Hyper Arc; Black Story - Part 2; Redemption
After a long trip of making it to the city, however the two were so exhausted from traveling they have passed out. However a mysterious woman arrived to their aid and brought them to someplace to recover their strength.
Time passed and James started waking up and noticed he seemed to be in a room of an apartment.
"Ooooh… wha? Where am I…?" he asks as he sits up on the bed noticing his arms, legs, and chest are wrapped in bandages neatly. He is wearing shorts currently and looks at another bed which is empty, but on it is his clothes which look to be fresh and new. "Who did this…?" he notices some food on a plate is on the nightstand and his stomach growled. "Well at least someone was thoughtful of this." he moves and starts eating up the food that was left for him. "I wonder who brought me here and that bandaged me up. I also wonder if Noire is around here..." He stands from the bed and grabs his clothes and puts them on. "Someone must have brought us here… however I am still bruised so I'll have to stay and heal until I am back in shape." He sits back on the bed he woke up from and he also wonders where Noire is, though he got his answer when she entered the room quickly. "Noire?" She also has bandages on her arms and legs.
"Sorry I had to barge in. I just wanted to be sure you were alright…" Noire says who sounds worried about him.
"Aw she was worried about me, that is the first time she has admitted it!" James says in his thoughts. "So anything else you wanna know?"
"Yea, actually I have something to tell you. So I met this girl, K-Sha, I asked her if she brought us here. However she told me a Woman, carried us into this place." She explains to him. "Something about what she told me makes me cautious about this woman, saying she can't tell us because she promised the woman not to give her name."
"Strange… and I still have my concerns about that woman who is a commander of the Lastation Army… she sounded familiar to me, but I can't remember who she could be." James explains to her, feeling a bit worried. "A lot has changed, why has the world become what it is? I wonder how the others are doing now… I wonder how they are feeling after everything seems to have suddenly changed."
At that time the two of them started resting for a bit and James did get to meet K-Sha and recognised her from the exhibition match. Although for some reason she seemed to be different personality wise, he wasn't sure if he should ask about the reason why she and the other Gold Third members arrived, though he wasn't sure if Noire knows who she is yet so he decided to be quiet about it for now.
James did think about wanting to change his look, but with Lastation soldiers looking for him people might warn them and he would get caught. They did also help K-Sha a bit from looking out for them and recovering from their wounds, she also needs medicine from a dungeon area so Noire decides that she and James would go look for some. Once they returned K-Sha used the stuff and treated their wounds, Noire also asked who is ruling the nation. K-Sha explained that a member of Gold Third is ruling, but however she tells them that the person is missing and doesn't enjoy it and the basilicom is in control instead.
"The shopping's done for today. Whew… I think we've gotten really used to living here." Noire says with James next to her.
"Yea, plus for now thanks to you I will have to use a sword so I don't need to use my powers to tire myself out so much." James says with a black and silver sword strapped to his waist.
"I think that just shows how long we've been stuck here though." Noire says "Our wounds are almost healed so we should probably start thinking about getting more serious about our current situation." She says talking about them being wanted criminals. The two noticed a large crowd talking about something and they are wondering what people are talking about. "Hm, what's that? Looks like there's a crowd… did something happen?"
"We should find out." James says and K-Sha sees them
"Oh, Noire! Apparently, a ferocious monster appeared in the woods nearby and has already attacked several townspeople." She explains
"That's horrible! Aren't any soldiers handling it?" Noire asks her
"They haven't responded. It seems they're too busy with their own affairs." She replies to Noire's question.
"This can't be left alone! Which part of the forest is the monster at currently right now?" James asks
"The only news is that it's deep in the forest. Wait, you're both not possibly thinking about going after it, are you?!" K-Sha asks
"You're exactly right. The battle will be perfect for our rehabilitation." Noire says determined while James says 'I hope so...' under his breath.
"No matter how strong you think you are right now, you shouldn't do this!" K-Sha tells them.
"I'm tough. It'll be fine. I still haven't fully paid you back for saving us, so let us do so now." Noire tells her
"It's dangerous! I can't allow you to go to such a dangerous place, Noire!" K-Sha tells Noire, arguing with her.
"You're way too worried. I know everyone's saying it's ferocious, but how strong could this monster really be? We're gonna head out now!" Noire tells her. Both she and James go to the area where the monster was seen before. They get there and start looking around the place and Noire stops suddenly. "I wonder if K-Sha's mad at me because we ran out here…"
"She is a worrywart I'll say that. Although if she is mad at us then we will have to apologize to her when we get back after eliminating the monster." James says and Noire nods agreeing with him and the two continue forward until they hear a scream.
"Is someone getting attacked?! I have to go help them!" Noire said and dashes ahead as James follows behind and they see the soldiers fighting off against the monster they were searching for.
"Is that another monster that could possibly be from the Zero Dimension? It is one we haven't seen, but we gotta get rid of it soon!" James says
"C-Crap! No one told me it'd be this powerful!" One soldier says frightened
"They're Lastation soldiers! Getting attacked by a monster again?" Noire says annoyed the soldiers have gotten in a predicament. The second soldier later notices them.
"Hey, you two! It's dangerous here, so get away as… Wait, you're the wanted duo!" He says
"Crap! These guys are the same ones that were chasing us before! Why the hell are you guys getting yourselves in trouble again?! Why can't you do anything right?!" James asks annoyed
"It's because we were searching for you! You Warriors of Death!" The soldier replied.
"Really? Warriors of Death? Is that really the best you idiots can come up with?" James asks as he is starting to get upset.
"Well, whatever you are, it doesn't change the fact you're a member of that organization! This time we'll-" The soldier gets interrupted by the monster attacking since he was distracted by the two and screams.
"Ugh, you guys are such a pain in the ass!" James says as he draws out his sword and blocks the incoming attack on the soldiers. "Go! Get out of here while we take care of this thing!"
"B-But we can't back down here, even if it costs us our life! You're both gonna run away…" The soldier tells him as Noire walks next to James.
"I'm glad they're enthusiastic about their work, but it's pretty annoying right now… Just retreat already! If you fall here, then your mission will have meant nothing!" Noire tells them
"Urgh… There's nothing we can do. We have to retreat for now. Don't think this is the end!" the first soldier admits, both he and his partner make a quick retreat as the two ready themselves to battle the enemy.
"Finally, we can fight you without holding back. I don't know what the hell you are, but we're going to defeat you in the name of Lastation!" Noire says and the two jump back from the monster attacking.
"This one might be difficult to deal with so we better be careful." James says getting into a stance then they hear gun fire and the bullet struck the monster. "Whoa! Someone sniped it?! And it looked to be effective! Although where did it come from…?" James looks in the direction of where it came from but can't see anyone.
"Whatever, now's our chance!" Noire says while the monster was distracted wondering where the shooter was at, they charged at the monster and James swung horizontally striking the neck and Noire thrusted her sword right at the head. The monster rises about to hit them with its feet, Noire successfully dodges the attack while James blocks it in time. Then it started to go on a rampage and the two tried to get close enough to strike but had to back away from getting hit. Then another bullet hit it and gave James the chance to strike vertically and sliced it causing it to disappear.
"We did it… Though that was a close call when it started rampaging a bit." James says with a sigh of relief.
"Still, who took that shot… Uni…? But… she would have shown herself already." Noire says curious who took fire on the monster they fought against.
"I was thinking the same with Noble…" James said worried about his little bro after they had to seperate long ago. The two hurry back to the city quickly as they can.
"Whew… we're finally back… Ooof… I got a few more injuries. What should I say to K-Sha?" Noire wonders when the said person noticed them.
"Oh, Noire! You were late! I was so worried. Wait, you're all beaten up!" K-Sha says looking worried.
"I'm sorry to worry you. We had a little trouble, but at least we managed to defeat that monster." Noire tells her and K-Sha sighed in relief.
"Really?! That's amazing!" K-Sha exclaims happily
"I told you to leave it to us. Although… it was a little dangerous." Noire says and people were happy that the monster was dealt with. Then some soldiers were coming by and K-Sha told the two to hide and James saw her serious expression like she knew who they were and then pushed the two in an alleyway.
"Hey, did a strange woman with black hair along with a man with similar hair color come through here?" the soldier asks K-Sha and the small group of people.
"No, don't think we've seen them anywhere. You know something?" a man replies and turns to another man and he shook his head with the same answer.
"Those two are on the wanted lists. Now, if you know something, spit it out." the soldier demanded.
"They're saying they don't know, so you're all done here, right?" K-Sha tells the soldiers.
"What did you say, woman? Do you mean to obstruct us?" the soldier asks who seemed threatened by her comment.
"We're simply saying we don't know anything, how is that obstruction?" K-Sha replied to him.
"Shut up! We're positive they're in the city. If you protect them, then we'll arrest you for their same offenses!" the soldier says.
"We truly don't know anything. How many times must I say so until you accept this?" K-Sha asks as she is getting annoyed.
"... Let's take this woman with us. She might talk if we shake her. Come with us! We'll have you tell us everything you know!" the soldier said as he grabbed her arm.
"Kyah! L-Let me go!" She says struggling to get free.
"Let her go!" James shouted as both he and Noire came out from hiding.
"You two! You both were in this city after all!" the soldier exclaimed and K-Sha looked at them confused as to why they revealed themselves.
"We're your targets, right? She's not related to us at all, so let her go now." James tells them.
"If you both will come with us quietly, I'll release her." the soldier replied and James nods. "Very well. Let's go, criminals." he cuffs the two and takes them away to the basilicom prison area.
-Meanwhile in a nearby forest-
Uni and Noble were taking deep breaths from tiredness.
"Urgh, why do we have to go through something like this?" Uni asks angry
"It was their choice… don't get so upset over that. We don't know how this all happened at all. I just hope that they were able to get away and not get caught…" Noble says worried about his big bro.
"It's bothering me, but I have no way of finding out… Ah, damn it!" Uni curses upset and worried about her sister then she gets a sudden call on her phone. "A call? From who…? Hello?" she answers it
"Oh, good, I got through! Are you alright, Uni?" Nepgear speaks through.
"I'm fine. Noble is with me. You look like you're doing alright. Are you and Adam close to reaching Planeptune?" Uni asks her.
"Yeah, we should be there in just a little while. Thanks for asking, Uni, it feels nice knowing you'd worry about me." Nepgear explains with a happy tone.
"D-Dream on, Nepgear, like I'd ever be worried about you!" Uni says being a tsundere like her sister, and at the same time Noble and Adam who is with Nepgear both said to themselves 'Sure whatever.'
"Hey, at least she called because she was seriously worried about you both…" Adam says.
"I'm not weak enough to need concern." Uni tells him.
"Just be happy about Uni, so is there a reason you called or just worried?" Noble asks Nepgear and Uni only sighed.
"Oh, right! You two, please, listen calmly…" Nepgear starts and Noble felt shivers about what Nepgear was gonna tell them. "I've been trying to gather information by intercepting radio transmissions and recently heard something… concerning…"
"Concerning? Does it have anything to do with why we can't transform?" Uni asks and Noble wasn't sure that they were gonna like what they're going to be told.
"Not really, however, we learned that both Noire and James have been captured by Lastation soldiers…" Adam says
"What…? What do you mean…?" Uni asks now worried.
"It looks like they're treating them as members of AffimaX. They were placed on some kind of Wanted List. I couldn't believe it, but that's why I decided to contact you." Nepgear explains.
"I see… Thanks for the info, Nepgear." Uni thanks her now knowing what to do next.
"Uni, are you both possibly going to…?" Nepgear asks thinking she knows what they will do.
"Of course, we're going to save our older siblings." Uni says as she and Noble are now determined to accomplish their goal.
"It's too dangerous alone! You'll both be fighting the Basilicom- no, all of Lastation!" Nepgear warns them. "I know. Once we all meet up, we can…"
"That will be too long! However I'm sure that both of them predicted this, and that's why they had us escape." Noble explains. "That's why we are going to save them right now." The two set themselves as Noble pulls his hood on and they move onward. "This time we'll get you out without the others."
-Back with Noire and James now in the prison area-
The two have been taken to the prison cells area inside of the Basilicom.
"... I wonder how long we've been here…" Noire says sitting on the bed while James is laying down on the other bed and Noire's stomach growls. "Ugh… now that I think about it, I haven't eaten anything since I was brought here… Even if we're suspected of being members of AffimaX, they could at least give us some food."
"What is going on with my mind…? Why do I feel like… I'm trying to remember something…?" James asks in his thoughts strangely having some kind of memory about someone he had forgotten. While he was deep in his thoughts he heard the door opening and looked up and had someone hug him.
"James!" Noble says, really happy to see him.
"Noble?" James says confused then noticed Uni also. "Well then, I didn't expect this. You both have done it yet again."
"We got help from Nepgear and prepared to get you both out, now let's get out before someone finds out." Noble tells him and they hurry quickly as Noire wants to stop a war from happening. They head to the place and used a secret passage Noire set up long ago.
"... We really got inside. Maybe I'll use this again next time." Uni says
"It's only a matter of time until we're found, so gather as much intel as possible. Documents or anything you can get your hands on…" Noire explains
"I don't know who you are, but this area is restricted." A woman spoke up getting their attention.
"Shoot, they found us!" Noire says worried
"... So, it's you two. She didn't finish you both off… how unlike her." the woman says.
"Who are you?!" Uni asks
"I'm just a Basilicom staff member. Nothing more, nothing less." She tells her.
"Nothing more, nothing less" my ass. Yeah, that's not suspicious at all." Uni says not buying it.
"This was originally our Basilicom." Noire says
"That's right… it was, wasn't it?" the woman says and the two couldn't believe what they heard.
"Do you actually remember us…?" James asks the woman, as he is slightly disbelieving it.
"Why, yes, I do. Lastation's CPU and GPU, Black Heart, Black Knight, and your younger siblings." she tells them now giving him belief from her answer.
"I never expected to meet someone who'd remember us here. I'll get to the point; Is it true you're going to invade other nations?" Noire asks
"Your role as CPU of Lastation is in the past. I have no obligation to disclose information regarding official national affairs." She replied to Noire.
"Hah! With an answer like that, it is most definitely true. I don't know what your objective is, but stop this ridiculousness right now!" James demands.
"If war breaks out, all of the citizens will be in grave danger… imagine the number of casualties… doesn't this concern you?" Noire asks
"No, not in the slightest. This is a war we have heavily desired." she answered bluntly.
"Wait… is she part of…" Noble says and James wonders what he knows. "it's only a possibility, but she might be a part of a mercenary group that disbanded quite a while ago."
"Mercenary group?" Noire says confused.
"They were warmongers that fueled fighting by selling weapons and themselves." Uni explains which clicked from Noire and James' memory.
"Oh wait your right, now I remember. But that group should've disbanded such a long time ago…" James says slightly confused.
"It's true that the Order was destroyed, but those who remained gathered together and created an entirely new Order." The woman explains to them. "We have been hiding under the surface, waiting for a chance to create a war whenever it was needed."
"I get it… That's why you took over the Basilicom." Noire says understanding the situation.
"Correct. It's much faster to start a war by hijacking a nation's center. We were fortunate that this nation's Gold Third was indifferent to national affairs and left it up to the Basilicom. It created an opening for us." She explains to them.
"Tch… I can't believe guys like these would take advantage of us…" Noire says upset about the situation. "Lastation isn't a tool for you to wage wars!"
"Your words are pointless. We'll use whatever we can to make things happen." The woman tells them.
"Looks like you have no intention of stopping. I'll just have to stop you by force!" Uni says summoning her rifle.
"Hmph. What idiots. Don't you know you're completely surrounded?" The woman tells the four and about to call security until a large smoke bomb dropped and went off creating a distraction and someone drops from hanging from above.
"This way everyone!" A familiar woman's voice spoke as they can barely see her but decided to trust her and follow her.
"Curse you, I should have known you would become a traitor!" The Order woman said knowing who rescued them.
The group escapes the Basilicom and get to a place to chat for a bit.
"That was a close one." James says as he turns to the mysterious woman he has seen before. "I don't know who you are… but thanks for the help back there."
"My goodness James… have you really forgotten about little old me?" The woman asks turning to him and removing her shades and hat showing who she is.
"Y-You?! What are you doing helping us?!" James asks her surprised then is starting to get angry. "Do you think I'd ever forgive you after what you did to us?! Like hell I'd ever agree to even get help from you! So if you have a good reason for helping before I start getting aggressive and-" he stopped talking when Noire grabbed his arm and he looks at her.
"I can understand you are still angry about what I have done to you and the others… I might not be forgiven now, but to be honest I have seen the error of what I have caused and I wish to ask for your forgiveness." She tells them looking down with a sad expression.
"You're the one my brother talked about… doing the Saints Serum experiment right?" Noble asks her and she nods.
"Cassandra is my name… one point Vexon as one of my helpers had released me from prison and said I could continue my work in a different dimension. I did so over there until your DragonSlayer friend arrived, one point I used my new power on him and… a possibility I might have unleashed something deep inside him to go on a rampage." She explains
"Jeff always goes on a rampage, he is a powerful guy really." James tells her, still upset over the incident many years ago.
"No, I mean like he was some kind of monster as his eyes were much different… as like he was someone else…" Cassandra explains to them the other three looked concerned at what she means though James didn't buy it. "I worked as a spy to help you, I can give you places of the monsters they are trying to capture. I know you still don't trust me but I do promise that your friend has asked me to help in any way I can."
"That could help us bro, come on give her a chance at least." Noble says to his brother and James looks at him then at Cassandra slightly unsure about trusting her. He sighs seeming to be outvoted.
"Fine, but I won't trust you still after what you did." James tells her and she nods as they move onwards and look through some quests that are needed. Also they introduced K-Sha to Noble and Uni which surprised them of Noire having a friend. After some time James came to the apartment tired. "Man how exhausting that was just now… I need a nap." He lays down on the bed and falls asleep.
-James' Dream-
"Can you believe that they are making a serum that gives us different unique powers?" a female voice asks
"It's really amazing. With it we can keep the land safe from evil monsters! We would be heroes of the whole world!" A male voice replied
"Yea! Come on James! Lets go and have some fun together!" the female says grabbing the male's hand and running to a large room with headsets into a simulation.
-End-
James then wakes up from his dream and stares out the window wondering if that dream was some kind of connection.
"What was that about…?" He asks himself and sits up. "I must be thinking too much about what she did to us… I need to get it off my mind." While they searched for any possible places to find the strange monster, however they had no luck in finding any for a long while. Then K-Sha found out that there is a monster in a subway area and the soldiers went there to deal with it. The four hurry to the location and learn there are still people inside and they force themselves in from a soldier blocking the path and hurry quickly as they could to where the trapped people are at and the soldiers that haven't responded back. They fight off any monsters that get in their way and get to where a monster is attacking a citizen, and James strikes it distracting it as the others tell the civilians to escape while they deal with the monster.
Noble and Uni get some distance loading their guns and aim at the giant monster they are fighting now as Noire and James dodge it and strike it from the sides. The large monster swung its body at James smacking him away a small distance and by instinct he tossed a fire blast at it causing it to burn a bit. The monster notices Noire going towards it and the monster goes for a body slam attack which she barely gets out of the way, but gets knocked away from the shockwave. Noble and Uni shoot at it, and the monster almost went over to attack them if James didn't stab it in the back but some substance spews out and some got on his arm burning him.
"Gah!" he yelled in pain and he jumped off the monster and looked at his arm at where he felt the pain. "That was almost like acid there… looks like we gotta be extra careful from this one!" Noire and James were gonna have to be extra careful to not let any of the monster's blood drop on them otherwise it'll be deadly for them. The two struck it back and forth against it and later noticed it spewing out a lot of the acid and it needed to be finished quickly so James takes a stance holding his sword and it starts glowing and leaps at the monster and swings his sword vertically which cuts it completely in half and disappears. "Thank goodness, it's been taken care of…" Once everything was clear the four of them lead the group of people and the soldiers back out of the subway and people decided that they weren't criminals and Cassandra also came to clear their names at them being Organization members really just lies. With that both Noire and James finally could take a breather of being chased by the soldiers, however James was having these strange chills on his body for some reason.
End of Part 2 - Black Story