Me: "Once more, hello, good readers! Having obtained the Dual Barreled Revolver last chapter, we're sending the party off to find the third weapon."

Heero and Neptune: (Enter IC from Lounge) "So we're halfway done, right? The sooner we get all the weapons, the sooner Heero and I can have a totally romantic scene to celebrate."

Heero: "Please stop that."

Me: "I'll think about it. Now, before we go completely off the rails-"

Lady Green Heart: (Enters IC from Game Room) "Ah, Mr. Author. I wanted to ask you about getting some new games for the Game Room."

Zero: (Appears in IC) "I also wanted to ask about getting a new computer room."

Me: "Not until we've put in some more work for the story. Now, enough chitchat. We've got a disclaimer to read, and a chapter to roll out. I want keep this segment of the IC short, so let's hear it." (Points to cast) "From the top, please."

Heero, Neptune, Lady Green Heart, and Zero: "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 of this highly questionable story. Now if you'll excuse us, we have more work to do."

Me, Heero, Neptune, Lady Green Heart, and Zero: (Leave IC)

Ch. 40 Search for the Wisdom Bow

Having found and assembled the Dual Barrel Revolver the day before, the party was ready to travel to the next landmass to find the third weapon. While the group wanted to leave, Heero and Gust had errands they need to take care of before departing.

In Gust's case, she would need the party to go with her on her errand, since it was to search a cave for reagents. With nothing else to do, the girls sat around the living room as they waited for Heero to return from… wherever it was that he went.

Neptune was lying across the couch wearing a bored expression on her face as she waited for the Gundam pilot to return. The purplenette suddenly sat up while asking the question that was more or less on everyone's mind, "Where's Heero? I'm getting bored just sittin' here waiting."

The party leader's question wasn't directed at anyone in particular, but it was apparent that she was hoping one of the other party members had an answer for her. Unfortunately, none of the girls knew where their sole male member was. He never said what exactly his errand was.

Compa, who was seated on the end of the couch Neptune was on, saw nothing they could do other than wait for the boy, "We just need to be patient Nep-Nep. I'm sure Heero is on his way back now."

Lyrica saw nothing wrong with waiting on the Gundam pilot. Much of the party's success throughout their adventure could be attributed to being prepared for most any situations, so waiting a few minutes wouldn't hurt, "Heero's probably just being cautious and getting some items. I can think of a few times where we would have been in trouble if we hadn't prepared beforehand."

Just as Neptune was about to fall back against the cushions once again the front door opened, and Heero walked in with a plastic bag in hand. The amnesiac jumped out of her spot on the couch while giving the Gundam pilot with a mildly annoyed look, "Y'know, you're supposed to take me with you when you go out, Heero."

The Gundam pilot failed to see why he should have to take Neptune with him everywhere he went. Heero was perfectly capable of taking care of himself, "Why exactly should I take you with me when you are not in any danger?"

While Heero saw nothing wrong with leaving the goddess at the safe house with the rest of the party, Neptune saw everything that was wrong with the two being separated… 'everything' being the three 'Neptune stalkers' that also seemed to be after the Gundam pilot. "If I don't go with you, one of those weirdo stalkers will show up and try to kidnap you! We'll never get our M Rated scene if they catch you, cause you'll get all lovey with them!"

Did the purple haired girl really have so little faith in him? If Neptune was worried that one of the three girls they kept running into would seduce him, she had nothing to worry about. "If you're worried that I'll develop Stockholm Syndrome, don't. Rest assured that my efforts remain focused on both assisting and protecting you while we carry out our mission."

Neptune wanted to believe the Perfect Soldier, but all of their past run-ins with the 'Neptune stalkers' had ended with Heero in a compromising position with at least one of them. Not only that, but whenever the amnesiac wanted to go after them for encroaching on 'her territory' the Gundam pilot would tell her it was pointless to do so, "I dunno… every time I wanna beat 'em up, you say not to go after them. I think you might have something."

As much as he wanted to retort, Heero had to give Neptune that one. Of course, it wasn't as if he had actually developed Stockholm Syndrome. He just couldn't view the three girls as actual threats after their failed attempts at attacking the purple haired girl.

Before the conversation was allowed to continue, Compa popped up next to the party's leader wearing a slightly annoyed expression of her own, "Nep-Nep, if that's the case then we should all go out with Heero."

Lyrica stood on the other side of the purplenette, leering at her as she watched the amnesiac, "You wouldn't happen to be using those stalkers as an excuse to be alone with Heero, would you? Maybe you got them to stalk you just so they would take an interest in him."

It didn't take long for the songstress to come up with her own conspiracy theory regarding Neptune and the three mystery girls they kept running into. It was certainly a farfetched idea, but she wasn't about to rule it out.

Unlike the songstress she was a fan of, IF wasn't convinced Neptune could pull something like that off, "I don't want to burst your bubble, but this is Nep we're talking about. She doesn't exactly have the brains to pull off something so elaborate."

Neptune took offense to the brunette's pointed statement. Of all the reasons IF could have listed as to why she couldn't be responsible for such an idea, that was one of the worst she could have come up with, "What's that supposed to mean? Are you calling me dumb, Iffy?"

IF saw this coming, and she wasn't about to back down from or sugarcoat her remark. "Let's be honest. One look at your face and it's obvious you're not brimming with intelligence."

Having such a brutal comment directed at her was infuriating to Neptune. Before the party leader could start venting on the Guild Moderatist, IF did decide to end on a high note for the purplenette, "To be fair, Nep does care about Heero like the rest of us. I doubt she would have planned for them to come after Heero if she really was behind this."

The party leader wanted to complain about the treatment she was getting from the brunette, but Nisa stopped the conversation from progressing any further, "Let's not get into an argument this early in the morning. We still have to help Gust before we move on to the next landmass."

Gust had waited patiently for the Gundam pilot to return so the party could go searching for alchemy reagents, "Gust needs to replenish synthesis items. Running rather low."

Hearing the word synthesis reminded Red of a particular subject she wanted to run by the alchemist, "So Gust, there's something I've been wanting to ask. Do you think you could maybe whip some kinda potion to help me get more wifeys?"

Considering who it was that was making the request, Gust could make a solid guess that Red was asking for something like a love potion. The young alchemist had made such a potion once for the group on Valentine's day, and the results were… not what she had expected. Having made such an item once before, Gust wasn't about to just hand out another one, especially to Red, "No. Gust must refrain from making such items."

As Red let out a disappointed sigh, IF steered the conversation back to the matter of gathering reagents for Gust, "Let's focus on getting to the cave and collecting the items Gust is looking for. The Sky Harbor is open and connected to Leanbox, so it's obvious where we need to go next."

After yesterday's excursion around Lastation, the party had two of the four weapons they needed to enter Celestia, leaving only the weapons in Leanbox and Lowee to be retrieved. Seeing as one of their destinations was now a short walk away, why wouldn't the party cross the Sky Harbor?

With their next move planned out the party filed out of the safe house to take care of Gust's short errand before moving on to search for the weapon located in Leanbox.

Xxx

Before the party could head to Leanbox, they needed to make the detour to a nearby cave so Gust could collect her reagents. With the rest of the party taking care of the monsters it didn't take much time at all for the alchemist to find the items she was looking for.

As the party headed back to the entrance of the cave, Gust was smiling to herself as she carried a basket full of reagents in her arms, "Gust is very happy with haul. Found some rare synthesis items."

It was nice to see the small girl looking so happy. Compa was practically bursting with joy over the happiness Gust was exuding, "Isn't this nice? Seeing Gust smile like this makes me really happy."

The joyful atmosphere was disrupted by an all too familiar individual that let out a melodramatic laugh as she made her presence known, "Haaaah ha ha ha! You're looking for the legendary weapons now, eh? Histoire must be planting these ideas in your heads."

Arfoire, the party's nemesis, had obviously come to impede their efforts to find the Quartet Arms. That much was made clear by the fact that she knew what their objective was. Neptune was surprised to see the troublemaker before them, though she had a different idea as to why she was there, "Whoa, it's Arfork! What're you doing here? Are you a spelunking enthusiast?!"

Considering that she was the cause of the monster problems all over Gamindustri and she had attacked the party more than once, Heero found it a little hard to believe that Neptune would get the woman's name wrong… unless she was doing so intentionally.

Hearing her name being made fun of annoyed Arfoire. "Who're you calling Arfork?! What am I doing here? I'm interfering, of course! Plus, who're spelunking enthusiasts?! Don't they blast ghosts with oxygen tanks and stuff?!"

Neptune wasn't in the mood to deal with the fallen goddess nor did she want her interfering with their search for the remaining weapons. "Why're you interfering? Doesn't it get tiring? Let's just go relax and take it easy for a bit."

How Neptune could suggest that the part relax with the person that was trying to destroy the world was anyone's guess. Hell, there were a few among the group that thought she was out of her mind for making such a suggestion. Lyrica felt it necessary to point out the obvious fact that Arfoire was their enemy, "Um, Neptune? You do realize she's the one trying to destroy Gamindustri… right?"

Unlike the cerulean haired girl, Neptune didn't see anything wrong with sitting down and trying to persuade the former goddess, "Well, wouldn't it be great if we could get her to stop being evil? All we gotta do is sit down and get to know her."

Red was against the idea, though not for the same reason as the others, "I don't wanna get to know her! She's not wifey material!"

The young girl's reasoning aside, Compa voiced her own denial of Neptune's idea, "Nep-Nep, this is no time to be friendly! We have to do what we promised Histy…!"

Even though she had already stated her reason for being there, Arfoire repeated herself in case the party had just not been listening, "You think I don't know you're desperately trying to find the Quartet Arms?"

No one in the party knew how Arfoire got that information, but strangely enough Neptune didn't seemed surprised, "As expected of an ex-goddess! Can't you wait just a teensy bit longer? Don'tcha have time for some tea?"

Being refer to as an 'ex-goddess' only served aggravate Arfoire as was made apparent by the scowl on her face, "Shut it! I will let you advance no further! I know you're trying to open the path to Celestia."

It was becoming more and more obvious that a fight with the former goddess was unavoidable… like it was every other time. Neptune was mildly disappointed with the woman in front of her. "Then you wanna settle this here? Although that wouldn't be very cool or dramatic for the end of a story. See, I gotta say story cuz we're not in the game."

The purplenette's personal disappointment and fourth wall breaking aside, IF saw no reason NOT to fight Arfoire now. If they defeated the former goddess now, they wouldn't have to go searching for the remaining weapons in order to stop her, "Well, it'd be easier for us if we could just settle things now. We wouldn't have to keep doing this weapon fetch quest!"

There were nods of agreement among the party. No one was going to argue with that line of thought. Gust thought back to the confrontations the party had with Arfoire and how handily they defeated the fallen goddess, "If evil goddess if defeated now, Gamindustri will be saved!"

Nisa went into a heroic spiel as she addressed the former goddess, "You who represent the evil that threatens the world, know that you will not have your way. We have defeated you time and again, this time will be no different!"

More than once had the party been forced to deal with Arfoire, yet every time they defeated the former goddess. From Arfoire's perspective it seemed as though the party was mocking her as they recalled their victories over her, "Hmph! Just because you were able to defeat my alter egos, don't think you're invincible."

Neptune was intrigued by Arfoire's statement which seemed to imply that the group was now facing the real deal instead of another fake, "Oh, so you're the for reals one? Are you stronger than your other yous?"

Arfoire could not tolerate the amnesiac anymore, wanting nothing more than to finally be rid of the amnesiac once and for all. "Tch! I'm going to shut that blubbering, blabbering mouth of yours! Brace yourself!"

With the conversation devolving into a fight, the group readied themselves for battle. Heero saw this as an opportunity to get rid of Neptune's chief assailant, "You're nothing more than a nuisance. Your continued attempts on Neptune's life make you an obstacle that must be removed."

The former goddess sneered as the Gundam pilot voiced his intent to eliminate her. "I'll enjoy watching you fail. I'll dispose of the rest of you along with Neptu-"

As she was about to finish her sentence, Arfoire was doused in water. Turning to her left, the evil goddess found the only member of the party that had the audacity to perform such an act against her; Lyrica, "Stop that, you miserable little cretin!"

Ignoring Arfoire's shouting, Lyrica stared at the woman dressed as a witch as she waited for her to start melting, "Sooner or later you have to melt. That's how it always works!"

Nisa observed the debacle for a moment before looking at IF, "Aren't you going to say something to her?"

It wasn't that the brunette hadn't thought about saying something, it was just that she recounted the number of times she told Lyrica how Arfoire wasn't going to melt from being splashed with water and realized it was kind of pointless, "She's pretty much convinced that she'll melt at some point. I say we let it run its course. Lyrica will realize I'm right… eventually."

IF's idea only covered getting the songstress to get over the idea of trying to melt the former goddess. The idea didn't do a damn thing about the current problem of saving her skin from the now irate Arfoire.

Having been sufficiently enraged Arfoire swung her glaive at Lyrica, who immediately started running from the ex-goddess. It was only after the singer was being attacked that the party sprung into action.

Nisa intercepted an attack aimed at the back of Lyrica's head, catching the glaive with her hands before kicking the former goddess in the abdomen to force her away. "Attacking the weak is a detestable act! I will be your opponent, villain!"

Neptune chimed in while taking an unintentional jab at the cerulean haired girl, "We're the only ones that get to pick on the meat shield!"

While she wasn't sure how to take Neptune's comment, Lyrica was grateful for the timely intervention. With the entire group now facing her, Arfoire decided it was best to focus on her main source of irritation; Neptune.

Even though she had anticipated the attack, Neptune still didn't like how she was the one that had been singled out as Arfoire's target. The amnesiac ducked and dodged as she ran away from her assailant, shouting about how the former goddess was attacking the wrong person, "Why are you after me?! You're supposed to go after the healer first!"

The rest of the party watched as their leader was chased by Arfoire. IF wore a deadpanned look on her face as she watched the amnesiac who had just tried to make Compa out to be the target of the fallen goddess, "Wow. She's willing to sell out our healer to safe her own skin."

Heero looked over at the nurse in training, wondering how she felt about Neptune trying to pawn off Arfoire on her. Judging by the expression on her face, she was a little upset with the purplenette, "Nep-Nep, you would sacrifice the healer to save yourself?!"

Neptune dodged another attack from Arfoire while replying to the nurse in training, "I haven't had my M rated scene with Heero yet, so I can't die! So in short, yes!"

Certainly common sense would dictate that the medic was the perfect first target, but common sense wasn't really one of the party's strong suits, at least not from Heero's perspective. The excuse Neptune gave bordered on idiotic, but such was to be expected.

Regardless of her reasoning, the party still had to save Neptune. If nothing else, the source of their problems was right there in front of them. It would be foolish not to deal with her now.

Heero quickly intercepted the former goddess as she took another swipe at the retreating Neptune. The Gundam pilot's GN Sword clashed with Arfoire's glaive for a moment before forcing her back. As she came to a stop, a sphere of energy the size of a basketball formed at the tip of the former goddess' weapon.

Pointing her glaive at the Perfect Soldier, Arfoire launched the ball of energy which split into four projectiles and flew through the air toward him. The blade of the GN Sword folded back as the weapon switched to its rifle configuration and Heero fired one shot at the projectile that would hit.

While the one energy projectile was destroyed in mid-flight the other three veered off and struck the cave walls, causing some rocks to fall to the ground. It wasn't the chunks of falling rock that gave Heero cause for concern, rather it was the mild tremor brought on by the attack. Any further damage to the cave could bring it down on top of the party.

With that in mind, Heero deemed a change of venue to be necessary. The Gundam pilot initiated HDD, choosing the Crossbone Gundam for his transformation. Neptune picked herself up off the ground as her bodyguard underwent his transformation into what was arguably the strongest Gundam in his possession, "Are we just gonna transform and beat her up? I don't wanna cuz I get really hungry later. But then Heero will probably nab all the experience points if I don't."

The others couldn't understand why Neptune was even concerning herself with such a thought. They stood to get rid of Arfoire, why would the amnesiac bother thinking about experience points?

Seeing yet another transformation from the Gundam pilot elicited a sneer from the former goddess, "Another transformation? Just how many do you have? Not that it matters, you will die just the same."

Arfoire had begun charging another sphere of energy to use against Heero, when the boy charged at her. The former goddess had not expected the Crossbone Gundam to be as fast as it was, closing what distance there was between them.

Before the fallen goddess had a chance to use the projectile she had created, the Gundam grabbed her wrist with one hand and her face with the other. Arfoire's surprised yelp was muffled by the metal hand covering her mouth, leaving Heero free to speak without interruption, "I believe a change of location is needed."

A quick environmental scan of the area by the Gundam revealed aroom hidden within the wall of rock behind Arfoire. Since it was faster then trying to get the fallen goddess outside, Heero instead took off toward the wall while maintaining a firm hold on Arfoire's head.

The former goddess struggled to free herself the Crossbone Gundam's grip, but the mobile suit proved too strong to get away from. As soon as he was in front of the wall of rock, Heero drove Arfoire into it, driving her through and into the room on the other side.

Once they were through the Crossbone Gundam threw the former goddess aside, leaving her to skid across the ground. Finally free of the Gundam's vice grip, Arfoire dusted herself off while while speaking in her usual condescending tone, "You have a lot of nerve, boy. Don't think you will get away with what you did."

A brief flash of light engulfed the pirate themed Gundam, leaving Heero standing in it's place when it dissipated, "Just completing a mission. Don't take it personally."

During the heated exchange between the two, Neptune and the rest of the party had slipped into the hidden room and the purple haired goddess suddenly popped up next to Heero, "Y'know, with hidden rooms like this there's supposed to be a rare item or upgrade or something valuable. I don't see any of that."

The 'hidden room' as Neptune referred to it as, looked like it was meant for an extravagant mansion. Obviously it didn't pan out, considering it was a single room hidden away in a cave, but anyone that found it would naturally make the same assumption as Neptune. Unfortunately, there was no treasure chest or items of value to be found. It was just a plain room that was made to look fancy and expensive.

As the party's leader voiced her displeasure over that fact, IF focused on the more relevant issue of the former goddess in front of them, "At least we don't have to worry about the cave collapsing on top of us in here. If our earlier fights are anything to go by, she's pretty violent and unhinged."

Having moved the battle to a more structurally stable location, the party could fight Arfoire without fear of a cave-in. Neptune directed her attention to the group's Gundam pilot and tactician, "You got a plan, right Heero? How we gonna beat her this time?"

Truth be told, Heero didn't have a plan. Of course, the Perfect Soldier saw no reason to devise a battle strategy when their enemy was just as weak as the last time they fought, "There is no need to come up with a battle plan. Not against her, anyway. Ourusual strategy will be sufficient in dealing with Arfoire."

No special strategies or tricks were required, just a straight forward attack plan they had used against Arfoire before… that was how little Heero thought of the fallen goddess. Not content with keeping it amongst the party, Red decided to taunt Arfoire, "I don't really understand what the 'usual strategy' is, but my hubby thinks you're just wasting our time!"

Naturally no in the party was going to argue with a statement that was both accurate and the general consensus amongst the group, but what they others wanted to know was why the red headed girl felt the need to say it out loud in the first place?

Meanwhile, Arfoire was growing more livid with each passing second. She wasn't worth their time? Never had she been so insulted by someone, "Excuse me? If anything, you are the ones wasting my time! I shouldn't have to take time out of my day like this, but all of you are proving to be a thorn in my side."

Heero saw no point in wasting time talking to the person they were going to put down, "You're a nuisance, plain and simple. In order to complete my mission, I will eliminate you."

With the brief exchange now concluded, the party went to work implementing their battle plan to defeat Arfoire. The 'usual strategy,' the party's go-to plan was just to have each member handle what they performed best. Compa, Lyrica and Gust stayed in the rear, while the rest of the party charged at the former goddess.

If the previous battles against Arfoire taught the party anything, it was that the fallen goddess was quite set in her ways, and made no real effort to improve herself. Sure enough, Arfoire charged right at the party's leader just as Heero had anticipated.

The Gundam pilot intercepted the former goddess before she reached Neptune, the blade of his GN Sword clashing with the woman's glaive. The sound of clashing metal filled the air as Heero repelled Arfoire, trading glares with her as they forced one another away.

Arfoire was not given a chance to completely recover from her initial clash with the Perfect Soldier as Nisa launched her own attack. The Keeper of Justice delivered a powerful axe kick which was stopped by the former goddess, but left her open to attack fromIF.

Even though Arfoire was mostly preoccupied with Nisa, she was able to maneuver her head out of the way of IF's katar. While the former goddess avoided having a blade shoved into her face, she couldn't avoid the swift kick to her stomach from the brunette after her first attack failed to hit.

Although the attack did little to harm her, the former goddess was still annoyed at the fact that she was hit. Heero watched Arfoire as she was effortlessly forced back, not even surprised by how easy it was to fight off the goddess, "...What a joke."

The boy's words of ridicule served to further annoy the former goddess, "What was that? You think this is a joke?"

That was exactly what Heero saw this situation as. She was no stronger than she as last time and still used the same strategy, if it could even be called that. Hell, the only reason the party was even bothering to fight Arfoire was because she wouldn't leave them alone. "I think it's funny that you actually believe you can defeat us with the same strategy that you have used time and again… and you haven't even tried to increase your combat capabilities. As I've said before, you're a nuisance, plain and simple."

For Arfoire it was insufferable to be looked down upon by a human, especially one that was working with Neptune. Rather than take the time to think of a plan to deal with the party, the former goddess focused all her attention on the Gundam pilot. Arfoire would not allow herself to be humiliated any further by the boy, "Detestable brat! Before I get rid of Neptune, I'll dispose of you!"

Heero effortlessly blocked the pathetic attempt at an attack while Neptune struck Arfoire across the stomach with the flat of her sword, sending her careening backwards, "With your low combat level and lack of strategy? You'll die trying."

Between the Gundam pilot's berating and Neptune's cheap shot at her, the former goddess had thrown rationality out the window. Her efforts were entirely focused on getting rid of Neptune, Heero, or perhaps both of them.

Arfoire charged at Neptune while forcing Nisa out of the way, allowing her rage to dictate her actions. "I will silence both of you permanently!"

It was rather baffling how easy it was to play on the former goddess' anger, yet here she was throwing a tantrum and saying how she would dispose of the amnesiac goddess and the Gundam pilot while disregarding the rest of the party.

While he wouldn't have minded dragging out the battle just to show Arfoire the gap in strength between herself and the party, Heero didn't want to waste too much time dealing with the fallen goddess. After all, they needed to cross the Sky Harbor into Leanbox and search for the weapon there.

Heero intercepted the former goddess once more while voicing his thoughts to the group. "We've wasted enough time dealing with her. It would be in our best interest to finish this quickly and return to our previous task."

The comment from the Perfect Soldier incited rage in Arfoire, seeing it as a jeering comment aimed at her. "And just what is that supposed to mean?"

Neptune suddenly popped up in-between the Gundam pilot and Arfoire with her right arm reared back, "What my lover means is we're done playing around with you, you old hag!"

Throwing her fist out in front of her, the party's leader struck Arfoire in the cheek with a strong right hook that was followed shortly by a cloud of bullets from Compa and Gust. Before the former goddess could recover from the sudden onslaught, IF blindsided her and knocked Arfoire's glaive out of her hand before kicking her away.

Red, who had yet to contribute to the party's battle, saw an opening in the now defenseless Arfoire. The red head reached into her pocket and pulled out a handful of pachinko balls before tossing them toward the fallen goddess' feat, "Here you go! Try not to be too mad when you fall."

Arfoire was unsure of what the young girl meant until she suddenly lost her footing. The former goddess had been so preoccupied with the attacks against her that she failed to notice that she was no longer levitating… and was now trying miserably to balance herself on the pachinko balls at her feet.

The former goddess' balancing act lasted for a few seconds before she fell on her back, her head smacking against the tile floor below. As Arfoire began to pick herself up off the floor, Nisa's silhouette appeared in the air above her, "Fall before the might of justice, villain! Justice Kick!"

Nisa's attack cratered the former goddess and dislodged many of the tiles that made up the floor. Arfoire picked her beaten body off the ground, casting a scornful look at the party as she did, "Urgh! Y-You…!" It was painfully clear that Arfoire wasn't going to win this battle, and staying any longer would result in further injury. It pained her to do it, but she saw no other option but to retreat. "It won't turn out the same next time. You better not forget this!"

Arfoire beat a hasty retreat toward the exit, grabbing her glaive off the floor as she ran away. Compa was overjoyed at having driven away the former goddess, "Yay! We sent her home crying!"

Under any other circumstances, the other members of the party might have questioned whether or not that was something to be proud of. Neptune commented on Arfoire's parting words on how they should not forget the fight they just had, "I dunno if I'll remember this, though… I'm pretty forgetful lately."

The nurse in training pat Neptune on the back while giving her assurance that the amnesiac's forgetfulness wouldn't be an issue. "Don't you worry! I'll make sure to remember it thoroughly on your behalf."

IF questioned whether or not it was even feasible for Neptune to transfer her memories to the nurse in training, "Are memories transferable like that? Whatever. Let's keep looking for those weapons."

As the girls engaged in friendly banter, Heero was thinking about Arfoire's sudden appearance. The former goddess knew what the party had come to Lastation for and what they were planning. What the Gundam pilot wanted to know was HOW she knew, "(Unless someone in the group talked when I wasn't looking, there's no way she should know what we're trying to accomplish.)"

Heero didn't want to jump right to suspecting someone of turning traitor. The last time he jumped the gun, Heero prematurely placed the blame on IF and it wasn't until after the group had gotten out of a life or death situation that the Gundam pilot realized his mistake. Moreover, he couldn't rule out the possibility that the party's run-ins with the former goddess had made her paranoid and suspect an imminent attack against herself.

Arfoire would know about the Quartet Arms, considering that they were used against her in the past. It wouldn't be surprising if she kept tabs on the weapons that had been instrumental in her defeat. The Perfect Soldier pushed the thought aside for the time being. Thinking on it now was pointless, especially when the party still needed to find the two remaining weapons.

Just as the boy set aside his thoughts, the girls had wrapped up their friendly banter and shifted to the important topic of their next destination. With two heroic weapons in hand, Neptune was eager to add another to their list, "We've got two awesome weapons, let's hurry up and nab the next one!"

While the purplenette's enthusiasm was nice, the party still needed to search for the weapon once they arrived at the next landmass. As the party began the walk back to the entrance of the dungeon, Heero waited for the rest of the girls to pass through the hole in the wall leading out of the enclosed room before stopping Gust, "Gust. I need a moment of your time."

The young alchemist stopped in her tracks when the Gundam pilot called to her. Turning to face the boy, Gust waited to hear what it was that Heero wanted with her. "I wanted to take a moment to ask you about how things stand between us."

Gust wasn't sure what the Perfect Soldier was getting at. Was there some reason the relationship they had now wouldn't be alright? "Gust does not see whyanything would be wrong."

Heero had a feeling Gust would give such a reply, but felt it was still necessary to broach the subject. If there was something wrong after what happened on Planeptune, he needed to know now, "After what happened on Planeptune, I would think things between us are not entirely fine."

Hearing the subject of the incident on Planeptune called to mind the sight of the mobile suit the party had gone to recover. It's size had been intimidating and very impressionable on the girls, and Gust was no exception.

Taking a moment to think on the matter, Gust collected her thoughts and gave her reply to the boy, "Robot was quite scary at first. But since robot belongs to Heero, Gust is not afraid."

While the young alchemist said she was fine, the Gundam pilot had to be sure that there were no misgivings about what had happened, "Are you sure? You're not upset in any way?"

If there was one thing Gust was upset about, it was that Heero had not trusted the girls enough to tell them about the Gundam beforehand. "Gust thinks of Heero and everyone as friend. As friends, Heero should tell us about these things sooner."

Aside from not providing disclosure of the Wing Zero, it seemed that Gust held no ill-will towards Heero. The Perfect Soldier took a moment to let Gust's words sink in before responding. "I will try not to be so secretive in the future."

Heero noticed that the rest of the party was peeking out from behind the hole in the wall, waiting on the two to finish their discussion, "It would be in our best interest to leave. The others are waiting on us and we still need to find the remaining weapons."

The cap wearing alchemist nodded her head in agreement, clutching her basket full of newly acquired reagents as the two headed for the exit with their party.

Xxx

Once they were out of the dungeon, the party immediately headed to the Sky Harbor and into Leanbox. As the party made their way into town they noticed a large congregation of people in the town plaza. IF was rather curious about the of pedestrians, "What's with this crowd?"

Compa was speculating that some kind of event was going on, and her excitement was building as a result, "Ooh, it's probably something very, very interesting!"

"Should we ask?" IF approached one of the people and inquired about the gathering. "...Hey, what's going on?"

The man the Guild Moderatist was talking to turned to face her and answered her question, "This is an event which produces masters of idols. The top three girls among the contestants will be chosen and their fans will produce and raise them into great idols! You should try out for it, too. I'm sure they're still accepting entries."

IF wrapped her mind around what she had been told, as well as the man's suggestion, "An idol… trio? Are we really good enough to be masters, though?"

Nisa wasn't so sure about their chances of winning, and not just because they were busy trying to save Gamindustri, "We have to find the last two weapons to get into Celestia, we don't have time for this. And besides, what makes you so sure we can win?"

Out of all the girls in the party, Lyrica was the only one with any kind of experience with this sort of job. Whether or not the rest of the could make the cut was subject to debate. Neptune was rather enthusiastic about the idea of entering, "I think we gotta try! I betcha we'll win!"

Compa had only been slightly skeptical about winning before Neptune voiced her opinion, and the party leader's infectious attitude was more than enough to sway her, "You think so? Are you sure? Well, we're the main characters, so maybe we will!"

Neptune was growing more and more excited over the prospect of becoming an idle as the conversation dragged on, "Oh, for sure! Don'tcha think, Iffy? We're gonna be celebrities and stuff!"

While the two carried on with their conversation, IF gave the idea a second thought, "Idols… celebrities… Ugh." The brunette dispelled such thoughts from her mind before she could actually dwell on them. Certainly the idea had it's own appeal, but the more IF thought about it the more embarrassed she became. "Not like my opinion matters. I mean, the idea's not bad, but why us…?"

Rather than answer the Guild members question, Compa seemed more interested in coming up with a name for the party's idol troupe, "We need to think up a group name right away!"

The party's bubbly leader couldn't contain her excitement as the idea of becoming idols seemed to be going down, "Okay, let's do this thing!"

Neptune grabbed Compa and IF by their wrists and dragged them along behind her to enter, and hopefully become idols. Gust wasn't sure what was going on or why the trio was bothering with trying to become idols when they were supposed to be focused on saving Gamindustri, "Gust does not understand. Isn't party supposed to be saving the world?"

Unlike her business savvy comrade, Red seemed more interested in coming up with a name for the idol trio, "What do you guys think about this for the group name; 'Red's Wifeys'! Sounds pretty good if I do say so myself."

Lyrica watched as the trio headed to the judges panel to enter the event before finally voicing her opinion on the matter, "They realize they're going to lose, right?"

Heero looked at the songstress out of the corner of his eye before returning his attention to the girls that had gone to enter the idol competition, "You're being quite frank about this."

It wasn't as if Lyrica was actively hoping for the girls to fail, she just wasn't one to ignore the obvious signs of failure, "Don't get me wrong, it would be nice if they could win. It's just… this was a spur of the moment decision. And they don't really know anything about being idols."

The rest of the party watched as Neptune, Compa and IF entered the competition. When it finally came time to judge the attendees, the trio finished dead last. When the three girls returned to the party, Neptune wore a defeated look on her face, "Bawww… Didn't go as well as I thought. People have poopy eyes."

Even though IF had anticipated such an outcome the loss still felt bitter, "I didn't really expect anything different, but it doesn't feel good as a girl to get rejected so quickly..."

Compa was trying her best not to sound disappointed, but the tone of her voice betrayed her intentions, "It's okay… We'll just continue on with our journey to save these people's world..."

IF watched as this nurse in training walked away while hanging her head. Never had she seen the pink haired girl look so pathetic, and there were a number of times throughout their adventure where Compa had looked miserable. "...How sad."

Heero suddenly felt something tug on the leg of his jeans while he watched the trio saunter away. Looking down he saw Gust giving him a concerned look, "Perhaps Heero should say something. Gust does not like seeing friends look so depressed."

He knew he had to say something, otherwise the three girls would remain depressed for the rest of the day. Heero felt it best to just use their objective as an excuse for their loss, "It would be best for the three of you to not take this defeat personally."

Even though it was Heero that was trying to console them, Neptune couldn't help but pout over losing the competition, "But I'm super cute and those judges just looked over me like I was a discarded candy wrapper! How can I not be mad?"

The party had put most of their focus into finding the items needed to save Gamindustri that they really didn't have much time to pursue other interests, a fact that Heero knew he could use to talk the girls out of their current state of mind, "Given the nature of our mission, you haven't had time to pursue such a task. It's not your fault that you lost. We've been too busy for you to work on anything else."

Neptune, Compa and IF stopped to think on the matter and realized that the Perfect Soldier was quite right. Having taken the time to think on it, Compa realized how pointless it was to be upset over something she had no time for, "It's kind of silly to be sad about losing now that I think about it."

Even IF felt awkward about letting such a thing get to her, "I can't believe I really let something like that get to me."

With the trio now over there short stint of depression, the rest of the group was able to breathe a little easier. Neptune took her spot next to Heero and linked arms with the boy, "Who needs a bunch of nameless nobodies anyway? As long as I've got Heero, I don't need anybody else."

The moment Neptune made that statement, Heero could already see the ensuing argument. Compa began to complain about how the amnesiac goddess seemed to be using the situation to get close to the boy, "What about us, Nep-Nep? We need Heero just as much as you do!"

IF was quick to admonish the purplenette, "You were just looking for a convenient excuse to monopolize Heero's time, weren't you?"

Not wanting to cause a scene, Heero freed himself from Neptune while steering the conversation to the matter of finding the weapon belonging to the Quartet Arms, "Let's not do this here. More importantly, we need to focus on finding the weapon. It is the reason we came here, after all."

Putting their argument on hold for the time being, the girls returned their refocused their efforts on finding the legendary hero's weapon on Leanbox. With their priorities straightened out, the party headed down the street toward their Leanbox safe house before beginning their search for the legendary hero's weapon.

Xxx

As soon as the party dropped off their gear at the safe house, they set our for a cave pointed out to them by Zero. Upon entering the dungeon, IF recalled Histoire hint regarding the location of Leanbox's weapon, "Didn't Histy say one of the weapons is in a ruin on Leanbox?"

Compa nodded in affirmation. Everyone in the party had been present when Histoire had given them the vague hints on the whereabouts of the Quartet Arms, "Yes, she said that's all she knows for now."

Taking a look around the immediate area, Heero once again saw that the dungeon looked very much like every other dungeon of its type, "Were it not for Zero, we would have to search every single ruin on Leanbox to find the target."

Neptune had her attention focused on the walls and noticed a distinct lack of drawings, "So if this cave is a ruin, there's a chance it's here, right? Can I doodle on the walls? Would that make it more ruin-y?"

IF wasn't sure why the purplenette was asking what was obviously a really dumb question, and even when she thought about it, she wasn't sure if Neptune drawing the walls was really how it worked, "I-I… don't think it really works like that..."

Lyrica was more focused on the fact that Histoire had been unable to provide any concrete information on the weapons location, "Considering what Histoire is, you'd think she would know exactly where the weapon is. Her inability to tell us sounds like some kind of intentional flaw for a story or something."

Before the songstress could continue with her ranting, Neptune stopped her for a baffling reason, "Hold on their, Meat Shield. Leave the fourth wall breaking to the professional."

While Lyrica started complaining about Neptune's use of her distasteful nickname, the rest of the group discussed how they were going to search for the weapon. Heero went to his partner in hopes of receiving an answer, "Zero, can you pinpoint the location of the weapon?"

Zero wasn't having much luck in finding the weapon, "I'm having difficulty determining the exact location of the weapon. Fortunately, it seems the monsters that call this cave their home are away at the moment. Now is the best time to search for it."

Neptune relayed the ZERO System's message to the rest of the party, "Z says she can't really find the weapon, but all the monsters are out of the house. We gotta look for it now."

It took the party three minutes to search the dungeon. When they reconvened, the party was in front of the last room they had left to look. As the party entered the room, Compa spotted someone seated on a rock on the other side of the room, "Wait… Someone's there. I really hope it's not the tortured soul of a serial murderer..."

Nisa raised her fist, her eyes burning with 'heroic determination' as she called it, "Never fear. If he should be such a man, I will dispense some much needed justice!"

Regardless of what kind of person the individual was the party couldn't leave without first searching the room. As the group approached the man, he stood up and began to back away while pulling out a familiar looking disc, "St-Stay away! Get back! I'll use this, if you don't do exactly as I say!"

Just a glance was enough to tell IF what exactly the unnerved man was holding, "Is that…? It's one of Arfoire's discs. Those things are everywhere!"

Before anyone in the party could stop the man, a monster began to appear out from the disc. The monster that took shape was an 'Orachi,' a large snake-like monster with a large, finned upper-body and durable looking scales.

Neptune was venting her frustration over having to deal with a monster when there was supposed to be none in the cave at that time, "Z said we wouldn't have to deal with any monsters, and this jerk summons one! That's messed up!"

Heero wasn't too fond of the situation either, but had gotten use to being inconvenienced throughout their quest, "We will need to eliminate the enemy before we can conduct a thorough search of the area."

Red looked to the lone male member of the group for a strategy, "What's the game plan this time, hubby? We gonna rush 'em all at once?"

Heero shook his head. Such a plan was needless and unwarranted, "We don't need to exert that much effort. Neptune will transform and wait for an opening, while the rest of us distract the enemy. A single strike down the center will suffice."

Lyrica took a firm hold of Mr. Guitar as she voice her support of the idea, "I prefer these kinds of plans where we don't have to do much to win. It's so much better than long drawn out fights."

Complying with Heero's request, Neptune activated her HDD and transformed in preparation for the battle. The twin braided swordstress turned to the rest of the party and voiced her support, "I'll leave it up to you guys to make an opening. I'll take care of the rest."

Heero, IF and Nisa rushed the reptilian monster, wanting to take the initiative rather than wait for the Orachi to attack. IF ran past the large monster, while Nisa drew it's attention towards herself with a well placed kick to the Orachi's head.

The attack had definitely gotten the monster's attention, as it opened it's maw and exhaled a purple gas at the Keeper of Justice. Nisa covered her mouth to keep after accidentally inhaling some of the substance, experiencing a sickfeeling and sudden weakness as a result, "Of course a monster like you would resort to such foul play."

A few shots from Heero's GN Sword forced the Orachi to shut it's mouth and focus it's attention on him. While the monster was focused on the Gundam pilot, Nisa reached into her backpack and pulled out a bottle with a green liquid inside.

Nisa quickly downed the contents of the bottle, and immediately after the sick feeling was gone. The heroine flashed a smirk at the monster that had attempted to neutralizer her with poison, "A true heroine comes prepared for such trickery. You won't defeat me that easily!"

As the heroine boasted to the creature about her preparedness, IF ran up behind the monster and cut into it's back with her blades, "Instead of gloating at this thing, you could help us."

The Orachi had only just began to turn it's body when a flurry of bullets and small bolts of lightning assailed the monster. While Compa, Lyrica and Gust continued to bombard the monster with their projectile weapons, Red reached into her kimono and pulled out a frisbee, "I should show of for my wifey! A hard hit will really net me some points."

Rearing her arm back, the red headed girl threw the frisbee at the Orachi as hard as she could. The seemingly harmless plastic struck the monster in the head hard enough to disorient it.

Taking advantage of the lull in the creature's movements, Heero fired three more rounds from the GN Sword's Rifle configuration before dismissing his weapon, "That should do it. Neptune can handle the rest."

Almost immediately after he said her name, Neptune shot past Heero and headed straight for the off-balance Orachi. The sword maiden leapt into the air with her sword at the ready, "This will end it."

Neptune drove the blade of her sword into the monster's head and continued down into the creature's abdomen. The Orachi crumbled to the ground before turning into cubes of energy, as Neptune called it.

The swordstress watched the monster vanish before turning her attention to the other. "That wasn't difficult, now was it?"

The battle had been more of a hassle than anything. Each individual member of the party had grown stronger over the course of their journey, and having spent enough time together the group could easily overcome just about any obstacle that stood in their way thanks to their superior teamwork and coordination.

With the monster now gone, the party turned their attention to the Guild Fugitive. Having watched the creature be killed right in front him, the fugitive was fearing for his life, "W-Wait, don't kill me!"

Neptune wasn't sure why the man thought the party was going to even harm, let alone kill him, "We're not going to kill you. Why would you think we'd do such a thing?"

Once it became apparent that the group meant him no harm, the man began to calm down. "O-Okay. Sorry. I thought you were one of the Basilicom's pursuers."

The fact that the man was afraid of Basilicom pursuers was enough of a clue to determine that he was a member of the Guild. IF wanted to reassure the fugitive that he was safe, "Basilicom's pursuers? Are you a Guild member? Don't worry. Your goddess won't let another purge happen again."

"Our goddess? She's finally risen… Ten years after the purge… She's finally..."

Clearly the Guild Fugitive was relieved. It was also apparent that he had been in the cave for a rather long time if he had been afraid of a purge. Compa was concerned for the man's health… and personal hygiene, "You've been in here for ten years? You'll get sick and stinky if you stay in such a dark place. Go outside! It's safe now."

The man shook his head as he sat against the wall, "N-No, I-I'm fine. I like it here. It's private. So, don't tell anyone about me." Reaching into his pocket, the Guild Fugitive pulled out an object. "You can have this, if you promise to keep my secret. It's said to have belonged to the hero, Gheytz."

Compa took the object from the Guild Fugitive, while Neptune commented on the fact that the item belonged to one of the heroes, "The hero, Gheytz… One of the four ancient heroes? If so, we totally just lucked out."

IF looked over the object and could tell that it was some kind of handle, "This is a hero's weapon? Looks like the grip to something. I don't know if we can trust this guy, though."

"Then, let me tell you where to find the rest of the pieces are. I found this in a small shrine while wandering in a forest. I'm sure the rest of the parts remain somewhere in that forest. Am I still untrustworthy?"

If the man's information was accurate, then the party wouldn't have to search all over Leanbox to find the parts for the weapon. Regardless, without any other leads the party had to take the fugitive at his word, and Heero didn't exactly appreciate the lack of information, "We have no choice but to take you at your word."

Compa wanted to believe that the Guild member was telling them the truth, "We have to trust you. We can't drag you with us… But make sure you go outside sometimes to get fresh air, thought!"

With the weapon part in hand, the party made their way back out of the dungeon. Along the way, Neptune struck up a conversation with Heero about the weapon parts and if they were still where the fugitive said they were, "What do you think? Is it possible the parts are still there?"

Heero wasn't entirely sure if the parts really were still in the same place the Guild member said they were, "It's doubtful. It would be wishful thinking to assume the parts are all still in the forest. I don't know when he acquired the grip, but it would be best to assume someone or something has gotten to them since then."

While not the line of thought the party wanted to follow, they had to face reality. And the reality was that the parts may not still be in the forest described by the fugitive. Hoping to at least find something, the party set out for the supposed location of the remaining parts.

Xxx

IF had an idea as to where the party needed to go based on the clue the party had received from the Guild Fugitive. The group followed the Guild Moderatist to one of Leanbox's more obscure islands to find a snow covered forest, an oddity in the mostly sunny landmass.

Upon arriving at the forest, IF voiced her thoughts regarding how this location was the first… and only one that she could think of based on the fugitive's information, "This is the only place that comes to mind." The Guild Moderatist looked over at Neptune and Compa, who were wandering around aimlessly. "Stay where we can see you two, okay? We don't need you both getting lost."

Neptune stopped her pacing to assume her thinking pose while mocking the name of the forest the party was in, "Oh, pssh, c'mon, the Lost Forest? How bland can you be? Getting lost in thick forests is such an old trick."

Compa was just as unconcerned as the amnesiac, but still reminded her not to jinx herself, "Watch it, or you'll jinx yourself and get lost first. Grandpa always said 'security is the greatest enemy!'"

It was difficult for Lyrica to determine whether the nurse in training was being serious or just playing around. Either way, the idea of getting lost in a forest didn't appeal to the songstress one bit, "Can we just agree that we should all stick together? I really don't want to get lost in here."

Red found the blue haired girl's fear of getting lost to be adorable, "Aww, you're cute when you're scared, Lyrics. You can hold my hand if you want. That way you won't get lost."

Unlike her fellow party member, Nisa was more concerned with finding the parts for the legendary weapon than with being lost, "No matter what, we must find the pieces of the heroic weapon. It is the only way we will be able to stop the evil goddess."

Due to the high probability of someone in the party getting lost if the went off on their own, there was no choice but to search for the weapon parts in a single group, rather than pairs. After five minutes into their search of the forest, the party had been unable to find anything that looked like it would be part of a weapon.

Neptune was quickly getting fed up with the lack of parts for the weapon, "This sucks. We should've found something by now."

Even though they had not been there that long, it was no less frustrating to be empty handed. Gust was starting to think that Heero had been right before, "Perhaps Heero was right. Someone found parts before we did."

No one wanted to believe that, but it was becoming harder not to accept that as the reality. If nothing else, the group hoped to at least find some kind of clue as to the whereabouts if the weapon parts if they were no longer here.

As the party continued on with their search (albeit aimlessly), they came upon a large monster that lay in wait just beyond a snow bank. The monster, a 'Tiamat,' was a sizable bipedal monster with long legs, short arms, and an elongated head with two tail-like appendages attached to it.

The one place the party had yet to search in the area, and it was guarded by a monster. Such was to be expected during their quest, but that didn't mean anyone in the group liked it. Neptune retrieved the claymore she had sheathed behind her back, raring to go to work slaying the monster, "How're we gonna beat this guy? Want me to transform and beat 'em up like the last monster? I'll do it if you ask me to, Heero."

Shaking his head, Heero dissuaded the amnesiac from following that line of thought, "It would be best if we didn't rely on you to take care of every enemy that appears formidable. I'll take point this time. The rest of you will provide cover."

Nisa was about to go into a heroic spiel over how the Perfect Soldier was going to be the brave hero that goes first to slay the monster, but Lyrica stopped by quickly covering her mouth with her hand, "Why don't you save the heroic speech for AFTER we win?"

While the songstress put a stop to one of Nisa's bad habit's, IF folded her arms over her chest and commented on how short the ensuing battle was going to be, "If Heero's going in first, this might as well already be over. We just have to beat on the monster a little a let Heero cut him down."

The more Heero thought about it, the more he realized that he could easily dispose of the monster by himself. Or at the very least, with only three of the girls supporting him, "Neptune, Compa and Lyrica will support me. The rest of you can sit back and watch this time."

Red found a tree to sit against as she waited for the team of four to finish the Tiamat, "My hubby is gonna wrap this up quick, like a short errand before a honeymoon."

No one was sure what exactly the red headed girl meant by what she said. All that matter was that only half of the party was needed. Extended one arm out in front of himself as he utilized his HDD, "Let's get this over with."

Within seconds, the Exia stood where Heero once was, and the Gundam's GN Sword snapped into position. Once he was ready, the Gundam pilot charged at the monster that had been maintaining its position.

The large blade of the GN Sword collided with the monster's head, and while it made a large cut in it's hide, the blade failed to cut all the way through. The Tiamat began pushing against the Exia until it finally forced the Gundam back.

As Heero put some distance between himself and the large monster, he reached for the GN Daggers mounted on the Gundam's shoulders and threw the beam blades at the creature, lodging them into monster's head.

Because the Tiamat was focused on the Exia, it distance Neptune running up with her claymore until she was right on top of it. The purplenette swung the heavy sword and cut into it's right arm, almost severing the limb off.

Neptune was about to take a second swing at the monster, when it swung its left arm at her, forcing her to guard against the attack. There was enough force behind the Tiamat's attack to knock the amnesia on her back, earning a reprimand from her, "Hey, you're not supposed to hit a cute girl like me! And you're supposed to wait your turn, jerk!"

Although Neptune's words fell on deaf ears, two bullets slammed into the monster's left arm that tore it off the creature's body. The source of the attack was Compa, who was now sitting down in the snow, having been thrown back by the recoil of her own attack, "There. I saved your life, Nep-Nep!"

The amnesiac wore an annoyed expression as she looked at the pink haired nurse, "You could've help me out sooner, y'know. And why isn't the Meat Shield up here? She's the one that's supposed to be taking hits for us!"

A bolt of lighting from Lyrica's guitar sheared off the Tiamat's remaining arm before she replied to the party leader, "How many times do I have to tell you?! I'm not a Meat Shield! I'm starting to think you're calling me that to be mean!"

Even though the trio was bickering with each, they had successfully removed both of the monsters arms, rendering the creature more or less defenseless. The Exia quickly moved back in to secure the kill, decapitating the monster with one swing of it's GN Sword, "Mission… complete."

Heero discontinued his usage of HDD once the Tiamat's head hit the ground, and the monster was deconstructed into a collection of energy cubes. It may not have been the most well coordinated attack, but the battle had been finish fairly quickly.

IF couldn't help but comment on the bicker-fest that had went on during the fight, "Is there some reason you guys couldn't defeat that monster without complaining with one another?"

Lyrica's cheeks swelled up as she pointed at Neptune, "If Neptune would stop calling me a Meat Shield, this wouldn't happen."

Neptune threw out her baseless idea that the songstress was meant to take damage for the group, "You say that, but you can take a hit better than the rest of us."

Not another word on the matter was said as Heero broke up the small dispute, "There is no need for this kind of behavior. The enemy had been dealt with, and we kept damage to a minimum, that's all that should matter. Now we need to search the area for any sign of the weapon parts. And please, no more bickering."

With the quarrel between the two at an end, the team ventured into the unexplored area of the forest. As the party walked further towards what appeared to be a dead-end, a merchant suddenly appeared out from behind a tree, "Well, I would be remiss to not thank these gorgeous ladies for saving me!"

Neptune hadn't been paying attention when the man made his presence known to the party, and decided to be blunt and to the point in how the group wasn't there to save him, "Who're you? Where'd you come from? We weren't tryin' to save you."

"Oh? But by defeating that monster, you most certainly did save me. Now I won't be late for my meeting with Sir Turquoise!"

That was a name the party had not heard in awhile. It had been some time since the party's escapade on Leanbox, so they hadn't really kept in touch with the leader of the Aristocrats. Neptune assumed her thinking position as she inquired as to the reason for the merchant's meeting with the man. "...Huh? You know the Aristocrat leader? Whatcha goin' there for?"

"I heard he's obtained some sort of rare item!" The merchant reached for his pack and pulled out a bow. "Say… would you like to purchase this here bow?"

The party just looked at the merchant they had inadvertently saved. Even after they saved him, he was still going to charge them for the item he was peddling? Lyrica couldn't help but think out loud about there being something wrong with the item, "I think it's a defect. Why else would he still charge us for it?"

Nisa herself was ashamed of the man, who clearly saw nothing wrong with what he was doing, "You're not even going to give us some kind of discount? I understand needing to do your job, but still..."

Much like her fellow party members, Neptune couldn't believe the merchant was trying to charge them for the bow, "You want us to buy it…? You're charging someone who saved your life?!"

"Well, excuse me! Then, how about I offer a discount? It'll be a very special deal."

It wasn't just that it took some goading to get the man to offer a discount, but Heero couldn't help but think there was something off about the bow, "Personally, I would advise against this. There has to be catch."

Compa was in agreement with the Gundam pilot, wanting to dissuade the amnesiac from buying what the merchant was selling, "Nep-Nep, I think we should stay away from people like this… They're crooks!"

"What an outrageous assumption! I'm only taking an opportunity to sell this bow, worth next to nothing, at a high price!"

...And there it was. The party didn't even need to pressure the merchant into answering them, he gave it away. He was trying to sell a worthless piece of junk to them for a premium. Gust looked at the shoddy salesman with the most deadpanned look she could give, "Gust had feeling that was the case."

IF was quite upset herself with the revelation. Sure, she had expected him to try and con them, but she wasn't expecting the merchant to be quite this bad, "How could you…?! I'm glad you're being honest, but we're not going to buy anything from you."

"Ha! Thanks. Honest is my only strong point."

Hearing that the item was worthless, Neptune was immediately put off, "Ugh, no thanks! Nobody in my party is an archer anyway. Right guys?"

"Oh, don't be like that. It's good to have an item just in case. Whaddaya say? It's cheap, but the quality is top-notch!"

Not even thirty seconds ago the merchant admitted that the bow was worthless and that he planned to sell it to the party hoping to make a lot of money. Now he was trying to push the idea that it wasn't a piece of junk.

Neptune was starting to get angry with the pushy merchant. "Get outta here, old cootie-bag! We don't want it. We're gonna have really mad faces on if you keep being a pushy jerk."

Unlike the party's leader, IF was already pining to use violence against the merchant as she slid her dual blades out of her jacket sleeves, "Just leave, unless you like pain. Would you like us to give you the same treatment as that monster?"

Heero was willing to oblige such an action as he armed the GN Sword, "I would not be opposed to taking such action. In fact, I'd even say it's warranted right now."

The threat of violence was enough to shake up the merchant and halt any further attempts at trying to get a sale out of the party, "Eek! Please, d-don't. Fine, you can have it. I just found it on the ground anyway."

Dropping the bow on the ground, the sleazy merchant ran away from the party before they could make good on their threat. Compa heaved a sigh of relief as she picked the bow up off the ground, "...Phew. He's gone, but he left something weird behind. Is this really a bow? He said he found it on the ground."

Analyzing the piece of wood in the nurse in training's hands, IF couldn't see anything remarkable about it, "Looks like a stick to me. Let's just take it, I guess. Didn't go as planned, huh?"

Heero had his attention focused on the stick. From his perspective, it looked like the lower limb of bow, but he couldn't be entirely sure. Neptune's focus was on something else. Specifically, the leader of the Aristocrats, "Didn't he say the Aristocrat leader's got a rare item? I wonder what it is?"

Nisa thought back to the beginning of their conversation with the merchant before remember that he had mention as such, "He did say something about that before he tried to pawn this thing off on us."

While Neptune had a vested interest in going to see the leader of the Aristocrats, IF didn't really see anything coming from visiting him, but wasn't going to rule out the possibility that something would come of it "Sir Turquoise, right? Worth checking out, at least."

Having determined their next destination, the party retraced their steps to find the exit of the forest… stopping a few times along the way to retrieve Red when she was being chased by monsters.

Xxx

Because the party had been pivotal in exposing the corruption in Leanbox, they had no trouble entering Sir Turquoise's manor. It wasn't long before they were given an audience with the lord of the manor, who extended a warm welcome to the party, "Oh, long time no see, my sexy mascots! I thought my role was over. How've you girls been?"

IF didn't want to go off on a tangent and cut to the chase regarding the party's visit, "We actually came to ask a favor. We're looking for an ancient hero's weapon. Know anything about it?"

"Hoho, a hero's weapon, eh? You must be talking about the Quartet Arms. I've been looking for those, myself! I had something appraised by a traveling merchant the other day. I thought it was part of the hero Gheytz weapon, but no."

Heero was quite certain the party had met the traveling merchant Sir Turquoise was talking about, "I believe the merchant we encountered while searching the forest fits the description.

Compa brought up the group's run-in with the merchant to the leader of the Aristocrats, "I think we met that crooked man. You shouldn't trust what he says at all!"

"Then there's still a chance it's real? Please, take a look at this." The leader of the Aristocrats present a long strand of string for the group to see. "It looks like a normal string, but I believe it belongs to the Wisdom Bow. The giant bow used by Gheytz to pierce the heavens. This simple material and shape… It is just as recorded!"

No one could be sure that such a simple piece of string belonged to the legendary weapon… at least, not with absolute certainty. Compa retrieved the bow grip she had been keeping in her purse. "That's not really enough to know, but if it's true, then the part Mr. Caveman gave us could be real, too..."

The material of the grip matched that of the lower limb the party had retrieved from the crooked merchant, and when combined with the string in Sir Turquoise possession, all that was missing was the upper limb of the bow, "Oh, that's definitely the Wisdom Bow's handle! Now we need the upper limb to complete the bow."

IF knew that the in order to get the lord of the manor to part with the weapon part in his possession, they would need to barter for it. The only surefire way to get the bow string was to promise Sir Turquoise the bow after they had finished using it for their own purposes, "Can we borrow the string? You can have the entire bow after we're finished with it."

Sir Turquoise wasn't about to pass up the offer, not when he stood to gain a complete weapon, "Sure, that sounds like more than a fair exchange. Let me give you sexy things one more tip. Gheytz is said to have earned tremendous assets from his inventions after fighting the goddess. I heard there's a shrine on Leanbox somewhere dedicated to him. I hope that helps you."

The aristocrat's tip sounded like a hint to finding the last part of the Wisdom Bow. At least, that's how IF took it. "I see. You're saying the last part may be there?"

"It's possible, although you'd have to find the shrine first."

As the party traversed the corridors of the manor, Neptune finally opened her mouth to speak, "He totally forgot that Heero was hear again, huh? You'd think he'd have better manners."

Heero wasn't too bothered by it. Rather, he didn't care enough to bring it up to the aristocrat. Right now the Perfect Soldier was more interested in finding the last part of the Wisdom Bow, "His information doesn't really give us much to work with. We need to know where exactly the shrine is if we're going to find the last part."

It wasn't just that the party had to find the shrine, but they needed to find THE shrine dedicated to Gheytz, and Nisa didn't see that being an easy task, "But there's no telling how many shrines there are on Leanbox, and only one of them has it. This could take awhile."

Xxx

Taking a break to contemplate their options, the party stopped at the park in the center of town. While the girls lounged around on the park benches, Heero headed to the nearest vending machine to get a bottle of water.

As he neared the drink dispenser, he noticed a familiar green haired girl. One that was supposed to be on vacation, yet looked as though she was in deep contemplation.

Heero knew that he should really just go about his own business, but had the sneaking suspicion that the Oracle of Leanbox would somehow notice he was there and accost him for not asking her about her problem, if she had one.

Taking a deep mental sigh, the Gundam pilot addressed Chika, "Should you really still be here when you're supposed to be on break?"

Chika was shaken from her thoughts by the boy's words. Looking over her shoulder, the Oracle saw the Perfect Soldier standing behind her, "It's you." Processing Heero's words, Chika furrowed her brow while returning her attention forward. "It's hard for me to relax when I still don't know a thing about the nameless adventurer that's trying to steal Lady Green Heart from me. It's so infuriating!"

They had this talk before, and Heero was sure he had given the Oracle peace of mind by the time he was done, "If this adventurer hasn't come back, then clearly you have nothing to worry about. It was obviously some phase they were going through. Stop dwelling on something that is no longer a problem."

While she wouldn't be able to get over it completely, Chika felt a bit better about her situation, "I suppose your right. It's silly to think about some no one who likely won't be back."

Heero was about to go back to getting his bottled water, when he remembered his encounter with the Kei and how she provided him with important information regarding the Dual Revolver, "Chika, as the Oracle of Leanbox, you have access to information that is generally not available to the public, correct?"

Leanbox's Oracle was momentarily perplexed by the boy's question, but took on a haughty air as she thought about her position within the Basilicom. "Of course. As the Oracle, I must always be prepared so that Lady Green Heart can remain three steps ahead of everyone else."

An Oracle was the perhaps the best source of information on any given landmass, and right now Chika was Heero's best bet on finding the location of Gheytz's shrine, "I'm looking for a shrine dedicated to the hero Gheytz. Do you have any information on where I can find it?"

While it wasn't a question she had expected, Chika did know where to find the shrine the Gundam pilot was looking for, "Gheytz's shrine? As a matter of fact, I do happen to know where it is." Leanbox's Oracle pointed towards the mountain range in the distance. "There is an island on the other side of those mountains. On that island is the shrine you're looking for."

The Gundam pilot lucked out once more. If it weren't for Chika, the party might have been stuck searching blindly, "I appreciate your help."

Chika waved off the boy's thanks, "Consider it my way of saying thanks for helping me with my problem."

Heero took off towards the party to inform them of the location of the shrine, and hopefully the last part of the Wisdom Bow. Just as Chika was about to leave, she found herself facing Leanbox CPU, who seemed surprised to see her, "Chika? What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be on vacation."

The Oracle of Leanbox was elated to see her goddess. Of course, then she was suddenly reminded of the fact that an adventurer was trying to steal the CPU away from her, "I just can't enjoy my vacation when some adventurer I don't know is trying to steal your heart! The thought of being away from you now is just unbearable!"

Lady Green Heart found her thoughts drifting to Heero, who she had just missed by virtue of a tea break, "I just can't help myself. I know that a romance between a human and a goddess is forbidden. But the idea of a forbidden love… it's just so enticing."

Chika could hear her world shattering. The thought of her beloved goddess being tempted into a romance with another was more than a little upsetting. The Oracle was practically seething inside as she shouted to herself in her mind, "(I don't know who this adventurer is, but he'll never take Lady Green Heart from me. Never! She's mine! I was here first!)"

Xxx

Following the lead provided by Chika, the party traveled to one of Leanbox's more obscure islands. Upon their arrival, the first thing they noticed was the thick vegetation that made up most of the island geology. IF waded through the dense growth, trying not to trip over any vines, "What is this place? It's all covered in overgrown plants..."

Compa was too focused on the prospect of finding the ancient hero's shrine to be bothered by the plant life, "We might find Gheytz's shrine up ahead!"

The brunette didn't see it being that easy to find the shrine, especially in a location such as this far away from civilization. "I'm not sure it's supposed to be that easy. We could take a look, I guess. Red, try not to get lost or eat anything questionable."

Red had just picked up a strange mushroom and was about to eat it when IF warned her about eating anything. The red head tossed the questionable fungus aside as she followed after her wifey number one, "You don't have to worry about me. I'll be riiiight behind you all the way."

As the party continued their trek into the dense forest, Compa spotted what looked to be a pixie, or some other kind of monster. Taking a camera out of her purse, the pink haired nurse motioned for Neptune to come over to her, "Nep-Nep, look, a cute monster-wonster! Let's take a funny picture with it!"

The small monster wasn't at all pleased with the nurse in training for encroaching on it's territory, "Wh-What's your deal? Busting in here with that jibber-jabber. This's my territory. Get out! Later!"

Neptune had been really into the idea of taking a funny picture with the monster, when the creature suddenly took, "It's running away! W-Wait, the pictures gonna get all blurry…!"

The purplenette gave chase to the small monster, which garnered Heero attention, "Neptune, now isn't the time for this!"

IF shouted at the party's leader as the Perfect Soldier ran after her, "Nep, what're you doing? Get back here!"

Lyrica couldn't believe that Neptune could cause so much trouble over a single photo, "Is this really even worth it? We're supposed to be looking for the shrine and all."

Even though she understood the cerulean haired girl's complaint, Nisa still urged her to follow after Neptune, "We should follow her as well. It wouldn't do us any favors to get separated here."

The party chased after their leader as she tried to catch up to the small monster. After a few minutes of running, Neptune lost sight of the creature. It was then that the amnesiac noticed that she had ended up in a dilapidated building. Vines were growing along the support beams, the window panes in theback were missing, there were sections missing from the roof, and there was a damaged pipe-organ in the center of the room.

Looking around the building, Neptune couldn't help but think that she had stumbled upon the shrine the party had been looking for, "Huh? Where are… Is this…?"

As the amnesiac took in the surroundings, Heero entered through the front door… which was lying on the ground, "Neptune, you shouldn't run off on your own like that."

Neptune scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "Sorry. I couldn't help it. But I knew you'd come looking for me anyway, so I wasn't worried."

The Gundam pilot looked over the interior of the building for a moment. They didn't have to worry about searching the forest anymore. "I guess it doesn't matter. You're safe, and you may have found what we're looking for."

IF and the rest of the party arrived shortly after Heero, "Wait for us, Nep." The brunette cut herself off when she saw the inside of the building."Whoa!"

Compa tried to catch her breath while addressing her mostly like-minded party leader, "Haaah… A-Are you guys all ri-" Just like the Guild Moderatist, the nurse in training stopped in mid-sentence to marvel at the surroundings. "...Ohhh!"

While it may have been unintentional, the party had found the shrine that were looking for. IF was focused on trying to find the item they needed to complete the Wisdom Bow. "Looks like we found it. Gheytz's shrine." IF's eyes fell on a glass case in the back of the building. "Look, there's a pedestal and glass case in the back."

With their attention fixed on the glass display case, the party approached the back of the building. The item contained was indiscernible due it being hidden in the shadow cast by the wall. Once they were in front of the display case, Neptune could not fight the urge to be the one to open it, "Can I open it? I'm gonna. Here I go. Opening it! Whoa."

A rational person might have been more careful about opening the case in the event that there was some kind of alarm or trap. Instead, nothing happened. Lyrica waited a few seconds before saying anything, "...Is that it?"

IF had gotten worked up when Neptune started building the suspense for opening the case. She was disappointed, yet at the same time satisfied, "...Nothing happened. No alarms or traps… Geez, you're even making me get worked up. Anyway, it's empty."

Compa could see something in the display case that IF missed, "Wait. It's hard to see in the dark, but there it is! The other half of the bow. It fits perfectly with what we've got!"

Heero reached into the case and pulled out the upper limb of the bow. Once he had it in hand, the boy began the process of assembling the bow, "This shouldn't take too long."

IF relieved that the group had found the part and acquired their third weapon, "We did it. That's the complete Gheytz Wisdom Bow. Good looking out, Compa!"

The nurse in training felt slightly bashful IF's praise, but was still able to compliment the brunette herself, "Heehee, you sure pulled your weight too, Iffy!"

Neptune was feeling left out from the way the two girls were praising each other, "What's up with praising Compa? I found this place, y'know? She wouldn't have seen it if I didn't come here to begin with!"

Unlike their leader, the rest of the party couldn't understand why the two girls were praising one another. It's not as if they really did anything. Before long, Heero finished assembling the Wisdom Bow, giving the party their third weapon, "With this, we only need the weapon on Lowee."

Having completed their mission on Leanbox, there was nothing left for the party to do but return to their safe house and wait for the Sky Harbor to connect to Lowee. As the team filed out of the building, Heero stopped Nisa so he could address the matter he had brought up with most of the others, "Nisa, I need to speak with you."

The Keeper of Justice faced the Gundam pilot, curious as to what he wanted, "What can the Keeper of Justice do for you?"

As with the other girls, Heero knew it was better to get right to the point rather than beat around the bush. "I need to know how you feel about what happened on Planeptune. If it affected you in any way, I want to know now."

Nisa hadn't expected Heero to be the one to broach the subject. While it certainly had been concerning that the Perfect Soldier had not trusted the party enough to tell them about the Gundam, Nisa understood his reason for maintaining secrecy. Moreover, she knew what kind of person Heero was, and that there was no cause for concern regarding the Gundam's usage.

After taking a moment to think on it, the Keeper of Justice voiced her thoughts on the matter, "I will admit, it was alarming to see that… Gundam thing for the first time. But I know you're not a bad person. If you were, I don't think we'd be standing here talking about this."

The blue haired heroine wasn't wrong. Heero wasn't one to just pull out his Gundam whenever the urge hit him, not did he have any intent to harm innocent people. "It is important that you remember that, as a party we are all friends working towards the same goal; saving Gamindustri. I understand that you have to keep some secrets, but know that you can tell us… well, anything."

Heero knew that Nisa was right. He shouldn't have to keep secrets from the group. He had been with them long enough after all. Of course, there were still some things he couldn't tell them… at least not yet, "I see. I appreciate your honesty."

Noticing that the others hadn't bothered to stick around, Nisa grew worried that the two might end up stuck on the island until the next day, "We should hurry and catch up to the others. I don't want to spent the night out here."

Having concluded their discussion, Heero and Nisa followed after their party. There were still two other people the Gundam pilot needed to speak to on this matter. He wouldn't feel better until he did.

Xxx

Me: "Finally got this chapter uploaded. Sorry about the wait, we had a lot of crap to deal with."

Heero and Neptune: (Enter ACCC) "I'll say. We really gotta do something about that."

Me: "I think I have a solution. I'm finally gonna take up live streaming!"

Heero: "Are you sure that's a good idea? That generally requires a following of some kind."

Me: "Well, we have our readers. They can help us out in that regard."

Lady Green Heart: (Enters ACCC from Lounge) "I wouldn't mind lending my assistance in this regard."

Neptune: "Lady Green Heart? Why're you here? I didn't see you in the chapter."

Lady Green Heart: "I had a small part this time, and I showed up after Heero left. I can't help but feel like this was done intentionally. I should have more time with Heero, no?"

Me: "Hold your horses, GH. You'll get more time with everyone's favorite soldier boy, just be patient. Anyway, I plan to start live streaming at 11:00...ish on Monday. I hope everyone will support me on Twitch. And before anyone asks in the reviews section, no, I'm not going to stop writing just because I'm going to be live streaming my game play now. I've put too much time into this story to just give up on it."

Neptune: "As long as you keep writing this hot story, I'm sure they'll help you. Heero and I will."

Heero: "Within reason."

Me: "Now then, we need to get to work on the next chapter. Green Heart, we'll let you wrap up this chapter for us."

Lady Green Heart: "Very well. But we do still need to talk about getting more games for the Game Room."

Me, Heero and Neptune: (Leave ACCC through Left Entrance)

Lady Green Heart: "Please read and review this chapter, and look forward to the next update." (Leaves ACCC through Left Entrance)