Me: "Another day, another chapter of the this story ready to go… and another chapter in which our readers question the sanity of both the cast of characters involved, and the guy writing it."

Heero and Neptune: (Enter IC from Lounge) "The readers aren't questioning us. They're probably thinking how awesome we are!"

Heero: "That's a matter of opinion."

Me: "It would be surprising if they DIDN'T question our sanity."

Gust and Nisa: (Enters IC from Break Room) "We're trying to save Gamindustri! There's no way we could possibly be insane."

Gust: "Some readers might say otherwise."

Red: (Enters IC from Game Room) "Don't let Lyrics hear you say that. Is she does, she'll flip!"

Lyrica: (Enters IC from hidden entrance) "Wh-What? People think I'm insane? B-But then… they won't want to read this story! Or hear me sing!"

Me: "Lyrica, calm down! No one thinks you're crazy. Now, before we go any further, we need to read off the disclaimer. Compa and IF aren't here, and I don't feel like waiting on them. So, without further ado, let's hear it."

Heero, Neptune, Lyrica, Gust, Nisa and Red: "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, and while you read this we will get back to work."

Me, Heero, Neptune, Lyrica, Gust, Nisa and Red: (Leave IC)

Ch. 39 Search for the Dual Barrel Revolver

Having assembled their first weapon of the Quartet Arms the previous day, the party was ready to depart for another landmass and begin their work on the second weapon. As soon as the Sky Harbor opened the party wasted no time in crossing over into Lastation to begin the second part of their quest to assemble the Quartet Arms.

The original plan was for the party to head to the safe house, drop off their gear and immediately begin searching for information about the second weapon. However, Neptune and Compa found themselves being easily distracted, looking down an alleyway of some sort.

Compa peered down the alley that was rather clean, as if it was constantly being used, "This looks sort of like a storage alley."

With her curiosity piqued, Neptune found herself wanting to explore the somewhat dark back street, "Wanna check it out? I do! Me first. Away!"

Neptune ran down the alley without a care in the world, leaving Compa to comment on her overly curious nature. "You're… way too curious..."

Heero began to follow after the amnesiac so as to keep an eye on her, "It would be best if we went after her. We don't want her getting into trouble."

While the Gundam pilot wanted to go after Neptune, IF was perfectly fine with leaving her to her own devices… even if it got her in trouble, "Must we? Nep is pretty good about coming back to us when she's had her fill of her own dumbassery."

The Perfect Soldier paid no mind to the idea of leaving Neptune on her own. It wasn't long before the rest of the party followed after the two and IF was left to question how much they could get done if Neptune wasn't so easily sidetracked.

It didn't take long to catch up to the party's leader, and when they did the party found themselves in what appeared to be a factory. Neptune looked around the place like she was a child at a playground, "Oh, fun times! This place is pretty big. D'you think they use that crane hanging from the ceiling to move stuff?"

Whether Neptune was asking a rhetorical question or if she genuinely didn't know if the crane was used for what was clearly it's intended purpose was anyone's guess. Compa answered the curious purplenette's question, "Yes, those arms will pinch the crates and move them." The nurse in training started looking for the control device to the ceiling mounted crane. "I wonder where they operate the crane from?"

It wouldn't make sense for a machine to not have some kind of control panel. IF looked over at the window over on the other side of the building and saw a group of what appeared to be the crane's operator, "Over there, on the other side of that window. See the operators all lined up?"

Once she saw the operators, Neptune began to imagine what it would be like to operate the heavy machinery, "Yeah! I wonder what it's like to operate a giant crane? I wanna do it so bad!"

There had been a number of times where Neptune had said she wanted to do some activity, and then quickly lost interest after doing it once. Heero needed to confirm whether or not she was being serious about this, "Do you intend to take this venture seriously? Or is this another phase for you?"

The amnesiac goddess thought about the idea for a moment before grinning and rubbing the back of her head. "Well, I'd like to try it once."

IF wasn't about to letNeptune anywhere near the control for the crane, "Don't even think about it. You'll just get us all kicked out of here."

Seeing the brunette put a damper on Neptune's idea reminded Lyrica of a situation where IF rained on her parade, "...You're a regular killjoy, aren't you?"

Hearing the cerulean haired songstress refer to her as a killjoy annoyed the Guild member. "What do you mean by that?"

"Remember when I wanted to get those spiffy new guitar string for Mr. Guitar and you kept saying no?"

It took the brunette a moment to remember what Lyrica was talking about before she caught on, "Well, the way those things were priced, there had to be something wrong with them."

Just remembering the incident over the guitar string was making the underground celebrity upset. "Just because they were below market price?! There were even some cool LED lights that went with them. It seems like every time we wanna have fun, you have to ruin it!"

While the two girls were bickering, Neptune had gotten closer to see the controls for the crane and was slightly disappointed by what she saw, "...Huh."

IF ceased her bickering with Lyrica when she saw Neptune examining the crane controls and made noises that suggested she was slightly disappointed, "What?"

Neptune still had her attention focused on the controls for the crane as she answered IF's question. "...I only see two buttons by the operator's hands."

The Guild member wasn't sure she could believe Neptune when she said that the crane was operated by only two buttons, "No way." It wasn't until she saw for herself that there was a sever lack of controls that she believed Neptune. "Oh… your right. One must move it left and right while the other moves it up and down. Everything else seems automated."

Compa couldn't help but feel as though the heavy machine and it's simple controls were similar to something… something that was available to the civilian populous, "The crane and its functions… Doesn't it remind you of something?"

IF knew what the nurse in training was talking about and she didn't want her to say another word on the subject. "...Don't say it."

Despite the Guild Moderatist's protests Compa said if anyway. "Arcade crane games."

It wasn't clear if Compa was ignoring her or just enjoyed pushing her buttons. IF groaned in response to the pink haired girl's tactlessness, "...Ugh."

Nisa couldn't understand why the party had taken this detour to appease Neptune's curiosity and why they were still there, "Shouldn't we be going now? We won't find the weapon standing around here."

With their leader sufficiently disappointed, the party left the factory for their safe house so they could pursue their agenda regarding the second ancient weapon they needed to reach Celestia.

Xxx

Before the party could begin their search for the ancient weapon on Lastationthey had to wait on their leader to finish shopping for snacks because apparently she couldn't go looking for the weapon to save the world without stuffing her face with pudding first.

Because the rest of the girls wanted to make sure Neptune didn't go overboard, and because he found himself with some free time on his hands, Heero decided to catch a nap in the park while waiting for the girls to finish their snack run.

Of course, not everything went quite as the boy had planned. Almost as soon as he entered the park, he found himself running in to Uni. The young girl that looked a lot like Lastation's guardian goddess had been murmuring to herself until she saw the Gundam pilot.

A broad smile formed on Uni's face upon seeing the boy, "Hey, Heero! I wasn't sure when I'd see you again."

The Gundam pilot hadn't expected to run into Uni either, considering the nature of his current job as Neptune's bodyguard and their assignments, which seemed to have them running around Gamindustri at random times, "My current occupation requires that I travel constantly. As such my availability varies from time to time."

There was only one thing on Uni's mind at the moment, and that was getting the Gundam pilot to help with her practice session like she had asked during their last meeting. "Since you're here, can you help me with my target practice?"

Heero had planned on sleeping until the rest of the group had taken care of Neptune's food run while making sure she didn't spend their entire travel fund in the process, but it was just a means to pass the time. He didn't see a problem adhering to her request.

For ten minutes Heero oversaw Uni's target practice. The sound of gunfire filled the air as the raven haired girl took aim at the targets she had set up on the 's shots were more accurate and shown a marked improvement over her performance when they had first met.

While he tried to remain focused on helping the young girl, Heero couldn't help but dwell on the lack of information the party had on the location of the second weapon, "(All we have to go on is that the weapon is in a plain… that's too broad. There are a number of locations that would fit the criteria for a plain.)"

The Perfect Soldier had been so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice Uni looking over at him until she spoke up, "Hey, are you okay?"

Heero was pulled from his thoughts by Uni's voice. When he looked over at her, Uni was just staring at him until she finally inquired about his momentary loss of focus. "You've seemed kinda distracted. Is something wrong?"

Why Heero had allowed himself to be so focused on the party's problem when he was supposed to be helping Uni was beyond him. He knew it was an issue, but that was something he should have thought about when he wasn't busy, "I apologize. I've been focusing on a rather important matter."

Uni was curious about this 'important matter' that had caused the Gundam pilot to space out, "What exactly is it? I might be able to help."

At first the Gundam pilot was unsure whether he should involve someone outside of the party with their mission, but decided not to withhold the information. He did tell Uni that he would help with her target practice, so he at least owed her an explanation for his lack of concentration. "The group I'm with is currently searching for an item. An ancient weapon, to be precise."

The young girl stopped to think about what the boy was referring to. She knew what Heero was talking about, she just didn't know too much about it. "You're talking about that weapon used by the ancient hero, right? I don't really know much… I think Kei might know something about it."

It took Heero a moment to figure out who Uni was talking about before it finally dawned on him. Kei Jinguji; the Oracle of Lastation. Considering her position, she would have access to information that most people wouldn't, and that was including other Basilicom staff, "Do you know where I can find her?"

Uni looked over at the entrance to the park furthest away from where the two were standing and saw the individual they were talking about stroll through, "She's right there. Kei comes through this park every now and then at the same time. Let's go ask her about that weapon so we can get back to our target practice."

Heero and Uni approached the Oracle of Lastation, who had her nose stuck in her clipboard. Kei was pulled from her collection of data when she saw the two in front of her, "Uni? I wasn't expecting to run into you. And… Heero, if I remember correctly."

Uni got straight to the point regarding what they, or rather Heero needed from the currently vacationing Oracle. "Kei, we need to ask you something. Since you're the Oracle of Lastation, you should be able to help us."

The Oracle of Lastation hadn't expected to field any questions, but she was mildly curious what the duo had to ask her. Kei waited to hear the young girl's request, "Heero is looking for some ancient hero's weapon. We were wondering if you knew anything about that?"

Of all the questions Uni could have possibly asked, information regarding the weapon of the ancient hero was not one of the questions Kei had expected. It took a moment for Lastation's Oracle to find the relevant information tucked away in her notes. "You are referring to the Dual Barrel Revolver that was used by the hero Kuterogi. I can mark it's location on a spare map, but..."

The way Kei trailed off at the end wasn't exactly instilling confidence in the Gundam pilot, "Is there a problem?"

She didn't want to admit it, but Kei was lacking in information regarding the weapon, "There is. I don't know if the weapon is still there or if it's in one piece."

That fact was enough to give Heero cause for concern. If this Dual Barrel Revolver was gone or dismantled, the party would have to search around Lastation for it or, in the worst case, the pieces. As the Gundam pilot ruminated on the possibility that the weapon was no longer in it's supposed location, Kei finished jotting down the location of the ancient weapon on the spare map in her hand. "If you're really going to try to look for it, this is the island the weapon is supposed to be on."

As soon as Heero received the map, Uni began pulling the Perfect Soldier back toward the set of targets they had set up for her target practice, "If that's it, then we can get back to practicing."

Unfortunately for Uni, she wouldn't be getting anymore target practice with Heero for the day, as Kei had other plans for her, "Actually, it's a good thing I found you, Uni. There have been a growing number of complaints about a monster nest and I need you to take care of it."

The Lady Black Heart look-alike was understandably upset. Uni had been looking forward to practicing with the Gundam pilot, but her plans of making a day out of target practice had just been foiled. "Why me? Can't someone else do it? Heero was going to help me with my target practice."

Kei shook her head at Uni as she voiced her discontent. "I'm sorry, but right now I can't send out anyone else to do it. This can't wait."

Heero watched as the girl next to him pouted over this new development. If it weren't for her, the boy might not have found out about the revolver's location. In that sense, Heero felt like he owed her, "Given the current circumstances, we will have to end your practice here. Since you've helped me, I'll make it a point to assist you with your target practice another time."

Uni immediately perked up after hearing the Gundam pilot extend an offer to help with her target practice at a later time, "Really? You mean it? You have to promise that you'll help me next time. And no spacing out, either."

The boy didn't understand why Uni needed him to make it a promise, but nodded his head in affirmation regardless. Once she had Heero's 'promise' that he would help her later, Uni refrained from any further protest against Kei's request.

Sliding the map into his pocket, the Gundam pilot left the park in search of the party. As soon as the boy passed though the park entrance, IF stepped out in front of him. The Guild Moderatist had her face stuck in her cell phone when she passed by, only looking away from it once Heero entered her peripheral vision. "I'm going to take it that Neptune finished looking for her pudding."

IF closed her cellphone and stuffed it in her jacket pocket while letting out an exasperated sigh, "I wish. Nep kept browsing all the different flavors of pudding and just started tossing them in the cart at random. I get the feeling she's going to walk out with more that we agreed on."

While it was expected, Heero still didn't appreciate hearing that Neptune was spending so much time buying snacks. That said, it did give the Perfect Soldier the chance to speak to IF about the incident involving the Gundam, "While we have a moment... there is something I need to talk to you about."

The brunette was caught off guard but the rather hesitant tone of Heero's voice left her intrigued by the boy's request to speak to her. IF waited for the boy to speak, wanting to know exactly what he had to speak to her about. "I wanted to talk to you about… the other night."

Taking a moment to process what the Gundam pilot meant, IF deduced that he was referring to what had happened at the base belonging to the Planeptune Defense Force. "Look, Heero, you don't have to say anything right now. Besides, what's done is done."

As reassuring as that sounded, Heero wasn't convinced that IF was unaffected by what had happened that night. He was certain that it had left an impression on all of the girls, which was why he needed to speak with them, "You can put up a front all you want, but I know it affected you more than you let on. If I had been more careful… or at least, if I had told all of you about the Wing Zero sooner, it wouldn't have caused any discord amongst the group."

IF was certain that the boy was referring to the shouting match the girls' had before they started traveling around Gamindustri in search of the Quartet Arms. The Guild member gathered her thoughts and began to speak once more, "Well… it's like I told you before. If you don't tell us about this kind of thing sooner, it makes it seem like you don't trust us."

It was at that point that Heero felt the need to clear up the idea that he didn't trust the party. He at least wanted IF to know that it wasn't due to a lack of trust that he kept the Gundam from them. "I want to make it clear to you that it wasn't because I didn't trust any of you. The reason I hid the Gundam from you was because I was concerned how you would react to seeing it."

Remembering what she felt upon seeing the Gundam, IF would admit that it made quite a first impression. "I'll admit,it was pretty daunting… and a little scary. But it's not like I'm going to let what happened change my opinion of you."

Heero was almost certain that IF would have responded a bit more negatively to the topic, yet she seemed to be taking it rather well, "...I thought you would have been more upset about this, considering the argument you had with Neptune."

She had been upset, that much IF would admit. But seeing the Gundam pilot trying to make amends, and considering that the mobile suit could have been in the hands of someone sinister, IF really couldn't be mad at Heero, "I just realize that things could have been worse. You're at least trying to make things better, and it's not like you plan to do anything nefarious with that Gundam thing. If you were, we wouldn't be standing here talking about it, now would we?"

IF made a fair point, and Heero wasn't about to argue. If the brunette was fine with what had transpired, then that's all that really mattered. Even so, the teenaged soldier was still admonishing his own actions on the matter. Heero embraced IF as he extended an apology to the girl he was sure was at least somewhat hurt by the lack of disclosure on his part. "Still… I do owe you an apology."

The Guild member had not expected the sudden display of close physical contact. With her face quickly turning red, IF squirmed in the boy's arms for a moment, unsure of how to respond before she final said something. "...I really can't be mad at you, y'know? And I'm not just saying that because you've saved my life. I just want you to be… a little more open."

Heero released IF while thinking on the matter of 'being more open' with the girls, "I'll endeavor to do so."

Having finished their discussion, the two were left to wait on the rest of the party to finish getting Neptune's snacks. While IF wanted to capitalize on the current situation, she wasn't sure how she should go about doing so… until her eyes fell on an ice cream stand across the street.

IF took off across the street toward the vendor. Once she had the owner's attention the brunette placed her order, feeling confident that she knew what flavor of ice cream Heero would like, "Can I get an ice cream cone with a single scoop of strawberry ice cream? Make that two cones."

As soon as she had paid for and received the ice cream, IF hurried back to the Gundam pilot. The Guild Moderatist held one of the ice cream cones out to the boy. "Here. We may be stuck waiting for a while, so we should have something in the meantime."

Heero looked at the ice cream cone for a moment before looking back at the girl that was offering it to him, "You didn't have to buy this for me. You had no reason to."

IF shrugged her shoulders, dismissing the Gundam pilot's statement that she had no reason to buy him ice cream, "Do I have to have a reason? I'd like to think we're friends at this point, so I shouldn't need a reason to give you something like ice cream."

Friends. That word came up yet again. Heero knew that he needed to start thinking of the girls as more than just his comrades, but he didn't know how it was that they were able to view him as their friend so easily.

Accepting the brunette's friendly gesture, Heero took the ice cream from IF and began to lick at the sides of the dairy treat, as it had started melting. Of course, as soon as the two began to partake of the sweet delights, Neptune and the rest of the party showed up.

The party's leader had a grocery bag in each hand, and each one was filled with cups of pudding. A grin was plastered on Neptune's face with the success of her snack run, "You wouldn't believe the awesome sale they've got going on right now! I was able to nab so many cups of pudding, and they were super cheap, too!"

Compa looked at the bags of pudding in Neptune's hands and wondered if the purplenette had gone overboard with her the shopping, "Nep-Nep, do you really need so many cups of pudding? Where will you put it all?"

Neptune didn't understand why the nurse in training asked such a question. To her, the answer seemed obvious. "In the fridge, of course! As a pudding connoisseur, my delicious puddings need to be put away someplace where they will get nice and cold for me to enjoy later."

Having only stopped at their safe house for a few minutes, it was clear that their leader had not seen the state of their refrigerator. If she had, she would have realized that she might have been asking a bit much of the home appliance, and Lyrica had to break the news to her, "Umm, Neptune. I don't think our fridge has enough room for all of that pudding."

At first the news was devastating to the amnesiac. The idea that the fridge would be unable to accommodate to pudding she had bought was unacceptable, "Then I'll make room! I have to! If I don't, my pudding won't be able to achieve their full deliciousness!"

IF couldn't understand how Neptune could speak so passionately about pudding or how she was going to 'make room' in the fridge for her pudding, "And just how are you going to make room in the fridge? It better not be to throw out some of the food."

The purplenette took a moment to think on the idea before rapidly nodding her head. It seemed that her pudding was more important than whatever was still in the refrigerator. "If I gotta, then yeah! My pudding is way more important."

Before she could follow that train of thought any further, Neptune noticed the ice cream cone in Heero's hand. The party's leader licked her lips as she looked at the frozen treat, "Ice cream sounds reallllly good right now. Wanna share yours with me, Heero?"

IF wasn't about to let the amnesiac goddess inhale the ice cream she had bought for the Gundam pilot, "No you don't. You've already bought all that pudding, so you can't have any of his ice cream."

Compa observed the heated exchange between the two for a few seconds before looking at the vanilla cone in Heero's hand that no longer had any ice cream in it, safe for what had melted into the otherwise empty cone. The traces of ice cream running down the corner of his mouth was a telltale sign that he had eaten it, "Heero, do I need to cook something for you? You ate that ice cream awfully fast."

The boy looked at the nurse in training for a moment before turning his attention to the cone in his hand. Where had once been a scoop of strawberry ice cream was now empty. Heero thought that perhaps he had accidentally dropped it on the ground, but a quick glance revealed that the pavement below was clear of any ice cream.

Had he really consumed the frozen dairy treat already? And if so, why? Was it because IF had bought it for him and Neptune had asked if she could have it? Rather than dwell on the matter, Heero focused on the matter of the next weapon, "There's no need. Once we drop off... Neptune's pudding, we can start our search for the second weapon. During the time you were shopping, I was able to get in touch with a reliable source and have found the location of our target."

Gust was beaming with joy over the news that the weapon's location had already been discovered, "Heero works very fast. Will not take long to find item."

Nisa was feeling just as enthusiastic as the alchemist, "With each heroic item we obtain, we come one step closer to saving the world! Hopefully the other weapons will be just as easy to find."

As soon as the party took their leader back to the safe house to drop off her pudding, the party would be able to take up the search for the Dual Barrel Revolver. With any luck, the weapon would be in one piece when they found it.

Xxx

Using the information Heero had received from Kei, the party traveled to one of the islands surrounding the heavily industrialized landmass. Their search brought them to a cave, at which point Compa reminded the party of the hint they had received from Histoire about the location of Lastation's weapon, "According to Histy, we've got to look in a field on Lastation."

While it was supposed to be a hint, it was much too vague for the party to really get anything out of it, a fact that IF took issue with, "That's pretty vague for a clue. Let's just start doing some legwork."

Heero's source regarding the location of the weapon was reliable, but in order to get to the plain in which it was buried the party would have to travel through this cave first, "I received the information on our target from a credible source. We need to find the exit on the other side of this cave in order to find the area where the weapon is."

There was no other way to reach their destination. If they tried to have Heero and Neptune ferry them over the mountain there was the real risk of the two running out of power mid-flight, which might leave the party stranded if they weren't careful. With no reasonable alternative, the party began their trek through the cave in search of the exit that would lead them to the field where they would find the second weapon.

The group didn't make it far before they had their first run-in with the cave's inhabitants. Three "Terrain Worms,' which were just Sand Worms with different colored hides… like many of the monsters they had recently come across.

Seeing the small group of monsters reminded Neptune of the fact that the monsters they were facing now really weren't all that different from they had been up against before, "Okay, I can't be the only one that thinks that the monsters are starting to look like what happens when video game designers run out of ideas for bad guys."

That idea seemed to be the general consensus among the party. Sure the monsters were stronger, but the manner in which they fought, as well as the way the party had to deal with them largely remained the same.

With that in mind, the party's leader pulled a familiar white remote with a single button on it. While not everyone in the party knew what it was, Compa had seen it a few times throughout their travels and was questioning why Neptune had bought another one, "Nep-Nep… why did you buy that?"

Finding the Quartet Arms was important, but Neptune didn't like the idea of having to fight every single group of monsters that crossed their paths to get to them. "Well, I don't wanna have to fight every group of baddies we find in here. I mean, we can run away every now and then, right?"

Lyrica wasn't so sure Neptune's idea was the best, and not just because it was one of Neptune's ideas, "Are you sure it's a good idea to be using that thing in here? Your track record with those isn't really the best."

IF saw the problem with using the Eject Button in the cave, but took no issue with the party's leader being the one to push the button, "If she wants to take one for the team, I say let her. The less work we have to do the better."

She knew… Neptune knew exactly what the girls were talking about. While the item had worked as it was supposed to, they always launched the purplenette into the sky with the ensuing explosion and resulted in some form of bodily harm to her.

Neptune wasn't amused about IF's comment, placing the Eject Button on the ground as the monsters approached, "You think you're sooo funny, Iffy. Well, guess what? I came prepared for this!" The amnesiac reached under her hoodie and pulled out a wooden stick, a grin spreading across her face. "If I push the button with this stick, I won't get blown up."

Everyone in the group was wondering where their leader got the idea that using a stick would keep her from being tossed into the air by the explosion from pushing the button. Ignoring any further questions and comments, Neptune edged one end of the wooden stick toward the button on the ground until it finally pushed down on the button… and the result was what everyone else in the party expected.

An explosion ensued that created a large, thick cloud of smoke that obscured the vision of the monsters that had been approaching, and Neptune was sent flying as a result of the explosion. The purplenette tried to remain airborne by flailing her arms, but it was no use, "Aaaaaaaahhhh! Why does this keep happening?!"

While Neptune was propelled somewhere behind the group of monsters by the explosion, the rest of the party used the smokescreen to slip past them. When they emerged from the cloud of smoke, Neptune was lying flat on her back.

The amnesiac picked herself up off the ground as the group approached. "That stick didn't help at all!"

Compa wasn't sure what Neptune had expected to happen, given that every time she had used the Eject Button the purplenette was caught in the explosion, "Nep-Nep, I don't think using a stick is going to be enough."

Neptune frowned at the nurse in training as she continued to rub her backside, "Now she tells me..."

While the rest of the group was focused on their leader, Gust noticed a few chunks of rock fall from above. When she looked up, the young Alchemist noticed a stalactite swaying back and forth. Obviously it had been knocked loose when Neptune had used the Eject Button.

The loose piece of rock hanging from the cave ceiling finally broke off and fell toward the ground... or rather, it fell towards Neptune. The amnesiac was so busy complaining that she was completely unaware of the chunk of rock falling towards her until it dropped on her head.

Everyone in the party stared at their leader as the stalactite broke across her head and the pieces fell to the ground. Neptune stumbled for a moment, spun around once and fell onto her back once more. Compa was thrown into a panic over the amnesiac losing consciousness. "Nep-Nep, wake up! This isn't a safe place to be taking a nap!"

The nurse in training started shaking the purplenette until she finally got back up. Neptune stood in absolute silence for a moment, which left the rest of the party worried about her state of mind. After a few seconds of painful silence the amnesiac opened her mouth and began to speak once more. "I… remember. I remember everything!"

It took a moment for them to figure out what she was talking about, but the party discerned that Neptune had gotten her memories back. Heero wanted to make that the purple haired goddess was being serious and not just pulling a prank, "Are you sure you remember something?"

Everyone had a vested interested in knowing if Neptune had really regained her memories. Even though they wanted to hear if the goddess had regained her memories, Gust once again found her attention going to the cave ceiling as another stalactite was beginning to shake loose, as was evidenced by the pieces of rock that fell to the ground.

Gust tried to warn Neptune, but the party's leader was too caught up with having gotten her memories back to pay attention to the small girl, "Yeah! I remember where I came from before meeting you guys, what I was doing and all that stuff. I even remember-"

Before Neptune could finish, a second stalactite fell on the purplenette's head in the exact same place as the first. Heero had heard the idiom 'lightning never strikes twice,' and while he knew it was a myth, he couldn't believe that Neptune had actually been struck in the same place on her head twice within the span of sixty seconds.

The party watched as their leader stood motionless for a moment before falling on her face. Compa was horrified at what had just happened to the purple haired girl, "Nep-Nep! Are you okay? Oh, that looked really painful."

Neptune suddenly began rolling on the ground while holding the top of her head, clearly in pain over having been struck there twice, "Oww! That really hurt!"

As the purplenette continued to roll along the ground, Lyrica noticed that the cloud of smoke generated by the Eject Button was starting to dissipate, "Umm… the smoke is disappearing. Shouldn't we still be running?"

Remembering that they still needed to actually run away from the monsters, Heero helped Neptune to her feet and followed after the rest of the party as they took off down the corridor that led further into the cave.

Once they were sure they had put enough distance between themselves and the monsters did the group stop running. Heero turned to check on Neptune and found tears welling up in her eyes as she held onto the top of her head. It seemed as if she would burst into tears at any second. Still clutching her head, the amnesiac continued to complain about her injured head, "This sucks! Why did this have to happen to me?!"

IF was curious if Neptune still remembered anything after having the chunks of rock hit her on the head, "Do you still remember anything?"

The purplenette sniveled as she addressed the question given to her by the Guild member, "No. I thought I did... but I lost it."

Heero saw no reason to dwell on the matter of whether or not the goddess had her memories, especially when Neptune seemed to be in a great deal of physical pain. The Gundam pilot wanted to take a look at her injuries and see whether or not it was serious, "Neptune, sit on that rock over there. I need to examine the extent of your injury."

A nod was Neptune's response as she sat on the rock the boy had pointed at. Heero stood in front of Neptune and brushed aside a few strands of her purple hair to see as he looked for any injuries on her head.

Try as she might, Neptune just wasn't able to enjoy having the Gundam pilot focus on her when her head was bothering her so much. Even the other girls in the party could tell she wanted to enjoy what was going on, but couldn't because of how much her head hurt.

After a thorough check of Neptune's head, Heero found that besides a small bump there were no injuries to the goddess of Planeptune, "You don't seem to have any life threatening injuries. We'll need to put an ice pack on your head to reduce the swelling of the bump, but you should be fine otherwise."

Neptune started pouting immediately after the boy told her that she was fine, "I don't feel fine. You still gotta kiss the bump on my head to make it feel better."

The rest of the girls had felt sorry for Neptune until she told the Gundam pilot to kiss her injury. Any sympathy IF had for the leader of the party had gone right out the window with her comment, "...And here I was feeling sorry for you. You're just trying to take advantage of the situation now."

Hearing the brunette try to undermine her attempt at getting Heero to pamper her gave Neptune reason to complain more, "Shut up, Iffy! I'm in a lot of pain here!"

Heero was unsure of what he was supposed to do. It would have been embarrassing to go through with Neptune's demand when the others were watching, but he did feel bad for Neptune. The Perfect Soldier decided that for the time being he could coddle the goddess… at least until the party returned to their safe house.

Complying with her request, the Gundam pilot lightly pecked the top of Neptune's head. Heero pulled away from the amnesiac goddess with his cheeks turning light red, "There. Better?"

A small sniffle was Neptune's response to the Gundam pilot. Truthfully, her head was slightly better after the small show of affection. "A little. It might help if you just keep kissin' it so the pain will go away."

Before the rest of the girls could be up in arms over their leader's proposed idea for the boy, Lyrica tried to steer the conversation towards what the party was supposed to be doing, "Let's focus, people. We came here to find that weapon so we can save the world. And let's keep the incidence of head injuries down to a minimum. Neptune doesn't have a lot of braincells to work with as it is."

The purple haired girl looked at the songstress with a miffed expression on her face, "Am I getting lip service outta the meat shield? I won't forget this."

Heero wanted to focus on finding the exit to the cave so the party could find the weapon and leave so they could make preparations early for when they needed to leave for Lowee or Leanbox, "We need to focus on finding the exit, retrieving the weapon, and taking care of any preparations that we deem necessary before moving on to another landmass."

Putting aside their discussion, the party returned to searching for the exit. After searching for five minute thegroupeventually came upon a room with a large crystal growing in the center of it. At first they thought that they were alone, when Red saw a suspicion looking manstanding against the wall near the party, "Who's that suspicious looking guy over there? You think he's a drug dealer? Or maybe a bandit?"

Both ideas were equally plausible. The party approached the man to see if he had any information on the location of the exit to the cave. The man appeared to be a bandit of some kind and he had been focusing on something in his hands when the party approached, garnering his attention, "What brings you ladies here? Come to take away my treasure?"

Neptune was curious as to what sort of treasure the bandit had and assumed her thinking position as she tried to imagine just what it was he had on his person that could be of value, "Treasure…? You have one? It better not be like some pictures from a nudie website."

"Hmph. What sort of pervert do you take me for?"

The purplenette certainly took the bandit for a pervert of some kind. After all, he was by himself in a dungeon that no one would bother to come to. "I mean, it's not like it's a bad thing to enjoy or anything, but..."

Neptune's comments were doing nothing to help the situation, and the bandit seemed to take offense to them. "Doesn't sound like we're gonna get along. Sorry ladies, but you're all gonna have to die!" The man pulled an oddly familiar disc out of his coat pocket, "This is one of my treasures. A disc that summons monsters!"

Compa immediately recognized the disc as being one distributed by Arfoire and knew that it posed a real threat to the group, "That's one of Arfoire's discs! Oh no, I didn't think there were more. Please break it, recycle it, or something!"

As the bandit held up the disk, a monster slowly began to take form in front of him. "Why? If I use it, a monster will come out and protect me, yeah?"

IF shook her head as she watched the bandit conjure up a monster with the disc in his hand, unable to comprehend the man's stupidity, "Idiot. You think this is some kind of genie lamp? Stand back…!"

The monster that was summoned from the disc was a 'Kaiser Dragon.' It's blue scaly hide shimmered from the light given off by the nearby crystals. It wasn't the largest dragon the party had encountered, and it was obvious that it couldn't fly because of how small it's wings were. Even so, this being their first encounter with it the party had no idea just how it measured up against the dragons they had faced thus far.

Ignoring the fact that they didn't have a plan, Nisa charged the dragon monster, "Come, foul monster! I shall put an end to you here and now!"

Following her bold statement, the Keeper of Justice threw a punch at the reptilian creature. Nisa had expected her punch to hit, instead she struck thin airas the Kaiser Dragon avoided her attack. The dragon reared it's forearm back to strike the heroine with it's sharp claw, when a vial containing a reddish-orange liquid flew past her and exploded in the dragon's face.

Nisa maneuvered away from the disoriented monster as Gust returned her reagents to the pouch on the front of her dress, "Nisa should not be so reckless."

The heroine rubbed the back of her head as a timid laugh passed through her lips, "Eheheh… sorry."

Gust was right, the party needed a plan to defeat the monsters. While the Kaiser Dragon had proven to be slightly more intelligent than the fodder they had dealt with before, it was also somewhat frail, as was made clear by the alchemic explosive Gust had whipped up.

With that in mind, Heero already had a plan to end the encounter, "If we can limit the target's movements we can end this battle quickly. Neptune and I will take point. Compa, Lyrica and Gust will take care of providing suppressing fire, while IF and Red focus on disabling the enemy. Nisa, once we've carried out our jobs, you will take care of mop-up."

Neptune unsheathed the claymore she was carrying on her back and gave the two-handed sword a playful swing in anticipation for the fight, "I finally get to try this bad boy out, huh? Awesome!"

Unlike their leader, the other girls in the party weren't as enthusiastic about Neptune having such a large sword as her weapon. It was one thing when it was strapped to her back, but they wanted to be as far away as possible when the purplenette was actually holding it.

It was moments such as these that IF really didn't envy Heero's otherwise amazing luck, "Just keep that thing away from the rest of us. And try not to hit Heero with it, either."

Neptune's brought the claymore to rest against her shoulder as she turned to face the Guild member. "You really think I would hit my Destined Lover? What do you take me for, Iffy?"

While she tried to reassure the brunette that she wasn't a threat to the party with her new weapon, Neptune had unknowingly hit the back of Lyrica's head with the flat of her blade. The songstress had dropped to her knees and began holding the back of her head, trying her best not to cry as tears welled up in her eyes, "Owie! What was that for?!"

One look at the now slightly battered singer reaffirmed IF that her view of Neptune was spot on. "What do I take you for, Nep? A bumbling idiot who's more likely to kill us than the monster we're fighting. THAT'S what I take you for."

Red watched the scene unfolding before her and then commented on bad it made them look, "It's kinda sad that we haven't even started fighting the monster yet and we're already losing."

Heero couldn't believe that the girls were doing this right now. They were supposed to be fighting the monster so they could acquire the ancient weapon. Instead, they appeared to be acting out an impromptu comedy skit, "We need to focus on the matter at hand. Just carry out your assigned tasks, and this will be over soon enough."

Putting their argument aside, the girls redirected their attention toward the Kaiser Dragon. Although he didn't say anything, the Gundam pilot was also hoping that Neptune wouldn't inadvertently use her new claymore on him.

Heero and Neptune advanced on the dragon monster as Compa, Lyrica and Gust opened fire. The Kaiser Dragon was too busy avoiding the incoming attacks from the support group to get closer to the incoming duo.

Once Heero and Neptune had gotten close enough, the trio in the back stopped firing to avoid hitting them. No longer impeded by projectiles, the Kaiser Dragon reared it's back to take a swipe at the Gundam pilot.

The Perfect Soldier parried the attack with flat side of the GN Sword to avoid getting hit by the sharp claw, while still leaving an opening for Neptune to attack. Taking advantage of the situation, the amnesiac slipped past Heero and swung her claymore at the dragon monster, "Try not to die too fast! I gotta test this thing out!"

There wasn't much force behind Neptune's attack, but the weight of the claymore was more than enough to make up for it as the heavy weapon cleaved through the Kaiser Dragon's outstretched arm and tore through it's wing as well.

An ear-splitting cry erupted from the dragon as it backed away from the amnesiac goddess. Neptune was forced to drop her claymore to cover her ears to drown out the noise. "This monster is so loud! Someone make him shut up!"

A frisbee flew through the air that hit Kaiser Dragon on it's snout, silencing the creature's loud cries. The monster turned it's attention in the direction of the attack, the dragon saw Red with her hand outstretched, marking her as the perpetrator.

The momentary pause brought about by the child's toy was enough for IF to get close to the Kaiser Dragon though it's blind spot and remove the other arm, rendering the monster virtually defenseless, "You have no excuse to screw this up Nisa!"

Mere seconds after the Kaiser Dragon had been deprived of it's arms, the Keeper of Justice jumped high into the air for her 'signature' attack, "Justice will always prevail, monster! Behold! Justice Kick!"

Nisa shot down toward the incapacitated dragon monster with her right leg outstretched. It only took a second for the blue haired girl to descend from her elevated position down onto Kaiser Dragon. Her foot slammed against the creature's head, forcing the dragondown to the ground.

A crater had formed from the attack and the Kaiser Dragon's head was driven further into the ground beyond the crater. The monster had gone limp almost immediately after hitting the ground, signaling the end of what the party had expected to be a difficult battle.

Neptune picked up her claymore while letting out a disappointed sigh, "I thought it was at least gonna be mini-boss level strong. That was kinda disappointing."

Unlike Neptune, Heero wasn't going to complain about a short battle. After all, the sooner they finished fighting the sooner they could get back to searching for the weapon, "I fail to see why you're disappointed."

With the monster now slain, the party turned their attention back to the bandit that summoned it in the first place. The bandit stood in complete disbelief over the monster's defeat before final regaining his senses, "I can't believe you've got the strength to take down real monsters… I'm kind of impressed."

While Neptune wanted to brag about how strong they were, she remained focused on what the party had come for in the first place, "I'm glad to hear it. So, do you have an ancient hero's weapon?"

"Straight to the point, eh? I've actually got something like that in my treasure collection. See for yourself!" The bandit dug into his coat pocket and pulled out what appeared to be the grip for a revolver. "This is the hero Kuterogi's dual revolver! Well, a… a part of it, at least..."

The name of the weapon was rather extravagant, at least to Neptune, and considering where they found it the part had to belong to the weapon of the ancient hero. "Sounds pretty fancy-pantsy. This's probably what Histy mentioned."

IF examined the item for a moment to determine what exactly it was, "This looks like the grip." The brunette returned her attention to the bandit holding the revolver grip. "Can we have it? We need it to complete the weapon."

"The bullets from this are stronger than a beast's howl. This gun was used to open the gate in a battle against the goddess. It's definitely a valuable treasure, but someone tough like you girls should have it. Go ahead."

Compa gave a polite bow as the brunette received the grip to the Dual Barrel Revolver, "Thank you so much!" With a smile on her face, the nurse in training redirected her attention to the party. "All of our hard work is paying off."

Looking at the revolver grip for a moment, Nisa wondered if the party should continue searching for the exit to the cave, "Should we continue searching for the exit? We're already this far in to the cave."

Heero shook his head at the idea. Any time they spent here now would just be wasted, "That won't be necessary. It wouldn't make much sense for this bandit to only have the grip if the entire weapon was here."

The search for Dual Barrel Revolver was quickly turning into a repeat of the Trinity Blade. Yes, all the parts were undoubtedly in Lastation. The problem was that they would need intel on their whereabouts, and they couldn't expect to be as lucky as they were with the first weapon.

IF returned her attention to the bandit, "Do you know anything about the other pieces for this weapon?"

"Many folks at the former Basilicom follow the tales of Kuterogi. Maybe you'll find something in places like that."

It wasn't much, but it was still a lead. As the group made to leave the room, Red started bellyaching over the fact that the party now had to search for the rest of the pieces to the revolver, "Who's the wiseguy that disassembled the weapon? This isn't funny!"

The feelings of discontent was mutual across the entire party. While they had anticipated this outcome, none of them would deny that they had hoped to find the complete weapon. How long it would take for them to find the other pieces was anyone's guess… and unfortunately, they had yet to hear anything from Histoire.

Xxx

Going off of the information they had received from the bandit the party headed straight for the former Basilicom, which happened to be on a neighboring island. As soon as the party arrived at the Basilicom, Neptune wasted no time barging through the front door, "Excuse us! We need some info on an ancient hero's weapon!"

The party did want to find the other pieces to the revolver, but they also wanted to exercise some level tact while doing so… something Neptune had thrown out the window with her decision to charge through the doors of the religious building. Heero couldn't help but comment on how Neptune's actions could draw unwanted attention, "We should be exercising more caution while we search for these weapons, Neptune. If she finds out what we're up to, Arfoire may very well try to stop us."

Neptune wasn't bothered by the idea in the least, mainly due to the party's success against the fallen goddess thus far. "That wacko can try, but we've beaten her every time she's showed up. There's no way we'd lose to her."

IF wasn't quite as quick to throw caution to the wind. After all, Arfoire had caused problems for the party on more than one occasion. It wasn't that unlikely that the former goddess would attempt to impede their efforts to gain entrance to Celestia, "Heero's got a point. We shouldn't just barge into every building we come across while searching for these weapons."

As the others in the group were discussing the need for discretion, Compa was more interest in the Basilicom. A sense of familiarity came over her upon looking at it, "Doesn't this place seem kind of familiar?"

It was only once the party was inside the building that the purplenette remembered that the group had been to this particular Basilicom, "Oh yeah… This is where the Sanctuary folks were before." Neptune looked over the room, but didn't see anyone else besides the members of the party. "I don't see anyone here now, though."

Shortly after the amnesiac's proclamation, a young man that had been lying across one of the pews sat up and looked over at the group, "Huh? Who're you…?"

Because of the lack of Sanctuary members, the party hadn't expected anyone to be in the Basilicom. Neptune was curious why the average looking man was there to begin with, "Hiya. What'cha doin' here?"

"This is where our Basilicom established an employment agency to help us unemployed."

The last time the party had been in Lastation, unemployment was starting to become a real problem due to Avenir taking over the market and replacing human works with machines. Hearing that there was now an employment agency certainly gave credence to the idea that their victory at the Technology Expo really did bring about change for the landmass. "I didn't know Lastation was doing that… Anyway, have you heard of someone named Kuterogi?"

"You mean that hero? People don't make a big deal of him anymore, but without him, Lastation as we know it wouldn't exist."

Compa got to the point of the group's asking about the ancient hero, "Have you seen any of his belongings? Like, say… a big… old… gun?"

"Big old… gun? Well, hold on." The unemployed man walked over to the podium at the front of the room and pulled an object out from behind it before walking back over to the party. "I found this while organizing things here before we established the agency."

From Heero's perspective, it appeared to be the loading cylinder of the revolver. Neptune on the other hand had a far more interesting idea as to what it was, "What's this? What's this gotta do with a giant gun? It looks like a big metal luffa."

Compa clearly had no idea what went into making a luffa, as was made apparent by her fascination with the idea, "Luffas are made of metal?"

Lyrica was trying to figure out where the amnesiac got such an idea from, "Neptune, where did you get such an outlandish idea?"

Unlike the two airheads responsible for the strange turn in the discussion, IF was more focused on identifying what the item was, "What's wrong with you two? Stop thinking girly thoughts." It only took the Guild member a few seconds to piece together what part of the revolver they were looking at. "These holes are chambers you put bullets in, and…!"

Neptune wasn't exactly interested in listening to the brunette ramble on with her identification of the part, and was rather skeptical about whether or not the item was even part of the weapon at all, "You sure? Whatever, I don't buy it. What do you think, Heero?"

Heero wasn't sure why Neptune even needed to ask him. It was pretty obvious it was part of the weapon they were after based on the design of the cylinder, "While I can't make any guarantees, it's design is rather unique. It stands to reason that it's part of the weapon."

Neptune still wasn't entirely sold, but found it a bit more believable now that Heero was vouching for the possibility of the cylinder being the part they were looking for. "I still don't buy it. Still, if Heero and Iffy say so, I guess we'll take it. Is that okay with you?"

The employed man didn't seem to care if the party took the revolver chamber with them, "Sure. It was just going into the trash anyway." After handing over the revolver cylinder, the young man gave the party a suggestion on where to go regarding the two parts in their possession. "Check out the material shop in town. They may be able to explain what these parts are for."

With nothing else to do, the unemployed man retreated further in to the Basilicom. And once again, the party found themselves alone, and Neptune commented on the man that had given them the piece of the Dual Barrel Revolver, "Fantastic. He's kinda smart even though he's an unemployed bum."

Compa couldn't help but point out the amnesiac's unkind remark, especially when the person she was talking about had just left the room, "Th-That's kind of rude..."

Nisa paid no mind Neptune's bashing of the unemployed man, instead focusing on the fact that they now had the second part for the revolver, "We have the second piece of the heroic weapon. This means we're at the halfway point, right?"

They may have had two pieces of a revolver, but the part they had just received might not be part of the Dual Barrel Revolver. Heero believed the only way they would know for certain was to have it identified at the materials shop, "Until we get the cylinder appraised, it might just be part of a weapon we don't need. We should visit this materials shop to evaluate the item."

Xxx

It didn't take long for the party to find the materials shop where they could have the revolver cylinder appraised to see if it was actually part of the ancient hero's weapon. As luck would have it, the materials shop the party found themselves in happened to be the same shop they had visited while helping Chian prepare for the Tech Expo.

Neptune approached the store counter to speak with the store owner that they had dealt with before, "Long time no see! We never really get to come here since you don't carry stuff we like, like weapons or fancy soaps..."

The store owner, Chevre, was mildly annoyed by the amnesiac pointing out what his store lacked in regards to inventory, "Listen to you. You haven't changed a bit. What're you three ditzes and your pack mule doing here? Chian hasn't ordered anything to be picked up."

Heero didn't exactly take kindly to being referred to as a beast of burden… even if that's what his role as Neptune's bodyguard often felt like at times. Meanwhile, Neptune was rather peeved at the shopkeeper's curt description of the four main members of the party. "Drat! I thought we were being cutesy… Not three ditzes! And where do you get off calling my Destined Lover a mule?!"

Putting aside the fact that she didn't like either one of those descriptions, IF wasn't sure how she should feel about being cutesy or ditzy, "I don't like either. Anyway, can you identify these metal parts? I'm fairly sure they're parts for a gun."

The brunette set the pieces of the revolver down on the counter while Neptune threw out her idea as to what she thought the revolver cylinder was. "I think it's a metal luffa. Whaddaya say?"

Chevre conducted his appraisal of the parts before him. As he carefully examining each item, the shop owner couldn't help but marvel at what he was looking at, "Huh. These are pretty rare items. The material is fairly standard, but the way it's built makes it feel like an antique. Ancient, rather. And IF is right. These are parts for a rather abnormal gun. The grip and cylinder, to be precise. Only a giant or some legendary hero would be able to handle the recoil from this."

Neptune had been so sure about that the revolver cylinder was a metal luffa, so hearing Chevre agree with IF left the amnesiac rather displeased, "Tch! So Iffy's right for once."

IF took issue with the party leader's quip. The brunette had been right about a number of subjects over the course of their journey, so she wasn't about to let this go, "What do you mean, 'for once?!'"

It was clear to Chevre from where the conversation was going that the party already had anidea of what they had come into possession of, "Sounds like you're already aware these belong to the hero Kuterogi's dual revolver."

Compa seemed surprised to hear that the shopkeeper knew about the ancient weapon, "You know about it, too?!"

Why the nurse in training was surprised was anyone's guess. Chevre was a resident of Lastation and he ran a shop that handled weapon parts, so it shouldn't have been a surprise that he had knowledge of the weapon. The gruff man reached under the counter and pulled out a revolver trigger and hammer, placing both on the counter next to the other two parts, "Hah. Take a look at these two parts. These aren't junk. These here are a giant trigger and hammer."

IF observed the two items, noting that they looked as though they would have no problem being fitted to the two parts the party had recovered, "These are parts of the gun, as well?"

"I kept them just in case. Their size perfectly fits the scale of the other parts you brought in."

Four pieces lay on the counter, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that there was one more piece that was needed to be completed. That was made evident by the fact that Neptune brought up the missing part, "But, but, we don't have the most important part! We need the barrels!"

Each part of the revolver could arguably be considered to be the 'most important' given that the party needed all of them to complete the weapon in order to get into Celestia, but that was a debate for a later time if anyone still remembered or even cared. The fact of the matter was that they were missing the barrels and couldn't complete the weapon without them.

It was a long shot, but Heero thought that perhaps the shopkeeper might have knowledge pertaining to the location of the last part, "You wouldn't happen to know where we might find the barrels to this weapon, would you?"

As it so happened, Chevre did have some kind of knowledge on the item. The shopkeeper leaned on the counter as he dispensed his wisdom to the group, "Let me tell you something special. I'm kind of a history buff. Kuterogi is said to have been a hero interested in advanced technology. I think he had a good eye. Without him, they wouldn't have stood a chance against the goddess back then. I heard he lost his leg in the battle, so he spent his remaining years in a quiet, peaceful place. He kept the gun with him until he died… In one of Lastation's frontier towns. It's something I heard from my historian friend. I wish I could see for myself, but it's be great if you girls and your bodyguard could go."

The wheels in Compa's mind began to turn as she processed the clue they had just received, "A frontier town on Lastation… Nep-Nep, this is important information!"

Neptune was on the same wavelength as the nurse in training, trying to appear as though she understood how important the clue was, "Mm-hmm. Sucks I was wrong about the metal luffa, though. Well, let's head out!"

As the party left, Lady Black Heart, who had been perusing the aisles of the store, ducked behind one of the storage bins to avoid being spotted by the party. The goddess had overheard the conversation between the group and the shopkeeper.

While she hadn't really understood what they had been talking about, Lady Black Heart was quick to assume that Neptune was up to something nefarious, "What does she think she's doing? Nothing good I'll bet. At least not for Heero. Well, since Neptune's here, I might as well use this chance to get rid of her. I'm sure Heero will appreciate it… not that I'm doing it for his sake or anything."

Shortly after exiting the store, the party stopped to deliberate on where they needed to go next. They needed to head to one of Lastation's frontier towns, but didn't know which one exactly. They would have to search each individual town for clues, and that alone would take quite a bit of time.

It was soul sucking just thinking about how long the party was going to have to search each tried her best to spur on the group, "We shouldn't let this get us down. Just one more part and we'll have the second weapon."

Despite her best attempt at maintaining a heroic image, the rest of the party could see that the heroine was already weary of the search they had yet to conduct as well. The search for the Quartet Arms was shaping up to be no less time consuming or depressing than the search for the Key Fragments.

Just when it seemed as though they were going to have to search each individual town, fate threw the party a bone in the form of Lastation's Oracle (in name at the moment), Kei Jinguji. The girl dressed like a boy seemed to be looking for someone when her eyes fell on Heero, "There you are."

The group turned their attention to the Oracle, and Neptune immediately assumed that Kei was a boy due to her choice in attire and lack of apparent feminine physical traits, "Who's this guy? Do you know him, Heero?"

Heero noticed the corner of Kei's lip twitch for a moment when the party's leader referred to her as a boy. Now seemed to be just as good a time as any to introduce the girls to the Oracle… and to clear up the misunderstanding regarding Kei's gender, "This is Kei Jinguji. She was the one that provided us with the information on where to begin our search for the revolver."

Everyone else in the party had to stop and process what the boy had said. Kei, who looked a lot like a boy, was in fact a girl. Neptune wasn't exactly convinced that the Oracle was a girl, "Are you sure he's a girl? He looks too much like a boy."

Red had suddenly gotten right next to the Oracle without her realizing it and proceeded with a 'scent check' of the girl dressed like a boy, "...She doesn't smell like a boy, so she must be a girl."

There was something fundamentally creepy about the wifey hunter's check of the Oracle, but IF refrained from saying anything for the time being, "(I don't wanna know where she developed her sense of smell.)"

Despite the rude comments she received from the amnesiac, Kei maintained her composure as she focused her attention on the Gundam pilot, "You keep rather interesting company."

Heero would admit that the party was comprised of people that came from different walks of life, which lead to some rather interesting and questionable scenarios, "It's… part of why I've stuck with them for so long. If nothing else, there's never a dull moment with them around. Now, I assume you need something from me?"

While Kei had come to the island in search of the Gundam pilot, it wasn't because she needed something from him. Rather, she had something FOR him. "You're still searching for the weapon belonging to the ancient hero Kuterogi, correct?"

Once the boy nodded his head in affirmation, the Oracle went on, "I don't know how far along you are with your search, but I do have information on one of the pieces. Specifically, the barrels."

The odds that the group would suddenly receive the location of the last piece of the Dual Barrel Revolver were a million to one… and they just happened to get the one. Neptune immediately started prodding for information on the item they were searching for, "You know where it is? C'mon, tell us! We gotta hurry and find it!"

Gust also implored the Oracle to give the group the location of the gun barrel, "Please, must find item quickly. Fate of the world is at stake."

IF put a stop to any further attempts at getting Kei to disclose the location of the last piece of the weapon, believing that doing so might cause her to withhold the information instead, "I'm sure she'll tell us if we stop interrogating her."

Once the party stopped asking about the piece of the weapon the Oracle of Lastation held her hand out to the Gundam pilot, "Let me see the map I gave you for a moment."

Heero pulled the folded up map out of his pocket and handed it to Kei. The Oracle opened up the, placed the piece of paper against her clipboard and began writing on it, "One of the nearby islands happens to have a dense forest as part of it's geography. Located within that forest is a cave where you can find the gun barrel."

Once she was finished jotting down the relevant information, Kei handed the map back to the Perfect Soldier. As the party focused their attention on the map that now detailed the location of the dungeon containing the item they needed, Kei turned to leave. "Now then. I have to get back to work."

The Oracle had only gotten a few steps away when Heero called out to her, "I appreciate you taking the time to bring us this intel, but I'm curious… why did you go out of your way to deliver it yourself?"

She may have been the Oracle of Lastation in name only at the moment, but Kei was still a very important member of the Basilicom. Given how seriously she took her job even when on break, there was undoubtedly other work Kei could have been doing instead.

After a moment of silent deliberation Kei gave the Gundam pilot her answer, "It's my way of saying thanks… for not mistaking me for a boy like everyone else."

As the girl walked away, Red couldn't help but comment on what seemed to be the Lastation Oracle's sore spot, "Something tells me that chick gets mistaken for a boy a lot… I wonder why?"

While IF questioned the red haired girl and her lack of common sense, Lyrica was focused on the party's stroke of good luck, "It's hard to believe how lucky we are. Now we can just go and find the last part of the weapon."

No one in the group was going to question their good fortune. And of course, Nisa went into another one of her speeches that was meant to stir up the morale of the party, "Fortune favors the bold AND the heroic. This is clearly a sign that we must press onward! For a brighter tomorrow for Gamindustri!"

With the now updated map in hand, the party followed the directions that had been laid out for them and headed for the neighboring island.

Xxx

Following the directions given to them by Kei, the party traveled to another of the islands surrounding Lastation. After navigating a dense forest, the group found the entrance to the cave where they were to find the barrels for the dual revolver.

Even though the information came from one of Heero's contacts, and therefore reliable, Neptune had her doubts about whether or not the last piece of the dual revolvers were in the cave before the party, "We're here, but… You really think the weapon's in a dusty old place like this?"

Gust wouldn't deny that she herself was skeptical as well, "Gust also questions if item is in cave. Does not seem very likely."

IF wanted to believe that the last piece of the weapon was in the cave. Not just because she didn't want to go searching all around Lastation for information on it, but because the party received the information from a source that Heero trusted, "It must be. Let's just go look inside the cave..."

With high hopes, the group delved into the cave to begin their search. Blue luminescent crystals lined the walls of the cave and provided lighting with which the party could see where they were going in the cavern.

It wasn't long before the party was met with resistance to their search for the final piece of the revolver. A trio of plant-like monsters called 'Rafflesia' and a large, lumbering creature in the form of a 'Kuyutha.'

The two different species of monsters were just monsters they had fought before and added credence to Neptune's theory that the monsters they had been fighting recently were the same as those found in video games where the developers took a pre-existing monster and just threw on a different color palette and name because they ran out of ideas.

Everyone in the group had a feeling they were going to have to fight monsters sooner or later, and naturally they were expecting the Gundam pilot to come up with a strategy to deal with the enemy before them. Neptune was ready to draw her two-handed sword in preparation for the battle, "So, what's the game plan this time?"

Heero didn't give a verbal response to the purplenette's question. Instead, the familiar brief flash of light that was associated with the usage of HDD engulfed the boy, and the Crossbone Gundam was standing where Heero had been when it subsided.

Beam blades burst out of the beam emitters that lined the blade of the Muramasa Blaster in the Gundam's hand. Heero threw the large sword overhanded, sending it flying toward the Kuyutha. The Muramasa Blaster plunged into the lumbering Kuyutha's head with the tip of the sword protruding out of the back.

It didn't take more than a few seconds for the now life-less monster to collapse to the ground. As soon as the kill was confirmed, the Crossbone Gundam drew out the Peacock Smasher and took aim at the trio of plant-like Rafflesia.

The nine beam guns on the crossbow modeled weapon spread out and with a pull of the trigger, a barrage of beams streaked through the air and perforated the three monsters that had been in attendance with the now dead Kuyutha, while keeping up a sizable cloud of dust.

IF stared at the results of the massacre and questioned why the Gundam pilot even deemed it necessary. The party consisted of eight members, not including Zero and Histoire. Surely it would have been just as easy to split the work between the group, "Was that really necessary? I know it got the job done… but it seemed kind of excessive."

Heero could understand the brunette's mild curiosity on his display of gratuitous violence against the monsters. Normally the boy wouldn't have gone with the brute force option, but time was of the essence while searching for the Quartet Arm and the party couldn't afford to waste any of it on battles that could either be avoided, of ended in a single show of force, "Every second we waste is a second that Arfoire comes to bringing her plans to fruition. I see no reason to waste our time on fodder such as this. Not when it's better spent looking for the last part of the weapon."

The Crossbone Gundam's Steel Anchor shot out toward the Muramasa Blaster and attached to itshandle. Once it was secure the chain attached to the anchor quickly retracted, yanking the sword out of the dead monster's head.

It only took a moment for the sword and anchor to return to the Gundam, and once both were in the suit's possession again the powerful machine disappeared, leaving Heero in it's place. Neptune had already come to the conclusion that the party was going to brute force their way through any monsters that they crossed paths with, "So we just gotta mow down the baddies in our way, right? Sounds easy enough."

While not exactly a conventional tactic amongst the party, it was the best 'strategy' if they wanted to finish their search of the cave as soon as possible. The group ventured further into the cave, quashing any monsters they came upon as they searched every inch of the dungeon for the dual barrels.

For ten minutes the party combed the dungeon for the last piece of the Dual Barrel Revolver, or for some sign of where it might be. Finally they neared the back of the cavern, with the path continuing on past a room to their right.

Either the item they were looking for was in the room, or it was at the end of the path they had been traveling. Lyrica tried to see what lay ahead, but the way path curved it prevented the songstress from seeing anything, "Which way should we go? It might be in that room… but it might be up ahead. Should we split up?"

Heero had a simple answer to the problem, which was to just send a Gundam to investigate the area ahead for them. The Gundam pilot held out his handand the disc containing Crossbone Gundam materialized before him, and shortly afterward the mobile suit itself appeared behind the party and proceeded down the path before the group.

The suit disappeared behind the rock wall, leaving the party to wait until Heero was given the signal by the unmanned Gundam that it had confirmed that the path was a dead-end or it found something. After two minutes of waiting the disc gave off a soft glow as it reflected what the Crossbone Gundam could see.

Aside from a few monsters, there was nothing of interest at the end of the path. Red tried to see what was being projected on the disc, but couldn't make out what she was looking at, "Is there anything there? I can't see a thing."

Before Heero could respond to the red head the sound of machine gun fire echoed through the air, followed shortly by what sounded like the Peacock Smasher being discharged. Everyone in the party waited to see if anymore weapon fire would come from the direction the Crossbone Gundam had gone, only to be met with silence.

It seemed that Heero didn't have to give any kind of response or command, the Gundams would attack any monsters on sight, "There's nothing there now..."

With the Gundam confirming the only other path to now be a dead-end, the party entered the room in front of them. Seconds after entering the room, a female voice rang out that sought to intimidate the group, "Who has come to defile Kuterogi's cave?!"

It didn't take long to find the owner of the voice, as she was standing on a rock in the middle of the room. Neptune waved her hand in the air to get the woman's attention while answering her question, "Me, me, me! But not the defiling part. We're helping you by defeating monsters!"

IF was focused on the bit where the woman called the cave 'Kuterogi's' and took over the conversation seeing as Neptune was just going to go off on a tangent, "Wait, you said 'Kuterogi's cave?!' Does that mean the gun barrels are here, too?"

The guardian of the cave didn't seem pleased with the brunette's inquiry about the gun barrels. She grew more hostile as addressed the party, "I knew it. More thieves seeking the gun. Begone, you greedy harlots! You and that man! Otherwise, you shall regret coming here."

If it were a monster guarding the gun barrels the party would have taken no issue with simply beating it into submission so they could claim the last piece of the revolver. As the guard for the part was a human, the group wanted to avoid a confrontation. IF tried to convince the guardian of the revolver piece that the party wasn't planning anything evil with the weapon. "Hold up. Listen to us, first. We're not gonna auction it off or make money from it. Not a single credit."

Compa didn't want to undermine the Guild member's attempt at swaying the guard to not attack the party, but she couldn't help but point how suspicion IF looked with the way she worded her plea, "You sound more suspicious when you say it like that..."

The nurse in training turned her attention back to the guardian of the cave as IF shot an irritated look at her. "But she's telling the truth! We just want to go to Celestia and stop Arfoire."

"Arfoire...? Who's that?"

Obviously the woman had no idea who Arfoire was, but that was understandable. Only those involved with what was going on would know who and what she was. Neptune inserted herself into the conversation once more, "She's a former goddess who's making these monsters! We gotta get to Celestia to stop her!"

Compa further elaborated on why the party needed to defeat Arfoire, "The former goddess in Celestia is burning illegal copies of discs and distributing them around the world!"

IF was quick to point out that the idea of the former goddess 'burning discs' was nothing more than speculation at the moment since the party had no evidence to suggest that was how Arfoire was producing the monsters, "Well, we don't know if she burns them to create them. Heh, sounds kind of like a metaphor for something."

The guardian of the cave stopped to think on the matter. It was troubling to hear that the situation in Celestia was this serious, "...I see. Celestia is facing another world-ending crisis..."

Seeing as the guard was starting to understand just how serious things were in the holy land of the goddesses, Heero further pushed the point that the group needed the barrels to the revolver, "If the situation wasn't so dire, we wouldn't be here in the first place. It is for that reason that we need to reach Celestia."

Compa vigorously nodded her head as she restated the party's reason for needing the weapon, "Yes! We must go there and stop Arfoire!"

Nisa stepped forward and expressed her thoughts on the matter, "Guardian of the heroic weapon, I understand that you may not trust us. You have no reason to, but if we do not acquire this weapon, countless lives will be lost to the monsters that threaten the world. I beseech you! Lend us the weapon so that we may banish the evil that threatens Gamindustri!"

Neptune tried once more to reassure the guardian that the party had no ulterior motive for the weapon used by the ancient hero, "We're not gonna put it to bad use. We'll bring it back when we're done, too. So please, lemme borrow it."

The guard was silent as the group pleaded with her for the gun barrels for the revolver. After a moment to think on it, the woman gave in to their request, "In that case, today ends my watch over this gun. I leave it in your care. I never thought I'd be the one to hand it over to the new heroes. Try opening the chest in front of you."

While they had seen the treasure chest when they had first entered the room, the party hadn't paid much attention to it until the were instructed to open it. Neptune rushed over to the box with the party in tow, looking at it for a moment before asking if it was the chest the guard was referring to. "This box…? Okay, I've had lots of practice." The purplenette grabbed onto the lid of the treasure box and started to pull up on it and found that she actually had to put some effort into opening it, "Hmph… Whoa!"

As soon as the party's leader threw open the box, the group peered inside to see what was presumably the dual barrel of the revolver. IF stared at the weapon part with wide eyes, "This is it?! It's huge…!"

Like the rest of the pieces for the weapon, the barrels were quite large. The guardian of the dual barrel revolver jumped down from the rock she had been standing on while observing the party's reaction to the large barrels for the ancient weapon, "So she says. Kuterogi's attendant inherited it… That attendant is my ancestor. A key to open the forbidden path to Celestia. We've guarded this barrel for so many generations."

IF found it difficult to believe that this woman, who along with her family had guarded the barrel of the ancient weapon for so long, would simply give it to the party so easily. "And you're giving it up just like that?" The brunette then gestured to Neptune and Compa, "I can't believe these two convinced you."

Neptune seemed rather offended by IF's comment, "It's totally believable. I'm the adorable heroine that's gonna save the world!"

Compa was equally upset with the Guild Moderatist'soffhanded remark, "I'm the cute nurse that helping the heroine save the world! Why wouldn't someone be convinced by us?"

The party's leader then latched onto Heero's arm as she explained her 'other reason' for why the guardian of the Dual Barrel Revolver should be convinced by her. "More importantly, Heero and I are Destined Lovers!"

Heero had a feeling that Neptune would bring that up simply because their was someone in the immediate vicinity who didn't know of that fact, but he was still no less embarrassed to hear it. And just like everyone that had heard it, the guardian of the gun barrel couldn't help but repeat what the amnesiac goddess had said, "...Destined Lovers?"

A response that the Gundam pilot had come to expect from those that heard Neptune blurt out the 'Destined Lovers' bit… dumbfounded and confused. Heero turned his attention to the girl attached to his arm with a somewhat annoyed look on his face, "I know I've asked this before, but why must you insist on telling everyone we meet that we're lovers when in fact, we are not."

While Heero couldn't understand why they were having this conversation, Neptune couldn't believe she had to go over this again. "Well, you won't get over your embarrassment if I don't mention it. Besides, having you as my lover gives a huge boost to my cred."

Much to the Perfect Soldier's chagrin, the guardian seemed to actually believe Neptune about the two being in a romantic relationship, "So you're supposed to be an item. Well, you wouldn't be a heroine if you didn't have a lover."

Once more Heero found himself on the losing side of this argument. As usual, Neptune began bragging about her alleged victory on the matter, "You see that? Another person outside of the party who thinks we're lovers. This is totally a sign!"

The guardian of the dual barrel explained her reasoning for handing over the last piece to the weapon that would open the path to Celestia. "Sir Kuterogi already predicted there would be another goddess plotting misdeeds some day. His command was to give up the gun once the time came."

As Compa retrieved the final part for the revolver from the now open treasure chest, Neptune grabbed Heero's hand and began to pull the boy towards the exit, "Oh, yay! I'm counting on you two to put the gun together, Compa and Iffy. Heero and I are gonna head back to the house and get comfortable. Lyrics, you and the others can do whatever you want. Bye-bye!"

Heero was slightly annoyed as the amnesiac goddess pulled him toward the exit of the dungeon, "I can walk just fine on my own. And are you sure we should leave them to put the weapon together on their own?"

Neptune wasn't too concerned about leaving Compa and IF to put the weapon together by themselves. "They'll be fine. Now, c'mon! Some of the pudding cups I bought should be cold enough to eat now. We can snuggle on the couch while eating some tasty pudding."

The rest of the party stood in silence as they watched their leader run off with the lone male member of their group. IF turned to look at Compa, who was trying very hard not to start shouting at the purplenette as she took off with their mutual love interest, "...Compa, you have my permission to roundhouse kick her in the face later."

Compa was seriously considering doing just that. Fortunately for Neptune, the nurse in training wasn't as violent as the brunette next to her, "I'm not really into violence, but I think she'd do well to suffer a firm flick on the back of her ear..."

Nisa wasn't so quick to rule out the option of kicking the amnesiac, as was apparent by the look of discontent on her face, "I would be happy to take on the responsibility of kicking her. It might do her some good."

After collecting the dual barrels from the treasure chest, the collection of girls took off after Neptune and Heero with the intent of assembling the revolver, punishing Neptune and relaxing… not necessarily in that order.

Xxx

Upon their return to the capital city of Lastation, the only thing the party wanted to do was relax. It only took a moment for them to put together the Dual Barrel Revolver, and the matter of Neptune's punishment was as yet undecided.

Heero felt that he could use a shower and proceeded downstairs with a towel in hand. As he was about to enter bathroom, the boy bumped into Lyrica. The songstress had a towel in her arms, a clear indication that she had the same idea as him.

Lyrica had not expected to run into the Gundam pilot, at least until after she had taken her bath, "Heero? W-Were you going to take a bath too? I-If you want you can go first."

The boy hadn't expected to run into the cerulean haired girl either, but fell that it was just as good a time as any. After all, he did need to apology to her and hear her thoughts on what had happened on Planeptune, "Lyrica, there is something I've been meaning to ask you."

It wasn't every day that Heero wanted to speak with her, so Lyrica was interested in what he had to say. While he had already had this conversation with Neptune, Compa and IF, the teenaged soldier was still no less nervous to be speaking to Lyrica about this matter. But he had to know what she was feeling, "I wanted to talk to you about what happened the other day… on Planeptune."

As soon as Heero mentioned Planeptune, Lyrica had a feeling it had to do with the incident involving his Gundam. She didn't want the boy to feel as though he had to say anything on the subject. "Heero, I know this is a difficult subject for you. You don't have to say anything."

That wasn't acceptable. Not to Heero. All of the girls were affected by the incident to some degree, of this he was sure, "Yes I do. I know it bothers you that I hid the Gundam from all of you. I need to know how you really feel. I need to know how much it affected you."

The songstress thought carefully about how she should answer Heero. She had felt intimidated by the mobile suit's presence when she first saw it. Once she found out that it belonged to the Gundam pilot, she was less intimidated by it. And while she had been hurt by the fact that he had kept the Gundam a secret, Lyrica understood that Heero had only been thinking of what was best for the girls.

After thinking on it, the songstress really didn't see any reason to be distrustful of the boy, "I'm not that upset. You've done a lot for us, and I know you had a good reason for keeping that… Gundam... thing a secret. We just want you to trust us more. We are friends, right?"

That was the reason Neptune, Compa and IF trusted him despite the lack of disclosure; because they were friends. Well, in Neptune's case, it was because 'they were lovers.' Why they trusted him so much was incomprehensible. Anyone else might have been less trustful, yet here was the underground celebrity saying that she held no ill will towards him.

Heero wasn't sure what to say to an answer like that. The Gundam pilot bowed his head to Lyrica while expressing a sincere apology to the songstress, "Still… I'm sorry. I should have told all of you about it sooner."

It was disheartening to see the teenaged soldier look so guilty, so Lyrica had an idea to brighten his mood… a rather embarrassing idea. "S-Since you're here… would you like to… b-b-bath together?"

The Gundam pilot hadn't expected such a request, and seeing the questioning look he was giving her made Lyrica feel even more embarrassed about her request, "N-Not in the nude or anything! I-I'll have get bathing suit and I'll wash your back!"

While it wasn't the kind of idea he would have expected from the cerulean haired girl, Heero wasn't about to test her goodwill, "If that's what you want."

Lyrica headed for her room upstairs while Heero entered the bathroom to get the shower ready. Once the water was warm, the Perfect Soldier opened the bathroom window to let out the steam, removed his clothes and put on the black and blue swim trunks he had left on the towel rack for situations such as this.

As the boy stepped into the shower, the voice of his disembodied partner garnered his attention, "Things seem to be going well for you."

There were only two things that Zero could have been referring to at that moment, "Are you talking about the search for the Quartet Arms? Or are you talking about the girls and how they are taking the incident?"

"I meant on both fronts. Since you're not too busy I thought I would run an idea by you. Something that may help you. Or rather, the others."

Just outside the safe house, Black Heart was sneaking around looking for a way into the group's place of residence. Eventually the snow haired girl found the open bathroom window and heard the sound of running water.

Her first thought was that Neptune or one of the other girls in the party was bathing, and essentially defenseless. A smirk formed on the sword maiden's face as she sneaked closer to the window, "This is perfect. If it's one of Neptune's lackeys, I can take her out and find out where the half-wit is. And if it's Neptune… I can get rid of her here and now."

Upon reaching the window, Black Heart counted to three before jumping in, not bothering to sneak a peek and see who was inside. "You're mi-"

The sword maiden froze as soon as she saw Heero, but by then it was too late for her to do anything. Black Heart crashed into the Gundam pilot, knocking both teens onto the tile floor. As Black Heart began to pick herself up, the Perfect Soldier looked up at her with a slightly annoyed look on his face, "What are you doing here?"

Black Heart flinch before directing the question back at the boy underneath her, "Wh-What about you? What are YOU doing here?!"

Heero couldn't believe this girl was asking that question. It should have been quite obvious based on the last time she had shown up at the party's safe house. "This is our place of residence on Lastation. Now I'll ask again. What are you doing here? Also, would get off me?"

It wasn't until the Perfect Soldier brought it up that Black Heart realized that she was sitting on the boy. The sword maiden hurriedly got off of Heero while turning her back to the boy in the hopes that he wouldn't see her face which was quickly turning red, "W-Well… I was here to ambush Neptune… b-but I've kinda lost interest. So I guess I'll be going now."

Meeting Heero under these circumstances had sapped Black Heart's will to fight. The sword maiden picked her sword up off the ground and departed from the room through the open window. Almost immediately after Black Heart left, Lyrica entered the bathroom wearing a black two-piece swimsuit.

The songstress looked down at the Gundam pilot, who was still on the ground, "Why are you lying on the ground, Heero? Did something happen?"

He could have told Lyrica the truth, but Heero knew that the cerulean haired girl would probably scream, drawing the attention of the other party members, then tell them that Heero had been attacked by one of Neptune's 'stalkers,' "...I slipped."

Lyrica seemed to buy it. Sure it was embarrassing to say, but it was better than the alternative. "You should be more careful. We get enough injuries fighting monsters as it is. The last thing we need is to get beat up in the safety of our own house."

As the Gundam pilot stood back up, his thoughts shifted back to his conversation with Zero before Black Heart barged in, which was about a means for the ZERO System to converse with the party, not just Neptune and himself.

Xxx

Me: "It took a while, but chapter 39 is now done!"

Heero and Neptune: (Enter ACCC) "Tell me about it. You took your sweet time getting this out, didn't ya?"

Me: "It's not my fault! If I didn't have to go to such a crappy job, I could just stay home and do this. Maybe I should take up live-streaming or something. You know, something I can do from home."

Heero: "That's provided you know what you're doing."

Me: "You have no faith in me at all, do you?"

Compa and IF: (Enter ACCC from Lounge) "I have faith in you, Mr. Author! If you really believe, you can do anything!"

IF: "Coming from you, that's not very encouraging."

Black Heart: (Enters ACCC from Break Room) "Why did I get such a small part? This is Lastation! I should get a bigger part than this!"

Me: "You didn't have a part in the game, so you're lucky to have one here. Let's just get someone to wrap up the chapter so we can be on our way."

Compa: "I'll do it! It's been a while since I got to close a chapter."

Me: "Then we leave it in your capable hands, Compa."

Black Heart: "I still say I should have had a bigger role in this chapter."

Me, Heero, Neptune, IF, and Black Heart: (Leaves ACCC through Left Entrance)

Compa: "It's been awhile, hasn't it everyone? Please read and review this chapter, and please look forward to the next update." (Leaves ACCC through Left Entrance)