Me: "Hello, hello, everybody! Now that we've finished the search for the Key Fragment on Leanbox, I figured now would be a good time to take the story back to Lastation."

Heero and Neptune: (Enter IC) "Isn't this great? We've got TWO Key Fragments now. We're closer to saving Histy than when we found the first! We should totally celebrate. I'll go find us a really spiffy restaurant, and then we can eat till my stomach bursts."

Heero: "Unfortunately, we do not have time to celebrate. We need to focus on retrieving the other two Key Fragments before we do anything else."

Black Heart: (Enters IC) "I see you've decided to move the story back to Lastation. There's no doubt in my mind that the popularity of this story will increase just from the chapter taking place on my landmass."

Neptune: (Points at Black Heart) "A wild plug suit lady has appeared! You here to try and steal Heero from me again, you man-stealer?"

Black Heart: (Stops her foot on the ground) "Why do you have to think that whenever I show up, it's so I can steal Heero?! I'm NOT trying to steal him!"

Me: "Aaaaaaaand cut! Don't kill each other now, ladies. Can't afford to have you bite the big one. Now, let's just wrap up this segment of the IC. I'm feeling lazy right now." (Points at cast) "You know the drill. From the top."

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

Me: "Yeah, yeah. Let's get out of here. The people want to see the fruits of our labor, and we need to work on the next chapter."

Me, Heero, Neptune and Black Heart: (Leave IC)

Ch. 25 Mecha Madness

It was a fair morning in the capital city of Planeptune; a few clouds hung overhead in the clear blue sky, a gentle breeze blew through the streets of the futuristic city, and despite the monster attacks that plagued the land people were coming and going from work, school, the arcade, and anywhere else a person could think of… that also included the dungeons that adventurers would raid in an attempt to reduce the number of attacks on the city.

The party had returned to the 'Land of Purple Progress' after finding the Leanbox Key Fragment at the request of their purple haired leader because she wanted pudding. Neptune's justification for coming back was that the pudding was limited edition, making them too valuable to pass up. During their search for Neptune's favorite treat, the group ran into Gust, who joined them shortly afterward.

As luck would have it Lastation was passing by Planeptune the following day, a stroke of good fortune for the party. The moment the Sky Harbor opened, the group immediately passed through into the Land of Black Regality, and set up shop back at their safe house.

Once they had put their stuff away, the party reconvened in the living room to plan out their day on Lastation, "I had originally intended for you all to take a two day furlough to recover from the events that took place on Leanbox. I hadn't planned on immediately coming here to continue our search."

Neptune was happily eating one of her cups of pudding as she sat on the couch next to Heero, "I got my limited edition pudding, so I'm happy."

Lyrica let out a tired sigh, "You might be happy, but what about us? I'm still tired from the last two days."

IF was lightly rubbing her lower back, "And my back is still sore from getting thrown into a wall. Not that you'd understand, seeing as how you didn't take any hits."

Gust looked at the two girls before retreating into her room, and coming back shortly afterwards with two vials in her hands, "Gust has just the thing!"

The business savvy alchemist stood in front of the two girls and held a vial in front of each of them, "This potion will cure back pain, and this potion make you feel less tired."

IF and Lyrica looked at the vials full of liquid for a moment before taking each took their respective medicine and downed the contents. The potions took effect almost immediately after being consumed; Lyrica felt energized and slightly perkier, while IF felt her lower back pain just melt away, "Wow. I feel a lot better after that. Thanks Gu-"

When IF and Lyrica looked back down at Gust, the bunny cap wearing girl still had her hands outstretched, "Do you… want me to shake your hand, Gust?"

IF's face paled slightly. Lyrica had never met Gust before now, so she had no idea what was going on, "She's doesn't want you to shake her hand…"

Gust's eyes began to sparkle, and the group could swear they saw money signs replace her beady eyes, "For labor and ingredients."

Lyrica gave the alchemist an incredulous look, she couldn't believe what she was hearing, "We're in the same party, why are you charging us?"

Neptune watched as Gust continued to hold out her hands to the two girls, obviously she wasn't going to put them until she had been paid, "Looks like Gust strikes again. Well, we didn't get hit so we don't need any potions and that means more money for sweets."

IF and Lyrica reluctantly paid their newest party member for the potions that had just cured them before the party went back to their previous discussion, "All this aside, what do we do now? The Tech Expo isn't for a few days, so we have some time before we have to… go and help Chian."

The brunette cringed slightly, knowing that she was going to have to be reduced to a 'booth babe' on the day of the Expo. IF didn't want to suffer such an indignity, but had no choice if the party was to participate in the Tech Expo and hopefully get some kind of hint as to where the Lastation Key Fragment was.

Compa sympathized with IF, but knew it had to be done. So instead of bringing up more about the Expo, she decided to steer the conversation more towards something the group could do now, "We should see if the people here have any monster problems. Or maybe there's a job we could do."

Heero quickly checked his laptop and found that there was one job request available for them, though he could already see the response he was going to get from the party's leader, "There is one job available and the contact is requesting us specifically. The job contact is a representative from Avenir."

Neptune had just put another spoonful of pudding into her mouth when Heero had said that the job contact for the next assignment was from Avenir. The purplenette began to choke on the pudding in her mouth for a moment before turning to Heero with a disgruntled look on her face, "Heero, it's really hard for me to enjoy my pudding when you tell me we gotta work for the bad guys. Can't we work for somebody else? We got money now, right?"

It was true, the party had a fair amount of credits in their saving from all the job requests they had completed, and they had taken care to only buy what was absolutely necessary, "It is true that we are stable financially. However, I believe we should undertake this job to see if it sheds some light on what Avenir plans to present at the Technology Expo."

IF leaned back in her chair as she thought about the idea, "We already know that Avenir has been planning for the Expo for some time now. It might help if we know just what we're up against."

Neptune had a pouty look on her face as she folded her arms, "But I don't wanna help Avenir. Their totally evil."

Lyrica was restringing Mr. Guitar when Neptune started complaining about helping Avenir, "But what if the request is about saving someone? We can't just say no to a request like that."

Heero looked back at his laptop to see the job request, though he could not find any specific details in regards to what it was about, what the target monster or item was, or any other information, "The job description does not say whether or not this will be a rescue mission. Statistically speaking, the chances of the request being a search and rescue operation fall slightly below ten percent. Regardless, we should still verify whether or not it has anything to do with the Expo."

Gust raised one of her gloved hands into the air, "Gust will go, too!"

The purple haired leader of the party looked around at each member, and they all seemed to be in agreement on the idea of taking the job from Avenir. Neptune hung her head in defeat, "Aww… we gotta help the bad guys, lame. I'd rather do nothing than help them."

As the group began to make preparations to leave, Compa noticed that Heero had dust and mud stains on his jeans, "Heero, when was the last time you washed your jeans? They're all dirty."

Heero looked down at his jeans and could see the dirt along his pant legs. IF looked at the Gundam pilot's jeans before looking down at herself, "Come to think of it… when was the last time any of us had our clothes washed?"

Everyone else in the party looked down at themselves for a moment and realized that there was dirt on their clothes as well. Lyrica scratched her cheek as her eyes shifted toward her left, "Well… I've never had to worry about washing my clothes because of my job."

Gust had a blank look on her face as she looked at the dirt on her gloves, "…Gust forgot to wash off clothes yesterday. Gust is very dirty."

Neptune had some dirt as well as some pudding stains on her hoodie, "I really should get this washed, huh? My hoodie's all covered in dirt and stuff."

Compa stood up from her chair and ducked into the laundry room. Shortly after going in, the pink haired nurse came back out with an empty laundry basket. Compa set the basket down on the table in the middle of the room, "I want everyone to put their dirty laundry in here so I can have it washed. We're not going anywhere until we're all wearing clean clothes."

IF stood up and began to walk toward the front door, "It's not like we absolutely have to wash our clothes just yet. I'm sure we can get away with one more quest before we-"

The brunette guild member had only just began to open the door when it suddenly slammed shut. IF turned around to find Compa standing right behind her, a dark aura surrounding her being, "We're NOT going ANYWHERE until we're ALL wearing clean clothes." The nurse in training leaned over until she was right in IF's face. "Either you go up to your room and take those clothes off, or I'll do it myself. You wouldn't want that, would you?"

A look of terror and despair was evident on IF's face as she watched the nurse in training. Compa slowly turned her face to look at the rest of the group. "Are you all going to take your clothes off? Or do I have to do it for you?"

Neptune, Lyrica and Gust swallowed hard. Neptune's lips quirked into a nervous smile as she looked at the intimidating girl, "Compa's uber scary right now. We'd better do what she says before she snaps."

The trio hurriedly made their way up the stair to their rooms before Compa turned her attention back to IF, who was still sweating bullets, "You too. Get to your room and take off those dirty clothes. NOW."

IF quickly ran up the stairs to escape Compa's intimidating gaze, "(She's too damn scary!)"

Heero had been watching the whole spectacle and was clearly surprised at the result, "That was quite impressive. Your ability to intimidate others into following orders is quite useful."

Compa turned to Heero with her usual bright smile, the dark commanding aura dissipating, "Well, I had to get them to hand over those dirt clothes somehow, right?" The pink haired girl walked over to the Gundam pilot and poked him in the chest. "Sorry to say, Heero, but you have to hand over those dirty clothes of yours, too."

Heero didn't bother protesting for two reasons. One, he didn't want Compa to get upset and two, his clothes were rather messy and could use a wash. Fortunately the Perfect Soldier had a spare tank top and his black shorts that he could put on.

After the rest of the party gave her their clothes to be washed, Compa retreated into the laundry room. After turning on the washing machine, Compa noticed that the room was rather humid, "I better open a window or this laundry will never get done."

After Compa opened a window, she began to get the washing machine ready. As this was going on, an… unexpected visitor was walking around the outside of the safe house. Black Heart was carefully sneaking around outside, not wanting to alert the party to her whereabouts, "Okay, I know that Neptune and her party have come back. I just need to find out exactly where she is so I can take her out. One good surprise attack should do the trick. Now… in a situation like this, I need to find an open window."

Compa began to toss the party's clothes into the washing machine until she grabbed Heero's green tank top. The pink haired girl stopped what she was doing and looked at the top worn by the party's lone male member. She looked to her left and then to her right before looking back down at the piece of clothing, her cheeks turning a soft shade of pink, "I bet it smells like Heero…"

Black Heart made her way to the back of the house and spotted the open laundry room window. Her lips curved into a smirk, "There it is. Neptune, today's the day that you go down and I free Heero from your evil clutches. N-Not that I care about him or anything. It's just I feel bad for him! Always having to take orders from her and whatnot must be degrading."

The white haired swordstress began to make her way over to the open window. Black Heart had arrived at the window at the exact same time that Compa stuffed her face into Heero's tank top. Black Heart's mouth fell open as she stared at the nurse in training, "What are you doing with Heero's clothes?!"

Compa immediately pulled her face out of Heero's tank top and turned her head in the direction of the voice to find Black Heart staring at her. Three seconds passed before Compa let out a high pitched scream, "Kyaaaaaaaah!"

Almost immediately after Compa screamed, the laundry door was kicked open and Heero entered the room with his gun drawn, "What's going on in here?"

Black Heart felt her heart stop the moment Heero entered the room, "(I was trying not to get caught, but this would give me a chance to talk to Heero. It's not like I really want to or anything, I just want to know how badly Neptune has been mistreating him! That way I have some extra incentive to defeat her! That's it. I have no ulterior motive or anything. It's not like I'm still hung up on the question of what sort of girl Heero is interested in. Because I'm not!)"

Neptune walked into the room and stood behind Heero, "Whatcha screaming for, Compa? Did the laundry machine attack you or something?"

Heero briefly looked over his shoulder at Neptune before looking back toward Compa and Black Heart, but was force to do a double take when he saw what Neptune was wearing. The preteen was wearing a blue long sleeve shirt. The sleeves of the shirt only left the tips of the girl's fingers exposed while the bottom came down to her thighs, "Neptune, why are you wearing my shirt?"

Neptune had a grin on her face as she looked down at the shirt she was wearing, "Well, Compa's got all of my clothes, even my underwear. So, I thought I would come see you in your room and we could have a really hot M rated scene. I checked, but you weren't in there, and I found this great shirt of yours! I figured that since we're lovers, you wouldn't mind if I borrowed it."

IF and Lyrica had poked their heads out from behind the doorway. IF was wearing a towel and had water dripping from her body, while Lyrica was wearing and apron. Since IF had clearly been forced to come out of the shower to see what was going on, she was quite upset, "What the hell is going on in here?"

Compa pointed over at Black Heart, "The Heero stealing Nep-Nep stalker is back!"

Neptune gave a half glare to the swordstress standing outside the safe house, "I betcha she knew we were getting our laundry done today, so the Destined Lover Stealer tried to get a peek at some of this sweet Nep flesh. Well, you're not gonna get THAT lucky, missy!"

Black Heart picked up a nearby rock and threw it at the purplenette, hitting her right in the forehead, "Why would I ever want to see you naked?! The only person I would ever consider looking at naked would be Heero!"

Silence dominated the air, and it took a few seconds for Black Heart to realize what was wrong with what she had said. The white haired girl's face turned an interesting shade of red as she flailed her hands in front of herself. "N-Not that I want to! I don't want to! I-I'm just saying that if I had to look at any of you while you're naked then I'd rather look at Heero then the rest of you!" Of course, having said THAT Black Heart was left feeling even more embarrassed as she continued to spew out more and more words in an attempt to clear herself of the accusation of being a pervert, "B-But I don't want to look at Heero when he isn't wearing anything! Really!"

IF watched the swordstress with an irritated look on her face, "Keep talking. You're just digging yourself an even deeper hole."

Lyrica's face slowly began to turn pale as she listened to Black Heart, "S-She came here to… see Heero u-undress?!"

Neptune had a disgruntled look on her face as she looked at the snow haired girl, "Eww! The plug suit lady is a total pervert!"

Black Heart stomped her foot on the ground as her attempts to clear her name didn't seem to be working, "I'm NOT a pervert!" The swordstress from Lastation pointed at Compa, who was still holding Heero's tank top. "The only pervert here is your friend! She's the one sniffing Heero's clothes like some paint sniffing addict!"

Neptune, IF and Lyrica turned their attention over to their medic, who was holding Heero's top awfully close to her face. Lyrica had a deadpanned look on her face, "…I never would have pegged Compa as the perverted type."

IF folded her arms, the way she looked at Compa suggested she wasn't really surprised, "To be honest… I actually saw Compa pulling some kind of crap like this."

Neptune was quite surprised at the nurse in training as she began to look guiltier of being a pervert, "Whoa… you're a pervert, Compa."

The pink haired nurse's face began to change to a maroon colored hue as she looked at her party, "I-I'm not a pervert! I just accidently ended up smelling it while putting the clothes in the washing machine!"

As the conversation went on, Heero was left to wonder how his tank top of all things had sparked this argument. He had never had to deal with anyone smelling his clothes… of course, Heero had never had to deal with such a colorful group of girls like this before. Heero cleared his throat to get the party's attention, "Need I remind you that this girl is here with the intent to defeat and possibly kill Neptune? We should focus on removing her from the area or eliminating her altogether."

The group of girls returned their attention to the unwanted guest. Neptune had all but forgotten about Black Heart until Heero had said she was still there, "Oh. Right. The creepy, pervy stalker is still here. Let's beat her up!"

Black Heart's face turned pale as she saw what was coming, "Uh oh."

Without wasting another second, Black Heart ran away from the party's safe house as fast as she could. It wasn't as though she wanted to run away, it was just that Black Heart knew that she stood no chance of fighting the party when Heero was there to help them. "I'll let you off this time, Neptune! But don't think you'll get away next time!"

Neptune stuck her head out of the open window to shout at the fleeing Black Heart, "Hey, get back here so we can beat you up for trying to peek at Heero, pervert!"

Before the party's purple haired leader could go after the swordstress, Heero grabbed her by the collar of her… HIS shirt, "There is no point in going after her. She has already left, and any attempts at pursuing her would end in failure. We still have other, more important tasks to worry about as well."

Neptune let out a huff in disappointment, "Fine. But don't come crying to me when she steals you from me."

IF and Lyrica went back to what they were doing before the screaming, while Neptune focused her attention on Compa. "Compa, no more sniffing Heero's shirts, or whatever. Only his true Destined Lover is allowed to do that."

Neptune left the laundry room with Compa shouting at her retreating form saying how she wasn't sniffing Heero's clothes, and the Gundam pilot was left to question how it was that the girls in this world could be so different in comparison to the girls from his world, especially in regards to how they functioned around him.

Xxx

It took about thirty minutes, but Compa had washed and dried the party's clothes… or at least those worn by the girls. Heero's denim jeans and jacket had to go through the washing machine in a separate load, and the Perfect Soldier didn't want to waste any more time and opted to leave the safe house in his spare top and shorts.

The job request from Avenir required the party to head to a mega storage complex on one of the neighboring islands surrounding Lastation. As the party approached the gates of the storage facility, they caught sight of a familiar silhouette, the Avenir employee Ganache, "It's been a while. I've been waiting here so I can explain your job to you."

Neptune knew Ganache, she just couldn't recall his name. That, or she just couldn't be bothered to remember his name at all, "Hey, you're that funky solicitor who keeps popping up ever since we saved you! Are you workin' hard or hardly workin'?"

The Avenir employee scratched the back of his head as he looked at the energetic preteen. "…It's been ages since I heard that. Do I seem busy? I'm taking half the week off. I'm basically done preparing."

"I'm so envi-…" Compa was about to say something, when she suddenly stopped in mid-sentence, "No! That's against the labor laws. I knew you were a twisted bunch!"

"Well, most manufacturing is done by the machines now, so…"

Heero knew that employees would never be given half a week off or more under normal circumstances unless they were going on vacation or something. Of course, Avenir wasn't a normal circumstance, "Since the Representative Singe makes most of the decisions in Avenir it is no surprise that one such decision would be to replace the companies' human resources with machines. His inability to work with other humans would have the beneficial side effect of increasing the time off that the human employees receive."

Neptune of course remembered the fact that there were so few actual human employees within Avenir only after someone brought up the fact, "Oh, right-o. Your guy hates people technicians, yeah? Most of the work is done by machines, huh?"

"Yes. Anyway, let's cease the gossip and get back to the topic at hand." The Avenir employee gestured to the facility behind him. "This facility here is older than you think. It was already closed down a few years back, actually."

IF cocked an eyebrow at Ganache, clearly questioning the reason behind why the facility was abandoned, "And you just abandoned a perfectly good building like that? How selfish. So what are we doing here?""

"There are still some important materials stowed away. We want you to find and collect them all."

A worried expression made its way onto Compa's face as she alternated between looking at the other party members and Ganache, "We have to give everything we find? I don't know if I like this job description…"

"No, just the items we specify. You can pocket whatever other garbage you find."

The Avenir employee's choice of words didn't do much to make Compa feel any better about the job. "Now it sounds like we're just getting table scraps. I still don't really like this."

Neptune was starting to get impatient. She wanted to do something, anything before her motivation for doing… well, anything suddenly disappeared, "So what're we lookin' for? Bazookas? Lucky Strikers? Cardboard boxes?"

"Less like items, more like materials. We're looking for a certain type of raw ore."

Neptune already didn't like the idea of working for Avenir, but now she and the party were going to be working for their (or at least her) nemesis collecting rocks? "You want five cute girls roughing their delicate hands looking for rocks?! I mean, Heero would do it for me cause we're lovers and all, but c'mon!" The purplenette eyed Ganache with suspicion. "Whatcha gonna do with rocks anyway?"

"They're unrealistically useful. They're also very scarce since monsters have started to get in the way of our mining. Of course, they're not just normal rocks. One possesses enough energy to power a game console for ten thousand years!"

Heero knew that there was no way possible way that a piece of rock could produce that kind of power, "(Neptune would have to be truly gullible to believe such an obvious lie.)"

Unfortunately, Neptune only confirmed what the Gundam had been thinking, as was clear the way her eyes began to sparkle with fascination, "Ten thousand years?! That's awesome. So we're getting something really awesome?"

Heero pinched the bridge of his nose, (…Of course, Neptune WOULD be gullible enough to believe such an obvious lie.)"

"Yes, you got it! A lot of our products are used outdoors where power outlets aren't an option." Ganache turned in the direction of the entrance to the storage facility, "If you would follow me."

Before the party followed after the Avenir employee, IF noticed that Heero was glaring at the back of Ganache's head, "Heero, you're making that face again. What's up?"

The Perfect Soldier continued to glare at the back of the Avenir employee's head, "It would be best for us to exercise caution with this assignment. Something about this job request is off."

Gust had a worried look on her face as she focused her attention on the building ahead, "Gust also senses something wrong."

Lyrica was rubbing her arms as if she were cold, "I'm not really getting a good feeling from that guy… Something about him creeps me out."

IF folded her arms over her chest as an irritated look crossed her face, "Wait… he's not possessed by a monster like that Black Market shop keep from Lowee, is he?"

Heero didn't think Ganache was possessed by a monster. More like it was that the employee from Avenir was plotting something, "All we can do is maintain vigilance while undertaking this job."

Neptune tried to imitate Heero's glare, but being an energetic, bubbly, happy-go-lucky preteen, failed to look even the slightest bit intimidating, "Heero's gettin' all serious now. I'd better put on my serious face."

The party followed Ganache into the facility, and eventually passed him altogether. After passing through the entrance, the party examined the area when the entrance suddenly closed behind them, and IF was the first to point it out, "Huh? Did the entrance just close on us?" The brunette knocked on the closed metal doors. "Yo, solicitor, what did you do?!"

"What did I do? Oh dear… I'm sorry. It seems there was some malfunction and the entrance has closed." Heero could tell by the sound of the employee's voice that he was lying, but Ganache showed his true colors instead of Heero pointing it out. "…Actually, this is all according to plan. We'll have you tasty little girls get eaten by the monsters here!"

With the doors closed there was minimal lighting in the area and the lack of light was starting to get to Compa, "Wh-What's happening? I hate being in the dark like this. Please open the entrance now!"

"Uh-oh… fine, I guess complete darkness isn't quite fair. I'll turn a few lights on so you can see where you're going."

A few seconds passed before the lights in the facility came to life. Neptune couldn't believe what was happening as she turned to face the now closed entrance, "But, but, but why?! Don't you wanna get the rocks?"

"…Really? You seriously believe there are rocks able to power a game console for ten thousand years?"

Heero glanced at Neptune as he faced the metal doors that Ganache was hiding behind, "It was an obvious lie, Neptune. No mere ore could produce such vast amounts of power on their own."

"Pretty much. I lied about that to get you all riled up. This job is from me, personally. I used the company's name, but who cares?"

Neptune didn't like the fact that the party had been lied to and were going to be left to the monsters, "What'd we do to you?! Why're you doing this? I thought we were kinda like neighbors!"

"I met someone a while back and since then, I've known about you… Neptune."

Gust had a blank look on her face as she listened to where the conversation was going, "You sound like stalker and pervert."

"You're stalking her, too?" IF look over at Neptune, questioning whether or not the purplenette was actually a good person. "Nep, were you some sort of super villain before you lost your memory?"

Neptune was clearly offended that IF could think such a thing, "No way!"

Even Compa denied the possibility, "No way! I know Nep-Nep very well, and Nep-Nep has only been Nep-Nep all this time."

The brunette waved her hands in front of herself in a defensive manner. "You can't be sure of that. I want to trust her too, y'know. I was just joking, okay?"

"Iffy…"

IF looked over at the other three members of the party that had yet to say anything about the idea of Neptune being a villain, "What do you guys think?"

Lyrica had a small smile on her face, "Well… Neptune just seems too nice to be a villain."

Gust had money signs in her eyes as she thought about the purplenette, "She is good source of income."

The girls then waited for a response from their lone male party member. Heero glanced over at them before returning his attention to the closed door, "…Neptune is too nice to be a villain of any kind. Moreover, she is too gullible and lacks the intellect required to be a villain."

Neptune pumped her arms as a grin spread across her face, "Yeppers! There's no way I can be a bad guy."

Lyrica looked at the purplenette and questioned how she could be fine with the way Heero described how she couldn't be a villain, "Umm, Neptune?"

IF placed a hand on the cerulean singer's shoulder to stop her, "Give her a moment."

It took a few seconds, but Neptune finally caught what Heero said and turned to face the Gundam pilot with a frown on her face, "Wait a minute… what do you mean I'm too gullible and lack intelligence? You sayin' I'm stupid or something, Heero? You're not supposed to say anything bad about your lover. You gotta say positive stuff."

Heero folded his arms over his chest, "Would you rather I lie and say that you ARE a villain?"

Neptune started flailing her arms in the air so fast it was rather surprising that she wasn't flying, "Well, no… but you don't have to say that I'm gullible her nothing! Don't say the really mean things, just replace them with something like 'Neptune's too cute to be a villain!' or something like that!"

"Oops, one last thing. This building will explode in a few minutes. Sorry for the cliché ending. Farewell!" With that, Ganache turned on his heels and beat a hasty retreat from the building.

IF snapped her head back to look at the retreating Avenir employee, a look of disbelief on her face, "What?! …He's gone." The brunette returned her attention to the party. "What should we do? There are monsters around and we don't know if there's another way out."

Neptune clapped her hands together to get the party's attention, "Okay, let's concentrate on getting outta here first. Next time we see him, we'll kick him where it hurts!"

IF gave the purplenette a questioning look, "Were you listening to me at all? That optimistic, one-track mind is your main weakness and only strength…"

"I wouldn't say it's her only strength. But if it was, I would see it as more of a strength than a weakness, and one that certainly helps to bring the team together."

The party's purple haired preteen looked up at the ceiling as a smile spread across her face, "Hiya, Z! What's shakin'? You gonna party up with us today?"

Heero heard Zero giggle, clearly amused by the energetic girl. "I don't know if it would count as 'partying up', however I can find a way for you and everyone to get out of this area."

It was at times like this that Heero was grateful that he was able to communicate with Zero, for he surely would have a hard time dealing with these girls without a break from their usual awkwardness, and in some cases, stupidity, "I assume you already have the area mapped out and have found an exit to this facility?"

"It was quite simple, really. I would say it was hardly worth the time or effort were it not for the fact that this building is about to explode."

Neptune's face slightly paled as her lips curved into a nervous smile, "Oh, right… this place is about to go boom. We should run, shouldn't we?"

Gust looked around at the party in confusion before focusing her attention on Neptune and Heero, "Why are Neptune and Heero talking to thin air?"

Compa pat the small girl on the head knowing that this was her first time hearing Heero and Neptune talk to Zero, despite the fact that the rest of the party couldn't, "They're talking to Z. She's really helpful."

IF was checking her cellphone while Compa was explaining to Gust what was going on, "Z is much more helpful than Histy, that's for sure."

Once again, Neptune clapped her hands together to get the party's attention, "Okay people, let's not waste any more time with useless chapter dialogue and get outta here!"

The party broke into a run and began their trek into the building to find the exit before it turned into a giant bonfire. Of course, with Zero guiding them it was a simple matter of following her directions, "Proceed straight ahead until the path splits off and turn left."

Following Zero's instructions, the group ran straight through the corridor. As soon as they arrived at the end of the corridor, the group took the path on the left as per Zero's instructions, only to run into a trio of Automatic Turrets that immediately opened fire on the party. Neptune hid behind the closest thing that would cover her person… which was Lyrica, "Meat shield, be a pal and take one for the team! And by team, I mean me."

Lyrica started to panic as Neptune pushed her out in front as bullets from the automatons ahead flew past her, "I'm not a meat shield! Stop hiding behind me!"

As the hail of bullets continued the group hid behind stacks of wooden boxes. Wood splinters were thrown in every direction as pieces of the wooden boxes broke off, having been struck by the relentless barrage laid down by the Automatic turrets. IF had a disgruntled look on her face as she sat down next to Heero and Gust, "Well this is just fantastic. We're stuck in a building that's about to explode, and we're trapped here by monsters that just have to have guns. What next? Is a giant monster going to be waiting for us after this?"

Compa shouted from behind the other stack of crates that she, Neptune and Lyrica were hiding behind, "Don't jinx us, Iffy! If you say that, there really will be a giant monster at the end!"

Heero looked past the corner of the pile of boxes at the three robots that were keeping the party from moving, "All three targets are fairly close to one another. If we were to get close enough, we could eliminate all three in one attack."

Gust rummaged through the pouch on the front of her skirt and pulled out six vials containing varies colored liquids, "Gust has special potions that will disable monsters. Need someone to shoot vials, or they won't break."

The Gundam pilot armed his GN Sword while keeping his attention focused on the robots that were still firing at the wooden boxes, "Compa and Lyrica will take care of breaking open the glass vials. Neptune, IF and I will deal with the enemies once they have been disabled."

Gust ran out from behind the stack of boxes and threw the six vials at the trio of automations. At the same time as Gust threw her potions, Compa and Lyrica popped out from where they were hiding and destroyed the concoctions with a flurry of syringe fired bullets and guitar generated bolts of lightning.

Once the vials were broken their contents began to mix and showered the three turrets, causing electricity to ark out in every direction and short out the electronics within the small robotic weapons. Once the Automatic Turrets were disabled, Heero, Neptune and IF rushed out from behind cover and promptly dealt with the now disabled robots.

After making sure that the Automatic Turrets were destroyed Neptune flashed a thumbs up at Gust, "Great job, Gust! As expected of our awesome new party member."

The young Alchemist scratched the back of her head as her cheeks turned a light pink from Neptune's praise, "Hehe. You flatter Gust."

Heero walked past the purplenette and looked past the corner on the left, "You can praise Gust later. We need to focus on our exfiltration of this building."

IF ran past Neptune, along with Compa, Lyrica and Gust, "Meaning pick up those feet, chubby!"

Neptune's cheeks swelled up at having been called 'chubby' by the Guild Moderatist, "I'm not chubby! My hoodie just makes me look big, that's all."

With the trio of monsters now a pile of scrap, the party returned to the task of escaping the storage facility that was set to explode. The group followed the path on the left, as it was the only way they could go that would actually lead them out of the storage facility, "Once you get to the end of the corridor, there will be two paths to choose from. I think it should be quite obvious which way you need to go from there."

Since Heero and Neptune were the only ones that could hear Zero (much to the chagrin of the other party members), it fell to them to lead the group through the area, "Okay, Z said that we gotta keep marching and the way we need to go is real obvious."

As the party turned to their left at the end of the corridor, they could see that the passage spilt in two directions; one going left and the other straight forward. As Zero had said it was obvious which was they needed to go, as the path straight ahead led to a large room and nothing else.

Before the party could go any further, a pair of Guardians came trudging past the corner with the obvious intent of impeding the group's escape. Heero narrowed his eyes as the monsters advanced toward them, "We can't afford to waste time dealing with every enemy we encounter. Not when time is of the essence."

Neptune pulled an Eject Button out of her hoodie pocket with one hand while the other hovered over the red button on it, "All we gotta do is use this thing and we don't have to fight these weak monsters."

Without giving it another thought Neptune mashed the red button on the small controller, while Compa's face paled slightly, "Nep-Nep… don't you remember what happened the last time you used one of those?"

The purple haired girl assumed her thinking position before it finally dawned on her what it was that the nurse in training was taking about. Neptune's lips curved into a nervous smile as she looked at the device in her hand, "Oh yeah… THAT happened."

Before anymore words could be exchanged, an explosion launched Neptune into the air and past the two monster advancing toward the party, "Aaaaaahhhh! Heero! Get me dooooooown!"

The explosion created a smokescreen that prevented the monsters from seeing anything, which the party used to maneuver around them without having to fight. Heero quickly scooped up the dazed Neptune as he and the rest of the team rounded the corner to the path of the right. IF looked at the disoriented Neptune as the group continued to run down the corridor, "Nice to know your face can take a lot of punishment. Way to take one for the team."

Neptune had a red mark on her left cheek from where she landed on it from the fall. The purplenette looked at IF with an annoyed look on her face, "Next time you take one for the team, Iffy! That hurt!"

"Not gonna happen any time soon."

Zero had been silently monitoring the party as they advanced toward the exit of the death trap they found themselves in, questioning Neptune's use of the Eject Button, "That was a rather… unorthodox method, but it seems to have worked. Follow this corridor until you come upon another intersection, then take a right."

As with every other building and dungeon before, Heero found it to be longer than it actually looked on the outside, which made it even more annoying. The length and number of twists and turns were completely unnecessary, as if it were a maze constructed for lab rats.

After a minute of navigating the pointless turns throughout corridor, the party came to the second intersecting path. Of course as soon as they arrived another group of monster came out to stop them. This time, the 'monsters' consisted of two gold plated Automated Turrets that were named 'Micro Burst'. The other enemy was a 'Dragoon', a heavily armed bipedal robot.

Lyrica lightly pushed Neptune forward toward the monsters, "Neptune, you should take one for the team again. Use another one of those… remote things you used before."

The purple haired preteen's cheeks swelled as she turned to look at the songstress, "No way! I mean, it'd be one thing if Heero was gonna kiss me to make me feel better, but I don't wanna get all banged up! Besides, we only bought one of those remote thingies that let us run away from monsters."

Since he had expected to fight at least a few of the enemies in the area, Heero had kept his GN Sword armed since the first battle, "Then we will have to eliminate the enemy as quickly as possible. Gust, Lyrica and I will deal with the bipedal weapon in the back. Neptune, Compa and IF will deal with the smaller targets."

The two Micro Burst immediately started firing, but not before Compa fired a charged bullet from her syringe that incapacitated one of the small robots, "Nep-Nep, Iffy, you two can have the last one."

When the pink haired nurse didn't receive a response, she turned around to find both Neptune and IF hiding behind another stack of boxes. Neptune poked her head out to shout at Compa, "Since you did such a good job with that first monster, you can have the other one."

IF popped her head out for a brief moment as well, "You seem to have it under control. Just shout if you need help."

Compa looked over at the pile of boxes in disbelief as both Neptune and IF hid behind them as a shower of bullets flew through the air toward them, "B-B-But we're supposed to be a party! You have to help me!"

While Compa, Neptune and... well, Compa was busy dealing with the other small robot, Heero, Gust and Lyrica were handling the Dragoon fairly well. It may have been a heavily armed mech, but it seemed as though the large array of weapons was just for show, as it really only used one weapon at a time and they weren't all that powerful.

Gust threw two vials at the bipedal weapon, which shattered against its right arm and upon mixing together incased the metallic limb in ice. Once the arm was unusable, Lyrica began to strum the cords on Mr. Guitar until they began to glow red and a fireball shot out from the electric instrument. The ball of fire struck the frozen right arm, destroying the limb and the weapons attached to it.

Heero closed in on the bipedal machine as it reeled from losing its arm and severed its other arm before driving the blade of his GN Sword through what was presumably its head. The Dragoon shook violently before finally falling over and exploding, sending small pieces of metal flying in every direction. Heero shielded himself from the debris with his GN Sword as a piece of shrapnel grazed his cheek.

Once the dust from the explosion settled, Heero looked over to where Neptune, Compa and IF were to see the party's nurse in training finish off the second Micro Burst. After dealing with the last monster, Compa walked over to the stack of boxes Neptune and IF were behind and dragged both girls out before throwing them into the middle of the corridor. Compa did not look the least bit happy as she looked down at the two girls with a dark aura surrounding her being, "Why didn't you two help me?"

Both Neptune and IF were sweating bullets as they looked up at the intimidating girl. Neptune got up and tried to reason with the nurse, "W-Well, you totally beat up both monster, so I don't see what the problem is."

IF wanted to slap Neptune for her choice of words, knowing they were just going to make things worse. Compa raised her arm and pointed down the corridor with her index finger. "You two. Up front. NOW."

The two girls knew better than to try and argue with Compa as she was right now. Neptune and IF took the lead, while the rest of the party followed. Lyrica started whispering to Heero and Gust, fear evident in her eyes, "Is it j-just me… or is Compa being r-really scary today…?"

Gust was hiding her eyes underneath her bunny cap as they followed after the other three girls, "Compa most terrifying. Truly force to be reckoned with."

Heero didn't see things the same way as the rest of the party did, "I see Compa's intimidation as being quite useful. She can make Neptune and IF stop arguing and even force them into handling tasks they wouldn't perform otherwise. As long as she doesn't abuse it, I see no problem in her intimidating them."

Upon turning the corner at the end of the corridor, Neptune saw a door at the end that was slightly ajar with light flowing through the opening, "Hey, I see sunlight!"

The group ran toward the door, hoping that it was really an exit to the building that was supposed to explode. Neptune burst through the door, took a quick look around, and then stood with her hands on her hips, "An exit! Boy am I glad we didn't give up!" The purple haired girl flashed a thumbs up in to the air, since she didn't know where Zero was, "Thanks for the help, Z. You're way more helpful than Histy."

"You're quite welcome. I have a few more things to sort out, but I believe I can still help if anything comes up."

IF folded her arms over her chest, slightly irked that the purplenette had insinuated that she would give up, "I wasn't giving up. Anyway, I wonder if that guy really thought this was gonna do us in."

Compa had returned to her usual frame of mind after the party got out of the building and into the city, "Well, being trapped inside a building crawling with nasty monsters is a big deal! We could've been a meal for any of them, you know?"

The brunette shook her head, seeing as how the pink haired girl next to her wasn't getting the point, "…I mean, he's seen what we're capable of. I doubt he really thought this was going to be effective against us."

Neptune waved off the Guild Moderatist, "We've made it out safe n' sound! What else matters? We're done for today so let's go grab some grub at Chian's place!"

As the party made their way through the city toward Chian's workshop, Lyrica saw with a look on his face that suggested that he was deep in thought, "What's wrong, Heero? You look like you're thinking really hard about something."

Heero took a moment to look at the teenaged singing sensation before picking up his train of thought, "I makes a good point. Having seen our fighting levels, I cannot help but feel there was more to his trap. Either he planned very poorly, or…"

Compa was humming to herself when she saw a large number of people congregating ahead of the party, "Look… What's all the commotion? Did something happen?"

Chian came out of the crowd of people and stopped in front of the party gasping for air, "…Haah, haah… Please, help! Avenir's robots invaded my factory!"

Heero narrowed is eyes as he saw smoke in the direction of Chian's factory, "…A trap to stall for time."

The party quickly made their way through the crowd of people and headed for Chian's factory, with the factory owner following behind, though at a slower pace.

It took the party five minutes to get to the factory Passe… Or rather, the ruined remains of it. Bricks and steel girders littered the ground, small fires dotted the area and smoke was rising into the sky from the devastation.

IF slowly scanned the destroyed factory, "I guess that jackass was just trying to keep us busy for a while. It wasn't personal, after all."

Compa looked like she was about to burst into tears for Chian and her workers, "This is so horrible. Everything's been ruined. How are they supposed to work now?!"

Lyrica looked around at the destruction that had been caused by Ganache and Avenir, unsure of what to make of what was going on, "How can they do… something so cruel? These people didn't do anything wrong!"

Gust had a stern look on her young face, "Greed is powerful motivator. People will do anything to satisfy own desires."

As Heero scanned the devastation, he caught sight of a large machine with an axe in one hand and a mace in the other moving toward them. The 'Killachine' as the machine was called, was floating in the air despite having no visible means of propulsion or levitation, "This must be the machine that caused the damage. It would be best to destroy it now so that it doesn't cause any more damage to the surrounding area."

It was then that Heero noticed that Neptune actually had an angry look on her adorable face. Normally her cheeks would swell or she would pout when she was upset, so this was quite rare, "He did all this, eh? This is absolutely, positively, most undeniably unacceptable!"

"Quite. Such acts are not to be forgive, so it would be best to destroy that abomination in front of you as quickly and efficiently as possible."

Neptune looked up into the air, completely caught off guard by Zero's voice, "Whoa, you're still here, Z?"

"Well, I did say I would be available in case anything came up."

Lyrica looked up at the 'Killachine' with disbelief evident in her eyes, "You just had to jinx us, IF."

Gust had a blank expression as she looked at the brunette, "IF brings bad luck."

The Guild Moderatist shot an irritated look at the girls, "This is merely a coincidence. It's not my fault that things here."

Neptune gave a half glare to IF as she defended herself, "Boo! Iffy, you suck."

"You can save your argument for later. Right now, we need to focus on dealing with the target."

The girls looked at Heero for a moment before looking at the Killachine, which looked as though it could go on a rampage and caused even greater destruction than what it had already caused, "We got Z helping us, so this should be a snap… right?"

Heero gave a brief nod, "Zero is a better strategist than I am. She can come up with a number of effective battle plans that have a higher success rate than any plan I could formulate."

"I'm flattered that you would speak so highly of me, Heero. Rest assured, I will devise the best course of action so that you needn't subject yourselves to needless risk."

Once again, Gust was looking at Neptune as though she had lost her mind, "Gust still has trouble believing Neptune can talk to thin air and air talk back. Is she really talking to person?"

IF folded her arms and gathered her thoughts, "Well… I would have no trouble believing that Nep has mental issues, were it not for the fact that Heero can talk to Histy and Z. And Heero has no issues so…"

The party was interrupted by the Killachine swinging its large mace at them, causing the party members to disperse. Neptune started shaking her fist at the large floating machine that had just tried to flatten the group, "Hey, you gotta wait your turn before attacking, jerk!"

"I doubt the enemy will wait, which is why you must destroy it. Fortunately, I have analyzed the enemy and have formed a battle strategy based around its capabilities and what your 'party' is capable. I also factored in the terrain, time of day, direction of the wind, weapons, ammunition-"

Neptune managed a nervous smile as she looked up at the sky, "Uh… That's real great and all, Z, but… if you keep goin' on about all that I think I'm gonna get a headache."

Zero paused for a moment before continuing. "Then I will be brief. You, Heero and IF will focus on attacking the target at close range, while Compa, Lyrica and Gust support you three from the rear. Normally I would recommend maintaining your distance and attacking from afar, but the enemy's armor is too tough to break through with ranged attacks alone. You will have to penetrate the armor first before your support group can deal any significant damage."

The purple haired girl looked over at the four girls standing on the other side of the Killachine, "Hey! Compa! You, Lyrics and Gust gotta help me, Heero and Iffy while we bust that boss open like a… like a…" Neptune turned to look at Heero, taking on her thinking position. "Uh, Heero? What are we gonna bust the boss open like? A peanut? A tin can?"

Lyrica started flailing her arms as she ran away from the Killachine as it made a second attempt to try and flatten her along with the other party members nearby, "Who cares what you're trying to bust it open like?! Just hurry up and do something!"

There wasn't going to be any running while the Killachine was around, so the party prepared themselves. Heero, Neptune and IF went with Zero's plan and closed in on the large 'monster' if it could be considered one. The Killachine raised its left arm and swung its axe at IF in vertical strike. The brunette effortlessly sidestepped out of the way to avoid the attack from the sharp blade, "Did you really think I was gonna take a hit from such a slow attack?"

It was clear from the devastation caused by the Killachine that the machine was built for destructive power, but had to sacrifice speed for its armor and power. As long as the party took advantage of their mobility, they wouldn't have to worry about taking any damage. Heero, noted how thick the large machine's armor plating looked and knew that it was going to take some effort to win, "It would be best to focus our attacks on one point and break through the armor that way. Wildly attacking won't get us anywhere."

The Killachine made another attempt at attacking the party, only to be stopped mid-swing by a hail of fire from Compa, Lyrica and Gust. Heero had gotten use to bullets coming out of Compa's syringe and Lyrica's ability to conjure bolts of lightning and fire balls with her guitar, but what Heero was now trying to wrap his mind around was how Gust was able to hide a gun in the small broom she was using as a weapon. Not only did he question how she was able to hide a gun in it, but where she had bullets for it?

Despite being a strange weapon, Heero had come to expect 'strange' in regards to some of the weaponry of Gamindustri and decided not to waste time or brain power with questions. The Killachine's attack had only been stopped temporarily, as it continued with its attack, swing its right arm and bashing the ground with its mace. Heero, Neptune and IF had been given ample time to get out of the way of the attack since the rampaging machine had been knocked off balance.

IF skid to a halt a short distance away from the other two members that made up the close range group, "So, we know we have to focus our attack to break through the armor. Where exactly are we going to strike? We need to plan fast, I don't think this thing will stay here too much longer."

It was definitely going to be difficult for the party to keep the large machine contained where it was. There was no telling how long it would stay and fight before it decided to flee and destroy another location, "Focus your attack around the mid-section. Since the target is a machine, it has to have a generator to power its systems and if you destroy it, the enemy's systems should overload."

Neptune pointed at the center of the abomination of a machine, "Z said we got bust him up right down the middle. Something about overloadin' and stuff. Don't really get it, but sounds bad for the baddy."

Heero, being the closest, decided to take the initiative and find a point for the party to focus their attacks, "(We can't stay in close proximity to the target for too long, so the task of destroying the generator falls to the support team.)"

The Perfect Soldier quickly made his way toward the Killachine and approached the abdomen of the machine from the side. Heero used some of the debris to reach a higher elevation, making it easier for him to strike his target with the blade of his GN Sword. After delivering what he felt was a solid blow, Heero retreated from the Killachine to examine the damage and frowned, "…It will take a few hits to get through that armor."

A thin cut ran across the section of armor Heero had attacked and was to be where the trio would focus their attacks in an effort to cut through the thick armor plating. Neptune tried getting close, but was tossed back by the Killachine's mace striking the ground in front of her. The purplenette tumbled backward and stopped on her back, only to sit up and start shouting at the robot, "He's totally cheating! You're not supposed to attack until it's your turn!"

IF was having much better luck than Neptune. The brunette evaded another axe swing and cut into the armor of the Killachine twice before having to pull back, widening the small cut. Neptune wasn't able to get close to the Killachine without support from Compa and the others.

The battle went on for about five minutes with Heero, Neptune and IF slowly chipping away at the Killachine's mid-section, while Compa, Lyrica and Gust tried to keep the robot off balance. The trio doing most of the fighting had received minor cuts and bruises so far, but there was no way to say for certain whether or not it would remain that way.

After yet another attempt to break through the Killachine's armor was thwarted, IF fell onto one knee next to Compa, "This things too damn tough… are we really doing any damage to it?"

Compa helped the Guild Moderatist back to her feet and applied a Band-Aid to her knee, "We have to keep trying. If we don't win, all of the civilians will be in danger!"

Gust had a concerned look on her face as she looked from the nurse in training to the giant robot that had destroyed Passe, "Gust does not see any sign of monster slowing down. Effort may be for nothing."

Lyrica was tending to Heero while Neptune was sitting next to the Gundam pilot with a tired look on her face, "Ugh... why does this boss hafta to be so tough? It's like the other bosses we've put the smack down on."

The songstress behind Heero was looking at the Killachine as it inched close and close to where the party was since it was so slow, "Neptune is right… maybe we can't beat this monster."

Heero wasn't about to accept defeat after all of the effort the team had already put in to destroying the abomination before them. Heero was consumed in a flash of light, which subsided and the Perfect Soldier was encased in the armor of the Wing Gundam, "If you girls want to leave the area, then I won't stop you. I however, have no intention of retreating."

Neptune immediately sprang to her feet, determination brimming in her eyes, "When Heero gets all cool like that I suddenly feel reenergized! We gotta beat this boss, no matter what!"

The Wing Gundam scanned the damaged mid-section of the Killachine, its sensors focusing solely on that one area, "(After all the damage we have dealt, the armor has to be ready to break.)"

With its thrusters already fired up the Gundam charged right toward the larger machine, evading the attacks from both the axe and mace that the Killachine used. Drawing the shield mounted beam saber, Heero took another swing at the middle section of the robot. This time, a piece of the Killachine's armor was sent flying and the Wing Gundam's beam saber was able to tear into the armor.

Having received actual damage the Killachine went into a spasm of sorts, stopping any and all other forms of moment as the Wing Gundam pulled back. The party watched as the metal monster began to move normally again, IF being the first to inquire as to what just happened, "Did we finally get through? If so, we just need to keep it up a little longer."

Heero saw that there was indeed a hole where he had struck, but it wasn't very large. The Wing Gundam turned in the direction of the party, "The opening in the armor is too small for indirect fire to get through. IF, you will move to support with Compa and the others, while Neptune and I finish breaking through the armor. Wait until the size has increased enough to where you can see it before firing."

Neptune stood next to the armor clad pilot, the Meh Sword Armas firmly in her hands, "We almost done? I don't like boss fights that take so long."

Both Heero and Neptune took off toward the Killachine for one final push to end the long and tedious battle. Rocks and pieces of pavement were sent flying into the air as the Killachine smashed the ground with its large weapons. The debris just bounced off of Heero since he was covered in armor, Neptune on the other hand was getting a few cuts her skin and dirt blotches on her hoodie. Once close enough, Heero thrust his beam saber into the hole he had created seconds ago, followed by Neptune, who pierced the other end of the hole with the Mech Sword Armas.

The two sabers cut in different directions, quickly widening the once small wound into a large one that was much easier to see in comparison. As Neptune began to pull away from the Killachine, the monster's large mace flew through the air toward her and there was no way for her to dodge the attack in time.

Suddenly a flash of red shot out from beside the preteen followed by an arm, which was obviously Heero. The Wing Gundam grabbed the preteen while blocking the attack aimed at her, though the impact sent both him and Neptune toward the ground. Heero crashed to the ground on his back, making sure Neptune was on top of him so she wouldn't slam into the pavement below.

Compa shifted her attention over to the duo that had just plowed into the ground, "Nep-Nep! Heero! We need to help them!"

IF extended her tight arm and use her left to steady it, "You want to help them? Then first, shoot the damn thing!"

Compa, IF, Lyrica and Gust fired at the gaping hole in the Killachine, bullets and small bolts of lightning streak through the air toward their intended target. Some of their attacks missed or hit the tough armor of the robot, but the majority found their mark and hit the generator inside until an explosion erupted from the Killachine's mid-section.

The machine shuddered as several small explosions erupted from within each section of the robot. Neptune and Heero got up in time to see the Killachine fall toward them. Heero scooped up the preteen and quickly fired up the Wing Gundam's thrusters again to evade the plummeting robot.

Upon colliding with the ground, the Avenir created robot went up in a final explosion, throwing varying sizes of metal in every direction. Once the party was sure the Killachine was destroyed they turned their attention to Chian, who was looking at the ruins of what was once her factory. Compa tried to console the owner of Passe, believing her to be distraught, "Ch-Chian? Please don't be upset. Forget all about this. We'll fix everything right up!"

Chian was visibly upset at the destruction of her factory, "Ugh, dammit! I can't lose hope yet." The owner of Passe directed her attention toward the party. "You guys still have the test model I gave you, right? I won't give up. I swore to myself I wouldn't let anything get to me like when I heard the Expo was cancelled."

Neptune had assumed her thinking position, before pulling out the Mech Sword Armas from her hoodie pocket. Chian would have known that the purplenette had the weapon on hand had she been around when the fighting started, "Oh, yeah, the test model! You can still go to the Expo with this bad boy!"

"Of course. So, I'm sorry, but I'll have to take it back until after the Expo."

Chian swiped the Mech Sword Armas out of Neptune's hands and the message: 'Chian reclaimed 'Mech Sword Armas' appeared in another of those awkward text boxes shortly after. The preteen immediately started pouting about having had her favorite weapon taken from her, "Wh-Whaaaat? Aw, why? You just gave it to us like a second ago!"

"I said until after the Expo! I can't risk it breaking before then… and there are some modifications I'd like to try."

Neptune let out a disappointed sigh as her shoulders sank. "Ugghhhh, fine, whatever. I'll let you borrow it for a little bit."

"I don't remember giving it to you to keep yet. I thought it was pretty clear you would get it after the Expo ends."

Having received her prototype weapon, Chian left the area to go to another workshop or some other place to work on the test weapon. Neptune was still sulking about having to give up her weapon, "This sucks… I really liked that sword. Now what am I gonna use to fight monsters?"

The Wing Gundam disappeared in an all too familiar flash of light, leaving Heero in its place, "We do not have any more assignments today, which gives us ample time to find you a replacement weapon."

Compa immediately glomped the purplenette once she was close enough, having been worried whether or not she was alright, "Nep-Nep, you shouldn't do such dangerous things! What if something happened to you?"

Neptune pat Compa on the back as the nurse in training held her in a death grip, "You don't need to worry about anything, Compa. As long as I've got Heero, nothings gonna happen to me."

"There you go putting more crap in Heero's lap." IF, Lyrica and Gust rejoined their party, IF being the one to start verbally reprimanding Neptune. "What would you do if something came up and Heero couldn't help you?"

Neptune waved off the brunette, "Pfft. Like that'll ever happen. Heero's always gonna be around to help me." The party's leader then turned to Heero. "Speaking of, I'm all dirty and stuff. Heero, when we get back to the house you gotta help me get clean."

Heero looked at the girl in front of him with a questioning look, "And just why would I do that?"

Neptune's eyes began to gleam as she looked at the Perfect Soldier. "Cuz that's what lovers do! They wake up together, share meals together, bathe together, share beds together… Y'know, all that good stuff that lovers do!"

Lyrica's cheeks began to swell as Neptune talked about how she was planning to get Heero to bathe with her… possibly even more, "Hold it, Neptune. Who says you get to bathe with Heero?"

IF gave the purplenette an irritated look, "Who know what would happen if you were with Heero alone in the bathroom?"

Compa started pouting as well, now that the party had gone from fighting a monster, to worrying about their injuries, and finally into what they planned to do when they got back to their safe house… which generally revolved around Neptune trying to improve her relationship with Heero, "I want to bathe with Heero, too. Nep-Nep, why do you have to be such a Heero hog?"

Neptune started flailing her arms as the other three girls began to gang up on her, "Shut up! Heero and I will do whatever we want, and you guys can't say boo about it!" The preteen then began talking into the air. "Tell em', Z! They can't tell me to do nothin'!"

"I would rather not be dragged into the middle of this. Anyway, now that threat is over I will go back to work."

Gust looked at the four girls with a blank look on her face, "Heero is very popular with opposite sex. Causes some degree of problems." A grin forms on the young girls face as money signs took the place of her eyes. "Heero's popularity may prove good for business."

Heero shook his head as the group of girls went into what he believed to be an irrelevant and meaningless topic, then retreated into his thoughts, "(I realize what I am thinking about is fairly irrelevant to our situation right now, however I cannot help but wonder about where that girl that came to the safe house ran off to?)"

Xxx

In one of the monster infested storage facilities on a neighboring island, Black Heart was walking down a corridor when she suddenly stopped to sneeze. It was one of those cute sneezes that only a girl could manage. The white haired swordstress wiped her nose before turning her head from side to side, "Is someone talking about me? Whatever, I need to focus on clearing out the monsters here, then go back to training so I can save Heero from Neptune."

Black Heart looked off in another direction as her cheeks turned a light pink, "Not that I want to or anything. I-I just think Heero must be miserable having to answer to Neptune's every beck and call. Now, if he were MY bodyguard, I wouldn't just lead him around all over the place."

The snow haired beauty stopped for a moment to process what she had just said before violently shaking her head, "N-Not that I need a bodyguard! Because I don't! I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself! I'm just saying if! IF Heero were my bodyguard!" Black Heart speared her bangs with her right hand while letting out a tired sigh. "I must be overworking… I've been going off on more random spiels lately."

Xxx

Me: "Okay, finally got this chapter up after almost a month. I suppose it was bound to happen, since I'm on summer vacation now."

Black Heart: (Enters ACCC from Lounge) "Hey, how come I got so little time in this chapter? If you're going to include me in a chapter, I have to play a major part, not one of these small parts!"

Me: (Waves off Black Heart) "You're lucky I included you at all."

Heero and Neptune: (Enter ACCC from Break Room) "Hey, what's the plug suit lady doing here? You tryin' to steal Heero?"

Me: "No, she's not here to steal Heero… Yet. We need to wrap of this chapter, because I don't feel like making this segment long."

Zero: (Appears behind Heero) "You're quite popular with girls, aren't you?"

Heero: "Zero, do not do this to me now."

Gust: (Enters ACCC from Break Room) "Gust has finished making new batch of cookies for Author."

Me: (Hands Gust 1500 credits) "Thanks, Gust." (Starts eating cookies while point to Zero) "Zero, you wrap this one up for us."

Zero: "Very well. That shouldn't be too much trouble."

Me, Heero, Neptune, Gust and Black Heart: (Leave ACCC from Left Entrance)

Zero: (Turns to readers and gives polite bow) "Please read and review this chapter, and check regularly for the next update." (Leaves ACCC from Left Entrance)