Me: "Hello again, my faithful readers. I have found more time to devote to working on this hilarious story full of hair brain madness, beautiful woman, action packed fights, and big misunderstandings that all lead up to a good harem story once again."

Neptune: (Walks into 'Intro Corner') "When do we get to have our M Rated scenes? I'm getting tired of waiting! You really gotta make sure not to have all this stuff pop up out of nowhere."

Me: "We can't put it in yet! That's why we have the daydreams so often. And I couldn't help it… my TV was on the fritz."

IF: (Walks in from break room) "So when CAN we expect to see the more mature content?"

Compa: (Pops out behind IF) "We want to have an M Rated scene with Heero!"

IF: (Cheeks turn red) "Shut up! That's just you, Nep and those two chicks who we keep running into. (I should be the first to have an M Rated scene with Heero!)"

Heero: (Walks into 'Intro Corner') "Why is it that these girls wish to engage in sexual intercourse with me, when I do not desire to do so?"

Neptune: "Aw, you just don't know you want it, Heero."

Me: (Pinches the bridge of his nose) "I'll put our sexual content in when I think we're ready."

Black Heart: (Enters IC from lunge) "Explicit content aside, when are you going to move the story back to Lastation? N-Not that I care or anything. I don't need anyone to know how much better their lives would be if they were to live in Lastation."

Me: "We moved back to Lastation for a little bit at the end of the last chapter."

White Heart: (Enters IC from break room) "…We're out of ice cream."

Neptune: "What?! Out of ice cream?! What could be worse?!"

White Heart: "And we're out of cookies."

Neptune: (Starts to wobble) "No ice cream… OR cookies?! I think I'm gonna die!"

Gust: (Steps out from behind Author) "Gust will make more for cheap. Gust likes ice cream and cookies."

Me: "Before we forget, let's read off the disclaimer. From the top everybody!"

Heero, Neptune, Compa, IF, Gust, Black Heart, and White Heart: "HeeroUz-"

Green Heart: (Enter IC from Lounge) "Excuse me? I was wondering if I could talk to the author for a moment."

Me: (Face turns pale) "Oh no…" (Looks over at White Heart)

White Heart: (Grits her teeth) "What the hell are you doing here, shithead?!"

Green Heart: (Has an astonished look on her face) "Really, must you use such language in front of the readers? Your behavior is not befitting of a goddess… just like the size of your bust."

White Heart: (Face turns red with anger) "Get over here and say that to my face, thunder tits! I'll tear you a new one!"

Me: (Walks over and grabs Green Heart's arm) "You said you needed to talk to me, right? Well, let's talk over here for a minute." (Suddenly turns around and holds Green Heart by her shoulders while whispering) "(Vert! What are you doing here?!)"

Green Heart: (Blinks a few times before responding) "(I just came to ask when the story was going to move over into Leanbox.)"

Me: (Facepalms self) "(Did you even bother to look at the title of the chapter?)"

Green Heart: (Looks down at the script in her hand, followed by a nervous bead of sweat running down the side of her face) "(Oh… well…)"

Me: "(Back to my original question; what are you doing here? Everyone knows that when you and Blanc are in the same room it's only a matter of time before she goes off, and nobody wants to be around when she does!)"

Green Heart: "(It's not my fault she has such a short fuse. She needs to learn her manners when addressing others.)"

Me: "*Sigh* Well, the readers already know you're here, Vert. So you might as well help out with the disclaimer."

Me and Green Heart: (Walk back to the cast) "Okay, so it's been decided that she's going to help read the disclaimer."

White Heart: "I don't like the idea of having to read the same thing as YOU."

Green Heart: "The feeling is mutual; still, we must endure it for the sake of the readers."

Me: "Alright, let me hear I- wait a minute... where's Nisa?"

Nisa: (Enters IC from the roof) "Sorry for being late. There was a very teenaged boy going around and stealing money from the elderly. I had to reprimend him for his misdeeds."

Me: "No need to apologize. You were just doing your job." (Turns attention to cast) "Let's try this one more time... let me hear it!"

Heero, Neptune, Compa, IF, Gust, Nisa, Black Heart, White Heart and Green Heart: "HeeroUzuki does not own Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, Hyperdimension Neptunia, Super Robot Wars, or anything related to any of the three franchises."

Me: "Now… To the Break Room! We need more ice cream, and I'm getting hungry."

Neptune: "*Gasp* Me too! Let's get some big juicy burgers, some big bowls of ramen, some sweets, and a REALLY big pizza! Oh! Oh! And lot's of soda!"

Me, Heero, Neptune, Compa, IF, Gust, Nisa, Black Heart and White Heart: (Leave 'Intro Corner' for Break Room)

Ch. 14 Leanbox, Land of Green Pastures

It was another typical day on the landmass Lowee; several inches of snow were falling from the sky, the temperature was freezing, the people roaming outside wore layers of clothing to keep warm, monsters roamed around attacking people and small forest creatures... the norm on the landmass.

Neptune, Heero, Compa and IF were taking a much needed break from dungeon crawling, as their last few trips into the dungeons around the snowy landmass did not yield favorable results and left them to question whether they would be able to find the Key Fragment at this time.

Neptune and Compa were lying on one of the warm beds, the former being bored out of her mind, IF was leaning on the wall next to the bed both girls had occupied, and Heero was sitting at the table next to the window with his laptop.

The Perfect Soldier was looking through any internet sites he could find trying to find anything that might help in the party's search for the Key Fragment, yet he still could not find anything concrete or even slightly credible. Heero eventually came upon one particular tab that stood out from the others, "(…'Hi-Five Radio'? It might contain something useful.)"

IF was looking at the screen on her cell phone, a frown on her face, "(Why can't I find Hi-Five Radio…? I just saw it…)"

The brunette was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of music emanating from Heero's laptop, even Neptune and Compa sat up once the silence that dominated the room had been broken, "Huh? What's that?"

IF looked over at Heero, who still wore and emotionless façade, "You get Hi-Five Radio? Q-Quick, turn it up!"

Casting a brief glance at the brunette, the Gundam pilot increased the volume on his laptop as the trio of girls crowded around him. The webpage for 'Hi-Five Radio' had everything that the others did; a search bar at the top of the screen, advertisements, and various links to other sites. Easily the most noticeable thing, or rather the most noticeable person was a girl with long cerulean blue hair.

As the name of the site implied it was a radio channel, starring the girl known as '5pb'. The young girl's voice could be heard over the radio channel, "Hi, 5pb here! Been a while! We're taking messages from our listeners right now. I'll read them here and carry the messages on to whatever they want! These can be about anything: life updates, thank yous, love confessions, whatever! The messages can be for someone special, or just to me! Okay, here are some messages we got today."

There was a pause on the radio channel; obviously 5pb had to take the time to look at the message she was going to read, "This one's from forum member 'Civilian' on Planeptune. 'Good evening, 5pb!' Good evening, Civilian! 'I feel like less monsters are on Planeptune lately. It's thanks to those who are fighting on our behalf. I wanted to just send my thanks to those brave souls.'"

There was another short pause as 5pb stopped looking at the message she was reading, "Planeptune used to be ravaged by monster attacks, but it looks like peace is coming back. I'll cheer them on with my songs too, so please keep at it, everyone!"

The radio hostess went on to read another message, "From Director Yuzarin: 'Greeting, 5pb. I've been troubled by monsters attacking out cargo trucks, but who would have guessed a group of girly teens and their intimidating bodyguard would come along and take care of the threat? Such power at such an age… They were like goddesses. And that bodyguard's strength was nothing to scoff at either, almost as if he was sent by the goddesses. You never know what life will throw at you, huh?'"

As with the first message, 5pb paused to stop looking at the message sent by the Director, "I'm happy for you, Director Yuzarin. Monster-hunting girls with a bodyguard, huh? Maybe they really were goddesses! And if their bodyguard is that strong, I don't think we'll have to worry about the monsters anymore."

Neptune's eyes were gleaming as 5pb continued to read off messages, "Did you guys here that? They were talking about us!"

Compa face was radiating with happiness, "We're really making a difference in people's lives!"

IF tried to maintain a cool exterior, but could not help but crack a smile, "It's not THAT big a deal. All we did was protect someone's stuff… but I will admit, it feels good to get some recognition for doing a good job."

Heero remained silent as peals of bubbly amusement and happiness began to fill the air, somewhat glad that the party's actions were having an effect on the lives of others. Soon, the radio broadcast came to an end, "That's all for today. Goodbye for now, everyone! This show was brought to you by Lady Black Heart."

IF looked at the message as Hi-Five Radio finished its broadcast, "So, 5pb is in Lastation? If we had waited, we might have gotten to see her…"

Heero looked back at the brunette, "If we had waited, our funds would more than likely have suffered greatly."

The brunette averted her gaze from the Gundam pilot, knowing that what he said was a painful truth, "I know, I know Heero, it's just… I really would have liked to meet her in person."

After looking over his shoulder at IF, Heero returned his attention to his laptop, "…Who is to say that you won't ever get to meet her?"

IF immediately snapped her head back to look at the party's lone male member, "(Wait… did he just try to cheer me up?)"

Heero still wore that same emotionless expression that seemed to be engraved on his face, which gave away nothing about what he was thinking or what he was feeling, though there were occasions when he would let his walls come down for the trio of girls. IF's lips curved into a small smile, "When you say like that… it makes it sound like I really WILL see her."

Neptune and Compa ran over to their bed to grab their belongings, "Alrighty, let's get going people!"

Heero closed his laptop and looked at the purple haired preteen with a questioning gaze, "…And just WHERE are we going?"

"That's a silly question; we're going to the next landmass. We gotta find the Key Fragment there. And I need my Destined Lover to be there to help me!"

IF cocked an eyebrow and the bubbly girl, "We haven't put in anywhere near as much time finding the Key Fragment here as we put in trying to find the one on Lastation, and you want to move to the next one already?"

Neptune flailed her arms wildly in the air, "Yeah, you never know. We might get super lucky and find the Key Fragment really fast! Then we'll only need two more."

Heero closed his laptop and carefully placed it in his backpack, "…That is wishful thinking. The chance of simply finding the Key Fragment without any information is essentially zero. You don't actually believe we could find it just from checking one location do you?"

The party's bubbly leader stopped flailing her arms and scratched her cheek, "I dunno… but wouldn't it be great if we did?"

The Gundam pilot mentally sighed, "(Unbelievable…) …If you wish to move to the next landmass, I will not object. Though I will remind you that we will need to gather information in order to find the Key Fragment."

Neptune pointed at the door, going into a dramatic pose as she did, "Alright, let's go!"

Neptune and Compa ran out of the room, with Heero walking behind them, and IF was still standing in the room after they had left… staring at the doorway, "Wait… you mean we're going to Leanbox already?"

Xxx

As with any other trip through the Sky Harbor, it was short, uneventful, and as with a few occasions, Neptune mistook some of the rocks for food. Once the party passed through the tunnel-like structure, they were greeted by vast green plains, a warm breeze, clear skies and the pleasant aroma of what smelled like pie (or so Neptune said).

Neptune's nose was in the hair, twitching as she caught the smell of a freshly baked pie, "It so nice and warm here. And somebody just made a really good pie. Let's see if we can get some!"

Before the preteen could walk off, Heero caught her by the collar of her hoodie, "Our first priority is to go to the Basilicom and acquire a map of the area. You can feed yourself later."

IF walked past Heero and Neptune, "He's right, getting to the Basilicom is more important than stuffing your face."

Neptune looked back at Heero, trying to give him her best puppy dog eyes, "Aww… but I'm hungry now! Come on, Heero… please?"

For the briefest instant, Heero felt his grip on the preteen weaken before he steeled himself and tighten his grip on the collar of her hoodie, "No, we must remain focused on the task at hand. (What just happened? I almost let her go…)"

Compa and IF walked past Heero and Neptune, "Nep-Nep, Heero is right. We need to stay focused so we can safe more people from monsters."

The party's leader began to pout, seeing as she wasn't going to get her way, "Can't we eat something first though? I'm starving!"

IF struck Neptune upside her head, "We ate before we came here. What? Don't tell me the 20 pounds of pancakes you ate wasn't enough."

"Please, that wasn't even a snack for me, Iffy."

Heero put Neptune down and walked towards what he presumed to be the capital city, "If you three are just about finished, we should find the Basilicom as soon as possible. We will not accomplish anything by standing here."

IF quickly followed after the Gundam pilot, "Y-Yeah. Stopped standing around and hurry up you two."

Xxx

The party had gone to the Basilicom, unfortunately none of the staff was working and the goddess herself was unavailable, so the party was left with no choice but to wait until the next day to ask about dungeons, monsters, or anything of relevant importance to the party's quest to free Histoire.

The group of four had found a house to stay at while they were on Leanbox, and immediately turned in for the night, seeing as they had nothing else to do other than wait.

Heero and Neptune were sharing one of the two bedrooms in the house, while Compa and IF were sharing the other, much to the disappointment of the two aforementioned girls. While the three girls had already gone to sleep, Heero was still up working. He wanted to try and acquire any information that he could that would help the party during their stay on the land of green pastures. Compa entered Neptune and Heero's room in the middle of the night, as she had been kicked out of the room she and IF had been sharing.

It was six in the morning and Heero was still typing away on his laptop, "(…I have been unable to obtain much information in regards to this landmass, and it would appear that maps to the dungeons of this landmass is not made available to the public. Perhaps we will have to inquire about a map before we can plan our next move. From there-)"

Heero was pulled from his reverie of though by the sound of Neptune tossing and turning in bed, talking in her sleep about Histoire about who it was that Histoire was speaking to.

Xxx

"Histoire? Histoire?! Did you truly take a goddess down to the world below?"

Obviously, Neptune's 'dream' if it could be called that, was about Histoire and a woman who didn't exactly seem very happy with the tome in question. The woman began to become slightly more aggressive with her interrogation. "How dare you. All this even after sealing you away? Tell me everything you've told her this very instant!"

The tome with the seemingly angelic voice remained calm under the woman's intense gaze, "…I do not possess enough power to even call out to someone in Celestia. You should be aware of that the most. I did not take her down. She chose to fall of her own volition. She wishes to level justice against your crimes."

The voice of the woman questioning Histoire suggested she was trying to restrain her anger, "…It's against Celestial Province for a CPU to directly interfere with the human world for no valid reason. Unless it's a scheduled inspection or an accidental fall, such insolence is unacceptable! Each of them possess only a quarter of the power of an actual goddess. They couldn't possibly travel down without your aid!"

Histoire responded calmly to her interrogator, "No, that is incorrect. If something existed that led them to go there without my aid… It was destiny. Something beyond even my control."

"No! There's nothing beyond your control! You are the world's… the world's everything!"

If Histoire was a person, she would most likely be shaking her head at this point, "It is true that this tome contains everything in this reality, but it does not stand to reason I have free reign over it all. It matters not whether you are human or CPU. Not a soul exists able to control everything in their lives."

The being who seemed to be the one responsible for sealing Histoire seemed to see reason, if only a little, "…You may have a point. You're the most difficult variable to control of all. But then again, you're meant to be different. You've the power to change this world and I've the desire to do so. You do know what I'm thinking of, don't you?"

"No. A tome cannot read somebody's intentions to act. I know only what has occurred in the past."

The woman rolled her eyes at Histoire, "Yeah, yeah. With that attitude, you'll never understand. Which is fine by me. There's no need for you to feel as I do. Because you are different. This will all end… When the curtain falls on this world after its final act, this nonsensical opera shall finally end! Haaaah ha ha ha ha!"

The women's melodramatic laugh was all that could be heard as Neptune's 'dream' began to come to an end.

Xxx

The purple haired preteen was kicking violently as she talked in her sleep, "Noooo! You can't end this world's opera!" Neptune had been moving around so much that she eventually fell out of bed ad landed on her back, "…Ouchies!"

Heero was kneeling next to Neptune as she slowly began to wake up, "Are you feeling well? You were talking in your sleep."

Neptune looked up at Heero from her position on the ground, "…Huh? Oh… a dream. It was so weird Heero. I heard Histy's voice, though… Ugh! What a weird dream. Curtains falling and worlds ending…"

Compa began to stir in the adjacent bed, rubbing the traces of sleep from her eyes, "…Hm? What's going on? You're way too energetic for this early in the morning…"

Neptune looked over at the nurse-in-training while dusting off her back side, "Hiya, g'morning! Sorry for waking you up. Why're you sleeping here, anyway? I thought you were bunking with Iffy."

Compa scratched her cheek, a nervous bead of sweat running down the side of her face. "Iffy's… very sensitive to noise and she kicked me out, saying I snore like a grandpa. So I had to leave."

Heero looked at Compa in silence, processing what he had just heard, "(…Is that even possible? I do not think a woman's vocal cords allow them to snore like an elderly person.)"

The pink haired nurse slipped out of bed, "A-Anyway, let's tidy up and get some breakfast. Iffy won't be happy is she has to wait for her toast."

Neptune furiously shook her head, "Ugggh, but I don't feel rested at all. I don't feel like doing anything!" During her little pouting session, Neptune's hand ended up grabbing ahold of a few strands of Compa's hair, causing her to stop at look at the soft tresses of pink hair. "…Egads! Compa… your hair… it's so… fluffy!"

The preteen glomped Compa from behind, stuffing her face into Compa long hair, making the aforementioned nurse a 'little' uncomfortable in the process. Heero was feeling the unusual sensation as per moments such as this, though it was not as strong as it normally was, "N-Nep-Nep? Please don't glomp me from behind like that."

Neptune and Compa fell back onto Heero's bed with Neptune's face still stuffed into Compa's long, curly pink hair, "Awwwwww, you smell like such a girly girl, too. I wanna sleep just like this. Your hair is lulling me off to la-la land…"

Compa was squirming around, trying in vain to break free from what sounded like a drunk Neptune's strong grip as she began to fall asleep. "That's no good! Iffy will be upset at us. Please, I'm not a body pillow for you to cuddle with!"

The party's leader tightened her grip on her new body pillow, "But you feel so cozy when I squeeze you. I could sleep like this anytime, anywhere."

Heero could not understand why, but for some reason he found the awkward event happening in front of him to be… amusing. Of course, he kept a tight rein on his emotions, so no one could actually to tell that he was amused.

The door to the room suddenly swung open and IF walked into the room, her hair flowing behind her as she walked in, "You three awake? Sorry for kicking you out, Compa. We can try again tomorr-"

The brunette stopped in mid-sentence as she saw the spectacle before her. Neptune looked as though she had fallen asleep again, Compa looked as though she was suffocating from Neptune's hold on her, and Heero was just standing off to the side watching. IF blinked a few times to make sure she was seeing things right. "What the hell is this perverted crap?"

Heero glanced at the Guild member before redirecting his attention to the two girls on the bed, "Neptune has reduced Compa to her personal body pillow because of her hair."

Compa mouthed 'help me' as she had been rendered unable to talk by Neptune. IF shook her head before walking over to the bed and literally kicking its two occupants out, "Wake up!"

Compa landed on her back, while Neptune landed face first on the ground; prompting her to hold her cheek once she sat up, "Oww! That hurt Iffy!"

"Well it wasn't supposed to tickle. What are you doing falling asleep again? We have a lot we have to do today, so I hope you got enough sleep last night. If not, too bad."

IF turned to the Gundam pilot, who had immediately gone back to working on his laptop, "How about you Heero? I-If you didn't get enough sleep, I wouldn't mind waiting for a little bit."

"No, I am perfectly fine. I spent the entire night gathering what information I could in the hopes that it may help with our search." The Guild Moderatist stared incredulously at the lone male of the party, "You were working the entire night? Did you even get any sleep?!"

Heero looked over his shoulder for a moment before returning to his work, "Had I fallen asleep, it would have hampered my ability to gather information. I allowed Compa to sleep in my bed, since I was not going to be using it."

Neptune shot Compa a dirty look once she found out that she had been sleeping in Heero's bed, "What? What were you doing in Heero's bed? Were you trying to score points with Heero again?!"

Compa's face reddened as she tried to defend herself, "I-I wasn't trying to do anything! Heero said I could sleep in his bed, so…"

The purple haired preteen in front of Compa leaned forward with her hands on her hips, "More like you pretended to fall asleep when really you were just waiting for Heero to get tired, get into bed so you could get on top of him and do the thing!"

Heero had been watching the exchange between the two girls for a minute or two before he decided to intervene, "It would be best if you two would put this entire matter behind you. We have work to do, and we cannot afford to waste any time."

IF had her arms folded over her chest and nodded, "Heero is right, so stop fighting and let's get going."

Heero and IF left the room to wait in the living room, while Neptune and Compa eyed the brunette suspiciously, "Look at her, acting all cool in front of Heero… she's probably trying to score love points with him."

"Iffy's being a cheater! Taking advantage of the moment to make us look bad, and trying to take Heero all for herself."

Down in the living room, Heero was seated at the coffee table located in the middle of the room, while IF was busy making breakfast. The Perfect Soldier had opened his laptop once again and had decided to gather more info while waiting for the trio of girls to finish their daily routine, "I do not know what information I will be able to acquire, but it is best to look into all available sources of information in case a credible sources can be found."

Heero had opened the Goddess Blog for Leanbox, as apparently the CPU of the landmass was updating her blog today. Now, normally Heero would be able to actually see the goddess as she went about discussing a topic for the blog, however Heero had only just recently started using the goddess blog even if it was only for gathering info. As such, Heero would be unable to see any of the goddesses during their blogs for a while.

The Gundam pilot could hear the voice of who he assumed to be the CPU of Leanbox, her voice was warm and soothing… fitting of a goddess to say the least, "Greetings. Today, I'd like to chat about the various accommodations Leanbox offers. I'm sure you all know, but the CPU of Leanbox is me, Green Heart. Leanbox is a land abundant with nature. The most beautiful in all Gamindustri."

There was a brief pause before Green Heart continued with her blog entry, "I believe the word 'draconian' de-…" The CPU stopped in mid-sentence, obviously to correct the word she used to describe the landmass that she ruled over. "No… 'archai-'…"

Heero processed the last word Green Heart used to describe Leanbox, and the word she was about to use, then thought about what he had seen of the landmass, "…I believe 'Medieval' would be a more accurate term for this landmass."

Almost as if she had heard him, Green Heart had used the very term Heero had use to describe the land of green pastures, "Oh! 'Medieval' describes Leanbox best. Here you can expect to life a comfortable life. Many come here to spend their retirement or raise children. I highly suggest coming to Leanbox, especially if you have enough money to live a rich and comfortable life. That's the basic rundown of my land. I'll go into more detail with my upcoming blog entries. I'll see you again in the next update."

Heero closed the window seeing as Green Heart was finished her blog, "…I did not learn much, though it may be wise to bookmark these 'Goddess Blogs' in case they provide useful information in the future."

As Heero was finishing up his work, IF returned from the kitchen with two plates of eggs, toast and bacon in her hands, "It seems like you have to pull Neptune and Compa's weight every day."

"I am merely using my abilities to carry out my mission."

The guild member set one of the plates down in front of Heero before sitting across from him at the table, "Well, just remember that you don't have to do everything by yourself Heero. Of course, I'm willing to help, and although they might not be able to do much, Nep and Compa should be able to do something, too."

The lone male of the party sat in silence for a moment. Part of being this 'party' meant that Heero would have to be able to trust these girls with some of the work, even if he could handle it all on his own. It wasn't that Heero did not trust the girls, it was just that before he had come to Gamindustri he had done very little after the Mariemaia War, and although it wasn't exactly like the missions he had been used to, the idea of being able to do something to aid people who were unable to do so themselves… and to be charged with protecting and assisting Neptune, reawakened the soldier that Heero was, "…You make a valid point. I will be relying on you most of all for now, IF."

The moment Heero had said that he would be relying on her, IF began to choke on the piece of toast that she had bitten into, "*Cough**Cough* Wh-What?"

"I told once before on Planeptune that my information in regards to this world is severely lacking. Neptune may have been to the other landmasses in this world, however her amnesia prevents her from remembering anything, and Compa has spent her life on Planeptune. With so little information between the three of us, you are the only one among us right now who can effectively navigate Gamindustri… I cannot ask this of anyone else."

IF averted her eyes from Heero, her cheeks flushed a bright red color, "W-Well… when you put it like that…"

Heero picked up a piece of toast off his plate. "I apologize for having to ask this of you."

IF cleared her mouth before replying, "It's not like you have much of a choice in the matter… you don't know enough about Gamindustri or any of the landmasses to know where you're going. And we both know Neptune and Compa would probably have gotten you lost before you even left Planeptune. So, don't worry about it."

Heero retreated into his thoughts, while a smirk made its way onto IF's face, "(And once again, I prove to be the most useful of the three of us… I'm sure Heero is starting to see that I'm much better for him than Neptune or Compa.)"

A loud banging noise could be heard coming down the stairs of the house that did not sound like someone running down the wooden steps… but rather, they were falling down the stairs. And only one person among the party could possibly be falling down stairs this earlier in the morning.

Neptune came tumbling down the stairs, landing flat on her face when she reached the bottom, "…I'm okay!"

The energetic leader of the party immediately picked herself up off the floor the moment she caught the scent of the food on front of Heero and IF. "First, we'll eat lots of yummy food, and then we'll go look for that Key Fragment!"

The brunette at the coffee table let out an audible sigh, "Hopeless…"

Xxx

Following Histoire's advice that the Key Fragments are guarded by powerful monsters, the party decided that their first destination was Leanbox's Basilicom. They hoped to inquire about the locations of dungeons that held particularly strong monster and a map of Leanbox.

The doors to the religious structure opened with a loud bang as Neptune entered with Heero, Compa and IF in tow, "We gotta talk to the Basilicom people about monsters, right? In that case, yo! Anyone know where strong monsters are nesting?!"

Heero speared his errant chocolate bangs, "…She could have handled this in a much more appropriate manner."

A woman only a few feet away from the party turned around in response to Neptune's rather loud request on the location of monsters, and the woman turned out to be Conversation from Lowee, "Eh?! Um… What do you girls want from Leanbox's Basilicom? You're not from this landmass, are you?"

For whatever reason, Neptune seemed surprised that the Conversation could tell that the party was not from Leanbox, "Whoa, a deductive genius! How'd you know we're not from here? Do we totally stand out?"

IF rolled her eyes before whispering to the Gundam pilot next to her, "We stand out with Neptune around…"

"Unfortunately, that cannot be avoided."

Conversation went on, "Oh no, it's not that. I just transferred from somewhere else too, so I felt a sort of connection with you all. That's it. I'm an Evangelist from Lowee. I travel around and spread the word of our beloved CPU. I am meant to spread faith and love for Lady White Heart throughout the world. Anyway, what did you need here?"

Neptune had her hands on her hip, "I gotta find a place with baddies so I can get a Key Fragment. Don't worry, we'll beat 'em all up real good!"

"A… Key Fragment… I see. Unfortunately, I've never heard of such a thing."

I voice sounded behind the Evangelist from Lowee, "There's no need to bother an Evangelist. I will explain if you need something from our Basilicom."

Conversation left as the man who had just spoken approached the party, "I am Yvoire, the archbishop of Leanbox's Sanctuaries. How can I assist you girls and your friend?"

Compa walked up to Yvoire, "Yes, well, we'd like to know where to find monsters."

"I see. You're tourists, then? Let me give you a detailed map where the monsters are so you can avoid them." The archbishop of Leanbox handed Compa a map of the landmass. "Stay away from the marked territories. We wouldn't want such adorable girls getting hurt. Have a safe trip."

Heero glanced at the map in Compa's hands before turning to leave with the party."

Xxx

The party decided to search a random dungeon to see if they could find the Key Fragment hidden on Leanbox. The dungeon was a tower-like structure, however there was only one floor to navigate.

Neptune walked out in front of the party as she would normally do in a dungeon, "I'm feeling super lucky right now! I betcha the Key Fragment is in this dungeon!"

IF crossed her arms and shook her head, "How many times have we heard that line, and not find a Key Fragment in any of the dungeons we search?"

"I'm tellin' you Iffy, the Key Fragment has just got to be in here!"

Compa looked over at Heero as Neptune and IF continued their exchange, "What do you think Heero? Could the Key Fragment really be here?"

The Gundam pilot looked down the corridor the party was in, suffice it to say, he wasn't really expecting to find the Key Fragment in the very first dungeon they came across in Leanbox, "…While I am skeptical as to whether or not we will find the Key Fragment so easily, we will not know if the Key Fragment is here until we have searched the area."

Neptune and IF stopped their exchange and the party's bubbly leader pointed inward towards the dungeon, "Right! So let's go!"

The party began their trek into the dungeon, with their target being the boss located at the end of the dungeon. Shortly after they came to the first corner of the dungeon, a winged monster with a white body was waiting called a 'Goobash' … rather it had been flying in circles, but would still attack anyone that came close, "I betcha we'll get tons of experience points for beating the monsters here!"

"What makes you think that? These monsters are too weak. We won't get much in the way of experience points."

Neptune looked back at IF, "You can tell how strong the monster is just by looking at it?"

"Anyone can tell that this monster is weak. Why? Don't tell me you can't."

Heero decided to stop the two girls from fighting before they had even started to fight the monster, "It would be wise for the two of you to stop before we engage the enemy, or we may suffer damage that could have easily been avoided."

"Yeah, what Heero said, Iffy!"

IF began to grit her teeth as she readied herself, "He means you too, Nep. Don't start acting all high and mighty."

Fortunately, Neptune and IF had not really gotten into an argument, so they were able to immediately focus their attention on the monster before the party. As IF had said, the monster was weak… laughably weak. Anyone off the street might be intimidated by the monster, but could probably defeat it with a simple flick of their finger.

While Heero wanted to finish the party's random dungeon raid as quickly as possible, he also had to make sure that the party did not waste any resources or expend any strength that they did not have to, "Neptune, it would be best for you to take care of this enemy. It will give you the chance to learn how to gauge an enemy's strength."

Neptune pulled the prototype beam saber out of her hoodie pocket that had been given to her to test by Chian from Lastation, "Heh, no sweat. This'll be over super quick!"

The purple haired preteen rushed at the 'Goobash' with the Mech Sword Armas in hand, ready to slay the monster before her. It came as no surprise to Heero or IF when Neptune had killed the monster with a single slash from her purple beam saber. The energetic leader of the party turned around and flashed the party a peace sign with her free hand, "I win the MVP award!"

Compa was clapping her hands as Neptune posed for her victory, "Good job, Nep-Nep! We must be getting stronger from all of the monsters we've been fighting."

IF rolled her eyes before whispering to the Perfect Soldier next to her, "(Even if we've gotten stronger from defeating all of these monsters, a child could have beaten that monster no problem.)"

Heero was wearing that same stoic expression that left many to believe that it was engraved on his face, "Whether or not that is true, Neptune still has much to learn about the art of combat. Even a weak adversary can teach her something new."

When it seemed that Neptune was done boasting about her minor victory, the party continued further into the dungeon in search of the boss monster. Shortly after their first encounter, the party ascended a platform that Heero thought was just for decoration as it had no real purpose in being there, and encounter two bats at the top of said platform. Neptune once again reached for the Mech Sword Armas, "I can do this alone. Just watch."

Before she had a chance to pull the beam saber out, IF jerked the purple haired preteen back by the collar of her hoodie, "Hold up. You aren't the only one here you know. I'll take this fight."

"Hey, I said I could do it alone Iffy. What'cha doin pulling me back?"

"It actually sounds like the best course of action at this time."

Neptune looked at Heero, who was standing right next to her. The lone male of the party had his attention fixed on IF and the two enemies that were not even worth mentioning, "There is a problem with your fighting style that you only correct during your transformation. I believe that by watching a more experienced fighter, you may be able to correct this problem without having to transform."

The bubbly preteen let out an audible huff, having to sit on the sidelines during a fight wasn't something she enjoyed doing. Meanwhile, IF was preparing for the short battle with the two Bats, "(This should be easy… all I have to do is show how much more experience I have with fighting than Nep. It shouldn't take Heero long to realize who the best girl among us here is.)"

The Guild member armed herself with her Katars that were stashed into the jacket sleeves when not in use, "I'll finish this up quick. I don't want to waste any time on monsters as weak as them."

Without wasting another second, IF ran at the first of the two Bats that had the misfortune of being her victims in her bid to garner Heero's attention. IF's movements were fluid, quick and well timed, the Bat that she wasn't focusing on had made an attempt to attack her, but IF dodged the attack with ease. Once she was close enough, IF employed a well-timed feint to throw of the Bat's normal thought process and attack pattern, "Too easy."

The brunette delivered a swift kick to the winged creature, which was quickly followed by two sets of attacks from her Katars, and was ended with an axe kick that cratered the unlucky monster, "Nothing to it. This is too easy."

The Bat that IF had dodged just moments ago was coming back to make another attempt at attacking the Guild member. IF raised her left and fired a bullet from the firearm concealed in her sleeve, "Did you think I was just a melee character? Better think again!"

The bullet may have dealt significant damage the monster, however IF had only intended to use it to disorient the Bat long enough for her to get close. It did not take long for IF to close the short distance between herself and the winged monster and deliver three kicks to its mid-section, "Don't rely on weapons too much."

The damage inflicted by IF proved too much for the Bat to handle, and it dropped dead like its fellow monster before it. The brunette dusted herself how, a triumphant smirk on her face, "Easy. That's how it's done."

Neptune looked slightly irritated from having to wait for IF to defeat the two monsters, "Why didn't you just let me beat up those monsters? I could have done it just as easily."

Heero mentally sighed, since it appeared that Neptune did not seem to understand why it was that IF was the one to fight the monsters instead of her, "It is not a matter of who can defeat the monsters the fastest, but of who can defeat the monsters while exuding the least amount of effort."

It was obvious that Neptune was confused, as she had her finger on her cheek in what was presumed to be her thinking position, "What'cha mean Heero? It doesn't take a lot to beat these monsters."

"That is not what I mean. I suppose I will have to explain it in simpler terms, so that you will be able to comprehend what I am telling you. You certainly have the strength required to defeat the enemies we have come across during our search for the Key Fragments, the problem is that you have a bad tendency to expend more energy on defeating an enemy than what is necessary."

The Gundam pilot then gestured to IF, who had put away her weapons and had made her way back to the party. "IF's fighting style minimizes the total overall movement required to defeat an enemy, and in turn, the amount of energy required to dispatch with the target. My point being that if you were to learn how to moderate your movements and expend less stamina while fighting, you would easily be the strongest among us. You do seem to correct this problem in your transformed state, which is good to know. It means that it should not be too difficult for you to learn how to do this outside of your transformation."

The Gundam pilot looked down the corridor that they would have to traverse to continue their trek of the dungeon, "(…It won't be too difficult, but it may still prove to be a challenge nonetheless.)"

Neptune puffed her chest out and had her hands on her hips, "You guys here that? Heero says that I'M the strongest!"

IF was suppressing the urge to grab Neptune by the neck and throttle her, "He said if you learn to fight like a professional, and believe me when I say you have a long way to go. Especially when you consider that it takes a lot of time for you to learn anything."

Compa moved to keep the peace between the two girls, while attempting to 'score points' with Heero by keeping Neptune and IF from fighting, "Nep-Nep, Iffy, we shouldn't be getting into arguments over things like this. We should focus more on searching this dungeon for the Key Fragment or any clues that might tell us where it is."

Heero nodded his head, completely in agreement with the party's nurse, "Well said."

Heero and Compa moved further into the dungeon with Neptune and IF close behind, glaring at Compa as they did, "We know what you're trying to Compa, and it's not cool!"

"Trying to play the good girl routine and making us look bad…"

As Neptune and IF were giving Compa dirty looks, said nurse in training had grabbed onto Heero's arm, "What do you think Heero? Is the Key Fragment in here? Or could there be clues to where it is?"

"The likelihood of the Key Fragment being here is very low, with the chance of finding any information in regards to its whereabouts just as low… still, the only way to confirm whether it is here or not is to thoroughly search the area."

The moment the party reached a two-way intersection at the end of the corridor, Neptune grabbed onto Heero's other arm and pulled him in one direction, "What Heero said, so my Destined Lover and I will go this way. Compa, you and Iffy can go the other way."

Before they could get far, Compa tightened her grip on Heero's arm and pulled him in the opposite direction, "No, Heero and I will go this way, and you and Iffy can go that way, Nep-Nep."

IF stepped in and forced Neptune and Compa to let go of the Gundam pilot, "Knock it off you two, I don't think Heero appreciates this game of tug-of-war you're playing. Now then, I'll go with Heero to keep you two from getting bitter over the other being with Heero, and you two can go the other way."

Both girls exchanged glances before looking back at IF, "NO!"

As three began to get into a heated exchange, Heero could swear that he was getting a migraine, "(…This has to stop… now.) Instead of fighting over who will go with whom, we should follow the left path. The other path leads to a dead-end."

Neptune, Compa and IF looked down the corridor and while it seemed to go on for a while with a few twists and turns, Heero was always able to tell if a path in a dungeon led to a dead-end, "Well… let's go find that boss then! And find that Key Fragment!"

Just as they were about to turn down the left corridor, three monsters that looked like oversized Hornets… and were appropriately called 'Hornet' by the strange name tab above their heads, were approaching the party. Heero armed his GN Sword in preparation for what was going to be a short battle… or in Heero's case, a minor skirmish, "I will handle this. This sooner we get rid of them the sooner we can locate our main target, and confirm whether the Key Fragment is here or not."

As the lone male member of the party approached the group of monsters intent on inhibiting their search of the dungeon, Heero could hear the three girls cheering behind him, "You get 'em Heero! Beat 'em up real good so they won't bother us again! I'll even let you feed me when we get back to town if you do really good!"

"I know you can do it Heero! You're the strongest member of the party after all!"

"Heero is going to be fighting? This should be quick."

Within a fraction of a second Heero reached for his lower back with his left hand and pulled out an Army Knife he had fixed into the belt loop and threw it at the first 'Hornet'. The sharp edged weapon struck the monster in the abdomen, and was closely followed by a swift, yet strong kick that drove the knife even further into the over-sized insect, "One…"

Heero immediately set his sights on the monster to his right having dispatched with the first 'Hornet', the blade of his GN Sword snapped into place over the rifle barrel. Heero swung the large blade at the second 'Hornet', the GN Condensers super-heated the blade and allowed it to cut through the monster with outmost ease, "Two…"

Using the momentum from his swing, Heero turned to face the last monster while switching his GN Sword from Sword Mode to Rifle Mode. The Gundam pilot pointed the rifle at the 'Hornet', a burst of pink thermal energy erupted out of the advanced weapon and vaporized the insignificant monster, "…Three."

"Aww, Heero you defeated those monsters too fast! Compa and Iffy couldn't see all of your awesome moves!"

Heero turned to face the group of girls with his attention on Neptune, "I was aiming to eliminate the enemy as quickly as possible. We should continue with our primary objective."

The party continued further into the dungeon in their search for the boss, which wasn't far from where they were. Neptune ran over to the corner and poked her head out to see what was around the next bend, "There's the boss you guys! I bet'cha we'll get tons of experience from it!"

The party carefully approached the corner and peered beyond it, wanting to see what monster lay beyond it, but not wanting to give away their presence. The monster was called a 'Lindwurm', it had two large wings that allowed it to maintain some degree of flight, and its face was nothing like that of a bird's. Its mouth had two rows of teeth; one on top with the other on the bottom, which gave the impression that the monster was carnivores (though that would have come as no surprise, as all of the monsters in Gamindustri ate humans and little forest creatures).

Heero could see that the monster was guarding a fairly large room, so there may have been a chance that the Key Fragment was indeed in this dungeon, but the Perfect Soldier didn't hold his breath. Neptune instantly reached for the Mech Sword Armas, just itching for a fight, "Alrighty, let's beat this boss and find that Key Fragment!"

Heero saw no point in trying to come up with a battle plan for the beginning of the battle, seeing as Neptune had already charged in to attack the monster, "Give up!"

The bubbly preteen tried to attack the monster, but the party's winged foe took to the air, evading Neptune's attack, "Get back here!"

In a way, the 'Lindwurm' did comply with Neptune's demand… only it came back down with the intention of making the preteen its lunch. Neptune had barely dodged the attack by the winged monster, shouting at it to fight fair, "Fight fair and square, jerk!"

Compa tried shooting the monster at of the sky, but her shoots kept missing, "Ooh, this is no good. How do we defeat the monster if we can't hit it?"

Heero and IF were off to the side, trying to formulate a plan to defeat the monster, "What do you think? We won't be able to check the next room while this monster is still here."

"Perhaps if someone were to distract it long for two people to disable its ability to fly, we would have a better chance of ending this sooner." Heero began to step forward. "…You and Compa should handle that task. I'll serve as a diversion."

The Gundam pilot fired a single round from his GN Sword in rifle mode, it was a low power shot so as not to waste any energy, but enough to seem threatening. Since it saw Heero as an immediate threat to its existence, the 'Lindwurm' dived straight at Heero. The Perfect Soldier immediately jumped out of the way of the predictable attack, while Compa and IF took aim at the monster's wings, "Don't screw this up Compa!"

"R-Right!"

Both girls were able to damage the wings of the "Lindwurm', and while it was still able to levitate, it could no longer fly out of reach of the party, "…Now, we simply need some more power to defeat the target."

Neptune flashed Heero a thumbs up, "I'm way ahead of you, Heero!" Neptune was surrounded by disks that were surrounded by constantly changing binary code, picked one out, and pulled towards herself. "Going all out now!"

A brief flash of light engulfed Neptune, and once it dispersed the bubbly preteen had been replaced with the beautiful, yet deadly swordstress that made her appearance when excessive force was needed. Neptune brandished her large Katana at the crippled monster, "Why settle for 'some' power when you can have more than that? Let's finish this now."

Heero was in agreement with the beautiful teen; the blade of his GN Sword snapped back into place over the rifle barrel and was covered by a beam blade, "Roger. Eliminating the target."

Both Heero and Neptune closed in on the 'Lindwurm' now that it could not escape to a higher altitude with its battered wings. Heero drove the beam coated blade of the GN Sword through the chest cavity of the monster, then quickly side-stepped so Neptune could finish the monster. With a series of swift, graceful and deadly attacks with her blade, Neptune had dispatched with the troublesome monster.

The purple haired swordstress had a look of disappointment on her face, "The monsters in this dungeon were so weak, they nothing more than a waste of time."

Heero found it much easier to work with Neptune when she transformed, since she went from bubbly and random, to cool and efficient, and was much more focused on completing the task at hand, "(…Why can she not act like this more often?) Now that the target has been dealt with, we should conduct a thorough search of the room."

The party entered the fairly large room that the monster had been guarding. Each member looked over every inch of the room carefully hoping to find the Key Fragment or anything that might tell them where it could be. Unfortunately, they could not find anything. With their search complete the party decided to leave the dungeon, as there was nothing more to be gained by staying.

Xxx

The party had returned to the city to unwind from their failed search. Heero was looking at the map they had received from Yvoire at the Basilicom, Neptune had maintained her transformation even after the party had left the dungeon and was looking at the map the Perfect Soldier held in his hands, "It's certainly detailed. So detailed I can't decide on a place to start searching first. It may be helpful for tourists, but… this map tells us nothing of the nearby monsters' strength."

IF was looking up information that the party might be able to use on her cell phone, but was not having any luck. The brunette looked up from her pink handheld device, "We need info to narrow the locations down. Let's go back to the Basilicom… but stay in that form, okay?"

Compa nodded, able to see what it was that IF was getting at, "Yeah! If Nep-Nep looks all tough, they won't turn us away as if we were helpless girls. I don't think Heero was enough to convince them."

As the party was finished discussing their next course of action, Neptune brought up a particular topic that was sure to leave the party with more questions, "There is one thing I've been meaning to ask. Why do you think she's here?"

Compa looked at the swordstress, a quizzical look on her face, "Who are you talking about Nep-Nep?"

"That Evangelist we ran into at the Basilicom. We all know that she isn't here to do her job, so what else is she planning here?"

Heero carefully folded the map in his hands and placed it in his jacket pocket, "While we know what she ISN'T here to do, we don't know here exact intentions. She could be here for any number of reasons, and I am not about to start playing a guessing game to figure it out without any kind of intel to go on. For now, we should return to our safe house and wait until tomorrow to inquire about more information from the Basilicom."

IF looked towards the setting sun in the distance, "That might be best, it is getting pretty late. Besides, after that search I want to take a shower and get cleaned up."

Compa turned to the party's lone male member, "Why don't you take a shower first Heero? I imagine you want to get clean like the rest of us."

Before Heero could give any kind of verbal response, Neptune suddenly wrapped her arms around his torso, "That's fine with me. In fact, I think I'll join you. I'll wash your back for you Heero."

Heero mentally signed, "(Not this again…)"

Compa's cheeks were red and puffy as Neptune tried to make plans to get in the shower with Heero, "That's not fair Nep-Nep! I want to wash Heero's back, too!"

Neptune tightened her grip on the Gundam pilot, "Well, I asked first, and I came up with the idea."

IF narrowed her eyes at the swordstress, "Who says you get to wash his back though?"

Neptune in turn, narrowed her eyes at IF, "I do, because Heero is my Destined Lover, so we should shower together."

Heero could feel himself growing tired from the situation, "Perhaps we should focus more on returning to our safe house before any such decision is made."

The trio of girls huffed at one another before making their way back to the house they were staying at while on Leanbox, going into their usual spats on the topic of Heero's lover was, who would shower with him, and occasionally going onto more important topics relating to their quest of finding the Key Fragment on Leanbox.

Xxx

Me: "Well, another chapter done. I hope no one has thought that I have forgotten about this story. I've just had a lot on my hands at the time."

Heero: (Enters ACCC) "Considering that you were actually able to update this chapter must mean that you have found a break in your work."

Me: "Yes I have, I finally got caught up with all of my work, and can now safely set aside time to work on the story… the problem is my little sister keeps taking my laptop, which has left me with time, but no means to work on the story."

Neptune: (Enters ACCC from Break Room) "What? Your sister sounds lame."

Compa: (Enters ACCC after Neptune) "So what will you do? How will you be able to work on the story if she keeps taking your laptop?"

Me: "I don't know Compa, I'll have to work something out."

Green Heart: (Enters ACCC from left entrance) "That does explain the delay, I hope she has a good reason for delaying the story."

Me: "Well, in my mind she doesn't. She does school work at first, then she just screws around."

IF: (Enters ACCC from Lounge) "She needs to find some other way of doing her work then. It's one thing to use it simply for work, but to turn around and goof off?"

Black Heart and Gust: (Enters ACCC from right entrance) "Gust was wondering why the story had not been updated so frequently."

Black Heart: "She sounds like a real pain to live with… in regards to writing the story anyway."

Me: "She's a pain to live with in general."

Nisa: (Descends into ACCC from the Roof) "The lack of timely updates will surely cause our fanbase to fall... this is unacceptable!"

White Heart: (Enters ACCC from Lounge) "…Why don't you just tell your little sister to fuck off?"

Everyone: (Stares at White Heart) "…What?"

Me: (Slowly points at White Heart) "Did… did you just drop the F-bomb?!"

White Heart: "…Yeah. Why?"

Me: (Whispers to Green Heart) "(Vert, what's going on?! I thought we had that censored out!)"

Green Heart: "(That's what I thought.)"

White Heart: "…What's the problem with me saying fuck?"

Me: "What's the problem?! The problem is that this story could get banned!"

Neptune: (Looks at Author in disbelief) "Wh-What?! Banned! But Heero and I haven't had our M rated scene yet!"

Me: "That won't matter if the story ends up getting banned… can you just try not to drop any more F-bombs? Please?"

White Heart: "…Fine."

Me: "Anyway, here's another chapter for all you readers to enjoy." (Points at Green Heart) "Wrap this up for us, we gotta start working on the next chapter."

Everyone except Green Heart: (Exits ACCC)

Green Heart: "Please forgive the authors lack of updates, his little sister is proving to be difficult to deal with. Please read and review this chapter, and look forward to our next update." (Leaves ACCC)