I-I didn't really…"

"Histy?" Neptune suddenly said, looking confused. The group looked over at the girl, who seemed to look lost in thought, her small eyebrows creased.

"What…?" She asked absentmindedly.

"What's wrong?" Nepgear asked as she walked over, leaving Aila feeling somewhat lonely as Nepgear let go of her. "Are you alright?"

"I feel…something…" Histoire said as she looked around. There was a familiar feeling in the air. Eventually, her eyes settled on something. To her, it looked like a strand of the air was…warped. Rippling…like waves on water. Histoire felt like she could reach out and grab it but…she wasn't sure if she'd actually get something. Even so, she reached out for the strand, and as her hands closed around it, she gasped.

"Hope this works." Eva said as she adjusted the settings while Chena worked on readjusting the cables.

"We're still connected to Bios's main generators." Chena informed her. "I'm not sure how much power it'll take, or how long we'll be able to do it for, if we'll connect to the right place, or if it'll even work at all…"

"Chena! Breaaaathe." Eva instructed, knowing if she didn't stop her, there was a real possibility the girl could keep going until she passed out. Chena nodded and shut herself up, taking several deep breaths like she practiced as Eva set up the final preparations. "Alright, are we connected?" Chena ran around and did a final check before rushing to the girl's side.

"It looks like it. Though, again, I-" Chena started, but one look from Eva made her stop, simply nodding her head. Eva took a deep breath, and looked down at the control panel.

"Let's hope this works." Eva said, and pressed a button.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhh!" Histoire cried out as a solid blue flashed across her vision as soon as she touched the strand.

"Histy?!" Neptune gasped. "What's happening?"

"Abababababababababababaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…!" Histoire cried out as her body shook. She felt something welling from inside her as the invisible strand wrapped around her entire body, before sliding inside her through her torso and out through her mouth, making her gasp one final time before she collapsed onto her book. The room went completely silent as everyone stared at the oracle, and as Nepgear was about to ask if the girl was okay, her body sat up, and her mouth opened…but the voice that came out wasn't her own.

"Testing, testing, one two three, anybody hear me?" The voice said, and Aila shot to her feet, instantly running over as she recognized the voice.

"E-Eva!!" Aila shouted. "Can you hear me?"

"Aila? Is that you?" Eva's voice came out of the oracle's mouth, though it sounded very garbled. "Can you hear me?"

"Barely! H-how are you…?"

"Um, Aila? What's going on?" Nepgear asked as she slowly crept closer.

"Who is that?" Eva asked.

"I-I think Eva, er, someone from my dimension is communicating with us through Histoire." Aila said. "Though, I can only barely make out what you're saying."

"We basically drained Bios of all its power to connect to a very weak point we managed to locate when we opened the portal again." Eva explained. "Look, I could explain it, but it's very scientific mumbo jumbo that'll hurt your brain. The point is, we got it, but it's not gonna last long."

"What's going on? What's happened since we've been gone?" Aila asked.

"Not much. Tarou hasn't attacked anyone else as far as we know." Eva answered. "How is Red?"

"She's…hurt, but resting." Aila answered. "Um…how long has it been since we left on your end?"

"A couple hours, why?" Eva answered, and Aila felt a way of relief run through her body knowing they seemed to be synced up.

"No reason." Aila answered.

"Look, it's taking a lot of power to hold this open, but I think if I tweak it a bit, we might be able to clear up the static, and keep it up for longer. We're working on getting the portal opened up and more stable, but it'll take some time." The girl paused. "I…I'm not sure if you…plan on returning, but…"

"O-of course we'll return! Red was just scared! We wouldn't leave our people to that monster!" Aila said, even though she knew that Red probably didn't want to go back, but they could deal with that when it came.

"Alright. For now, we'll continue working on that and gathering information for you." Eva said. Aila nodded, even though they couldn't see, and then suddenly realized something.

"Wait…did you say you opened the portal again?" Aila said, but suddenly, Histoire's body jerked.

"I-I think we're losing connection." Eva said, her voice even more distorted. "Yes we…the portal…someone…through…Ar…thro…" Suddenly, Histoire gasped as she collapsed once more, the connection seemingly severed before Aila could learn more.

"What? No! Ugh!" Aila said, initially frustrated, but she then sighed, knowing doing what they just did probably took a lot on its own. Neptune and Nepgear rushed over to check on Histoire, who was already beginning to come to. Aila put a hand to her chin as she tried to decipher what they'd been saying. The other CPUs seemed ready to burst with questions, but just as they were about to, a sudden intense wind burst in from the balcony. Aila shivered, first from the chill, then from fear. She wasn't sure how, but she recognized that wind. She turned to the door, and her fears were immediately confirmed as…he arrived.

He flew in, his body framed by two large, inky black demonic wings that curled inwards as he landed on the floor, his pale, featureless face feeling like a vortex that could suck Aila's soul into it. His dark body was covered in eyes, pitch black eyes that looked frantically in every direction before settling on Aila. His arms were covered in sharp spikes that protruded disgustingly from his skin, and even his fingers ended in claws. His flat face cracked as his pale skin stretched into a smile, sharp teeth inside his mouth dripping blood as a deep, smooth voice echoed through the room as he spoke.

"Hello, Aila~"

Aila felt her mouth go dry as terror gripped her heart. Arun…was here?! Of all the people that could've come through the portal, which she assumed is how he got here, the only people that would've been worse than Arun were the Four Horsemen or Tarou himself. Aila opened her mouth to speak-

"Arun?"

-but it wasn't her who spoke. Everyone shot their gaze back to where the voice had come from and saw…Red. She was on her feet, looking pale as she held an arm over her belly, which was wrapped in bandages, using the doorway as support as she looked over at him. A darkness erupted from Arun's body, quickly encasing his entire form. The darkness swirled for only a moment before retreating back inside his body, leaving only Arun's human form, a pale man in a dark suit, with a smile on his face.

"You've certainly looked better. And…more dressed." He said. Once Red realized she was only clad in her underwear, her face turned a shade of her namesake, and she ducked her body behind the doorway.

"S-sorry, u-um…h-how…how are you here?" Red stuttered, before turning to Aila. "Where…are we?"

"Red…you should probably sit down…" Aila urged, but Red seemed to tremble behind the post as she shook her head, never looking away from Arun as her grip on the doorway grew tighter.

"I…don't want to move…" she said, and Aila was about to ask why when she realized it was probably her state of dress.

"I'll help you get dressed." Aila said as she walked in and pulled her away, eager for any excuse to not be in the same room as Arun. Meanwhile, Arun turned his attention to the others.

"Hello." He said. Blanc was the first to react.

"A male CPU…that's also new." She said, but Vert leapt to her feet and ran over to the man, her breasts bouncing wildly as she ran.

"H-hello!" She said, standing nearly eye level with him, something she rarely got to do with a person. He gave her a wide smile, reached down, and grabbed her hand. He gently lifted it to his lips and placed a kiss upon it.

"It is a pleasure to meet you~" he said, his smooth voice instantly melting the goddess's heart, leaving her visibly trembling.

"S-same to you…" Vert said. The other three goddesses rolled their eyes as Vert batted her eyelashes at the man. He winked at her, and she audibly squealed as he let go of her hand and walked over to the others.

"Is this…all of you?" He asked, and they nodded. "Not a single male CPU here? And there's only four of you?" Again, more nods. Arun sighed. "Weird."

"We're back." Aila said, never looking directly at Arun as they emerged, with Red wearing brand new clothes, including a comfy red sweater and knee length pale pink skirt. Arun gave her a whistle that made Red blush.

"I…I don't think it's appropriate for you to be flirting with me right now, Arun…" Red said, "though I do appreciate the compliment."

"Any time~" Arun said with a bow. Noire suddenly cleared her throat.

"So…you're the actual CPU?" She asked Red, who nodded. Noire glanced at her wound and sighed. "Well…based on that injury alone…I feel like we could trust them. I'm not sensing any reason not to."

"I'm not so sure." Blanc said. "I know I said it's likely that we'd eventually find ourselves hosting other dimension CPUs, but despite that injury, I have a hard time just accepting this is true." Aila opened her mouth to speak, but Blanc continued. "I know it's not fair when you aren't even able to transform to prove yourselves, but…"

"Yeah, it's not fair." Neptune said, crossing her arms and pouting. "I, for one, trust them completely."

"Well, I'm sorry for being cautious." Blanc said, her calm demeanor never changing. "And besides…" She fixed her gaze on Red and Aila, "you still haven't told us what exactly you want." The statement somehow felt accusatory, even though it wasn't. Red didn't seem sure how to answer, but Aila thankfully was ready.

"We want to stay with you until Red recovers, and until Eva is able to find a way to bring us back to our dimension." Aila said. Red seemed ready to disagree, but Aila pinched her behind her back to silence her. They could talk about it later, for now, they needed to do everything they could to get the CPUs to trust them. Thankfully, Blanc seemed the only one who outwardly didn't trust them. Noire seemed to believe them, and Vert was…still ogling Arun. She decided to take that as a good thing.

"Well…if there's nothing else, I'm afraid I have to leave." Blanc said as she stood up. "I have more work to do."

"I have more gaming to do as well." Vert said, as if that was just as important. She turned to Arun, and smiled. "Unless…you want to come with me~?"

"It would be my pleasure~" The man said, but Red cleared her throat.

"If he does, he might just randomly decide to stab you in the back, 'for fun'." Red warned, but Arun dramatically scoffed.

"How rude of you! Just because it's true doesn't mean you have to say it like that!" He said, putting a hand to his face to dramatize it every further. Vert rolled her eyes and winked at the man as both her and Blanc transformed before flying off. Arun waved her away as he made no effort to hide the fact that he was staring at her ass. Red made her way over to him with Aila's help.

"Still a massive flirt, I see." She said.

"You'd know well~" Arun countered, and Red just stuck her tongue out at him, while Aila continued not allowing Arun to be in her vision at all. Unfortunately, that only got Arun's attention as he smiled widely at her. "Especially her. Her reactions are always fun~" Aila felt a cold shiver run down her spine.

"Oh lay off." Red said, and Arun shrugged as he turned his attention to Noire.

"You're still here?" He asked, and Noire looked down.

"I…I probably should be going." She said as she finally stood up. "But…again, I trust you." She glanced at Arun. "Well…not him, but you two. If anything comes up, don't be afraid to call if you need me." Suddenly, Noire was tackled into a hug, making her blush as Neptune wiggled her face against the girl's body.

"You're so sweet, Noire~!" Neptune said as the girl tried to pry her off.

"Th-that's not it! I-I just…ummm…" Noire tried to think of an excuse, "…I just…want to be allies! Y-you help me if I help you, yeah? It's purely selfish!"

"Yeah sure sure." Neptune said as she finally released the girl, before leaning in and planting a kiss on her cheek. Immediately, Noire blushed deeply and shrieked.

"Y-YOU LITTLE-!" Red was almost sure the girl was about to pop a blood vessel, but instead she simply transformed and flew away as fast as she possibly could. As the girl left, Aila turned her attention to Nepgear, who was checking to make sure Histoire was okay.

"How do you feel?" She asked the oracle.

"Fine…just a little dizzy. I simply wasn't prepared for a sudden communication signal across dimensions." Histoire explained. "But…I heard what was said and…I also think it's fine to trust these foreign CPUs." Neptune smiled wide.

"Awww! I always knew we could rely on you, Histy!" Neptune said.

"In fact, perhaps I could even forge a share crystal, and, should the time be appropriate, Red may be able to use it to prove her status." The oracle continued, and Neptune's eyes lit up.

"That would be perfect! How soon can you do that?" She asked.

"Well…you two have been doing surprisingly well in terms of shares lately…" Histoire said, "…so if you'd like, I could get started right now." She yelled as Neptune hugged her.

"Heck yeah! Do it!" She cried, but suddenly, Red cleared her throat.

"Maybe…Aila should do it." The girl suddenly said, and Aila gave her a look of shock.

"What? B-but…"

"It would still get them to believe us." Red said. "But…I don't plan on fighting, so…it would be a waste on me."

"Red…" Aila started, but Neptune cut her off.

"Look, as long as one of you uses it, surely that'll be enough to convince even Blanc that you guys are legit." Neptune said, and Aila sighed. She was only growing more and more concerned about Red's mental state, but she knew she couldn't question her about it in front of everyone.

"Well…I'd really like that we would have a good reason to need HDD." Histoire said. "I never know with you two when we'll actually be able to make another one." Neptune and Nepgear laughed nervously, unable to argue. Aila felt Red's grip on her tighten.

"Can we talk?" Red whispered, and Aila silently nodded. Red excused the two of them, and they made their way down the hall. Red's tight grip never faltered as they walked, and even as they were walking away, they could hear Arun continue to flirt with the others. Even though Aila felt nervous about what Red had to say, she was thankful to be getting away from Arun for a while.

Finally the two stopped at a sort of office room, and after closing the door behind them, Red whipped around to face Aila, while still using her as support. "What the hell was that?"

"What?"

"You lied to them. You literally lied to their face." Red said.

"What do you mean?" Aila asked, half confused, and Red grumbled.

"I…am never…going back there." Red said, her face hardening into a look of resolve, even if there was an obvious fear hidden behind it.

"Sis…" Aila started, but Red shook her head.

"I…I can't, Aila, I just can't. I…I can't face him again." She said. "Like…not even just metaphorically, I literally can't, or else he will kill me, just like…" Red couldn't even finish the thought, the resolve dissolving into an expression of pain.

"Red, I know…I faced him too, remember?" Aila. "I wasn't as close to Boken as you were, but he was my friend, too. We can't just abandon our people, our dimension, and let him do whatever he wants…"

"What's the alternative?!" Red exclaimed. "Dying?! Because that's what'll happen if we try!"

"You don't know that!"

"Yes I do! Because HE died, so what chance do WE possibly have?!" She exclaimed, tears welling up in her eyes. She clutched her stomach.

"Stop shouting, okay? You need to calm down, or else you'll hurt yourself more." Aila said, though she had noticed that Red already had let go of her, no longer needing her for support.

"Aila…if you want to go back, you can, but I just…can't." She said, and Aila stared at her, trying to find the right words to convince her, but nothing came. She sighed.

"Well then I guess I'm staying too." Aila said, and Red gave her a look of shock. "Wherever you go, I go. No matter what."

"Aila…"

"Nope, save it. If you get to be stubborn, then so do I." Aila said. "Besides, the CPUs here seem…nice…" Aila felt her face flush as she thought of one in particular, and Red gave her a raised eyebrow. "Wh-what?"

"Uh-huh…" Red said, and sighed. "I'm…feeling better."

"I know. You were always a fast healer." Aila said, even if she never understood why. "I…hope they didn't hear us." At that, the two of them heard a sudden thump, up against the door, as well as a groan of pain. The sibling gave each other a look of confusion before walking over and opening the door, to which Neptune suddenly fell into the room, groaning again as she fell. She looked up to find the two looking down at her, and she smiled up at them.

"Heyyyyyy…uh…nice panties, Red!" Neptune said, and Red leapt back, shoving her skirt down as she blushed with a frown.

"Were you listening to us?" Aila asked.

"Nooooo…" Neptune said sheepishly.

"Yes, she was." Histoire said from the hallway, having caught the girl and smacking her against the door.

"O-only for the last part! I heard shouting so I came to investigate!" Neptune said, and Red rolled her eyes.

"Investigate as in eavesdrop?" Red asked, and Neptune shot to her feet.

"Look, all I heard was that you two are apparently gonna stay? I thought you wanted to go back." Neptune asked, and Red sighed.

"No…I'd really rather stay here then go back." Neptune looked conflicted. Aila assumed she wanted to say she'd be happy to have them stay, but they probably wouldn't be able to lodge here forever, especially if they couldn't even manage HDD without a share crystal. The girl had heard of them before, but in their dimension, the plans for how to make one had been lost ever since the war. Not that they'd ever really needed them.

"Okayyyyy." Neptune said. "Enough with the depression, now that the others are gone, let's play video games! As a CPU, I need to see your skills!" Red and Aila couldn't help but smile at the girl's enthusiasm, and they both agreed, while Histoire sighed.

"I suppose you two have been doing well lately, so…I'll allow it." The oracle said.

"Oh, Histy…we were gonna do it no matter what you said, but thanks anyway~!" Neptune said, and Histoire grumbled.

"I'll go start working on the share crystal…" she said in a defeated tone as she floated away, leaving Neptune to lead the girls to the living room.

"So what kind of games do you guys like to play?" Neptune asked, sitting on the couch, where the girls, and Nepgear, soon joined her.

"RPGs." Both siblings said simultaneously. Neptune put a hand to her chin as she thought it over.

"I've got just the game!" She finally said, and leapt off the couch towards the console, plugging in four controllers and starting up a four player RPG that she could never get the other CPUs to play with her. Nepgear was okay, but having all four people would be nice.

"I guess I'll just watch." Arun said as he leaned over the back of the couch. Aila happened to be sitting where he leaned over, and after feeling his chillingly cold breath on her neck, she shuddered and switched places with Red as fast as humanly possible. Neptune got the game set up for them, and they started playing.

Many hours later, a few hours after the sun had set, Red yawned as she set the controller down, feeling mentally exhausted after spending several hours dealing with Neptune's terrible strategies. The couch positions had shifted in the time, leaving Red sitting next to Neptune and Aila and Nepgear sitting together, who both let out yawns of their own after Red. Neptune scoffed.

"You guys are tired already? It's only barely past midnight!" She said.

"Sorry, I just…feel so tired." Red said. "Can we…?"

"Of course you can sleep here." Nepgear said.

"Maybe Aila can sleep in your bed, Nep Jr.~" Neptune said with a smirk. Both girls turned to her as their faces turned a bright shade of red.

"N-Neptune!!" Nepgear cried as the CPU cackled. Red couldn't help but giggle at her sister bright face.

"Do you have a guest room we could use?" Red said, and Aila perked up, looking somehow…disappointed?

"Y-yeah, we have one, though it might be a bit dirty since it's rarely used." Nepgear, her face still flushed, though not as much as Aila's. Red looked over to her and raised an eyebrow.

"What, did you actually want to sleep with Nepgear?" Red asked, and both Candidates turned bright red once more.

"N-noooooo…" Aila said very unconvincingly as she refrained from looking at Nepgear. "L-let's go to bed…" She said. Red gave her a smile.

"What about me?"

Arun's voice startled all of them, all of them having somehow forgotten he was even there.

"Umm…" Neptune started.

"I mean, I'd be happy to sleep with these lovely ladies if they'd-"

"No." Aila said immediately, still looking away from the man, even as he sighed.

"So mean." He said. "I guess I'll crash in here if that's alright? Unless you want me out on the streets?"

"Yeah, that's fine." Neptune said. Red laughed nervously. That was probably for the best; if he slept on a bench or something and someone disturbed him, he'd probably kill them on the spot, or at least scare them bad enough to have a heart attack.

A little while later, once Aila and Red changed into some spare pajamas Neptune had, which fit them well enough, and Arun deciding to just sleep in his clothes, the siblings went to bed on some futons in the spare room, and when Neptune bid them goodnight and closed the door behind her, she almost got startled by Nepgear, who was standing right behind her when she turned around.

"Jeez, Nep Jr.! Don't do that!" She exclaimed.

"Sorry." She said, walking with the girl back towards the living room, where Arun was sitting watching TV. "I just…"

"What?" Neptune asked.

"Is…is it really okay for them to just stay here?" Nepgear asked, and Neptune sighed.

"Unfortunately…I don't think we would be able to just keep them here, especially if they can't use HDD." Neptune said.

"Plutia let you stay before you even became a CPU again." Nepgear said.

"I feel like her Histy was a lot less of a hardass than ours." Neptune said back. "I just…feel like it could become a problem, though if they could stay without consequences, that would be cool."

"Who cares about the consequences? We can't just kick them out!" Nepgear exclaimed.

"Well of course we wouldn't do that, but…" Neptune sighed. "Either way, I feel like this'll be a problem." Both girls went silent for a while.

"Maybe…we should try to convince her to leave." Nepgear finally said. Neptune gave her a look of shock. "Look…I can tell that Aila wants to go back, but she also doesn't want to leave her sister behind, so…maybe we should just help convince Red to go back. I hate to say it, but…I do think she shouldn't leave her nation behind like that." Neptune sighed, and then groaned.

"I hate talking about serious stuff like this." The CPU said, before flopping onto their second couch. Arun laughed.

"Yeah I hate it too. It's why I tend to avoid it as much as possible." He agreed. Neptune looked up at him for a bit before sighing.

"Male CPU…you know you'd think we would've seen one by now…but I supposed our series is one for waifus, not husbandos…other than Anonydeath… Steamax…hopefully not Mr Badd though."

"Huh?" Arun asked.

"Neptune, please don't do this right now…" Nepgear said with a nervous smile. Arun looked between the two of them, confused, but Neptune just got up, and walked over to Arun, smacking her hips against his.

"Move, I wanna play in my comfy spot." She said, and Arun rolled his eyes as he shifted over.

"If you don't want to sleep yet, we could play something." Arun suggested.

"Oh yeah, like what?" Neptune asked.

"Got any player horror?" He asked.

"Not really, no."

"I'm going to bed, don't stay up too late again." Nepgear said as she walked back to her room.

"How about just a fighting game?"

"Yeah that works."

The two set up the game and proceeded to play for several more hours, with Neptune constantly evading Arun's attempts to flirt with her, until he eventually gave up, and the two both eventually collapsed on the couch, with Neptune falling asleep nearly on top of Arun, which was the sight a very flustered and embarrassed Nepgear woke up to the sight of, even covering her eyes as she urged for them to wake up. Neptune groggily sat up, pressing her hands down on Arun's chest for support, which then woke him up as the air was suddenly forced out of his body. When both of them recovered, she quickly apologized, while he simply said "If you wanted to sleep with me, you should've just asked~", to which she gave him a little slap.

"Morning…" Red said with a yawn as she exited the guest room, her clothes a mess, as well as her hair, though that was nothing new. Neptune leapt off the couch and ran over to them.

"Morning!" She said, as perky as ever.

"Ughhhh…" Red said as she stumbled to the bathroom while Aila also made her way out of the room.

"Is she not a morning person?" Neptune asked.

"Not really, no." Aila said, and as Nepgear too exited her room, the girl suddenly became super aware of how gross she probably looked, and she blushed, glancing at Nepgear. The candidate simply gave her a confused stare back. "C-can I use your shower?" She asked.

"Of course, though your sister is in there right now." Neptune said as she made her way back to her room to use her own personal bathroom. Aila walked over and waited by the door, and to her annoyance, Nepgear walked over as well.

"Good morning!" Nepgear said.

"M-morning…" Aila said back, looking away from Nepgear, who gave her another confused look.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"I…uh…feel a little embarrassed that you're seeing me looking so…gross." Aila said, and Nepgear giggled.

"Trust me, I've seen worse. I've had to wake up my sister after she slept in just her underwear, or even sometimes naked during the summer. She's always a mess." The girl assured her, and that made Aila feel a little better. Finally the door opened and Red stepped out, to where Aila gently pushed her aside as she went in, quickly explaining she was gonna take a shower.

"Uh…you don't have any clothes, though…" Red said, though Aila seemed to have not heard her.

"I'll get her some more of mine. Maybe we could go clothes shopping today." Nepgear offered, and Red smiled.

"That sounds fun!" Red said, and as she walked back to the living room, Nepgear went to find clothes for Aila.

The girl realized halfway through her shower that she didn't have any other clothes, and so, when she was finished, not wanting to put back on the pajamas she'd worn, she wrapped herself as tightly in a towel as she could, and, her face burning a bit at being in just a towel in someone else's home, she took a step out of the bathroom.

"Reeeeeeed?" Aila called out.

"Nepgear's looking for clothes for you in her room." Red called back. Aila gulped, knowing that meant she'd have to go to the girl's room to get clothes. She sighed, and stepped out, clutching the towel tightly to her body as she made her way to Nepgear's room. She opened the cracked door and stepped inside.

"Nepgear?" She asked tentatively.

"Oh you're done?" Nepgear said as she emerged from the closet, startling Aila so much she nearly dropped the towel, leaving her red-faced.

"D-DON'T SCARE ME!" Aila shouted, and Nepgear laughed.

"Sorry!" She gave the girl a quick glance up and down, making Aila shiver as Nepgear gave her some of her old clothes. "I think these will fit." She said, and held them out. Aila, holding tightly onto the towel with one hand, grabbed the clothes, and quickly hurried out and ran back to the bathroom as soon as she possibly could, her face a bright red.

"God…WHY AM I LIKE THIIIIIIIS?!" Aila exclaimed to herself as she tossed the clothes onto the sink. They appeared to be a simple purple and white shirt and skirt, but different from the outfit Nepgear seemed to normally wear. They weren't exactly her favorite colors, but she couldn't complain. And on top of that, there was some blue and white striped underwear. Underwear…that Nepgear…used to wear?

Before Aila could complete the thought, Nepgear knocked on the door. "AAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Aila shouted, finally jumping so much that she dropped the towel, and even though she was by herself in the room, she still blushed. "Wh-wha-"

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to startle you again!" Nepgear said from the other side. "I just wanted to let you know we were thinking of going clothes shopping so you guys don't have to wear our old stuff."

"Y-yeah…th-that would be great, thanks." Aila said, and heard Nepgear walk away, leaving the girl to sigh. She put a hand to her chest and felt her heartbeat going hard. She looked at the clothes again, once again seeing the pair of underwear. She hesitated, before groaning to herself. "God, what is wrong with me?!" She asked. She was about to finally get dressed when there was another knock on the door. This one didn't startle her as much, but still made her jump. "Y-yeah?" She asked.

"Want me to help blow dry your hair?" Nepgear asked. Aila paused, and even though she felt extremely embarrassed about the concept, before she could stop herself…

"S-sure." She said.

"Yay! Neptune never lets me do her hair!" Nepgear said, even going so far as to begin opening the door.

"AHHHHH! N-NEPGEAR! ST-STOP! I-I'M NOT WEARING THE T-TOWEL!" Aila shouted as she thrust her hands over her petite body, and just before it swung open, it stopped, and slammed closed again.

"I-I'm sorry!!" Nepgear said. Aila's face felt hotter than she had ever felt before. "J-just come to my room when you're ready…" Nepgear said before walking away again. Aila groaned as she fell to her knees. Forgetting about the clothes, she quickly scooped up the towel and frantically wrapped it around herself once more, easy thanks to her small frame, before exiting the room again and quickly running to Nepgear's room. She closed the door behind her and, hearing that, Nepgear emerged from her closet again, looking surprised.

"I…would've thought you'd get dressed first." She said, and Aila mentally slapped herself. "Oh well, this is fine!" She said, and gestured to a chair Aila could sit in. Aila, still feeling flustered, quickly sat down as Nepgear undid the cord for the hairdryer and brought it over to her.

"Hold still, alright?" She said as she started it up, and started drying the girl's wet hair. Aila did as she said, even though her face was still red. She could feel Nepgear holding onto the chair as she blow dried her hair.

"S-sorry…" Aila suddenly apologized.

"Huh? For what?" Nepgear asked with confusion.

"For being so…awkward…" Aila said, and Nepgear giggled, a giggle that turned into a hearty laugh that immediately filled Aila's heart with warmth. "Wh-what?"

"N-nothing! That's just…kind of cute!" Nepgear admitted, and Aila's face immediately flushed a deep red.

"I-it is?" She asked.

"Mhm! Look, it's fine, I'm awkward too, and a bit shy, at least when I first meet people." Nepgear said.

"I just get shy around pretty girls…" Aila said quietly, not expecting her to hear.

"Awww, you think I'm pretty?" Nepgear asked, and somehow Aila's face became even more red.

"I-I…th-that's…u-ummm!" She sputtered, and Nepgear laughed again.

"How about…once we're done clothes shopping, I take you to a…special place?" She said. Something about the way she said it had a (probably unintentional) effect on Aila, and the girl shuddered violently. "Ah, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good…" Aila said in a squeak. Finally, the hair dryer shut off, and the drying was complete.

"Can I…do your hair?" Nepgear asked hesitantly. "Neptune never lets me do hers up."

"Sure…I'd like that." Aila said. "B-but I should probably get dressed first, so I don't mess it up when I put the shirt on."

"Yeah!" Nepgear said. Aila stood up, but the towel became snagged on the chair, and slid off her body as she stood up. Both girls froze immediately.

"Ah…"

"U-umm…"

"EEEEAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" Aila screeched, louder than she ever had before. Nepgear quickly covered her eyes as Aila frantically snatched the towel and held it up against her body.

"D-DID YOU SEE?!"

"N-NO!"

"ARE YOU SURE!"

"I SWEAR!"

"What's with all the yelling?" Red said as she entered the room, only to be met with the sight of her sister's bare backside. Neptune peeked in from behind her, and smirked.

"Oh la la, what's going on in here~?" She asked.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" Aila shrieked again as she ran as fast as she could back to the bathroom, slamming the door so hard it nearly broke off its hinges. Nepgear was blushing deeply as she kept her hands over her eyes.

"She's…so cute!" Nepgear said quietly.

Eventually Aila calmed down and got dressed, and Nepgear was even surprised when the girl came back and still requested her hair to be done. She sat down in the chair, dressed in Nepgear's old clothes, and Nepgear got to work. As she did the girl's hair, the two started talking about random stuff, like the games they liked, Nepgear's fascination with machinery, and inventing things, and the like.

Once they were done, they emerged into the living room, where Arun, Neptune, and Red were playing video games, even going so far as to trash talk each other.

"Eat that you edgy freak!" Neptune shouted, and Arun chuckled.

"I may be edgy, but at least I'm not so brain dead I didn't see this coming!" The boy countered, and Neptune cried out as she was crushed by a special attack.

"You all suck! Prepare to die!!" Red shouted as, even though the special attack didn't finish Neptune off, Red finished them both off with a single strike. They both groaned as she smirked, victorious. Aila cleared her throat as she entered, and Red looked over, before immediately shooting to her feet with a gasp. "You look…so pretty!!" She said. Nepgear had done her hair into a braided ring around her head like a halo, while leaving the rest of hanging down evenly. Aila blushed at the compliment, and Neptune got to her feet.

"Are we ready to go then?" She asked. Aila nodded, excited to get some new clothes. Arun, figuring he too would be here for a while, also decided to come along, so the five of them set out to go get some clothes, unaware of what was about to happen.

"How big is Planeptune? How many towns do you have?" Aila asked as they walked down the street, getting the attention of almost everyone they passed, whispers passing among them. Red tried not to focus on them, and when she couldn't help it, she tried to focus on the fact they were probably whispering about the CPUs. The five of them approached the shop, with everyone but Red engaged in conversation as she simply tried to hide herself from the crowd. But just as they were about to get to the store, they suddenly heard a scream. Immediately they all looked towards it source, only to hear more shouting and screaming as a bright light flashed in the distance.

"What the…?" Neptune asked, before they suddenly heard an explosion. The CPU looked to her sister, and the two nodded to each other before quickly transforming, flying towards the source of the sounds. Arun grunted, and the two remaining girls turned to him.

"Why…can't I transform?" Arun asked.

"We don't have any shares here so we can't." Aila explained.

"But I was able to when I was first here." He said, then stopped to think. "Although…I guess I did transform before I actually went through the portal…and when I was flying to the Basilicom, I felt very weak the entire time…I see." Red and Aila simply ignored him as they started running towards the source of the noise, with Red only feeling a little sore from her now lingering injury.

Eventually the three of them found the Planeptune CPUs fighting a massive horde of monsters flowing into the city. They were in the midst of fighting, with Purple Heart using a massive blade with ease while Nepgear used a more modest looking one with similar ease.

"So…cool…" Aila said as she watched Nepgear slice through the waves of monsters like it was nothing. Red rolled her eyes and tried to summon her weapons, happy to find that it still worked.

"Come on! We can't let them do everything themselves!" Red said as she ran towards the mob, despite every ounce of her being telling her to run the other direction. She was pretty sure the only reason she was actually able to get herself to fight was because these were just monsters, not other people. She rushed in and started attacking as much as she could. She was immediately surprised how easily the monsters were cut down. As soon as she was about to talk to Aila, who was fighting next to her, she felt a cold shiver run down her spine, one that was all too familiar. She turned to look over at Arun, who was smiling wide as the air around him seemed to ripple. A group of monsters that had advanced towards him were now sitting there almost lifeless, looking absolutely horrified. As the man's smile grew wider, he held out his arms, his fingers growing into sharp claws. He rushed forward and began to slice through the enemies like they were made of paper as he cackled, with the monsters unable to do anything as they were trapped in his illusions. Red looked over to Aila, who began to shiver, looking almost as frozen as the monsters. One of them, seeing her stuck there, rushed forward with his own claws, and nearly cut her apart before Red stabbed him through the chest and tossed him aside. "Aila!" She shouted, and that seemed to pull the girl out of her stupor.

"S-sorry, I just…wh-whenever he uses that, I-" Aila said, still shivering.

"I…I know." Red said, a sad look coming over her face at the painful memory. "How about you head to a different side, stop their advance from the left, while we hand the front?" Red asked, and Aila nodded, before rushing to the left, where Nepgear was holding them off, but also slowly losing ground. Red took a deep breath to steady her nerves, also a little afraid of the memory of Arun using his ability…but she had to focus. Even if she couldn't HDD, she would still give it as much as she could.

Meanwhile, over at the left side, Nepgear barely managed to miss a claw heading straight for her chest, only getting saved by Aila yanking her back. At first the candidate was surprised, but then when she saw Aila, she smiled. "H-hi!"

"You look…so cool right now!" Aila said, the words spilling out of her mouth before she could stop herself. Nepgear blushed and giggled as she sliced through another monster. "I-I'm here to help!" Aila proclaimed.

"Cool! I was starting to get pushed back a bit." Nepgear said, watching as Aila used her staff to start blasting fireballs at the waves of enemies pouring in.

"Where are they all coming from?!" Aila asked.

"We haven't been able to figure it out yet. We just need to keep pushing until we can break through, or long enough for people to flee." Nepgear shouted, before quickly getting swarmed by two different tall, strong orc-like monsters. One swung down a mace at her but she was able to avoid it, only to get smashed in the back by the other, throwing her to the ground as she cried out. She lifted her blade to block one of them slamming their mace down at her again, leaving her open to another attack from the side. One of the spikes on the mace tore into her skin, drawing blood as she was forcibly rolled onto her back, her sword leaving her grip. She felt a hard kick to her side as well as deep laughter, before she felt another kick to the head. Everything became dizzy.

"N-NEPGEAR!" Aila shouted as two similar monsters stood in front of her, blocking the way to Nepgear. She watched as the monsters continued beating the girl, laughing all the while, before one of them lifted up their face and held it directly above her head. "NOOOOOO!" Aila shouted. Nepgear opened her eyes to see a dark mass above her head as the mace was lifted up. She tried to move her body, but she just felt pain. How could she have been beaten so easily? Or what felt like very easily. The dark, pointy mace was then dropped down towards her face, and Nepgear closed her eyes as it rushed towards her.

CLANG!

Nepgear waited for the impact, but it never came. Instead, Aila was there, using her staff to deflect the mace inches away from Nepgear's face, though one of the spikes had become buried into her stomach, causing blood to flow down her body as she cried out. The monsters were surprised just long enough for her to aim her staff and blast one of them in the face with a red hot ball of fire, killing it instantly. It toppled as the other roared. Nepgear looked to the side to see that the two monsters Aila had faced previously shared a similar face, their bodies smoking as Aila blasted the second one looking down at them. It didn't die instantly, unlike the other, but it still fell backwards and crushed half a dozen other monsters underneath it. Finally, Aila, despite her wound bleeding onto the ground, climbed onto the shrieking monster, and blasted it with a second fireball that finally silenced it. As she stood on top of the monster, panting, one hand over her wound, Nepgear was finally able to sit up and look at her. Her breath hitched as the girl's long red hair flowed in the wind, her red eyes gleaming in the sunlight. She turned to face Nepgear, and their eyes met, leaving Nepgear breathless for yet another second. They held each other's face for a moment before Aila leapt forward and intercepted another monster that tried to take advantage of Nepgear's weakness. This time, it was Nepgear's turn to shout.

"Aila!" The candidate shouted as one of the monster's claws poked through her stomach. Aila coughed, a bit of blood splattering out from her mouth as she turned and blasted the monster at point blank range. Her legs wobbled as she turned back fo Nepgear, and laughed.

"I-I'm a bit…r-rusty…hehe…" She got out before collapsing. Nepgear, despite feeling hurt, rushed forward and caught her. Adrenaline rushed through her body as she flew above the crowd, allowing the monsters to flood into the city. But she didn't have time to think about that as she flew over to Red.

"Nepgear, what's-" Red said, but stopped as she saw Aila, unconscious, and bleeding heavily. Red felt a hard shudder run through her body as her mind flashed back to that short battle with Tarou.

"I-I'm gonna take her back to the Basilicom, I-I can-"

"No!" Red cut Nepgear off, putting her hands up to her head as she tried to calm her jumbled thoughts. That image of Tarou kept clouding her, so she had to force herself to focus on Aila, even though she didn't want to. "I-I can…" She knew what she needed to do, but she wasn't even sure it would work. "Give her to me. Can you hold them off?" Nepgear looked over at the horde of monsters advancing towards them.

"I-I think so. How long do you need?" Nepgear asked, feeling sore, but the adrenaline was still powering her, and to protect Aila, she would give them as much time as they needed.

"Not long…hopefully." Red said the last part more quietly, and Nepgear gently laid Aila in Red's arms. The girl was pale, and her body shook. Red cradled her, something she hadn't done in a long time. As Nepgear turned to face the mob, Red whispered to Aila.

"I…I can't lose you too…not after everything else. Please…d-don't leave me…" Red pleaded. She placed a gentle kiss on the girl's forehead, which seemed to somehow relax her. Red closed her eyes and concentrated. She tried to shove out the sounds of Nepgear fighting to keep them safe. She focused on happy memories with Aila, how warm she felt whenever they hugged, how soft it was whenever she kissed Red on the cheek goodnight, how her smile seemed to light up the entire room. She focused on all the good memories even though it seemed hopeless, even though all the bad thoughts threatened to creep in. She shoved them away as much as possible, and…eventually…something happened.

Red's hand's began to glow, starting at her fingertips, moving across her skin, down her arms, across her chest, before eventually her entire body was glowing. She held Aila tightly as she felt warmth flood out of her and into her sister. She opened her eyes, watching as the wounds began to close before her eyes, and color slowly returned to her skin. Before she was even fully healed, Aila gasped, and her eyes fluttered open.

"S-sis?" Aila asked.

"Don't move." Red said softly. She held her sister tightly as all the wounds closed up, leaving only dried blood on her sister's skin. The warmth was already fading as the glow diminished, and Red felt drained. She shuddered as the warmth was replaced with a chill as the glow faded completely, and she nearly collapsed.

"S-sis?" Aila asked again, this time out of surprise. "Y-you…you did it!" She cried, but then it turned to concern as she saw Red's state, as the girl shivered.

"Y-yeah…I didn't realize it would take that much out of me." Red said. Aila looked around, and spotted Nepgear.

"N-Nepgear!!" Aila shouted, and the girl turned, eyes going wide as she saw Aila, now fully healed. She quickly rushed over.

"H-how did you…?" She looked over at Red. "Is she okay?!"

"Are you okay?" Aila asked, noticing the wound where she was stabbed by the mace, as well as various spots beginning to become bruised on her body.

"I'm fine, but…" Nepgear looked at Red, who shakily got to her feet.

"She's…" Aila started, but before she could explain, another voice cut in.

"It's done!" Histoire said as she flew over holding a bright, slightly glowing share crystal.

"Perfect!!" Aila shouted. "Red, take it!" At this, the girl looked shocked.

"Wh-what?! N-no, you should-"

"Red, you are far stronger than I am, and you need the boost right now or else, not to sound rude, but in this state, you don't be able to help much, you'll just be in danger. So just take the freakin' crystal!" Aila shouted, surprising both Nepgear and Red with her ferocity. Red looked at the crystal, and sighed.

"Alright." Red said. She…didn't want to fight, but she knew this was something she had to do. She needed to. So, on shaky legs, she walked over. The warmth from the crystal permeated the air as she walked closer to it. Her hand reached out, and she could almost feel an energy connecting her to the crystal. Within moments, her fingers touched it, and it felt like she exploded. The crystal burst into invisible fragments as they entered her body, filling her with power as her body was enveloped by light. She was lifted into the air as she transformed, her body becoming more mature, her bust increasing, her hair growing longer, her HDD form replacing her usual childlike appearance as a layer of protective energy encased her as her clothes morphed into something more revealing. Lastly, two solid red wings materialized from thin air behind her, unconnected to her body yet still fully functional. Finally, the light faded, and the transformation was complete. Now, she was Red Heart.

Full of energy, Red Heart immediately flew at insanely fast speeds towards the wave of enemies, slicing through a group of five monsters with her blade, which then erupted a wave of energy that blasted through dozens more. She did the same with a stabbing motion that erupted in a bolt that shot straight out, penetrating and killing several more. Red Heart felt somewhat reassured at the power that coursed through her body as she crushed wave after wave of enemies, almost immediately driving them back single-handedly within a matter of minutes. Purple Heart, who had been attacking from the right alongside Arun, watched as Red Heart appeared, having made such a dent in the army that she was now close enough to see them.

"Woah…" Purple Heart breathed.

"Aww man, why does she get to go HDD?" Arun whined jokingly as he decapitated an enemy without even looking.

"She's…strong." Purple Heart said as she simply watched Red Heart cut through the wave like it was nothing. Even a massive swarm of the orc-like enemies was nothing as she spun around, cutting off all their legs before whipping around, and cutting through each of them with pure energy erupting from her blade.

"More than I think she realizes. She lets her own insecurity get to her head too much." Arun said as he nonchalantly thrust a group of monsters into their worst nightmares before slicing them to ribbons with his sharp claws.

"I see…" Purple Heart said. Red Heart eventually managed to cut through enough of the army with such ferocity that some of them began to retreat. This caused a ripple of chaos throughout the mob, with monsters quickly turning on each other in a rush to get to safety. Red Heart watched some of the fleeing monsters, and began to follow them. Seeing this, Purple Heart turned to Arun. "Can you handle this on your own?"

"Please." Arun said as any monster who came close became caught in his nightmarish illusion before they were cut to pieces. Purple Heart nodded, seeing more and more of the army retreat. Purple Heart rushed to meet Nepgear, eyes going wide as she saw that she was hurt. She opened her mouth to ask, but Nepgear stopped her.

"I'm fine, what is it?" She asked. Purple Heart hesitated before pointing to Red Heart in the distance.

"I think she's heading for the source of the mob, likely a pack leader. For an army this large, someone likely had to organize them, and they'll probably be tough. Let's give her back up." Purple Heart explained. Nepgear looked to Aila, who was busy blasting the retreating enemies, and any monsters that still tried to get past her further into the city.

"I've got this, you go!" Aila said, and Nepgear, after some hesitation, nodded. She and Purple Heart raced after Red Heart as she moved into the woods, cutting through stray monsters as they went.

Red Heart chased the monsters deep into the woods, all the way to a small clearing shrouded under several tall, bushy trees. When she saw what was here, she paused, allowing Nepgear and Purple Heart to catch up to her, to which they also stopped.

Surrounding them was what looked like a strange sort of ritual site, mixed with a commune, random bones scattered about as well as buildings made of stone and wood, haphazardly built, but still built into buildings nonetheless. At the center of everything was a raised area, with a throne created from bones. There sat a monster that sneered down at them.

"I was wondering how long it would take for you to get to me~" It said in a deep, smooth voice. The monster stood up, leaving all three of them to take a step back. The tall monster was a humanoid wolf, his features twisted into a smile. The wolf-man was naked, with his masculine features hanging out in full view, though all three tried their best not to look at it. Red Heart was just glad her sister wasn't there to see it. The wolf-man smiled and took a step towards them, making…it…wobble. The three of them immediately became ten times more uncomfortable, but even so, Red Heart took a step towards the beast.

"Who are you?" She asked, and he laughed, a bellowing laugh.

"I am…the King of the Monsters!" He said.

"Godzilla?" Purple Heart asked, and the wolf-man rolled his eyes.

"No, you stupid, useless goddess. I am Fenrir, King of the Monsters! I have been waiting for years to become the leader of these pathetic vermin, watching and studying humanity and you CPUs so that I may one day come and rip your happy lives apart." He said, once again smiling. Red Heart could barely concentrate on what he was saying with the way his junk jiggled around. "I started as a lowly wolf monster, and took down bigger and bigger targets until the others respected me, and eventually, worshiped me. They would die for me. I was able to forge these vermin into an army, and finally, I was able to launch a full out attack on your pathetic nation!" He then sighed. "I should've known they wouldn't be strong enough, though. Now, I'll have to finish you off myself, and then we can charge in, and take-"

"Excuse me?" Red Heart finally said, interrupting his monologue. Looking annoyed, the wolf-man looked at her.

"Yes?"

"So you're the one responsible for the attack on Planeptune?" She asked, and he smirked.

"Yes~! This is the start of my glorious revolution against those who have hunted us, and today, I shall take my rightful place by slaying-"

The King of the Monsters never got a chance to finish, or even attack, as Red Heart moved with incredible speed, almost immediately appearing behind the monster, an electric whizzing sound erupting through the air as his expression froze. At first, Nepgear and Purple Heart weren't quite sure what happened. Then, it soon became apparent as the monster's head slowly slid off his body and tumbled to the ground, soon followed by the rest of his body. The King of the Monsters was dead.

"Man, he talked too much." Red Heart said as she turned back to the two, who were completely shocked. "What?"

As Aila finished off the rest of the escaping monsters, she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder, making her jump and whip around. Her body shuddered as she found Arun standing in front of her. Another shiver ran down her spine as she realized they were alone.

"Hey, Aila. Nice work." Arun said. Aila looked away from him as she started taking a few steps back, making the man sigh. "Alright, I'll just say it, what gives?"

"Wh-what do you mean?" Aila asked, still looking away.

"Why do you never look me in the eyes, ever? I know I might be a little scary at times, but that just seems rude." He asked.

"D-don't pretend you don't know. I…the sight of you makes me feel ill." Aila said, and Arun whistled.

"Wowwww…that hurts. Like…a lot." He said. "And, no, I don't know. So why don't you tell me?"

"Are you serious?" She asked. "How could you…how could you possibly not know?!" Aila shouted, her hands clenched into fists as she trembled in anger.

"I…really don't. So why don't you-"

"BECAUSE YOU RIPPED HIS HEART OUT RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!" Aila shouted, finally looking over at him. Her red eyes burned bright with rage, tears starting to fill them. Arun actually took a step back in surprise. "You…you killed him…how could you possibly forget…" Aila trailed off, looking away once more. Finally, it clicked.

"Wait, are you talking about-"

"Hey, we're back." Purple Heart said, cutting Arun off as Aila wiped her tears away. Her, Nepgear, and Red Heart carried the body and head, separated, of a tall wolf-man. For some reason, the only other wound on the body was a large cut at the groin.

"Uh…why is it…?" Aila started.

"Don't worry about it." Red Heart said quickly. Aila knew that tone enough to know not to push further, so she dropped it. "Did you guys take care of the rest of them?"

"Yes, they should all be gone now." Aila said.

"Are you alright?" Nepgear asked Aila again. She nodded, a light blush overcoming her face at Nepgear's concern. Nepgear then turned to Red Heart. "What was that? How did you…heal her?" Red Heart looked nervous.

"I…"

"We're here!" Blanc, no, White Heart said as she suddenly landed on the ground, wielding a giant axe. "Where are they?!"

"We came as soon as we were able to." Green Heart said as she too landed, followed by Black Heart. Along with them were a few other people neither Red Heart, Aila, or Arun recognized. One was a girl who looked like a younger version of Black Heart, and the other two was a pair of young twins with pink and blue hair.

"Oh…did we miss it?" Black Heart asked.

"Yes, but thank you for coming anyway." Nepgear said as she transformed back. "Hey Uni, Rom, Ram!"

"Hello!" The twins said as they seemed to transform back, their hair color returning to a similar one as Blanc. The other girl also transformed, her white hair becoming black like Noire's.

"Dammit! I had a feeling we'd be too late." White Heart said, her usually calm voice now more ferocious. Yet, as soon as she transformed back, her voice became gentle again. "I'm sorry, we tried to come as soon as Histoire called us." Green Heart and Black Heart also transformed back. Blanc looked over at Red Heart and blushed a bit. "I see you're in HDD. A share crystal, I presume?" The girl nodded. "And you helped fight back this invasion…"

"She actually was the one who killed the leader, the 'King of the Monsters'." Purple Heart said as she too transformed back to Neptune. "It was really badass!"

"I see. I'm…sorry for doubting you. You…understand my position though, right?"

"Yes, you don't need to worry." Red Heart said, before suddenly feeling a wave of weakness rush through her body that nearly knocked her off her feet. "Woah…"

"The share crystal is probably beginning to wear off. It looked like you used a lot of share energy fighting the waves of monsters." Nepgear said. Red nodded, and Aila rushed to support her as her body was enveloped with light as she quickly transformed back into Red, her body shrinking back into its childlike appearance. She finally looked up at the other three girls that had arrived with the CPUs. Catching her gaze, Noire smiled.

"We brought our siblings with us so you could meet them! This is Uni," She gestured to the black haired girl, "this is Rom," She gestured to the twin with short hair, "and this is Ram!" Lastly, she gestured to the one with long hair. The three of them waved and said "Hello."

"I think we should go back to the Basilicom to talk, if that's okay?" Red said, and all of them agreed, making their way back towards the Basilicom, talking amongst themselves, though the other candidates already felt very wary of Arun as they walked.

"You know, I'm pretty sure it's clean."

"There's still some dust."

"Where?! I don't believe you."

Moku and Tatak bickered about some seemingly invisible dust on the table as Danga loaded up her weapon very loudly in the corner. Tatak scowled at her. "Hey, I just cleaned that floor, so you better not be making it dirty!"

"You clean it every day, who cares." The girl said softly as she continued inspecting her gun. Meanwhile, Moku poked her finger against the table, and Tatak turned his scowl to her.

"Hey! You'll leave a smudge if you do that!" He shouted, and Moku giggled. "You and your gross little fingers."

"Oh please, if she had her way, she'd be getting much dirtier stuff on that table with 'Big Bro'." Janpu said with a snort, and Moku squealed as a blush overcame her face.

"I-I would never ruin my brother's perfect virginity like that!" She shouted, before she began to rub her thighs together as she giggled. "U-unless…h-he asked me to…" The other three rolled their eyes, before Tatak suddenly shrieked.

"MOKU! YOUR DROOL IS GETTING ON THE TABLE!!" The usually stoic boy shouted as he frantically wiped it with the towel.

"How do you know he is a virgin?" Janpu asked. "I think he might've fucked that little girl CPU. You know, Ema? He's gone over to her place before, so-"

Suddenly, the buff candidate stopped as an axe became embedded into the wall directly next to him as a strand of his hair slid to the floor, along with some pieces of the wall. Janpu looked at the war axe before looking at Moku, who was staring daggers into his eyes, her face only inches from his as she smiled wide, though there was no joy behind the gaze.

"Are you insinuating my perfect brother would dare sully his perfection by allowing such a pathetic excuse for a CPU have her way with him~? Or that he would stoop to the level of having anyone become intimate in such a way other than me~?" She asked coldly.

"N-nope! Definitely not! F-forget I said anything!" Janpu said, laughing nervously. Despite her childlike appearance and usual cuteness, he always forgot how scary she could be. Instantly, Moku's terrifying expression faded, replaced with a cute smile as she ripped the axe back out of the wall.

"Great~!" She said before skipping back to the sofa. Tatak meanwhile, shrieked like a banshee.

"YOU IDIOTS GOT FUCKING SHIT EVERYWHERE!!!" Tatak shouted as he lunged at the pieces of wall now littering the floor. "SUCH A MESS, OH MY GOD!"

"Language. And be more quiet, please, I'm trying to concentrate." Danga said as she continued working on her gun, her glasses covered eyes focused solely on the weapon, a sniper rifle she cherished more than almost anything else she owned.

"A-anyway!" Janpu said. "What do you think Tarou's announcement is gonna be?"

"Probably something important." Danga said. "He doesn't usually call us all together unless it's for something big."

"Hey, could be a party, you never know!" Janpu joked.

"For what reason would Tarou ever find suitable enough to have a party?" Tatak said as he gathered up the pieces of the wall, even the tiniest pieces, into a bag. Janpu sighed.

"It was a joke. Seriously, dude." He said, and Tatak just shrugged. "I do think it's probably something important though."

"Everything he says is important." Moku said.

"Moku, we get it, can you stop metaphorically sucking his cock for like five minutes." Janpu asked. Moku blushed as she crossed her arms with a pout. "I'm just wondering how long we have to wait."

"You need to learn patience." Danga said, and Janpu groaned.

"But being patient is booooring! I want something exciting to happen! Nothing exciting has happened since we ripped Boken to shreds!" He shouted.

"Tarou looked so cool~" Moku said quietly.

"I agree with Danga. There's nothing we can really do but wait." Tatak said as he grabbed the broom and started sweeping the area now. "We're gonna need to get someone to fix the wall. Preferably without a big mess."

"God you all kinda suck sometimes, ya know that?" Janpu said, exasperated. Finally, at that moment, the door opened, and Tarou emerged. Moku immediately popped up, her eyes sparkling.

"Alright! Listen up!" Tarou shouted as he sat down on the sofa. All four of his siblings, which previously had been doing their own thing, all immediately turned their full attention to him, with Moku snuggling up next to him. "I've got some important info for you all."

"Is it another person we get to kill~?" Moku asked.

"I hope so, it's been so boring waiting." Janpu repeated dramatically. Tarou laughed, petting Moku's head, which made her blush.

"No…I'm actually dividing up our recent conquests between you all." This got all their attention. "As you're aware, we have killed CPU Brown Heart, and therefore Bios is practically under our thumb. All we need to do is launch a final attack to snuff out whatever resistance they have left, but we'll talk about that later." Moku clapped nonetheless. "We have also killed Gold Heart, and therefore taken Stara, and driven out CPUs Red Heart and Rainbow Heart from their nations, meaning Reepage and Tetri are also now ours." Another clap. "Reports have also shown that Dark Heart has completely abandoned his nation, so that means we can sweep in and take it as well. So…that means other than Morkom, we now have five nations under our control." As the realization sank in, Janpu was the first to speak of the realization.

"Does that mean we each get one?" He asked, and Tarou's smile grew.

"Precisely~" He said, and Moku immediately latched onto his arm.

"OH OH! Which one do I get?!" She asked with enthusiasm, her grip tight.

"I'd also like to know which one I now own." Danga said quietly.

"Yo, sick! Which one's mine?" Janpu asked next.

"Does that mean we are all fully fledged CPUs now?" Tatak asked while absentmindedly still scrubbing the table.

"All of you, relax. I'm getting there." Tarou said, and cleared his throat. First, he turned to Moku. "You, my dear sweet sister, get Lenderia." The girl giggled at the praise. "Tatak, you get Reepage. Danga gets Tetri, and Janpu gets Bios. But, before that, we need to arrange another attack on Bios. Stara I haven't decided what to do with yet" He said. "Like I said, the citizens of Bios have nearly folded. Most of their soldiers are dead, but even then, they aren't much of a bother, the only real threat left is Mojin, Boken's inventory buddy."

"I'll crush him! Let me go! I can do it all by myself!" Moku insisted.

"Nuh uh, sister! I'm bored! I wanna kill! Let me go, Tarou!" Janpu said.

"Look, all of you are going." Tarou said. "I know that probably isn't necessary, but I want to make sure we get it swiftly so we can work on establishing each of you in your new nations. As for what that'll do to your status as candidates…I'm not actually sure. We'll find out when it happens." He said. Everyone nodded. Suddenly, Tarou was about to speak again when he saw something out of the corner of his eyes. A flash of yellow outside the window, along with a general flash of light.

"Are you coming with us?" Moku asked.

"Hmm…" Tarou said. "No…I have something else to attend to. You all hurry along, alright?" Tarou said as he stood up and, without another word, walked out of the room, and down the stairs. Moku pouted, feeling disappointed.

Tarou emerged from the front of the Basilicom, and quickly transformed, if only to fly, which he did, up into the sky. Immediately, he was able to zone in on another flash of yellow…blonde hair. Tarou smirked.

"Little minx." He said as he flew back to the ground, transformed back, and started giving chase.

"Why do you always lead?" Moku asked Janpu as he slammed his metal staff into the ground. He scoffed.

"Because I'm the strongest." He said.

"Bet." Moku said, stepping up in his face.

"Oh please, what happened earlier was that you caught me by surprise, that's all." He said with a smirk. Moku growled, summoning her waraxe.

"Wanna go then?!" She shouted.

"Will you two shut up?" Danga asked. "I swear, every single time. We are supposed to be a team, you know."

"You know they're never gonna change." Tatak said as a bird rested casually on his shoulder. "Do you want me to send in the monsters now, or wait?"

"I could scope it out." Janpu said.

"Or you know, I could, since I'm stronger~" Moku said, and Janpu stuck his tongue out at her.

"You two are such children." Danga said. "Tatak, send in the monsters to get a read on the army. I can see bits of it from here but I haven't spotted Mojin yet." Tatak nodded and raised his arm, causing both the bird on his arm and several waiting behind him to fly out and start circling above the capitol city. Janpu and Moku continued arguing and threatening each other with violence as they waited for them to return. Finally, the birds came back, and after landing on Tatak's arms, they squawked to him, and he relayed the message.

"Mojin is standing near the front waiting for us. He's got some strangely decorated soldiers with weapons we haven't seen before." He described.

"How do you get that much information from a bird?" Moku asked, and Tatak shrugged. Janpu smiled.

"New weapons and new soldiers, huh? Sounds fun!" He said, before quickly running down the hill towards the nation.

"WAIT! You idiot!!" Moku shouted as she ran after them. Danga sighed as she got up.

"I'll have to find a better vantage point. Get your army ready for support, trying to cause as much chaos in their army as possible." She instructed, and Tatak nodded. Danga quickly sprinted to find a new spot, while Tatak raised his arms, and the horde of monsters and animals erupted from behind him, heading towards the city.

Mojin stood and watched as Moku and Janpu eventually arrived, the soldiers around him stepping forward with their new weapons. Janpu leapt up into the air before slamming both the staff and his fist into the ground, cracking the concrete easily. He looked up to meet Mojin's eyes as Moku ran up next to him.

"Hello~!" He said with a smirk.

"Stand down now, and you won't be hurt." Mojin said as loud as he could, and the two siblings laughed.

"Please! As if you could hurt us! We may not be as strong as Tarou, but you're also not nearly as strong as Boken." Janpu said.

"We are here in our brother's stead, and we will rip you and whatever army you have left to shreds!" Moku shouted as she slammed her axe into the ground. Mojin sighed.

"You will not take this city! This is our home, and we will defend it with our lives, just as our leader would've done!" Mojin shouted, and the soldiers around him cheered as suddenly, a massive army of people appeared from behind him, but they were different.

"What?" Moku asked, confused as to why they didn't seem to be wearing the same armor as the soldiers. In fact, it looked like they were just wearing normal clothes. "Who are they?"

"The citizens of Bios." Mojin answered. "Average citizens, willing to fight for the nation you tried to destroy." Moku scoffed.

"Citizens? Please, there's no way this many random citizens would fight for their nation, that's ridiculous." Moku said.

"Yeah, not for you. Not for your brother." Mojin said, and Moku's nostrils flared in anger as she growled.

"How dare you!" Moku said, taking a step forward, but Janpu placed a hand in front of her as he too took a step forward.

"Enough talking! Time to die!" Janpu said, never one for exposition. He rushed forward like a bullet, shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Cannons!" Mojin shouted, and the new soldiers raised their weapons, and activated them. Suddenly several waves of pure force erupted from them, pointed directly at Janpu. The man was immediately thrown off his feet, several feet into the air, thrown all the way back to Moku, landing on the ground with a hard thud, and groaning.

"Janpu!" She yelled, and looked to the army. Without thinking, she rushed forward, her axe swinging, only to get a similar result. She was blasted back, except with her smaller frame, she went flying even further, slamming into a building so hard the wall cracked. She fell to the ground groaning as pain radiated throughout her entire body.

"Bastard…" Janpu said before making another advance. He stuck his staff into the ground to try to stay on his feet, but it was useless, and he was thrown back once again. Suddenly, the air above Mojin and his army rippled a deep blue.

"Sorry, protective field. Your sniper will not be able to shoot us unless she's inside the field, and the entire Basilicom is surrounded with cannoneers, as well as people to take their place if some get tired." Mojin explained. Janpu and Moku growled at him. Suddenly, the ground began to shake, and just as Mojin expected, a large crowd of animals and monsters began to rush towards them, nearly sweeping up Moku and Janpu in their wave as they rushed towards the Basilicom. Mojin nodded and the cannons were fired again, once again blasting the monsters and animals away, killing some of them almost immediately. Even the ones who got up and tried again were met with the same result, and soon, they were all dead. Mojin smirked.

"Hear me, Four Horsemen!" He shouted. "This nation is under my control, and I…no, we…will protect it with our lives! You will not take this Basilicom! You will not take this capitol! And you will not take this nation!"

"Ugh, so cringy and annoying." Moku said as she slowly got to her feet, and made her way to Janpu. "Alright, listen up, oaf. You and I need to make our way inside together. We each take a side, and run at full sprint. Maybe they won't be able to push us back if they have to target both of us at once." Janpu nodded, and got to his feet as well. With a nod to each other, the two began to circle around the perimeter, with Mojin and his army watching closely. Then, in a moment, a loud sound erupted through the air as something struck the energy field again. At the shot, Janpu and Moku advanced at full force…only to get shot away once again. Moku growled in annoyance as she was sent into yet another wall.

The two of them spent the next hour trying to find a way to get into the Basilicom, only to get countered every single time. Danga tried several times to fire into the field, even trying some energy ammo of her own, to no avail. Tatak sent several more waves of creatures, but they too were blasted back alongside Moku and Janpu. They couldn't get in no matter how hard they tried. But it was also apparent that Mojin couldn't really fight back. Moku and Janpu even tried teasing Mojin to get him to come out, but to their surprise, even mocking him about the loss of Boken wasn't enough to get him to budge. They were playing purely defensively, and they couldn't do anything about it.

Eventually, after yet another two hours of regrouping and trying different strategies with no luck, Bios and the Horsemen were at a standstill. Not even using their HDD forms made them fast enough to get in before they were blasted away again, and the energy field prevented them from shooting or throwing anything at them. Moku, getting annoyed with the whole ordeal, was done.

"Hey, where are you going?" Janpu asked as she started to walk away once they'd regrouped and tried to come up with another strategy.

"I'm going to Lenderia." Moku said as she transformed, her body growing slightly taller and more curvy, as well as her hair turning a slightly lighter blue as her sweater and skirt were replaced by a skintight white body suit. "I'm gonna think on the way."

"Oh, is little miss brother-fucker disobeying orders?" Janpu asked.

"Eat me." Moku said as she blasted off towards the nation that was granted to her. As she flew through the sky to the dark nation in the distance, she wondered how they could possibly get in. Both Danga and Tatak had confirmed that the soldiers did in fact completely circle the Basilicom, where there were seemingly no openings. Any attack from the sky was met with a similar result to an attack from the ground; being blasted back by those damned cannons. It seemed hopeless, a perfect defense. The only option seemed to be waiting them out, but she doubted that would work, or that they'd be patient enough.

"Ughhh…soo annoying!" Moku shouted as she could see Lenderia approaching. She shot towards the ground, transforming back just as she landed. She brushed off her skirt as she stood and looked at the ground. She was at the end of the mountain pass between Reepage and Lenderia, and you could tell this was the border of Lenderia by the way the ground turned from a dull green to a dark green in a straight line across the ground. Moku looked up at the dead trees that signaled the nation, and she stepped across the border. She'd never been here before, so she wasn't expecting the cold chill that ran down her spine as soon as she stepped in. She clutched her arms to her body as a cloud of chilled air escaped her lips. She started walking, not flying, as she heard some dangerous monsters liked to roam in the air above the nation's forests.

She came across several horrific monsters you'd expect to see in a horror game, but almost none of them gave her a hard time. She wasn't surprised though, as these forests had been cleared of the particularly dangerous ones for a long time, being the only route into the nation on land, and therefore having been cleared by traveling mercenaries and Arun himself. As long as she stayed on the rough path, she wouldn't encounter anything too bad. But even as she walked, she felt a strange prickling across her entire body, alongside shivers, leaving her shaky so bad that she sneezed, making her hope she wouldn't get a cold just by being here. She felt so on edge and unnerved that she could barely think of any more strategies and even began to forget why she came here in the first place.

Eventually, she finally managed to emerge into the capitol, but at the same time, she felt a strange dizzy spell so bad she put a hand to her head. The entire city was dark, only illuminated by street lamps. Despite being the middle of the day, the sky looked like it was the middle of the night, yet without any stars. Moku stumbled through the town, her head pounding, seeing eyes looking back at her from windows. Anytime she met someone's gaze, they immediately threw their curtains closed.

"Ughhh…" Moku said as she leaned against a wall in an alley. Immediately, a hand clasped around her mouth and she was pulled into the darkness. She heard a laugh as hands began to fondle her body all over, even between her legs, rubbing up against her panties. She felt dizzy and sick to her stomach, yet anger and disgust quickly built inside her body as she heard voices.

"Hey, she looks kinda young."

"She probably is, walking the streets so openly like that."

"Are you sure we should be doing anything?"

"Oh please, Arun is gone, we can fuck her and nobody will do anything about it. You know, the younger they are, the louder they moan~"

Despite how she felt like collapsing at any moment, Moku summoned her axe and in one swift movement, whipped around and decapitated the man who'd touched her crotch, spraying his blood across both her body and his 'friends', and the others immediately tried to scatter, screaming. Even through her haze, she still hunted them down and murdered each and every one of them that dared touch her. Once everyone else had been brutally slaughtered, the last one, when she tackled him, crushing his chest under her foot, pleaded for his life, speaking excuses that Moku felt too sick to even really hear, and so she buried her axe into his chest, feeling the blood pooling against her feet, before finally penetrating his heart and killing him.

"Disgusting vermin." Moku said, and cried out as her head pounded, holding her hand to it again as she stumbled out of the alley. She looked up to see the Basilicom, and started making her way towards it. Blood dripped off of her body and onto the already filthy ground as she walked, the rest of her body also covered in the stuff.

She managed to make it the rest of the way with virtually no more resistance, though by that point she could barely comprehend what was happening around her anymore, and as soon as she stepped inside the empty lobby, she screamed and doubled over in pain as pure agony erupted through her body. Her teeth hurt for some reason, and it felt like her hair was being yanked out, as well as some of the life being sucked out of her body. She wailed in pain with no one around to help, not that anyone would in this desolate place. Her body felt like it was stretching as her brain melted and then reformed in her head in an instant, and she could hear laughter that wasn't her own echoing through her head. She convulsed on the ground, feeling like her teeth were falling out as her hair shot out from her head and then fell back down. Her eyes screamed in agony as they burst apart and then reformed into a new bundle of gooey mass inside her sockets.

And yet, in an instant, the pain stopped. It vanished in a moment, and she gasped as the sudden stillness in the air. She slowly got to her feet, looking at the dark shadows of the building around her. Yet…somehow, it looked more clear than before. Like she could suddenly see much better in the dark. And…although whatever had just happened had initially left her feeling absolutely dreadful, she suddenly felt…reinvigorated. She felt…bubbly. Light on her feet. She smiled to herself, feeling her new teeth to be jagged and sharp. She looked at her hands, her skin now deathly pale, as if she was a walking corpse. Yet she felt like she'd just experienced a deep tissue massage. She felt…new.

She cackled, her voice cutting through the quiet air. She wasn't sure what just happened, but whatever had happened…she felt like it had been waiting to happen for a long time. She suddenly transformed, but instead of a bright white light, she was consumed by darkness, her blood stained clothes twisted into a black suit, and she laughed again. Her voice was different, more scratchy now. Without a word, she burst out the door and took off into the sky with jet black, inky wings that eclipsed her small frame, monsters be damned. She found herself continuously laughing as she flew back off towards the battle, ready to demonstrate the new power flowing through her veins.

"Alright, I'm gonna go check on something. You all know what to do, so I'm counting on you all to hold the line." Mojin said, and his soldiers nodded. He could see three of the Horsemen sitting on a hill likely discussing their next attack, and he was suspicious that one of them wasn't around. He wanted so badly to launch an attack on them, but he knew that any action would be fruitless. Thankfully the sonic cannons he and Eva had constructed worked like a charm. At the thought of the girl, Mojin initially felt a smile on his face, before it was replaced with one of sadness. He hoped she was okay.

His soldiers nodded, and so he headed towards the Basilicom. He quickly entered the building and rushed to one of the secret exits he and Boken had built so long ago. He pressed the secret buttons on the wall to open it up, walked down inside, and pressed the buttons on the inside of the tunnel to close it back up. This one led to the forest, where he needed to investigate while the Horsemen were distracted. He was taking a bit of a risk not knowing where one of them were, but he needed to investigate this rumor.

The rumor that she was hiding in the forest.

There were so many accounts of it and even footage of her caught on a stray camera near the edge of the capitol that showed her in it, so surely the rumor had to be true. And if it was true, Mojin needed to find her. She needed to take part in this fight, even if he had to drag her there kicking and screaming. Maybe she'd be able to launch a counterattack while they continued playing defense. Mojin already had a dozen plans swirling in his head as he ran down the tunnel, passing several password protected checkpoints that crossed into the sewers before continuing on. The world felt quiet for the first time in hours, and down here, Mojin felt like he could breathe.

Eventually he emerged in the woods outside the capitol, and started walking. He wasn't sure how he was going to track her down, he had a plan that, although it sounded stupid, he had a reason to believe it would work. He placed his hands into his mouth, and whistled, at the same time placing his hands on the diamond encrusted sword at his belt. He waited a few moments, listening carefully. He heard a whoosh, and smiled to himself. "Hey." He said.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, and Mojin turned around to find Shose standing behind him, her blade drawn.

"I could ask the same thing." He asked.

"Shouldn't you be guarding the Basilicom?" She asked next.

"Shouldn't you?" He shot back. The two glared at each other for several seconds before she sighed.

"I…had another thing I had to do." She said.

"With his body?" He asked, his voice cold. Her gaze shot to him, her usually unreadable expression showing fear.

"How did you…?"

"Take me to him. Now." He demanded. She knew he wouldn't drop the issue, so she sighed again, defeated, and started walking away, with Mojin following after him. She led him through the expanse of trees, and a part of him wondered how she could find her way through the trees like this, but he trusted her, for the most part. He was extremely pissed at her, for sure, but he still trusted her, especially since she was now technically CPU, even though she hadn't fully accepted the title yet and received her updated form.

Finally, they emerged into an area where a small wooden hut rested, which Shose made a beeline for. Mojin continued to follow her, surprised at the location. It seemed…peaceful. A flowing river, a gentle breeze, sunlight streaming through the treetops.

"If I had to disturb him…I wanted to make sure he was in a good place." Shose explained as she entered the cabin. Mojin followed, and his breath hitched as he walked in. His eyes immediately locked onto a small cot that was over by one of the walls, where…he laid.

His body was still as pristine as the day they buried him. CPU bodies never decayed so other than the slightly pale skin, he looked like he was just sleeping. Yet at the sight of him, Mojin's anger flared again. "Why?" He asked, his tone more venomous than he initially meant.

"I…suppose I should give you a reason." She said.

"Yeah, I would in fact like to know the reason why you dug up your brother's body." At that statement, she whirled to face him, anger showing on her own face.

"As if you weren't gonna do the same." She said, and his anger was replaced by surprise. "I'm not an idiot, Mojin. I know you had a way to bring him back, that's why I took him, so you wouldn't!" She turned away from him again, and sat down in a chair.

"You…knew?" He asked.

"I…knew you had a way. I wasn't sure if you would actually go through with it, but I couldn't let it happen, I had to be sure." She explained.

"You could've just told me-" Shose laughed.

"As if that would've stopped you. I've known you for so many years now, Mojin, I know how you are when you set your mind to something. I'm sure, even now, you're still thinking about it, aren't you?" She asked, looking over at him again. Once again, her face was unreadable, but he could feel her using her power to try to calm him down.

"I…actually hadn't decided yet." He said, deciding to just be honest. Her eyes widened slightly.

"Really?" She asked.

"Well, considering the body was missing I didn't really have an option to consider it anyway." He admitted.

"And now that you do know?" She asked, her eyes studying him intensely. He sighed.

"I…still don't really know." He said.

"Well…it doesn't matter, because I won't let you." Shose said, almost as if challenging him. He sighed.

"I…I know it's morally wrong, but-"

"But nothing. I will not let you ruin my brother's peace when you don't even know what it'll do to him." Shose said. "You never fully finished testing, right?"

"Yeah, because Boken…" Mojin trailed off.

"Because Boken said he didn't think it was something we should be messing with." He said. Shose smiled, knowing she was victorious. That smile quickly fell.

"Look…I…I want him back too. I wish…I wish we could but we just don't know what it would do to him." Shose said, her words catching in her throat. "And…I know he wouldn't have wanted that."

"I know…" Mojin said, and after a few tense moments of silence, he sighed. "I won't…so can we please go and bury him again?" Shose studied him for several agonizing seconds before responding.

"Yes. But if you do anything with him, as CPU candidate, I will not hesitate to kill you." She said. Mojin smiled.

"Nothing ever changes, does it?" He asked. Shose nodded, and walked over to Boken's body. Effortlessly, she lifted him up and carried him bridal style. Mojin turned away, not wanting to look at the body of his best friend any longer. The two of them exited the cabin, but as they were leaving, Shose turned to Mojin, looking down.

"Look…I…I'm sorry." She said. "I know I shouldn't have taken the body but…I-I wasn't exactly thinking rationally, and I-"

"Look, I don't blame you, alright? I totally understand why you did it." He said. "It doesn't matter, okay? Just…please help us." Shose sighed, and looked down at her brother. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and looked back at Mojin.

"Okay." She said, a smile creeping onto her face.

SHINK!

That smile suddenly fell as an axe became wedged into her back. Blood immediately spurted from the wound as she convulsed, and dropped Boken's body onto the ground. She fell to her knees, before eventually falling to the ground, where Mojin was finally able to see the weapon that had struck her. Then he looked up to see…Moku.

"Heya~! What're you doing all the way out here~?" She asked. Mojin took a step back as she yanked the blade out of Shose's body, causing even more blood to flow. The wound looked very severe, especially with how much blood was coming out, but Mojin unfortunately didn't have the time to spare with her. He had to focus on the enemy in front of him. He could tell it was Moku, but she looked…different. Her hair was darker, and sticking out in random directions. Her eyes and smile were manic, her teeth razor sharp. Her sweater was torn into a V neck so deep that he could practically see her breasts. Blood splattered her entire body, and she gave off a general aura of…insanity. She looked down at the body of Boken, and huffed. "Oh, that's why." And before he could react, she lifted up her axe and brought it down, decapitating the body. Mojin took another step back as he put a hand on the hilt of his sword. "That's better~!" She said happily.

"What…happened to you?" He asked.

"Honestly, I'm not sure, but I feel fuckin' great!" She said, licking her lips as she stared at him with her insane eyes. "Now enough chit-chat, time to die~!" And with that, she lunged, swinging her axe wildly. He drew his blade and blocked her attack, causing such an impact that his feet dug slightly into the ground. He knew immediately that this was a fight he probably couldn't win, but not seeing any other options right now, he had to. So as she began to attack, he blocked.

He remained defensive at first, moving his blade to counter her attacks as she swung with such ferocity. He'd never fought her directly though, so he didn't know if her fighting style was any different now. He simply countered her, though with how fast and hard she swung her weapon, it was hard. He wasn't able to tear his eyes away for a second or else she'd take his head off.

The two of them moved around the area like they were dancing, the whiz and metallic clang of their weapons echoing through the trees. Eventually, Mojin switched to half defense, half offense, trying to push back and attack when he had a chance. The problem was even though she was attacking crazily, the craziness still had a sort of meaning to it. She didn't leave many openings.

Whenever she did, he tried to strike, but she always managed to push back. The two traded blows several times, neither of them able to get a hit, until Mojin was caught off guard by a sudden and swift right slice that caused him to leap back, yet the blade still managed to leave a cut across his stomach. He cried out as it ripped through both cloth and skin, and left him bleeding. Moku tried to go for a follow up, but even with his wound, he managed to not only parry her, but also get around her and slice against her back, cutting her torn clothes further and leaving a cut in her back. She cried out, whipped around, and just barely missed him as he leapt back, before rushing forward and parrying her once again, before doing the same move, leaving yet another cut.

"Ah! God damn it! Stop that!" She shouted as she swung violently, missing him and slicing a tree apart. He sprinted off and she gave chase, swinging at him. He whipped back around and blocked her, with them now back at the body. Despite landing a few hits, Mojin knew he still didn't have a chance against her, but before he could come up with a plan, she threw a wrench into them by producing a lighter.

"Almost forgot I had this~!" She said, before dropping it onto Boken's body. Immediately, his clothes caught fire. It bounced off of him, and landed on the ground, which then also caused the grass to catch alight. Mojin felt anger flare through him as he knew he could do nothing while she laughed, before attacking again. As the fire grew larger and larger around them, they traded blows again and again, his arms starting to feel sore from how hard she slammed her axe into his blade. The fire was beginning to surround them as smoke filled the air.

"Ugh…dammit…" Mojin said as he coughed, and Moku laughed again.

"You know, you're kinda pathetic." She said. "Sure you may be able to block me pretty well, but you've only gotten two hits on me!"

"You've only gotten one." He countered, and her smile shrunk.

"Look, smartass, you're entertaining to me despite how pathetic you are, and I'm getting bored, so how about we make this fun?" She asked, and something about the way she said that reminded him of something, though he wasn't sure what. "I let you have a head start…running away! Ten seconds! Then I'll hunt you down and slaughter you like a deer~!" Mojin stared her down. As much as he hated to run…that might be his best option, but…

"Why would you let me go?" He asked.

"I wouldn't. I just want to make killing you more fun, maybe wear you out a bit." She said. As she spoke, Mojin surveyed the area. He was able to locate where he and Shose had come from, and as for Shose herself…well, her body was gone, but there was a smear of blood leading to the cabin. He doubted she'd survived, both from the severity of her wounds and intensity of the fire, which was already creeping across the wooden shack. He saw Boken's body, wreathed in flames. If Mojin stuck around, he would surely die. In the few seconds he had, he weighed his options, and decided that running was probably the best bet, so, without speaking, he turned and took off, making his way back to the secret tunnel. He could hear Moku laughing behind him.

"I'll give you ten seconds~!" She shouted, and started to loudly count, but by then, he was too far away. He thanked his past self for taking track and field, tearing through the trees and bushes as he quickly made his way to the hatch, disguised as a patch of grass. He quickly pressed the hidden buttons, and as the passage began to open, he heard a loud shriek. The hunt has begun, but he wasn't gonna stick around to let it end. He quickly dove into the passage as soon as he could, and then hit the buttons to close it, the shrieks growing louder and closer. Just as the doors finally closed, the trees nearby exploded, and he started running as fast as he possibly could down the tunnel, hearing her screeches even through the thick dirt.

As he ran through each checkpoint, she didn't seem to have realized what he'd done, and so he kept going, his heart rate faster than he'd ever experienced before. That was close…way too close. The only reason he survived was because she'd apparently 'gotten bored' of fighting. But…why did that sound so familiar?

Mojin didn't really think on it as he simply kept running back to his Basilicom, just thankfully he'd somehow made it through the encounter…even if Shose hadn't.

Red shouted as she sliced apart another monster with her blades, watching as it fell to the ground, dropping a material she swiftly collected and placed into her bag. She sighed as, now having dealt with the distraction, she turned her attention back to the trees. She concentrated, and thrust her blade out, slicing the air. A moment later, a beam of light erupted from the blade and shot across the clearing, cutting apart the tree she had been facing. Red smiled to herself as she viewed her work. It had taken a while, but she'd nearly perfected it. If she could just get the delay down…

"Hey!"

A voice startled her, and she jumped, nearly falling over as she turned to see the other candidates approaching her, Rom, Ram, and Uni.

"H-hey." Red said, having only really met the candidates once, a few days ago when they'd all talked after the King of the Monsters tried to invade. "What's up?"

"You've been basically training nonstop since that invasion. Are you alright?" Ram asked.

"Y-yeah, just…" Red wasn't sure how much she wanted to divulge to the three. They'd been given some basic introductions and told their backstory before coming to this dimension, but not much more than that, "…I've been…wanting to get stronger."

"Well, we brought you some water so you stay hydrated." Rom said as she produced three bottles of water from behind her back. Red smiled as she happily took one, opened it up, and drank it. "You're…trying to get strong enough to beat that Tarou guy, right?" At the girl's question, Red nearly choked, but managed to hold it in as she caught her breath, having nearly finished the bottle in one go.

"Wh-what?" She asked.

"You know that's nothing to be ashamed about." Uni said. Red was about to ask a question, but the girl smiled. "I can tell you were about to try and deny it. D-don't ask me how I know, I just do."

"U-um…" Red sputtered, unsure what to say, but Uni stepped forward again.

"Look, we understand. We may not know a whole lot about you, and may not even be as acquainted with you as Nepgear and the others, but…" She paused, and gave her a smile, "If Nepgear supports you, then so shall we!"

"Yeah!" The twins said in response. Red couldn't help but smile as she looked at the three girls' smiling faces.

"Alright. Thank you." She said. Then, Ram spoke up.

"Oh! We also got you this!" She said, as she pulled out something from behind her back. "We may not have seen it when you did it, but we heard that you absolutely destroyed that invasion and the King of the Monsters!" The girl said.

"So we got you this. We hope you like it." Rom said with a sweet smile. Red reached and gently took the fabric, holding it up. It was a deep red jacket with green and black highlights, and Red had to admit…she really liked it. Her smile widened.

"Thank you…I…I really like it." She said, and quickly slipped it on. It was soft, and delicate against her skin. She giggled. "Fits perfectly~!"

"Nepgear was able to guess your size pretty well." Uni said, before she pulled out her phone. "Oh! I'm sorry, I have to go, b-but I'd like to talk more sometime! If that's okay?" She asked.

"Of course!" Red said. Uni smiled, transformed, and quickly flew off. Rom and Ram gave her smiles of their own.

"We have to go too." Ram said.

"Bye bye!" Rom said, and the two also transformed and flew away, leaving Red alone once more. She sighed as she looked down at the jacket, then at her weapons, which she quickly picked up, facing the trees again.

"I will get stronger." She said. "I-I won't be a coward." She took a deep breath. "I…I won't disappoint you…Boken…"

And with that, she continued, now with two more bottles of water at her side.

"Were you followed?"

"I don't think so."

Eva wasn't completely sure she believed in her friend's capability to sneak, though she'd never admit that to her face. Nevertheless, Chena walked around to the side of the Gateway, checking the plugs to make sure everything was set. Mojin had made sure to let them know he would be using him and Eva's new tech to defend the nation, expecting another attack, which turned out to be true, so he didn't want them sapping any more power from them. So instead, Chena had done her best to secretly hook up their cables to the power grid of Morkom. It meant they'd only get to use it once before they'd be spotted, but hopefully that would be long enough for them to study it long enough to figure out a way to decrease the amount of power required to open it.

"Is everything ready?" Chena asked.

"From what I can tell, yes." Eva said. "Though, we should probably see if we can contact Red and the others again, let them know what's been going on the past few days." Chena nodded.

"Do you think they're still alright?" Chena asked.

"I'm sure of it, yes. Unless the other dimension is experiencing something as bad as what we're experiencing over there, I'm sure Red and Aila are fine, especially if they have Arun with them." Eva said. She suddenly paused, and glanced over at Chena. "So…"

"Soooo…?" Chena repeated. Eva opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out for a moment. Chena raised an eyebrow as she stared at the girl. "What?"

"H-how was Mojin?" Eva asked, and Chena laughed as the girl blushed.

"Really? You waited this long to ask?" She asked.

"Sh-shut up! H-how is the idiot?!" She demanded, and Chena giggled again.

"He's fine. I just got back from speaking with him. He had a close encounter with Moku, and suffered an injury," Eva tensed up, "but he's fine." Eva relaxed again, letting out a breath. Chena put a hand on her hip as she looked at her. "You know, you could just admit your feelings."

"TH-THERE'S NO FEELINGS TO ADMIT!" Eva shouted, and Chena laughed, before both suddenly froze as another person's laugh echoed out.

"Wow…you two are so cute~!" The voice said. Both girls slowly turned to find someone emerging from behind a tree. Chena squeaked, her body trembling as she saw him. Tarou.

"O-Oh…fuck…" Eva said.

"You two also talk too much." He said as he emerged, fixing his gaze onto Chena. "Chenaaaa…I feel like it's been forever since I've seen you~!" He took a step towards her, but Eva quickly stepped between them.

"What the fuck do you want, you bastard?" Eva said. She was afraid of this, this was why she'd tried to plead with Chena so desperately about staying put.

"Well…I heard that Red is apparently…somewhere else? Somewhere you need this…thing to get to? What is this anyway?" He asked, looking at the two girls, but neither of them responded. He waited for several seconds, but after getting only silence, he nodded, and suddenly summoned his naginata, thrusting it out until the tip of the blade was only inches from Eva's nose, having moved so far her hair was hit with a slight breeze. She felt her heart stop for a moment as Chena shrieked.

"I-it's the Gateway! I-it's a portal to other d-dimensions!" She yelled. Eva took a step back and turned to glare at Chena.

"What are you doing?!" She asked, and Tarou smirked.

"Interesting. Also…too easy." He said, lowering his weapon. "So Red was so eager to get away from me that she fled to an entire other dimension? Well, shit…I have to see this for myself. Turn it on. Now."

"W-we can't…" Chena said. "W-well, not without power. A lot of it." Tarou raised an eyebrow. "L-like the energy of an entire nation."

"That's it?" He asked, and scoffed. He took a step towards them, causing both to tense up, and he laughed. "Calm down…I'm not gonna kill you two…unless you give me a reason to." Eva gulped as she stepped aside and allowed him to examine the Gateway more closely. "Oh, and if you try to attack me, you'll be dead before you even know it. Understand?" He said, and Eva nodded, even though he was looking away from her. He glanced over at the cables, and walked over. Chena quickly got out of his way as he examined the box. "So this is where the power goes in?" He asked. Chena nodded silently. The man sighed, cracked his knuckles, and grabbed the box. Instantly, the air lit up as pure electricity coursed through his body and out his hands, into the machine. Everything became cast in a blue light as his electricity flowed through him. Eva looked over and was shocked, and also terrified, to see the machine powering up quickly, and in only a few seconds, it activated, a swirling blue pool opening up in the circular machine. Tarou let go, took a step back, and smiled. "Beautiful."

"What…are you going to do?" Chena asked, and he laughed.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm gonna pay Red…and this new dimension…a little visit." He said, and, before either of them could do anything, Tarou jumped into the portal, immediately causing it to become unstable and deactivate, the area growing dark once more. Several seconds passed in silence before Eva turned to Chena, her face pale.

"We have to tell Red. Now."

Tarou experienced several things at once. Falling. A blinding light. A rushing wind. A familiar voice in his head, one that he hadn't heard in so long. It was shouting at him, though he couldn't understand what it was saying. Yet before he barely had time to comprehend that, it stopped, and Tarou was lying down, on his back, staring up at a clear blue sky.

"Ugh." He said, quickly sitting up, and immediately feeling dizzy. He grasped his aching head and back as he waited to grasp his bearings. In the meantime, he…felt. He felt the grass underneath him. He felt the air and a cool breeze against his skin. The air felt…different here. Cleaner, fresher…nicer.

"Hey, are you alright?"

A voice got Tarou's attention, and he turned to see a man pulling earbuds out of his ears as he examined Tarou, likely a hiker. "Are you alright, dude?" He asked again. Tarou rolled his eyes and, without a second of hesitation, held out his hand. Instantly an arc of blue lightning erupted from his fingertips. As soon as it connected with the unsuspecting hiker, 5000 volts of pure electricity shot through him, frying his brain and body in an instant, and he was dead before he hit the ground, though his body crumpled with a hard thud.

Once that was done, Tarou stood up, and brushed himself off. He tried to activate his HDD, but while he could feel some share energy inside his body, a side effect of his latent power, it wasn't enough for him to transform, meaning he wouldn't be able to fly. Tarou sighed in annoyance as he looked up at the sky. The bright blue, beautiful sky.

"I need to do some reconnaissance before anything else." Tarou said to no one in particular as he looked back down at the dead hiker, his body still smoking. It would be unwise to proceed and just attack without any prior knowledge, so that's what he'd do. Gather intel, no matter how long it took. Tarou smiled to himself.

This was going to be fun.