Me: "Once again, hello good readers. And welcome to another chapter of this highly questionable story."
Heero and Neptune: (Enter IC from Lounge) "It's not questionable. It's really romantic and awesome!"
Me: "Yeah… that might not be the case from the readers' perspective."
Heero: "Neptune's comment aside, I can assume we are returning to the objective we were originally going to undertake?"
Me: "Yup. That last chapter did take some time, but that was a free chapter and it needed to be done."
Compa and IF: (Enter IC from Break Room) "It took a long time for it to come out."
IF: "I guess we didn't really have much of a choice this time. Just try not to make too many of these free chapters."
Me: "No promises. Also, I thought we'd go ahead and use vocaloidHM01's cover art for this story now."
Neptune: "You mean the art with Heero and me getting all lovey? I totally second the notion!"
IF: "I don't. Why should we use art that has you monopolizing Heero's time? It's pretty unfair if you ask me."
Compa: "Me too! We're just as important to the story!"
Histoire: (Enters IC from Lounge) "What seems to be the trouble?"
Me: "Just a minor dispute over this story's cover art. And I'm the author. I decide whether we will or won't use it. Besides, he or she did a really good job on it, and what better way to show our appreciation than by showing it off?"
IF: "How about anything else? Maybe just stick with what you've been using."
Me: "How about no?"
Zero: (Appears in IC) "You may as well give up on trying to change his mind. He can be… unreasonable at times."
Me: "Pretty much. Now, before we read off the disclaimer, I thought we'd go ahead and drop the whole I own the idea for crossing over these franchises bit. I feel it's kind of a jerk thing to say, and it might dissuade people from coming up with their own GundamXHDN fanfiction. I mean, you can't really own an idea. It was just my way of saying that I created and posted the first Gundam Wing and Hyperdimension Neptunia crossover." (Looks at watch) "Now that we've got that out of the way, and because I don't feel like waiting on the others, let's read off the disclaimer. From the top."
Heero, Neptune, Compa, IF, Zero, and Histoire: "HeeroUzuki does not own Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, Hyperdimension Neptunia, Super Robot Wars, or any work pertaining to any of the franchises."
Me: "We hope you enjoy this chapter. Now, off to work!"
Me, Heero, Neptune, Compa, IF, Zero, and Histoire: (Leave IC)
Ch. 38 The Path to Celestia: Search for the Trinity Blade
It was the morning after the party's escapade into the military base used by the Planeptune defense force. The party had retreated to their safe house once the Wing Zero had been retrieved and waited to see what the response from the defense force would be.
While Heero was downstairs in the living room, Neptune and the others had congregated in one of the bedrooms upstairs. The girls had been unable to get much sleep the previous night, and it showed. Each of them seemed like they might doze off at any second.
Trying to keep themselves focused and awake, the girls went over what had happened last night with Neptune opening up the conversation, "So… last night was something, huh?"
IF glanced at the purplenette as she tried to open the discussion regarding what they saw the night before. She had more than a few words to say to that as evidenced by the weathered look on her face, but withheld them for the moment, "That's one way of putting it."
Compa tried to be a little more positive about the events of last night, "At least we're still alive. There were so many monsters… I wasn't sure we were going to make it."
Gust preferred to follow the nurse in training's line of thinking over IF's clearly more depressing thought process, "Yes. We are most fortunate to be alive. Cannot ask for more."
Lyrica wanted to go along with the positive line of thinking that the two girls were following, but she couldn't forget what they had seen the previous night, "Yeah, but… can we really pretend like it didn't happen?"
The room grew quiet once more as the mood dampened. Try as they might, it wasn't as if the girls could forget the sight of the mobile suit that had towered over them that Heero had kept from them. Last night the girls had learned much more about the Gundam pilot… perhaps more than they wanted to at the time. Between not believing in any of the four CPUs and having a giant robot… the group of girls were made aware of the fact that they knew little about the teenaged soldier that they had come to rely on and held a mutual affection for.
IF began to question whether or not Heero was keeping any other secrets from them, "I don't want to be THAT girl, but… I think we need to sit Heero down and have him tell us more about himself. If he doesn't answer, it will make him seem suspicious."
Neptune shot up off the bed she was seated on and faced the brunette. Normally she would have liked to know more about the Gundam pilot, but the context in which she would be getting that information as well as IF's doubting of the boy had left her visibly upset, "Heero saved your butt last night, Iffy! He doesn't have to say anything if he doesn't want to!"
The Guild member was caught off guard by Neptune's shouting before frowning at the irate girl. "What's your problem? This concerns all of us."
It was apparent to the amnesiac that IF didn't understand why she was mad, which only angered the uncharacteristically defensive Neptune even more. "My problem is that a jerk with a leafy bow in her hair and a crappy attitude is telling me to be suspicious of my lover! The only person we should be suspicious of is you, Iffy!"
IF could feel her blood pressure rising as she listened to the party's leader. "Just what the hell is that supposed to mean?!"
By this point in the argument both girl's were in each others faces as they continued shouting, "You were working with the bad guys on Leanbox! For all we know, you might still be working with 'em, or some other bunch of jerks!"
The incident on Leanbox was a sore subject for the group and one IF didn't take kindly to having brought up, "You just can't let that go can you?! I never even went along with that Archbishop's plan because I knew it was wrong! You must be really petty if you're resorting to opening old wounds!"
"At least I don't make deals with shady people and start suspecting my friends!"
Just from the way the two girls were becoming increasingly aggressive towards each other and their body language, it was clear to the others in the room that Neptune and IF were about to go from verbal attacks to physical assault.
Both girls were about to throw a punch at each other when Nisa intervened. The heroine grabbed their outstretched arms before either girl could land a blow. After forcing the two girls apart the Keeper of Justice began to reprimand them for their behavior, "Both of you, stop this foolishness! We're supposed to be comrades. There's no reason for us to be attacking each other like this!"
Neptune huffed as she turned her back to the Guild Moderatist that had riled her up in the first place, "Tell that to Iffy. She's the one telling us not to trust Heero!"
IF was fighting the growing urge to brutalize the purplenette, "I never said that! All I said was that if Heero didn't tell us more about himself he would seem suspicious!"
Compa started to drown out the shouting of the two girls by shouting herself, "Stop it! Both of you, just stop it! We're a party, we shouldn't be fighting one another!"
The room grew quiet after the nurse in training raised her voice. IF took a moment to calm down and gather her thoughts, "Look, I'm sorry. It's just… after last night, I realize how little we know about Heero. If we're a party, then we shouldn't have to worry about there being secrets between us."
IF made a valid point. No one in the group should feel as though they needed to keep anything secret. Granted, there were some exceptions, but that was beside the point. What the brunette wanted to know was WHY Heero kept his Gundam a secret.
Red watched the Guild Moderatist as she tried to sort things out in her head, "Iffy… have you thought that maybe Heero didn't want to hide this from us?"
The red headed girl's question threw IF off for a moment. She hadn't considered the possibility that the Gundam pilot didn't want to keep his giant robot a secret. Gust looked around the room at the others, tears welling up in her eyes, "Gust does not want friends to fight. It is much too painful to watch."
With the pleas of the other party members the two feuding girls let their tempers simmer down until they were no longer so hostile toward one another. Once Neptune and IF had calmed down Nisa reprimanded the two for arguing in the first place, "Nep, we all feel the same way you do… But you shouldn't get upset just because we have concerns about Heero keeping secrets from us."
Nisa then turned her attention on the brunette that started the argument. "And IF, you shouldn't be overly cautious just because Heero kept his giant robot a secret from us. I'm sure he had a good reason for not telling us sooner."
Once more the room fell into a deafening silence as Neptune and IF thought about how they had acted. Neptune turned to face the brunette, stuffing her hands in her pockets and looking down at the floor, "...Sorry I said all that stuff."
IF looked away from the purplenette as she extended her apology, somewhat ashamed of how she acted, "I'm sorry, too. I guess I'm just upset that Heero didn't trust us enough to tell us about that mobile suit thing of his."
Having made their apologies, Neptune and IF reconciled their differences on the matter of the lone male party member. Although the girls had stopped fighting, there was still the matter of how they were going to approach the Gundam pilot and ask him about…himself.
Lyrica opened up the discussion rather than wait to see if anyone else would, "So… how are we going to get Heero to talk about himself? Just come out and ask?"
Compa wasn't too keen on the idea of getting Heero to reveal more about himself given what had happened last night, "I think we shouldn't for now. Heero is probably thinking about how he's going to tell us about his robot."
While no one could say whether or not it was the 'right' option, IF agreed that they shouldn't ask the boy any questions for the time being. They at least had to take Heero's situation into account, "Compa's got a point. We shouldn't press Heero for answers… for now, anyway. But sooner or later, we're gonna have to ask him to tell us more about himself. If nothing else, we need to know where he comes from that he has access to that... Gundam. Wherever it is, it has to be way more technologically advanced than even Planeptune."
Neptune couldn't help but ask for the reassurance that the girls wouldn't pry for information from Heero, "So you guys aren't gonna ask Heero to tell you anything?"
The girls could tell that their leader wouldn't stop asking until they gave her an answer. Compa gave the purplenette the confirmation she wanted to hear, "We won't ask Heero anything, Nep-Nep. We have to respect his privacy after all."
Downstairs, Heero was seated on the couch in the living room. He had heard all of the shouting between the girls and immediately regretted his slip up, "...If I had been more careful this wouldn't have happened."
Zero's voice came as the boy reprimanded his carelessness, "This situation is just as much my fault. Had I paid more attention I could have done something to prevent it."
The sound of footsteps descending the stairs told the Gundam pilot that the girls were finished talking amongst themselves. Heero knew that this day would come, he just hadn't planned on it being so soon.
Once the rest of the party had arrived in the living room Heero awaited to hear the dreaded news. Seeing the girls exchange looks with one another didn't seem reassuring to the Perfect Soldier, as if they were debating how they were going to question him. "(I can only guess that they've finished deciding what questions they want me to answer. This is going to be problematic.)"
Taking one more look at the others, Compa opened the discussion with Heero, "Heero, we've talked it over and… well..."
Just hearing the nurse in training speak filled the boy with a sense of unease. Every second was agonizing as he waited to hear the results of their deliberation. Compa didn't get a chance to finish her sentence as Neptune cut her off, "They're not gonna ask you anything."
Heero had just open his mouth to respond to what he thought was a question, but stopped when he heard the party's leader say they were not going to ask him any questions. IF rolled her eyes at the inaccuracy of Neptune's claim before elaborating on what the group of girls had decided on, "We won't press you for answers right now. You and Z probably have a headache from what happened, so we don't want to make things worse. But you should tell us about this kind of thing sooner. If you don't, it makes it seem like you don't trust us."
It wasn't that he didn't trust them. It was that Heero was worried how the girls would respond to seeing the mobile weapon. Not wanting to test the goodwill of the girls, Heero didn't say a word and turned on the TV. The news came on shortly after the TV screen came to life and the segment was on last night's attack on the Planeptune Defense Force's base by monsters. The defense force returned to reclaim it from the monsters that had overrun the facility after a 'tactical withdraw,' as the news anchor put it.
By the time they returned the base was in ruins and the 'giant monster' that had been secured was presumed to have been destroyed along with the facility. Heero had been waiting for any information regarding a search for his Gundam by the defense force, and the knowledge that they would not conduct a search was a load off his mind, "...That's one less thing I have to worry about."
Out of the blue, Neptune presented the Gundam pilot with a question that had been bugging her since finding out about Heero's mobile suit, "So, I've got a really important question. If you've had a giant robot this whole time, why didn't we use it to stomp all the monsters and nab the Key Fragments? We could've got all that done in no time!"
The rest of the party looked at their leader as she asked her question. Of all the questions she could have asked, that was the one she really wanted to know? Granted, it was a fair question, and she made a valid point.
Of course, it wouldn't have been quite that simple to use the Wing Zero in the first place, and that fact was made even more apparent after yesterday's fiasco. "When I arrived in this world, I hid the Gundam not just to keep anyone from finding it. I didn't know whether or not I would have any need for it."
Waiting to see if he would actually need to use the Gundam was a valid reason for withholding it, at least until it became apparent that they would have to travel to other landmasses in their search for the Key Fragments, a fact that Neptune brought up. "But what about when we had to go to the other landmasses? We wouldn't have had to wait to go anywhere with that Gundam of yours."
Neptune made another valid point. They certainly could have cut down on their travel time if they had used the Gundam to travel between landmasses, but they wouldn't be able to make the trip between each land without someone seeing them, "I had thought about using the Wing Zero to shorten our travel time, but that presented problem. As IF mentioned before, the goddesses receive their power from the faith of humanity. If you will recall the news from yesterday, the general opinion among the people of Planeptune was that the Gundam was some kind of monster. While we could have resolved our search for the Key Fragments sooner, we have to consider the long-term effects of using the Gundam. In this case, the people of Gamindustri would live in fear of, as they see it, a giant monster roaming around. As a result the CPUs would lose a great deal of their power and monster attacks would increase."
It was easy enough to imagine how extensive the damage to the people's faith would be if the party had used the Gundam. It may even have been irreparable… and that would have defeated the purpose of using it in the first place.
Hearing that the mobile suit they had among their resources couldn't be used without some consequence was disheartening. Neptune heaved a defeated sigh, "Boo. What do people have against awesome giant robots?"
Heero could sympathize with the purplenette. Hell, there were times when he wanted to use the Wing Zero to cut down on the time they spent searching for the Key Fragments, even if it was excessive. "Believe me, I understand how you feel. But I had to think about you and the others when I decided not to use it."
Neptune's lips curved into a sly grin as she bashfully looked away from the boy. "You were thinking of me, huh? I see someone's looking to score some points, you smooth talker, you."
IF frowned at the purplenette and shot down any ideas that she was the only one Heero had been thinking of when he deliberated over using the Gundam, "He said he was thinking of ALL of us, not just you. Stop acting like your the only person here."
Not wanting to sit and wait for an argument to ensue, the Gundam pilot steered the conversation toward the more pressing matter of meeting with Histoire, "We should meet with Histoire and see if she has found a way for us to get to Celestia. Due to the unexpected development yesterday, we couldn't focus on our plan to reach Arfoire."
Remembering that Gamindustri was facing a very real crisis, the girls went about gathering their equipment before heading out to retrieve Histoire from the hotel she was using as her temporary place of residence.
Xxx
According to Histoire, Arfoire was in Celestia, where only goddesses may reside. As Neptune was a goddess herself, she wouldn't have any problem getting there. The problem was that the rest of the party were human and couldn't just access the holy land whenever they felt like it. Zero and Histoire had been working together to come up with a plan so that Heero, Compa, IF and the rest of the party could go too.
After collecting Histoire from her temporary residence the party followed her to a cave just outside of Planeptune's capital city. Neptune assumed her thinking position, curious as to what sort of plan Zero and Histoire had thought up to get the party to Celestia, "How d'we get to Celestia? Especially Heero and the others… They're human. Do you have a way?"
Histoire gave a quick nod in affirmation, "Yes. Please follow me and I will explain everything there."
The amnesiac stared at Histoire for a moment and questioned why they needed to wait until they had reached their destination to know about the plan. "Oh, what's this? Holding out on me? Or was this a funky loophole discovered during the script writing process?"
"Stop speculating and come with me. What do you mean by a loophole during the script writing process? All is well!"
For some reason the tome's response wasn't so reassuring. Rather than try and press for an answer, the party continued to follow their guide until they arrived in a room that was vastly different in comparison to the cave in which it was located. Compa took a moment to admire the site, "I didn't think places like this still existed on Planeptune."
Unlike the dank, dark cave they had been in, the room in which the party found themselves was fairly well lit. Glyphs were inscribed on the stone walls around the room, and various strange objects were spread across the room. Lyrica was the first to comment on the contrast between the cave the group had traversed and where they were now, "It felt like a monster would jump out at us in that cave… But it feels a lot safer in here."
As the party took in their surroundings, Histoire enlightened the group on their current location, "This is a ruin, built by those who lived long, long before you girls were born. There is a record here detailing weapons carried by some ancient heroes."
Neptune was moderately interested in the small girl's talk of ancient weapons and heroes, but not so much that she forgot what the party was focused on at the moment, "...Weapons? Heroes? Sounds super interesting, but that's not important now! We gotta get to Celestia, stat!"
Histoire could understand the goddess's desire for swift action, and she wouldn't have brought up the information if it didn't pertain to their current objective. "That is what we are here to discuss. A goddess once told me a story which took place right before I was born..."
The Tome of the goddesses recited the tale that had been told to her by the goddess, "Long ago, the goddess at the time awakened to her ambitions and desired to take over the world. (_)"
Naturally, it was a little difficult to believe that a goddess would desire to take over the world, and no one in the group was more surprised to hear such a claim than Compa, "I can't believe a goddess would want to do such a thing!"
It wasn't as if Histoire couldn't understand the nurse in training's disbelief. Goddesses were assumed to be benevolent, non-violent beings who watched over humanity. Being told that a goddess could do something so heinous was undoubtedly a shocker. "Even goddess will sometimes choose the wrong path. It is only natural for one with a heart and emotions."
After explaining how it was possible for even a goddess could fall to temptation the fairy-like girl continued with her story, "The goddess was eventually stopped by some brave heroes from the human world. These heroes took a road reaching up to Celestia from here. Defeated, the goddess admitted to the error of her ways and promised to never let it happen again. She separatedpart of her powers away from herself so she could never again misuse them."
IF began to connect the dots from Histoire's story, "I see. The tome, Histoire, is that piece of power separated from the goddess."
Histoire nodded in response. "Yes. Since then, a goddess cannot make a change in the human world without my consent."
Unlike the Guild Moderatist, Neptune was more focused on the path the heroes had taken to get to Celestia when they defeated the goddess, "That means we can all take the road those heroes did to get to Celestia! Maybe it's like a rainbow or something!"
Before the amnesiac could get any more worked up over the idea of traveling to the holy land of the goddesses, Histoire had to break some unfortunate news, "It is not that simple, actually. The heroes have locked the entrance to the path."
Compa couldn't see the reason why the heroes sealed the path leading to Celestia, "Why would they do that? It's be so wonderful if we could drop in and talk with the goddesses whenever we wanted!"
Red was all for such an idea. If nothing else, it meant she could try and hit on the goddesses and perhaps sway them to be her wifeys, "Yeah! Maybe they wanted to keep the goddesses all to themselves. Well, this Red is determined to get more wifeys!"
The tome of the goddesses could understand the girls' wish to be able to see the goddesses of Gamindustri whenever they wanted, but had a good idea as to why the entrance was sealed, "The world is not full of good, righteous humans. The heroes probably believed free access to Celestia would spell trouble. Accordingly, the heroes used their own weapons as keys to lock the path."
After putting two and two together, IF figured out what the party's next move was, "Okay, so things are coming together. We need to fetch the heroes' weapons to unlock the way to Celestia?"
Nisa seemed thrilled over the idea of finding weapons that belonged to heroes from long ago, "Searching for weapons belonging to those heroes from long ago. Heroes who faced great odds in the name of justice. Surely this will be a test of our courage and heroism."
Whereas the heroine was interested in retrieving the weapons regardless of the party's use for them, Neptune seemed disappointed that they wouldn't be using them to fight Arfoire, "Oooh, I thought you were gonna say we needed the weapons to fight Arfoire..."
Before the girls could get to excited over finding the weapons, Histoire delivered some news that the group really didn't want to hear, "One problem. Since a long period of time has passed, the weapons have been lost even to the annals of history. These weapons were given the name of Quartet Arms. We must collect all four to re-open the way to Celestia."
Basically the group was to go on yet another search and retrieval quest… just like with the Key Fragments. The general consensus among the party was that the search for the Key Fragments was long, arduous and somewhat soul sucking. The idea of having to undertake such a quest a second time was demoralizing.
One major difference between the party's search for the Key Fragments and the search for the Quartet Arms they were about to undertake was that Histoire was no longer sealed away in the dungeon the group found her in.
Seeing as the party had access to Histoire, surely the search for the weapons wouldn't be quite as long. Compa addressed that fact with the fairy-like girl, "But you could figure that out instantly, right? You are the world and all that!"
"Well… I would need three days."
While it meant three days of waiting, the party would rather wait to find out where the weapons were rather than spend days, possibly even weeks looking for it, a fact that IF was quick to point out, "So? Instead of wandering around like a buffoon, I'll wait three days to get exact coordinates."
If it were just three days it wouldn't have been a problem. The party could use that time to rest and prepare for the search. However, Histoire furthered elaborated on the time it would take for her to find the location of the weapons, "I will need three days for each weapon. So, a total of twelve days… if we're lucky. It could take up to a month per weapon if things get complicated."
Hearing that the weapons might each take a month to locate didn't inspire confidence in the party. Still, after searching for the Key Fragments the group knew that complaining wouldn't change anything. If it could, Neptune's complaining would have solved all of their problems. "...On foot it is. One weapon per land, right? Is that all we have to go on?"
The tome of the goddesses did have a little more information regarding the whereabouts of the Quartet Arms, but it wasn't anything that would really narrow down the list of locations. "Planeptune's weapon is within a cave. Lastation's weapon is buried in a field. Leanbox's weapon sleeps in a ruin. Lowee's weapon is protected by a snowy forest. That is all I know, for now."
Heero didn't like the lack of information, and the vague description of the locations the weapons were located didn't help, "I don't appreciate the lack of intel. Vague descriptions of the target locations won't help us either."
From the way things sounded, the party might very well be stuck randomly searching dungeons like they had during the search for the Key Fragments. Unfortunately, given the situation with Arfoire and the increased frequency of monster attacks the group didn't have much of a choice. The longer they waited around, the more time would bleed away and Arfoire would come closer to her goal.
With no other alternative, the party decided it would be best to try searching for the weapons now and hope they catch a lucky break. IF spoke on behalf of the group, "We'll head out to look for the weapons, then. Let us know when you learn more. You can tune into Nep's thick skull, right?"
Histoire voiced her support of the party's decisionto take the initiative and search for the weapons themselves, "Understood. Good luck. I will wait on Compa's fluffy, bouncy bed."
Compa looked at the tome of the goddesses, wanting to know why she was going to stay at her house instead of the hotel, "Why my house? I haven't had a chance to clean up since we left on our journey!"
It wasn't as if Histoire had just thought of Compa's place of residence right of the bat. She had taken other locations into consideration when deciding on a place to stay and support the group. "Your room is the safest place for me right now."
It might not have been the 'safest' place for her, but Compa's home was the last place anyone would think to look for Histoire. Lyrica commented on the nurse in training mostly docile personality, "If someone were to look for Histy they would think tolook for a hideout with intimidating traps and that sort of thing. And, well… no offense, but you're not the most intimidating person in the party."
Nisa nodded in approval of the singer's statement. Of all the members of the party, Compa was one of the least intimidating, "This is true. I have yet to see you act in any way that would label you as intimidating."
While Red agreed with the two girls, it wasn't for the same reason, "I think Compa's place is the safest, too. I'm sure it's just like her! All pretty and pink and girly girl!"
Seeing as she wasn't going to be able to dissuade the others, Compa hung her head in defeat, "Alright… just please don't make a mess."
Having determined their plan of action, the party began to file out of the ruins to begin their search for the set of weapons they would need to open the path to Celestia.
Xxx
Planeptune's weapon was in a cave… that was all the party knew regarding the location of the weapon from the Quartet Arms that could be found on Planeptune. With no other leads, the party was going to have to blindly search the various caves around Planeptune until they either got lucky and found it, or Histoire found something.
After escorting Histoire to Compa's home, the group went about making final preparations for their search for the weapon. Heero headed toward the park in the center of town to wait for the girls as they finished gathering supplies.
As he entered the scenic park, the Perfect Soldier noticed an ice cream stand set up near the fountain at the center of the park, and hiding behind a row of bushes was a familiar purple haired girl that looked a lot like the party's leader.
Nepgear peered out from behind the bushes from time to time, alternating between looking at the ice cream vendor and the money in her hands. Heero approached the girl while her attention was focused on the frozen dairy vendor, "Nepgear, what are you doing?"
The timid girl let out a surprised squeak as she turned around and bowed to the Gundam pilot, apologizing for no reason at all, "I-I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I wasn't doing anything bad! I promise!"
Heero watched the girl as she repeatedly apologize even though she had done nothing wrong. "Calm down. You haven't done anything wrong."
It was only after hearing his voice a second time that Nepgear realized that it was Heero that she was talking to. The overly apologetic girl calmed down from her initial scare before standing straight once more. "I-I'm sorry. It's just that you surprised me. It's nice to see you again, Heero."
Now that she wasn't apologizing for no reason at all, maybe she would be willing to answer his question, "What exactly are you doing here?"
Nepgear looked over at the ice cream vendor, her thoughts centered around getting some for herself, "Well… I'm trying to get some ice cream. I'm taking a break from a project I'm working on and thought I would buy something sweet. On days like today I like to treat myself to two scoops of strawberry ice cream."
The Neptune look-alike in front of Heero had said that she was 'trying' to get some ice cream. Obviously her shy nature was making that task somewhat difficult. Seeing as he had to wait for the girls to finish gathering supplies, Heero thought he might as well pass the time. The Perfect Soldier took the money that was in Nepgear's hand before heading toward the ice cream vendor. "Wait here."
Nepgear remained behind the row of bushes as she watched the boy walk over to the stand. After a minute of waiting, Heero returned with the ice cream the purple haired girl wanted. The teenaged soldier held the ice cream cone out to Nepgear, "I trust this is as you ordered it."
Two scoops of strawberry ice cream on a vanilla waffle cone. It was exactly what the timid girl had wanted. Nepgear gingerly took the ice cream from the boy and bowed once more, "I'm sorry you had to get this for me. And thank you again."
Heero walked over to the nearby bench at sat down. He hoped that Nepgear would overcome her shyness, as he wasn't going to be in Planeptune all the time, "Unless you've actually done something wrong, you should stop apologizing all the time."
The shy teenaged girl took a seat next to Heero and licked the frozen treat in her hands. After a moment of silence Nepgear looked over at the Gundam pilot who appeared to be deep in his thoughts, "So... what are you doing today?"
Casting a brief glance at Nepgear, the Perfect Soldier answered her question. "Waiting for the others to gather supplies. We have a rather difficult task ahead of us."
Nepgear was a little envious of the boy."You're in a party? It must be nice having friends you can depend on. If I wasn't so shy, I might have friends, too."
Hearing Nepgear refer to the party as his friends gave the boy cause to stop and think for a moment, "(Friends, huh...)"
"What's your party doing? Are you going after monsters?"
The boy didn't see any harm in telling Nepgear what the party doing. She was harmless enough that he felt he could tell her. "We are looking for a weapon, It's supposed to be part of a set called the 'Quartet Arms.' However, we have no idea where exactly it is. I have also checked around to see if there was any information that would help us in finding it, but nothing turned up. I can only assume that no one knows where it is."
Nepgear had only taken a few more licks of her ice cream when the Gundam pilot explained what the group was searching for. As luck would have it, she did know where the weapon was, "Oh! I know where it is!"
Heero was mildly surprised to hear that the girl next to him knew where the weapon was being held and did not hesitate to inquire about its location, "Are you certain you know where it is?"
A quick nod was the response from Nepgear before she turned her attention toward one of the islands floating around Planeptune, pointing at it so Heero knew which one she was looking at. "Do you see that island over there? There are two caves on that island, and the weapon is supposed to be in one of them."
The purple haired girl scratched her cheek, uncertain whether or not her information would help, "I haven't gone to see for myself if it's still there… Did that help?"
His attention focused on the island Nepgear had been pointing at, Heero nodded to the girl. The party didn't have any real information on the weapon's location before hand, and they would have settled on any lead they could get. If Nepgear was right, then this would undoubtedly cut down the amount of time they would spend searching for the set of weapons. "It's the first real lead we have so far. I appreciate the help."
Nepgear was relieved to hear that her information was somewhat useful to the boy. "Really? That's good to know." A beeping noise from the girl's pocket drew her attention. Nepgear reached into her pocket and pulled out a phone that was sounding an alarm she had set, "Is it that time already?"
The purplenette stood up and bowed to the Gundam pilot while making sure not to drop her ice cream. "I have to get going. It was nice seeing you again, Heero."
Having said her goodbye, Nepgear took off to parts unknown. Heero watched the girl as she disappeared from sight, marveling at just how much she reminded him of Neptune. The boy was pulled from his thoughts by a low rustle from the bushes nearby. A quick look over at the greenery confirmed his suspicion that someone was there, and the tuft of creamy pink hair told him just who it was, "You don't have to hide, Compa."
Compa emerged from behind the bushes, surprised that the Gundam pilot knew it was her without having to see her face, "How did you know it was me? I thought I hid really well."
While he could have answered her question, Heero instead wanted to know why the nurse in training had been hiding in the first place, "Why exactly were you hiding?"
The party's healer look in the direction that Nepgear had ran off. "I saw you talking to that girl. At first I thought it was Nep-Nep, so I was going to surprise you. But then I saw it wasn't Nep-Nep." Compa returned her attention to the lone male party member, "Who was she, anyway? She looked a lot like Nep-Nep."
Heero wasn't surprised that Compa could see the similarities. There were a few differences between them, but anyone would mistake Nepgear for Neptune at a distance. "She's… an associate. More importantly, we now know the location of the weapon thanks to her."
Hearing that they knew where the weapon was caused a broad smile to form on Compa's face, "That's great news. I was worried we'd have to search everywhere like we did with the Key Fragments."
Compa sat down next to the Gundam pilot, who started thinking about the events of last night once again. The girls may have said that they wouldn't question him for the time being, but that didn't change the fact that they had seen the Gundam, and Heero wasn't sure how the girls really felt, "Compa… about last night-"
Not another word was allowed to pass through Heero's lips as Compa silenced him with her index finger. The nurse in training removed her finger from the boy's mouth when she was sure he wouldn't talk, "You don't have to say anything. We just want you to trust us a little more. We're a party. You know, a group of friends."
Before Heero could comment, Compa let out a yawn. The pink haired girl rubbed her eyes for a moment in some attempt to keep herself awake. "I didn't get much sleep last night… What if I fall asleep while we're looking for the weapon? I might miss it by accident!"
Knowing that the nurse in training was tired made the Perfect Soldier feel guilty. The collection of girls that made up most of the party might have slept better if they hadn't had to deal with retrieving the Gundam last night. Heero grabbed Compa by the shoulder and gently tipped her over until her head landed against his lap, "We have time before the others get here. You should rest while you can."
Compa's cheeks were flushed for a moment before giggling to herself as she accepted the boy's kind gesture, "You always try to come off as tough and intimidating. Its moments like this that your soft side comes out, Heero."
That knowledge wasn't lost on Heero. With all the time he had spent with the party, the Gundam pilot found his walls softening little by little. He began to show some affection for the girls more often than he did before… and he didn't care that much about showing it either. At least, he didn't care as long as it was with one of them at a time.
Heero stroked Compa's hair and found it to be quite fluffy, a fact that Neptune had pointed out some time ago on Leanbox. After a few seconds the nurse in training closed her eyes as she was lulled to sleep. Of course, as soon as Compa had gotten comfortable the familiar voice of the party's leader drew their attention, "Hey! What're you doing over there?"
Compa lifted her head slightly to see Neptune draw closer with the rest of the party in tow. "Huh? Nep-Nep? When did you get here?"
The purplenette skid to a halt in front of Heero and Compa, her attention focused on the nurse in training. "We just got finished getting our stuff. More importantly, is Heero offering his lap as a pillow? If he is, you gotta move over. I want in on that."
Naturally, Compa didn't want to give up her spot, "Why should I have to move? You always hog Heero for yourself when you get the chance, Nep-Nep."
IF looked at Neptune with a scrutinizing look in her eyes, "She's got a point. Whenever you get Heero you always come up with some ridicules reason to keep him to yourself."
Lyrica popped up next to Neptune, equally disappointed with the party leader for keeping the Gundam pilot to herself most of the time, "You're not the only one in the party, Neptune. You can't have Heero all the time."
Having the two girls gang up on her began to wear on Neptune's nerves. The purplenette faced the duo while voicing her own complaint, "Yeah, well, you guys just aren't trying hard enough to get closer to Heero! It's your own fault for falling behind!"
Compa stood up from her seat on the bench and stood behind Neptune to further reprimand the leader of the group, "We're all supposed to be friends, Nep-Nep. As friends, you need to learn to share."
There was that word again… friends. That word elicited memories of the other Gundam pilots back where Heero had come from. Sure he wasn't friends with all of them, but there were still a few that fit the criteria. All this time he had tried not to view the girls as anything other than comrades working towards the same goal. But given how long he had spent with them, and how he had started acting more and more 'human' around them… maybe he could stop viewing them as just comrades and more like… friends. Maybe.
Before he became too wrapped up in his thoughts, Heero noticed that a heated argument had ensued between Neptune, Compa, IF and Lyrica. The topic of which was obvious; him. He knew where the weapon from the Quartet Arms they were looking for was, but he wouldn't be able to get a word in edgewise until they stopped bickering.
Heero looked over to the girls that weren't involved with the argument to see if they had a way of breaking it up, "I don't suppose one of you has a solution to this problem?"
Gust was about to reach into her pouch for some reagents when Nisa put a hand on her shoulder. The heroine shook her head before stepping forward, "I will take care of this." The blue haired girl leapt into the air to deliver her signature attack so as to stop the squabbling of the four girls. "Justice Kick!"
Neptune stopped complaining to the three girls for a moment when she heard someone shouting, "Did you guys hear something?"
Even though they heard the heroine's shouting, none of the four girls could stop the incoming attack. Mere seconds after leaping into the air, the Keeper of Justice descended upon the four girls and crashed into them, sending Neptune, Compa, IF and Lyrica flying like bowling pins.
Nisa landed on the other side of the girls who were now on their backs. IF stood up after a few seconds while rubbing her posterior, flashing a disgruntled look at the Keeper of Justice, "What the hell, Nisa?!"
The other three victims of Nisa's attack pick themselves up off the ground as the heroine turned to face them, "Now is not the time for us to be fighting each other. We need to look for the weapons wielded by the ancient heroes so we may deal with the true enemy of the world!"
While there was certainly a better way she could have handled the situation, Heero did approve of Nisa's judgment to end the quarrel in a timely manner through physical violence, "Breaking up their arguments is no small feat. I commend you on your quick thinking."
Rubbing the back of her head, Nisa offered a timid laugh in response to the boy's praise. "Well, you know… indecisiveness is unbecoming of a heroine."
Neptune, Compa, IF and Lyrica found themselves frowning at the heroine, "So that's what this was about. Flatty McNo-chest was just looking to score points with Heero."
With the argument now broken up, Heero was able to convey to the girls that he knew the location of the weapon belonging to the Quartet Arms, "If everyone is ready, we can begin our search for the target. I am pleased to report that we also know the whereabouts of the weapon, which will cut down on the amount of time we will spend looking for it."
The news that they knew where the weapon was raised the girls' spirits. Neptune was quick to issue praise to the Gundam pilot for the timely discovery, "Just what I'd expect from you, Heero. We can count on you for anything."
IF took a jab at the purplenette's comment that the boy could be counted on for virtually anything, "Right. We can always count on Heero to make up for your shortcomings, Nep."
Red suddenly popped up next to the Gundam pilot while digging into her pocket, "Before we go anywhere..." The red head pulled a red circular device out her pocket. It was an inch thick with a black plastic panel on the back and a clear glass screen on the front with a red H located on one edge of the glass and a heart shaped button on the opposite end. A grin spread across Red's face as she looked at the device. "Tada! The Harem Counter! A must have for any hero that has a group of girls around them."
Everyone just looked at Red as she held up the Harem Counter like it was the single most important thing in the world at that moment. Gust looked at the device with a blank face, pondering what the reason for having such a thing was, "Harem Counter? Why would we need such thing?"
When Red directed her attention to the young alchemist a scandalous look crossed her face. "Why? Because it's the most important thing for a male protagonist to have!"
For the most part it was like pulling teeth just to get him to break his stoic facade, so IF found the idea of Heero having a harem to be incomprehensible, "We're talking about our Heero, right? I doubt he's looking to build a harem. Even if he was, what makes you think we're a part of it?"
"Well, Heero's the only guy in the party. And since you guys put this party together you've only ever added girls that are wooed by him… except for Gust, Z and Histy anyway."
The brunette wanted to debunk Red's claim, but everything she said was true. Heero was the only male member in the otherwise all female party, and the girls that comprised the group were romantically interested in the Gundam pilot, safe for Gust, Zero and Histoire.
Heero himself wasn't exactly interested in putting together a collection of girls that were interested in him. If he was going to have a personal relationship, it would most likely be with a single girl, "I see no reason to waste time on such a task. We need to focus on the more relevant-"
Red was too invest in the idea of using the device to see how many girls were a part of the boy's harem to entertain any other thought at the moment. "Oh, you wanna know how many girls you've got in your harem, you just don't know it."
Not wanting to waste another second, Red slipped the Harem Counter into Heero's hand and pushed the heart shaped button, "Now, enough chitchat! Let's see how many potential wifeys my number one hubby has nabbed!"
It seemed that Red wasn't so much interested in how many girls Heero had gathered out of curiosity, rather she wanted to know how many potential wifeys she was going to get through the boy. IF heaved an exasperated sigh once she figured out the red headed girl's motives for buying the device, "Typical."
The Harem Counter emitted a beeping noise as it 'counted' the number of girls in the harem that Heero supposedly had. After a few seconds the beeping stopped and the number 9 was displayed on the clear screen. Red had waiting excitedly, but was confused upon seeing the results. "Huh? That can't be right… There's only nine girls in the party, and only six of us are into Heero."
Compa looked at the Harem Counter to see the results for herself, "Maybe it's broken. Did you check it before buying it?"
"That's not possible! This thing is brand spanking new!"
IF chalked up the apparent miscalculation to the device being a faulty product, "I guess you were given a bad deal again."
Red refused to believe that the Harem Counter was defective. The whole point of buying it in the first place was to see how many girls were in Heero's harem, and by extension (in her mind), how many prospective wifeys she had. "It's probably just a bad first attempt. Give it some time and it'll work like a charm!"
Heero did not want to waste anymore time on the device that determined the size of the harem Red claimed he had. Dropping the Harem Counter into Red's hand, the Perfect Soldier directed his attention to the rest of the party, "We've wasted enough time. If we have our supplies then we should head for the mission area."
As the rest of the party began to head off the same direction as Heero, Red looked at the Harem Counter for a moment before stuffing it back in her pocket and following after the others, "I'm sure it works. We just need to use it a little more."
Xxx
The party traveled to the cave that Heero had learned about through Nepgear. Luminescent crystals dotted the cave interior, giving off a purple glow that lit up the otherwise dark cave. Once inside Neptune took one look around the entrance before turning around to face the party, "I betcha this cave is the one Histy was talking about. Who agrees with little old me?"
Compa raised her hand and voiced her agreement with the party's leader, "Me! My intuition is screaming exactly that. In the name of this land's CPU, I swear the weapon must surely be inside."
IF was checking her Guild connections to verify whether or not this was the dungeon that contained the weapon the party was looking for, looking up from the device to question the intuition of the two girls, "...Should I trust such sketchy intuition? I hope this isn't some beast's nest."
Heero could understand IF's skepticism and concern about possible entering the wrong dungeon. Then again, there were only two caves on the island they were on, so there was a fifty percent chance that they guessed the right dungeon, "There are only two locations on the island, and both fit the description of the target's location. If it's not here, it will be in the other area."
Since the only two possible locations for the weapon being on the one island, all that was left was for the party to actually search for it. Neptune wanted to get the search underway so they could find the rest of the Quartet Arms sooner, "Meh! We'll know once we're inside! Let's transform and roll out!"
Lyrica felt it important to point out that of the eight members present, only two were capable of transforming, "Umm, Neptune? You and Heero are the only ones that can transform."
IF responded to Lyrica's comment in an offhanded manner, "You don't know that for certain. For all you know, some of us might be able to transform. We just haven't had a chance to show off since Neptune and Heero do it often enough."
The songstress looked at IF for a moment before looking at the rest of the party. "She's lying… right? Right?"
Disregarding Lyrics question, the group had their attention focused inward toward the cave interior. If they were going to reach Celestia and deal with Arfoire, they would need the weapon contained in the dungeon. Neptune thrust her arm out and pointed into the cave, "Alright, peeps. Let's go nab us a heroic weapon!"
With their goal in reach the party began their trek into the cave. Unlike the last dungeon they explored, there were reports of monster sightings in and around the cave, so the party could expect a run-in sooner or later… and it just happened to be sooner rather than later.
Just as they the party came to the first corner of the winding cave, they were greeted with the sight of three monsters. One was a 'Banshee,' essentially a Beam Nightwith a different colored hide. The other two were 'Choocoboo,' which looked like some kind of mutated bird with dark purple feathers, a beak of the same color and an elongated feather on the top of it's head that waved from side to side.
Neptune commented on how the monsters' appearance made it look like a rejected video game mascot design, "Doesn't that monster look like a video game mascot design? A rejected design, I mean."
Taking a moment to look at the Choocoboo, Compa could see what the amnesiac was talking about, "I think I saw a video game mascot that looks like it. Only it was friendlier and wasn't scary looking. It also ran away a lot."
While the two were focused on their talk of video game mascots, the rest of the group was interested in how they would deal with the monsters. IF watched the trio of monsters while keeping herself hidden behind one of the glowing crystals, "So, what's our plan this time?"
Considering the clear difference in numbers it wasn't long before Heero already had plan worked out for the group, "In order to save time we'll split into three teams. IF, Lyrica and Red will make up the first team, Compa, Gust and Nisa will form the second. The third team will comprise of Neptune and myself. While we deal with the clear and present threat, the other two groups will deal with the… mascots rejects, as it were. I will leave the matter of how the targets are dealt with to your own judgment."
The girls split into their respective teams as they waited for the signal to start the attack. Neptune pulled the beam saber out of her pocket while commenting on what was expected to be a short battle, "After last night, I gotta say, I prefer battles against small groups of monsters like this. I mean, there's less work to do."
Some of the color in IF's face drained away as she remembered last night, "Don't remind me. Part of why I didn't get much sleep was because I remembered how many monsters there were. We came close to being eaten."
The rest of the girls tried to dispel the thoughts of last nights battle with the hordes of monsters while focusing on the here and now. Heero armed his GN Sword as the party prepared for battle, "Just stick to your assigned roles and this battle won't take long."
Nisa looked over her shoulder at Compa and Gust, flashing her 'heroic smile' as she called it, "I will be counting on your support."
As soon as the heroic vibes hit her, Compa was bursting with excitement, "Leave it to us, Ms. Heroine!"
IF almost felt sorry for Nisa. The Keeper of Justice was expecting things to go off without a hitch, but IF knew that relying on Compa was hit or miss thing… in that there was the real possibility that Nisa might get shot by Compa by mistake, "Better her than me..."
With the battle plan laid out, Nisa charged out from behind the wall the party was using as cover and headed straight for the monsters. While the heroine's willingness to fight was commendable, her recklessness was a bit of a problem.
The rest of the group followed after the Keeper of Justice with Compa, Lyrica and Gust staying in the back to support the others. Even though Nisa had a lead on the rest of the party, she found herself having to dodge bullets from the party's nurse in training as she 'supported' the heroine.
IF shot past Nisa as she shouted at Compa to stop shooting at her. The Guild Moderatist looked over her shoulder at Red, who was trying to keep pace with her, "Try not to do anything reckless. I don't want to have to worry about somebody getting hurt."
Red was flattered that her wifey number one was concerned for her safety and quick to dismiss her worries, "Well, duh. If I get hurt, I can't search for more wifeys."
That wasn't exactly the reason the brunette had been worried, but as long as Red stayed out of trouble then it really didn't matter. A bolt of electricity from Lyrica's guitar streaked through the air past the two girls and slammed into the first of the two Choocoboo.
Having been paralyzed by the cerulean haired girl's attack the bird-like monster was vulnerable to attack from IF and Red, the latter of whom reached into her pocket and fished out her yo-yo. After fixing the loop around her finger Red cast the toy at the Choocoboo's leg. After the yo-yo looped around the creature's leg a few time, the red head yanked on the string.
The Choocoboo fell to the ground after it's leg was pulled out from under it, and IF quickly followed up by attacking the monster's undefended neck. With one quick swipe of her blades the Guild member decapitated the bird monster, sending it's head flying off in another direction while the headless body collapsed to the floor.
Nisa had just finished getting on to Compa for nearly hitting her when she sensed the immediate threat of an attack. As she turned around, the second Choocoboo had charged up to the distracted heroine and lungedat her with it's beak.
Had she turned around a second later, Nisa would have suffered a potentially fatal injury from the monster. The heroine ducked under Choocoboo's outstretched neck and threw a punch into it's chest, followed by a spin kick that launched the creature into the wall nearby.
Taking one last look at the dead monster, the Keeper of Justice denounced it's attempt at trying to attack her when she wasn't looking, "Such a cowardly move will never work against a heroine. You should have figured that out the moment you chose to attack."
Once both of the Choocoboo dealt with, all that remained was the Banshee. With a wave of it's hand, the monster conjured up a collection of energy spheres much like the Beam Night the group had dealt with earlier in their travels.
The spheresseparated into a series of projectiles and sailed through the air toward the oncoming duo of Heero and Neptune. While the Gundam pilot was the target for most of the attack, Neptune still had to dodge some of the energy projectiles with a few awkward jumps.
Heero closed the distance between himself and the frail looking monster in seconds and removed the Banshee's arms with one swing of his GN Sword. Without it's arm the creature was unable to defend itself from Neptune as she swung the beam saber in her hands at the monster.
As soon as the saber pommel was came into contact with the Banshee the actual beam emerge from the weapon. The energy weapon sliced through the monster's frail hide in a matter of seconds, cutting it in half at the waist.
Only after they were sure that the small group of monster was slain did the party relax their guard. Heero turned his attention toward the party's leader. Specifically, the weapon in her hand, "Neptune, let me see that saber."
Neptune looked at the weapon in her hand before complying with the boy's request, "Okie dokey. What do you need it for?"
As soon as the weapon came into the Gundam pilot's possession it vanished in a stream of binary numbers. The purplenette had been watching and inquired as to the whereabouts of the weapon she had been using. "Hey, where did it go? I was using that."
Seeing the beam saber disappear had confirmed Heero's suspicions. When Neptune had used it against the Banshee, the energy blade of the beam weapon had been shorter than normal. While it had been enough to kill the monster, it wouldn't have had enough power for another battle, "The saber ran out of power after that attack. It won't be usable again until it has had time to recharge."
While it was a powerful weapon, it wasn't as if Neptune had used a beam saber the entire time the party had been on their journey. Compa wanted to assure the amnesiac that she would be fine without it, "I'm sure Nep-Nep will be fine. She can use her sword instead."
Neptune responded by scratching her cheek and giving a nervous smile, "About that… I kinda don't have another sword."
A brief period of silence fell over the party as they looked at their leader. They had went shopping for supplies before coming to the dungeon, and Neptune didn't think to buy a new sword? The purplenette responded to the question she knew the others were going to ask her before they even asked. "Now, I know what you're thinking. Why didn't I buy a new one? Well… it kinda slipped my mind."
IF had a feeling it wasn't that it slipped her mind. It was that Neptune knew that Heero would end up covering for her lack of preparedness, "More like you just expect Heero to give you one of his weapons because you can't be bothered to go out and get one."
Unless the amnesiac goddess used HDD, she was going to be without a weapon until they returned to the city. With no immediate alternative available, Heero found himself unfastening the GN Sword III from his arm and handing it to Neptune, "I don't exactly have much of a choice here. I'll lend you my weapon until we leave."
Neptune immediately swiped the hybrid weapon out of the boy's hand and fixed it to her arm, "Awesome! I got nothing to worry about with this bad boy. It's two weapons in one! What's not to like?"
There were a few things that were not to like about Neptune having Heero weapon at her disposal, but IF focused on one, "What's not to like is the fact that you're the one using it. Just stay away from us when you start swinging that thing."
If the party's leader was using the GN Sword, that meant that Heero was now the one without a weapon on hand. Gust pointed out the supposed flaw in the Gundam pilot's decision, "Is that really good idea? Now Heero has no weapon."
Under normal circumstances, Heero wouldn't have a weapon. Thankfully, he had HDD to mitigate his lack of weaponry on his person. Within seconds of summoning one of the disks, Heero was enveloped in the light that was associated with the transformation process for Neptune and himself.
For his transformation the Perfect Soldier had chosen the Exbein, a machine he hadn't used for a while. As long as he was using one of his suits, Heero could afford to part with the GN Sword for a time, "I make it a point to be prepared for any situation."
The party continued with their search of the cave once the matter of weaponry for Neptune and Heero had been settled. For five minutes the party scanned the interior of the cave looking for the weapon belonging to the Quartet Arms, but their efforts were fruitless.
Eventually the search took the group toward the back of the cave, which was as of yet unexplored. With two possible paths to choose from, Neptune was left to think about where the party was to go first to find the weapon, "Hmm… which way do we go now?"
Even if they guessed wrong, it wouldn't take long to double back and search the section of the dungeon they didn't pick. Heero felt it was fine to leave the decision of where to go up to the party's leader, "I'll leave the matter of which path we take up to your judgment."
While not everyone in the group was comfortable with Heero's decision, they knew that neither choice before them was 'wrong.' Neptune weighed her choices before pointing down the path on the right. "I've got a good feeling about this one."
Complying with their leader's decision, the party followed the path on the right until the came to a room at the far end of the corridor. When they entered the room, the party found a monster in the center of the crystal filled room. The creature was an 'Ancient Dragon,'and it was quite large. The monster had been facing away from the group until they entered, and responded to their arrival with malcontent, "Dammit! How did you learn I hold the ancient hero's secret weapon?!"
They had only just entered the room, and not one person in the party had inquired about the weapon. Neptune pointed out the fact that they hadn't asked about it, "Um, well, we haven't even said anything yet. So, does that mean-"
"Shaddap! I'm going to collect the other parts of this here Trinity Blade! I'll show no mercy for interference, no matter what!"
Gust wasn't exactly thrilled to have to fight such a large monster... mostly because she might have to go through some of her more expensive reagents, "Gust was hoping to grab weapon and leave. This is most troubling."
While the alchemist was hesitant to fight the monster due to the potential costs she would incur, Nisa was raring to go, "If this monster stands between us and the weapon needed to save the world, then there is only one option available to us. We must slay this creature!"
Lyrica question whether or not the heroine wanted to defeat the Ancient Dragon just because it was in possession of the weapon they needed, "You say that about every monster we face. I get the feeling you just want to beat his face in just because he's a monster."
Before another word could be exchanged amongst the party, the dragon took a swipe at them with one of it's large claws. Everyone in the party quickly dispersed to avoid taking a hit or getting caught in a follow-up.
Red had been tossed into the air as a result of the dragon striking the ground and landed right on top of IF, who hadn't been paying attention. The red headed girl focused her attention on IF, a starry eyed look on her face, "My wifey number one saves me from certain death without thinking about her own safety! That's top quality wifey material if you ask me."
A nervous laugh passed through IF's lips as she lay sprawled out across the ground. Red would have been fine even if the brunette hadn't been there to break her fall, "Yeah, sure. Why not? Can you get off me now? This really isn't the best time for this."
Normally the wifey hunter would have remained on top of IF despite her protests, but Red knew that now was not the time to play around. The party had their attention focused on the monster once they had put enough distance between themselves and it.
Neptune went to the Gundam pilot for a plan to defeat the monster that possessed the weapon they needed, knowing that he would come up with a winning strategy, "How do we put the hurt on this guy? We gotta beat him if we want that weapon."
The armored Gundam pilot was scanning for any possible weak points the group could exploit, but saw no immediate opening. Heero believed the best way to deal with the creature was with a barrage of long ranged attacks and one person needed to keep the dragon where it was, "All of you will need to concentrated your attacks on the target from a distance. I will keep it from closing in on this position."
IF didn't like the plan Heero was suggesting. Transformed or not, the Gundam pilot was still having to go up against an enemy that was bigger than he was. While they had done it before, at least there were three of four other people devoted to the task as well, "Are you sure that's a good idea? That means you'll be fighting that thing alone."
Heero was aware of the risk involved, and he had to take it. It was the fastest way of bringing the battle to an end. "I wouldn't be suggesting this plan unless I thought I could handle it. It will ultimately follow on the rest of you to deal with the enemy."
Unlike the Guild Moderatist, Neptune didn't see a problem with Heero's proposed strategy, "So all we gotta do is stand back here and fill him full of holes? Sounds easy enough. I won't even break a sweat from this plan."
Nisa reached behind her back and pulled out a handgun that was shaped like a penguin… of sorts, looking at the weapon with a degree of uncertainty, "I not so sure… I don't normally use my gun."
It was rare to see the Keeper of Justice lacking in confidence. Compa assured the heroine that she would be fine, "Don't worry so much, Ms. Heroine. All you have to do is point and shoot. Heero's plans always work."
IF was about to arm the guns she kept hidden in her sleeves when she felt something tug on her jacket. Looking over her shoulder, the brunette found Red looking at her with a nervous smile on her face, "So… I don't have a gun or anything to shoot with. What am I supposed to do?"
There really wasn't anything that could be done about Red's lack of a firearm, and it wasn't like they could just rework the plan they had now, "Just… stay back here with the rest of us. I'm sure this won't take long."
All of the girls had lined up in a row, safe for Red, in preparation for their role in the plan. The Exbein drew one of it's beam sabers before charging at the Ancient Dragon. Heero swung the beam saber at the dragon monster, only to have it parried by one of the creature's large claws, "You're not going to beat me with such a weak attack!"
Heero wasn't about to be taken in by the monster's provocations. The important thing was that he focus the dragon's attention on himself so that he could get it to show it's exposed back to the girls, "(Now I need to get him to turn around.)"
It took the Gundam pilot two minutes of attacking and parrying to get the monster to turn it's back on the rest of the party. Once he had gotten the Ancient Dragon positioned the way he wanted it, Heero threw one of the Exbein's Fang Slashers at it with one hand while drawing the Handheld Rifle and firing with the other.
While the Fang Slasher was stopped by one of the Ancient Dragon's claws, the three shots that came from the Handheld Rifle struck the monster in the face, staggering the monster for a moment.
After seeing the attack, Compa asked whether or not the rest of the group was supposed to handle their part of the plan now, "So… do we attack now?"
Neptune had already been pointing the rifle barrel of the GN Sword III at the Ancient Dragon before the nurse in training asked the question, "Probably. Where do we aim, anyway?"
Unlike the leader of the group, IF wasn't particularly concerned about where she was aiming, so long as she was aiming at the monster, "Does it really matter? Just make sure you're shooting at the monster."
Having determined for themselves that it was time to strike, the collection of girls opened fire into the Ancient Dragon's exposed back. The relentless barrage of bullets, bolts of electricity and beam fire generated a cloud of smoke around the monster.
It was only when they could no longer see the dragon in the cloud of smoke that the girls stopped firing. Everyone waited to see whether or not the monster would come out, but no one could see any sign of moment, leading Neptune to speculate that they defeated the Ancient Dragon, "See? I told ya I wouldn't break a sweat."
Unfortunately, the purplenette's victory was short lived, as the dragon came barreling out of the smoke toward them, "Damn brats! You won't get away with that!"
The dragon didn't get far before it found itself being held back. Twisting it's neck, the Ancient Dragon saw the Exbein holding onto it's tail while pulling back on it. After a moment of frantically shaking it's tail, the dragon was finally able to force the Gundam pilot back.
During the time it took for the monster to shake off the Exbein, the girls had already displaced from where they were, and now stood on the same side of the monster as Heero. Neptune had expected the dragon to have already been defeated by their blindside attack, which led her to inquire about a new plan of attack, "Okay, the monster's still standing. What's the plan now?"
Heero had been observing the monster and noticed that it was quite winded from the attack they had launched moments ago, "There won't be a need for a second plan. I had anticipated a drawn out battle, but considering the amount of damage it had sustained we can deal with it as we would any other enemy."
With the battle now going downhill at this point, the girls no longer had to just shoot at the dragon. With a grin spreading across her face, Neptune pushed the button against her thumb that armed the blade of the GN Sword, "It's about time! We've got way more important stuff to do than deal with this guy." The purplenette turned her attentionto the Perfect Soldier. "You can sit the rest of this one out, Heero. We totally got this."
The Exbein looked over at the party's leader before vanishing in a flash of light, leaving Heero standing in it's place, "If you're sure, then I'll leave this to you."
Heero stood off to the side while Neptune, IF and Nisa charged the weakened monster, while Compa, Lyrica and Gust supported them from the safety of the rear… like they did with Heero's plan. The Ancient Dragon didn't take much damage from the attacks by the trio acting as support, but it was kept from moving.
IF and Nisa had gotten to the dragon before Neptune and each took a shot at trying to bring it down. Neither of the two were able to land a hit since their attacks were blocked by the large monster's claws, although that did leave it wide open for the leader of the party to deal the finishing blow. "Leave it to the main character to beat the boss!"
Although unintentional, Neptune pulled the trigger to fire the GN Rifle, which projected a beam blade of the GN Sword. One swing from the high powered beam sword was all it took to send the Ancient Dragon crashing to the ground.
Neptune took one look at the glorified beam sword attached to her arm, then the dragon lying on the ground and then the party, "Heero's stuff is way cooler than ours! Why can't we have weapon that are this awesome?"
IF wasn't so much focused on the fact that the lone male party member's weapons tended to far outclass their, so much as she was focused on Neptune's comment about how she was the 'main character,' "How exactly are you the 'main character' of the party? The way I see it, Heero is the one that fits the bill here."
Nisa found herself wondering the same thing as the brunette who seemed to be irritated over Neptune's claim, "She's got a point. What are your qualifications for being the main character?"
Wanting to prove she was in fact the main character she said she was, Neptune began to count on her fingers what exactly made her so important, "Well, I've got Heero as my Destined Lover, I'm the leader of the party, I was given the super important quest of finding the Key Fragments… which turned into a quest to find these heroic weapons now. Oh, and because I'm a goddess!"
Neptune found her attention returning to the defeated Ancient Dragon behind her once she heard it groans as it struggled to get back up. Considering how big the monster was, the amnesiac had expected the party to be in for a tough fight. However, the time it took for the party to defeat the dragon was rather short, making Neptune realize she might have set her expectations too high. "He wasn't tough at all! I can't believe how aggressive he was..."
It wasn't just Neptune that was upset with the results of the battle, but the Ancient Dragon as well. The creature was quite displeased with how badly it had been defeated, "Damn! I can't believe I lost to these little girls..."
No one had forgotten that the dragon had spoken about the ancient hero's weapon over the course of the fight. It was the whole reason they had come to the cave in the first place. IF immediately started pressing the monster for answers regarding the item they had been searching for, "So you've got one of the ancient heroes' weapons? You do, right? Right?!"
The brunette was somewhat aggressive with her questioning, as if she would start beating on the already defeated monster if it gave her an answer she didn't want to hear. Not wanting to risk angering the Guild member, the Ancient Dragon dropped an object at the party's feet. "Just a part of it. I will admit my defeat and give it to you..."
It took a moment to figure out just what it was, but a close inspection of the object revealed that it was the grip of a sword. Heero examined the large sword grip for a moment, noting that it was quite large for just one piece of the weapon they needed, "
Neptune took the grip from the Gundam pilot, visibly happy with the results of their efforts, "Oh, yay!" It wasn't until she had a good look at the item that she saw just what it was. "Huh? This is kinda big. Is this just the grip to a sword?"
"It's part of the Trinity Blade, a giant sword wielded by the hero Yuzusuki. The 3D shockwaves emitted from the Trinity Blade are said to pierce through the heavens!"
A weapon that could potentially strike the heavens, and this monster had said it planned to put it together at the start of their battle. If it really was capable of such a thing, then was definitely a weapon they couldn't allow it to be left in the hands of monsters.
Compa was more interested in the technology behind the sword that the grip was a part of, "They must have had great technology back then… Does this mean all the weapons have been disassembled?"
Not only was Compa's idea one that no one had thought of, it was one they really hadn't wanted to entertain the possibility of. If the weapons that made up the Quartet Arms really were disassembled, then that meant the party was going on what was basically another Key Fragment search… only this time, they would have to find the pieces to four items.
The dragon then revealed the location of another piece of the Trinity Sword, "I heard someone's seen part of the sword near Planeptune's Sky Harbor."
Neptune didn't like where the search was going. Instead of a simple fetch quest, the party was going to have to search for the pieces of the ancient weapon. Clearly Compa's idea that the weapons had been disassembled was right, "Seems like it. This is becoming way more of a chore than I expected."
Heero wasn't pleased with the outcome either. Four complete weapons were what the party needed to open the path to Celestia, and instead they now had to search the four landmasses for the pieces to the weapons, "While I did expect something like this, I will say I was hoping for less work overall."
It wasn't the result they were hoping for, but at least they had part of the weapon and the location of the next piece to the sword. IF also brought up the fact that unlike their search for the Key Fragments, the party at least had Histoire to provide some assistance this time around, "I'm sure it'll get easier once Histy gets her crap together. We should head to the Sky Harbor now."
Lyrica's shoulders sank as she thought about how similar the party's current task was to the search for the Key Fragments, "This is gonna be like our search for the Key Fragments, isn't it? That had a lot of unnecessary walking."
There had been a lot of back and forth moment between landmasses and a lot of backtracking during their search for the Key Fragments, but that was something that didn't have any control over. No one in the party could have known the search for the four objects would have played out the way it did.
Nisa put her hand on the sulking musician's shoulder as she tried to reinvigorate her, "It may be long and arduous, but we are doing this for the sake of Gamindustri! We cannot let something as simple as walking deter us from our goal."
Lyrica couldn't really get motivated by the heroine's speech, especially when she remembered how Nisa had signed the party up for job requests before without consulting them. Red turned her attention over to the battered monster, "What are we gonna do about him?"
The rest of the group focused on the Ancient Dragon that froze as soon as everyone looked at him. Common sense dictated that the finish it off and be done with him, but Neptune didn't feel the need to go through with that, "Let's just leave 'em. He did tell us where to find the next piece, and he can't do nothing right now, anyway."
Whether or not it was the smartest decision was up for debate, but the rest of the party respected the amnesiac's choice to spare the talking monster. With one piece of the Trinity Blade in hand, the party made their way out of the dungeon to begin their search for the second piece.
Xxx
Upon returning to the capital city, Heero's first order of business was to procure a new weapon for Neptune. A quick search of AMAZOO revealed that there was a claymore available that would be a good fit for the purplenette. Once Neptune's new sword had been paid for, the party headed straight for the Sky Harbor to search for the second piece of the Trinity Blade.
Once they arrived at the edge of the landmass, Neptune assumed her thinking position as she questioned where they were going to start looking for the piece of the sword, "So where should we look, exactly? We're at the end of the landmass, right? Nothing's gonna be here but the Basilicom."
A quick look around showed nothing of interest besides the Basilicom that oversaw the Sky Harbor to Planeptune. Heero didn't see any one place in particular as being a good spot to start searching for the piece of the Trinity Blade, "Unless it's buried, it might have already been taken by someone else."
As the group deliberated, a member of the Basilicom employee emerged from the building near the Sky Harbor and approached them, "Excuse me, ladies. Have you applied for a permit?"
Neptune replied to the individual who didn't know they already had the permit they needed for Terraportation, "No worries, man! We already got one a while back. We're just here to look for something."
"Oh? What could you be looking for?"
Compa attempted to explain to the member of the Basilicom that they were looking for the piece of the Trinity Sword that was supposed to be around there, "The Tri-… Tripto-…" The nurse in training gave up on trying to give the name of the sword and just told the man what they were looking for. "S-Something related to the ancient heroes! Do you know anything about it?"
Judging by the expression on the man's face, it seemed he had an idea of what the ditzy nurse was talking about. "Are you talking about the Trinity Blade of the hero Yuzusuki? I think I may have an idea. We've dug up something we have yet to identify, but it caught our attention while fixing this harbor." The member of the Basilicom pulled an objectout of his pocket. "This is it."
The group looked at the object that was presented to them. From Neptune's perspective the item looked like a coin, or a really… REALLY short sword. With mild annoyance, the amnesiac looked back at the man, "What's this? An ancient coin? A palm-top sword? You mockin' us, dude?"
Heero took a moment to inspect the object, and found that Neptune was quite off in her observation, "I don't think that's the case."
IF could see where the purple haired girl had slipped in her observation as well, "Yeah, look closely! Isn't this a sword's cross-guard?"
After examining the cross-guard Compa could see that it was made from the same material, or at least a very similar material as the sword grip they had recovered from the Ancient Dragon, "The material is very similar to that other part."
"As I suspected! I stowed it away just in case it was something important."
Once they knew the Basilicom staff member was the sole proprietor of the Trinity Blade piece Neptune immediately began asking if they could have it, "Can we have it? Huh? Can we? We need it to save the world. Don't worry! Iffy will pay ya for it!"
IF didn't like how Neptune was suggesting that she was going to pay for the item they desperately needed, "No way! Heero manages all the credits, so my money is your money too, y'know?"
Truth be told, Heero made sure to keep IF and Gust's finances separate from the rest of the group's since they put in a lot of effort to make that money themselves. The Basilicom staff member saw no reason to keep the piece of the Trinity Blade if the party had a use for it, "No, please do not mind me. We have no need for it. Take it if you can put it to use."
The morale of the party significantly increased upon receiving the second piece of the Trinity Blade, and unlike the first piece they didn't have to do much to get it. Compa couldn't contain her joy over acquiring the part of the ancient sword, "Great! Now we have two pieces. We're still missing the blade, though..."
Even with the two pieces they had, the party still required the most important part in order to complete the sword. However, they hadn't heard from Histoire about the location of where it might be. In fact, they hadn't heard anything from the Tome of the Goddesses. They were forced to find the two pieces they had on their own.
They may have been lucky with the first two pieces of the Trinity Blade, but IF didn't see them catching a lucky break and getting information on the whereabouts of the third piece. The Guild member pulled out her cellphone in preparation to use her Guild connections to search for the last piece, "We have to keep looking for it until Histy can give us any sort of lead."
While IF said they needed to wait for Histoire to give them some kind of hint, Gust pointed out the fact that the Tome hadn't really done anything to help them, "IF says wait for Histy to find something, but Histy hasn't helped much."
Lyrica reiterated the alchemist's claim the Histoire hadn't done anything to help the party with their search, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but the only thing Histy has done was give us a really vague hint on the location of the first piece. Heero had to figure out were it actually was himself."
Only after hearing the two girls state how little she had helped did IF realize that waiting for Histoire to assist them was rather redundant. As the group mulled over how they were going to find the third piece of the Trinity Blade, the Basilicom staff member gave the party a potential clue as to where they might find it, "The hero Yuzusuki was said to have vanished from the public eye after defeating the goddess… If anything, the Trinity Blade must be where Yuzusuki spent his final years..."
It made sense, given the fact that it was the most important part of the hero's sword. If they could find the last place Yuzusuki had been, the party would most likely find the blade. "So, like, a cave or dungeon, huh?"
With the cross-guard in hand, the group walked away from the member of The Sanctified. Heero looked over her shoulder to see the Basilicom employee turn around and enter the Basilicom. It wasn't until they were sure that there was no one else around that the party came to a stop to discuss their next move.
Red was concerned over the fact that they didn't receive any concrete information regarding the location of the last piece of the Trinity Blade, "So, we didn't really get anything from that guy besides the second piece to the sword. How exactly do we find the last piece?"
That was the question now, wasn't it? The party only found out about the first piece because Heero learned of it's location from Nepgear, and they received the location of the second from the monster that had been in possession of the first piece. While no one in the party was expecting to be so lucky as to acquire the location of the third piece of the Trinity Blade so easily, there were those in the group that had at least hoped to get something substantial. Not only that, but the party had yet to hear from Histoire, so there was little chance of getting an answer from her without having to wait.
It was then that Nisa thought about having Zero help with locating the item, "Hey, what if we tried asking Z? Maybe she can help."
No one else in the group had thought of the idea until the heroine put it out there for deliberation. It was certainly better than waiting for Histoire to find it or trying to look for it themselves. Neptune started talking to thin air in order to contact the ZERO System, "Hey Z, are you there? We kinda need some help over here."
A few seconds of silence passed before the amnesiac goddess received a response, "Yes, I'm here. I can't really go anywhere. Do you require my assistance?"
Hearing from the Heero's helper made Neptune hopeful that Zero could help the party out of their current situation. "You bet we do! We've got two piece of the ancient hero's weapon, but we don't know where to look for the third piece. Do you think you could help us out?"
"Hmm… Since the object in question doesn't give off an energy signature strong enough for me to track, I will need to scan for a location that contains an item with the same material as the items you have. This may take a moment."
While Neptune continued to stair off into the sky, Heero relayed the news to the rest of the party, "Zero may be able to locate the object we're looking for. It will take some time to for her to find it."
Compa crossed her fingers in some attempt at raising the party's luck, "Everybody, cross your fingers and pray."
Even though there was no proof that crossing fingers and praying would actually do anything, Lyrica was still believed in superstition and believed Compa's attempts to sway fortune in their favor would backfire, "Please don't jinx us. Crossing your fingers will probably bring bad luck instead."
It took a few minutes, but Zero was eventually able to find what the party was looking for, "I apologize for the wait. After a quick scan of Planeptune, I have found one location that contains an item made from the same material as the two pieces of the Trinity Blade in your possession. I will provide you with direction so you won't have to guess where it is."
Hearing that Zero had found what they were looking for left Neptune elated. The purplenette turned to the party and relayed the news, "Z said she's found the next piece! She's even gonna tell us where to go so we can go and grab it."
Having gotten another lucky break in their search, the group felt as though they were on top of the world. Even though they knew where the last piece of the Trinity Sword was, Compa still felt bad for the party's other helper, Histoire. They didn't know how much effort the tome had put in to finding the pieces of the Trinity Blade, and it was all going to be for naught, "I feel kind of bad for Histy. She's looking for the pieces of the weapons for us, and we're about to find the last piece for our first weapon."
Unlike the nurse in training, Neptune didn't feel bad. In all the time during their travels, Zero had provided much more help to the party than the Tome of the Goddesses did, and even gotten them out of trouble more than once. "You shouldn't feel bad. Z has been helping us out way more than that lazy bum Histy. Histy's just been super vague with her hints, and she's being slow. As long as we've got Z, we have nothing to worry about. Now let's go get that last piece!"
Xxx
Following Zero's directions, the party made their way towards yet another one of the islands surrounding Planeptune. While not the same island where they found the first piece, the group found themselves delving into another cave in their search for the third piece of the Trinity Blade.
As they entered the naturally formed cave the party noticed an elderly man seated near the entrance of the cave. It was only once the party approached him that the old man lifted his head, "What's with the ruckus? I haven't seen any tourists since the monsters began to appear. Welcome. This is where Yuzusuki passed away. The first one-hundred visitors will win a talking Yuzusuki cell phone strap..."
IF found the elderly man's use of a deceased hero's name for profit to be reprehensible,"Using a hero to make money? People like you are around in any age. This is where the hero took his final breaths?"
"Yes. Sir Yuzusuki died here. There was once a grave, but it got buried due to an earthquake. The only thing that survived the quake was Sir Yuzusuki's beloved Trinity Blade..."
Hearing that the final part of the Trinity Blade was indeed there, Neptune fished the two pieces that were in her pockets to show to the old man, "These are parts to it too, right?"
Upon seeing the objects in the amnesiac's hands, the elderly man could not contain his surprise, "Oh! The cross-guard and grip! You've found them!"
Compa was anxious to hear if the old man had seen the last piece of the sword and where the group could find it, "We're trying to gather parts of this sword to defeat an evil goddess! Do you know anything about that?"
The old man reached behind his back and pulled out a sword blade which he presented to the party. "Well… you should keep this blade, then. This is all I know… and all I have."
Heero retrieved the sword blade from the old man while Neptune excitedly jumped up and down as she watched the Gundam pilot look over the pieces of the Trinity Blade, "Sweet! Do you have all the bits and pieces now?"
While it would have nice to finally put the weapon together, the Gundam pilot didn't really believe that was the case. One look over their collection of parts told him as such, "(...We're missing a piece.)"
The elderly man shook his head in response the Neptune's inquiry, "Nope. You need one more to complete the sword. The pommel."
Even though it was part of the ancient weapon, Neptune didn't really care too much about trying to look for it. Not when the party already had the more important pieces already, "Oh, who cares about a part that sounds like a cheerleader's dessert?"
Their leader might not have cared about searching for the pommel to the sword, but the rest of the party did. It might not have sounded important, but the party couldn't leave anything to chance when the entirety of Gamindustri was at stake.
IF dismissed the amnesiac's nonchalant outlook over searching for the last piece before questioning the old man, "We do! Old man, do you know where it might be?"
"Eh, nope. It's probably somewhere on Planeptune, if that helps..."
Neptune felt some of the energy drain from her being once she heard that the old man didn't know where the pommel for the sword was, "Ugh. Sounds like we gotta around like little detectives some more."
Compa was slightly disheartened as well, thinking about how difficult it was to search for the Trinity Blade pieces, "Yes… It's not easy finding these things. I wanna sleep in my own bed for once..."
Where Compa got the idea that searching for the Trinity Blade pieces had been difficult was anyone's guess. If anything, the three pieces they had recovered had proven easy enough to find. Regardless, the group was content with the result of their search. It may not have been the result they had hoped for, but the party could leave the cave knowing that they were one piece away from assembling the Trinity Blade.
Xxx
The search for the pieces of the Trinity Blade had gone exceedingly well… until the party had to search for the pommel of the sword. Unlike the first three pieces, the group did not receive a clearly defined location or hint as to where it could be.
Neptune had thought about asking Zero for help finding the last piece, but the ZERO System found herself busy running through more data, and could not provide assistance as she did before. Histoire was also unavailable, though even if she was, the group had a feeling they would still be stuck waiting for an extended period of time.
With no other option available to them, the party had no choice to put to disperse around the city and ask for clues about the piece of the ancient weapon. After a few hours, everyone in the group reconvened in the park closest to the center of the capital city to discuss the unfortunate lack of information.
Neptune slouched in the bench she was seated in once everyone broke the news that they couldn't find anything pertaining to the last piece of the Trinity Blade, "Aww, what should we do now? We've looked in so many sketchy places and haven't found a single clue!"
It wasn't just the party leader that was upset over the result of the info gathering. The Gundam pilot next to her was equally miffed. Even though Heero had anticipated the outcome of their citywide search for information, it was still no less frustrating, "Histoire did say that it has been a some time sincethe people of Gamindustri even spoke of the weapons we're searching for. I can't say I didn't see this ending poorly."
Even Nisa seemed to have had some of the wind knocked out of her sails over the failed attempt at finding the location of the Trinity Sword's final piece, "This is quite vexing. Perhaps we are being tested to see if we are worthy of saving the world?"
IF, who was seated on the other side of Heero, didn't like the idea that the party was being tested for the last piece, but it's not as if complaining would solve the problem. The brunette continued to play with her phone as she had been for the last ten minutes, "Oh well. We'll have to just wait until Z or Histy gets back to us." IF pulled herself away from the screen of her phone for a moment upon the realization that a certain nurse in training was absent. "Where's Compa?"
It took Neptune a moment to remember where Compa had run off to when they decided to end their failed information gathering, "She went to go get her body pillow from her house. Maybe she'll be back soon..." The girl they had been talking about entered Neptune's peripheral vision, prompting the amnesiac to point her out. "See?"
Compa came running up to the party, and she had more than just a body pillow in her arms. She was carrying a bag that was packed to the brim with various items belonging to the nurse in training, "Sorry for the wait! Aside from my pillow, I packed up my toothbrush, my pajamas, and some other stuff. We're going straight to Celestia after we find all the weapons. Regrets will not mend matters! I must start thinking ahead."
Lyrica stared at the bag full of Compa's personal effects, questioning why the ditzy nurse would need any of it when they finally made the trip to Celestia, "Compa, what exactly do you think we're going to be doing when we reach Celestia?"
Naturally, IF was also questioning Compa's decision to bring so many personal items to the holy land of the goddesses, as well as the phrase she used to justify the decision, "I'm not sure that's quite the right phrase for this situation… but I'll praise your effort."
Neptune found her attention going to a doll that was sticking out of Compa's bag, "Ooh, what's that thingy, Compa? It's super cute!"
Focusing her attention on the object Neptune was looking at, Compa took a hold of the doll and explained where she got it from, "Really? My grandpa gave it to me… I've had it for so long. I found it while organizing my drawers." Compa brought the stuffed animal to her forehead and started speaking to it. "Grandpa… I'm doing well. You don't have to worry. So please, stop groping your caretaker's bottom. The neighbor's are talking about it..."
When the pink haired girl had started speaking to the doll, the group had assumed that her grandpa was either far away or deceased, leading to a rather solemn feeling in the air. Of course, the ambiance, much like the party's thoughts and opinions on Compa's grandfather, took and awkward turn the moment she started talking about him groping someone's bottom. At that point, the group started imagining Compa's grandpa being a perverted old man in a home for the elderly, or possibly even, if they were to follow the most far out there case, an insane asylum.
Suffice it to say, IF was thinking differently about the old man the party had never met before, "I can picture your grandpa in my head. I figured he was more serious and full of wisdom based on what I heard from you."
The Guild Moderatist started to lean back in her seat when she noticed Heero staring rather intently at the stuffed animal Neptune had been focusing on. Heero found the particular shape of the doll to be rather odd. In fact, it looked more like it was being forced into it's current shape, "Something about the design of that doll is off."
IF had only glanced at the doll, so she didn't really see anything. Upon taking another look, the brunette saw why the Gundam pilot had been so focused on it, "...Huh? Compa, let me see that real quick!"
Compa was somewhat confused as to why IF wanted to see the doll, but was willing to let her see it up close, "My grandpa's keepsake? Sure, but why?"
Once she had it in her hands IF carefully scanned over the doll. Turning it over, the brunette found the zipper and pulled down on it before sticking her fingers inside the stuffed animal. IF felt around the inside and found mostly cotton, which was normal for a doll. After a few seconds her fingers brushed up against something other than the doll's stuffing. Taking a hold of the object she couldn't quite see, IF pulled it out while trying not to pull the cotton stuffing out as well.
An awkward silence fell over the group as they looked at the object that IF had pulled out of the stuffed toy. The item in the brunette's hand was a sword pommel, and it's design was VERY similar to that of the Trinity Blade pieces the group had collected.
IF got over her initial shock and directed her attention back to Compa. "Keepsake? Your grandpa's still alive. Anyway, look! This is the Trinity Blade's pommel!"
It wasn't just the Guild member that was curious as to how the nurse in training already had possession of a piece of the ancient hero's weapon. Lyrica wanted to know why Compa hadn't told them about it sooner, "Where did you get this? Do you have pieces of the other weapons as well? ...Are you holding out on us?"
Compa wasn't sure why the twogirls seemed upset over the item that had been stuck inside her doll, "What? This...? My grandpa said he found it in his back yard one day..."
Another moment of silence fell over the group. Heero felt as though there was something to be said about this situation. The group had spent hours trying to find some kind of clue as to where the Trinity Sword pommel was, and Compa, after moving to the beat of her own drum, suddenly shows up with the pommel without even realizing it. The nurse in training's grandpa just picked up this piece of the legendary weapon out of his backyard. They may not have met Compa's grandpa, her parents or any of her relatives if she had any, but if there was one thing that seemed to run in her family, it had to be dumb luck.
Ignoring the chance for a witty and otherwise sarcastic remark, IF focused on the task of assembling the Trinity Sword now that the party had the last Guild member looked to her right at the other two occupants of the bench she was seated on, "Can I see the other pieces for this thing?"
Neptune reached into her hoodie pockets and pulled out the grip and cross-guard for the weapon, while Heero reached behind his and pulled out the sword blade. Neptune handed the two objects she had over to IF and immediately went to work putting the sword together. "Connect this to the end of the grip, slide on the cross-guard and the fit the blade into the grip… perfect!"
After a minute of aligning the parts, IF finished assembling the sword. Neptune jumped out of her seat and looked upon the completed weapon with a renewed sense of vigor, "Holy craparoni! We really did it!"
Heero wasn't sure how long the search for the pieces for the weapon would take. Having the first of the Quartet Arms in their possession gave the Perfect Soldier a glimmer of hope that it wouldn't take too long to gather the other three that were needed to open the path to Celestia, "I wasn't sure how our search would play out. But it seems we've reached the first milestone of our mission."
IF gave a curt nod in response to the two over their first major achievement of their new quest, "No doubt about it. This is the hero Yuzusuki's Trinity Blade."
Having assembled the first weapon of the Quartet Arms the party's morale was through the roof. Red didn't want to come down from this high just yet and wanted to keep the momentum going, "Where do we go next? I mean, there's still three more of these things we gotta find."
Gust threw in her two cents on the matter, "Perhaps party should go to landmass that is closest."
It was a pretty good suggestion. The party's search for the weapons mirrored their search for the Key Fragments in the fact that they had no solid lead on their locations. With only vague hints to go off of, choosing to go to any of the other three landmasses was not a wrong choice.
Heero had made sure to memorize the schedule for when the Sky Harbor would open and which landmass it would be connected to, "Lastation will be passing by Planeptune tomorrow. If we follow Gust's suggestion, then that will be our next destination. With that in mind, the rest of the day is for all of you to do as you see fit."
As soon as they heard that they were free to do what they wanted with the rest of the day, the girls began to disperse with the intent to pursue their own leisure. Heero stopped Neptune before she could get too far, wanting to hear her thoughts on what had happened the night before, "Neptune, I need to speak with you."
The amnesiac goddess turned around to face her Destine Lover. Curious about what the boy wanted with her, "What's up? You need something?"
There really was no easy way of bringing up the topic, so Heero just came out and asked the purplenette about seeing the Wing Zero. "About last night. I wanted to know how you felt about… well..."
Clearly the incident was still weighing on the boy's mind. Neptune felt no misgivings toward Heero and replied with a broad smile, "I thought it was awesome that you've got a giant robot to do everything you want. ...Okay, maybe not everything, but still!"
A sly grin spread across the purplenette's face as she focused on the Perfect Soldier in front of her. "After seeing that Gundam of yours… it makes me wonder what other kinds of secrets my lover's got up his sleeve."
Heero hadn't expected Neptune to answer the way she did. He had expected some level of distrust from her, considering that he kept the Gundam a secret from her this whole time, "You're taking this rather well."
Given the nature of their relationship, Neptune saw no reason to allow the incident to change the way she interacted with the Gundam pilot, "Oh, c'mon Heero. If I little every little thing change how I thought or felt about you what kinda lover would I be?"
Hearing Neptune's reasoning for why she didn't think differently of him caused Heero to pause for a moment. Even after finding out about something as serious as the Gundam, she still felt the same way towards him.
Not wanting him to dwell on the issue any longer, Neptune grabbed one of Heero's hands and began leading him toward one of the arcades close by. "Enough thinking about that stuff. We should be doing something fun instead. I saw an arcade I wanted to play at, and you're coming with me!"
Neither Neptune or Compa seemed to take issue with the boy hiding his mobile suit from them. He would need to pull each of the other girls aside and ask them about it, but Heero felt as though he would receive similar answers from them as he had gotten from both girls he had asked.
He wasn't sure why, but seemed that the level of trust between himself and the girls had reached a point that it kept them from thinking ill of him. Heero would have to confirm it by asking them, but if nothing else he wanted to make sure that he hadn't caused any mistrust amongst the group.
Slowly, his mind shifted away from the matter of the accident from last night as Neptune continued leading him toward their destination. Even if it was for a brief moment, he wanted to forget about his worries and just focus on the here and now. Here being with these girls, and now just living in the moment.
Xxx
Me: "Finally got this chapter done. About damn time."
Heero and Neptune: (Enter ACCC from Lounge) "So we only gotta get three more of these things, right? Do you think they'll all be this easy to get."
Heero: "I doubt it."
Compa and IF: (Enter ACCC from Break Room) "Don't be like that, Heero. You need to think a little more positively!"
IF: "That's gonna be a little hard, considering that Histy really isn't doing a good job of helping find the weapons in the first place."
Zero: (Appears in ACCC) "Don't be too hard on her. She has to do a lot more than you think."
Me: "Ehhh… I guess. Anyway, I thought I would go ahead and have a certain girl that everyone knows from the sequel help out with the Trinity Blade search. That way it wouldn't seem like the party just found the dungeon with the weapon piece by chance."
Nepgear: (Enters ACCC from Game Room) "Umm… I really wasn't expecting to be in the story again. Are you sure I should be here?"
Neptune: "Hey, it's that girl again. What'cha doin' here? You gonna party up with us?"
Me: "Sorry, but she can't. Not until the next story, anyway."
Neptune: "Bummer. Well, it's just this story. You can party with us in the next one."
Nepgear: "I would really like that!"
Me: "Okay, okay. Now before we go any further we need to wrap up this segment of the ACCC.
Neptune: "Heero and I will do it! Right Heero?"
Heero: "If you insist."
Me: "You know, you could stand to look a little happier about it. Whatever. Just make sure not to threaten the readers this time."
Heero and Neptune: "Please read and review this chapter, and look forward to the next update."
Neptune: "Now, if you'll excuse us, Heero and I are gonna get all lovey in the work room."
Heero: "Let's not. As you say, it's the work room. We WORK in there."
Me: "Okay, enough of that you lovebirds. Let us continue with out work, my peeps!"
Me, Heero, Neptune, Compa, IF, Zero, and Nepgear: (Leave ACCC through Left Entrance)
