Me: "Hello one and all. As I mentioned at the end of the last chapter, this is gonna be a bonus chapter. I know we still have a few more story chapters to go through, but I thought it would be nice to take a break from those and put together another of these to mix things up a bit."

Heero and Neptune: (Enter IC from Lounge) "It's been a while since we did one of these. What's the occasion? Christmas is over, and so is new years… another Valentines day special?"

Me: "Nope. Just doing this on a whim. A moment of randomness, if you will."

Neptune: "I'm pretty good at being random. If you need any help, just ask your good buddy Neptune!"

Me: "Not this time. Not when Noire is going to be the focus of the chapter."

Noire: (Enters IC from Lounge) "Hear that, Neptune? You aren't the center of attention this time."

Neptune: "Why does it have to focus on Lonely Heart, here? Can't it be someone else? Like me?"

Me: "Nep, we've been focusing on you a lot these past few chapters. I'm sure there are some people that want me to focus on someone else."

Vert: (Enters IC from Game Room) "Yes, it would be preferable that you focus on someone else. What I want to know is, why is she the focus?"

Blanc: (Enters IC from Lounge) "...Why not consider someone else? I would be a much better choice than her, or any of these bitches, really."

Noire: "Oh, right… One of YOU would be a better choice. Any one of you would be a terrible pick!"

Neptune: "Say's the tsundere! You're just looking for an excuse to get Heero all to yourself, Noirey. Well I won't let you!"

Me: "Before you guys decide to kill each other, can we at least wrap this up? Our readers want to get to the story, not see us waste time with the opening segment. Also, I will have to cut back on the amount of time I spend on writing. I've reached that point where I need a job, and decided it would be better to put my time towards live-streaming so I can work from home."

Neptune: "You can't do that! Heero and I haven't had our totally romantic M Rated scene yet!"

Me: "Well, it's either I cut back on my writing a bit and try to build a following, or I'll have to take a lifeless, soul-sucking job and give up writing entirely. I've invested a lot of time and effort into writing this story, and don't want it to go on hiatus. But at this point, something's gotta give, and it might just be my writing. Nothing is definitive yet, and I just want people to know that I won't be putting out chapters as quickly as I thought I would… for now. Anyway, can we please get back to the part where you read the disclaimer so we can start the chapter? From the top, peeps."

Heero, Neptune, Noire, Blanc, and Vert: "HeeroUzuki does not own Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, Hyperdimension Neptunia, Super Robot Wars, or any work pertaining to any of the franchises."

Me: "We'll get to work on the main story chapters when we can. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy this bonus chapter."

Me, Heero, Neptune, Noire, Blanc, and Vert: (Leave IC)

Bonus Chapter: Author's Moment of Randomness Special! Operation: Neko Noire! Change Noire back to a Human… CPU… Person! (Because Heero is spending way more time with her since she's a cat!)

It was the day after Neptune had succeeded in recruiting Vert into the party. However, the Sky Harbor was not open, and on top of that it was raining. Instead of going straight to Planeptune like they had originally planned, the group was forced to remain in Leanbox.

Neptune was sitting next to one of the living room windows with her arms propped up on the table. A bored expression was plastered across her face as she stared out at the downpour. Compa had been sorting through the medical supplies in her purse when she noticed the party's leader looking out the window.

Hoping the CPU of Planeptune wasn't too discouraged by the weather, the nurse in training tried to console the purple haired girl, "Don't worry, Nep-Nep. I'm sure the rain will stop soon."

The rain wasn't what was bothering the goddess. No, it was something else entirely, "But we should be heading over to Planeptune so we can kick Arfoire's butt. We can't sit around here!"

Compa was humbled by the CPU's response. She had no idea that Neptune felt so strongly about stopping the rogue goddess. Just as the pink haired girl was about to praise the party's leader for her thoughtfulness, Neptune then stated what she believed to be her biggest problem. "And that's not even the worst part. I'm all outta pudding! What am I supposed to eat now?!"

And just like that, the high opinion Compa had of Neptune was gone. The nurse in training still thought highly of Planeptune's CPU, just not as highly as she did a minute ago. Over on the opposite side of the room, Blanc had been invested in her book when Neptune started shouting about her pudding. Looking up, the goddess of Lowee still had a hard time believing that this girl was able to beat her, "...Keep it down over there. Some of us are trying to something productive."

Neptune had an irate expression on her face as she turned her attention to the ivory haired girl, "When Heero gets back, he and I are gonna do something productive! And you'll be totally jealous!"

It was no great mystery trying to figure out what the party's leader was getting at, and it aggravated Lowee's CPU. Before Blanc could go into a tirade over Neptune's claim, Compa began to inquire about the lack of a certain Gundam pilot, "Where exactly did Heero go anyway?"

Planeptune's goddess's never bothered to ask Heero where he was going or what he was going to do. Had she known he was going to be gone for more than thirty minutes, she might have gone with him. "I dunno. All he said was he was going out. I should've gone too! We'd be wet from the rain, then we'd find cover under a tree, and look into each other's eyes… and share another romantic kiss."

Blanc had heard about Neptune's supposed kiss with Heero, and she refused to believe it for two reasons. One, it didn't sound like something Heero would acquiesce to. Second, it would mean Neptune had gotten closer to Heero than she had.

Just then the front door opened and IF, Lyrica, Gust, and Vert walked in. IF and Lyrica had been out grocery shopping, as was apparent by the bags they were carrying. Vert had accompanied them so as to procure some tea, and Gust had went along to replenish her stock of alchemy reagents.

Leanbox's CPU had been carrying an umbrella and was only slightly damp, as was Gust since she had been taking refuge under the goddess's umbrella. IF and Lyrica on the other hand were completely soaked by the rain. The two girls were tracking water into the house from all the water droplets cascading down their hair and clothes.

Lyrica looked quite unhappy as she stood in the doorway with the bag of groceries in her arm, "We're home..."

While the cerulean haired songstress tried to wring out the water in her hair, IF pulled off one of her boots and held it upside-down, allowing the water that had pooled up in it to fall out, "...After that walk in the rain, I could really use a shower."

As the two girls complained about their state of disarray, Gust wore a content look on her face as she cradled a small box in her arms, "Gust managed to get rare potion. Am most happy now."

Vert gave an apologetic bow after looking over the two wet and miserable girls, "I do apologize. It was rather selfish of me to ask that we go out for tea. But I noticed that there wasn't any here, and I thought it would be a nice change of pace for all of you to drink something… civilized."

Shortly after the blonde haired woman mentioned making tea, a voice came from behind her that seemed interested in what she was saying, "Did someone say something about a drink? I'm feeling pretty thirsty right now."

Standing behind the goddess was Red, who had gone off on her own into the rain in search of, as she put it, more wifeys shortly after the four girls had left. Unlike IF and Lyrica, the red head wasn't at all bothered by the fact that she was drenched from the rain water.

Looking around the living room, Compa noticed that aside from Heero, there was still one person unaccounted for, "Where's Nisa? Wasn't she with you?"

IF knew the question was directed at them, since the Keeper of Justice had left the safe house at the same time as they had, "She ran off to do some 'heroic patrolling,' or whatever. I'm not going out looking for her. I've had enough rain for today."

Unlike the nurse in training, Neptune was only concerned about whether or not there was any pudding within the bags the girls brought back. When she was unable to find her dairy treats, the purplenette directed her attention toward the quartet who had just returned, "All right… where are you hiding the goods?"

Lyrica quickly figured out that Neptune was referring to pudding, and she didn't have any good news for the party leader, "Well… we couldn't find any."

The goddess of Planeptune couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had come to the conclusion that they had not looked hard enough, "You obviously weren't trying to look for them! Why do I keep you around, Lyrics?"

No one was sure where Neptune got the idea that she had a specific reason for keeping the underground celebrity. As for IF, she had also tried to look for Neptune's pudding in an effort to avoid something like this happening, but came up with nothing, "We tried looking. If you think you can do better than us, you can go out and look for your pudding, Nep."

Seeing as the girls weren't willing to go back out into the rain, Neptune saw no other choice but to head out herself if she wanted her pudding. Grabbing the umbrella out of Vert's hand, the party's leader stomped out of the safe house while muttering to herself.

Noire emerged from the upstairs bedroom just after the CPU of Planeptune left. Lastation's goddess stopped at the top of the staircase and shouted down at the group of girls on the ground floor, though she wasn't able to raise her voice that much, "Would you guys keep it down? And tell Neptune to shut up!"

Hearing the CPU's voice had Compa worried that she was starting to get sick, "Are you alright, Noire? You sound terrible."

Raising her hand to her throat, the goddess tried to downplay the nurse in training's concern. "I'm fine. I've just got a sore throat, that's all."

Gust was willing to put together a potion to cure the CPU's ailment… for a price, of course, "Gust will make potion for Noire. Will make goddess feel better."

The young alchemist already took off in the direction of the shed where she conducted all of her alchemic experiments. Noire wouldn't come out and say it, but she was appreciative for both the concern and Gust's willingness to make a potion for her, "It's not like I asked for it or anything, but… thanks."

Once she was within the confines of her workplace, the business savvy alchemist went about preparing a potion for Noire. The shed had a rather simplistic set up; one sizable table in the center of the room with various flasks, vials, burners, anything one might need for chemistry, or in Gust's case, alchemy. There were also a few wooden cabinets, a small desk with a few vials full of chemicals, and two windows to allow natural light in.

It took fifteen minutes for Gust to put together the cure for Noire, and the business savvy little girl was mixing together the last of the ingredients needed for the potion into a beaker in the center of her work table. As she let the mixture settle, Gust reached into the pouch of her apron and pulled out the box she had acquired while accompanying IF, Lyrica and Vert with their grocery shopping.

The alchemist was smiling to herself as she opened the box and pulled out a single glass vial full of a black liquid. Gust placed the vial into a test tube rack next to the beaker while thinking about the experiments she would conduct with its contents, "Gust will make many potions with this."

After putting aside her newest ingredient, Gust left the shed to inform Noire that the potions was complete, and to grab a snack. Mere moments after the small girl left her shed, Compa entered the wooden building through the door opposite the one Gust just left through, "Gust? Are you in here?"

The shed itself was small, so Compa didn't have to do much looking around to find that Gust was not in at the moment. As she was about to leave, the pink haired nurse took notice of the beaker on Gust's work table and the vial in the test tube rack next to it. "Maybe Gust went to go get some more ingredients for the potion and forgot to add this one."

Taking it upon herself to help with creating the potion for Lastation's goddess, Compa walked over to the table, took the vial containing the black liquid and poured the entire of it into the beaker. The mixture within the beaker changed to a sickly green color as a result of the new material being added, but Compa assumed that it was supposed to look that way, "The potion should be almost done. Gust can finish it."

With her work done, the nurse in training left Gust's work shed to continue her search for the alchemist. One minute after Compa left, Noire entered the workshop, having been informed by Gust that the potion for her was complete.

The CPU's eyes went straight to the beaker situated on the work table. While the color of the liquid was a bit off-putting, Noire saw no reason to doubt it's effectiveness given that it was made by Gust. Lastation's goddess picked up the beaker with the questionable concoction, brought it to her lips and downed the potion in its entirety.

At first nothing seemed to happen, leaving Noire to believe that the potion didn't work. As the goddess was about to put down the beaker in her hand, she suddenly lost her grip on the glass container. The beaker shattered into several pieces across the ground as Noire started holding herself, her body feeling as though it was burning, "Wh…Why do I feel so hot…? I'm burning up…!"

Noire's eyes snapped shut as she fell to her knees, the burning sensation consuming her senses. The CPU writhed in agony for five minutes, unable to call for help as her voice was seemingly gone. Only once she was no longer in pain did Noire opened her eyes, and when she did, the room seemed…bigger. In fact, everything seemed bigger. "(Why does everything look so big? That potion must have done something to me...)"

As the goddess tried to get her bearings, she backed into the wooden desk behind her. The shock from the motion caused two glass containers full of chemicals to fall to the ground, the mixing of which resulted in an explosion that launched Noire out of the adjacent window and into the rain.

Lastation's CPU landed in a small pool of water just outside of the shed, drenching her in water. Noire shook her head to get some of the water out of her hair, but is was a vain attempt with all of the rain water falling on her, "(This sucks… I'm all wet and probably dirty now! At least my throat isn't bothering me...)"

At the same time Noire was mentally speaking to herself, she heard the mewl of a cat. Looking around for the source, the CPU found her attention shifting to a puddle in front of her. The puddle of rain water reflected a cat with black fur, ruby red eyes, and two ribbons, one tied around it's neck, the other around it's tail.

There were a few blotches of mud on the animal's fur, but nonetheless, Lastation's goddess was captivated with the furry animal before her. "(Aww… what a cute little kitty! What are you doing out here?)"

A soft meow was the cat's response to the goddess, which only left Noire more enamored, "(You're pretty talkative, aren't you? You should come home with me! I doubt anyone in the group will say no to having you.)"

The goddess waited for a moment to see if the cat would respond to her question, but deciding that the animal must have wanted Lastation's CPU to take it, "(Since I didn't hear a no, I'll-)" It wasn't until she started speaking again that Noire realized that not one word of what she said was actually coming out of her mouth. Furthermore, the only thing being reflected off the puddle of water was the cat. She couldn't see her own face being mirrored in the water.

Noire slowly looked down, and where her arms were supposed to be were two furry appendages. The goddess slowly looked over her shoulder and found a long furry body and tail in place of her own. Snapping her attention back to puddle in front of her, Noire made a few faces, to which the reflection of the cat mimicked. It was then that the goddess came to a startling realization. "(That's not a stray cat… That's ME!)"

With the revelation that she was now a cat, Lastation's CPU began to panic. In her anxiety, the goddess-turned-cat ran through the rain and into town instead of trying to get back into the safe house, not knowing that Gust, the person that could conceivably make a potion to return her to normal, had returned to the shed upon hearing the explosion.

The young alchemist looked around the smoke filled room, trying to find the source of the explosion. Although nothing of importance was damaged, it was still alarming that the incident happened in the first place.

Gust soon found the two broken vials on the floor and some of the liquids they held was still dripping from the side of her desk. As she was about to grab a broom to start sweeping up the mess, Gust's attention shifted to the shattered beaker lying on the ground. The alchemist knew it was the one she had used to make the potion for Noire because she had only pulled out one such beaker, "Noire may have accidentally made mess. Wish she would have told Gust instead of running off."

When Gust looked over the table to see if any of her reagents had gone missing, her eyes widened upon seeing the empty vial in the test tube rack. The young business savvy girl pulled the vial out just to be sure that her eyes weren't playing tricks on her. Once she was sure that the vial really was empty, Gust's face paled slightly. "...This is not good."

Xxx

Run… that was all Noire could think to do in that moment. The CPU of Lastation couldn't believe that she had suddenly been turned into a cat, thinking that she was just having a bad dream, "(There's no way this is real! It can't be! This has to be some kind of nightmare!)"

Despite what she wanted to think, the constant downpour that fell on her and slowly dropping temperature only served as a reality check for the goddess. This was not a dream, she really had been turned into a cat. After ten minutes of running through the mostly empty streets of the town, Noire came to a stop.

The CPU was cold, wet and miserable. Try as she might, she could find no way of convincing herself that she was simply dreaming. She had no choice but to accept that she was a cat now... possibly forever. Noire stopped to look at herself in a puddle forming next to the sidewalk. A sorrowful mewl escaped from the goddess as she began to resign herself to her new future as a cat. "(What am I suppose to do now…?)"

As Noire was contemplating what she was to do next, a familiar mass of black and blue walked past her. Nisa was going about her business of looking for townspeople in distress, when she heard the depressed cries of the goddess-turned-cat.

Turning around, the Keeper of Justice looked down at Noire, kneeling down to get a better look at the feline, "What are you doing out in the middle of the rain? Shouldn't you be home with your family?"

Noire looked up at the blue haired heroine. Although she had her doubts, the CPU hoped that she would understand what she was saying, "(Nisa, you gotta help me! I drank a potion that Gust made, and it turned me into a cat!)"

Unfortunately, the only thing that came out of Lastation's CPU was the mewing that came with being a cat. Nisa looked as though she understood what was being said, when in fact, she didn't. The Keeper of Justice stood back up, believing that the cat would return home on her own. "Well, try not to stay out too long. You'll get sick if you do."

The heroine turned on her heels and headed off down the street, leaving Noire to sulk once more. Although she had a feeling Nisa wouldn't understand her, the goddess of Lastation had hoped that by some miracle the self proclaimed heroine would know what she was saying. "(I should have known better than to try. No one can understand me like this...)"

Before she could fall into depression once more, Noire heard footsteps that stopped just behind her. Glancing over her shoulder, the CPU looked to see who it was that was standing behind her.

Xxx

Within the party's safe house, the girls lounged around as they waited for the rest of their group to return. Compa was folding laundry in the living room, IF and Lyrica were sitting next to the fire place with a freshly made fire trying to dry off after their showers, Blanc was sitting in the corner reading a book, and both Red and Vert were seated on the living room couch with small plates and cups of tea in their hands.

Looking out the window, Compa noticed that the rain was starting to come down especially hard. The nurse in training began to grow concerned for the members of the party that weren't there, "Nep-Nep and the others have been gone for a while… I hope their alright."

IF wasn't too concerned, mainly because the members of the party that were out in the rain couldn't really go anywhere. Everyone in the party was too focused on the task of dealing with Arfoire to risk doing anything else, "You worry too much. Heero has enough common sense to not stay out too long, Nep is too stubborn, and Nisa is… well, Nisa."

It wasn't just the three IF had named off, but Noire and Gust as well. "But I haven't seen Gust since she went to make a potion to help Noire. And Noire is gone too."

Much like the brunette, Blanc saw no reason to worry over the absence of the other members of the party, "...So what? Of the people not here, two of them are stubborn assholes, one's a flat-chested heroine, one's a kid with a good head on her shoulders, and one is a badass. There really isn't any reason to worry."

Vert herself was somewhat concerned, just not enough to get up and do something about it, "I understand your concern, but surely they are all responsible enough not to stay outside in this weather for too long."

Before Compa could question the girls on how they could be so calm, the front door of the safe house opened and Heero walked in. The Gundam pilot was soaked, and although he had his jacket with him, Heero was carrying it in his arms.

Being the overly worried member of the party, Compa started questioning the boy as to why he wasn't wearing what was supposed to protect him from the rain, "Heero, why aren't you wearing your jacket? You'll catch a cold in this weather if you don't."

The nurse in training found her attention moving to the denim jacket in Heero's arms when she saw it move on it's own. Heero looked down at the soaking wet jacket that was currently being used by another, "Someone else needed it more than me."

Lifting up on the jacket, the Perfect Soldier revealed the black cat that was Noire. Compa lookedat the soaking wet feline, noticing the blotches of mud and immediately feeling sorry for her. "Aww… poor kitty. How long was it out there in the rain?"

Noire sneezed in response to the nurse in training's question, and Heero provided a verbal answer for the cat. "...Too long."

It wasn't long before the other party members that were present crowded around to see the goddess-turned-cat that Heero brought home with him. IF had been trying to find a collar or some other means of identification, but found nothing of the sort, "Does this cat have a family? I don't see a collar…."

Vert was appalled by the idea that the cat had a family that could just leave it out in the rain, "If it does, they clearly don't care about it. Who could leave a cat outside in the rain? It is utterly appalling."

Although they didn't know the truth, Noire still found it irritating to be referred to as 'it' or 'cat' instead of her name, "(I have a name, you know. You guys could at least call me by it.)"

Believing the black cat to be growing uncomfortable from all the attention, Heero began to head towards the bathroom to handle the process of cleaning Noire, "Since I was the one that brought her back, I'll take care of cleaning the cat."

Compa picked up one of the clean towels sitting on the couch and presented it to the Perfect Soldier, "This just finished drying, so it should be fine for you to use this."

Taking the large piece of cloth, Heero walked towards the upstairs bathroom and shut the door behind him to keep the black cat from running away in case she didn't like getting washed. Setting Noire down on the closed toilet seat, the Gundam pilot turned the handle for the hot water in the bathtub before switching on the shower head.

Noire sat watching the boy as he prepared a shower to clean her. Although she didn't think it was going to do her any good, the goddess tried to communicate with Heero, "(Heero, it's me, Noire! Please tell me you can recognize me!)"

Heero turned his gaze on the black cat mewling at him from the toilet seat. He couldn't explain it, but the Perfect Soldier had a sense familiarity with the four legged animal speaking to him, "...Something about you is familiar. I just can't explain why."

While not quite what she was hoping to hear, Noire saw a glimmer of hope in Heero's words. Once he was satisfied with the water temperature, the Perfect Soldier picked up the black cat and placed her under the running water, making sure to remove the ribbons around her neck and tail before doing so.

The warm shower water was a stark contrast to the cold rain water Noire had been subjected to not long ago. Although the shower was nice, the goddess still had mixed feelings about her situation."(This is nice, but… it still feels strange. I'd ask Gust if she could change me back… But no one can understand what I'm saying.)"

Heero picked up the nearby bottle of shampoo and poured a small amount into his free hand before running it over Noire's back. The CPU unconsciously arched her back as the boy ran his fingers through her fur. While different from how she would normally bathe, Noire quickly got use to it. After all, she wasn't really in a position to give herself a cleaning, so might as well make the most of the situation.

After three minutes of thorough cleaning, the Perfect Soldier finished removing the mud and dirt from Noire's fur coat. Lifting the cat out of the bathtub, Heero set Noire back on the seat of the toilet before beginning to rub down her body with the towel he had received from Compa. Once the Gundam pilot was finished, the goddess shook the remaining droplets of water out of her fur, mildly annoyed that she was still somewhat damp, "(...I still feel wet. This will take some getting use to.)"

As the CPU commented on her high maintenance fur coat, Heero reached over and began to rub behind her ears. Noire recoiled from the sudden physical contact, but soon found it to be a pleasing experience and allowed the boy to continue. "(This feels… kinda nice. No wonder cats like it so much.)"

It wasn't long before the goddess of Lastation began to purr in delight as Heero continued rubbing her ears. The Gundam pilot went from scratching behind Noire's ears to stroking her back, causing the CPU to stretch out her body. Never before had the goddess experienced something so pleasant, and she was unable to do anything but respond in a manner that was compliant with Heero's wishes… not that she would have resisted if she could.

When she could no longer feeling the Perfect Soldier stroking her back, Noire looked up only to feel her heart skip a beat. Heero was smiling at her. The boy rarely ever showed any emotion, choosing to keep up a stoic front. Seeing the boy crack a smile, especially one so gentle and sincere, left Noire at a loss for words.

Just then, there was a low grumbling noise that came from Noire's stomach. Even though it was a natural bodily reaction, the goddess was still embarrassed, "(I forgot I haven't eaten today. Had I known I was going to turn into a cat, I would have grabbed something.)"

Heero grabbed Noire's ribbons and reapplied them to her neck and tail before lifting the goddess-turned-cat into his arms, "Because of Neptune's eating habits, we tend to stock a surplus of food. I'm certain we have something you will eat."

As the CPU lay in the Gundam pilot's arms, she began to have a different outlook on her life as a cat. Specifically, as Heero's cat. "(...I think I could get use to this.)"

Xxx

An hour passed from the time Noire was given her much needed cleaning, and the girls had already taken a liking to the cat. The goddess herself had started to grow accustomed to the increased attention, although she was mildly annoyed by the constant grabbing.

Once she was sure the girls were done trying to pick her up and pet her, Noire took her place on Heero's lap, who was seated on the chair next to the fireplace with a book in hand. After a few minutes, Lyrica realized that without a collar or some other means of ID, the cat had no name, "So… what do we call the cat? We have to give her a name."

Looking over the black cat curled up on Heero's lap, IF tried to think of a discerning feature that would help with the naming process, "...Well, she's intelligent and has black fur… but Black Cat sounds so unoriginal."

Vert tried her hand at coming up with a name for the cat that was Lastation's CPU, "She has red eyes… what about Ruby?"

Noire had started to fall asleep when the girls started brainstorming names, peeling one eye when they started throwing out their suggestions, "(I can't believe they're trying to name me. I've already got one, thank you.)"

While IF had brushed off the idea of calling the Black Cat, Compa thought it was still a good name that just needed some tweaking to work, "Why don't we call her Neko Noire? The name suits her, and I'm sure Noire won't mind."

Lastation's CPU lifted her head upon hearing the nurse in training use her name. Not only was the name rather appealing, the pink haired girl had come close to referring to Noire by her name, which was something… at least to Noire.

Taking his eyes of the book in his hand for a moment, Heero saw the black cat crane her neck to look at Compa when she presented her idea for a name. It was clear that she was interested in the name, "...Compa might be on to something. The cat seems interested."

Seeing that the nurse in training's proposed name had garnered a response from the black cat, the girls took it as a sign that she liked it. Compa walked over and stroked the top of Noire's head while endowing her with the name she came up with. "It's decided then. Your name is Neko Noire from now on. We're happy to have you in the party."

Noire looked away rather bashfully as the girls welcomed their 'new' party member, "(I was already a member of this group, remember? Whatever. You idiots do what you want.)"

Just as the girls were congratulated their newest member on her admission into the party the front door swung open, and both Neptune and Nisa entered the safe house. The party's leader was carrying an umbrella in one hand and a bag in the other, while Nisa was holding her arms and sneezing every now and then.

The Keeper of Justice was starting to have regrets over staying out in the rain as long as she did, especially when there was no one that needed her help on that cold rainy day, "No one needed the assistance of a hero… Maybe I should've stayed home today."

Neptune wasn't exactly concerned with the heroine's state of health, not when she had a bag full of pudding in her arm, "Well, hey, the good news is that I found my pudding."

Nisa failed to see how the 'good news' benefited her. "And how is that good for me?"

"It's more like the good news is meant for me, cuz I love pudding and all."

Hearing the voice of the party's leader, Compa was eager to introduce the newest addition of the party to Planeptune's CPU, "Nep-Nep, we just added a new member to our party. I think you'll really like her!"

Upon hearing the mention of a party member that was a girl, Neptune was immediately skeptical as to whether she would actually get along with this new arrival, as every single girl that joined them was enamored with Heero, "...You went and invited another Heero stealing hussy into the party, didn't you? Alright, let me see her, so I can boot her outta here."

It wasn't as if none of the party members didn't see this coming. Neptune had made it clear throughout their travels that she didn't like the induction of new members if they had a thing for Heero. IF glanced over at the cat curled up on Heero's lap, thinking the purplenette wouldn't have any issues once she saw the new member, "Well, our newest member's on Heero lap. Though, I don't know what kind of competition you'll get out of a cat."

Neptune directed her attention toward the Gundam pilot and saw a ball of black fur sitting on his lap. Setting her bag of pudding down on the living room table, the CPU of Planeptune ran over to inspect the cat that had been admitted into their ranks.

Lifting her head, Noire looked up to see Neptune staring at her. Without warning, the party leader picked up the goddess of Lastation and started hugging her… to the point of squeezing her. "Aww… You are soooo cute! You guys kinda suck when it comes to getting new members, but I'll make an exception for this one!"

Under any other circumstances, Noire might have liked this, were it not for the fact that, one; Neptune was squeezing the life out of her, and two; she had just gotten into a comfortable sleeping position on Heero's lap, "(You just have to find some way to annoy me on a daily basis, don't you?)"

After she was done hugging Noire, Neptune held the black cat out in front of her, seeing nothing wrong with adding the feline to the party, "I don't think I'll have any problems with our newest party member. What's her name, anyway?"

Compa wasn't sure that the party leader would like the name they picked for the cat, given that she didn't think much of the person they based the name off of, "Well, she didn't have a collar, so we named her Neko Noire."

Just as the nurse in training predicted, Neptune didn't like the name the girls chose for Noire, given the facial expression she was making. "What? You guys gave her Tsundere Heart's name? I know you guys suck at picking party members, but you suck at naming, too?"

Red couldn't understand why Neptune had a problem with the name, especially when it fit the black cat so well, "But the name fit's so well! What's the problem?"

"The problem is you named her after a jerk that wants to steal Heero from me! I mean, sure, she's got no chance with my Destined Lover… But you guys named her after a loser!"

With each passing second Noire was growing increasingly annoyed with Neptune. The CPU of Planeptune was bashing her, and saying she was a loser. Not to mention saying that the CPU of Lastation had no chance of winning the Perfect Soldier's affections, "(Loser?! I'll show you who's a loser!)"

The black cat bit Neptune's finger, causing the goddess of Planeptune to recoil from the sudden sharp pain. As soon as she was free, Noire extended her claws and immediately proceeded to scratch Neptune's face repeatedly.

Neptune fell to the floor and began to roll from side to side while covering her face with her hands, "Oww! That little monster just scratched up my face!"

Blanc looked down at the fallen CPU as Noire sat on the floor just in front of her, "...You obviously did something to piss that cat off."

After observing her handiwork for a moment, Neko Noire leapt back onto Heero's lap. Lastation CPU was quite content with how she marred Neptune's face, "(Now who's the loser? Don't think I won't do that again, either.)"

Once the pain in her face began to die down, Neptune stood back up and began to cast an angry look at the black cat on her lover's lap, "You miserable little furball! Don't think you can hide behind my lover!"

As the party leader began to advance toward Noire, Heero set his book down on the stand next to him and directed his attention toward the angry purplenette, "Neptune, I won't let you hurt this cat just because you did something to irritate her."

Neptune couldn't believe that the Gundam pilot was willing to side with the cat he had just met that day than with her, his party leader and Destined Lover. "Why are you siding with that flea magnet? You're supposed to take my side, Heero!"

Whereas Neptune was surprised by Heero's decision to protect the black cat, Vert found it deplorable that the CPU of Planeptune would actually consider hurting an animal that may have been abandoned by it's family, "What I want to know is why you feel the need to harm little Neko Noire. She was left all alone outside, possibly abandoned… and you would threaten her with violence? I am appalled you would consider such a thing."

It was quickly becoming clear that the rest of the party disproved of Neptune's disposition toward Neko Noire. Seeing that no one, not even Heero was going to tolerate any of her threats toward the cat, Neptune was forced to relent.

Heero began to stand up, prompting the black cat to remove herself from his lap, "I have something I need to take care of before we leave tomorrow."

The Perfect Soldier crossed the living room and headed up the stairs to where his room was located with Neko Noire following close behind. Compa was slightly jealous, but it was Heero that she was jealous of, "Neko Noire really likes Heero. She follows him everywhere. I wish she would follow me around, too."

IF herself was jealous as well. It was rare to find such an intelligent cat, and she was clearly attached to Heero, "I wouldn't mind keeping around a pet as smart as her… I just wish she would spend some time with the rest of us."

She wasn't sure why, but Neptune felt sick just listening to the girls gush over the black cat they had added to their group. As soon as Neko Noire reached the top of the stairs, she turned and stuck her tongue out at Neptune, which didn't go unnoticed by the CPU of Planeptune, "Hey, that little furball just stuck her tongue out at me! She's totally making fun of me!"

None of the others saw anything and just assumed the party leader was being paranoid… or looking for an excuse to get violent with the black cat. Blanc wanted some semblance of peace and quiet so she could read, and wanted Neptune to keep her mouth shut, "…You're paranoid. That cat obviously isn't going to do anything unless you piss her off. Just leave her alone, and leave us out of your nonsense."

Upstairs in the second floor hallway, Noire was trotting along behind Heero with a content look on her face. Never before had she been so happy to deliver a much deserved thrashing to Neptune, and better yet, the CPU of Planeptune couldn't do anything about it, "(I can't believe how easy it was to get away with that! I scratched up Neptune's face, and she couldn't do a damn thing about it!)"

As she replayed the event that had just transpired in her mind, Noire couldn't help but remember how Heero stood up for her, and it made Lastation's CPU weak in the knees. "(Seeing Heero stick up for me… Even if it was a nuisance like Neptune, it was rather nice.)"

Noire had only been a cat for around an hour and a half, and she was finding her new life to be rather fulfilling. Sure, she hadn't been a cat for long, but in her mind it was already shaping up to be rather pleasant.

While the goddess of Lastation was lost in her own world, the door to the girl's room opened and Histoire came floating out into the hallway. Judging from how groggy the fairy-like girl was, she had just woken from a nap. Histoire rubbed her eyes for a moment before greeting the Gundam pilot, "Good morning, Heero. Is there some reason Neptune is being louder than usual? ( ゚д゚) "

Obviously, Neptune's loud voice was what caused Histoire to wake up, and the reason for her outburst was right next to him, "Neptune doesn't exact like this cat for a rather arbitrary reason."

The Tome of the Goddesses looked down at Neko Noire. She couldn't place her finger on it, but the small girl felt a sense of familiarity from the black cat. "I get the feeling we have met before. Where did you find this cat?"

"Outside. She didn't have a collar when I found her, so I couldn't tell you if she has a family or not. Even if she did, I'm more inclined to just say she's mine and keep her than see her returned."

Noire became flustered upon hearing the Gundam pilot say that she was 'his.' It was one thing for her to imagine it, but to hear Heero actually say it was making her somewhat timid, "(W-Why would you say that out loud?! And you said it so calmly… Jeez...)"

Histoire watched as Noire, without even thinking about it, started rubbing up against the boy's leg. It was certainly an adorable display of affection, and one that gave the tome reason not to deny Heero. If he was willing to look after her, the Perfect Soldier could keep the black cat, "You seem quite determined to keep her. As long as you are willing to handle the responsibility, I see reason why you can't keep her."

Even if anyone objected, Heero still would have kept the cat. Having the approval of most of the party just meant he didn't have to worry about hiding Neko Noire. The Gundam pilot retreated into his room with the black cat following right behind him, and Histoire was left to ponder as to why she felt as though she knew the feline, "I can't shake this feeling that I know that cat. But from where? (・_・ヾ "

Inside his room, Heero stood at the table across from his bed and booted up his laptop. While the party had no way of knowing how long they had before Arfoire went through with her plan, Heero used the increasing monster attacks as something of a scale for the severity of their situation. So far, the attacks hadn't been too much for each landmasses defense forces, but that would only last for so long. Unless the party did something, Arfoire could churn out more monsters and compromise the defenses of one of the four lands.

As the Gundam pilot scanned over the news, Noire leapt up onto the table to view the screen. While the party was supposed to be concerned with Gamindustri as a whole, the CPU was mainly worried about Lastation, "(Hopefully Lastation doesn't have an increase in monster attacks. Even if I wasn't a cat now, there's nothing I could do about it from here.)"

The CPU was so focused on reading the news that she failed to notice Heero reach over towards her until he was already rubbing her ears, as which point Noire was putty in his hand. With her body being constantly rocked by the pleasant sensation, Lastation's goddess began to lie on her stomach and began to sink into what she considered absolute bliss. "(...Maybe I shouldn't be reading such depressing news right now. Worrying about it isn't going to do me any good.)"

While rubbing the black cat's ears, Heero himself started to feel more relaxed. Having a cat around could prove to be therapeutic for the Gundam pilot. Closing his laptop, the Perfect Soldier stroked Noire's back with one hand, and scratched her chin with the other.

Noire quickly lost herself as the Perfect Soldier ran his hands over her body, showing a lax, sloppy look as she seemingly melted into the table. The goddess's purring grew louder, and she began to question whether or not she would change back to her human form if given the chance, "(This is the life… I was unsure at first, but being a cat has it's perks. I don't have to help Neptune, everybody is nice and wants to be my friend… for the most part. And Heero feeds and takes care of me. Maybe I should just stay like this.)"

Heero watched the black cat as she stretched out across the table. The Gundam pilot was starting to get caught up with pampering the party's newest addition, and worried that if he didn't stop, he wouldn't be able to attend to the small matter he wanted to deal with, "I should go now before I get too invested to do anything."

After playing with his new cat for a few minutes, Heero walked out of his room with the intent to go to the store and buy parts for a project he had been working on. After making it back down to the first floor of the house, Heero grabbed his jacket which he had left on the back of the couch, and headed towards the door.

The moment Heero's hand touched the doorknob, he heard the mewling of the party's cat behind him. Neko Noire was sitting on the floor behind him, looking up at the boy as if she was expecting to go with him. The Perfect Soldier took his hand off the door and stroked the top of Noire's head, not wanting her to go back out into the rain. "You should stay here. Don't worry, I won't be gone long."

Once he gave the black cat his assurance he wouldn't be gone for an extended period of time, Heero opened the door and left the safe house. Vert, who was still indulging herself in tea, looked up to find Neptune casting an angry expression at the front door. The only person Leanbox's goddess could think of that Neptune would be mad with in that moment would be Heero, "What's this? Are you upset with Heero?"

Neptune folded her arms over her chest as she began to vent her frustration, "You bet I am! He's been paying way more attention to that cat than he has to me. I'm his Destined Lover! He's supposed to be thinking of me!"

Looking over her shoulder, Noire frowned at the irate CPU of Planeptune, "(Shut your fat face, Neptune. Just because your not the center of attention is no reason to bitch.)"

Compa knelt down next to Noire and began to per her head while defending Heero's decision to spend time with the black cat, "I'm sure Heero is just worried about Neko Noire. She was out in the rain all alone. It would be terrible if she were to get sick."

The party's leader let out a huff while mumbling to herself, "He should've just left her out there..."

As the CPU of Planeptune continued to fume over what she felt was neglect on Heero's part, Compa focused her attention on the black cat sitting in front of the door, "You must be really worried about Heero. He'll be back soon."

Noire immediately looked away while trying to shoot down the idea that she was worried about the boy, "(W-Who said I was worried? I'm just concerned that he's going to get himself sick. I'm not worried. Not even a little.)"

With her small stature and lack of opposable thumbs, Noire wasn't going to be opening the door any time soon. Seeing as she had nothing else to do, the goddess-turned-cat decided to make herself comfortable on the couch until Heero returned.

Glancing at the cat next to her, Vert picked up the teapot and a spare teacup on the table. After filling the it with tea, Leanbox's goddess placed the teacup before Noire before taking another sip from her own cup, "I brewed this tea myself. I'm certain you will like it."

Looking at the cup full of tea, Noire was skeptical of the sudden display of generosity from Vert. Stopping to realize that the CPU of Leanbox couldn't recognize her because she was a cat, Noire decided to partake of the beverage in front of her.

The goddess of Lastation was forced to use her tongue to lap up the tea, bemoaning the fact she couldn't pick up the teacup like a normal person, "(This sucks… I'm supposed to be a goddess, but here I am, having to lick this stuff like… like an animal!)"

As much as she was complaining to herself, Noire found her tirade to be short lived as the taste of the tea subdued her. The goddess may not have been a stranger when it came to tea and teatime, she had never tasted anything quite like what had been placed before her.

Vert had set her tea down to observe the black cat. The CPU was slightly worried as to whether or not Neko Noire would like her tea, but upon seeing the wonder in the cat's eyes the CPU's unease was put to rest. "I said you would like it. It's good to know that you are both intelligent and sophisticated."

Noire continued to stare at the tea for a moment before trying to pass it off as nothing special, even if the others still couldn't understand what she was saying, "(It's not that great… But I'll admit, it's pretty good. I could still make tea that tastes better.)"

The black cat suddenly felt something fall onto the seat next to her. Looking over to her left, Noire found Blanc with her nose stuck in her book. The only thing that changed about Lowee's goddess was where she was sitting and nothing else.

Even though it looked as though Blanc was completely invested in her book, she did break away from what she was reading to look at Noire, "...Did you want to read this book too?"

Lastation's goddess had never really paid much attention to what it was the ivory haired girl had been reading, so seeing the book 'Writer's Guide to Writing a Best Seller' up close did give her cause to have some interest. Taking a look at the page the CPU was on, Noire subconsciously began to read the part that caught her eye. "(A romance story can be easy or difficult depending on your mindset, and whether or not you have experienced love. Having an idea as to what kind of people are involved and the dynamic of the romance itself is key to writing this genre.)"

Blanc, who was normally impassive about anything and everything, cracked a smile as she read the same section. "I already have an idea for a romance story. Once this mess with Arfoire is over, I'll have all the time I need to write it."

Hearing her rival talk about writing a romance story naturally led Vert to believe that the story would revolve around herself and Heero, "You can't have Heero in reality, so you have to write a fictional story in which you somehow win his affection. How sad."

Lowee's goddess began to glare at the CPU of Leanbox, her good mood quickly dissipating after the remark, "You make it sound as though Heero is into you when he's clearly not."

Before Vert could retort, Neptune jumped into the conversation and denounced both of the goddesses, "Heero's not into either of you! He's only got eyes for me, cuz we're Destined Lovers!"

IF, Lyrica and Red were seated at the kitchen table when the three goddesses began to argue over the topic of Heero. Lyrica watched the trio for a moment before turning her attention to the Guild Moderatist next to her, "Should we stop them? They could start a fight if they go on long enough."

The brunette took her eyes off her phone to observe the arguing goddesses before returning her attention the device in her hand, "If it looks like they'll get violent, we'll stop them. Until then, I'd rather not get involved."

Red marveled at the effectiveness of Heero's charisma that seemed to influence the CPUs even though he wasn't there, "They're fighting over him even though he's not here. My one and only hubby's charisma really is strong."

Nisa and Histoire came down the second floor stairs as the discussion began to get heated. The Keeper of Justice rubbed the side of her face with the towel around her neck while addressing the goddesses, "What are you guys arguing about this time?"

Neptune, being Neptune, began to complain about the how the two CPUs in front of her were trying to steal Heero from her, "Blanc and Vert are talking about stealing Heero from me!"

Obviously, Blanc wasn't going to let the lie pass, and started reprimanding the party leader and Vert, "No I wasn't, dipshit. I was talking about writing a story, and Thunder Tits over here had to run her mouth."

The goddess of Leanbox failed to see how she was at fault, when in her mind Blanc was chasing a pipe dream, "I'm only speaking the truth. With your lack of physical appeal, you couldn't hope to have a deep and meaningful relationship with Heero."

'Lack of physical appeal' was just Vert's way of saying Blanc had no chest, a topic that was off-limits to anyone. Lowee's CPU began to direct her hate towards Vert as she began to reach the limits of her tolerance, "You wanna die, bitch? I'll be more than happy to send you to hell."

Not wanting to risk the house getting destroyed, Histoire played the mediator and worked to dissolve the tension in the room, "Please. There is no reason for any of you to fight. If you are curious as to where Heero's affection lie, shouldn't you ask him?" The Tome of the Goddesses then directed her attention toward Noire, who the trio had started to ignore once their argument started. "And if you really want to get his attention, you could look after Heero's cat. Surely that will improve his opinion of you. ( ゚▽゚)/"

It was a simple idea, and one none of the three CPUs had considered. Noire unconsciously took a step back as soon as the trio fixed their attention on her, "(Wh-What are you three looking at?!)"

From Noire's perspective, Neptune, Blanc and Vert were eying her as though she were a piece of meat. Naturally, they weren't going to do anything heinous to her, but the CPU of Lastation still didn't feel comfortable with the other goddesses around.

Before the goddess-turned-cat could make a run for it, Neptune grabbed her and began to cradle the black cat in her arms, "I already know Heero loves me more than anybody else, but it never hurts to score some extra points. If you promise to be good, I'll be super nice to you, okay?"

Blanc swiped the cat away from Planeptune's CPU with the intent of using the cat to get closer to Heero like the other two goddesses, "...If you're not willing to be nice to the cat regardless, you shouldn't be the one to look after her. Besides, why should someone irresponsible like you look after an animal?"

Just as Lowee's CPU had finished criticizing Neptune, Vert took Noire away from her while stating her intent to look after the black cat until Heero's return, "You are just as irresponsible as she is. It is clear that I am the only one here that is mature enough to safely look after Neko Noire."

Noire didn't like the way how she was being handled by the trio her and started squirming until she finally escaped from Vert. Turning her attention to the three CPUs, the black cat began to growl while voicing her discontent for them… even though they still couldn't understand her, "(You idiots are out of your minds! The only one that I want taking care of me is Heero!)"

Planeptune's CPU watched the black cat as she hissed and growled at them before looking at Blanc and Vert with an angry expression, "Thanks a lot, you jerks! I just know I'm gonna lose points with Heero for this!

Once more, the CPUs began to argue amongst themselves following Neptune's provocation. Compa scooped up Noire and began stroking the top of her head, "Neko Noire probably wants Heero to take care of her. Not that I blame her. If I were a cat, I would want Heero to take care of me, too."

Just then, the front door swung open and Gust walked into the safe house. The young alchemist wore a disheartened expression on her face as she closed her umbrella, clearly upset over something, "Gust may be in trouble..."

Compa set Noire back down on the couch before addressing Gust, wanting to know what it was that had her upset. "What's wrong, Gust? You normally only look that sad when you can't get the ingredients you want."

The bunny cap wearing girl looked up at the nurse in training, trying to to force a smile so the pink haired girl wouldn't worry. "Gust might have made mistake. Trying to fix problem, but not having much luck."

Although she had no idea what Gust could have done wrong, Compa was certain that not only was it not as bad as she thought, but because the alchemist made the potion for Noire she shouldn't feel bad about one mistake, "Don't feel bad Gust. I'm sure you'll fix it. And besides, you made that potion for Noire, so one slip up should be fine. I'm happy to say that I helped make it."

Naturally, Gust was curious as to how Compa assisted in the creation of the potion for Noire. It wasn't a complicated potion, and it didn't take long to mix the ingredients together, either, "Potion was complete when Gust left work shed. How did Compa help?"

Now it was Compa's turn to show some curiosity. When she had entered Gust's work shed earlier, she had been under the impression that the potion she found on the table wasn't finished, "Well, there was a small vial next to the potion for Noire. I thought it was one of the ingredients."

Gust had been wondering why her new experimental ingredient was already gone, and the nurse in training's confession answered the question. It also caused the young alchemist to raise her voice at Compa. "Why would Compa do that?! Chemical N is not standard ingredient in any potion!"

It wasn't normal to hear the young girl shout, so it drew the attention of everyone in the safe house, including Noire. As soon as she saw the black cat on the couch, Gust somehow knew she was looking at Lastation's CPU. The alchemist walked towards the goddess-turned-cat while reaching into her pouch, pulling out a vial containing an aquamarine liquid with the intent of using it on her, "Noire, please hold still. Potion will return you to normal."

Had Gust approached the CPU of Lastation with the potion earlier, she would have jumped on the opportunity to change back in a second. Now, however, Noire was rather unwilling to drink the potion and become human again.

The black cat took a few steps back while growling at the alchemist, "(I'm not changing back, so you keep that thing away from me!)"

With it becoming apparent that Noire wasn't going to consume the potion willingly, Gust saw no other option than to force the black cat to drink the potion. Gust lunged at the goddess in an attempt to catch her, only to have the CPU slip under her and bolt up the stairs to the second floor.

Gust stood up in time to see Noire duck into the upstairs hallway, dismayed that she had been unable to apprehend the goddess. As the young girl checked the vial to make sure it wasn't damaged in any way, Vert began to inquire about her sudden action towards the black cat, "Gust, is there some reason you're chasing our newest party member? Heero will be quite upset if you do anything to harm her."

It was certainly out of character for Gust from their perspective, but the girls didn't know that the alchemist had a legitimate, and very much time sensitive reason for trying to grab the cat, "Compa added Chemical N to healing potion for Noire, creating Neko-Neko Potion. It is potion that turns people into cats. Gust believes that cat is actually Noire."

The room fell into silence as the members of the party that were present tried to process what the young girl had told them. At first they had trouble believing it, the idea that a person could be turned into a cat was rather absurd. But the more they thought about the matter, the more they realized that Gust tended to keep reagents that allowed her to make crazy, and otherwise outlandish concoctions in addition to the normal potions she conjured up. If Compa, well meaning and scatterbrained as she was, had access to the reagents, it wouldn't have been much of a stretch to believe a potion capable of turning people into cats could be synthesized.

Blanc was still having some trouble wrapping her mind around the concept of a potion that could change a person, or in this case, a goddess into a cat. To her, it sounded like something that came out of a cliche romantic comedy, "...I hear what she's saying, but it's still a little hard to believe."

It wasn't just Blanc, but Vert as well that was having a hard time coming to grips with the idea that the intelligent and sophisticated animal she had shared her tea with was in fact one of her rivals, "I must agree with you. To think that adorable cat is actually my greatest rival for Heero's attention. It's a bit difficult for me to take in."

Unlike the goddesses of Lowee and Leanbox, Neptune didn't take much to convince. In fact, she found it to be a rather logical explanation for the black cat's demeanor towards her. Not only that, but the CPU of Planeptune started speculating that Noire was taking advantage of the situation to get closer to the party's lone male member, "No wonder that cat was such a jerk! Any other cat wouldlove me! I just know Noire is totally taking advantage of being a cat to get closer to Heero!"

The more she thought about Noire using her current situation to her advantage, the more Neptune realized that the party would need to work together in order to turn the CPU of Lastation back to normal. "Everybody, gather around! We need to plan how we're gonna catch Tsundere Heart!"

The girls exchange glances with one another before seating themselves in the living room. Each of them had a feeling they knew where the purplenette was going with this, but still deemed it necessary to see it for themselves.

Once the other members of the group that were in attendance had congregated in the 'meeting room,' Neptune walked over to the fireplace and pulled down on a cord that was dangling from the ceiling, causing a blackboard to descend from the ceiling.

On the pure white board there was a blueprint of the safe house, a picture of Noire as a cat, and a second picture of the potion Gust made to reverse the effects of the Neko-Neko Potion. How Neptune had gotten ahold of all of these things before they were made aware of what was going on was anyone's guess. What made it more baffling was that the CPU of Planeptune had this stuff was that aside from going out to get her pudding, Neptune hadn't really done anything the entire day.

Try as she might, IF couldn't help but ask where the party leader acquired what the rest of them were seeing, "I realize this is a stupid question, but I'm gonna ask anyway. Where did you get all this stuff?"

Neptune pulled a laser pointer out of her hoodie pocket while answering the question from the Guild Moderatist, "I've got people. And by that, I mean I can get the author to set this up for me. When it's a bonus chapter, anyway."

Blanc had suspected that Neptune simply made someone else handle the work, this was just the prove, "...Figures. You just made someone else do the work for you. And here I thought you actually did something productive."

Not wanting to waste time bantering with Lowee's CPU, the party's leader went right into planning how the group of girls was going to catch Lastation's CPU. "Alright ladies, as we all know, Noire drank a crazy potion that turns people into cats because of Compa, and now she's working her new charm to woo Heero. By the way, I'm totally blaming you if Heero stops loving me."

Compa couldn't believe that Neptune was willing to blame her over a potential loss of affection from Heero because of an honest accident, "How can you blame me for this? I didn't mean for any of this to happen!"

Ignoring the nurse in training, the CPU of Planeptune continued to go into the details of the situation, "If we're gonna change Noire back, we gotta make her drink that new potion Gust has. Now, Noirey is super crafty and small right now. Nabbing her ain't gonna be easy."

Everyone in the room already knew that grabbing the CPU wasn't going to be easy. As if it there task wasn't difficult enough, Gust had something else to add to the group's 'dilemma,' "Noire must drink Cure-All Potion as soon as possible. If she remains as cat for too long, Gust cannot guarantee potion will change Noire back."

In addition to their target being quite wily, the girls were facing a time limit. With the prospect of Lastation's goddess remaining a cat forever, Lyrica questioned whether or not Neptune had come up with a plan to help aid in Noire's capture, "Have you come up with a plan? I know with weird stuff like this you normally come up with something, so I had to ask."

Unfortunately, what ideas the goddess had come up with went out the window. Each plan she came up with in her head just didn't seem to work out, leaving them with no other option but to simply catch the CPU, "I got nothing. It's not like I didn't try to think of something, my plans just aren't gonna work this time."

They were flying by the seat of their pants. That's basically what their leader was telling them. It was far from ideal, but the girls were trying to catch a cat that was anything but ordinary, so it wasn't as if they could actually come up with a plan that wouldn't fall apart.

As the others tried in vain to come up with a plan, Neptune began talking to herself, though she was speaking just loud enough that the others in the room could hear here. "I'll show you Tsundere Heart… Even if you turn into a cute and cuddly cat, you won't steal Heero from me!"

Nisa had been under the impression that Neptune trying to help Noire because she actually cared about herfellow CPU, so while it wasn't completely unexpected, it was still a little jarring to hear the party leader state her real intention for trying to change Noire back into her human form, "You're… not doing this out of the goodness of your heart are you?"

Neptune focused on the Keeper of Justice, looking at her as though she asked a stupid question, "Hell no! Since Noire turned into a cat, she's been sucking up all of Heero's love and attention, leaving none for me! I'm gonna knock her down a peg and remind her who Heero's lover really is!"

From Histoire's point of view, it seemed as though the goddess of Planeptune was looking to brutalize Noire once she was changed back to normal, "Please refrain from being too violent, Neptune. It won't do you any good to harm anyone that is trying to help you stop Arfoire."

Were it not for the fact that Noire was necessary for the party to defeat the rogue goddess, the purplenette might not have even bothered to help resolve the CPU's problem. Neptune pointed towards the stairs leading toward the second floor while reciting the name of the 'operation' the girls were going to undertake. "Commence Operation: Neko Noire! Change Noire back to a Human… CPU… Person! Don't judge me on the name, just catch her so we can make Noire take her medicine."

Although they didn't have an actual plan, the party resolved to capture Lastation's CPU and return her to normal. The girls made their way upstairs to find Noire, and found her in the very first place they looked; Heero's room.

When they found the black cat, she had obviously been expecting them to come after her given that she had been watching the door. Noire began to let out a low sounding growl as the collection of girls filed into the room.

Neptune took one step toward the black cat while stating the group's intent to administer Gust's Cure-All Potion, "Listen up, Noire! You're gonna drink this potion whether you wanna or not!"

A hiss was Noire's response to the purple haired girl. Compa tried her hand at persuading the goddess of Lastation, trying to dissolve any feelings of hostility brought about by Neptune, "Noire, we aren't going to hurt you. We just want to help."

The CPU of Lastation wasn't about to let them change her back when being a cat allowed her to get closer to the Gundam pilot than she would have gotten otherwise, "(Well, I don't want your help! You're not gonna change me back!)"

Even though they still couldn't understand her, the girls could guess that Noire had no intention of taking the Cure-All Potion willingly. The group of girls slowly converged on the goddess-turned-cat, eventually surrounding her.

Noire's eyes shifted from side to side, scanning all of the girls as they prepared to make their move. Neptune's abrupt shouting was the only indication of what the girls were doing, "Get her!"

All of the girls leapt at Noire simultaneously, forming one large pile in the middle of the room. Neptune had ended up on the bottom of the large mound of girls, and her arms were pinned to the floor by the weight of the others. Seeing that she had been unable to grab the black cat, the party's leader hoped one of the others had better luck in their endeavor, "Did one of you guys catch her?"

Red looked around for any sign of Noire, seeing as she had been unable to catch her, "Nope. And I don't see her."

Nisa was concerned that the girls had all landed on top of Lastation's goddess and were crushing her, "She isn't underneath us, is she? We might be crushing her!"

Before Neptune could tell any of the girls to get up, a black mass of fur appeared right in front of her. Looking up, the party's leader found Noire sitting in front of her. The black cat had slipped out from under the girls at the last possible moment before they eventually piled up on the floor.

Raising her front paws, Noire extended her claws while smirking at the defenseless Neptune. The CPU of Planeptune struggled in vain to free her arms, but it was all for naught as Noire viciously clawed at her face. It went without saying that Neptune didn't like her situation at all, shouting for the others to get off her so she could get away from the black cat, "Oww! Ow! Owww! She's clawing me! Hurry up and get off me guys! Get off! Get off! GET OFF!"

IF tried to get up, but found there was too much weight on her to move. Looking over her shoulder, the brunette started complaining to the first person she saw, "Compa, is it just me, or are you putting on weight?!"

The nurse in training didn't like IF's insinuation that she had gained weight. Compa had been carefully managing her diet, and was under the belief that the Guild Moderatist had just gotten weak, "That's really mean, IF. I haven't gained any weight. Maybe you just haven't been exercising like you should."

While Compa and IF were arguing, Blanc was shouting at Vert over the same issue, "Dammit, Thunder Tits, you weigh a ton! Get off me!"

Vert found the gross exaggeration of her weight to be highly offensive and admonished Lowee's CPU for her rude comment, "How rude! I will have you know that I weigh exactly as much as a goddess should. I find your ignorance of the matter quite unbecoming."

Noire had been given thirty seconds to scratch up Neptune's face before the girls finally began to stand up. Once it became clear she wouldn't be able to claw at the party leader with impunity anymore, the black cat darted out of the room.

All of the girls stood back up with Neptune covering her face with her hands. When she moved them out of the way, the others in the room winced upon seeing her face, which had been heavily marred, "That little jerk scratched up my face again!"

Neptune was too angry to feel much pain. The CPU of Planeptune ran out of the room to find the black cat, her every thought focused on changing Noire back to normal so she could inflict some retribution on Lastation's goddess. "Get back here, you little furball!"

The outcome they ended up with was to be expected. No one had come up with an actual plan to catch Noire, other than to… just catch her. Their failure wasn't exactly a surprise. What was surprising was how quickly Neptune was willing to throw herself back into the task of apprehending Noire without coming up with a plan after their failed attempt.

Lyrica wasn't convinced that Neptune knew what she was doing, but that was a sentiment that was shared amongst the party most of the time, "Should we stop her? I'm worried she's going to get scratched up again."

While she could understand the concern, IF didn't think the party's leader would find Noire so quickly, "C'mon, Noire just ran out of the room. I doubt Nep is going to-"

The brunette was cut short by the sounds of Neptune screaming from the first floor of the safe house, followed by 'Stop scratching my face!' Within mere seconds of trying to brush aside the songstress's doubts, IF found herself being contradicted by the CPU of Planeptune. "...Way to prove me wrong, Nep."

Histoire, who had been waiting outside the room when the girls made their first attempt, peeked in to see whether or not they were going to help their struggling leader, "Shouldn't you go and help Neptune? I imagine her face can't take too much punishment from Noire."

When the girls arrived back down stairs, they found their leader lying on the ground with more scratch marks on her face. Neptune sat back up while looking at the others angrily, "Where were you guys?! I was down here trying to catch Noire by myself, and you guys were sittin' around doing nothing!"

Blanc didn't see how they were at fault when it was Neptune that made the decision to run after Lastation's CPU without waiting on them, "...It's your own fault, dumbass. You should have waited for us."

It was painfully clear to Histoire that the girls needed to come up with an actual plan in order to capture Noire and avoid further injury, at least to Neptune's face, "Perhaps it would be best to take a moment and strategize. As durable as she is, I don't think Neptune wants to get scratched anymore. (((╹д╹;)))"

Neptune didn't want to sit and plan. Not when her face had already been assaulted twice. She was determined to use any means necessary to catch Noire… and unwilling to listen to reason, "No time! We gotta catch her, and we gotta do it now!"

There was no convincing the goddess of Planeptune that she was getting herself into trouble.

For thirty minutes the girls tried to catch the black cat that was Lastation's CPU and their party member, Noire. They tried using a net, an animal cage, tranquilizers, all of which had been procured by Neptune through unknown means. And for thirty minutes, the party experienced nothing but failure in their endeavors.

Each attempt the group of girls made ended in disaster, with their tools being used against them. Compa and Vert were trapped in the net they were using, IF and Blanc wound up stuck in the animal cage, and the trio of Lyrica, Gust and Red were the unfortunate victims of the tranquilizers. To make matters worse, each failure ended with Neptune getting scratched by Noire.

By the end of their failed attempts only Neptune, Gust and Histoire remained. The CPU of Planeptune was covering her face with a damp washcloth, trying to sooth the numerous scratch marks on her face. Histoire knew that the CPU was in pain, but still felt it necessary to ask if she was feeling well enough to continue with their attempts of catching Noire, "Neptune… are you feeling all right? If you're not well, you can take a break."

Neptune removed the cloth from her face to reveal her face that was seemingly covered with scratch marks. The purplenette was smiling, but there was no joy behind her smile. Just animosity toward the one responsible for repeatedly scratching her face, "Look at this face, Histy. I'm totally fine."

Both Gust and Histoire were scared by the sight of Neptune's face, and the cold, monotone voice she was using. Just then, Noire walked into view of the three girls, and just as quickly Neptune felt her anger coming back. "There you are, you little menace!"

Despite the fact that most of the other party members were incapacitated, Neptune was still trying to catch her. Noire was getting fed up with the purplenette's unwillingness to give up, "(Have I not scratched your face enough times? I've already told! I'm not turning back!)"

The front door of the safe house opened, and Heero walked in with a plastic bag in one hand, and one of the party's umbrellas in the other. As soon as she saw the Gundam pilot, Noire hid behind the boy while Neptune kept charging at her, "You won't get away this time!"

Heero dropped the umbrella in his hand and held it against Neptune's forehead to keep her from getting to Noire, "Why are you chasing after the cat? Did you antagonize her again?"

Neptune pulled back to look at the boy protecting Noire from her. "But Heero, that's Noire!"

The Perfect Soldier cocked an eyebrow at the party leader as he tried to decipher what she meant. Either she had no idea the rest of the group named the cat Neko Noire, or she was trying to say that the black cat he found out in the rain was, in fact, Lastation's CPU.

Gust and Histoire caught up to the CPU of Planeptune in time to hear her explain her reasoning for chasing the black cat. Histoire knew that the chance of catching Noire was essentially zero now that Heero was back, and only by elaborating the situation could they get the boy to help them, "I know this is hard to believe, but Neptune is telling the truth. Compa added an extra ingredient to the potion Gust made for her. And as you can see, the result is, well..."

It was a lot to take in at once, but Heero did find it believable. It wouldn't have been the most unheard of thing he had seen since arriving in Gamindustri. The Gundam pilot looked down at the cat behind him, who was looking away.

Before anyone could stop her, Noire ran out the front door and into the rain. Neptune, Gust and Histoire took off after the CPU of Lastation, though she didn't go far. She went right into the open door to Gust's work shed.

The trio entered the wooden shed and found Noire sitting next to the table in the center of the room, hanging her head. As they entered the small building, Noire looked over her shoulder at them for a moment before looking back down at the ground, "(Why couldn't you jerks just leave me alone? Now Heero's knows, and he probably hates me for not telling him...)"

Gust held out the potion she made to reverse the effects of the Neko-Neko Potion, "Noire, you must hurry and drink potion. There may not be much time left before effects of Neko-Neko Potion become permanent!"

During the entire fiasco, Histoire had been trying to figure out just why the goddess of Lastation had been so adamant about drinking the potion that would return her to normal. And the more she thought about it, the more she came to the conclusion that Neptune hadn't been too far off the mark, "...It's because you love Heero, isn't it? Since Heero didn't know it was you, he assumed you were a stray cat. Because of that, he acted differently around you, and you in turn acted differently around him."

Noire twitched at the tome's explanation for why she didn't want to take the potion… and she wasn't wrong. While Histoire could understand the CPU's desire to be closer to the object of her affections, there was one fatal flaw that would render any effort on her part all for nothing. "Noire, Heero may love you the way you are at this moment, but it is not the love you are looking for. And if you remain a cat, you will never find it. ( ≧Д≦)"

The goddess didn't want to believe Histoire, but deep down she knew it was true. As she began to fall in to depression over the matter, the door to Gust's shed opened again and Heero walked in to the room with a plastic bowl meant for a small animal in his hand.

After setting the bowl down on the table, Heero took the Cure-All potion from Gust and poured the contents into the plastic dish before kneeling down next to Noire. The goddess was afraid to look at the boy now that he knew the truth. As she waited to hear the boy say something… anything, she felt his hand glide across her back.

When she looked over her shoulder, Noire found that there was no malice or ill-will in his eyes. The way Heero saw it, Noire should be the one to make the decision of whether she returned to her human form or remain a cat, "Noire, it may have been an accident that caused this, but there is something about being a cat that you like. As such, no one can force you to drink the potion if you don't want to."

Heero picked up the CPU of Lastation and held her in his arms, running his hand across her head and back. The boy didn't like the idea of losing the cat he had found, but he would accept the CPU's decision regardless of her choice. "I'm sure there are things you want to do, tasks you want to achieve that you won't be able to as a cat. If you choose to remain a cat, you may very well regret it later."

Noire let out a low sounding purr from the sensation of the Perfect Soldier's hand against her head and back. The black cat lifted her head and licked the Gundam pilot's cheek before he began to scratch her chin.

After a moment of holding her, Heero set Noire down on the table in front of the plastic bowl. The bowl was dark blue in color, with the words 'Neko Noire' in black on the side. Clearly, Heero hadn't gone just to get the bowl, but the fact that he was thinking about her was touching.

As she looked at the aquamarine liquid in the bowl meant for her, Noire saw her reflection, which slowly changed to reflect her human form. The CPU began to feel melancholy while dwelling over her aspirations as a cat, "(Heero started treating me differently as a cat. I thought maybe I could make things works between us if I stayed like this… I guess I always knew it wouldn't work out, and I just fooled myself into thinking it would.)"

Lastation's goddess mentally slapped herself, refusing to feel down in the dumps because things between herself and Heero would go back to normal. "(What am I getting all sad for? It's not like I'm losing anything. And besides, it's not like my relationship with Heero is over or anything. I'll just have to prove that I'm better than Neptune the way I originally planned, that's all.)"

Lowering her head into the bowl, Noire began to drink the Cure-All Potion until it was all gone. The black cat began to emanate a soft glow, before a cloud of smoke burst out of nowhere and enveloped Noire. The gray cloud dissipated as quickly as it had appeared, and Noire was sitting on her knees on the table.

The goddess looked down at herself, finding that she was no longer in a small, furry body, but her human body; hands, legs, clothes and all. Lastation's CPU was mildly surprised by how quickly the potion had taken affect, but shook off her initial surprise, "I guess the potion worked."

Neptune began to feel tired once the matter had been resolved and her rival was back to normal, "So we're done now? It's about time."

Gust was relieved that Noire was back to her normal self, feeling slightly responsible for the mishap that occurred in the first place, "Noire is back to normal. All should be well."

Much like the two girls with her, Histoire was relieved over Noire's choice to drink the potion, "I was nervous towards the end. I suppose Heero was able to get through to her. (/^▽^)/"

Noire wasn't focused on the trio of girls, but rather the Gundam pilot who had walked out of the shed, and couldn't help but notice that he looked rather dejected as he left the shed… and she felt responsible for it.

Xxx

It was an hour after Noire had been changed back to her human form with Gust's Cure-All Potion, and Heero was in his room typing away on his laptop when he heard a knock at his door. The Gundam pilot didn't give a response of any kind, but the door still opened anyway. Noire poked her head into the room before actually entering, closing the door behind her.

Lastation's CPU was visibly nervous. She had come to apologize to the Gundam pilot for not telling him the truth sooner, but her voice was stuck in her throat. After a moment of staring at the ground in an effort to form a coherent thought, Noire began her apology, "Um… So, I… I'm sorry for... not telling you sooner..."

All the raven haired girl could hear was typing. There was no vocal response, shifts in posture, not even a grunt to acknowledge he heard her. Noire was growing increasingly concerned that Heero's opinion of her had gone down the toilet. With the silence becoming more aggravating, the CPU lost her cool and was ready to shout at the boy that seemed to be ignoring her. "Hey, I said-"

"Did you enjoy being a cat?"

Noire was caught off guard by the sudden question. She had expected the boy to snap at her, or at the very least give her a stern talking to. Believing the goddess didn't hear him, Heero asked the question again, "I asked if you enjoyed being a cat."

At first the experience had taken her by surprise, and was followed by depression. But after Heero found her, Noire began to have a more positive opinion of being a cat, "Well… it wasn't all bad. I didn't like that I couldn't do a lot of things myself. But, it was nice."

The Gundam pilot had been watching the CPU from the corner of his eye as she responded to the question. When she was finished answering, Heero returned his attention to the screen of his laptop.

Lastation's goddess began to fidget for a moment before looking away from the boy. "I also… wanted to say thanks… for taking care of me..."

Heero stopped typing to look at Noire when he heard her express her thanks. The CPU cleared her throat as she looked away from the Perfect Soldier, "As my way of saying thanks… I thought I would be generous and let you pet my head."

Expressing thanks was one thing, why she was allowing him to pet her head as a display of that thanks was beyond the Gundam pilot, "Is there some particular reason you want me to pet you?"

Noire became flustered as the Gundam pilot inquired about her reasoning for the gesture. "D-Don't get the wrong idea! It's not like I enjoyed it or anything. It's just… you seemed to like petting me, so… I thought I would let you pet my head again… But only the one time."

At first Heero wasn't sure if he should take the goddess up on her offer. Ultimately, he got out of his chair and approached the goddess, raising his hand to stroke her head.

While it felt nice to have the boy stroke her head, it didn't feel as pleasant when she was a cat. As Heero continued to pet her head, Noire reached behind her back towards the back of her skirt with one of her hands to catch a slim, furry object; a cat tail.

According to Gust, Noire would still have her cat tail for a few more hours before it would finally disappear. The appendage had started swinging to and fro as Heero stroked her head, and the goddess made sure the Gundam pilot couldn't see it, knowing that the reactions from her tail would belie any vocal response she gave that would suggest she didn't like this.

If there was one thing Noire would take away from the whole experience from that day, it would be the rare smile she saw on Heero's face. He didn't normally express how he felt, and seeing such a heart melting smile was something she burned into her memory… and something she wouldn't tell Neptune about, "(...Neptune can't say she's seen Heero smile. It's a secret that stays with me.)"

Xxx

Me: "Well, that wraps up this bonus chapter. I found this one to be one of my more interesting chapters of the story."

Heero and Noire: (Enters ACCC from Break Room) "Interesting is one way to put it. I'm just glad I played a large part in this chapter."

Heero: "Apparently the readers find that these bonus chapters add a certain uniqueness to the story as a whole. They certainly help to set it apart from other stories."

Neptune: (Enters ACCC from Lounge) "I don't like this chapter. I'm Heero's Destined Lover, so I shouldn't be playing second most important character!"

Blanc: (Enters ACCC from Lounge) "How could a brain dead idiot like you be the most important? You're more like… the fifth best or lower."

Vert: (Enters ACCC from Game Room) "I also fail to see why you should be in such an important role. The rest of us are more qualified than you."

Me: "I don't see the problem with making someone else more important than you for a chapter. Now, I'm going to be spending more time gaming and live streaming, so… yeah, I'm not gonna be putting out chapters particularly fast. On that note, I'm gonna have Heero and Noire wrap this up for obvious reasons. We'll work on chapters when we can, so we ask that you be patient for further updates. Now that we've got that out of the way, we should get going. If you guys come looking, you know where to find me."

Me, Neptune, Blanc and Vert: (Leave ACCC from Left Entrance)

Heero and Noire: (Turn to readers) "Please read and review this chapter, and look forward to the next update."

Noire: "And look forward to seeing me in the role of most important character. I mean, it's obvious I'm better suited to being the main character AND main pairing with Heero. N-Not that I want to be paired with him or anything. I'm just saying I'm better than Neptune, that's all."

Heero: "I've heard that you are in fact the most popular among all of the female cast. I have yet to verify if that is true or not, but it would help your case if it's a fact."

Noire: "Obviously. Why wouldn't I be more popular than the others? But, enough about that. We still have more work to do. And because I'm magnanimous, I'll let you pet my head some more. Before you get any ideas, I'm only doing it because you seemed to like it! There's no other reason!"

Heero and Noire: (Leave ACCC through Left Entrance)