Hey guys!

If you don't know what I'm referencing at the last chapter with the Bike, I'll say that it was the Skimmers from an old cartoon show called the Storm Hawks. It was a decent show in my opinion, but it ended for some reason and I couldn't figure out why. In any case, I really liked watching it, and I decided that my boy Nico could benefit from having a ride to call his own. Who knows, maybe the others inthe Party might get their own rides as well. I can just imagine what Neptune would do on a high speed, energy-powered transfrming Motorcycle... oh the chaos...


Chapter 99 - Weapons Testing is FUN!

The fresh wind brushed elegantly through his features, his hair swaying wildly behind him alongside his Trench coat. His ears were massaged by the heavenly sound of the engine's roar, while the soft, leathery touch of the handles soothed his leather gloved hands and filled him with a sense of elation that little else could convey. Not only that, but the fast-moving scenery of the vast Leanbox plains, nigh on the level of being blurry, while he himself just remained immobile and let the Skimmer do the moving instead, just left him breathless. Running, walking and all that parkour sure was thrilling, there was no denying that (and he'd probably skewer those that tried), but there was just something about riding a Motorcycle that could potentially transform into a freaking plane to fly through the skies that stood on it's own two feet. It was something he had waited a damn long time to experience, so he was going to milk it for everything it was worth.

Yeah, it could be said that Nico LOVED these Skimmers.

What could make this even better? An idea crossed over his mind, and Nico couldn't stop the shit-eating grin from forming over his lips. 'Oh yeah, now THAT sounds like a blast!' eh thought, before going into his Bracer's music playlist. What, he liked music alright? Some of the tunes in this story were ones that the author himself liked! Yes, Nico found himself accepting the role of the fourth wall breaker when Neptune wasn't around, he wasn't going to deny that any longer. If Neptune had been trying to corrupt him, then she succeeded.

Hope you're happy Neptune!

Once he had opened his Music Playlist, Nico searched for the right song he wanted to listen to, taking out some large headphones from his Void Storage and putting them on his head while connecting them to his Bracer. The male then pressed play on the song he wanted, and soon enough his ears were being exposed to some sweet ass music:

(I Like it Loud by Cash Cash)

Get this night off right

And turn the bass up

Blow my ear drums up

Just like a firetruck

Get this night off right

And turn the bass up,

Yeah, I like it loud

I like it loud

You know I like it loud, can't hear a fucking sound

My ears are ringing now

Cause that's how we get down

Down, down, down

Now move your body so the rhythm can set you free

Another round and we can drown out our hearts beating

Just like a drug I let the music set me free

I like it loud, I like it loud

Get this night off right

And turn the bass up

Blow my ear drums up

Just like a firetruck

Get this night off right

And turn the bass up,

Yeah, I like it loud

I like it loud

Shaking through your legs, the way the sub drops

Feel it in your chest, the way your heart stops

Get this night off right

And turn the bass up,

Yeah, I like it loud

I like it loud

You know I like it loud

Than your old fucking sound

You know I like it loud

Cause that's how we get down

bass up, bass up, bass up

Turn the bass up, bass up, bass up

up-up-up-up-up-up-up-up

Now move your body so the rhythm can set you free

Another round and we can drown out our hearts beating

Just like a drug I let the music set me free

I like it loud, I like it loud

Now move your body so the rhythm can set you free

Another round and we can drown out our hearts beating

Just like a drug I let the music set me free

I like it loud, I like it loud

I like it loud

You know I like it loud

Than your old fucking sound

You know I like it loud

I like it loud

Get this night off right

And turn the bass up

Blow my ear drums up

Just like a firetruck

Get this night off right

And turn the bass up,

Yeah, I like it loud

I like it loud

Shaking through your legs, the way the sub drops

Feel it in your chest, the way your heart stops

Get this night off right

And turn the bass up,

Yeah, I like it loud

I like it loud

I like it loud

I like it loud

Yeah, I like it loud

I like it loud

The sweet music coursing through his earbuds right now almost made him feel like he was on high, to the point where he even began singing the lyrics since he had set it to loop around when it was done. Nico didn't like many people knowing, but he liked singing to good songs, especially the ones shown thus far. The best way to enjoy a ride like this was to have sweet music that made you bob your head and fill your being with intense pleasure. It was truly the best way to set your heart free of it's worried, and by the goddesses he had a lot of worries to free himself from.

He could feel his eardrums singing in delight, the lyrics setting his very core alight with the flames of freedom, of liberation for his troubled being. his heart hammered itself away like a minigun unloading bullets onto zombie flesh, and truly set his heart free of it's worries. His Holomap hadn't picked up any Monsters in the vicinity, so any threats of random encounters were minimal at best. Biko and him figured that it was due to the remnants of powerful demonic power in the air, remaining after that big attack he'd done with Soul Edge back at Hellverse, spooking them and forcing them into hiding.

Not that he cared, Nico was just having too much fun with this!

Hell, he'd probably have the nightcore version of this playing when he got back!


After he had left the Leanbox Capital on his new ride, his Skimmer, Nico had spent a good part on his journey on the ground, just basking in the gloriousness of being a rebel. It felt so goddamn like what he fucking needed after dealing with all this demonic bullshit, to just relax while riding a Motorcycle through Leanbox's vast plains with no monsters, no stress, in sight. Hell, even his inner beast seemed content, that's when he KNEW he was doing something right.

Even so, he had to get into the proper mindset, Nico reluctantly admitted, switching off the music and depositing his Headphones back into his Void Storage. Right now, he wasn't out here to have fun, he was out here to field test important weaponry. At least he was able to have some fun while it lasted, the male mused to himself before he decided to see what other weapons and equipment that the WDD wanted him to test. From what he saw the last few times he summoned unknown items, there' d been a significant amount of items of unknown origin in there, so he wanted to get started soon. Adjusting his right arm, Nico used it for steering while his left one got used to activate the Void Storage and select one of the unknown items he'd been sent. This was something that, as he said before, was an absolute reliever to do once again. Testing future weapons was a normal thing to do, and normalcy had been a rather vacant resident in his apartment of life as of late.

He'd never get enough of the difference between weird and normalcy.

From the Bracer, a flurry of particles erupted and gathered in his lap. Once they finished forming, the completed product fell into his lap, and Nico almost winced when he felt the heavy weight of what felt like a weapon land there, quite close to his manhood. The teen bit back the urge to shudder at the possibility of it being damaged and his regeneration being forced to repair it, before he looked down towards the culprit.

Sitting in his lap, there lay a large, mechanical-looking Machinegun. It had a very distinct Lastation feel to it, rather than a futuristic Planeptune one, which was something that interested the teen significantly. Nico started down at it in intrigue for a moment, before he decided to see what the Specs for this thing had to say about it. He reached for his right Bracer and dug up those Specs from his Void Storage, soon finding them and reading their contents.

'… Huh… so, this thing's a 'Liberator' Machine gun, with a very large clip of 600 bullets max, making it a very useful weapon in long firefights. It fires at a machine gun's power, but the velocity rivals that of a Minigun… #Whistle# now that's a sexy ass Machine gun.' Nico thought to himself, whistling both in his head and out in the real world.

The male decided to test this theory and pulled on the breaks, twisting the Skimmer and sliding along the ground until his Skimmer no longer moved. Once the teen was sure that he was no longer containing any movement, he looked behind him to see skid marks across the ground, his mind nearly overcome with the urge to just squeal in pure joy at having performed a power slide. 'If this was any time I'd be whooping for joy for hours on end…' he thought to himself, resisting the urge to sigh in despair. The things he had to do to achieve results…

In any case, he had to see what this thing's rate of fire was like, if it could truly fire like a Minigun…

And it seemed that some test dummies were already on their way, cause his demonic senses picked up the presence of about 10 Flamecallers and 5 Traumas nearby, making their way towards his position. He knew their names thanks to IF telling him about them when he asked her about it after the Defiler incident. They must have been drawn to his presence thanks to the amount of demonic energy in his system. Though, the thought that Demons would be roaming around the Nation worried the male, it worried him a whole hell lot. It looked like he would have something to do besides training, hell he could probably use those Demons for his training.

Nevertheless, looked like 'demon hunter' would soon be added to his titles.

A sigh escaped his lips regardless though, it seemed that he would never be getting away from the demonic matters for long.

Soon after he thought that, Nico saw their figures in the distance, all of those demons running at him like a herd of angry bulls. They must have seen him, cause they practically RADIATED bloodlust according to his senses. 'Biko, seems like I'm slowly getting the hang f this negative emotion sensing thing…'

'Indeed, simple and small groups like this will be easy for you. Once you get to larger and larger groups there's more of a chance for you to be overwhelmed with negative emotion, but training solves problems with abilities.'

On that, Nico could agree. He revved the Engine and twisted his Skimmer to face the demons. The male heard the engines roaring like a pack of lions, before he blasted off towards the horde with the intent of riding into battle. 'Heh.' Nico thought, his lips curving upwards slightly. 'Feels like I'm a freaking knight riding his trusty stead into the enemy ranks.'

While the distance between them shrinked faster than a cheetah chasing down it's prey, Nico raised his Liberator and pulled the trigger after perfectly balancing it on the front of his Skimmer. Hopefully this thing would work, cause he'd feel pretty stupid if it didn't. Not like he didn't have other weapons to use though, his Devil Arms would perfectly suit this situation.

He wasn't disappointed.

The moment that he pulled the trigger, the entire barrel unleashed a sea off lead, propelled so fast that orangish sparks flew from the barrel's tip. The bullets flew true, shooting through the Flamecallers and stopping them in their tracks. The armoured hides of the Traumas managed to withstand them, but the Flamecallers weren't so lucky. He did notice that one of them got a bullet through it's left tusk though. Another even lost a portion of it's armour when several rounds impacted that same piece, breaking it off.

But back to the Flamecallers, they were REKTED by the barrage of lead exploding constantly from the Liberator's barrel. Their limbs were constantly short off then shredded by stray gunfire, blood flowing through the air gained holes in it while their forms became mangled messes before they could get close to him. About… 12 to 15 of them died in the initial barrage, while 5 managed to escape by burying themselves either within the corpse of their fallen brethren, or the backs of the traumas.

He could hear their frenzied shrieks of pain and agony from his position on the Skimmer, sounding just like a thousand tormented souls in the fiery pits of hell for their sins, as he eventually swerved out of the way, so the Traumas couldn't shoulder tackle him like one almost did. He rode till he was about, well, 10 metres away from the horde, before he twisted the handles and turned, digging his foot into the ground for better leverage. The rear wheel dug up a large stream of dirt during the turn, until Nico swerved back around and darted across the plains towards the horde's rear.

Even with their drastic decrease in numbers, Nico noted that the Flamecallers were displaying strong amounts of bloodlust, rage and hatred onto him, his NES told him thus. The remains of the Flamecaller ranks quickly jumped out of their hiding places to intercept while the Traumas turned around, spurred on by their greater emotions, only to be shredded to pieces by incoming Gunfire. Nico checked the count to see how much ammo he had left, and to his surprise the male had only used about 200 rounds worth.

'Huh… guess it really IS useful in long-time firefights… if one uses it correctly, this IS my first time using this thing.' He thought with a mental wince. Maybe it was him, but perhaps he could have used this Liberator better like adopting hit and run tactics by shooting smaller groups of Flamecallers and swerving in-between the gaps in their ranks, avoiding the Traumas when they tried to strike him down. Nico didn't need to se them in their fight with the girls to know that they seemed slow as hell. Likely due to their large size. Still, just because they were slow didn't mean they weren't helpless, since their armoured hides provided tough defence, and their hits would likely damage his ride to the point of being beyond salvageable.

Not allowed, Nico says.

Eyes hardened into steel as Nico once again swerved out the way of an overhead slam from a Trauma that managed to get close to him, riding away from the horde before performing a U turn. During that turn, Nico managed to switch out the Liberator, returning it to his Void Storage, and bring out one of the other unknown weapons. He held it in his hands, and glanced down to give it a look over.

Now THIS one, looked more like a Planeptune one as it looked like a futuristic assault rifle with white and black colourings, yet with a slightly alien and robotic theme to it. What he could also see was how that the Magazine in it, located at the base of the pistol grip, had a distinctively curved grip, which could be an excellent tool in a CQC situation depending on the enemy.

He'd brought up the Specs too, to see what it was. It's name had been codenamed 'Oppressor' and it was a Planeptune take on the standard assault rifle, capable of firing up to 32 plasma rounds depending on how many clips there were. His Void Storage had about 5 in there right now, so he'd probably need to get some more if he was allowed to have this, but 5 times 32 makes for 160 rounds in total.

Not NEARLY as many as the Liberator, but the Plasma rounds would definitely have more of an impact on these things.

Hoisting the Oppressor onto the top of his Skimmer, Nico aimed it carefully and decided to fir from his current position, pulling the breaks and grinding to a halt. He Traumas stopped as well, surprise evident on their facial features (or what little there was of those) which was exactly what Nico exploited. His move had surprised them, and that was what he had based his gamble off of.

Time to exploit that successful gamble.

Pulling the trigger, Nico was met with the sight of the Oppressor releasing a steady stream of Plasma shots from the top, flying through the air and impacting several Traumas in the face, chest or shoulders. Each of the rounds exploded on contact, causing 2nd degree burns and leaving scorch marks on their hides. Yet, the impact alone had been enough to send the damaged Traumas back by a few steps, the one without a tusk even falling onto it's back. That one didn't get up again, and it dispersed into Particles just like all other Monsters in this world.

The same went for 2 others, leaving about 3 Traumas left.

'Okay, I have ticked off the Skimmer, Oppressor and Liberator… that's three weapons. I should finish these guys off though before they cause too much damage to a settlement or something…' Nico thought, narrowing his eyes as he returned Oppressor to the Void Storage. It's clip was empty, and he didn't want to waste time reloading it. Plus, guns weren't really his forte besides Ebony and Ivory, but he'd be willing to learn how to shoot these better when he got the chance. Instead, Nico pulled out Absolution, holding it in the air like he was achieving some great victory.

A wave of elation entered his being, transmitted by the Devil Arm in his possession for being allowed to come out into the battlefield. Even more so, thanks to it's opponent's being Demons themselves. He mentally smirked at this, before swinging Absolution and unleashing a DC Wave. Te large black wave of DC (Defiler Corruption if anyone's forgotten since it's been a while since he'd used this weapon) surged towards the Traumas, 1 of which managing to dive to the side to evade it which allowed it to survive the first strike. Only for a DC Spite Trail to impale it multiple times over to end it's life abruptly.

Poor thing.

Due to his successive attacks, these guys probably lost their morale as quickly as their bloodlust had taken over their senses, which seemed to be why they had been so easy to defeat.

Nico however, focused on how the DC Wave had slowed down the moving Traumas by covering them in it's remains, seeing as they were slow to begin with this just made them barely movable at this rate. With that, Nico jumped into the air and slammed his Absolution down to the ground in an overhead slam, launching DC Groundspikes at his opponents. From beneath his enemies, 10-foot-tall spikes erupted out the ground like large mouths waiting to swallow them whole, impaling and hoisting the enemy into the air like proud trophies before they vanished into Particles.

With the battle over, Nico heaved a heavy sigh as he put Absolution back into his Void Storage before checking his Holomap. Apparently, these weren't the enemies that he was supposed to defeat, so he would have to get a move on fast. 'Whelp, time to see what this Skimmer can do with flight mode…' the teen thought, feeling his heart slowly start pounding in excitement again. Seriously, he loved Motorcycles, perhaps too much for his own good.

Revving the engine, Nico pulled a 180 and drove back towards the country path, but before he could hit the dirt road, the male pulled upward and had his Skimmer 'jump' slightly. It wasn't by much, considering it's weight, but it would be enough. While in mid-air, Nico remembered what the Specs about Flight Mode said and flicked the top of the handles to expose two red buttons. He pressed them both together and, soon enough, the mechanical sounds accompanying the Skimmer's transformation took place.

The transformation took place within a few seconds, but they may as well have felt an eternity to him. The Wheels pulled themselves into the Skimmer, the armour plates beside the Skimmer's front moved so they pointed sideways, revealing 2 smaller plates beneath them that did the same thing, while several smaller plates extended out from inside them till they resembled 4 Plane wings with 3 smaller plates that looked like the end feathers of bird wings. An… odd feature, but hey, it supposedly helped with flying so who was he to complain? It was so quick, but like previously mentioned, it felt like an eternity to him as he got bathed in those mechanical whirring's.

Once it was complete, the engines behind him roared to life as the Skimmer in Flight Mode began flying through the air at high speeds, it's pilot screaming and whooping for joy all the while.


It didn't take Nico long, especially with his Skimmer's new method of transportation, to get to the co-ordinates specified in the latter. Though, now that he was around te specified area, he couldn't help but be a little bit confused, scratching the top of his head in confusion while wondering if they were playing a trick on him. The reason for this? Well, the area that he was specified to head towards for weapon testing…

Was a large airspace above the clouds, about South East of Leanbox.

He hadn't realised this earlier due to being in a hurry to get this over and done with, so he could start training. Heck, not everything went down like he plans it to in his head, something Nico had learned fairly early on in his days with the Guild as a rookie. Now that he thought about it, Nico recognised this place, though it took a while since it wasn't really documented on any general Gamindustri map. It was called 'Sky's end', and the reason it was named such was because it was practically the end of the charted Gamindustri. Explorers haven't ventured beyond this point, and usually those who try to explore here were never heard from again.

At those thoughts, Nico wondered how scouts managed to get a sighting of this creature, this supposed Abnormal, then.

'Still, never would I have expected to actually be requested to come here… it's my first time seeing this, and I've been nearly everywhere in Gamindustri…'

There was just something about Sky's End that always intrigued the male, ever since he heard stories about it as a child, about how creatures from the stuff of nightmares would come out from there to wreak havoc alongside the other Abnormals. Some stories say that those creatures were why Planeptune built air ships, special robotic aerial Drones, Recon Drones and remote controlled futuristic fighter planes. Though, he didn't really buy into that nonsense.

Even Leanbox had it's own air force, but theirs was considerably less… impressive, one could say, compared to Planeptune. The technology difference was the main culprit for this though, so it wasn't really Leanbox's fault. If the Nobles all actually got their acts together and began advancing technologically, then they would be much better off in terms of technology. Though, those assholes did have good ideas when it came to stealing technology from other nations, as during raids some of their soldiers got their hands on Planeptune specs for some of their earlier Airship designs, allowing their researchers to reverse engineer them to create Leanbox Variants.

These variants were called 'Zeppelins' and they were, in comparison to current Leanbox Technology, ahead of their time. They even had pilot-controlled, rotor powered airplanes stocked within them that were launched from specialised ports via slingshots. These Airplanes in addition, were only capable of flight if the pilot kept rotating the pedals like they were riding a bicycle, so if they got tired or anything then they'd plummet out of the sky like bugs being hit by water.

Guess that explained why male and female pilots were so well built, like bodybuilders huh?

The male slowed his Skimmer to a steady glide, curiously searching through the surroundings for this 'mystery Abnormal' that the guys at the Guild were yammering on about. 'There… doesn't seem to be much of an Abnormal Presence here…' he thought, checking his Motion Sensor as well as his own senses, not getting anything back. It just looked like some empty space above a series of clouds, nothing out of the ordinary.

Though, he had to admit that this type of setting… proved to be rather pleasing, and gave him time to ponder the issues that were developing throughout Leanbox. More specifically the Gala. Nico was no fool, he could tell that the Gala would be a target, it was practically a political hotspot, filled to the brim with important members of Leanbox's governing system. It would be foolish for someone like Maghda or some random band of Bandits or other unsavoury individuals to NOT try anything funny when they get together there.

Thinking about it, Nico also had to wonder what Yvoire might do, there was no denying that he hated the Spec Ops Program like every Noble in this Nation, and so many of that kind of people would be gathering in one place to discuss how to proceed with governing Leanbox in accordance with new threat of the Demons. He could see them trying to restrain the Spec Ops Branch here in Leanbox even further, forcing them to develop more technology that their military could use. That way, they could keep their defences up and the Spec Ops Program would remain suppressed.

If that happened, he hoped that those bastards would get eaten alive by Demons or something.

Nico REALLY hated Nobility.

How the hell could his mother stand them for so long before meeting his father?

Oh yeah, that's right, Nico knew about his parents. The teen had one day asked his mentor about who his parents were before they disappeared, thus got an in-depth explanation about the topic. Fortunately, discussing his parents past lives didn't harm his head in any way, though it did leave him baffled about certain topic. One of them was his mother's lineage. He knew that his mother was of Leanbox Nobility, making him by blood a pseudo nobleman himself, despite his 'half-blood' as the other Nobles would say it as, and an heir to his family on the mother's side if his own house hadn't been destroyed during his parent's time.

Honestly, it made him smile knowing that his mother had denounced all that shit when she left to be with his father, he'd HATE it if he had to grow up a stuck-up Noble like those guys. Hell, even their own children were mere imitations of their parents, no real Personality or charm at all. They all just thought of themselves as 'higher beings' than the rest of them, like they deserve to have the streets they walk on paved with Credits that SHOULD be better used to advance the Nations technology.

Really, Nobles were nothing but pains in everyone's asses at the best of times.

Even so, though, Nico refused to underestimate them, just look at Count Mott and his shady dealings. He'd dealt with plenty of such people, so he liked to think he had a good eye for these sorts of things, and that man just reeked of deception, and he hadn't even met the guy yet! That's when one knows something's wrong! He would have to keep a close eye on that one, as Nico had done some research on him as well, and what he found out about him, was well… disturbing to say the least.

The man may be one of the 'ideal' (that term was used VERY loosely) Nobles out there, but his background was largely surrounded in mystery and controversy. Not like his bloodline was in question, but more on his rise to power. The man had taken over his family as it's head at a young age, barely in his teens when his parents got killed by a bunch of Bandits, nothing too special, but Nico always got the feeling that there was more to it than that especially with some of the unpublished Articles Nico had searched the… darker side of the internet for. It WAS a valuable tool if you knew where to look, hackers should know this.

He wasn't really a nice kid either, he was rather like a bully as a kid, picking ion other children and sometimes getting into fist fights. Other kids of similar mannerisms flocked to him for fear that they would end up te same way, hence why he had a strong popularity regardless of his violent tendencies. Ironically, those he beat up were mostly females, as well.

Then came his teenage years, and his physical beatdowns turned into supposed 'sexual acts' with the women he'd chose as his victims. How he'd force them to serve him in all sorts of degrading ways, breaking their wills till they followed him without question. He'd control them through sexual intercourse, keeping them compliant that way. Though these were just rumours, but if what he saw from that woman at the Guild was any indication, and he trusted Lucy and Raven's judgement immensely, then that asshole DEFINITELY did those things…

It was all he could do not to free his inner beast ad utterly rip Count Mott to shreds.

Not only was he a scumbag, but he had a powerful backing for him, other Nobles, the women he took as his 'property' the works. If Nico wanted to tear him apart with his fangs (and by the Goddesses, he did), then he'd have to do it either under the cover of darkness or catch him off guard.

People like him were why Nico preferred female comrades over guys.

As someone who believed that he would be alone for eternity now that he was a DPU, Nico truly thought that girls were immensely beautiful creatures, and when he called the girls of his Party Angels he was NOT kidding around. Not just in beauty but in personality. The very thought of them getting touched by someone like Count Mott stirred him in horrific, furious ways. If that man, no, if that FUCKING BASTARD ever laid ONE FINGER on those that Nico called comrades, then to hell with the consequences he would be dead before his head even hit the ground! He'd even use his inner beast to do it!

Nico mentally growled, clenching his fists while trying to take deep breaths to calm himself down. He would have his chance in the future, of that he was certain. None of those Nobles will be getting their grubby mitts over those girls, not while he was around. It wasn't that he didn't think they couldn't defend themselves, oh hell no he could see IF ripping off their manhoods, Neptune and Compa kicking them in the balls or worse, it was just his protective instincts kicking in. Those girls had beauty in spades, and to him beauty should be treasured.

There was so little of it left in the world, anyways.

"Nonetheless, you are doing well..."


Nico's eyes widened when eh heard a familiar voice echo through both his surroundings, and his mind. Nico nearly jumped in surprise, not having expected to hear THAT voice among the few that reside in his head. Nevertheless, the teen soon composed himself while everything around him began to grow distorted, every ounce of colour fading into a dull, bleary grey. Nico recognized tis grey however, he recognized it all too well. It honestly felt like looking into a mirror. Even the space beneath his feet became some transparent surface, like a mirror, he knew this due to being able to see his reflection and that of his Skimmer beneath him.

But, that wasn't important.

What was? Well, the child Nico keeps seeing every time he finds himself in the Mirror World, of course.

The child stood there, standing atop the reflective surface on bare feet, looking at him with his ever stoic expression. It unnerved him slightly, seeing that look. It was a look he knew al too well, cause he saw it on himself every day. The lack of colour in this Mirror World... the way transparency was so dominant here... It felt so much like a personification of his mind that it was laughable.

"What do you mean? I've just been doing what I normally do."

"Have you forgotten? The hurdles, you have recently began clearing the second Hurdle: trust. The ability to trust in others was lost to us long ago, through no fault of our own. It was all the world's fault. Yes the word was cruel to us, yet this should be no surprise to you, after all that is what this world is, don't you think. Cruel, merciless and unforgiving. That is why power is such a big player in this game, even more so given recent events. It was lost to us, and for so long we have had little reason to try to trust again. Not even our mother, our comrade at that place, could have set us away from this path. Yet, now you have made the decisive choice to start trusting others once more, taking a risk. That is the essence of life, the a two way street. If you want someone to trust, you must show that you're willing to reciprocate those efforts, otherwise everything falls apart."

Nico remained silent, absorbing the child him's words and reflecting upon them. It didn't take him long to realize that this child was right, right about both the world's ways and that trust is a two way path. He remembered the situation with Compa, oh how easily he could have chosen to send a Recon Drone or something, sent it to keep an eye on Compa cause the him in that moment chose not to trust her ability to take care of herself. He didn't realize at the time, but now that he thought about it, Nico remembered e conflict he had felt at that time, and how easy it had been to make the wrong choice at that moment. But he didn't, instead he chose to trust Compa's judgement and not do anything. That didn't mean he wasn't worried about her, but the fact that he was willing to trust her meant way more than what normal words could describe.

"I see..."

"It appears that these girls may be what we have been looking for all this time. Perhaps they might be the ones to aid us in our complete recovery. However, we must be cautious,for trust is a double edged sword. There will be those who try to use us for their own gain by playing on our trust. Yes, we know all about betrayal, don't we?" The child remarked, a bittersweet smile forming on his lips as he slightly tilted his head. "You have a question, so why not ask yourself? It's your mind we're in, you know."

'Thank you for confirming my suspicions, and that of the readers, and I will.' Nico thought to himself, before responding. "Is the path I follow, really the right one?" He asked, uncertainty and conflict within his tone. It had been on his mind for a while now, ever since he began to begrudgingly get closer to the girls around him. More than once, in the back of his mind, he had been questioning himself, wondering if it was the right choice to follow the path that he'd been doing so for years. He didn't let it surface beyond a shadow of a thought, otherwise it would create conflict within himself and lower his ability to control his DPU powers, but it remained there, lurking in the shadows regardless.

The child hummed thoughtfully for a moment, and on any other child it would look absolutely adorable. Yet, innocence was NOT something this child, this him, held in even small fragments. Their innocence had been destroyed long ago. Eventually, the child responded with a slight chirpiness in his voice, yet still returning to that blank expression he had. "Whose to say? In the end, even if it was the wrong choice, it is not us who is wrong. The one whose wrong, is this ugly, twisted world that we live in. Why should we apologize for being a monster, when nobody apologizes for turning us into one?"

Those words left Nico in nothing but silence, his eyes slightly wider to express the inner surprise that he felt within. He almost felt like an idiot for asking that question, cause deep down a part of him had known that answer to that question. It provided a large portion of much needed understanding to the dilemma inside his mind. The dilemma revolving around what would happen when he finally WOULD need to use his other side to protect those that he called comrades. Would he be able to do it? Could he risk it? He hadn't been sure of the answer before, but right now he just felt like he had edged closer to the answer.

"In any case, while we would love to talk more, you should probably snap out of this trance, cause we're about to have an uninvited guest soon."

"Huh?"


Blinking owlishly, Nico soon found himself back in the large airspace that was Sky's end. He had little time to think about what the child him meant when he suddenly heard a large roar close by... too close for his liking.

'Whoa!'

That was his mental shout at the sudden shift in situation. He'd been caught off guard, but his mind flipped it into high gear out of instinct. Constant battling, training and experience had led to that reaction being possible. Reflexively going full throttle and diving down just to barely miss the tips of several talons. They barely scraped against his Skimmer's right engine, too, as he avoided the sneak attack by a hair. Pulling backwards, Nico shot back upwards and circled around, so he could face off against whatever had the galls to sneak attack him.

'Okay, what the hell just…?'

As soon as he began to think, his thoughts abruptly got caught in his brain, stopping and piling onto each other like cars crashing into each other. The reason flapped it's wings before him, giving him a glare that rivalled that of the Demon Prince he'd defeated before reaching the Hellverse Dungeon.

'Oh shit, you have GOT to be KIDDING me!' There, hovering about 50 metres away from him, was the biggest dragon Abnormal he'd ever seen.


For those who haven't heard, those Guns I referenced are actually legit guns, not made up. They are from the game 'Dark Void' which was a game for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 I believe and the PC. It didn't do as well as developers had hoped, but I really liked those guns, and the gameplay itself. I always found it so satisfying to just simply pound one of those robots to bits in vertical combat. In any case, these guns are also important storywise, especially with the upcoming chapters.

In addition, if you know which Storm Hawks episode these next couple chapters are referencing, then lemme know in the reviews.

Also, if you're wondering about the main plot, don't worry. I will return to it, but it will take time. Think of the next chapters as preparation for the main plot to continue. Thing is, it'll be quite different in scale compared to canon, if you can't tell already. All manner of eyes are set on that Gala, it's practically a battlefield in both the political and the traditional manner.

See ya next chapter, guys!