Me: "Hello hello, my good readers! We're heading into chapter 34 of the story now, as well as drawing closer to the end of the Key Fragment search."

Heero and Neptune: (Enter IC) "And once we get that Key Fragment, we'll be able to save Histy! No more lookin' in castles and dungeons or whatever."

Heero: "We have to find it first. And that task has proven to be rather time consuming."

Me: "Yes it certainly has. Now, before we go any further I took a look through our reviews recently and found that someone made fan art of this fanfic." (Looks through list) "A reader by the name of vocaloidHM01, to be exact. I took a look at it, and it's looks amazing."

Neptune: "Let me see it!" (Goes over to computer) "I don't know why the plug suit ladies are there, or who that kid on the side is, but I like it! Heero and I are right there up front and getting all lovey and stuff."

Compa and IF: (Enter IC) "How come Nep-Nep gets to be with Heero in fan artwork and we don't?"

IF: "That is kind of aggravating. What's so special about you?"

Neptune: "Cause Heero and I are the main characters of this story!"

Me: "Honestly, I'm kind of flattered that someone likes the story that much. We must increase our efforts to get this story done, so that we can get to work on the sequel. I already know that we have fans eager to see what nonsense the sequel will bring. So… yeah. Shout out to vocaloidHM01 for the awesome artwork."

White Heart: (Enters IC) "Why the hell does Neptune get to be with Heero and I don't?!"

Me: "But… you are in it with Heero."

White Heart: "I'm in the back with two assholes!"

IF: "At least you're in it. You have no room to complain."

Compa: "Yeah! We wanna be in some artwork with Heero, too!"

Me: "Look, everybody, stop complaining. We're lucky someone even bothered to do it in the first place. Now if you all don't mind, we kinda have a chapter to get underway. So get in place and read off the disclaimer."

Heero, Neptune, Compa, IF, and White Heart: "HeeroUzuki does not own Mobile Suit Gundam Wing. Hyperdimension Neptunia, Super Robot Wars, or any work pertaining to any of these franchises. However, he does own the idea of crossing over Gundam Wing and Hyperdimension Neptunia."

Me: "The search for the Key Fragments is nearing it's end. We're getting closer to the actual end of the story. I'm sure our readers will be pleased when we finally finish this one and move onto the sequel. Now, let us continue with our work!"

Me, Heero, Neptune, Compa, IF, and White Heart: (Leave IC)

Ch. 33 The Extremist Uprising

After the mishap that had occurred with the heretic the previous day, the party hoped to make up for lost time with their search for the Key Fragment.

Neptune, Heero, Compa and IF were walking through a park as they waited for the rest of the group to finish getting ready for their search. After being trapped inside of the disc, Neptune made it a point to ignore any suggestions that involved splitting the party up, or at least those that required her to be separated from Heero.

As the group of four walked along the side walk, Neptune seemed to be preoccupied with something, "Hmmmmmmmmm. Ummmmmmmm..."

IF pulled her face out of her cell phone. The noises the purplenette was making were proving too difficult to ignore, "Nep, your noises are distracting. What's wrong? Is it your stomach?"

Compa seemed to know what was going on with their leader, "When Nep-Nep makes that noise, she's deep in thought. Why don't we try to guess what it is?"

Neptune wasn't so deep in thought that she couldn't hear the nurse in training's idea, "Ooh, nice. Let's see you guess!"

Heero was curious himself. What could the purple haired girl be thinking so hard about? Compa threw out the first idea that came to mind. "I bet you were thinking about what to eat for dinner."

"Wrong! You think I only wanna eat or something?"

IF folded her arms, voicing what she believed to be a plausible answer, "I know. You were wondering how to become cuter to attract more boys."

Neptune assumed her thinking position, dwelling on IF's answer for a moment, "Hmm, not like I never think about that, but you're wrong." The purplenette then started glaring at the brunette. "...Wait a minute. You actually think I wanna attract more boys, Iffy? I've got Heero, and he's the best! I ain't gonna cheat on my Destined Lover!"

With her first idea having been shot down, Compa threw out her second guess, "Then, are you thinking about how to become a monster hunting hero?!"

Neptune's hands moved to her hips, "Ooh, warmer. But, y'know, I think about that all the time!"

Compa had to really stop and think about other potential answers. "You're pretty complicated. Hmm..."

IF directed her gaze toward the pink haired girl, who was starting to make the same noises that Neptune had, "Compa, you're starting to make those noises too." The Guild Moderatist turned her attention back to Neptune, having run out of ideas as to what she could have been thinking so hard about. "So, what is it, Nep? Don't smirk and say 'nothing!'"

Neptune was tempted to joke around with the two girls, but decided against it and divulged what she had been thinking about, "Well, y'know those prophecies about a main character having the blood of a legendary hero running through their veins?"

Compa seemed to understand what the purplenette was talking about, "Yep, like those games, right? What about it?"

"I should have that blood in me too, right? B-But, why'm I still junky at fighting monsters?"

IF just looked at Neptune in silence for a moment. THIS was what Neptune had been thinking about? "...Huh?"

Compa put her hand against the amnesiac's forehead to check her temperature, "Nep-Nep. Are you ill?"

Neptune swat the nurse in training's hand away while assuming her thinking pose, "Nope. I'm for serious! Hmmmmmmm…!"

It was at that moment that IF felt foolish for wasting her time guessing what the purple haired girl had been thinking about, "...I hope you think about this so hard you forget to breathe."

Heero had silently watched the girls as they fooled around. Really, it wasn't necessary for Neptune to dwell on the matter of having the blood of some prophesied hero. After all, the purple haired girl was actually a goddess, she just didn't know it… or rather, she just didn't remember.

As for Neptune being bad at fighting monsters, she really had nothing to worry about, "If you are worried about your combat abilities, then I fail to see the problem."

The leader of the party stopped her train of thought, as well as the noises she had been making. Heero couldn't see the problem? "Well, you said that I'm the strongest member of the party. But I'm still havin' trouble fighting monsters."

While Neptune wasn't the best at fighting monsters, she had fared worse against them in the past, "It's true that you still have your share of problems dealing with the enemy. However, I also know that you have done worse against them. Compared to how you were fighting before you have improved significantly, Neptune."

Neptune had been troubled by the fact that she was having difficulty with some of the monsters the party was running into, yet hearing the Gundam pilot say that she was improving was enough for her to stop dwelling on the subject. "If you say so, then it's gotta be true. I mean, I'm getting the Heero seal of approval here."

It wasn't just Neptune. All of the girls had been improving throughout this journey. Were it not for the fact that he been with the girls since the beginning, he would have found it hard to believe that they had actually been bad at fighting at one point.

The group of four made their way back to the safe house. By now the rest of the party had no doubt gathered up what they would need for the day's search. The plan for the day was to devout all their time and effort toward gathering information and searching for the Key Fragment. But fate had a funny way of altering one's plans.

A few minutes after Heero, Neptune, Compa and IF had returned, their was a knock at the front door. Neptune had been sitting on the couch next to Heero when the knock came from the person on the other side, "Hello? Come on in." The door swung open to reveal the Chamberlain. "Oh, Ms. Chamberlain!"

Financier appeared to be slightly winded, as she was breathing in and out slightly faster than normal and a few beads of sweat cascaded down the sides of her face, "I'm sorry to bother you, but I need you to come with me. Please, hurry."

Compa was curious about what the Basilicom employee needed with them, but was more concerned with Financier herself, "Wh-What's the matter? Please, take a deep breath first. Follow along with me." The nurse in training began breathing in and out. "In… and out… In… and out..."

IF shook her head at Compa's needless display of breathing, "There's no need for that, Compa." The brunette was curious as to where the Chamberlain was taking the party, "Where are you taking us?"

Financier had gathered up Heero, Neptune, Compa and IF, and was pushing them towards the door, "To Lady White Heart. I need you four to talk to her and calm her down. I can see there's a really tight bond between Lady White Heart and Neptune. I have a feeling Neptune will be able to get through to her better than anyone else. And if that doesn't work… well, Lady White Heart did request Heero to handle a job for her personally."

Neptune didn't seemed bothered by the idea of meeting with Lowee's CPU. Even though the party had intended to search for the final Key Fragment, the purplenette thought she could afford to spare some time to see the goddess, "I don't mind or whatever, but what'm I supposed to talk about? Like, getting a cavity and going to a dentist?"

"One of the Guild members found out the Extremists are planning to raid Entremets, but I can't..."

That was certainly a bomb shell. While the Extremists were willing to resort to extreme measures, it was still a shock to hear that they were about to assault the main Basilicom. Of course, Heero couldn't understand WHY they were about to start this raid. Sure they might have been allowed to take up residence on Lowee, but it stood to reason that the Basilicom would be prepared to deal with an uprising from the Extremists, "(I doubt there are that many among the Extremists who will be raiding the Basilicom. They must have some kind of backing if they're willing to attack so openly.)"

There was also another problem. While Financier knew that the Extremists were about to launch an attack, she couldn't tell Lady White Heart about it. If she did, it would be the same as telling the CPU that she was a member of the Guild, and IF understood that, "She might learn you're a Guild member if you told her about it."

Knowing that, it made sense that the Chamberlain would come to the party for help. They were the only ones that could do anything at that moment, "I'll show you to the underground tunnel. Please, hurry to the Basilicom. The Extremists are already preparing!"

No words needed to be spoken between the party members. While everyone wanted to search for the fourth Key Fragment, the current situation was much more serious and took precedence over what was essentially going to be a blind search.

The rest of the party followed after Financier, hoping that they would get to Entremets before the Extremists.

Xxx

Inside the royal chambers of Entremets, Lady White Heart was stomping around her room, looking very upset. The CPU went from one side of the room to the other, spewing out profanity as she paced around, "This fucking sucks! Every time I try to get inspiration for my writing, I either end up running into those two bitches or I have to deal with that shit for brains Neptune! Fucking hell!"

Just then the door to the CPU's chambers burst open. The party quickly made their way into the room with Neptune entering first, "Lady White Heart, hurry. This is an emergency. Extremists are on their way to raid this Basilicom!"

Lady White Heart had been in a bad mood before the group had entered, and having them barge into her room only upset her more. "Tch?! You can't even knock on the damn door? Where are your manners, you bitch?!" The CPU turned to face the party, but stopped when she laid eyes on the transformed Neptune, "That form..."

Neptune could understand the girl's surprise. She had no doubt expected the purplenette to arrive in her usual form. The sword maiden was fairly surprised as well. While they had met with Lowee's CPU two times before, this was the first time that they were actually able to see what she looked like. As it turned out, the CPU was the lost girl that the party had found during their prior visit to the Land of White Serenity. "...We've met. I didn't think you were Lowee's CPU. Who would have thought I'd be the one surprised?"

Shaking off her initial surprise, Neptune moved the conversation back to the more pressing matter at hand, "That's not the point now, though. Come with us. We need to get away from here."

Financier stepped out from behind the party, making her presence known to the CPU, "The Extremists are on their way here to attack as we speak. Please, Lady White Heart!"

Despite the Chamberlain's pleas, Lady White Heart refused to leave, "...I'm fine. I won't run. This place will remain safe as long as I'm here. No matter how few followers I have."

The CPU had assumed that the threat the group was going on about had to do with monsters. Unfortunately, Neptune had to break the news that that wasn't the case, "...They're human. I don't think your protection will work against those you're meant to protect."

"That's right. Please don't be difficult! The witch who claimed to be the Overlord's messenger is among them, too!"

Neptune glanced at Financier. The mentioning of the messenger had gotten her attention. "...The messenger? Is that so..."

Heero had also taken note of the Chamberlain's words. The party had run into someone who fit the description of a witch that claimed to be the Overlord's messenger, and she was responsible for the attempted coup on Leanbox, "It would be ideal if we could deal with her now. However, given the current situation that doesn't seem possible at the moment."

Neptune shared in Heero's sentiment's. The sword maiden would like to have gone out and dealt with the messenger right then and there. But given that she was mixed in with the Extremists, that was going to make it difficult. Not because it would have been much trouble getting to her, but the fact that the enemies they would have to put down were human, and that didn't sit well with the group.

Lady White Heart alternated her gaze between Neptune, Heero and Financier ,"...You afraid of some fanatic? Stop wasting everyone's time."

A member of the sanctified came running into the room. Beads of sweat ran down his face and he looked slightly pale, "The monsters! They're appearing inside the building!"

The news of monsters suddenly appearing in the building wasn't exactly welcoming. The whole situation reminded Neptune of what happen the day before when a monster suddenly appeared in the middle of town, "The messenger's been giving out strange discs to heretics that summon monsters at will. That must be it."

IF finally made her presence known after being quiet since they arrived, "Then, they're already in the Basilicom! They'll tear this place apart from the inside!"

Heero turned his attention to the party's leader, "It won't be long before the enemy completely overruns the guards and takes over this area. We can't stay here any longer."

Neptune nodded her head in agreement, "...We have to leave. The underground tunnels are connected to various areas. It'll be simple to hide."

Financier made her way out of the royal chambers before turning back to the group, "Everyone! Lady White Heart! Please, follow me."

Even though the situation was rapidly deteriorating, Lady White Heart continued to resist the idea of leaving Entremets, "...I'll stop the monsters. I know very well how to fight."

IF had just about reached the limits of her patience with the goddess of Lowee. It was one thing to be prideful, but the CPU was just being stubborn at this point, "Stop with your stubborn tantrums! This is an emergency. We're going to have to take her, no matter what."

With Lowee's CPU acting so rebellious, Neptune saw only one way of getting her out of the Basilicom, "Okay. I'll take her back. Compa, Iffy, get her arms. Financier, you grab her feet."

Before she had a chance to react, the four girls were already upon her. Neptune had grabbed a hold of the girl from behind to keep her from getting away, while Compa, IF and Financier restrained her limbs. Lady White Heart began thrashing about in our to free herself, "Hey! Dammit, not again! You bitches! Hey, you… stoppit! Stoppit now! Agh!"

After a few seconds the CPU managed to escape her captors, scowling the entire time. "You assholes have got some nerve. I'm not leaving and that's final!"

The party didn't have time to be dealing with this. Monster could appear at any moment and if Lady White Heart continued to resist, they might not even get the chance to make it to the tunnels. Neptune decided to use her trump card to end the spectacle. "If you won't cooperate, then I have no choice. Heero, restrain her."

Heero reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a thick rope. Lady White Heart's face turned pale at the sight of the object, "You wouldn't..."

The Gundam pilot took a step toward the CPU while tightening his hold on the rope, "If you refuse to comply, then I will have no choice but to forcibly restrain you."

A moment of painful silence passed as the group waited for the small girl's response. Lady White Heart knew that Heero could easily overpower her, and that would make her restraining all the more humiliating. The CPU heaved a sigh. "...Fine. It looks like I have no choice this time. Just let me grab one of my books."

Lady White Heart made her way over to a bookshelf near the door, scanned its contents and pulled a single book from the wooden shelf. The book that the CPU was cradling was the very book that Heero had bought for her back when the party didn't know who she was, the 'Writer's Guide to Writing a Best Seller.'

With the book secured in her arms, the small CPU returned to the group. Heero put away the thick rope while maintaining eye contact with Lady White Heart. Inwardly, he was glad that she was compliant. At that moment, he had suddenly lost all of the strength in his arms, and knew he wouldn't be able to restrain her if she continued to resist. "If we are to escape this area without running into the enemy, I will have to carry you."

A tinge or pink coated the CPU's cheeks as she shifted her gaze away from Heero, "If you really have to… then I'll permit it."

Luckily for Heero the period of time in which he had no strength was short. The Gundam pilot quickly scooped up the small girl, and once she was secure the party ran for the tunnel entrance to escape the Extremist raiding party. Upon arriving at the tunnel, a number of monsters lay dead on the ground with Nisa standing over them triumphantly, "On my title as Keeper of Justice, not one monster shall get through here!"

Gust, Lyrica, Nisa and Red had been ordered to stay behind at the tunnel entrance and clear out any monsters that tried to get in or out. Red poked her head out from the tunnel entrance, a blotch of dirt on her cheek, "We finished beating around all the monsters. But sadly, I couldn't find any wifeys."

With the monsters taken care of, the group would be able to navigate the tunnels without drawing attention to themselves. Gust and Nisa had been watching the hallways in case any of the Extremists got through, "I-I think we should go. T-The noises sound like they're getting closer."

"Gust agrees. Party should flee now."

Once the last of the party had regrouped, the party quickly ducked into the underground tunnel network before the Extremists and monsters arrived.

Xxx

The party navigated through the tunnels and came out in Guild City. Once there they checked Lady White Heart into an Inn, as they needed a relatively safe place for her to take refuge until they had gotten a handle on the situation.

Even though she agreed to go with the party (after being coerced), the CPU was still upset about having to leave the Basilicom. As soon as she was comfortable in her temporary room, Lady White Heart immediately stuck her nose into her book, "(I can't believe this… I had to runaway from a bunch of assholes? This shit is ridicules...)"

Heero watched the CPU as she scowled into her book. The Perfect Soldier pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, the one that the CPU had left him when they had found her after one of their dungeon raids to find the Key Fragment, "Was this what you had in mind for our second meeting?"

Lady White Heart glanced at the boy for a moment before noticing the slip of paper in his hand. She could see enough of the writing on the paper to know that it was the one she had left for the boy. The CPU returned her attention to her book. "...I hadn't exactly intended to meet under these circumstances. Having to leave the Basilicom because some monsters got in… I am royally pissed right now. I should have stayed behind to deal with them."

Heero stood in front of the small girl and closed her book so as to keep her attention off of it and on his words, "I understand your willingness to fight, but there are times when simply fighting won't help. Sometimes you need to consider a tactical withdraw so as to observe the situation. This time around, you didn't exactly have much of a choice. You didn't know that the Basilicom was going to be attacked."

The CPU's hands were balled into fists as she tried to keep her anger under control, "I'm supposed to know this kind of shit before it happens. Just thinking about how I was driven out by monsters has me fucking pissed!"

It seemed like Lady White Heart was about to explode. Heero could sympathize with her. After all, he had fought more than his fair share of battles where he was forced to retreat when he wanted to stay and fight. The Gundam pilot took a firm hold on the CPU's hand. "As I said, you didn't have much of a choice THIS time. Because you are the CPU of this landmass you have a responsibility to protect the people that live here. But you also have a responsibility to look after your own well-being. We'll take care of this problem. However, it will be up to you to make sure that this doesn't happen again."

Lady White Heart sat in silence, allowing the boy's words to sink in. As the CPU of Lowee, she should have had a better handle on what went on in her lands. Once the matter had been settled, she would have to take steps to make sure this didn't repeat.

As angry as she was, the CPU knew that she could do nothing but rely on the party. "...I guess all I can do is leave this in your hands."

Heero began to make his way toward the door. And before Lady White Heart could get back into her book, something touched her cheek. It was brief, but it was soft and warm. Before the CPU could inquire as to what he had just done, the Gundam pilot had already passed through the door and closed it behind him.

Lady White Heart raised her hand to her cheek. She tried to read the section she was on in her book, but the CPU found her thoughts going back to the warm sensation that had graced her cheeks just seconds ago, "Damn… I can't think straight now."

The small girl put down her book and headed over to the window. Looking out over the blanket of snow outside, Lady White Heart noticed that at that moment she was actually feeling rather serene. "Strange… I was driven out of the Basilicom by monsters, forced to run, and now I'm having to accept help from Neptune of all people. I should be pissed beyond reason, and yet… I'm not. I suppose having my source of inspiration so close by will do that."

Heero stepped out of the inn that the CPU was being kept in to find Neptune sitting on a bench eating a crepe. The purplenette finished her crepe before joining the Perfect Soldier, "How's Whitypoo? She gonna be okay?"

"She is dealing with the situation better than I thought she would. Though whether or not she will be 'okay' depends on if we can resolve this problem."

Unless the party did something about the Overlord's messenger, she would continue to distribute discs to the Extremists. With the way things were going, it wouldn't be long before Lowee was plunged into chaos from all of the monsters being summoned. And once Lowee was overrun, Extremists from the other landmasses might want to get there hands on the monster summoning discs.

It went without saying that this took precedence over the Key Fragment. Neptune looked over the area in search of the rest of the party, but found neither hide nor hair of any of them. "Where did the others go? If we're gonna beat up that mean ol' messenger than we need everybody."

As if in response to the party leader's question a ringing noise came from Heero's pocket. The Gundam pilot reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a blue cell phone, the same one IF had lent him before. Heero opened the cellular phone and brought up to his ear, "Go ahead."

The boy already knew that it was IF on the other end, as no one else knew the phone's number, "Everybody's gathered at the tunnel like we agreed on. If we're going to figure out a plan to deal with that messenger, we need to do it now."

Heero slipped the cellular device back into his pocket once the brunette had hung up. Yes, the party would endeavor to fix the problem now, rather than wait until things got worse. The Perfect Soldier turned his attention to the purplenette next to him. "We're heading back to the tunnels. The others have already reconvened there.

Neptune was befuddled and confused. She wasn't sure why it was that the party was meeting in the tunnels when the goddess was in the inn. The duo made their way back toward the entrance to the tunnel in Guild City and quickly found the group waiting patiently for their arrival. Neptune questioned what they were doing their, "Why're you back here? The goddess is at the inn now."

IF had been going through her phone when the purplenette asked why they were back in the tunnel. The brunette had been using her connections in the Guild to keep tabs on the Extremists, "We have to stay here and stop the Extremists. They'll find out the goddess isn't here in no time."

The leader of the group listened for any sign of the Extremists, but heard nothing that sounded human. "I don't hear anything. I can hear some monster cries, though."

Turning her attention toward the interior of the tunnel, IF heard the cries of monsters as well. "The messengers probably sent monsters instead of humans. I guess it makes things simpler for us. Fighting each one will take forever. We need to cut off the source!"

Heero armed his GN Sword in preparation for battle, "While we do need to cut off the enemy's strength at the source, we should deal with the monsters in here first. We can't allow them to gain control of the tunnels as it will be our primary means of getting around."

Compa looked back toward the entrance of the tunnel with a fearful look on her face, "And the people in town might get hurt if the monsters get through."

Nisa voiced her intent to keep the monsters away from the town, "We just need to take out all of the monsters down here, right? Then what are we doing just standing here? We must keep the peace!"

Lyrica watched the overly dramatic Keeper of Justice. She knew that a long winded speech about heroism and what not was inevitable, and decided to intervene before it happened, "O-Okay. So beat up all the monsters, then get back to town. Sounds good. Looks get going then."

It wasn't that the cerulean haired songstress disliked Nisa's passionate speeches about heroism, even if they sounded ridicules at times. They just tended to be very long. If they had to sit through it the monsters would probably take over the tunnels and that would make it harder for the group to get around.

Thankfully there weren't that many monsters sent down into the tunnels. After a quick sweep of the network of tunnels the party went to work on exterminating the monsters. Once the last of the summoned creatures had fallen, the party regrouped and returned above ground and made their way back to the inn.

Xxx

The party returned to the inn Lady White Heart was taking refuge in after clearing out the monsters in the underground tunnels. They may have stopped the monsters for now, but the Extremists would undoubtedly summon more monsters to replace the once that had been slain.

Neptune sat down on one of the beds, feeling disheartened over the fact that the group wasn't making any real progress, "We got most of the monsters here. But this isn't the end! What d'we do?"

Lady White Heart closed her book to give her undivided attention to the group, "...Entremets is probably taken over by now. They know I'm hiding here, too."

IF bit her lower lip as she thought about the possibility of an attack on the inn, "They'll probably be here soon. I really don't want to fight the Guild..."

The CPU couldn't help but mull over the question of why the Extremists had suddenly chosen now to attack. "...Why are they doing this now?"

"That's because the Overlord's messenger is on their side. If we take her down, their confidence should dissipate."

Neptune had assumed her thinking pose, trying to figure out a way to coax the messenger out of hiding, "How're we gonna find her? Do you… wanna use me? My body? She stalks me… so she must want it, right?"

Heero couldn't believe that Neptune would actually suggest such an idea and quickly dismissed the proposal, "I can't allow you to put yourself in danger, Neptune. The idea of using yourself as bait is unacceptable. We need to consider all possible options before making a decision."

The Gundam pilot wasn't sure why he had so vehemently shot down the suggestion. Sure he was the purplenette's bodyguard, but he normally would have said no to the suggestion in a more calm and composed manner.

Neptune hopped off the bed and immediately began to cozy up to Heero upon hearing is disapproval of her idea. "Are you that worried about me? You don't gotta worry about a thing. My body only belongs to you, Heero."

Compa voiced her discontent about Neptune's suggested plan as well, "Heero's right, that's too risky! We can use the underground tunnel and..." The nurse in training stopped herself when she realized what was wrong with her own idea. "But we'd have to fight the Guild that way..."

A plan that allowed the party to bypass the Guild Extremists and go straight for the messenger. That was the plan that everyone was hoping for. IF tried to come up with that facilitated the need to avoid confrontation with the Guild while dealing with the root of the problem, "It'd be best if we could lure out the messenger. Maybe we should write a threatening letter?"

While a threatening letter didn't seem like the most likely plan to draw out the Overlord's messenger, the party really didn't have anything else. The group took their leave of the inn to return to their safe house and write the letter that would hopefully entice the messenger out of hiding.

As soon as they arrived in their place of residence the girls immediately went to work writing up a letter. It wasn't long before they had finished one and Neptune held the paper in the air, "There. All done. We just gotta send this off to that messenger now, right?"

Heero wasn't quite sure it would work. Mainly because they had written only one letter, "It would be best to send multiple letters. We can't expect to get a response from just the one."

Lyrica grabbed another slip of paper of the table in the middle of the living room, "Why don't we each write a letter? We're sure to get a response if they're all different."

Once again the girls went about writing a letter to the Overlord's messenger. Or rather, each of the girls was writing a letter. Heero was stuck sitting on the couch with nothing to do but check the news, which was focused on the attack on the Basilicom. The reason the lone male member wasn't writing a letter of his own was because the girls were concerned that he might be a little too threatening and end up scaring the messenger even further into hiding.

With nothing else to do Heero sat patiently on the couch waiting for the girls to finish putting together their letters. The Gundam pilot reached for the glass of water on the table, feeling slightly parched from the work they had done today.

As Heero brought the cup to his lips, he suddenly felt all of his strength leave his body. The glass slipped out of Heero's hand and fell to the floor. The audible sound of glass shattering filled the air and the contents of the cup spilled out onto the floor.

Heero looked down at the broken glass on the floor, while the girls directed their attention to the boy. Neptune had finished writing her paper not long ago and had been eating one of her cups of pudding when the boy had dropped the glass, "You doing okay over there, Heero? You aren't turnin' into a butterfingers like Compa, are ya?"

Compa looked at the purplenette, offended that the leader actually saw her in such a way, "What do you mean by that, Nep-Nep? I don't have butterfingers!"

Neptune just looked at the pink haired girl with a face that said 'I don't believe you.' "I dunno… you kinda drop stuff a lot."

As the two girls began bickering Heero turned his attention to his hand. His face contorted slightly in discomfort at his predicament, and IF could see just how much it bothered the boy, "You're making that face again, Heero. Is something wrong?"

"Unfortunately, there is. Over the past few days there have been moments in time where I lose all of my strength."

Red looked around the room at the other girls. She was trying to maintain a sense of positivity, but her smile had cracked and her nervousness over the matter was showing, "That sounds bad. Is that bad?"

IF didn't bother trying to hide her concern, "That's very bad! Why didn't you tell us about this sooner? When did it start?"

Heero recalled when exactly it was that his problem started, "It was while we were on Lastation. Specifically, when we were in the process of acquiring the third Key Fragment."

Nisa turned to the party's alchemist believing that she may be able to put together a concoction that would remedy Heero's problem, "How about it, Gust? Think you could put together something to help him?"

Gust wasn't too sure about the idea. It was possible that she COULD help him, the problem was that she didn't have enough information on Heero's condition to work with, "Gust is uncertain. Without knowing cause or symptoms, Gust can't make effective potion."

This was certainly an issue for the group. The Gundam pilot was undoubtedly one of the strongest members of the group, and to suffer from an ailment that robbed him of all his strength was problematic. While the rest of the group was concerned over this development, Neptune tried to view it in a more positive light, "H-Hey, look on the bright side. This isn't the first time this has happened to Heero. He's gotten weird status ailments before, and when he got through them Heero came out with an awesome new transformation!"

That much was certainly true. Heero had suffered through strange conditions during his time in Gamindustri. Each time these conditions came and gone, a new transformation was made available for use.

Of course, it wasn't as if the boy knew how long this condition would last. If he did he might have been able to plan around it. Compa was concerned for the lone male member's safety, knowing that they planned on sending their threatening letters once everyone was finished, "Maybe we should wait until Heero is feeling better. If we send the letters now, we might just put Heero in danger."

That might have been a feasible plan, were it not for the fact that the Extremists had already started their revolt, "We can't afford to wait for my personal health to improve. With the Extremists sudden uprising Lowee is close to the brink. Every second that passes is time that this land doesn't have."

No matter how much they didn't want to admit it, there really wasn't anything they could do other than send their letter and hope for the best. With each and every second that the Extremists had the Overlord's messenger on their side, Lowee drew closer to being plunged into total chaos. All they could do was draw out the messenger and hope they could deal with her, while praying that Heero's ailment didn't endanger him.

Xxx

Once the group of girls had finished writing the threatening letters, they wasted no time is mailing them. Amazingly, it wasn't long before they got a response. As soon as the reply had come in, the party made preparations for their imminent encounter with the Overlord's messenger.

The location that the messenger was to be found at was just outside of a park on one of the islands that surrounded Lowee. Basically they were going to meet this person in a secluded area.

At first the group was skeptical about the meeting. They didn't have that much confidence in the letters they sent. To their surprise, a single individual was already there waiting at the designated location. The individual in question was Conversation, the Evangelist that had attempted to start a civil war on Leanbox.

IF still couldn't believe that the threatening letters actually worked, "Wow. I didn't expect a threatening letter to work. We all wrote one, but which one set you off?"

Nisa voiced her opinion over the matter, believing that it was her letter that lured the messenger out, "Evil is always disturbed by the voice of good! The fact that she's here can only mean that my letter brought this villain out from her lair!"

Lyrica questioned the validity of the heroine's claim. After all, she had no way of knowing unless the woman in front of them said so, "How can you know for certain? Maybe my letter forced her out. I did say I would write a song that made fun of this Overlord person."

Red decided to chime in on the discussion of who's threatening letter drew out the messenger, "It had to have been my letter! I said that I would scoop up all the wifeys in the world if the messenger didn't come out."

Not one of the three seemed to have made a particularly threatening letter. And as it turned out, only one letter was responsible for the messenger's appearance and not for the reason they had intended, as was evidenced by the fact that the woman was rather angry, "Neptune! How dare you mistake the Overlord's name for Moron?! How could you possibly get that wrong?!"

IF just looked at the fake Evangelist for a moment in stunned silence. The brunette then turned her attention to Heero, "Wait a minute. Heero, I thought you said that you proof-read all of the letters."

Because the Gundam pilot didn't write a letter to send to the Overlord's messenger, he took it upon himself to go over the girl's writing and make any grammar and spelling corrections. When he got to Neptune's, he saw that the purplenette had misspelled the name of the so-called Overlord, but decided to leave it as is, "I did look over the letters and made corrections as necessary. However, after seeing what Neptune had written down, I decided it may have been best to refrain from making corrections. I felt that if it was left unedited, Neptune's letter was the most likely to get a response."

The Guild member opened her mouth to respond, but found herself stopping before anything could come out. Sure enough, the decision to leave Neptune's letter unedited got the results they were hoping for. It's not like she had any room to complain.

Neptune had a befuddled look on her face as she looked at Conversation, "Huh? I thought I wrote 'Momus!'" The purplenette then turned her attention to IF. "You saw it, right Iffy?"

Out of all the people in the party, Heero would be the only one who saw Neptune's error. The other girls were to busy writing their own letters to even bother thinking about what the others were writing about, "You were probably thinking about yourself while writing the letter. I'm glad your idiocy smoked her out, though."

Compa began nodding her head, as if she actually knew that Neptune's letter would draw the messenger out, "Yes, it's all going according to plan! Now then, Ms. Messenger, get ready to settle this!"

The Messenger looked over the party. She exuded and air of arrogance and her voice was full of malevolence, "You still want to fight? Lowee's CPU has run away and Entremets has already fallen!" Conversation's eyes filled with contempt as she pointed her glaive at Neptune. "But, I'll never turn down an opportunity to be rid of you. Here I come, Neptune!"

Neptune stuck her tongue out at the fake Evangelist, "C'mon, Convy, you weirdo! There's no way we're gonna lose to you!"

Heero was somewhat surprised that Neptune had actually committed the Evangelist's name to memory, "I expected you to forget the target's name. The fact that you actually remember is somewhat impressive."

The amnesiac goddess assumed her thinking pose for a moment. "Well, how was I gonna forget someone that dresses so badly? I mean, even Compa would have to remember someone like her."

Compa turned her attention to the party leader. The nurse in training couldn't help but feel as though Neptune was picking on her, "What's that supposed to mean? I just have trouble remembering people that aren't important."

Conversation's eye twitched. Not only had Neptune made fun of her fashion sense, but now it seemed as though the group was largely ignoring her, "This is part of why I want to get rid of you. You know exactly how to get on my nerves. After today, you won't-"

The fake Evangelist was cut off as her face was suddenly assaulted with water. Conversation had a disgruntled look on her face as she turned her attention to the one responsible. Lyrica was standing a few feet away with a bottle of water in her hands and was clearly expecting something to happen to Conversation. "Stop it! Stop doing that!"

While IF found the whole thing rather humorous, she failed to see why the songstress continued to splash water on the woman's face, even though she had done this before, "Really, Lyrica? Again?"

Lyrica tossed the water bottle aside, having no more use for it since she did not get the results she was hoping for, "One of these days, I'm going to toss water at her and she WILL melt. And you'll thank me when that day comes, IF."

Conversation wiped her face off while glaring at the cerulean haired girl, "Once I'm through with Neptune, I'll dispose of you next!"

The angry Messenger swung her glaive at Lyrica, who jumped out of the way with a surprised yelp. With a fight clearly breaking out, the group prepared themselves for battle. IF and Nisa ran right at Conversation, but were forced to halt their advance as a ball of energy formed at the tip of the woman's glaive and was fired right at them.

The sphere broke into several strands of energy and streaked through the air toward the two girls. While they were able to evade the majority of the attacks, a few of them found their mark. Thankfully the damage was minor, nothing life threatening or that would require them to retreat, "If you think that a hero would run in the face of such a weak attack, then you're sorely mistaken!"

IF cast a sideways glance at the bluenette next to her, "What are you talking about? Whatever, we need to focus on beating her. So save the speeches for later."

Once again the duo tried to get close to the glaive wielding messenger, this time with support from Gust and Lyrica. However, even with the assistance of their two ranged fighters, IF and Nisa weren't having much luck in actually landing a hit.

Nisa's attacks were evaded completely, while IF's blades were parried by Conversation's sharp glaive. Not even Lyrica or Gust were able to land a hit from the way the fake Evangelist kept moving around.

Heero watched the battle intently, looking for any differences in Conversation's strength or technique. Despite the woman's aggressive behavior and desire to get rid of Neptune, she seemed to take more of a defensive approach to the battle. Even when Compa and Red aided their allies in their efforts to pin down the Evangelist, their efforts were met with limited success. And what few attacks Conversation landed against the girls, the injuries sustained were minor.

Based on how she was fighting Heero began to suspect that Conversation hadn't gotten any stronger since their last encounter, "If we can find a way to limit her movements, we can end this battle quickly."

Neptune watched her fellow party members as they frantically tried to land a hit on the Overlord's messenger, only to fail in each attempt they made, "So… Convy's just as weak as she was the last time we fought her?"

Heero gave a brief nod in response. It appeared that Conversation still wasn't much of a threat in battle. Even so, the Perfect Soldier was concerned that whatever condition it was that caused him to lose his strength would suddenly act up during this battle. There was no helping that, and given their current situation the party couldn't afford to wait. If they could defeat the fake Evangelist now, then they wouldn't have to worry about Heero's ailment.

With disc already in hand, Heero initiated HDD and was encased in the armor of the Exbein. Heero leveled his arm and fired three shots from the rifle in his hand. Although none of the bullets hit, it threw Conversation off balance and left her open to an attack.

IF struck the fake Evangelist's glaive out of the way and Nisa landed a kick right in the woman's stomach. As the messenger went tumbling backwards from the hard strike, Compa, Nisa and Lyrica fired at her with their varying ranged weapons.

A cloud of snow was kicked up as a result of the barrage, and Conversation had shielded herself from the oncoming storm of bullets. With the thick cloud of snow surrounding her, the messenger wasn't sure which way the party was and was about to charge out when a shadow suddenly formed in front of her.

The shadow was in fact the Exbein, which emerged from the other side of the white cloud with beam saber in hand. Acting just in time to stop the attack from the Gundam pilot, Conversation raised her glaive to block the incoming saber and the resulting collision blew away the cloud of snow around them. Conversation fought to keep the armored teenager from landing what could be a fatal injury, "Another transformation…?! You're full of surprises, aren't you?"

Considering that the fake Evangelist had made no effort to improve her abilities, Heero had expected to overwhelm the pale looking woman within seconds of his attack. But despite Heero's best efforts, he wasn't getting through, "(Damn… why can't I get through her defense?!)"

Suddenly, all the strength in the Gundam pilot's arm disappeared and he found himself being pushed back. Knowing that he was at a disadvantage at that point, Heero immediately put some distance between himself and Conversation. And if it wasn't bad enough that the Perfect Soldier had just lost all of his strength, Heero was forced out of HDD after getting away from the Overlord's messenger.

Heero looked over his now otherwise defenseless form, while Conversation threw out a smug comment. "Scared, are we? You should be."

Even though the comment was aimed at Heero, Neptune responded as though she was the one being insulted, "Heero ain't scared of you! He's just got a weird status ailment that makes him lose all his strength, that's all!"

Everyone in the party turned their attention to look at their leader. Of all the things she could have said in that instance, did she really have to reveal that? A look of fear had formed on Compa's face as she looked at the purplenette. "N-Nep-Nep!"

IF's face was a mixture of fear and anger. She couldn't believe Neptune had let slip such vital information, "Dammit, Nep! Why couldn't you keep your fat mouth shut?!"

Neptune slapped her hands over her mouth. She was so riled up over the messenger's mocking of Heero that she just blurted whatever excuse she could think of. Conversation's lips cracked into a wicked smile, "Oh, really?"

This presented a golden opportunity for the false Evangelist. If she could get rid of Heero, killing Neptune would be significantly less difficult. As for the party, they now faced a huge dilemma. Now that Conversation knew that Heero was weakened, she was no doubt going to go after him.

And sure enough, the Overlord's messenger charged right for the Perfect Soldier. Heero evaded the wild swings of Conversation's glaive, though he received a few cuts from some narrow dodges.

As the fake Evangelist attempted a second attack against the boy, Neptune swung her katana at the woman that had so clearly expressed her intent to kill the lone male party member. Conversation jumped out of the way of the purplenette's blade, not having enough time to block the incoming attack.

Neptune was was furious over the fake Evangelist's attempt to harm Heero, "Nobody beats up on Heero while I'm around, you jerk!"

Conversation hadn't expected Neptune to actually continue fighting when Heero was the target of her aggression. In the end, it didn't really matter which of the two she went after… Either the death of her bodyguard or the death of Neptune herself, the messenger stood to gain something.

Heero cast his gaze toward the purple haired girl standing between him and Conversation, "What are you doing? Instead of wasting time defending me, you should focus on her. In my current condition I'm only useful as a decoy."

Neptune looked back at the Gundam pilot. She didn't like seeing the boy look so weak. "I can't do that! I gotta protect my Destined Lover when he's in trouble!"

The Perfect Soldier couldn't understand just what was going through Neptune's mind. Clearly Conversation wanted to do away with her and in his current condition Heero couldn't really do anything to protect her. If it would guarantee their victory, Neptune should prioritize going after the Evangelist instead of trying to protect him.

Just when Conversation was about to launch her attack on the purple haired girl, Compa and IF intervened, forcing the messenger further back. Even in the middle of a battle like this, IF still found time to get onto Neptune for trying to woo Heero, "What do you think you're doing? Are you seriously trying to act cool in front of Heero while the rest of us are here?"

Compa voiced her own displeasure at the party leader's attempt to win Heero's affections, "There's no need to be a Heero hog, Nep-Nep. We'll protect Heero, too!"

It wasn't long before the entire group of girls had gathered back together and formed a wall in front of Heero. It was bad enough that Neptune had put herself between him and the woman that wanted her dead, but now the entire group had given up their strategic positions just to defend him.

Despite the fact that they had lost the advantage of their positioning over Conversation, the girls seemed far more concerned with protecting the Gundam pilot than anything else. The Overlord's messenger let out a melodramatic laugh as she contemplated her next move, "I'm having a hard time deciding who I want to get rid of. Do I want to kill you off now, Neptune? Or should I make you suffer for a while by killing your bodyguard?"

Nisa narrowed her eyes as she thrust out her arm and pointed at Conversation, "You shall not get past us! To allow a fellow hero to fall at the hands of evil would be a disgrace I could never live down!"

Red began to throw a tantrum in response to Conversation's questioning of who she would kill, "I can't let you kill my one and only hubby! If I can't hold on to one hubby, there's no way I'll ever get a hundred wifeys!"

Regardless of their individual reasoning for why they came to Heero's defense, the girls had made it clear that they weren't going to move. Since getting around them wasn't an option, Conversation decided that she would just go through them, "If you all have a death wish, then I will grant it!"

The fake Evangelist charged at the line of girls and Lyrica was her first target… most likely because she hadn't got over the fact that the cerulean haired girl kept splashing her with water every time they ran into each other, "I suppose I should get rid of you first. If nothing else, I won't have to endure any further humiliation from you!"

Lyrica used her guitar to block the sharp weapon aimed at her, "It's your own fault for looking like a witch!"

Red pulled a handful of what looked to be pachinko balls out of her pocket and threw them at Conversation, who deflected the collection of spheres with her glaive. With Conversation's attention drawn away, IF lunged at her with blades out.

The Guild member's Katar grazed the messenger's cheek, but otherwise dealt no damage whatsoever. Nisa's follow-up on the other hand found it's mark. The blue haired heroine landed a kick right in the fake Evangelist's stomach, forcing her away before she could retaliate against IF's failed attack.

Conversation was undeterred, quickly recovering from Nisa's attack and charging at the girl's once more. This went on for roughly a minute, the Overlord's messenger would charge the line of girls, they would keep her from getting past them, and force her away. With the way the exchange of attacks was going, it seemed as though Neptune and the others were taking more damage than Conversation.

As Heero watched the girls try to hold back the fake Evangelist, he couldn't help but feel frustrated over his decision to keep his ailment to himself. Had he told the girls about it sooner, maybe they wouldn't have been in this situation. The Perfect Soldier had been tasked with protecting Neptune as they went around Gamindustri to collect the Key Fragments, yet because of his mistake the girl he was trying to protect had just put herself in harms way to protect him.

A fit of laughter erupted from Conversation as she looked over the group of girls as they shielded Heero, "It looks like I'll be sending you all to an early grave!"

Neptune and the others were fairly bruised and beaten. Having to take all of Conversation's attacks to protect Heero was starting to wear them down, "What do we do, guys? We keep beatin' her up, and she keeps coming back!"

Gust sifted through her pouch, looking over all the alchemy ingredients she had on her person, "Gust does not have enough left to make healing potion."

IF wiped the sweat from her brow. No matter how many times they knocked her back, Conversation was dead set on either killing Neptune or Heero, "There's not much we can do. Even if we try to run, she'll just catch up with us. We need a miracle."

Lyrica tried to stay positive, despite their bleak situation, "You never know. A miracle may just happen. You just have to believe."

It may have been wishful thinking, but the girls were praying for that miracle to happen… and fast. Heero walked past the group, much to their dismay, "Heero, what're you doing?! You gotta stay behind us!"

Heero ignored Neptune's plea, keeping his attention focused on the woman that was the source of all the problems on Lowee at the moment, "If I stay behind you, you will only incur more injuries. You may even die as a result."

Compa pleaded with the Gundam pilot. With his strength gone there was no way he would be able to fight against Conversation, "But if you try to fight Ms. Messenger, she'll kill you!"

"Either that miracle you all have been hoping for will happen, or I'll die. Regardless of the result, you won't have to worry about risking your lives protecting me."

The Perfect Soldier couldn't hear anymore words of protest from the girls behind him. He wasn't sure if they had given up on trying to persuade him or if he was just tuning them out. It didn't really matter at that point. All that mattered was ending the deadlock between the party and the Overlord's messenger.

Conversation charged at Heero, taking joy in the fact that the party seemingly had no way out of their predicament, "I hope you're prepared for the afterlife, boy!"

Even though the boy had said that he was prepared to die for the sake of his mission, some part of Heero's mind was saying 'I don't want to die. I can't die. I can't leave her alone.' Those thoughts and his desire to live were greater than his desire to complete his mission. "I refuse to die. I have a mission to carry out, and I have every intention of seeing it through to the end."

In that moment before Conversation's glaive came down on the Perfect Soldier, one of the blank discs in Heero's possession suddenly materialized in front of him and emitted a bright light, "No matter what, I will not leave her alone!"

The girls were forced to shield there eyes from the blinding light, while the fake Evangelist pressed her attack, regardless of the fact that a transformation was taking place in front of her. "It doesn't matter what transformation you use, you'll still die here!"

(Play SRW ost: Sally for added effect) While Conversation's attack did land, it wasn't against a soft bodied human target. Instead her weapon struck against something hard that didn't give under the force of her attack.

When the messenger saw just what was in front of her, she was forced to back off. The woman's eyes narrowed into a leer as she looked at her enemy, "You insolent brat… You're still going to get in my way?"

Where Heero had once been, now a mobile suit with a dual white and black paint scheme was standing. Six objects; referred to as Fin Funnels, were clearly visible behind the suit's left shoulder, while a the pommel of a beam saber was protruding from behind the right shoulder. One the suit's left arm was a second beam saber tucked away in a separate charge rack with a plain white shield secured to it. A beam cannon ran down the center of the shield and a consignment of missiles was also loaded onto it. Firmly grasped in the suit's right hand was a rifle with a color scheme that matched that of the machine wielding it. And finally, rounding out the suit's arsenal of weaponry was what appeared to be a bazooka stored onto the backpack of the machine.

Heero briefly looked at the HUD to see just what mobile suit he had acquired this time. Anyone from his world that was familiar with Gundams could easily identify the suit, "(The Gundam created and used by Londo Bell ace pilot Amuro Ray… The Nu Gundam.)"

The Nu Gundam was a formidable machine to be sure. It was built around the specifications of a number of Gundam-type units and its design reflected the experience of it's creator and pilot.

It was only after the light had dissipated that the girls were able to see the new transformation. The instant they saw the Nu Gundam a wave of relief washed over them, dispelling their fears prior to the transformation and filling them with a sense of hope, "See? I told ya Heero would get another awesome transformation out of this!"

IF was too sore to strike Neptune, "Yes Nep, we can see that."

With Heero now over his mysterious ailment, the party was no longer stuck having to fight defensively. That said, the girls had taken quite a bit of punishment while they were defending Heero from the messenger's attacks.

Since going after the Perfect Soldier was no longer an option, Conversation decided to go after Neptune once more, "I may not be able to kill your bodyguard, but I can still get rid of you, Neptune!"

The messenger darted past the armored Gundam pilot and headed straight for Neptune. Heero narrowed his eyes at the woman as she went to carry out her attack on Neptune, "You won't get the chance."

Five of the six Fin Funnels detached from the Nu Gundam and shot past Conversation, reaching Neptune before the glaive wielding Evangelist could. Four of the funnels hovered just over the ground, while the fifth hovered over the purplenette's head. Shortly after taking their positions around the party's leader, the funnels began to project a beam shield in the shape of a pyramid.

Conversation didn't think much of the shield around Neptune until she tried to attack the purple haired amnesiac. Neptune had instinctively closed her eyes while bring her sword up to block the incoming attack, but never felt the impact of messenger's attack. When the purplenette opened her eyes she could clearly see Conversation struggling to get through the barrier around her, "Whoa… what is this thing? It's all shiny, and Convy's tryin' so hard to get through it, but she can't."

Try as she might, Conversation couldn't get through the bluish-purple barrier, "What's going on?! What is this?!"

Heero found it oddly satisfying to see the Overlord's messenger struggle in vain to break through the beam field he had created around Neptune, "It's an I-Field. Think of it like a force-field. No matter what you do or how hard you try, you won't get through it."

Hearing that she was essentially untouchable, Neptune stuck her tongue out at Conversation while making an L sign against her forehead with her thumb and index, much to the fake Evangelist's annoyance, "Ya hear that, Convy? You can't touch me!"

Her plan to get rid of Neptune had suddenly become a pipe dream. It seemed that once Heero had overcome his ailment and attained the Nu Gundam, Conversation's chances of winning had dropped infinitely close to zero. Red was the first to question whether or not the girls should start attacking the fake Evangelist, "So, now that Heero's not sick or whatever, we can start beating her up, right?"

IF nodded her head in approval, "Red is right. Now that Heero's better, we can win this. Let's go!"

The tide had turned, and Conversation found herself being forced on the defensive. Once the girls had begun their attack, Heero deactivated the I-Field he had placed around Neptune so that the funnels could dock with the Nu Gundam and recharge for their next use.

Neptune closed in the fake Evangelist, though not before IF, Nisa and Red got to her first. The joint attack between the three girls staggered Conversation, and the party leader's attack nearly disarmed her, which left her vulnerable to an attack from Compa, Gust and Lyrica.

The barrage of ranged fire whittled away at the messenger's strength and weaken whatever defense she could put up. While the trio had Conversation's attention, the Nu Gundam holstered its beam rifle on a hard point located on its back before removing the other ranged weapon attached to the suit's thruster pack.

The New Hyper Bazooka was one of the more powerful ballistic weapons created for mobile suit use. A single shot from it was more than enough to decimate a mobile suit, and while the suits Heero was using were scaled down, the weapon would no doubt still back a devastating punch.

Taking aim at Conversation, the Nu Gundam fired two rounds from the bazooka. Both rounds struck close the fake Evangelist and tossed her onto her back with the resulting explosions.

As Heero looked over the destruction brought about by the heavy weapon, the pale looking messenger picked herself up the snow covered ground. She was muttering to herself in disbelief, still unable to acknowledge that she was losing after coming so close to ridding herself of Neptune or her bodyguard, "This can't be happening… This must be some sick joke..."

Heero was not about to extend any sympathy to Conversation. The Nu Gundam returned the Hyper Bazooka back to the hard point on the thruster pack as all six Fin Funnels detached from the suit, "(I may not be a Newtype, but I should still be able to use these… as long as I focus all of my attention toward the task.)"

The six funnels flanked the Nu Gundam with three on each side. Once he was sure he had his full attention toward manipulating the psychic weapons, Heero threw out the suits free arm and all six funnels darted through the air toward Conversation.

Pink electricity ran along the inside of the fast moving weapons, followed shortly by streaks of pink beams that shot out toward Conversation. The Overlord's messenger was only able to dodge a few of the beams before she was overwhelmed by the speed of the funnels, and was attacked from multiple sides that resulted in one large explosion that engulfed her.

After launching their devastating assault, the Fin Funnels quickly sailed through the air back to the Nu Gundam and docked with the suit once more. Neptune watched the psychic weapons as they returned to their stationary position on the Gundam, "So those gizmos can make force-fields AND shoot laser beams? Is that uber cool or what?"

Certainly the funnels had been a sight to behold, both in their offensive and defensive applications. Even so, the party couldn't afford to marvel over the new Gundam or its weaponry just yet, "Nep-Nep, we have to beat Ms. Messenger first. After that, I'm sure Heero we'll show us more of what his new transformation can do."

The party was just a moment away from achieving victory over the Overlord's messenger. One final push was all they needed to finish the battle. Heero drew the large beam saber from its storage rack behind the Nu Gundam's right shoulder and a larger than average beam saber formed from out of the saber's pommel, "We have almost neutralized the target. One direct attack should end this battle."

Neptune tightly gripped her katana with both hands. She wanted to finish the battle just as much as the others, "I've totally got this you guys. We'll finish beating her up, and we'll go home and celebrate with a big meal!"

While they weren't as enthusiastic about food as their leader, the girls did want nothing more than to go back home for the rest of the day. The set of thrusters on the back of the Nu Gundam erupted with blueish-white flames before propelling the mobile suit toward the beaten Conversation.

Even with her injuries, the fake Evangelist refused to be defeated… at least not by Neptune. Heero swung the large beam saber at Conversation, which collided with her glaive instead. With all of the damage she had sustained the pale woman wasn't going to be able to hold off the Gundam for much longer, but it wasn't going to matter anyway, as the finishing blow was to be dealt by another.

After adjusting his arm Heero disarmed Conversation, her glaive flying off behind her. Neptune suddenly appeared out from under the Gundam's left arm, swinging her sharp blade once she was close enough to the woman. "End of the road for you, Convy!"

The purplenette's katana sliced through the air and struck the weakened messenger, sending her flying onto her back. And although he had said that one attack would be enough to finish the battle, Heero didn't feel like leaving anything to chance, not after the unexpected uphill battle they had faced. The Nu Gundam raised it's left arm and pointed its shield at the downed Conversation. Four of the missiles mounted on it shot out from the missile rack and sped toward the fake Evangelist, followed by a single shot from the beam cannon.

All four of the missiles struck the ground close to Conversation, and while the ensuing explosions weren't that big, the shot fired from the beam cannon created a chain reaction that resulted in one last explosion greater in scale than those of the missiles and threw the Overlord's messenger even further away.

Conversation picked up her severely battered body. With the damaged she had sustained, there was no way she could continue fighting and expect to win, "Damn you, Neptune… this wasn't supposed to happen."

With her defeat, Conversation knew that she wouldn't be able to successfully carry out the rest of her plans on Lowee. Deciding to cut her losses, the Overlord's messenger grabbed her glaive and retreated into the forest.

With the Overlord's messenger defeated, the party had effectively removed the source of the Extremist's power. Neptune was eager to turn her attention to the remaining problem. "Okay, cool! Now we just gotta take care of the Guild!"

Compa felt that the party really shouldn't be the ones to deal with the Guild members. After all, they were just a collection of people who chose to worship a goddess other than the one from their place of birth, "That's the goddess' job. I'm sure the Guild members will apologize when they know the messenger was beaten."

Suddenly, the katana in Neptune's hand broke in half. Upon seeing the damaged blade the purplenette let out a scream before shouting in the direction Conversation ran in, "You broke my sword, you creepy old hag! Do you know how much this cost?! I mean, I don't know myself, but Heero bought this for me! That should warrant the death penalty or something!"

The rest of the party couldn't understand why Neptune was getting so upset over the broken katana. They could easily buy her a replacement once they returned to the safe house. Lyrica attempted to dissuade the amnesiac from pursuing the defeated messenger, "Neptune, we've already won. Can't we go home now? We're tired."

"Do you hear yourself, Lyrics? Heero bought that sword for me, so that makes it super special! I can't let her get away with this!"

A collection of sighs from the other girls was a clear indication that Heero would need to convince Neptune to drop the subject, "If it bothers you that much, I'll get you a new sword. For now, you need to think about the rest of the group. With the damage you all have incurred further combat can only end in defeat."

Thankfully Neptune wasn't so caught up in the idea of going after Conversation that she would ignore reason… at least not when it came from Heero. With a huff, the purplenette gave in to the Gundam pilot's request. "Alright, fine. But you have to be the one to get me my new sword, Heero."

With the matter settled Heero felt it necessary to apologize to the girls for his recklessness. After all, because he kept his illness from them, they ended up sustaining unnecessary injuries. "I would like to… apologize for what has happened. Because I withheld my strange illness, you all were injured trying to protect me."

The girls looked at the armored teenager, unable to see his downcast eyes behind the metal mask covering his face. Compa didn't really seemed bothered by what had happened, "Don't feel bad about it. You would have done the same for us Heero."

Neptune vigorously nodded her head, "Besides, there was that one time were I was sick and you risked your life to save me."

IF cast a questioning glance toward Neptune, "That happened because you pissed off the wrong people. And I was the one to risk my life saving Heero back then."

"Iffy, this ain't about you. Stop trying to kill the mood."

The brunette rolled her eyes before turning her attention back to Heero. "Look, the point is that we're a party. You can tell us if somethings wrong. You do most of the work out of all of us, so no one can complain if you take some downtime, Heero."

The general consensus among the girls was that they didn't blame Heero for keeping his temporary 'sickness' a secret. The just wanted him to be more open.

Heero watched the group of girls for a moment. The fact that they weren't upset with him was surprising. Rather than fight it, the Gundam pilot accepted their goodwill. IF pulled her phone out and rapidly typed on the buttons of the cellular device, "I'll send a message to Financier telling her that we dealt with the messenger. I'm sure Lady White Heart can take care of the Guild."

Nisa turned around toward the park with the intent of returning to the party's safe house, "Now that the battle is over and peace has been restored, we should just relax and-"

The party's eyes widened when they noticed the heroine's backside. A portion of Nisa's outfit had been destroyed during the battle, and as a result her butt was showing. Compa swiftly covered her eyes in response, "M-Ms. Heroine! Cover your shame!"

A look of perplexity formed on Nisa's face until she looked down at her the rear of her outfit. With her face turning red out of embarrassment, the bluenette promptly covered her rear with her hands. Lyrica frowned at the Keeper of Justice as she tried to cover herself up, "You did that on purpose, Nisa! You know that because you have no chest, you have to flash your ass so Heero will notice you!"

With fire in her eyes, the blue haired heroine turned her gaze toward Lyrica, "Be it friend or foe, I will not stand for any insults aimed at my bubbies!"

Gust averted her eyes to keep from seeing Nisa's exposed ass, "Gust's eyes are tainted! Must make mind wipe potion once we get back to house."

Red didn't seem to find anything wrong with the wardrobe malfunction. The red head turned her attention to her wifey number one, "What's the problem? Is it really so bad for Nisa to show some skin?"

IF looked at Red as though she couldn't believe what she was saying, until she realized just who was asking, "Red, this is very bad." The Guild Moderatist glanced at Nisa before looking away. "And for crying out loud, Nisa. Cover yourself up."

The party had gone from a fight for their lives, to relief over having won said battle, to complaining over Nisa showing her ass. Another normal day for the party, and something Heero had grown accustomed to. These girls had definitely changed over there travels. And it wasn't just them… Heero's mind had changed during his time in Gamindustri. His heart had grown fond of the group, "We have no reason to stay here any longer. We should return to the safe house for the time being."

Putting aside the discussion/argument of Nisa showing her rear to Heero, the group dragged their weary bodies toward the safe house. With Conversation gone, the threat of monster summoning discs was removed and the Extremists would be rendered powerless. With any luck, the party would finally unearth the location of the final Key Fragment.

Xxx

Me: Finally! Chapter 34, done! Sorry about the wait on this one, peeps. I needed to gather some info on character abilities and attacks from HDN, as well as get some info on the Nu Gundam. My original idea was to put in the Hi-Nu Gundam, but I decided to wait until a more appropriate time to bring out the big guns."

Heero and Neptune: (Enter ACCC from Lounge) "Wow. I didn't think that I'd be protecting Heero this time. But you gotta admit, I was totally awesome and heroine-like while I did it, right? It just goes to show you how much of an awesome lover I am."

Heero: "You were not the only one protecting me."

Compa and IF: (Enter ACCC from Break Room) "Stop trying to hog the limelight, Nep-Nep. We all tried to protect Heero."

IF: "Seriously, stop trying to take credit for something ALL of us did."

Neptune: "Yeah, but I'm the most important!"

Lady White Heart: (Enters ACCC from Break Room) "I didn't get much time in this chapter. That kind of blows."

Me: "Sorry WH, not much I could do about it this time. But hey! At least you'll have a bigger part in the next chapter."

Lady White Heart: "I hope so."

Me: "Because of Nisa's unfortunate wardrobe malfunction, she won't be her to help wrap up the chapter. 5Pb, Gust and Red had to stay behind to help her, too. So… why don't you guys wrap up this chapter so we can get to work on the next one?"

Neptune: (Starts waving hand) "Heero and I will do it!" (Looks to readers) "Please read and review this awesome chapter."

Heero: "And wait for the next update."

Me: "I think Heero could stand to show a bit more emotion, but whatever. I'm sure all that the readers care about is that we have the chapter finished and are waiting for the next chapter. Back to work, peeps!"

Me, Heero, Neptune, Compa, IF, and Lady White Heart: (Leave ACCC through Left Entrance)