A few months after Bethesda return to Planeptune, the time as finally come to rescue the goddesses, Histoire is currently explaining the operation to the operatives which of course include the three makers...
"So, when the first group of operatives are gonna start the false flag operation, to distract the ASIC attention, the vertidragon will drop the second and third one into the graveyard. Once you will be there, the second squad will have to progress trough and find the goddesses, you will have to use the Sharecite to free them while the third one is gonna cover the retreat. We know that due to the position of the graveyard, its not heavily defended tough there might be some guards at some area like the one where the goddesses are. Any questions?"
IF raise her hand and speaks up "But does the ASIC have radars? They should notice that a hostile aircraft is approaching the graveyard, if that the case."
"We planed about it, the vertidragon that will be used will be a modified one with a stealth refit to make it undetectable"
"Oh, okay."
"That's everything?" Histoire says while looking at the others participants of the operation "Then operation starts tomorrow."
GAMINDUSTRI GRAVEYARD
THE DAY AFTER
18H00
Mr Badd is currently making the last verification's of a tall machinery and checks if everything is okay
"It's good Madam, the machine can be activated but we will set it at low power to avoid that Brave have either huge mental difference compared to the one that he was before." Mr Badd says
"Fine." Magic responds sitting on a chair
"Tough, he will be unconscious for a few days so he can adapt to his new robotic body."
"We are not in huge emergency for the moment anyway. Launch it"
Badd then tells to the technicians to prepare the machine which they do by inserting scrap metal and also high quality metal like in a conveyor that send it in a complex chain of crusher, smelter and forger, after Linda is pulling a coffin mounted on a chariot with written on it "Brave" inside of the machine and then leave it there as she walks outside of it. After that a gate closes the machine and mixed sounds of the whole mechanism as pistons, steam, engines fills the rooms for a moment until the sounds stops
"Its finished?" Magic asks to Badd which just responds by a nod
The gate open and a column of steam is exiting the tall machinery and a quite tall robot show itself, its quite intimidating with the same golden lion that is on his chest that is still here but this time it bite a portable gaming device, his armor became his body and so conserve his samurai look but tough his human face is not longer there, replaced by a full helmet, he also grown a pair of mechanical wings with two cannon on them
Brave seem to automatically move out of the machine and move on the side and he stops moving
"This is the new Brave, he is much stronger and durable than what he used to be."
"…Tough he's not conscious."
"For now."
"Lady! There is reports of Planeptune troops crossing the border!"
"What?!"
"There was a convoy spotted at the mount segami heading toward our fortification, and they are carrying an unknown weapon, we think that its some kind of secret siege weapon due to the shape of it. Unfortunately we can't send pictures of it since they seem to use a jamming system against electronics."
"OK, I'm gonna see it by myself, if its a real weapon we must capture it." Magic get up of her chair and turns back to Badd "if he doesn't wake up when i'm back, I will considerably shorten your life expectancy." Magic then get out of the workshop
"Don't worry, Don't worry" Badd thinks
[Meanwhile. Above the territory controlled by the ASIC]
The vertidragon is flying above the plain inside of it two group of people are sitting inside of it in the passenger bay
IF put her hand on her ear, there is a device on it "Lady Histoire?" she asks
"The first part of plan worked, an infiltrated agent there saw the leader leaving the graveyard and heading at the mount segami. Good luck for the rest of it." Histoire speaks trough it
"By the way miss Histoire on the map that you shown us it looked like the ground under the graveyard was a mass of gigantic stones spikes but by looking at the window I only see plains."
"Well its not really known why that happen but there some kind of strange phenomenon that happen is that around the graveyard it seem to have a distortion effect that affect the maps tough around the graveyard it always been plains."
"I get it, thanks Histoire."
"That's must be somekind of magic or something." IF comments
Compa looks at Bethesda "Beth your opinion on that, you are quite a scientist."
Bethesda thinks for a few seconds and then speak "Uhh, well I can't tell you a lot since some kind of phenomenon like that is nearly impossible to explain it scientifically."
"Its what I said then." IF responds
"Magic is also a word for something that science can't explain."
"Ironic."
"We are arriving at the landing zone dudes, get ready!" The pilot says
The vertidragon arrive in a range of floating islands and the sky is slowy turn in crimson color, some pink thunder can be seen form afar, the Tilt-rotor then land on one of the islands which the only scenery is rocks and some pipes merged in the ground and the door opens with the two groups exit form it
Compa looks around "This place i-is s-scary."
"This place is sure ominous." Bethesda says exiting form the Vertidragon, with carrying a big bag on him
Compa looks at Bethesda and notice the bag he's carrying "What you are carrying in that bag?"
"It's a surprise Tool that will help us later."
"Anyway, let's get moving now." IF says
The makers start moving trough that inhospitable land
"I don't get why you are scared you two."
"But look at the weird stuff over there and there" Compa responds and point some object that constitute the environment."
"As the name implies, the Gamindustri Graveyard is where those whose time has passed go rest for eternity. All things you see were once inhabitants of Gamindustri proper." Histoire says
"O-oh really?
"Tch, that's why I told you that it'd be okay if you stayed behind."
"A-and I already told why I came in first place! I wanna help Nep-Nep, Ge-Ge, and the other CPU's as well."
"And so do I, it was 3 years already that they went missing. It's so stupid of them to make me worry like this..."
"I am certain that they are still alive. Even if they are seriously injuried, as long as you possess the Sharecite I had prepared." Histoire says
"That's right! Let's hurry up and find our ladies, Compa, Bethesda. We'll carry all of them to home if we have to!"
"Okay-dokey!" Compa responds
"Yeah!" Bethesda says
Their search continues
"Jeez this search is taking for ever, wouldn't blame the third group if they get pissed off."
"Same, by the way that's weird, we didn't encounter any guard." Bethesda comments
"They must be guarding the goddesses." IF responds
"No conclusions for now, stay must be on guard in case." Histoire says says
"But where the CPU's could be?" Compa asks soon after a moaning get heard by her, coming form somewhere "Yikes!"
Bethesda and IF turns towards compa "Uh? why that sudden shouting?" IF asks
"You heard something?" Bethesda also asks
"A-a-a v-voice, I heard someone moaning!" Compa responds
"You did? Where it come form?" IF asks
"I think it was over there!"
"Nice, let's get moving!" IF starts running, shortly followed by Bethesda
"W-Wait! Don't leave me alone!" Compa says and start running after them
[After.]
"there, it's nep!" IF says
Tangled, tired, injured and in humiliating position. Its the summary of the state of Purple Heart prisoner of some kinds of cables "I-iffy? Compa? Beth-."
"S-shut! No!… No!" Bethesda cut off Purple Heart
"She wasn't about to call you like that!" IF responds
"Sorry, its old habits coming back to me."
"Look! Ge-Ge is also there with the other's CPU's!" Compa says. The other CPU's are also restrained in similar conditions "How awful… Who would restain them like this?"
"Magic, the leader of the ASIC, that's who." Bethesda responds
"Nep! Snap out of it! Wouldja!?
Neptune doesn't responds
"Their state must be really bad then, I will solve it quickly." Bethesda says while summoning his steel sword and start walking towards Neptune
"Do not do it!" Histoire says and Bethesda stops walking "Use the Sharecite instead."
"Right! Its inside pouch… somewhere." Compa says while checking her purse
"I WON'T ALLOW IT!" A manly voice responds
CRUNCH
Compa get scared "Kyaaahh!"
A tall menacing black robot with cyan neon straight pattern over his robotic body and with these sames cyan neon eyes, yet he seem to not have legs, he just hover and with a gigantic double axe with some kind of energy filled blades and also 3 pairs of blades looking wings and of what it seem to be a pair of horns, there is also a skull on the bottom part of his body, like if he wasn't menacing enough
"Who are you?! You better not get in our way!"
The robot laughs, visibly the funniest shit he ever heard "FOR SOMEONE TO BE INSANE ENOUGH TO TRAVEL HERE… INCONCEIVABLE! THREE YEARS I WAS IDLING AND IT TOO LONG. ITS FINALLY TIME TO DESTROY! I'M JUDGE AND THIS IS GOING TO THE LAST NAME YOU WILL KNOW!"
CFW JUDGE
ROBOTIC BERSERKER OF THE GRAVEYARD 💀
"I don't get his problem, but looks like we've got a fight on our hands. Bethesda, come with me we will take care of him, Compa go save the CPU's"
"Y-you betcha!" Compa responds, IF and Bethesda goes to encounter the berserker
IF runs and use a pipe to propel herself in the air, she summon her quatars and at land them on the stabbing Judge in the head "I'M SUPPOSED TO BE HURT?" the robot taunt, unaffected by the attack, IF is slightly surprised but she continue by constantly stabbing it
Shortly after Judge grabs IF by the leg and violently throw her on the ground,
"GAAAAHHHH!" Due to the throw IF lands and ricochet on the ground but she eventually manage to stops herself by planting a quatar in the ground
"WEAK! SO PATHETICALLY WEAK! C'MON MAKE THE FIGHT MORE INTERESTING FOR ME!" Judge says
CLING CLING CLING
"UH?"
CLING CLONK
Bethesda was slamming his sword into Judge armor
"HAHAHAHAHA! I FORGOT ABOUT YOU BETTER GIVE ME SOMETHING GOOD" Judge laughs at the sight of Bethesda attacking him, and not causing any damage. Judge raise his axe and strikes it on Bethesda
DRAGON BUSTER
Bethesda rise his shield in time, taking a defensive position "no chance that I can't at least take him down." he thinks
BONG
The gigantic axe clashes on the shield and a lot of sparks apears "ARRRGHHHHH!" Bethesda yells and manage to slide to dodge the axe and jumps...
KRRSSSTTTZZZ
And strikes the Judge torso with his sword "I did it!"
Shortly after Judge crushes Bethesda with the back of his double axe who looks like a controller
Bethesda hit the ground hard, he spits blood and looks at the area he attack and he barely see a very very small opening "What?" he then looks at his shield and he see that its destroyed "Fuck. And I can't reach the bag. I hope Compa is done with saving the CPU's or we won't survive that thing."
"NEVERMIND, YOU ARE DISAPPOINTING AS THE OTHER GIRL YOU ONLY MADE ME A SMALL CUT, BUT THAT MEAN THAT YOU ARE THE ONLY POTENTIAL DANGER FOR ME SO I WILL FINISH YOU NOW-"
"DEMONS FLAMES!" IF yells
DEMONIC INFERNO
A column of fire rise on the berserker "URGH?!" making him in surprise lift slightly raise the axe leaving some space to Bethesda to breathe
Even with that, Bethesda is starting to have difficulties to see he see Compa coming at him and dragging him somewhere. With difficulties he says a few words "D...did you r-rescued the CPU's?"
"I did it, don't worry about it. Y-you're in a very bad state!" Compa says
"N-no you think-k-k?" Bethesda says in a point of sarcasm, even tough he's dying
"Hang on, don't die now!" Compa check her purse and get a Med-Pack out of it and then stabs Bethesda with it, his eyesight greatly improve and he can see Nepgear facing Judge
"I feel a bit better now, but what about the other's?" Bethesda says back in a normal manner
"I used the Sharecite but I only managed to save Ge-Ge. I'm returning to make the other's wake up, don't get his attention okay?" Compa says and then runs back with the Sharecite to the other's goddesses
"Let's hope she can fight him." Bethesda monologue
CELESTIAL SERVERANCE
"M.P.B.L. Overdrive! I'll use all I have with this!"Purple Sister fly's at an incredible speed towards and stab him with her gun-blade and slashes him two times
BANG BANG BANG BANG
Then she shot Judge at multiples times, she then charge at him again this time making a flash and paralyzing Judge, she gets back and charges a beam
PEW
And she then fire thebeam
PEW
And she fire a longer lasting one which finishes by an energy explosion… But Judge is barely scratched "THAT'S IT? REALLY? IS THAT SERIOUSLY ALL THE STRENGTH YOU POSSESS?!" Judge says disappointed
"We are barely affecting him at all. Compa, aren't Nep and the others coming to yet?" IF asks
"Uhh, I don't think they are gonna wake up anytime soon." Compa responds
"Perhaps the Sharecite was not pure enough to awaken the CPU's proper, only..." Histoire says
"Seriously? Then there is nothing we can do here!" IF says
Nepgear starts to panic, like a repetition of what happened 3 years ago "Again… I'm going to lose again. N-no no no..."
"THIS WAS JUST A WASTE OF MY TIME! I'LL FINISH YOU ALL OFF RIGHT NOW!" Judge says, getting ready to kill everyone
Bethesda is hidden behind some rocks and wonders "what can I do? Oh yeah! My bag!" Bethesda start pulling something form the bag
"No! I…I'm completely powerless." Nepgear starts having tears forming on her eyes "but wait if use-"Something immediately stops Nepgear thinking, she see a familiar silhouette behind Judge "wait its that..."
"HEY YOU HUGE DUMBASS!" Bethesda yells to attract Judge attention, Judge looks back at him and quite everyone is staring at Bethesda who is carrying a literal nuke launcher
"IT'S TO ME THAT YOU ARE TALKING TO?! I DIDN'T CRUSH YOU HARD ENOUGH?! WHAT YOU ARE GONNA DO WHAT THAT EGG LAUNCHER?" Judge responds
"This is the Little Boy! My little friend! And you know what SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND!"
"ENOUGH!" Judge start dashing to him but not fast enough to reach Bethesda before he press the trigger
THUMP
The mini-nuke get launched form the device and it flies while doing a whistling sound towards Judge
BBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM
It hit Judge in the arm and a yellow light enlightens the whole area blinding on the moment everyone, after a short moment everyone get back their sight, Nepgear smiles seeing Bethesda who see Nepgear and he than give a thumps up and a wink while the other are just on the shock the cloud disappear, but Bethesda smile also vanishes when he see that Judge is still standing: missing his whole right part
"AARRRRRGGGGGHHHH!" Judge yells in rage and it seem to be pain, he continue is trajectory towards Bethesda and raise his left arm to crush him
"Close your eyes!" Nepgear yells while throwing the Sharecite. Bethesda seeing the object landing in front of him, he cover his eyes with one of his arms. A flash blinds Judge
"WHAT?! ARGGHHHH! THE LIGHT! MY EYES, MY EYES!
"It worked? Nice thinking gear!" IF compliment
"Was it enough?… uh..." Nepgear then collapse, unconscious
"Huh? Ge-Ge!? Th-this no time to pass out!"
"Wait, What? Did she seriously lose consciousness now, of all times?!"
Bethesda runs with some difficulties to the group "Huff, Huff oh boy, wait did she just fainted out?"
"Yes." Both Compa and IF responds simultaneously
"YOU BUNCH OF FUCKERS! ONCE MY RETINAL SYSTEM ARE GOING BACK ONLINE, IM GOING TO ALL MAKE SURE YOU DIE IN A PAINFUL DEATH!"
"The time has come to withdraw. Nothing more can be done now."
"You two heard her! Let's hurry up and get Gear out of there!"
"Y-yeah!" Compa responds
Bethesda doesn't responds at them but he looks back the trapped CPU's and just says "Sorry, we'll be back."
[LATER.]
IF is helping Bethesda to run be holding his shoulder, while Compa is carrying Nepgear
IF stops running "Seem we managed to lose him." she says
"Y-yeah." Bethesda responds
Compa is panting "Ge-Ge is way heavier than she looks."
"Seriously?"
"You want to carry her?"
"No."
IF try to hide her laugh "Anyway." she then sighs "Even after all of that, we could only help Gear, not to mention…"
"The Sharecite's power was expanded and it shattered after Ge-Ge threw it and it landed near Bethesda. There is no way we can help the CPU's without that..."
"..."
"..."
"There is no reason to be so hard on yourselves. Saving Nepgear is a very critical accomplishment." Histoire says
"Then what's next Histoire?" IF asks
"Return to the vertidragon. You will get Nepgear back at Planeptune and have her rest until she recovered. Besides, I must learn what transpired three years ago, even if the memories are gonna be painful for her to remember."
The group then manage to get back to the vertidragon and then it leaves the Gamindustri Graveyard
"So you only managed to get Nepgear back?" The captain of the third group asks
"Yeah, we couldn't do anything for the other's." Compa responds "So, Beth? That was a nuke launcher that you was carrying all along?"
"Exactly."
"But why you didn't use your magic that you talked about?"
"That's complicated." Bethesda sighs "But really that the worst is that I just managed to make a very small scratch to that robot, the mini-nuke was a necessity."
"What robot?' A operative asks
"The thing that was guarding the CPU's, he was stupidly strong" IF responds
"By the way, is the Candidate okay?"
"Yes, she is just unconscious."
Bethesda seems to fall asleep shortly after
"Looks like the inventor is sleeping now." A operative notes
"Of course, he got violently beaten up, he must also rest for a small moment."
[?]
DRINNNNGGGG
A Bethesda slowly open his eyes, he looks and set off his alarm, he then get up of his bed he look at his hands "Wait, something is not normal." he thinks as he see that his eye sight is reduced, he grab a pair of glasses and go at the bathroom and see the reflect of himself in the mirror, way smaller: a typical nerd kid in the early 10s "I'm young again?! Why?"
[At the workshop.]
Magic returns at the workshop, its nearly fully destroyed "What the hell happened here?"
A staff runs to her panicked and exhausted "Magic! Some things terrible happened..."
"You mean something?" Magic says
"No, a lot happened."
"Tell me more."
"At first some guys form Planeptune raided the area where the goddesses are. Judge that was there got found missing the half of his body. And they also apparently got back the candidate of Planeptune."
"That doesn't sound good at all."
"And also, Mr Badd used the chaos at his advantage, he told us to get Brave away and then and he used the machine to transform himself into a robot! He went berserk and destroyed everything on his path! He then jumped off the island"
"That's sucks, well I have a doubt that if they got the candidate back then they might use the discs to power herself up, so our priority is to focus about them, send Linda to find them and destroy them before the candidate find them. Forget about Badd."
[?]
A large robot similar looking to Brave walks in the woods. But its also quite different with gold and gray color scheme and a red eyes, red as his cape
An inventor tales part2 Vol1 (4): Winds of changes
I had some free time for a few days so this allowed me to make this chapter faster.
