Me: "Hello again, fans and readers alike! For those of you wondering if this chapter was going to be about the party going to Celestia, well… no. I wanted to spend one more chapter building things up before we move on to the finale."
Heero and Neptune: (Enter IC) "As long as that old crone Arfoire doesn't take Heero from me again, I don't care how many more chapters there are. She's already cruisin' for a bruisin' cuz of last time!"
Heero: "I'm quite certain that such a scenario will not play out in the limited time that remains for this piece of written work."
Noire: (Enters IC from Lounge) "All the same, no more curve balls like that. At least not in this story."
Blanc: (Enters IC from Break Room) "...I'd also appreciate it if you didn't do anything like last time. We aren't getting anywhere fast in the story with that kind of crap happening."
Vert: (Enters IC from Game Room) "I would also like to vote against such a matter. My heart would be unable to handle such abuse again in such a short time."
Me: "Calm down. You guys are worrying over nothing. Now, before we go off on a complete random tangent or find ourselves talking about what has already happened, we gotta get this chapter underway. We're still not going right to Celestia, but we'll be there soon enough. This is just to finish setting things up for the remainder of the story."
Zero: (Materializes in IC) "That might be for the best. At least, in regards to Heero. He does have that chest wound after all."
Heero: "Don't remind me. Just moving is a chore."
Me: "Well, sure, there's that reason. But I had another reason for wanting to do this, but you'll have to read along with everyone else to know what that reason is. For now, let's get this chapter going. From the top, let's hear that disclaimer."
Heero, Neptune, Noire, Blanc, Vert, and Zero: "HeeroUzuki does not own Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, Hyperdimension Neptunia, Super Robot Wars, or any work pertaining to any of the franchises."
Me: "If only I did own these franchises. Oh well, a man can dream. Back to writing the next chapter, people. It's not gonna write itself."
Me, Heero, Neptune, Noire, Blanc, Vert, and Zero: (Leave IC)
Ch. 51 A Labour Of Love
It was the day following the party's attempt to relax and enjoy themselves after rescuing Heero, and after the 'stimulating' wake up they had received, the girls went about their early morning routine before convening in the downstairs living room to wait for the now conscious Gundam pilot.
Fifteen minutes had passed since Neptune and the others made themselves comfortable on the living room furniture, and not once in all the time they had been up had the other girls drop the subject of Neptune staying with an unclothed Heero. Blanc was still boiling mad over the fact that Planeptune's goddess had been left alone with the Gundam pilot, believing she had taken advantage of the boy while he slept, "Fess up, shit for brains! You did something to Heero while he was sleeping, didn't you?!"
From Neptune's perspective, Lowee's goddess was starting to sound like a broken record player with how frequently she badgered her over whether or not anything happened between her and Heero the previous day, "I'm not gonna do anything to Heero while he's all beat up! Why do you guys think I would?"
Noire remained unconvinced of the party leader's claims to innocence. In her mind, there was no way something uncouth didn't take place while the girls had gone out, "Yeah, you'd like us to believe that, wouldn't you? Sorry, but I get the impression you're lying."
Even Compa was having trouble trusting the claims of her leader, knowing that Planeptune's CPU had monopolized Heero's time more than once, and had spoken of having an 'M Rated scene' with the Gundam pilot on more than one occasion, "Nep-Nep, tell us the truth. Did you do anything indecent with Heero when we weren't around?"
Neptune felt betrayed by the nurse in training, unable to comprehend why she would side with the others on the matter, "You too, Compa? What, is the whole world out to stop me from being with my lover now?! Besides the really amazing kiss we had, Heero and I haven't done anything really romantic yet!"
Histoire found it difficult not to doubt the CPU of Planeptune's words given how she felt about the Perfect Soldier, "Neptune, I would like to believe you… But you've made it abundantly clear that you want your relationship with Heero to be a bit more… mature. (#゚ロ゚#)"
Before any more questions could be lobbed at the party's leader, a voice coming from the stairway grabbed the attention of everyone in the living room. Based on the tone of said voice, it seemed as though there was something of a heated debate going on, "Common sense dictates that you remain in bed until that wound heals."
It was quite obvious that Zero was speaking to Heero, and that the duo were making their way downstairs. The lone male party member was the first to arrive at the ground floor, with his partner not far behind. Heero was painfully aware that his chest wound was debilitating. In fact, his entire body was in such poor condition that simply walking was causing him pain. Unfortunately, there was to be no recuperation for the Gundam pilot.
Given how diligently Arfoire had worked to create monsters on one island, then jump to another to repeat the process. The former goddess had worked like clockwork towards her end goal of destroying Planeptune, a goal that had neared completion at an accelerated rate thanks to her control over Heero during those four days. "Common sense tends to go out the window during times of crisis. Right now, time is a luxury we don't have."
Clutching the projector and portable ZERO System, Heero did his best to ignore the constant pain of his injury, but Neptune was somehow able to see right through the Gundam pilot's attempt at hiding his discomfort. The party's leader immediately got up out of her seat on the couch and tried to dissuade Heero from going anywhere, "H-Hey, you shouldn't be going anywhere, Heero! You're still weak from having to do everything that mean old bitch Arfoire made you do!"
Having seen how bad the Gundam pilot's injury was firsthand, Compa wasn't keen on allowing the boy to exert himself in any way, shape or form either, "You were bleeding really bad when we brought you back two days ago. We don't want you to reopen that wound."
Two days. Hearing that he had been out of commission for two days was upsetting to Heero. Before now the party had no idea how long they had until Arfoire could enact her plan to destroy Gamindustri, but now Heero knew just how tight the time limit was… and half of that was spent unconscious, "...Then we have even less time than we already had."
Based on the teenaged soldier's choice of words, Zero surmised that he had come upon information that the party had not received before now, "I take it you know exactly how much time we have left to act before Arfoire executes her plan?"
Heero was aware and knew that the group of girls wasn't going to be thrilled to hear the answer. "During the time I was forced to do her dirty work, I made note of each area that we traveled to. By the time all of you showed up, after referencing our movements and the rate at which she had been producing the monsters, I came to the conclusion that we had four days left before she would have a force large enough to overwhelm the capital. Well… had. We now have only forty-eight hours left to stop Arfoire."
The girls were alarmed by the news. By now, each of them knew that they had to be on borrowed time given the number of monsters that were present during their rescue operation, but they hadn't anticipated to be this short on time. Today and tomorrow was all the time they had left to stop Arfoire, or Planeptune would fall to the former goddess and her legions of monsters.
From where Zero was standing, there was more to worry about beyond the two-day time limit the group was now facing. "As bad as that sounds, it will undoubtedly get worse. If Planeptune falls, Arfoire will be free to create monsters with impunity using the remains of this landmass as a staging area to launch attacks against Lastation, Lowee and Leanbox. With no one to disrupt her ability to create monsters in Planeptune, Arfoire will easily overwhelm the other three landmasses once she achieves victory here."
If Arfoire was allowed to succeed, then things would go downhill fast for Gamindustri. With the knowledge that they were short on time, Histoire pushed to have the party head for the land of the goddesses now and stop the fallen CPU as soon as possible, "Then there is no time to waste. We must go to Celestia and stop Arfoire before it's too late!"
Before anyone could get up, the holographic woman immediately shot down the idea, deeming it too reckless in the party's current state, "That is a terrible idea. Not only has the group not replenished the resources they used during the rescue operation, but they have also not had adequate time to rest. One night's sleep does not undo five nights of sleeplessness. On top of that, Heero has only just woken up, and is not exactly fit for combat at this time."
In an ideal world, the party would be well rested, fully supplied and Heero would be in good physical condition for their battle against Gamindustri's former goddess. The cold hard reality was that the girls were under prepared, physically drained and Heero was in terrible shape. Sending the party to Celestia in their current state would be a disaster just waiting to happen.
As much as Histoire wanted to deal with the immediate threat to the world, she couldn't ignore the facts. A brief retrospect of their most recent battle soon had the others thinking the same way. Unless they were just looking to get their asses kicked, going straight to the land of the goddesses wasn't a good idea.
Looking over the party, Zero could see it in their eyes that the girls were against going to their final battle against Arfoire right this instant. The group would have to go and face the former goddess tomorrow, that was an undeniable fact. But what they could do was use the twenty-four hours they had now making final preparations for what was to come. "We can't afford to send these girls to face Arfoire this instant, but we can at least prepare as best we can for when they do go."
An exchange of looks took place among the girls, followed by nods acknowledgment and agreement with the proposed idea. Casting a sidelong glance at Heero, the manifestation of the ZERO System knew that one thing that was still bothering the Perfect Soldier and aimed to have the party prove to him his worries were no longer warranted, "Besides, I think these girls would like Heero to see how far they've come in such a short time. Wouldn't you agree, Neptune?"
Neptune looked at the armored woman, who returned a knowing glance. Before he had been manipulated by Arfoire, Heero had wanted to test Neptune and the other goddesses to see how well… or poorly they worked together. Naturally, the four CPUs didn't work so well as a team at first, fighting one another more than the monster they were fighting for the sake of team building practice. It wasn't until they agreed to put aside their differences for Heero's sake and formed their alliance that Gamindustri's guardian goddesses made real progress regarding their abysmal level of cooperation; going from having no teamwork to speak of, to having something that resembled teamwork.
Recognizing that her human lover wasn't there to witness the change between herself and the other CPUs, it didn't take Planeptune's goddess long to figure out that the Gundam pilot was likely stressing out over under his usual facade. Wanting to put Heero's worries to rest, Neptune turned to the other members of the party while voicing her thoughts on what they should do, "Yeah, we were gonna practice our teamwork before Arfoire showed her ugly mug and took my Destined Lover from me! Now that we've got Heero back, we can show him our stupendous teamwork you guys!"
Blanc failed to see how the party leader could call their teamwork 'stupendous' when it was just above subpar, "...I don't see why you're lying. Everyone here knows that our teamwork is far from 'stupendous.' "
It wasn't just Blanc that was unwilling to sugarcoat the truth. Vert also saw their level of cooperation as being far from praiseworthy, "I see no reason not to tell the truth. Unless we receive outside help, our synergy will never be as great as it was last time."
Even Noire wasn't about to pretend as though things were all sunshine and rainbows between them now, even if their efforts during Heero's rescue weren't a total flop, "Anyone can see that we still have problems with one another. Don't try to pretend like everything is fine between us."
Neptune wasn't ignorant of the fact that their alliance was still shaky, but Planeptune's goddess had still been hoping that the other CPUs would at least pretend as though the relationships between them was more stable than it actually was, "...Why can't you guys lie for me? Just this once? Heero's right here."
Despite what the back and forth between the goddesses would have someone believe, the truth was that the four CPUs had worked together adequately enough the day before. The fact that Heero was there with them now was proof of that, and Compa tried to assure the Gundam pilot that the guardian goddesses could work as a team, "I know it might not seem like it, but Nep-Nep and the other goddesses really did work together as a team! ...Sort of."
Zero knew the girls weren't going to have much luck persuading Heero through words, which was why she deemed it necessary to have the CPUs demonstrate the change through action, "Actions speak louder than words. It will be easier to convince Heero by showing him the four of you can work together, rather than telling him."
Knowing that the Perfect Soldier wasn't going to relax until he saw something resembling teamwork between them, Neptune started ushering the other members of the party out the door, "C'mon you guys! We're gonna show Heero that our teamwork doesn't suck anymore! Like, right now!"
As they were being pushed toward the front door, Nisa pointed out that the girls hadn't eaten breakfast yet, which was a surprise since Neptune normally wouldn't pass up the opportunity to stuff her face, "So are we just going to ignore the fact that we haven't had breakfast? A heroine can't protect the citizens of Gamindustri on an empty stomach."
Before Neptune could give a verbal response to the Keeper of Justice, her stomach emitted a loud growl that brought the CPU to a halt. Rubbing her stomach, the party's leader decided to wait until after she had stuffed herself before they went out to have their exhibition battles against monsters to show Heero that the four goddesses could in fact work together. "New plan; we eat first, THEN we go find some monsters to beat up on so Heero can see that we don't suck."
Heeding their need for food, the girls made for the kitchen to prepare breakfast while Heero dropped into one of the chairs in the living room. Watching the Gundam pilot as he leaned back into the living room furniture, Zero inquired about the boy's physical state of being, "Aside from the obvious chest wound, how are you feeling?"
Every muscle in the Perfect Soldier's body was sore from the seventy-two straight hours of work Arfoire had subjected him to. Just the act of walking was a chore, and his injury wasn't making it any easier, "Sore. I can't say I've ever been subjected to combat for such an extended period of time like that."
Between his chest wound and the overexertion he had been subjected to under Arfoire, Zero knew that even if Heero spent the entire day resting he still wouldn't fully recover by the time the group needed to head to Celestia. Looking toward the kitchen, the manifestation of the ZERO System focused on the two members of the party with medical expertise. "Compa, Gust. Would the two of you mind tending to him?"
Compa and Gust had been waiting for the kitchen appliances to be made available when Zero had asked for their assistance. The nurse in training went around the food associated room gathering bandages, antibiotics and cotton swabs, while Gust pulled out the potion, she had made for the Gundam pilot earlier but had been unable to give to him because of reasons the other party members wouldn't elaborate on.
As the two girls gathered up what would be needed for the boy, Heero had his attention fixed on the holographic woman before him. He had been so caught up with the morning's events that he had only just realized that Zero was standing in front of him, which could only mean that the projector that the ZERO System had instructed him to build was functioning as intended.
The Gundam pilot's staring did not go unnoticed by Zero, knowing full well just why it was he was looking at her in the first place, "As you can see, the projector is operating normally. It's what has allowed me to communicate with the girls during your absence."
If the projector itself was working, then that just left the ZERO System installed in the device. Sensing that Heero was about to ask if the future predicting system had functioned properly, the holographic woman folded her arms while pointing over to Neptune, who was staring at the pan of bacon on the stove that Noire was tending to. "Neptune is something else. While I don't approve of how she was willing to give control over herself to the system, she handled herself quite well. With a little time, she could be taught to utilize the ZERO System as proficiently as you."
Heero felt bad about Neptune having to shoulder the burden of using the ZERO System. Sure, it may have saved his life, but the boy knew from experience what could happen when the user lost control over the system and knowing that Neptune had given control over to the system didn't make him feel any better. Taking a moment to look into the kitchen at the party's leader, the Gundam pilot inwardly expressed how he was impressed with the purplenette, "(Considering it was her first time and it was used during an actual battle, it seems Neptune was able to handle the ZERO System rather well.)"
As the Perfect Soldier watched the CPU of Planeptune scamper around the kitchen for her breakfast, Compa dropped the medicals supplies in her arms onto the coffee table before fixing her attention on Heero, "Time to change your bandages, Heero. I'll also need to put some disinfectant on that wound just in case."
From Heero's point of view, the nurse in training should be getting her breakfast before the party headed out to show the fruits of their labor regarding the CPUs teamwork. As fatigued as he was, the Gundam pilot felt that he was still capable of tending to his own injury, "Your assistance is appreciated, though I am able to treat this wound myse-"
Heero wasn't allowed to finish his sentence, as he was flicked on the forehead by Zero. The holographic woman knew better than to let the worn-out boy try to take care of himself, "No, you won't. These girls worked quite hard to bring you back, and it would be a slap in the face if you went and did something to get yourself killed. Like tearing that wound open trying to put on bandages. It's better to err on the side of caution, which is why Compa will take care of this."
Heero put a hand up to his forehead where he had been flicked, feeling a minor sting where he had been hit. Although he wanted to know how Zero had been able to hit him despite being a holographic projection, the pain in his chest was making it difficult to concentrate. Gust held out the potion she had mixed for the Gundam pilot, knowing that it would help alleviate the pain somewhat, "Gust would have made potion to fully heal injury, but reagents for potion are very rare. Would need to search all four landmasses to find."
A potion powerful enough to completely heal his injury but required synthesis materials from all four of Gamindustri's landmasses. Suffice it to say, the party wasn't going to be able to acquire the materials for it. Not with the stringent two-day time limit they now faced. Taking the vial presented to him by the young alchemist, Heero drank the liquid restorative and felt an almost immediate relief of his fatigue. Not all of it, but at least he wasn't quite so sore now.
With some of the soreness in his muscles alleviated the Gundam pilot removed his green tank top, knowing that Compa had been waiting for him to take it off so she could replace his bandages. Once Heero's chest was exposed, Compa went to work removing the used and bloodied bandages, "This has to be my best bandage work yet. It shouldn't take too long to get them off."
Compared to her attempts at bandaging when the party was first formed and began their journey, the nurse in training's ability to dress an injury had significantly improved. The bandages had been neatly layered over the wound to both cover it up and prevent anything from getting in it and were wrapped just tight enough to keep them from falling off, but not so much that they would cause discomfort.
As soon as the bandages were off, Compa grabbed a cotton ball from off the table, applied some peroxide to it, then dabbed the anti-bacterial coated ball against Heero's injury. It took half a minute for the pink haired girl to touch on and around the chest wound, and only once she had applied disinfectant to the injury in it's entirety did Compa apply a fresh bandage across Heero's chest. "I hope this turns out as well as last time. Let me know if I tie it too tight."
Heero's eyes accidentally peered down Compa's wool top and found himself looking at her chest a few times as the nurse in training loomed over him while trying to get the bandage roll around his back. The Gundam pilot could do nothing but sit and wait until the pink haired girl was done, doing his best not to look directly down the nurse in training's she saw the results of her handiwork a smile graced Compa's lips, feeling satisfied with her work, "It looks okay, but how do you feel? The bandages aren't too tight are they?"
Taking a moment to inspect himself, the Gundam pilot didn't feel restricted by the bandages in anyway, and they fit well enough to hug his body and cover up the wound on his chest, "There's no problem. The movement of my shoulder isn't restrained in anyway, and there is no added discomfort to my injury." Heero slipped his green tank top back on, finding nothing wrong with Compa's bandage work, "You've shown a definite improvement in your skills as a caregiver."
Compa was elated by the honest words of praise from the lone male party member. Even though they were in the same party, the nurse in training knew that Heero would have said something if she had messed up in some way. The fact that he didn't gave Compa reason to believe her skills as a nurse had improved. "Really? I've been worried that I haven't been improving much lately. But if you think so, then it must be true."
There was no questioning that Compa had improved over the course of their journey. Perhaps the reason she was unable to see the change in her skill level as a caregiver was because they had been too focused on saving Gamindustri from destruction for the nurse in training to notice. After examining himself, Heero realized that even with the improvements she had made, Compa alone couldn't have kept him from slipping to the other side. Gust had demonstrated her intimate knowledge of synthesis reagents by helping to sustain the Gundam pilot as the nurse in training had tended to his wound. And beyond that, the only reason he was even back here at the group's place of residence on Planeptune was due to the efforts of the entire party.
Looking back into the kitchen, a strange feeling came over Heero as he watched the girls that were responsible for saving his life. Even though Gamindustri was facing a major crisis, even though they could have gone straight to Celestia and faced the real Arfoire, the girls instead chose saving him over saving their world. Knowing that made the Gundam pilot… happy. He knew he shouldn't feel that way since it meant the people of Gamindustri were in danger, but the fact that these girls thought so much of him really got to Heero. There wasn't much he could do in his current state of health, but the Perfect Soldier still extended his thanks to the group, "I caused all of you considerable trouble over the past five days. You have my gratitude… for what little it's worth."
Neptune had still been trying to get at the bacon Noire was cooking when she heard the Gundam pilot express his gratitude, and found the expression of thanks to be unneeded, "You don't gotta thank us, Heero. It doesn't matter where or when, I'll always come running to save my Destined Lover!"
It wasn't just the party's leader that felt Heero didn't need to thank them. IF poked her head out from behind the cover of the refrigerator while holding a gallon of orange juice in her hand, "Don't sweat it. You've saved our lives a lot during this crazy adventure of ours. I mean, after the first two times it felt like you were just running up the score..."
Compa slipped into the Gundam pilot's field of view to voice her own opinion on the matter, "Nep-Nep and Iffy are right. We're a party. It's only natural that we help one another when we need it the most."
It was moments like this that Heero had to remind himself that he really couldn't compare these girls to normal people. They really were something else, "(They certainly are one-of-a-kind.)"
With his bandages replaced the Perfect Soldier stood up out of the chair he was in, but the moment he was standing at his full height, Heero's right leg began to buckle under his weight. Compa saw the boy start to fall backwards as a result and immediately tried to grab him, "B-Be careful! You're still not fully healed yet!"
The nurse in training meant to pull Heero back towards her so he wouldn't fall, but instead ended up falling down with the boy… and on top of him. Gust looked down at the Perfect Soldier and the pink haired girl with a slowly reddening face, her eyes cutting over to the kitchen when she heard a distinct lack of movement, "Gust senses trouble."
Everyone in the kitchen had stopped what they were doing when they heard Compa shouting and the subsequent thud of two people falling. What greeted the girls was the sight of Compa on top of Heero, engaged in an untidy kiss. Despite having kissed the boy twice now, Neptune still voiced her discontent over seeing another girl kiss Heero, "My first rival for Heero's love made her move while my guard was down! I knew Compa was being a little too quiet about wanting to do something with Heero. She was waiting for this exact moment to snatch a kiss from Heero while he was weak and couldn't defend himself!"
IF had been holding a carton of milk when she witnessed the events that culminated in what she saw before her. The brunette squeezed on the carton until she crushed it, causing the fastener to pop off and milk to spew out, "(I don't believe this! Now Compa managed to get a kiss from Heero?! Now I really wish I hadn't passed up all those chances I had before!)"
It took a moment for Compa to realize she was not only lying on top of Heero but kissing him as well. With her face as red as a tomato, the pink haired girl pushed herself off the Gundam pilot underneath her, quickly covering her mouth with both hands while trying to assure the boy that what had just transpired hadn't been her intention, "I-I-I'm sorry, Heero! I d-didn't mean for that to happen! Honestly!" Underneath Compa's hands a small smiling graced her lips as she replayed the kiss in her mind. "But… it did feel nice..."
Zero observed the looks of envy Compa was receiving before directing her attention to the cause of the incident, a knowing smile on her face, "You're rather popular, aren't you?"
Still feeling somewhat embarrassed over the unplanned kiss, Heero cast a frown at the hologram of his partner, "You're not helping." Hoping to forget what transpired and get something done at the same time, the Perfect Soldier stood back up without one of his legs falling out from under him this time and headed for the garage to work on his suits. "...I'll be in my workshop."
Heero ducked into his work place before the girls started getting onto the nurse in training for what they perceived as a cheap trick to get a kiss from the boy. Ignoring what was going on in the living room, the Gundam pilot focused his attention on the four suits that stood against the walls of his workspace. Holding out his hand, the discs associated with the power he had become reliant on since coming to Gamindustri appeared, and both the Wing Gundam and Gundam Epyon materialized in front of the boy.
Looking at the Wing Gundam, Heero vaguely remembered how the suit had appeared during the battle with Neptune and the party and had done so all on its own. How the Gundam had been able to do so was beyond the boy's ability to comprehend, as he was under Arfoire's control at the time and had no way of controlling it or any of the other suits in his possession.
After observing the Gundam that had protected the party's leader in his stead, the Gundam pilot shifted his gaze to the newest addition of his collection of suits, as well as the one in need of repairs after the battle with the CPUs. The Gundam Epyon was definitely not fit for combat at the moment, what with the damage Neptune inflicted to the external armor, the utterly crippled Sky Eye in the Gundam's chest, and the fact that Arfoire had been able to manipulate him through it. What would have been a powerful asset to the party had effectively been corrupted by their enemy and had to be rendered inoperable.
As Heero mulled over how he was going to repair and make the suit into a functional weapon that wouldn't turn around and try to kill the party, Neptune entered the garage with a plate of eggs, bacon and waffles in one hand and a piece of toast in the other. The CPU of Planeptune set down the plate of breakfast items on the garage workbench, scarfed down the toast in her hand, then promptly licked her fingers clean of the crumbs before approaching the boy and his small collection of suits, "Whatcha doing in here, Heero? You haven't eaten anything in days, you've gotta be hungry."
The Perfect Soldier wouldn't deny that he was hungry. Being stuck in the Epyon and not being allowed out of the suit for four days straight left the boy feeling quite famished. As much as Heero wanted to satisfy his bodily need for food, he wanted to look over the Epyon before he did anything else in order to verify the extent of the damage inflicted on it's chassis, and to determine whether or not it could still be used against the group, "I needed to verify if the Epyon was still a threat to us. The last thing we need is to be attacked in our own safe house."
While Neptune could understand Heero's need to be overly cautious, she didn't understand why he was so worried about the suit she had defeated. Histoire had already told the girls that Arfoire couldn't simply take control of Heero again given that the spell she used to do so required advanced preparation, and said former goddess was likely too busy creating more monsters to even bother with recreating the spell. "Histy said that we don't have to worry about Ardork controlling you again, since that really evil spell of hers takes time to use. And that old hag is probably too busy spawning monsters to do anything else."
Although the party had succeeded in stopping the Epyon, and the immediate threat it posed was over, it didn't change the fact that Arfoire had in fact taken control of both Heero and the suit of powered armor, and she could very well do it again if they weren't careful. "The fact remains that Arfoire was able to take control of this Gundam. The Epyon and its functions are compromised. Until I run a complete diagnostic of the suit and it's systems, we need to operate under the assumption that she can still use it against us."
Even though Neptune had broken the mind control over the red and black Gundam, there was no way to know for certain whether or not Arfoire's influence had been removed entirely. It seemed that the former goddess was doing everything she could to make the final stretch of the party's journey as hard as possible, which was to be expected, but was no less irritating to the party's leader, "We can't have anything nice because of her can we? Arfy has to ruin everything!"
Observing the CPU of Planeptune as she complained, Heero found his guilt over the purple haired girl using the ZERO System rush to the forefront of his mind. The future predicting system hadn't even been tested, and Neptune had been forced into a position where she had to use it with no experience at all. Compounding the boy's guilt was that she had given control of herself to the system. Heero knew from experience what could happen when the ZERO System had assumed control of the user and was just glad that Planeptune's goddess hadn't gone past the point of no return.
The Perfect Soldier approached Neptune and pulled her into his arms. Heero didn't care how well Neptune had used the future predicting system, not when he knew that he had been a burden both mentally and emotionally for her, which no doubt contributed to her voluntarily giving control of herself over to the ZERO System, "Sorry… I've caused you a lot of trouble while I was gone."
With her face now against Heero's chest, the rantings of Planeptune's CPU over the former goddess came to an abrupt end as her cheeks began to heat up. While still in the boy's embrace, Neptune lifted her head to look at Heero's face, shaking her head to dismiss the apology given to her. "You don't gotta be sorry for something that meanie Arfoire did. Besides, we're Destined Lovers. It's okay to cause a little trouble now and then. I mean, I'm pretty sure I caused you some trouble during this adventure."
There was no denying that Neptune had caused him trouble over the course of their journey and had been the source of a few headaches along the way. But Heero let those instances of trouble slide, since they had been brought about by the CPU of Planeptune's pursuit of doing what was right.
No, the trouble that the Gundam pilot had caused was because he had been complacent. Every battle the party had experienced against Arfoire had resulted in their victory, and the last battle before the ex-goddess took control of him saw the party with all four CPUs among their ranks. Given how the previous battles had played out against the former CPU, it was no wonder Heero had gotten careless.
To make matters worse, the Gundam pilot's charge had been stuck having to clean up the mess caused by his mistake, and nearly got herself killed doing so. One screw up nearly undid all of the effort the party had put into saving Gamindustri. Heero may have made mistakes before that had come with their own serious repercussions, but none had the same catastrophic effect that this last one did. Trying to set aside how he felt about his recent blunder so as not to worry Neptune, the Perfect Soldier brought up the CPU's usage of the ZERO System. "I was told that you handled the ZERO System rather well, despite the minor incident."
Planeptune's goddess rubbed the back of her head, knowing what 'minor incident' the boy had been referring to, "Yeah… sorry. Arfoire was being a real bitch, saying that you should've died and, uh… I kinda... couldn't control myself."
Heero was in no position to reprimand the CPU over her loss of control. He himself had been taken over by the ZERO System before. Hell, by the sound of it, the only reason she had lost control in the first place was because Arfoire kept poking and prodding at Neptune emotionally until she finally snapped. If anything, it sounded as though the goddess handled herself better than he did the first time he used the system. Given how well she had conducted herself up to the point she lost control, Heero felt that Neptune deserved some praise for her efforts. "I myself lost control over the ZERO System the first time I used it. All things considered, you did well."
The party's leader found it hard to believe that the boy in front of her had been taken control of by the future predicting system before, considering how infallible he always seemed to be. Then again, she knew Heero wasn't one to lie about such a serious matter, and Neptune had experienced for herself just how taxing the ZERO System was… and how it had urged her towards certain actions. After all, she had been a hair's width away from killing Arfoire. Knowing that she wasn't the only one to have lost it while using the ZERO System made the purple haired goddess feel better about what had transpired, but not by much. "I dunno if I'd say that. I had some pretty dark thoughts about what I'd do to Arfoire, and almost made her punch out on life. I wouldn't call that doing well."
Almost. Neptune almost killed Arfoire in cold blood but stopped short of following through on the act. And that was the important part. As much as the CPU of Planeptune had wanted to end the life of the fallen goddess, Neptune hadn't been so far gone that she couldn't be reached. And the fact that Heero had been able to get through to her before it was too late was proof enough that although she had been created from Arfoire, Neptune was nothing like the former goddess, "What matters isn't that you lost control. It's that you were able to stop before doing something you would regret. That alone makes you better than Arfoire."
Hearing the Gundam pilot profess how Planeptune's goddess was better than Arfoire simply because she didn't take the last step towards killing her was enough to lift the CPU's spirit. Heero or Neptune wordlessly looked into one another's eyes, feeling that there was something else they were supposed to talk about while they had this moment. However, before any more words could be exchanged, they were stopped by the feeling that they were being watched. Turning their attention to the open door, the pair found the rest of the party watching them. Silent, envious gazes were trained on Neptune as the girls imagined themselves being held by the Gundam pilot.
Neptune was annoyed by the looks she was getting from the other female members of the group and broke the silence before any of them had the chance, "What do you jerks want? Can't you see we're having a moment here? If you came to steal a kiss from Heero like Compa did, I'll Nep your faces!"
Vert was obviously not amused by the purplenette's threat of violence, or her attempt to monopolize the Gundam pilot's time. Rather than goad Neptune into physical violence, Leanbox's CPU instead stated the reasoning for the others being there just out of the workshop, "As much as we would like to indulge in such a display of affection, what we want is to be held by Heero like you are right now."
Upon hearing her Leanbox counterpart's justification, Noire immediately refuted the idea as her cheeks took on a deep red hue, "S-Speak for yourself! I only came over here because I don't trust Neptune alone with Heero. Who knows what she does to him when no one's watching?"
Blanc was looking at Planeptune's CPU with a great deal of skepticism, having a preconceived idea what the goddess did with the boy when no one was around, but not quite able to prove it, "...She probably takes advantage of him. At least, I wouldn't put it past her."
Setting aside the talk of what Neptune may have been doing with Heero when no one was around, Lyrica voiced the groups' discontent with their leader, "You almost always have Heero to yourself most of the time, and that's not fair! We want some time with him too." The cerulean haired singer cast a quick glance at Compa before returning her attention to the purple haired girl. "...Except Compa."
Compa had been in agreement with what was being said until Lyrica spoke of how she shouldn't get some time with the Gundam pilot. The nurse in training swiftly directed her gaze at the underground celebrity, bewilderment written all over her face, "How come you guys get to spend time with Heero, but I can't?"
From her perspective, IF believed the answer was pretty obvious why the pink haired girl's time with Heero was to be limited, "Why do you think? You got a kiss out of Heero."
Nisa started harping on Compa as well, believing that she had planned out the entire incident from moments ago and sought to monopolize Heero's time just as Neptune had been doing, "You've been given something that the rest of us haven't received ourselves. Considering we're supposed to be a group of like-minded heroes out to save Gamindustri, I speak for all of us when I say you must share the wealth!"
While the Keeper of Justice was talking about all of the girls getting more time with the Gundam pilot, Gust didn't want to get lumped in with them. Not just because she didn't view her relationship with Heero that way, but because the young alchemist saw nothing but trouble down that road, "Please leave Gust out of this. Nothing but trouble from what I can see."
Red didn't much care for how the details were hashed out, all that she cared about was the idea of getting more time with the boy, and perhaps one of her prospective wifeys, "I see my one and only hubby with one of my wifeys, and all I think is that I gotta get in on that!"
Seeing the disparity between Neptune and the other members of the group over Heero, Histoire felt it was only right that Planeptune's CPU commit to sharing the boy with the others. If nothing else, it would help keep the party, as well as the alliance between the CPUs together until Arfoire was stopped, "Now, Neptune. If you're to be a true leader for the group, then you must set a better example. It's only fair that you share your good fortune with the others. 。(*^▽^*)ゞ"
It went without saying that Neptune wasn't so keen on sharing her Destined Lover, even if the people she was to be sharing him with was her own party members. Sadly, the goddess knew she wouldn't be able to stave them all off and ultimately relented on the matter, if only because the girls still needed to work together until Arfoire had been dealt with, "Ugh, fiiiiine. Guess I gotta have Heero water the thirsty girls..."
Looks of annoyance formed on the faces of the other girls from Neptune's off-handed, rude remark that implied that they were desperate, and Blanc was the first voice her malcontent, "...Who the hell are you calling thirsty, you bitch?"
As one could have guessed, another round of arguing ensued that filled the air of the party's place of residence. Heero just stood and watched the girls as they had their shouting match over Neptune's slight. Under any other circumstances, the Gundam pilot would have been annoyed by this. But in this moment, he found it rather humorous, and even a little reassuring. He had actually come to miss the little spats the girls would have during the time he was gone, short as it was.
Entertaining as it was, Heero knew that he needed to stop the bickering so that the party didn't waste any more of what precious little time they had left, "Instead of arguing, all of you should focus on your breakfast. We don't have much time left before we need to deal with Arfoire, and if it is your intention to demonstrate effective teamwork, then you will need to be in the best possible condition before we head out."
Remembering that the CPUs still needed to show the results of their hard work, the girls dropped their arguing for the time being to take care of their morning routine. With the limited time they had remaining every second they had before the final encounter with Arfoire really did count, so the group of girls couldn't afford to screw around like usual. Any and all activities that the party engaged in during the next twenty-four hours, regardless of what they were, had to be with the intent of improving their chances of success.
As he watched the girls disappear from view, Heero found himself seriously questioning whether or not the goddesses could pull through and work together for the coming battle. The Perfect Soldier knew that he shouldn't harbor such a thought, given that he was there at the safe house and alive, instead of serving as Arfoire's glorified puppet. Unfortunately, Heero's had been heavily disoriented during the battle, and thus couldn't really gauge the effectiveness of the CPU's teamwork.
Sensing the boy's unease, Neptune tried to reassure the Gundam pilot that she and the other goddesses were no longer so distrustful of one another, "I know it might not seem like it, but the four of us really did work together! I mean, sure, we didn't get along at first when we started practicing, and everybody in the party had to help us stay focused… b-but when we thought about saving you, we really did fight like a team!"
Heero watched the purplenette as she tried to vouch for the other CPUs. Common sense was telling the boy that the goddesses couldn't have completely worked through their differences over the last few days, and that a significant amount of work was still needed to make them function effectively as a team. Despite what common sense was telling him, the Gundam pilot wanted to believe that Neptune was telling the truth and wasn't just sugarcoating things. He had to. Their world was at stake, and if the CPUs couldn't pull together at this critical moment, they were all going to pay for it.
For now, the Perfect Soldier chose to believe in the claims of Planeptune's goddess. After all, once they were done eating breakfast, the girls were going to prove those assertions to be true, "You'll have a chance to prove the effectiveness of your teamwork. After you've eaten, that is."
Neptune gently pried herself away from the boy before grabbed her plate of food with one hand, then grabbing Heero's hand in the other and started pulling the boy out of his workplace. "Then YOU have to come and eat something. There's no way I could go without eating as long as you did."
Xxx
Almost immediately after breakfast, the party gathered their gear and headed out for the demonstration of the CPU's teamwork. Due to the proliferation of monsters in the islands surrounding Planeptune, most of the areas that would have been 'safe' for the party to show the results of their team building were now anything but.
To avoid overextending the girls, and to keep the possibility of Heero doing something reckless to a minimum, Zero directed the party to one of the few remaining islands that wasn't a hotbed of monster activity. At least, not yet. Furthermore, the ZERO System recommended that the group conduct the exercise outside and in the open instead of in a dungeon, so that the party could beat a hasty retreat in the off-chance things went sideways.
The location for the display of the CPU's teamwork and coordination was a verdant green plain with trees dotting the landscape, and a lake in the distance. Neptune pulled the other CPUs to the side to address the reason they were there in the first place… their teamwork, "Okay you guys, this is our chance to show Heero we don't suck at working together. We can't mess this up, or he's not gonna chillax."
It was plainly clear to Blanc that they weren't going to get another chance to show an adequate level of teamwork with the limit time remaining. What she wanted to know was HOW they were supposed to come together on the matter, seeing as their alliance was still on somewhat shaky ground, "...And just how do you propose we go that? Do I need to remind you of how difficult it was for us not to kill each other last time?"
Vert remembered very clearly just how mentally strenuous the team building exercises had been, and it didn't help that it only been two days ago. Just the act of getting the goddesses to cooperate on run-of-the-mill monsters had been a trial all it's own with the four of them fighting the urge to cut, stab, bludgeon or strangle one another. The only reason the CPUs were able to pull through was because they focused on rescuing Heero above all else, but now that they had achieved that… there really wasn't much motivating the goddesses to better their teamwork, "I don't need any reminders of that. Nothing in all my life has been so draining, and now that my innocent Heero isn't being held against his will, we don't even have sufficient motivation to work together."
Neptune had seen such responses coming from a mile away, as she too had felt her motivation for working together wane somewhat. However, Planeptune's CPU knew that unless she and the other goddesses worked as a team, Heero would undoubtedly throw himself in danger to protect her again. Given the Gundam pilot's current state of health, the purplenette would do anything to prevent that from happening. For that reason, she was about to make a serious concession to secure the trust of the other CPUs, "I knew you guys weren't gonna come around just like that. That's why, and I can't believe I'm saying this, I want you to think about Heero."
Almost immediately after being told to think about the Perfect Soldier, blood rushed to Noire's cheeks before she tried to make the idea seem like a waste of time, "W-Why would I want to think about Heero? Your full of it if you believe that will actually work!"
Planeptune's goddess knew that Lastation CPU was already thinking about the lone male party member based on her answer and decided that this really was the best way to make the goddesses cooperate. Even if she didn't like the idea, she herself was proposing. "What I'm full of is love for my Destined Lover. It's why I'm allowing you guys to think about him without wanting to mess up your faces."
Looking over the trio before her, Neptune could still see the skepticism in their eyes. Simply telling them they could think about Heero wasn't enough. No, what Neptune needed was to get a little more specific with what she needed them to think about with regards to the Gundam pilot, "Look, I'm not an idiot like you guys seem to think I am. If we don't work together and I get in trouble, what do you think is gonna happen?"
Vert, Blanc and Noire were about to comment on how they very much thought the purplenette was an imbecile, until they took a moment to dwell on her last sentence and how it pertained to Heero. If Neptune were to get herself in trouble during the inevitable battle against Arfoire, Heero would undoubtedly do something reckless to protect her. In his diminished state, such an act would surely result in his death.
Seeing the change in the other goddesses' facial expressions was enough to tell Neptune that they had figured out where she was going with the conversation, and promptly pushed for them to work together just a little longer, "I know I'm asking a lot from you guys, but I wouldn't be asking if I could do this by myself. If you'll just work with me here, at least until we beat Arfoire, then I know we can pull this off! We'll save Gamindustri, but more importantly we'll save my Destined Lover! Don't you guys think Heero is worth all this work? You guys can go back to not liking me when this is all over. Or y'know… like me a little bit?"
Under any other circumstances, Neptune making sense would be startling. But given the situation, the seriousness from Planeptune's CPU was understandable. As long as the four guardian goddesses came together as a singular force for just a little longer, then the major threat posed by the rogue goddess could be quelled, and Heero wouldn't have to put himself at risk.
Recalling why it was that they had formed their alliance in the first place, Vert acquiesced to Neptune's request, "We agreed to put Heero above our own petty differences. It makes no sense to break this alliance now when the one who is responsible for the discord in Gamindustri has made herself known to us."
Blanc could not write off the alliance either, choosing instead to continue working with the other goddesses until they saw this through to the end, "...Fine. It would suck if Heero ended up dying because we decided to fall back into old habits."
Even Noire was willing to keep going with the cooperative agreement for Heero's sake, despite her proclivity to deny the Gundam pilot being her reason for continuing to side with the other CPUs, "I'm doing this to ensure that Lastation has a future, n-not because I like Heero or anything."
Having reached some kind of consensus, Neptune felt they were as ready as they were going to be for the display of their teamwork. Returning to the rest of the party, Planeptune's CPU flashed a thumbs-up to the group. "Alrighty, we're ready to go!"
Zero cast a quick glance over at Heero and saw a flash of uncertainty in his eyes. It was plain to see that the boy was having doubts over whether the goddesses really would cooperate with one another. Unlike the Gundam pilot, the ZERO System was confident the quartet would prove that his doubts were unfounded, "For this exercise, I believe it would be best to have the four of you pair off to start. Neptune and Noire will go first, followed by Blanc and Vert. From there you will swap teammates so that we can see if there are any teamwork related issues that still need to be ironed out. I'll allow the others in the group to provide support this time, should the need arise..."
Obviously, Zero was allowing the human members of the party to help the CPUs this time because no one in the group was functioning at their best and thought it best to err on the side of caution. Even though they now had the support of their teammates, Neptune felt they wouldn't need it. No, as long as the goddesses pulled together, they would be able to deal with the monsters in the area themselves. At least until they were able to show Heero that they could cooperate well enough to deal with the real threat to Gamindustri.
Being out in the open instead of a dungeon, Planeptune's CPU had a clear view of what kinds of monsters they would be dealing with. The purplenette scanned the area until she caught sight of a small group of four monsters not far from where the party was now. Neptune pointed at the monsters that she was singling out for the first demonstration of the CPUs' teamwork, "How bout those monsters right over there? They look to be tired of living."
Noire turned her attention over to the monsters she would be assisting Neptune in defeating. A group of four monsters consisting of an Imp, 'Orochi,' Night Beam, and a Jyaki were to be the unlucky first victims. None of them were particularly difficult to defeat and would make for a good warm-up for the rest of the exercise, "Fine. I could easily handle monsters like them on my own, but since the name of the game is teamwork, I guess I can let you help out."
Neptune wanted to point out that Noire was supposed to be the help but held her tongue to avoid causing discord before the fighting even started. After all, Heero was watching, and the last thing she wanted was for the boy to start stressing out. The CPUs of Planeptune and Lastation headed towards the monsters, and as they drew their weapons Neptune cast a sidelong glance at her Lastation counterpart. "Remember what I told ya, Noirey. Just think about Heero, and we should work together just fine."
The raven-haired CPU immediately turned her head in the opposite direction of the purplenette, cheeks burning at the idea of thinking about the Gundam pilot to improve their level of teamwork. "D-Do you hear yourself? Why would I need to think about Heero just to beat a few monsters? I can do that just fine as is!"
Planeptune's goddess couldn't believe she was having to go over this with Noire again. Coming to a complete stop, the purplenette took on an uncharacteristic seriousness and explained 'why' they needed to think about Heero, "After what that mean ol' bitch Arfoire did to him, Heero will be in real trouble if I don't work with you, Blanc and Vert. I know you still have problems with me, but I'm gonna ask that you stow 'em for now and think about what Heero needs. And what Heero needs is for us to act like besties going to a cosplay convention. Please, just… don't make me tell you to think about Heero again. I already don't like the idea of another girl thinking about my Destined Lover."
Hearing the otherwise lazy goddess of Planeptune speak so seriously was something Noire still wasn't used to. On top of that, Neptune was telling her to think about Heero, the person she tended to be rather combative over. Were it not for the fact that the world was literally coming to an end, the goddess of Lastation would never have believed what she was seeing and hearing out of her rival.
Casting a quick glance over at the boy in question, Noire knew that Heero was going to put himself in danger during the battle against Arfoire, unless she was able to work competently with Neptune, Blanc and Vert. Turning her attention to the monsters that were now aware of their presence and moving towards them, Lastation's CPU was set on dispelling the doubt from Heero's mind, "Just so we're clear, I know what's at stake. I'm doing this for Heero. Not because I care about him or anything. It's just that he's reckless, and you're an idiot. Who knows what kind of trouble he'll get into when you mess up."
It was more than a little obvious that Noire was just making excuses, but Neptune didn't really tsundere goddess could offer up every excuse under the sun and it wouldn't matter, just as long as she was willing to cooperate.
As the two CPUs finished hashing things out, Heero looked on with a feeling of dread. Would they truly cooperate with one another? Or was this to be an exercise in futility? Zero could sense the boy's feelings of unease, but felt they were misplaced, "You don't have any reason to be worried. Although they still have misgivings about one another, Neptune and the other CPUs have displayed rather effective teamwork. I'm quite certain they will be fine."
The Perfect Soldier cut a quick glance over at his partner as she vouched for the two goddesses, only to have his attention drawn to his left when Compa gently grasp his hand, "Please don't worry. I know things seemed bad between Nep-Nep and the other goddesses before, but they can get along! Kind of..."
While not the most inspiring choice of words, Heero knew that none of the girls could lie about the level of cooperation between the four goddesses. At least, not with the dire situation they faced now. Returning his attention to the duo of Neptune and Noire, Heero voiced his concern under his breath, "We'll see soon enough if they can..."
Once the two goddesses were done speaking amongst themselves, they returned their attention to the monsters that weren't far from them. Realizing that they didn't have an actual battle plan, Neptune picked out which monsters she would fight, and see how things went from there, "Okay, I'll beat up one eye and the squishy mage monster. Noirey, you get to fight the monster that can't decide if it's a turtle or bird or whatever, then we'll beat up the big guy. Sound good?"
Noire was rather surprised to hear Neptune state her intent to fight two of the monsters herself. As she was about to start questioning what her rival was planning, Lastation's goddess immediately halted that line of thinking. If she allowed herself to go down that paranoid rabbit hole now, Noire would start doubting not just Neptune, but Blanc and Vert as well, breaking what cohesion they had and adding to Heero's worries. If the alliance between the CPUs was going to work, she needed to trust her Planeptune counterpart to follow through on her end of this battle and not be so skeptical of her, "I could just as easily beat these monsters myself. But, since you're so insistent, I'll follow whatever it is you're planning for now."
With her self-proclaimed rival agreeing to the 'battle plan,' Neptune and Noire charged at the group of monsters. The party's leader made a beeline straight for the Night Beam, jumping over the Imp that had been in her path after determining the single-eyed creature to be less of a threat than the spindly monster that could attack from a distance.
As soon as it was clear the purplenette was heading right for it, the Night Beam charged an attack to throw the CPU off balance. Having already faced the monster before, Neptune had an idea of what to expect going into the battle. The moment the lanky monster launched the ball it had created, Planeptune's CPU slid across the grass on her knees while bending her back, watching the streams of harmful energy pass mere inches from her face with pursed lips.
Once out of harm's way, Neptune jumped back onto her feet and continued her mad dash toward the Night Beam. The monster had begun charging a second attack after the first, but the purplenette had finished running what distance remained and was not about to give her attacker a chance to make up for the failed attempt.
Clutching her katana with both hands, Neptune swung the sharp sword into the Night Beam's torso. The blade left a cut across the monster's abdomen that went deeper along the right side of the monster, with an exit wound along it's right flank. The moment her sword finished cutting through the right side of the Night Beam, Neptune skid to a halt before turning around and bringing her katana down across the monster's unprotected back.
Having faced the monster before, she knew how much of a hassle facing one could be and had not expected to dispose of it so quickly. Before she could get caught up in her quick victory over the annoying monster, Neptune found her attention going over to Noire as she cursed at the Orochi she was fighting.
The goddess of Lastation had launched an aggressive attack against the bulbous monster right from the beginning and continued to pressure the Orochito keep it on the defensive. Unfortunately, Noire was being a bit too aggressive, as her relentless attacks forced the Orochi into keeping its sword held up across its body, leaving the raven-haired girl unable to land anything besides glancing blows against the creature's tough hide. Noire was fast losing her patience with the monster that wouldn't leave itself open for her to claim a quick victory, "If you'd stop being difficult, I could end this quick and painlessly! So stop blocking!"
Neptune knew she could help out by simply running over and assisting Noire but had a feeling that her Lastation counterpart might not think much of her for doing so. The purplenette needed a way to aid her 'Destined Rival' that wouldn't result in said rival getting upset immediately after the assist. Looking around for something she could use, Neptune's gaze soon fell on the Imp that she had ignored.
After being passed over, the Imp had followed after Planeptune's goddess with the intent to attack her when she wasn't looking. But now, not only was she looking at it, the way she also seemed to bore holes into it made the one-eyed creature very uneasy. Without warning, Neptune ran at the pint-sized monster before it had a chance to act on its newfound thought of running away.
Before the Imp could even turn around, Planeptune's CPU leapt into the air and stompedon the spherical monster. With the small monster dazed from her full weight coming down on top of it, Neptune angled herself so that she was facing the direction of Noire and the Orochi. Taking a few steps back, the purplenette shouted at her party member in the hopes that she would be prepared for what was to come, "Head's up, Noire!"
Neptune ran up to the disoriented Imp and swiftly punted the creature toward her Lastation counterpart. For her part, Noire wasn't so caught up with her battle with the Orochi that she didn't hear the party's leader shouting at her. The raven-haired girl's facial expression changed from annoyed to confused as she looked over shoulder… which then turned to surprise as she observed the spherical mass heading towards her.
Noire ducked to avoid getting hit by the oncoming Imp, prompting the Orochi to stop defending itself now that it wasn't being accosted by Lastation's CPU. Raising its sword, the bird-turtle like creature intended to strike the raven-haired girl while she was off guard, only to be struck in the face by the airborne Imp. Noire quickly shot up from her kneeling position and thrust her sword toward the dazed monsters, skewering the Imp and piercing the Orochi's head, eliminating both creatures as a threat.
The goddess of Lastation took a moment to look over the two dead monsters before turning around to see Planeptune's CPU running up to her, and she was somewhat upset at the purplenette's decision to launch a monster at her, "Care to explain why you need to kick a monster at me? I thought we were supposed to be cooperating."
Neptune knew this was coming, but it was the preferable alternative to what would have been her go-to idea. At least this way she would be able to explain herself before Noire got really upset, "Well, I thought about running over and helping you out, but I thought that running in and kill-stealing the monsters would hurt your feelings, and then you'd be mad at me. So, I decided to use that super kick-able monster as a distraction or something. Besides, I thought you'd have no problem dodging it, Noire. Deep down, I know you're doing this for Heero cuz you like him, so you'll do whatever it takes to make him happy."
As she was about to complain to the party's leader, Noire had to pause when she heard Neptune justification for her decision. Neptune, her destined rival, had actually taken her feelings into consideration when she kicked the monster at her for a distraction? Moreover, did Neptune really trust in her abilities that much? Sure, it was for Heero's sake, but never in her wildest dreams did Noire imagine that her rival from Planeptune would put stock in her like this.
Moved as she was by the purple haired CPU's words, Noire had caught the last of what Neptune said, and it caused her cheeks to take on a bright red hue. "Wh-What's this about me liking Heero? I'm only doing this because he asked me to help you guys stop Arfoire!" Averting her gaze, Lastation's CPU swallowed her pride as she extended her thanks to her rival for her assistance, "Anyway, I could have dealt with that monster on my own, I'll have you know. But… thanks. I guess."
Just as their conversation began to die down, the two goddesses were taken by surprise when the blade of an axe slammed into the ground between them. It was then that Neptune remembered that there was still one more monster that needed to be dealt with, "Oh, right… still have to beat up the big, dumb one."
Noire got over her initial surprise from the unexpected attack, but then turned her surprise over to her rival from Planeptune, who somehow forgot that there was still the Jyaki to contend with, "How did you forget about THIS?!"
Evading a second attack from the large monster's axe, the two goddesses backed away with Noire questioning Neptune on what their plan was now. "Well then 'party leader,' what's the plan now?"
Ignoring the note of cynicism in her rival's voice, Neptune's first and only thought was to simply beat down the Jyaki from two sides. "Well, we could just beat up on the monster like we would any other? I go right and you go left?"
The black-haired CPU of Lastation just stared at Neptune as she processed her idea. An overly simple idea that was all about beating the monster with brute force. It was Noire's turn to heave an exasperated sigh, "I should've saw that coming. Fine. Let's just make it quick."
With a plan in place, the two girls ran toward opposite sides of the muscular creature. The Jyaki swung its axe horizontally in an effort to strike both CPU's at once. Neither goddess was deterred by the attack with Neptune jumping out of the way and Noire sliding across the ground underneath the axe head before continuing on their way.
The moment she was close enough, Neptune swung her katana at the hulking monster's left leg, leaving a deep cut that caused the Jyaki to collapse onto one knee. While the brute of a creature swung its left arm in a hopeless effort to injure the purplenette, Noire swung her sword at its right arm and succeeded in cutting the tendon located there, forcing the monster to drop the axe in its right hand.
With it increasingly apparent the Jyaki was on its metaphorical and literal last leg the pair of goddesses moved in for the kill, taking one last swipe at the monster. Both CPUs cut across the Jyaki's chest at the same time, severing what remained of the monster's ties to life. The grievous injury the large monster had just received proved to be too much, and it collapsed face first onto the ground lifeless.
Heero was surprised by the results of Neptune and Noire's cooperative efforts. He remembered the responses he had gotten from the goddesses on how they personally viewed one another prior to the impromptu training session that went awry, and their answers didn't inspire confidence. Yet here they were now showing adequate enough teamwork to defeat monsters without raising issues with one another. At least, no serious issues.
IF herself was pleasantly surprised with how the battle turned out, "I'll admit, I was a little concerned with the bickering they did before they started, but it looks like Nep and Noire are able to work as a team… somewhat."
Whereas Heero and IF were surprised, Compa was simply elated that the two goddesses were getting along, even if it was for the sake of fighting monsters, "I knew Nep-Nep and Noire could do it! I mean, they still argue… but that's just a sign that they're friends."
Unlike Heero, Compa and IF, Zero knew that the two goddesses would pull through and make a good showing, she was more curious to see Heero's reaction when they disproved his notion that they were going to be difficult about displaying even the most basic level of teamwork. Turning her attention back to the CPUs of Planeptune and Lastation, the manifestation of the ZERO System took note of a few approaching monsters that had been drawn by the sounds of combat, "(Looks like we won't even have to move for the next test.) That will suffice for the moment, the two of you can come back now."
Although they could plainly see the trio of oncoming monsters just over the dead Jyaki, Neptune and Noire heeded the instructions of the holographic woman and returned to the party as Zero advised the goddesses of Lowee and Leanbox of their exercise battle that was about to start. "Blanc, Vert, it's your turn. Your targets are, obviously, the three monsters approaching from the direction of Neptune and Noire. Just perform as well as you did during practice and the two of you should finish quickly enough."
Aside from a slight twitch in the corner of her mouth, Blanc maintained a poker face, while Vert offered up a nervous smile at the request, "As you wish. We will certainly try our best."
The duo of Neptune and Noire spared a passing glance at their Lowee and Leanbox counterparts and could tell that there was some tension between the two goddesses. Planeptune's goddess was having some doubts about the team-up between the two and sought Noire's counsel onthe matter, "(Hey, so… are they gonna be okay? I mean, we made this whole alliance for Heero and all, so things should be a bit more peachy… right?"
Noire couldn't believe the purple haired CPU was seriously asking such a question when the four of them had known each other for thousands of years, "(Is that a rhetorical question? I've lost count of how many times Vert has poked fun at Blanc's chest, among other things. The way I see it, she's walking on pretty thin ice right now.)"
There wasn't much that could be done about the personal issues between Blanc and Vert, other than to for the group to cross their fingers and hope they could keep it together for the time being. As they approached the monsters they were to face for a demonstration of their teamwork, the CPU of Leanbox felt it necessary to address the elephant in the room, "Blanc, before we begin, I feel that we should talk about, well… how we associated with one another in the past."
Lowee's CPU cut her eyes to look at the blonde-haired woman next to her before returning her attention to the oncoming monsters. Why she was bringing this discussion up now was beyond Blanc, and could do more harm than good, "...Is there some special reason you're bringing this up?"
From Vert's perspective, there was a good reason for this, and it happened to be the same reason that they formed their alliance in the first place. "Well, for this alliance between us to work, we need to form amicable ties. I realize that may be a bit difficult. You've said some things I did not appreciate. I have said a few things you take issue with. It is important that we work past them so that we may cooperate with one another."
Blanc felt another errant twitch in the corner of her mouth as her nemesis explained her reasoning for this discussion. She had said 'a few things' that Blanc took issue with? That was a massive understatement. Lowee's goddess had to put up with thousands of years of verbal abuse from the woman next to her, and to have the matter brought up was like opening an old wound. "Could you maybe NOT start talking about this? Isn't it enough that I'm tolerating you as is?"
It was precisely that attitude that led Leanbox's CPU to think that this talk was necessary. After all, how could they really work together when they merely tolerated one another? "I know you don't want to hear it, but I feel this is important. Looking back on it now I realize that my own conduct was unbecoming of a goddess, the way I poked fun at your chest… or lack thereof, and-"
Lowee's CPU had drawn her weapon in preparation for battle, and upon hearing Vert speak of her chest the ivory haired girl's face formed a frown as she tightened her grip on the sizable weapon out of anger, "...You're about one sentence away from your ass having an appointment with my hammer. Choose your words wisely."
Recognizing that her slip of the tongue made the situation more tense, Vert attempted to rectify her mistake, "Apologies, it wasn't my intention to offend you. I realize that having fought for centuries, overcoming our misgivings with one another is going to be very difficult, and we are likely to become enemies again once Arfoire has been dealt with." The odds of the four goddesses co-existing with one another as they did at present was unlikely to last, but while their alliance was in effect they needed to get along, despite how they treated each other in the past. "...However, until that time comes, I will strive to better my relations with you, Neptune and Noire. If for no other reason, this is for Heero's sake. For that, I wish to say… I'm sorry. For the way I tormented you before."
A not insignificant part of Blanc was very skeptical of Vert's apology, believing it to be a hollow gesture. But she couldn't deny that, like her, Leanbox's guardian CPU was willing to make concessions and at least attempt to remedy past grievances for the lone male party member. To not do the same would be no different than admitting that Vert was better than her. "Normally, I'd tell you to take your apology and cram it up your ass. But I'm not blind to the threat that Arfoire poses, or what kind of danger Heero will be in if I don't work with you. So I accept your apology… and I guess I owe you one as well for the name calling and angry outbursts."
Things weren't going to be perfect between them, but at the very least the goddesses of Lowee and Leanbox had reached some form of common ground. That was really all Vert could ask for from Blanc at present, and if she could work with Lowee's CPU, then it wouldn't be difficult to cooperate with Neptune and Noire. Yes, she would work them if it meant she could protect Leanbox, Gamindustri, and above all, Heero.
Brandishing her spear, Leanbox's goddess readied herself for the exercise battle. The monsters she was to be facing alongside Blanc were a Garuda, Valkyrie and an Automatic Cannon. Of the three monsters, the Valkyrie was the closest, as the Garuda was flying just out of reach of Blanc and Vert's weapons of choice, and the Automatic Cannon was more or less waddling towards the duo, and thus farther back.
Of the trio of monsters, Blanc saw the large bird as being the only real problem, "...Looks like we've gotta deal with a nuisance."
Vert was well aware that the flying monster was going to prove difficult without using HDD but felt that it would be a waste to levy their full power on the creature, "True, but I will not back down from a challenge such as this. If we work together, it should not take us long to dispose of these monsters."
With the Valkyrie fast approaching, the two goddesses didn't have much time to form a plan to deal with the monsters. Not content to simply wait for the humanoid monster to finish closing on them, Vert charged at the Valkyrie with Blanc in tow.
Once close enough the sword wielding monster lunged at Leanbox's with its blade, who responded by thrusting with her spear. The tips of the sword and spear collided, filling the air with the brief sound of clashing metal as the two weapons rebounded off one another. Taking advantage of Valkyrie's state of vulnerability caused by the colliding weapons, Blanc rushed in and quickly swung her large hammer at the humanoid monster.
The head of the blunt weapon found its mark, sending the humanoid creature flying onto it's back from the hit. Lowee's CPU clicked her tongue, dissatisfied with her attempt. "Tch. Damn..."
Vert failed to see why her Lowee counterpart was upset at first, but then took notice of the Valkyrie getting back onto its feet. Evidently, it would take more than a single strike to keep the monster down permanently. "If these monsters won't simply fall for us, we will just have to try a bit harder then."
A loud noise in the air drew the attention of the two CPUs, who looked up in time to see the Garuda diving towards them. Blanc and Vert dived to evade the giant bird monster, which then retreated back into the air after the failed attack. Vert was the first to recover from the sudden evasion but was then forced to defend herself from the Valkyrie that seemed intent on exacting some kind of revenge for the hit it took. Blanc was about to go aid the blonde-haired woman, when out of the corner of her eye she saw the Automatic Turret come to a stop with its gun barrel pointed at her, "Shit…!"
Once in position the automated weapon wasted no time in spitting lead into the air at Lowee's goddess. Still on her knees, Blanc held up her large hammer so that the head of her weapon was taking the bullets instead, cursing as she was forced to defend herself. "...Annoying little shit! If you think I'm just gone sit here and take this, you've got another thing coming!"
The irate goddess got back onto her feet and charged in the direction of the Automatic Cannon while continuing to use her hammer as a shield. Even with the CPU drawing closer and its spray of bullets doing nothing to stop her, the machine didn't stop firing. With her anger at its peak and having gotten close enough to the source of her mounting rage, Blanc leapt into the air with her hammer held overhead, "Suck it, you bastard!"
What sounded like an explosion filled the air as Blanc's hammer came down across the front of the Automatic Cannon, flattening the front end of the weapon and even caused some of the ground underneath to give-way from the impact. Lowee's CPU exhaled a breath she had been holding in once the matter of the automated weapon was dealt with, the majority of her anger dissipating along with it.
Before the ivory haired girl could revel in the small victory, she found her attention being pulled back over toward Vert, who was still locked in a battle with the Valkyrie and Garuda. Leanbox's goddess wasn't lacking in skill, and there were instances where she was set to land a decisive blow against the humanoid enemy that was starting to test her patience. However, every time it seemed as though Vert was prepared to end the battle, the Garuda would swoop down to try and land a hit, forcing the blonde goddess to give up her advantage in order to evade the attack, which put her right back on the defensive when the Valkyrie would try to capitalize on the situation.
Focusing her attention on the oversized bird circling in the air above Vert, Blanc decided now was as good a time as any to bring down the overly annoying creature. Looking at the battered Automatic Cannon in front of her, the CPU already figured out a way to do just that. "...Guess I'll be practicing my swing."
Walking over to the other side of the automaton, Blanc held her hammer down at an angle the way a golfer would hold a golf club. After positioning herself just right and adjusting her grip on the hammer, Blanc held her blunt weapon near the smoking remains of the Automatic Cannon, raised her hammer… then slowly brought it back down. She raised her hammer a second time, farther into the air than the first, the slowly brought it back down. The third time Blanc raised her hammer the head of the blunt weapon went just passed her head, and she had no intention of slowing down her swing this time, "...Fore."
Swiftly, and with all of the strength she could muster, Blanc swung her hammer and sent the wreckage of the Automatic Cannon sailing through the air toward the Garuda. The overgrown mammal had watched the battle between Vert and the Valkyrie waiting for an opportunity to attack Leanbox's CPU, when the creature was suddenly struck in the head by what was left of the broken automaton. A failed attempt to remain in the air ensued as the large bird plummeted from the sky, crashing into the ground behind Leanbox's CPU.
Without the bird of prey harassing her, Vert gave her undivided attention to the armored humanoid monster. The goddess parried another attack from the Valkyrie before letting go of her spear at the same time she ducked under a sword swing from the monster, and at the same time drew her revolver from behind her back and shot at fired a single shot at the female monster. Although it had taken a swing at the CPU, the Valkyrie had enough time to bring its sword up to block the bullet, but it was of no consequence to Vert. The CPU didn't expect nor plan for the bullet to hit, merely force the monster to defend itself prematurely so that she could strike the side of it's body that wasn't being protected.
Vert quickly grabbed her spear before it could hit then ground, then immediately thrust the sharp tipped weapon into the Valkyrie's left torso. The monster tried to strike back at the CPU, but instead dropped its sword while slumping forward having lost the strength to keep moving. After verifying her aggressor was no longer alive, Vert withdrew her spear, only to turn around and plunge it into the neck of the Garuda behind her. A shrill shriek escaped from the disoriented bird before it to fell dead to the lancer's attack.
Blanc walked back over to her Leanbox counterpart as she pulled her spear out of the deceased monster. For as much as the two CPUs had fought one another in the past, their battle against the monsters went surprisingly well, "...You're not as useless as I pegged you for."
The blonde-haired lancer swung her spear in a downward motion to clean the blood off her weapon, commenting on her own slightly changed opinion of Lowee's CPU, "And you're not as incapable of helping others as I had taken you for."
Over with the rest of the party, Noire was unable to hide her surprise. She couldn't hear any of the exchange between the goddesses of Lowee and Leanbox, and that was what she found so shocking, "So did hell freeze over or something? They're not shouting at each other."
Neptune was also taken by surprise by the lack of name calling and profanity, "I thought for sure Blanc was gonna swear so much that our readers' ears fell off."
It was surprising not to hear the two CPUs on the warpath, but it was a welcome surprise. As well, it was one less source of worry for Heero. If the two of them could cooperate, and combination of CPUs should produce sufficient levels of teamwork as well… hopefully.
When the goddesses of Lowee and Leanbox reconvened with the party Nisa couldn't help but break into one of her heroic spiels, "Where once they were bitter enemies, Lady White Heart and Lady Green Heart make for a formidable team when the fate of the world is at stake."
Much like every other time before, Lyrica questioned the heroine's logic, seeing as it could apply to others besides the two formerly warring CPUs, "Nisa, don't you think you're over exaggerating? Again? I mean, that could apply to Neptune and Noire. Or any of us, for that matter."
Having witnessed a satisfactory display of cooperation between the two goddesses that, by all accounts, shouldn't have done as well as they did, Zero wanted to see if Neptune could function as well with them as she had with Noire, "We're halfway through with the exercises. For the next exercise, I want Neptune and Blanc to form a team so we can see their synergy." Scanning the area, the armored woman searched for suitable monsters for the pair to battle until she found a manageable group of three; a Zephyranthes, Fenrir and a Tadpole. "Those three should suffice."
Neptune followed the holographic woman's gaze to see the trio of monsters that she would be cooperating with her Lowee counterpart to defeat. Displaying unusual zeal, Planeptune's goddess was more than willing to get back to fighting monsters for Heero to see, "Okie-dokie! Blanc and I can do this, no sweat!"
Blanc wasn't as optimistic about working together as the party's leader but decided to give it a chance anyway. After all, she had just worked with the CPU that had served as her nemesis for over a thousand years. If Lowee's goddess could work with her, then she could tolerate Neptune as well, "...Fine."
With Planeptune and Lowee's goddesses out in front, the party headed towards the monsters that would serve as the test for Neptune and Blanc's level of teamwork. As they drew closer to the hapless creatures, Lyrica wasn't sure just what to expect from the two CPU cooperating, and so deferred to IF to get her opinion on the matter, "So… what do you think? Can they actually work together? And be honest..."
IF could understand the cerulean haired girl's skepticism, as Blanc had made it apparent that she didn't think too much of Neptune, but there was also the fact that Lowee's goddess didn't view her a bitter rival like she did with Vert, "Well, speaking honestly, you could probably flip a coin on this one. Before you and the others joined the party, we had a couple of run-ins with Blanc both in her human and goddess forms. She really didn't seem to like Neptune at the time. But she hasn't been as difficult as of late. At least she doesn't hate Nep as much as she does Lady Green Heart… so there's reason to hold out hope."
There was a fifty-fifty chance that things could go wrong between the two CPUs, and Lyrica did not like those odds. Unlike the songstress in front of her, Gust wasn't so worried, "Gust understands why Lyrica is worried. Goddesses have fought for long time. But Gust believes Neptune and Blanc be friends and fight together for Gamindustri."
It wasn't long before the party reached the third group of monsters, and the difference in attitude between Planeptune and Lowee's goddesses couldn't be more apparent. Whereas Neptune was raring to go, Blanc was stone faced and uninterested. Looking to her right, the party leader saw how unenthusiastic her battle partner was and sought to change her state of mind, "Blanc, you know we gotta work together to beat up these monsters, right?"
There was no response from the ivory haired girl, but Neptune knew that she heard her. Not wanting to go into battle with an unresponsive and possibly uncommitted goddess, the purple haired girl tried to motivate her ally. "I know you don't think much of me, but this is our chance to impress Heero and reboot our friendship at the same time!"
Blanc twisted her neck to look at the bubbly girl next to her, and although she didn't say anything, the CPU's mouth moved to say the word 'what?' Seeing that she got a response, Neptune kept pushing for something that resembled a commitment out of her, "We've been all 'Grrr!' and fighting each other for a long time, and it's been like one really bad book no one wants to read. But now, we have a chance at a do-over of that book, and we can make it super amazing! I'm like the Part One that gets people hooked into reading it, and now we just need a Part Two to keep the good times going!" Turning to face Lowee's goddess, Neptune put her hands on Blanc's shoulders while offering up a beaming smile. "Will you be the Part Two to my Part One, Blanc?"
The goddess of Lowee just stared at the purplenette, trying to make sense of the gibberish that had come out of her mouth. Unsurprisingly, Blanc couldn't figure out just what it was Neptune had just said, "...The hell kind of simile is that?!"
It wasn't as if the ivory haired girl didn't understand what Neptune had tried to say, she got the gist of it. But what had come out of the purplenette's mouth had clearly made more sense in her head, and Blanc was under the suspicion that if she tried to make any actual sense out of it, her brain would fry. Directing her attention back toward the monsters, the goddess of Lowee stated what she got out of the purplenette's words. "...Look, we just have to kick the shit outta these monsters by working together, right? As long as you don't fuck around, we should be fine."
While not the greatest response, Neptune got what she wanted out of her fellow deity. Drawing their weapons once more, the goddesses of Planeptune and Lowee ran to get the jump on the monsters while their backs were turned. Although the plan was to take the initiative, the Fenrir caught the scent of both CPUs and swiftly turned to face what it determined to be hostile to its existence. Once the canine-like creature started growling, both the Zephyranthes and Tadpole turned to see what had garnered the carnivore's attention.
Having been spotted before they could get close, Neptune consulted with her ally on how they should approach the battle now, "Okay, so the monsters kinda spotted us… do we change the plan?"
Blanc didn't remember them even discussing a plan to begin with, and it didn't really make sense to try and think one up now, "...Like I said, we just gotta kick the shit out of these monsters. Don't think, just do what you normally do and swing that sword like an idiot!"
Both goddesses continued their charge toward the monsters, even as the Fenrir sped towards them with a hungry look in its eyes. The wolf monster set its sights on Neptune and immediately lunged for the CPU once it was close enough, but instead of getting a mouthful of the purplenette it had its mouth around the head of Blanc's hammer, having intercepted the monster. Lifting her hammer over her head, the goddess of Lowee brought her blunt weapon down and sent the Fenrir onto it's back with a few broken fangs.
The severely battered Fenrir had only gotten as far as getting back onto its forefeet when Neptune delivered the finishing blow to the monster, cutting across its exposed side. Neptune flashed a thumbs-up at the ivory haired girl to state her approval of how they handled the monster. "That monster would've taken a huge bite outta this Nepperoni. Way to be a team player, Blanc!"
Lowee's goddess rolled her eyes at the purplenette, finding the way she referred to herself to be quite ridicules, "...Whatever."
Because she had been distracted by Neptune's words of praise, Blanc failed to notice the plant vines from the Zephyranthes slithering across the ground towards her until they had ensnared her right arm. With her hammer arm restrained, the hat wearing goddess could do nothing except use her free arm to shield herself from the plant monster whipping her with its other vines. "Fucking prick…! Taking cheap shots at me when I'm not looking!"
Seeing the dire straits her ally was in, Planeptune's CPU ran in and cut apart the vines that were keeping Blanc restrained. It took a few swings from Neptune's katana to clear the pesky greenery, but it wasn't long before the vines were lying on the ground lifeless. Before the party leader could go in for the kill, the sound of angry swearing approaching from behind drew her attention. Looking over her shoulder, Neptune found a very irate Blanc heading in her direction with her hammer primed to swing, "You little shit, I'll teach you to blindside me!"
Not wanting to be on the receiving end of an anger fueled attack, Neptune quickly jumped out of the way as Lowee's goddess skid to a halt in front of the Zephyranthes. In one mighty swing the plant monster was sent flying a great distance away. Planeptune's goddess watched as the monster grew smaller until it seemingly disappeared from view. Turning her attention to the goddess responsible for the monster's sudden disappearance, Neptune waited until Blanc had calmed down before speaking to her, "...You feel better?"
Blanc needed a moment of deep breathing before her rage settled. It wasn't that the hits she suffered were painful, she simply didn't like getting hit and being unable to do anything about it. Once she was no longer seeing red, the ivory haired girl responded to Neptune's inquiry, "...Now I am." Realizing that she had only gotten out of her predicament because of Neptune, Lowee's goddess wanted to know why the CPU of Planeptune had been so quick to respond. "...Why did were you so quick to help me? I know we're supposed to be beating down monsters, but that doesn't necessarily mean we need to save one another."
Neptune couldn't understand why Blanc didn't see the reason for her actions. Hell, they had been over it before the exercise battles started. "Why do you think? I can't leave my battle buddy to fend for herself! That would be all kinds of uncool. Besides, it's what Heero would want. Isn't that reason enough?"
Although she had heard the purplenette's justification before, Blanc didn't think she had meant it. To hear it now after Neptune acted to aid her was enough to inform the hammer wielding goddess that her Planeptune counterpart was quite serious. As the two girls had their heart to heart, Neptune noticed that it suddenly got dark. At first she thought that maybe a storm was passing overhead, but when she noticed that the shade, she was suddenly under didn't extend to her fellow CPU, the purplenette turned her gaze skyward to see what was causing it.
What the party's leader saw was the Tadpole that the duo had not dealt with as of yet. How the monster had been able to get into the air as it had was anyone's guess, but what was clear was that it was falling down. Towards her.
Not wanting to be flatten, Neptune dove to get out of the way as the bulbous creature slammed into the ground where she had been standing. Blanc was momentarily surprised by the monster crashing down in front of her before returning to her normally impassive facial expression when the Tadpole turned around to go after Neptune again.
Planeptune's goddess was forced to jump out of the way of the monster once more as it aimed to crush her. After successfully evading the attack, Neptune took off running while shouting over her shoulder at Blanc, "Blanc! Help is needed!"
Blanc watched as the Tadpole continued to chase after the purple haired girl, still trying to crush her beneath its large frame. As she watched Neptune run away from the monster, Lowee's CPU couldn't help but dwell on the purplenette's reasoning for helping her. Just because it was what Heero wanted, Neptune helped her. If the situation had been reversed, would she have done the same for her Planeptune counterpart? Blanc wasn't so sure she would have, until Neptune reminded her of why they were doing this in the first place. It angered goddess of Lowee that she wasn't willing to be so forth coming with aid for the party's leader, because it meant being unfit to be around the Gundam pilot.
Now that the situation was a reverse of what had happened, Blanc would endeavor to do the same as her rival from Planeptune. Heero was watching, and she couldn't stand the idea of being seen as lacking in his eyes. After another scream for support from the party leader, Blanc sought to prove that she wasn't inferior to the other CPUs. That she could be counted on to work with them for the sake of Heero and the world. Tightening her grip on her hammer, Lowee's goddess chased after the monster that was insistent upon crushing Planeptune's CPU, "...Don't get your panties in a wad, I've got this!"
While Blanc was trying to aid Neptune by getting rid of the monster, her attempts were met with unfavorable results. Every time the hammer wielding goddess tried to take a swing at the Tadpole, it jumped back into the air to try and land on Neptune, which prompted the party's leader to continue running away. Lowee's CPU was fast becoming frustrated with the monster that refused to remain on the ground long enough for her to land a hit. "Hold still damn you!"
The rest of the party watched the haphazard display, wondering just how the CPUs went from a near quick sweep of the enemies to a slow finish to put down the last monster of the trio. Compa was hoping that Neptune and Blanc would cut down the monsters quickly so that there would be a good example of the goddesses working together to alleviate Heero's worries, but now that it had devolved into what was playing out before them the nurse in training was afraid that it would only exacerbate those worries, "Oh no… and they were doing so well before."
Lyrica herself had expected a problem to arise that would make the task a bit more time consuming but was grateful that the reason was because a monster was simply being difficult and not because the two CPUs slipped back into old habits, "Look on the bright side… at least they're not fighting each other."
As for Noire and Vert, they had been moderately surprised by Neptune and Blanc's cooperation at first, only for Lastation's CPU to be disappointed with the example that they were setting, "What are those two doing? They should hurry up and kill it already!"
Vert was dismayed at the poor showing taking place before them, worried about how Heero would perceive the dismal effort before them, "My poor Heero has enough to worry about as it is. He should not have to see this."
Although it was somewhat distressing to watch, Heero was grateful that Neptune and Blanc had at least focused on fighting the monsters over one another. That was really all he could ask for now so close to the final battle.
After a minute of being chased around, Neptune was finally fed up with running from a monster that she was there to slay for the purpose of proving to the party's lone male member that her level of teamwork with the other CPUs wasn't abysmal. Planeptune's goddess spun around and swung her sword, hoping to do away with the Tadpole that was hellbent on crushing her, "Ugh! Stop chasing me you jerk!"
While her attack didn't achieve the results she wanted, Neptune did succeed in halting the bulbous monster's movements long enough for Blanc to land a decisive blow. A single overhead strike from the CPU's hammer was enough to incapacitate the Tadpole, but the creature was not allowed to remain in such a state, as Neptune delivered a vertical cut across its face.
With the monster now dead, Neptune stopped to take a few haggard breathes. She hadn't planned on exerting herself so much, but of course the monster had to make her work for the win. Even as she tried to catch her breath, Planeptune's goddess found time to rant at the now dead monster, "Cute girls… aren't supposed to... work so hard!"
Upon noticing the lack of a response from her ally, Neptune directed her attention to her Lowee counterpart to see her looking down at the ground, her body trembling. The purplenette was about to ask if something was wrong when Blanc suddenly started shouting, "Damnit! Wasn't that too quick?! Let me enjoy it a little!"
And there it was, the seemingly obligatory shouting and swearing. Apparently, Blanc wanted to drag out the battle and was now frustrated that it was over so quickly. Neptune was just glad that Lowee's goddess wasn't angry with her for once. "Umm… I'm sorry? I guess? Wait, why am I saying sorry?This is all that monster's fault!"
Nisa had been a little worried when Lowee's CPU started shouting, believing that she had fallen back into the habit of getting angry with her fellow deities. When it was clear that was not the case, the Keeper of Justice heaved a sigh of relief, "For a moment, I thought our leader might have done something wrong. Could we maybe ask Blanc to ease up on the angry shouting?"
Red had her own ideas for why the ivory haired girl was venting. And of course, her ideas were off the mark, "Hmm… maybe Blanc's hungry? I mean, Nep gets pretty cranky when she hasn't eaten. Or maybe she thought of the greatest joke in the world, and that monster made her forget? Or maybe she thought about being my wifey, but that monster made her reconsider?!"
Ignoring the baseless speculation of the red head, IF was just glad to two goddesses didn't start fighting once the battle was over, "As long as they cooperate, I don't care if she shouts and swears. At least not too much."
While the party was expressing their appreciation for the lack of infighting, Neptune approached Blanc, who had just finished her angry rant. Lowee's goddess only noticed the purplenette when she was standing right next to her, and before she could even ask what it was that the party's leader wanted, Neptune held out her right hand, "Put 'er there, buddy!"
Blanc looked at Neptune's hand before redirecting her attention to the girl's face. Clearly the CPU from Lowee didn't understand what was going on, so Planeptune's CPU explained the meaning for the hand she was offering, "I know you're not super thrilled about working with me and the other goddesses. I mean, I'm not excited about it myself. But I know you guys are still doing this for the same reasons I am. Saving Gamindustri and protecting Heero. We might not be partying together forever, but I'll still try to be the best part leader and battle buddy you've ever had!"
Lowee's goddess didn't remember ever acknowledging the purple haired girl in front of her as the group's leader but held her tongue. The only way they were beating Arfoire and keeping Heero from doing anything reckless was by getting along, which meant accepting the gesture of camaraderie and not starting an argument over such a trivial matter as who was party leader. Slowly, the ivory haired girl raised her right hand toward Neptune's. As she was about to take hold of the hand offered to her, Blanc hesitated for a moment, unsure of whether to accept the gesture or not.
Seeing her Lowee counterpart hesitate compelled Neptune to reach over and grab Blanc's hand before shaking it. It might not have been much, but Planeptune's CPU wanted the relationship between them to be as stable as possible before they faced Arfoire. "I'm counting on you to help me out here. Let's do our best for Heero, okay?"
As soon as Neptune let go of her, Blanc looked at her hand. It was strange to be told by one of the CPUs she had fought and eyed with suspicion for the past thousand years that she was counting on her. It was strange… but not necessarily in a bad way. Hell, it was better than having to constantly look over her shoulder wondering if and when one of her counterparts from the other landmasses were going to try and pull a fast one on her.
Having observed Neptune's sincere attempt at fostering better relations with Blanc, Histoire had a real sense of hope that the goddesses would mend their ways and move Gamindustri as a whole towards lasting peace, "As long as Neptune is sincere about building better relations with them, I have no doubt Vert, Blanc and Noire will work with her towards building their rapport with each other. (*^▽^*)"
Once the two goddesses rejoined the party Zero scanned the area for a group of monsters that would act as the fourth and final exercise, "We will have Neptune conduct one more exercise, this time with Vert. It might seem unnecessary, but I feel it prudent to measure their synergy, even if it seems as though it will take less effort for them to cooperate than any other combination of CPUs."
It wasn't until the ZERO System had mentioned the next battle being the last exercise that Compa noticed that of the goddess, Neptune was the one having to participate the most, "Mrs. Z? Why is Nep-Nep having to fight more than the other goddesses? Shouldn't they be mixing and matching more?"
Setting aside the way the nurse in training seemed to refer to Gamindustri's highest beings as though they were pieces of a children's toy, IF was curious why the party's leader needed to be tested more than the other CPUs, "Compa's got a point. Not that I'm against it or anything, but I'm curious why our 'venerable' leader needs to work more than the other goddesses."
Zero didn't want anyone in the group getting the misconceived idea that that she was picking on Neptune or the like, so addressed the question before it became a concern, "There are two reasons why I'm having Neptune participate in battle more than the other CPUs. The first is that we've already tested them with their greatest sources of irritation. In Noire's case, Neptune is the source of her ire, while for Blanc, Vert holds that dubious distinction."
Blanc being irritated by Vert was obvious, everyone in the party could see that. What Neptune couldn't understand was why Noire took issue with her, "What? Noire still has a problem with me?" Planeptune's goddess grabbed Noire by her upper arms and started shaking her back and forth. "Why? What have I done to offend?"
Noire was starting to get annoyed with the purplenette precisely because of what she was doing in that instant. The raven-haired CPU smacked away Neptune's hands while explaining 'why' she was irritated with her, "For this reason right here, you dipstick! Whenever you don't get your way, you whine, complain and throw a tantrum until you do!"
To avoid the two CPUs getting into a full-blown argument, Zero stopped the girls by getting the discussion back on topic, "Despite the issues they still have, Noire and Blanc have shown that they can in fact work with Neptune and Vert. That they are able to is proof enough that interchanging which CPU they work with will not diminish their overall level of teamwork. As for the second reason, Neptune needs to set an example as the leader of the group. If she can work with the other CPUs while keeping discord to a minimum, they will in turn work towards similar amicability. Otherwise, they would risk being viewed as inferior to Neptune, and their pride wouldn't allow for that."
For Vert, Blanc and Noire, to be seen as inferior to Neptune would be the insult of all insult. A shame that could never be lived down. Doubly so since Heero was there watching. To avoid such a scenario, the trio would cooperate with their Planeptune counterpart, as well as one another.
After hearing the explanation herself, Nisa could understand why it was so important for their leader to participate more than the other CPUs, and even support the idea, "A truly righteous leader must stand at the front and be a shining example for all of her team to follow. I know she may be tired, but Neptune must do this! For us, as well as Gamindustri!"
Being told that she had to fight monsters again made Neptune feel drained, but she would endeavor to see this through. After all, she only had to fight one more time, and it would be with the most agreeable of the trio, "As long as this is the last one, then fine."
Heero could see that Planeptune's CPU was starting to feel taxed from fighting on little sleep, if Zero had been correct when she stated that the girls had been having restless nights during his absence. Despite the limited energy they had, the goddesses were still exhibiting a level of cooperation that was better than the boy had anticipated. It wasn't great, seeing as they still got into spats here and there, but it was at least passable, so far.
A scan of the area by the ZERO System showed a group of monsters that shouldn't pose too much trouble for the duo of Neptune and Vert. It was another group of three monsters, this one being comprised of an Arch Demon, OST-2 and a Devilish Bee.
Neptune stepped out in front of the team once more, this time with Leanbox's CPU next to her. As they headed towards the final group of monsters, the party's leader decided to strike up a conversation with Vert to see how cooperative she would be, "Okay Vert, since teamwork's the name of the game, we gotta make like co-op players and work together on this. The only thing I gotta know is, how's your co-op skills right now?"
Hearing Planeptune's CPU refer to them as co-op players served to remind Vert of a few of the games she had saw the previous day, "It's funny you should mention co-op. I saw a few games yesterday that I wanted to pick up but was to worried about Heero to actually buy them. What would you say to us making a day out of playing a few games after this?"
The idea of planning video games to unwind after fighting monsters sounded very appealing to Neptune, and even having this conversation with Leanbox's CPU was enough to keep her mind off her own tiredness. "Yeah! And we should pick up some snacks while we're at it! Then just in our house and not do anything else for the rest of the day."
Both CPUs weren't even trying to keep their plans a secret, talking loud enough for the others in the party to hear. Histoire was about to say something about how they shouldn't be lackadaisical when their final battle with Arfoire was just around the corner, but Zero stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. While it was true that the girls couldn't afford to be lazy, they could stand to relax for the rest of the day.
Noire, on the other hand, couldn't believe the two CPUs in front of her were already taking about dropping everything just to indulge in gaming, "Listen to those two. Acting as if our world wasn't in danger of being destroyed. How irresponsible can they be?"
Although it seemed bad to think about relaxing despite the threat Arfoire posed, Compa wasn't exactly against the idea. In fact, she believed it would do the party a lot of good to s[end the rest of the day recuperating, "But Noire, aren't you tired, too? You lost a lot of sleep while Heero was being controlled by Arfoire. As long as its in moderation, surely there's nothing wrong with relaxing for the whole day?"
Unlike the nurse in training, Blanc was in agreement with her Lastation counterpart. The notion of relaxing wasn't the issue, rather, it was the mindset of the two CPUs that were already making plans to relax, "...Try explaining that to those two. I doubt the word 'moderation' exists in their vocabulary."
At first glance, the idea of Neptune and Vert talking about sitting around playing games at a time like this might have been seen as irresponsible, Heero wasn't going to deny that. However, he could also plainly see that both CPUs were getting along much better than when they had partnered with the Noire and Blanc. If nothing else, their synergy was sure to be higher as a result of their mutual desire for R&R, even if it was to be for one day, "As long as they can maintain this level of cohesion, this next battle shouldn't take long."
Just like with the three previous battles, the party kept a minimum safe distance from the monsters while Neptune and Vert continued forward. The CPUs of Planeptune and Leanbox wrapped up their friendly chat of what they would do for the rest of the day, turning their attention towards the immediate issue that needed to be dealt with.
Feeling confident that both she and Vert were on the same wavelength at that moment, Neptune drew her katana once more while barely containing her eagerness to get started on the last exercise battle for the day, "Alright, you ready for this Player Two? We've got a couple of monsters to beat up and Heero's watching, so we gotta look doing this."
Vert briefly cut her eyes over to the purplenette before returning her attention to the monsters before them, flashing a smirk as she prepared for battle, "Normally, I would be Player One in situations like this. But I will allow you to have that distinction this time. As for the monsters, they have no hope of winning. After all, by setting aside our differences for Heero's sake, such enemies are child's play."
As she was about suggest that they take the initiative against their enemy, the trio of monsters turned in the direction of the two CPUs, and Neptune was quick to rant at the sudden and inconvenient turn of events. "Aww, boo! I was hoping to get a preemptive strike, but these jerks decided now of all times to look this way!"
There was no helping the change in battle condition, and Vert even welcomed the challenge. The way she saw it, the monsters were going to need it. "Look at it this way. We are clearly superior to our enemy, so to be allowed first strike would be an unfair advantage."
From where Neptune was standing, an unfair advantage over the monsters was something she would definitely take in that moment, what with her reserves of stamina dwindling. But her Leanbox counterpart was right, in that if they focused on working as a team, then the monsters before them would be easily dispatched.
Before the party leader could lay down any kind of plan for dealing with the monsters, the bipedal machine that was the OST-2 adjusted the missile launchers that were it's arms and fired a salvo of explosives at the CPUs.
Already, the goddesses were being attacked, and they weren't even close enough to do anything against the machine firing at them. Neptune ducked under one of the flying hunks of metal as it sailed through the air until it struck the ground, detonating in a violent explosion. The party's leader started angrily shouting at the bipedal weapon as it prepared to fire another salvo of its ordinance, "Hey, no going out of turn! That's all kinds of unfair!"
Knowing that complaining wasn't going to dissuade the monsters from attacking, Vert pushed for them to go on the offensive, "There is no point in complaining now. We will simply have to defeat them before they become any more of a nuisance."
The duo of Neptune and Vert made to close the distance with their aggressor, even as the robot fired another wave of missiles at them. While her Leanbox counterpart gracefully evaded the projectiles aimed at her, Neptune had to slide across the ground, perform a few rather difficult looking contortions, and in one case jump over a missile heading straight for her.
In her bid to get closer to the robot hurling ordinance at them, Neptune ducked underneath a fifth deadly projectile, only able to see another missile heading right for her and with no time to dodge it. Without even thinking, the purplenette swung her katana at the missile in a downward motion, the blade of her sword cutting the explosive down the middle and sending both halves careening in different direction and into the ground.
IF stood flabbergasted at what she had just witnessed, still trying to process whether or not what she had just saw actually happened, "Did… Nep just cut a missile in half? Or am I just really tired?"
It wasn't just the brunette that was having difficulty believing what had just transpired, even Noire and Blanc couldn't believe that the goddess that had always been the laziest among them had accomplished a feat such as cutting an active missile in half in her human form, "I must not have gotten enough sleep… there's no way Neptune could have pulled that off!"
In Blanc's mind, it had to have been nothing short of a fluke. There was no way Neptune could have done such a thing as cleaving a missile in two on a regular basis, "...That dumbass may be lazy, but she has a shit ton of luck."
Neptune had turned around to see the results of her split second decision and was beside herself at just how successful it was when she had fully expected the attack to fail, "Holy crap! I didn't think that'd work!"
As soon as she turned back around, the Arch Demon was already upon her. The demonic looking creature had sailed over the swarm of missiles on its wings and lashed out at the CPU with its right hand, sharp nails extended with the intent to inflict serious harm to Planeptune's goddess. Neptune brought her sword up to block the sharp claw which had gotten dangerously close to her face before she stopped it. Vert attempted to assist her fellow CPU but was accosted by the Devilish Bee that also closed in on the goddesses during the barrage of heavy ordinance.
The blonde spearwoman parried the oversized bee's stinger before backing up to get some distance so as to evaluate her options. At the same time, Neptune was able to get out of her precarious situation and push back the Arch Demon before it could try to follow-up on its first attack.
Seeing that they were being forced back themselves, Neptune decided that the duo should focus their efforts on one monster at a time so that they would actually get somewhere in this battle. "Okay, here's the plan. First, we beat up the wannabe demon, then we beat up the bug that probably did drugs to get that big, then we put the hurt on the jerk in the back for being a jerk!"
It was an overly simplistic plan in Vert's eyes, what with it being the usual Neptune staple of simply bashing the monsters until they died, but perhaps simple was the best in this case. Even as the OST-2 fired a third salvo of missiles at them, both CPUs focused their attention on the Arch Demon that was heading for them in turn. The demonic looking creature took aim at Vert, intent on doing to her what it failed to do to Neptune, only to have its attack intercepted by the party's leader who was actually prepared for the incoming strike this time.
With the Arch Demon now predisposed, Vert lunged at the monster and pierced it's extended right arm with her spear. As the winged creature tried to escape, Neptune quickly maneuvered to the Arch Demon's backside and cut off its right wing, preventing an escape of any kind. As the party's leader took away the monster's means of escape, Leanbox's goddess withdrew her spear before bringing its small blade down across the Arch Demon's torso at the same time that Neptune delivered a horizontal slash to the same location from behind, ending the monster's life.
Almost as if out of spite, Neptune and Vert's reward for defeating the Arch Demon was a storm of missiles raining down around them. While none of the projectiles landed a direct hit, they were getting rather close for the CPUs' liking, given that chucks of rock and dirt were being tossed as the duo. The situation was such that even Vert was finding it rather grating on the nerves, "I know that monsters can be a nuisance, but I never had to deal with monsters on Leanbox that tested my patience quite like this!"
Neptune had no intention of just standing there waiting to get hit and knew that her Leanbox counterpart had no such plans either, "Then we gotta hurry and put the stomp on the jerk that standing in the back trying to kill steal!"
Not wanting to be on the defensive any longer, Neptune and Vert pushed forward through the smoke and debris once the last of the missiles fell. The Devilish Bee that had attacked Vert before was lying in wait just beyond the clouds of smoke from the relentless barrage of explosives, looking for the two goddesses in case they survived the barrage of ordinance. Unfortunately for the oversized insect, not only were both CPUs alive, but it was directly in the path of their target.
Emerging from the cover of the smoke, Neptune swung her blade at enlarged bee and severed its abdomen from the rest of its body, and Vert followed up on the attack with a quick thrust to its head with her spear.
Having dealt with the two monsters that were more of an inconvenience than anything, the goddesses of Planeptune and Leanbox continued their charge toward the OST-2. The bipedal machine began to arm another salvo of missiles, and having endure three barrages already, Vert was not about to endure a fourth. The spearwoman from Leanbox spun her spear around and reared her right arm back before throwing the weapon at the robot's left arm.
The spear slices through the arm and all of its internal components before landing just behind the machine, leaving the left arm to fall to the ground. Upon losing its arm, the OST-2 momentarily lost balance and made to adjust for the change in its weight but did not recover in time to avoid Neptune cleaving the right arm from its body.
With both of its missile pods lying on the ground useless, the bipedal weapon resorted to the cannon mounted just over its head to try and damage Neptune. Planeptune's CPU ducked and dodged the cannon fire aimed at her while trying to determine her next move. As the party leader evaded the attacks of the desperate robot, Vert ran past her adversary and retrieved her spear before immediately turning back around and plunging the spearhead into machine's last weapon, rendering it defenseless.
Now no longer being attacked, Neptune launched a targeted strike at the OST-2's legs. It took no real effort to take the machine's legs out from under it, and the entire upper body of robot fell to the ground, at which point Neptune and Vert drove their weapons into the partition that separated the machine's mainframe and other vital components from the elements.
All three monsters were now dead or in the case of the machine, ceased to function, and the party was rather surprised with how quickly the duo of Neptune and Vert had wrapped up their exercise battle. Compa was the first to express her elation, knowing that the display had no doubt served to ease Heero's concerns, "Nep-Nep and Vert worked so well together. And they defeated the monsters really quickly."
Having left the majority of the reagents needed to create any healing items back at the safe house, Gust herself was relieved that both CPUs defeat their enemies without incident or injury, "Gust is glad the Neptune and Vert fought monsters and not each other. Gust only has materials for lesser healing potions."
Red herself was thrilled with the results of the battle, as it gave her the hope that her quest to gather one hundred wives wasn't going to come to a premature end, "When my future wifeys combine their powers, there is nothing they can't accomplish!"
As the girls went on about the performance of the two goddesses, Neptune walked over to her Leanbox counterpart. Unlike Noire and Blanc, Vert hadn't been difficult about working together, which in her mind was something worth celebrating, "Thanks for being such a great co-op partner, Vert. I'll be counting on you to help me out like this against Arfoire."
For Leanbox's goddess, the battle had certainly been a more pleasant experience than she had anticipated. Even if the person she was working with happened to be one of the CPUs she had been at war with for centuries, it had been reassuring to have someone watching her back, "Well, I do endeavor to provide the best support I can when I'm not the lead. And I will admit, you make for a rather competent co-op partner yourself, Neptune."
Turning to face one another with their right hands raised, Neptune and Vert slapped the palms of their hands together in a high-five, another sign that despite not having fully worked through their problems, the CPUs had a more amicable relationship than they had before… and that was what Heero was most interested in while evaluating the CPUs.
With the exercise battle complete, Neptune and Vert returned to the party to get Heero's thoughts on their efforts. But before anyone could even get a word out, the sound of an explosion filled the air as a tremor shook the ground. A panicked Lyrica ducked behind IF as she looked around for the source of the disturbance, "Wh-What's happening?! Did a bomb go off? Is Arfoire trying to destroy the world now?! But I'm not ready!"
It was mostly a hunch on her part, but IF felt that if it was truly the end of the world there would have been more than just the one explosion, "Calm down, Lyrica. I'm pretty sure it's not the end of the world as we know it. But what the hell caused that just now?"
A quick survey of the area was enough to let the party know where the explosion came from, based on the thick cloud of dirt not far from their location. There was a shadow within the cloud, and it wasn't long before it emerged for the group to see just what it was. What had been responsible for the disturbance for a large machine that looked remarkably similar to the CPU Breaker the party had dealt with during the Technology Expo on Lastation.
Looking at the towering machine in the distance, Blanc was quick to question if such a thing was a common occurrence on Planeptune, "...I know that monster attacks are common in Planeptune, but are giant monster also a common thing here?"
Neptune may not have kept up with all the current events of her land, but she was certain that she would have seen something about giant monsters in the news, "Not unless somebody has been feeding the monsters mushrooms that magically make them bigger."
Setting aside the absurdity of a magic mushroom that promoted physical growth, what the rest of the group wanted to know was how the purplenette got the idea that a machine could experience such rapid growth from eating when it was clearly incapable of doing so.
Whereas Neptune was floating a while and improbable theory, Zero had a more logical explanation for the machine that seemed to be heading towards them, "I do remember seeing a job request by the man named Ganache. The request asked for Neptune by name."
Planeptune's goddess wracked her brain trying to remember who Ganache was but wasn't having much luck. "Is that someone we know? It sounds sort of familiar, but the more I think about the name, the more annoyed I get."
On one hand, Heero couldn't believe that Neptune could forget the name of one of the people that tried to kill her over the course of their journey. On the other hand, he couldn't fault her too much, as aside from being a nuisance during their time on Lastation, the founder of Avenir didn't exactly have any real presence, "He was one of the people trying to kill you during our mission. Specifically, when we were on Lastation."
Even though her Destined Lover told her who it was, Neptune couldn't really be bothered to think about any of the individuals that hadn't done something to help the party out, the exception of course being Arfoire, "Hmm… nope. Can't remember him. I mean, he was just another faceless goon that got in our way, right? Why should I have to remember every bad guy that tries to stop us? What did this guy want, anyway?"
Recalling the details of the aforementioned request, Zero explained what it was that the former founder of Avenir wanted from Planeptune's goddess, "Well, apparently he found a new job, and wants to get rid of the now defunct Avenir's remaining inventory. Specifically, he wants you to dispose of an upgraded version of the weapon they presented at the Technology Expo. I suppose the designation of CPU Breaker Plus would be appropriate in this situation."
IF didn't really care what they decided to call the mechanical abomination, the fact remained that one of the people that had been an obstacle for the party had made a mess and left it for them to clean up, "So long story short, that solicitor is making trouble for us again. If it weren't for the fact the world is close to ending, I'd go to Lastation and give that asshole what he deserves."
What Vert got out of the Guild Moderatist's tirade was that someone in Noire's land of Lastation had been a problem for the party before, and was now doing so again with absolutely no regard for what was going on now, "So what you're saying is that this is essentially Noire's fault for not dealing with one of her more… extreme followers?"
Lastation's CPU may have tried to shoulder the blame for Avenir's dealings in the past when it concerned the well-being of her land, but there was no way she was about to take the blame for what was happening here and now, "Like hell it is! It's not my fault some overzealous jerk is pushing their problems on us!"
While the girls were focusing on the negatives of the situation, Zero had a more positive outlook by the modified CPU Breaker's appearance. In fact, she saw it as an opportunity to really test the four goddesses, "...This situation does represent a unique opportunity to test the cooperation between all four of you at once."
Neptune had been relieved when she and Vert defeated the monsters for the last exercise, but that relief had gone out the window upon hearing that there was to be another battle, "What? But I thought we were done exercising and all that!"
It was true that the CPUs were done with the exercise battles, but they were meant to serve as a warm-up for an actual test of the cooperation between all four goddesses at once, and while they would be at their most disagreeable, "One key similarity between you and the other CPUs is that in your goddess forms all four of you are quite competitive. If you're able to cooperate with each other while using HDD, that should take care of any doubts Heero still has regarding your teamwork."
Feeling more than a little drained, but not wanting her Lover to continue harboring doubts over her willingness to work with the other goddesses, Neptune steeled herself for one more battle before she could finally stop for some much-needed rest, "One more… Just ONE MORE and we're done…" Having motivated herself enough to endure the battle against the new model CPU Breaker, Neptune pointed at their enemy while stating was expected of them. "Alright, you three! We gotta make like MMO players and work together if we're gonna beat this boss! Well, that and cuz Heero's watching."
After stating her piece, Planeptune's CPU activated her HDD and took on her goddess form of Purple Heart, which was followed by Vert, Blanc and Noire using HDD themselves. Before long, the four Hearts of Gamindustri stood facing the CPU Breaker Plus. White Heart was in no mood to waste time against the mechanical abomination, not when she was beginning to run low on power, "...As long as you three don't get in my way, this should be quick."
Black Heart didn't care much for White Heart's tone, as was made evident by her face forming into a frown, "Right back at you! That is, assuming you can keep up."
Hearing the two trade barbs was serving to annoy Green Heart, who couldn't understand why they were choosing now of all times to argue, "Would the two of you put your childish tantrum on hold? There is a monster in front of us that needs to be defeated."
The battle hadn't even started, and already three of the four goddesses were engaged in meaningless bickering. Hearing the senseless exchange next to her, Purple Heart knew she had to stop it before they started fighting the CPU Breaker, or they risked distracting themselves and dragging the battle out long enough that they run out of energy and wind up helpless, "Sorry to interrupt, but we do need to focus on the actual enemy. Heero is watching, and I would rather we end this exercise on a positive note."
Giving themselves a moment to calm down, Green Heart, White Heart and Black Heart turned their focus back to what was one of the few remaining weapons created by Avenir. Purple Heart was about to lay out a battle plan, when Lowee's goddess darted out ahead of the others to face the CPU Breaker Plus, "…We just need to kick the shit out of this thing to win. There's no point in waiting!"
Black Heart followed shortly after while muttering something to the effect of White Heart behaving like a brat. Green Heart watched the goddesses of Lowee and Lastation for a moment before heading in the same direction, voicing her concerns about the state they were all in, "I hope they realize we don't have much time to end this."
Seeing the other CPUs charge in, Purple Heart was left with no recourse but to join the fray herself but was inwardly dreading the lack of a strategy. Even with all four goddesses fighting the mechanical menagerie, there was no guarantee that things were going to be easier than when she fought the original model at the Expo.
White Heart sailed through the air in a straight line toward the CPU Breaker, fully intent on landing the first strike of the battle. The robot analyzed the CPU flying towards it and immediately raised its bladed right arm to take a swing at said goddess. Lowee's goddess was forced to abandon her plan of striking at the machine's body in favor of defending herself, bringing her large axe around to intercept the weapon coming towards her, "You're not getting me that easy, jackass!"
A thunderous boom filled the air as axe and sword collided, sending out a shock wave that kicked up the dirt and other debris on the ground. As White Heart worked to fend off the oversized blade pushing against her, Black Heart shot past the axe wielding goddess and was set to deliver a blow to the machine's head.
While wielding it two-handed, Lastation's goddess swung her blade into the side of the upgraded CPU Breaker's head. The force of impact caused the massive machine to stumble, though the robot recovered quickly enough that it was able to launch an attack against the swordmaiden with its left arm. Black Heart braced herself for the incoming strike but was still sent flying away from the CPU Breaker upon receiving its attack.
At the same time that White Heart maneuvered out of the way, Green Heart tried her hand at inflicting damage to the metal monstrosity. Whereas Black Heart had aimed for the machine's head, the green haired lancer aimed for its center torso, believing that some of the more vital components of her enemy were located there.
Green Heart's intent had been to pierce through the CPU Breaker's torso, damage some of its internal structure and quickly get away, however, as soon as her lance made contact with the metal construct's body the goddess winced. The armor along the CPU Breaker's torso proved to be too tough for the goddess of Leanbox to pierce through, and her arm was numb as a result of the recoil from the failed attempt.
As Leanbox's CPU was recovering from the botched attempt, the CPU Breaker turned its attention on the lancer and made to strike her down as she tried to regain feeling in her lance arm. Before the large blade could make contact with the vulnerable CPU, Purple Heart intercepted the attack, pushing back against the colossal sword with all of her strength to keep her Leanbox counterpart from being crushed.
Recognizing that she was only a burden in that moment, Green Heart quickly distanced herself from the CPU Breaker so that Purple Heart wouldn't have to remain in place defending her. The moment the green haired goddess was out of harm's way, Planeptune's CPU forced her attacker back and promptly displaced before the large machine could attempt a second attack against her.
The party's leader touched ground next to Green Heart, who was curling and uncurling her fingers as the numb feeling left her hand. Leanbox's goddess extended her thanks to the swordstress of Planeptune, knowing that she would have been in trouble were it not for her intervention, "I suppose I should thank you. I did not expect this enemy to be quite so durable."
From her point of view, Purple Heart believed that the timely rescue would have been unneeded had the other CPUs waited until they had put together a battle plan, "You can thank me by not doing that again. If I could see that simply rushing in wasn't going to work."
It was painful to admit, but Green Heart knew her Planeptune counterpart had a point. After all, the swordstress hadn't been the first to charge in, which should have been a dead giveaway that a reckless charge was ill-advised. Turning her attention back to their enemy, Green Heart watched as White Heart and Black Heart continued to engage the CPU Breaker, and it was clear that their attacks were achieving very limited success. The two CPUs were soon forced to back off as a sphere formed over the CPU Breaker Plus, an indication it had charged energy for its most powerful weapon.
A torrent of beams flew through the air in the direction of the goddesses, forcing them to dodge and block the barrage of attacks while also being pushed back. Before long, the four goddesses reconvened a short distance away from their enemy, and seeing that they weren't making any headway, White Heart was fast becoming irritated with the final weapon of Avenir, "You rat bastard, why won't you just die?!"
Black Heart rolled her eyes as she listened to the blue haired CPU shout at their enemy. If their attacks weren't doing significant damage, why would throwing a tantrum at it do any better? "Yeah, sure, shout at it. That'll REALLY do some damage."
Lowee's goddess opened her mouth to spew vitriol at the snow haired girl, when Purple Heart cut her off, not liking where the conversation was going, "Both of you need to stop fighting before Heero starts to worry. If you have the time to fight each other, you have the time to focus on the enemy before us."
Although the fighting had stopped for now, Green Heart was wondering just how long that would last when they didn't have an idea of how to deal with the CPU Breaker, "It might be easier to focus if we have an actual strategy. What can we do to defeat this monster?"
That was the million-credit question at the moment. What could they, with their dwindling reserves of energy, do to defeat the boss level enemy in front of them? As the party's leader mulled over what could be done about their situation, Zero was running through every variable and calculating the best course of action that the CPUs could take to achieve victory, all while keeping in mind that the goddesses needed to work together to achieve said victory. Even without the full breadth of their power the four CPUs had a success rate of around eighty percent, give or take a few percent on minute factors.
While the odds of victory may have been permissible, the ZERO System was built for the purpose of achieving PERFECT Victory, so a one hundred percent success rate was what was desired, and the remaining variable needed for that to happen was close by, "Their odds of success are quite high, they just need a little something extra to guarantee their victory."
As Heero turned to look at Zero and ask what they were still missing, the Gundam pilot found the holographic woman looking at him. Evidently, whatever the avatar of the ZERO System had in mind required him to be part of it, "What exactly would you have me do in my current state of diminished combat performance?"
Zero already knew that Heero would be of no help in his debilitated state, but that was only so far as the physical act of combat. There was something else that the boy could do that would finish tipping the goddesses' odds of success to one hundred percent. "What you can do is give them direction. They still argue with one another, but they will stop and listen to a coherent battle plan if it's from you."
Turning his attention back to the CPUs, the Perfect Soldier wondered just how listening to him would get them to stop fighting. Purple Heart was a given, throughout their journey around Gamindustri she deferred to Heero with regards to matters of strategy and tactics and went along with his plans without question. The question was whether or not Green Heart, White Heart and Black Heart would do the same. Individually they MIGHT listen to him if he gave them a plan of attack, but Heero had only ever worked with Purple Heart, so there was no telling if they would take orders from him or even consider his idea.
Walking towards the CPUs, Heero decided he would try. If the goddesses could be made to listen and follow even a simple battle plan, then that would be enough for him. It would mean that as Compa said, they could work together despite their past misgivings.
Purple Heart was trying to think of a plan that the other goddesses could get behind when she noticed Heero approaching and began to panic. He was clearly in no condition to be fighting, yet the party had done nothing to stop him from heading in the direction of the battle. Sure, things seemed bad between them with arguing going on, but had he lost hope in the four of them cooperating with one another already?
Before the party's leader could voice her concerns about the boy's presence, Heero started question the CPUs on why they were having a hard time against an enemy that was rather insignificant, "Why are you struggling against an enemy we have already defeated before? Setting aside the increase in performance, it's basically the same as the first one."
Casting a quick glance at the trio she was supposed to be working with, Planeptune's goddess knew that the reason they weren't making any progress was because the other CPUs were driven to do things their way despite the fact it wasn't getting them anywhere. Purple Heart could put the blame on them… but decided not to. It would be counterintuitive to do so, as it would only result in more arguing, "That would be my fault. I hadn't come up with a plan to face our enemy, and they decided to act on their own judgment because of it."
Green Heart, White Heart and Black Heart were visibly surprised by the purple haired woman's decision to take the blame for their lack of coordination, and Heero could see what she was going for. This small act allowed for Planeptune's goddess to claim the moral high ground, and act like a real leader, and at the same time make it easier to get the other goddesses onboard with astrategy that would secure their victory. Focusing his attention on the CPU Breaker, Heero needed to know just how effective the goddesses of Lowee and Leanbox would be in their roles for the plan. "White Heart, if you were given an unobstructed path to the target, how many blows would it take for you to break open it's torso?"
White Heart was momentarily caught off guard by the boy calling her by her goddess name but took a moment to deliberate on the question before answering, "...One or two hits. Why?"
"Green Heart, if the target's defenses are brought down would you be able to destroy its power source or cripple it's functions?"
Having never faced an enemy like the CPU Breaker before, Green Heart was not about to get the boy's hopes up with false assurances of defeating their enemy once its major weak point was exposed. She could, however, confidently state her ability to exploit an opponent's weakness, "I cannot make any promises about defeating this monster in a single attack. But if a weakness should present itself, I will have no trouble exploiting it."
Taking into account what the two goddesses had just said, Heero knew they would be able to pull of what he had in mind. "White Heart will be responsible for breaking through the target's armor, Green Heart will take care of reducing it's combat effectiveness, Purple Heart and Black Heart will handle the diversion and finish the target once Green Heart has finished her task."
The plan was simple and straightforward with nothing complex or difficult to understand. They each had a task to perform, and as long as they each did their job they would walk away with a fairly easy win. Purple Heart turned her attention to the modified CPU Breaker while asking the other goddesses if they objected to Heero's proposed strategy, "If any of you have an objection to Heero's plan, now is the time to say something."
None of the other CPUs had any objections to the Gundam pilot's plan, mostly because they saw no reason to doubt his judgment and partly because no one had offered any alternatives. Black Heart focused her gaze on the machine that had been giving them so much trouble, not terribly enthusiastic about being a distraction for the enemy but wanting to claim victory over the machine monster more than anything, "Normally I wouldn't go along with someone else's plan, but I'll play along. Just make sure you don't slow me down."
Purple Heart cut her eyes over to her Lastation counterpart before returning her gaze to her enemy. "I should be the one telling you that."
Both sword wielding maidens took off towards the CPU Breaker, leaving Green Heart and White Heart with Heero. Lowee's goddess was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that Planeptune's CPU had shouldered the blame for their lack of coordination. The blue haired CPU didn't dwell on the subject long, as her thoughts were interrupted by the Green Heart, who had a similar way of thinking in that moment, but brushed it aside to focus on impressing Heero, "Looks like I'll be counting on you for this. Please don't let me down."
Being told by her rival that she was counting on her made White Heart feel weird, as it was not something she ever expected to her from the green haired lancer. The axe wielding goddess prepared for their second clash with the abominable robot, for once interested more in fighting something else than her rival, "...Don't make this weird. Just do your job once I've done mine."
Green Heart and White Heart took off after the duo of Purple Heart and Black Heart who were fast closing in on the CPU Breaker. As the goddesses of Planeptune and Lastation drew near, the metal monstrosity raised its bladed arms and swiftly brought them down in an attempt to do away with the two CPUs.
Instead of blocking the incoming attack, both goddesses evaded the large blades while veering off in different directions with Purple Heart going towards the CPU Breaker's right, and Black Heart heading left. Planeptune's goddess quickly zeroed in on the machine's head and struck with as much force as she could without slowing down or stopping to land a more concentrated attack. As the metal monster swung its arm around trying to hit the swordstress, Black Heart approached from behind and struck the CPU Breaker across the left shoulder, and promptly relocated before it could even come close to hitting her back. What ensued was a wild foray in which the two CPUs would strike the Avenir weapon at different times and in different places that kept it off balance and unable to launch a successful counterattack.
While the CPU Breaker was throwing its arms around trying to hit Purple Heart and Black Heart as if they were flies, White Heart was fast approaching, dragging the blade of her axe across the ground. With the machine's arms flailing about in every other direction, and its attention not on her, White Heart had a free shot at the CPU Breaker's unprotected torso, "Brace yourself, asshole! This is gonna hurt!"
After taking to the air Lowee's goddess wasted no time moving in on her target, and once close enough swung her axe into its chest cavity. A thunderous bang filled the air as White Heart's axe pushed against the metal plates of its victim, leaving a dent that was a telltale sign that the armor wouldn't hold under a similar attack. The modified CPU Breaker focused its attention on Lowee's goddess, having sustained what it indicated to be severe damage. The anti-CPU weapon drew back it's right arm and brought it down vertically towards the withdrawing White Heart. Lowee's CPU knew she wouldn't be able to get away in time and braced herself for the incoming attack.
The axe wielding goddess heard the sound of clashing metal but didn't feel anything acting against her. When White Heart opened her eyes, Purple Heart, Green Heart and Black Heart were in front of her holding back the large blade. Having been saved from the impending attack, White Heart turned her gaze toward the damaged section of CPU Breaker's torso. She failed to breakthrough on the first strike and was planning on correcting that mistake with the second. "If that's how you wanna go down, then fine!" The CPU of Lowee charged forward and swung her axe with all of her might, "I'll just have to put my back into it!"
A second thunderous boom filled the air that was joined by the groaning of metal giving way under pressure. The metal plates along the CPU Beaker's center torso caved in under the axe blow, and many of the rivets holding the armor in place shot out in different directions, unable to withstand the strain. Even while still holding back the right arm blade of the Avenir weapon, Green Heart shot a glance at the now exposed internal workings of her enemy. Leanbox's CPU pushed off of the large blade she had been helping to hold back and sped towards her target as White Heart moved out of the away.
Green Heart thrust her lance into machine's torso, and while she was unable to land a clean blow against its power source, she did sever the cables connecting said energy source with the right side of the CPU Breaker's body. With the power to the machine's right arm cut, Purple Heart and Black Heart were able to force back the dead limb and were set to finish off their enemy.
Lastation's goddess went in first, followed closely by her Planeptune counterpart. The CPU Breaker tried to stop the two CPUs with its remaining arm, but the attack was dodged effortlessly. Black Heart swung her sword at the damaged chest plate twice, once horizontally and the other vertically, successfully breaking apart the armor that was still hanging on to the front of the robot, "That's what you've got to work with. Don't mess this up, Neptune!"
As Black Heart flew out of the way, Purple Heart streaked towards the exposed core of her foe. In the time it took to bat an eye, the swordstress of Planeptune cut through the core of the CPU Breaker and all the way through the rest of the robot's torso. The twin braided woman emerged on the other side of the CPU Breaker, and it wasn't until she swung her sword in a downward motion to clean off the blade that the machine that was meant to defeat her split in two.
An explosion ensued as a result of the CPU Breaker's core being destroyed, engulfing the remnants of the weapon in a massive ball of fire. The party looked on in awe over the victory that had been achieved by the CPUs, having not seen such a display of teamwork during the training session they went through before rescuing Heero. Compa was the first to express her elation at the goddesses overcoming the CPU Breaker in spectacular fashion, "Nep-Nep and the other goddesses were amazing! They beat that mean robot so fast, Heero has to believe they can work together now!"
IF had been skeptical of the goddesses working as a team, believing that cooperating to save Heero had been as far as the quartet would go as far as working with each other. They may have been there for the purposes of showing Heero the fruits of their labor, but the Guild Moderatist would be lying if she had said that she hadn't been looking for some assurances on the CPUs' working relationship, "I was honestly expecting that to be a lot worse. I'm glad they're able to fight the monsters rather than each other."
As the girls were expressing their adulation, Gamindustri's guardian goddesses landed a short distance from the party to observe the burning remains of the enemy meant to stand in opposition for a moment, then turned their attention to one another. There was a lingering feeling of unease as each CPU looked over her counterparts, still trying to comprehend the fact that they had actually cooperated with one another to make their victory happen.
Purple Heart didn't need to dwell on the matter long though. When she remembered who they were doing all of this for in the first place, it didn't seem like such a stretch of the imagination that she and the other CPUs could function as a team. With her lips curving into a smile, Planeptune's goddess allowed herself to bask in this victory they had won, "Well, that went better than I was expecting."
It was a sentiment shared by all of the goddesses. Of all the ways things could have played out, none of them had anticipated that the battles they had fought today would go so well, a fact that White Heart had no trouble bringing up, "...That's an understatement. I was expecting things to go to hell in a handbasket."
Inwardly, Black Heart was no less surprised as the others, having expected things to go sideways and for their teamwork to fall apart like a house of cards. Lastation's CPU overcame her internal shock before brushing off their victory as though it was nothing, "I don't see why you're making such a big deal about us beating this one machine. I'll have you know; I could've beat it by myself."
Unlike her counterparts from Lowee and Lastation, Green Heart was of the belief that the only reason they succeeded was due to Heero telling them what they needed to do to win, "I feel that the only reason we were able to achieve this victory was due to Heero giving us direction when we were essentially aimless. We would not have succeeded otherwise."
Planeptune's goddess shifted her gaze to the Perfect Soldier after Leanbox's CPU mentioned his name. They could talk amongst themselves all they wanted about what they thought of their handiwork, but there was only one person she really wanted to hear from at that moment, "Speaking of which…" Purple Heart walked past the other CPUs and straight toward Heero. He was the reason they had formed their alliance to begin with, and the reason they were there demonstrating what they had accomplished in so far as team building was concerned. HIS opinion was the only one that mattered. The swordstress of Planeptune came to a stop right in front of the Gundam pilot, wanting to hear what he had to say about their efforts. "So? What's the verdict?"
All eyes were on the sole male member of the party once their leader asked for his thoughts. After watching the four exercises battles and the actual test of their teamwork, Heero found that the level of cooperation was far from perfect and still needed work, "Your teamwork isn't exactly perfect…" Yes, the CPUs still needed to work on building better coordination and trust with one another. But it was better than Heero had expected. "But it's a hell of a lot better than I was expecting. If you can maintain at least this level of cohesion, we should be fine for tomorrow's battle."
Everyone in the party safe for Zero had worried expressions on their faces when the boy had first started speaking, but those troubled looks were replaced with relieve when Heero gave his approval of their effort. They had just beaten an anti-CPU weapon that had not only been more powerful than the original but had been given a handicap in the form of four goddesses that weren't at their full strength, which just served to drive home how important their teamwork would be going forward. If they could continue to work at least this well together, then they didn't need their full power to topple such enemies.
Although she was pleased to hear that the Gundam pilot was satisfied, Black Heart didn't want to seem as though she had done all of what she did for his sake, "I did what I had to so we wouldn't lose to Arfoire. I-It's not like I wanted to make YOU happy or anything."
From where Zero was standing, it was amusing to watch Lastation's goddess try to play the tough girl act, when it was clear that everything she had done lately was for the sake of making Heero happy. But where the avatar of the ZERO System was amused by the display, White Heart found it annoying, "...Do you ever stop and listen to the crap that comes out of your mouth? You're not doing this to make him happy?"
Green Heart understood what Lowee's CPU was getting at and even agreed with her, which was an exceedingly rare occurrence, "If you're not doing this for Heero, why are you doing it at all?"
Ignoring the back and forth taking place behind her, Purple Heart breathed a sigh of relief. Knowing that her Destined Lover would no longer worry about her cooperating with the other goddesses put Planeptune's CPU at ease, "Well, with that out of the way…" The swordstress leaned forward ever so slightly while closing her eyes. Heero watched the purple haired woman, wondering what it was she was doing. After a few seconds, Purple Heart peeled one of her eyes open to look at the boy in front of her before closing it again. "Well? I'm waiting."
Heero couldn't understand why Planeptune's goddess was waiting, or what she was even waiting for. If there was something she wanted, shouldn't she just ask for it? "What are you waiting for exactly?"
Even when she was standing right there in front of him the Gundam pilot wasn't aware of what Purple Heart wanted, so she would have to spell it out for him, "I had to work hard just to convince these three to help me save you. Then, there's the fact that I was forced to fight you because of Arfoire, AND I spent the entire day yesterday watching over you because of how worried I was. Setting aside the emotional pain I went through, which we shouldn't, I think I deserve a reward for all I've done lately."
At that point, it was crystal clear to everyone in the party what Purple Heart was after. Having suspected her destined rival had been after something since the beginning, Black Heart was the first to rail on the twin braided swordstress for trying to coerce Heero into kissing her, "I knew there was a reason you were acting differently, you just want to force a kiss out of Heero!"
White Heart was up in arms over what her rival from Planeptune was trying to do, believing it to be an infringement of some kind against their alliance, "You bitch! I thought we made this alliance so Heero could see that we don't suck ass as a team, not so you could get lucky with him!"
Green Heart was just as upset as the CPUs of Lowee and Lastation. They had just finished fighting monsters in the hopes of erasing the Gundam pilot's worries, and here was Planeptune's CPU trying to solicit him as though she were the only one to have done anything, "How unbecoming of you. Trying to extort a kiss from my sweet Heero, while acting as though you alone made all of this happen."
It wasn't just the goddesses that were upset with Purple Heart, but all of the other female members of the party that had a vested interested in Heero. And while Zero found the situation to be rather amusing, Histoire was more disappointed than anything, "...And she was doing so well. If only she could have kept such a request to herself for a little longer. ( ≧Д≦)"
From Purple Heart's perspective, there was absolutely nothing wrong with her wanting a kiss from the boy she had been fighting so hard for. Why everyone else seemed to take issue with that was beyond her, "I fail to see why all of you are upset. I've more than earned a kiss from my lover. I think all of you are just jealous that you didn't think to ask. Not that I would let you."
Tempers were starting to flare as a result of the discussion, namely that of Black Heart and White Heart. Instead of allowing herself to become angry over the matter like the goddesses of Lastation and Lowee, Green Heart strode over to the Gundam pilot and came to a stop next to Purple Heart. If the party's leader was going to get something from him, then wasn't it only fair that she should also be given a 'reward' by the Perfect Soldier? "If that is how it is, then I would like to be rewarded for my efforts, too."
Even though she saw this coming once the party's leader started asking Heero for a kiss, White Heart was no less angry seeing the green haired woman try to get the exact same thing from the boy. Lowee's goddess stormed over to the other side of Green Heart, not wanting to lose out to her or Purple Heart with regards to getting closer to the boy they held a mutual affection for, "Why should you asshats be the only ones to get something out of this?! If Heero's giving a reward, then I want what I'm owed!"
With Lowee's goddess joining in on the prospect for an intimate reward, Purple Heart was now having to contend with two of her rivals trying to move in on her Destined Lover. Before Planeptune's goddess could denounce both CPUs for asserting themselves, Black Heart made her presence known while reprimanding the other goddesses, "Listen to you three, thinking you deserve a reward for doing your jobs as CPUs. It's pathetic to watch."
Shifting her gaze to her left, Purple Heart found Lastation's goddess next to her. She was railing against them for wanting something from Heero, yet here she was standing in front of the boy like they were. It was clear what her intentions were, which made it rather rich to hear her call them pathetic, "...If that's really the case, why are YOU here?"
Black Heart quickly looked away as she explained her reasoning for standing there in front of the Gundam pilot along with them. "W-Well, unlike you three, I don't think I deserve anything. But if Heero is giving some kind of reward it would be rude to refuse."
It was at that point that the human members of the party couldn't take it anymore. It didn't matter that they were dealing with Gamindustri's guardian goddesses, Compa, IF and the others wouldn't stand by while the CPUs monopolize the boy they were so fond of. The party's nurse in training was the first to voice her displeasure over the goddesses potentially being rewarded for their efforts, "Nep-Nep, it's not very fair for you to get something from Heero and not us."
IF provided her full-throated support behind Compa's complaint, feeling that she and the others were having their work overlooked, "Compa's right. We had to bust our asses to make sure you guys didn't kill each other. We'd like a bit of compensation, too."
It wasn't long before all of the girls in the party had congregated around Heero and a spate of arguing ensued over the 'reward' that was supposedly owed to them, and the Perfect Soldier looked at a loss over what to do. As entertaining as the debacle playing out in front of her was, Zero found her attention shifting towards a more pressing issue heading their way, "I hate to interrupt, but we have company."
The exchange between the fuming goddesses came to a halt as they directed their attention to what Zero was focusing on. What the girls saw was a veritable swarm of monsters heading in their direction, most likely drawn by the still burning remains of the CPU Breaker Plus.
The situation wasn't exactly ideal, as the goddesses were running low on power, and another battle could prove disastrous for them. Despite the obvious danger, Black Heart put on a brave face and stated her intent to intercept the horde, "As if a bunch of monsters are enough to intimidate me. I can wipe them all out by myself, no problem!"
White Heart wasn't the least bit impressed by the display of bravado by Lastation goddess, knowing full well that the snow haired girl was in the same state as her, "Anyone can see you're talking out your ass. We don't have enough power left for this shit!"
Now that both the exercise and test battles were done and out of the way, Nisa saw this as the time for her and the rest of the party to actually do something besides watch, "If the goddesses are no longer able to fight, then it falls to the Keeper of Justice to do battle against the monsters that threaten these lands!"
IF hadn't really planned on fighting any monsters, what with the party's reason for being there now fulfilled. But perhaps fighting off the creatures heading towards them would help to get her in the mood to unwind once they returned to the capital city, "Oh, whatever. I guess I have some time. Let's wrap this up and go home. I wanna spend the rest of the day relaxing."
While it was true that the goddesses were low on energy and could leave the task of fighting the monsters to the human members of the party, Planeptune's goddess walked in the direction of the creatures with the intent to deal with the matter herself. After all, she still had a trick up her sleeve that could solve this problem on the first attempt, "All of you can wait here. I've got this."
Everyone in the group wanted to know just what it was that their leader had planned for this situation in which she herself was nearing exhaustion, even if she didn't show it. Once she was far enough away from the party, Purple Heart's lips curved into a confident smile as she took to the air. A bright light enveloped the goddess' being as she tucked her legs in her in preparation to unleash her secret weapon. "I've been waiting for this chance. I'll show you my true power!"
When the light subsided, a black and purple object in the shape of a gaming pad was floating in the air where Purple Heart had once been. No one in the group was sure what to make of what they were looking at. Was that really Planeptune's CPU? And if so, how exactly was the object she had turned into supposed to help their situation?
No one in the group was given the chance to question the transformation Purple Heart had undergone, as the black and purple object underwent a transformation of it's own. The cross shaped object folded back into the shape of two 'T' side by side, and then the body of a fighter plane emerged from the opening.
White Heart's mouth fell open as she stared at the aircraft that formed in the air. While she didn't have any preconceived idea as to how Purple Heart was going to deal with the monsters, she hadn't expected anything like this, and promptly starting questioning what she was looking at, "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!"
Even Black Heart and Green Heart were dumbstruck by what they had witnessed. In all of the time they had fought against Planeptune's CPU, not once had she ever used this ability. What's more, the rest of the party had been unaware of their leader's ability to utilize another transformation, and as such were similarly surprised by the aircraft that they could only assume was Planeptune's goddess.
And while the others were trying to figure out what to make of what they were seeing, Compa was trying to figure out what to call the plane she was looking it, "So… if that's still Nep-Nep, what do we call it? 'Nep-Nep Plane?' Oh, or maybe 'Purple Plane!'"
Unlike the nurse in training who's prime concern at that moment was on naming the black and purple plane in the sky above them, Heero was curious to see just Purple Heart was capable of in this form that she was able to keep under wraps until now.
Once the body was in place, the 'Purple Plane' as Compa called it, streaked through the sky toward the congregation of monsters. As soon as the black and purple aircraft had found a suitable location in the air, a purple light began to emanate from its nose as it angled itself at the ground. At first the light was small and insignificant, but it quickly grew in size and intensity until a plainly visible orb of energy had amassed in front of the Purple Plane.
Zero had been taking energy readings on the Purple Plane in an attempt to figure what exactly Purple Heart was building up towards, though it wasn't long before the holographic woman deduced what exactly Planeptune's CPU had been charging up for, "...It would appear that Neptune has access to a Wave Motion Cannon. That would explain why she has chosen not to use this form until now."
With the energy that had been collected, the black and purple fighter jet fired the Wave Motion Cannon at the horde of monsters that appeared to be oblivious of what was going on. The purple beam slammed into the ground, vaporizing the hostile creatures that were directly in its path while also ravaging the earth and decimating the remaining monsters that hadn't been annihilated by the initial strike.
Everyone in the party was forced to shield their eyes from the torrent of dust kicked up by the ground being pulverized. Once the strong winds and barrage of debris produced by Purple Heart's attack died down the party was able to see the results of her attack. A massive crater was all that remained of the ground where the monsters had been, and a thick cloud of dirt hung in the air over it with flecks of dirt and rock still falling from the sky.
The party had a great many questions to ask their leader about what had just transpired; chief among them being HOW she was able to transform into a fighter plane. With its work done the Purple Plane circled back around to where the party was, hovering in place above them before turning back into Planeptune's guardian goddess, Purple Heart.
Almost immediately after setting foot on the ground, the CPU of Planeptune stumbled from exhaustion, though managed to avoid falling due to a timely catch by Compa and IF, "Are you alright, Nep-Nep? You shouldn't push yourself too hard."
Purple Heart took a few deep breathes before relieving the two girls of having to support her weight, "Sorry. I'd forgotten just how tiring that attack was."
While the party's leader was still trying to recover from her attack, Green Heart grabbed both White Heart and Black Heart by the wrist and pulled them off to the side, much to their surprise. Before either of them could interrogate their Leanbox counterpart, the green haired lancer released her hold on them after getting out of earshot of the party them and turned to face them. Even as their power ran out and the trio reverted to their human form, Vert's face was seemingly stuck in a stunned expression, "Were either of you aware that Neptune was capable of this?"
That was the reason she had dragged them away from the party? Granted, it was a good question, but what the goddesses of Lastation and Lowee wanted to know was why Vert thought they knew something about Purple Heart's transformation that she didn't. After all, they had fought against Planeptune's goddess for the same length of time and seen as much as her.
Blanc was the first to respond, and she had hoped that Leanbox's CPU knew something about what they had witnessed, "Hell no! This is the first time I've seen this!"
Noire had been looking at the ground trying to process how her destined rival had been able to keep such an ability hidden for so long, when she noticed Blanc and Vert looking at her. Lastation's CPU held her hands up in surrender, having not seen Purple Heart perform her transformation into a fighter jet of all things throughout the Console Wars, "D-Don't look at me! This my first time seeing this!"
Now aware that Planeptune's goddess was capable of more than she had let on, Vert was left to question what that meant for them. While they each had their own personality, strengths, fighting styles and the like, the CPUs possessed similar skill sets and were largely capable of the same feats of ability. If Purple Heart was able to perform a transformation into something besides her goddess form, surely they could as well, "If Neptune can do that, surely we should be able to do the same."
Blanc wasn't focused on whether or not they could use another transformation, so much as she was focused on what exactly it meant for them if they were to transform into something else entirely. If they were able to do so, could they really still call themselves goddesses or were they something else altogether? "What the hell are we…?"
Before the trio of CPUs could follow their thoughts toward what was undoubtedly an existential crisis, Red started wondering aloud if they could perform a similar feat as the group's leader, "So, if Nep can turn into a jet… what can the other CPUs turn into?"
Instinctively, the CPUs flinched as all eyes fell on them. Noire tried to come up with answer to the red-haired girl's question, but found herself fumbling over her words, "W-Well… I… uh… we..."
Vert quickly took over for the raven-haired CPU, who didn't necessarily want to lie to the group, but also didn't want to admit to being unable to do something that Neptune could, "Unfortunately, we can't at the moment. We've already used up too much power, so we wouldn't be able to show you what we're capable of."
While the rest of the group seemed to buy the excuse, Purple Heart didn't. She knew full well that they weren't able to do what she had just demonstrated. Compa turned her attention back to the twin braided swordstress, feeling somewhat regretful that they had been unable to provide for her when she was clearly tired, "I'm sorry we couldn't help, Nep-Nep. If Heero could bring out Mr. Wing and his friends, we could've done something."
With her energy on the brink of running out from her attack, Purple Heart wished she had stopped to consider that alternative. There was no taking back that decision now, though hearing the suggestion about the lone male party member's unique form of HDD reminded her of an idea she came up with and wanted to try, "Heero, if you don't mind, could you bring Wing out for a moment? There's something I want to try."
Heero wasn't sure what it was Purple Heart was so keen on trying, but whatever it was would need to be done quickly. Not just because the CPU was mere seconds away from running out of power, but the Gundam pilot himself didn't have much energy for it.
Ultimately the boy acquiesced to the party leader's request, summoning the Wing Gundam out in front of him. Purple Heart walked around to the back of the Gundam fully expecting the suit to open up, only for nothing to happen. Planeptune's goddess was confused as to why the Wing Gundam remained closed when it had opened every time since she figured out how the suit worked. "...I don't get it. It should have opened already."
Planeptune's goddess was about to try prying the suit open herself, when she was forced to revert back to her human form, at which point the rear armor of the Wing Gundam opened to reveal its control suite. Seeing the suit open up now instead of when she was in HDD left Neptune somewhat annoyed, since it she was left unable to try her idea, "Aww, why did'ja wait until now to open, buddy? I thought we were friends!"
Not wanting to waste any more of his already limited stamina, Heero dismissed the Gundam as Planeptune's CPU sulked. Whatever she had been planning wasn't meant to be at that point in time, not that it was a major concern. What was important was that the goddesses were able to work well enough for their upcoming battle with Arfoire, "Now that I know that the four of you are capable of working together, I don't have to worry about whether or not we will succeed."
Histoire herself was very satisfied with the results of the party's outing. Even though all of them should be resting, perhaps what they wanted to hear was Heero give his praise for their efforts before they could stop to relax and indulge themselves, "I'm very pleased with the results of this exercise. All of you put in a great deal of effort to make this possible. Everyone has more than earned their R&R for the rest of the day.(‐^▽^‐)"
Although she was still a bit disappointed about not getting to try out her idea, Neptune brushed aside her minor feeling of malcontent to focus on her satisfaction of getting Heero's approval along with the rest of the day to do whatever she wanted, "As long as my Heero's happy, then I'm happy. Let's spend the rest of the day goofing off, eating some yummy food and playing games!"
Compa was behind the purplenette's proposed idea for relaxation. After all that had happened as of late, there was nothing that sounded more appealing to the nurse in training than being able to lounge around the safe house without feeling depressed, "That sounds nice. I'd like to just sit on the couch and play a golfing game."
IF stretched her arms over her head as she thought about how best to use her free time for the day, "As long as no one does something stupid like sign us up for a quest without asking. Compa, Nisa, looking at you."
A largely friendly argument ensued as the party made their way back toward Planeptune's capital the way, Zero analyzed the information she had on the Wing Gundam. The avatar of the ZERO System knew what Planeptune's goddess had attempted to do and wanted to know why the Gundam didn't open while she was in her goddess form. The holographic woman soon got her answer, and was intrigued by what she saw, "(...A lack of synchronicity seems to be the cause. This warrants further study later.)"
Xxx
Upon their return to the capital city the party split off to do their own thing in the hopes of getting some kind of R&R before the next day. From morning to late afternoon, the girls spent their time playing games, indulging in their hobbies, eating good food, hanging out… anything to rid themselves of their fatigue and take their minds off of the last five days, as well as the battle to come.
It was 6:30 P.M. when the group finally returned to the safe house and the girls were still in a loud, chaotic, jovial mood. It was a complete turnaround from how the girls had been acting the previous day, and in Histoire's mind preferable to having them depressed and wallowing in despair.
While the girls were still palling around and getting ready for dinner, Heero dropped himself into the closest chair he could find. The potion Gust had given him earlier had worn off, and it was getting harder to ignore the throbbing pain in his chest and the soreness in his muscles.
Seeing the Gundam Pilot's distress on his face, Neptune talked to Gust about making another pain suppressing potion for the boy while she went to the fridge to retrieve the leftover chicken from last night, throwing the poultry into the microwave so Heero wouldn't have to eat cold food.
Before the Perfect Soldier could even think about sinking into his chair, the party's business savvy alchemist popped up next to him with a potion made to soothe the pain coursing through his body. Grateful for Gust's concoction, Heero downed the potion in its entirety and could feel near instantaneous relief of his chest and muscle pains.
Gust took the glass vial back once Heero was done with it, and Zero approached the Perfect Soldier as he leaned back into the chair. Even though his overall discomfort would lessen by tomorrow, the Gundam pilot would like only be able to function at fifty percent of his strength at best. Sadly, the entirety of the party would be needed for the coming battle, so Heero would be unable to remain at the safe house to recover. With that being the case, it was imperative that he eat dinner, then go to bed as soon as possible and rest as much as he could, "I shouldn't have to tell you this, but you will need to go to bed soon. Although you won't be at your best by tomorrow any improvement in your condition is better than nothing."
As much as he didn't like to hear it, Heero really couldn't argue with the idea. Hell, he had started feeling pain throughout his body a few seconds ago when Gust came by with a potion for him. And the odds were that if he tried to protest or ignore the decision, the girls would force him to go to bed, which wouldn't take a whole lot of effort in his state.
Heero had been silently grumbling to himself about his situation when Neptune came out of the kitchen with a plate of chicken and a fork in her hands. The purple haired CPU presented the warm strips of poultry to her lover, hoping that eating something would make the boy feel better, "Here ya go! Some yummy chicken made by your wonderful lover just for you!"
Noire was getting ready to start on dinner when her Destined Rival presented the leftover chicken to Heero while pretending that she was responsible for making it. Lastation's goddess came into the living room while railing against Planeptune's goddess, "Don't even try to pass off my work as your own! You're not the one who stood over a hot stove to make that!"
The party's leader began to pout after Noire went and revealed who actually made the food. "Really, Noire? You couldn't let me have this?"
Ignoring the arguing goddesses next to him, Heero bit into the chicken that Neptune had brought for him. The moment the Perfect Soldier bit into the food given to him Noire stopped talking to Neptune and focused her attention on him, hoping that the food she had made was good enough for him. "So… how is it? N-Not that I care or anything, I just want your honest opinion."
What was there for the boy to say? The food was good, and this was after being refrigerated. It did leave the Gundam pilot feeling disappointed that he hadn't woken up the previous day to have it when it was freshly cooked, "It's quite good. You didn't have to make this for me."
Noire quickly turned around so Heero couldn't see her face as it turned a light shade of red from his praise of her cooking ability and gratitude for cooking for him, "I-It's not like I made that for you specifically. There just happened to be some extra chicken, and it would've been a waste not to make it."
Inwardly, the goddess of Lastation was relieved to hear that her food was good enough for the boy. He would have to go to bed soon, and she didn't want him sleeping on an empty stomach or food that he didn't find palatable. The raven-haired CPU retreated into the kitchen to go about making dinner for the party while Neptune stopped acting as though she had put in the effort to actually make the food Heero was now eating, "Yeah, Noire was the one that actually made it. I asked her to make some extra for when you woke up."
Histoire was watching Neptune from the other side of the living room, a smile on her face as she observed the CPU's attentiveness to Heero. The way she tended to the boy was something to marvel at, as she was normally impetuous and silly a lot of the time. If she could be just as serious about her duties as a CPU, then it would go a long way toward improving Planeptune's situation regarding monsters and her overall appeal to those who believed in her as this land's goddess.
Compa and IF came by with a roll of bandages, gauze and peroxide with the obvious intent of changing the Gundam pilot's bandages once more, "Heero, let's change your bandages one more time before you go to bed. I'll sleep better knowing you're wrapped in nice clean bandages."
IF dropped peroxide on the table so that her hands would be free to help the boy out of his tank top knowing that he would have some difficulty getting it off on his own, "C'mon, let's get that shirt off so we can get this over with."
Setting down his plate, Heero worked to get his olive drab tank top off with some assistance from the brunette next to him. As soon as the Perfect Soldier's torso was exposed, Compa went to work unraveling the bandages around his body. From removing the used bandages, to applying the disinfectant and gauze, and wrapping the fresh roll of bandages, the nurse in training's movements were ever so slightly faster than they were that morning.
After she was finished applying the new bandage, Compa stopped to marvel at her own work, "Wow… I didn't think I could do this any better!"
Even IF was impressed at the speed with which Compa used to dress Heero's injury, as she had never displayed such deft movements before, "No kidding… I remember when you were struggling just with bandages. Now that I'm seeing it, this is a major improvement."
Neptune could recall the time when she had just met the pink haired girl and how she unintentionally used her bandages for something other than their intended purpose, "I remember when she used her bandages as bondages."
With a new set of bandages around his torso, Heero carefully slipped his tank top back on as Compa got onto the two girls who had brought up her prior failures with her work. IF observed the boy's face for any sign of discomfort, though still ask the boy about his condition, "Jokes aside, how are you feeling?"
Between the pain suppressant and new bandages, Heero was doing rather well, so long as he ignored the obvious fact that he still had a chest wound and sore muscles, "Better than I was earlier. Though I suppose I have all of you to thank for that."
Neptune seemed proud of herself after the Perfect Soldier said he was doing well, "I should hope so! You're getting lots of tender loving care from your Destined Lover after all!"
IF just watched the Heero as he leaned back into his chair in silent contemplation, while Compa started bickering with the party's leader over who was providing the most 'loving care' for the lone male party member. Seeing where they were at now, and how the two girls next to her had managed to snag a kiss from boy, IF debated whether or not now was the time to act. Then the brunette remembered how she would claim a kiss from the Perfect Soldier the very next chance she got, "...Y'know what? Screw it."
Heero didn't quite hear IF and was about to ask her to repeat what she said, when he suddenly found the brunette's face right in front of his, along with a sensation against his lips that he was starting to become familiar with.
Neptune and Compa stopped quarreling when they noticed IF claiming a kiss from Heero. As one could imagine, Planeptune's goddess did not approve of what she was seeing, "Hey, what're you doing kissing my lover, Iffy?!"
The nurse in training was about as thrilled at what was happening as the party's leader was, which was to say not at all, "Stealing a kiss from Heero when we're not looking is cheating, Iffy!"
IF was surprised by her own boldness, knowing everyone in the party would be watching once Neptune and Compa made a fuss over her kissing Heero. The lip lock may have only been for a few seconds, but it was enough for the Guild Moderatist… at least for now. Breaking off the kiss, a red faced IF turned her attention to the two complaining girls next to her, "I don't wanna hear that crap out of you two. You both already got a kiss from Heero today, I'm just claiming what I'm due."
Envious stares were trained on the Guild Moderatist, with Vert being inwardly surprised with how forward IF had been, "...Iffy is far bolder than I had anticipated. Clearly I've underestimated her."
Red was upset about what had transpired. Not because Heero and IF had kissed, but that she hadn't gotten in on it, "My number one wifey and one and only hubby are giving out kisses! I want some of that! I want BOTH of that!"
A sly smile was Zero's response to the state of affairs the Perfect Soldier found himself in, following another unanticipated kiss, "Look at you, lady killer."
Heero frowned at his partner, but its effectiveness was dulled by the light shade of red that coated his cheeks, "...You're not helping."
Not wanting to risk getting dragged into an argument, Heero quickly finished the remainder of his dinner, getting up to drop his empty dish in the kitchen sink before heading off upstairs to retire for the evening. Once at his bedside, Heero kicked off his shoes and dropped onto the bed with the hope of getting some meaningful rest.
Xxx
It was 10:30 P.M. when Heero had woken up from his early sleep and try as he might the Gundam pilot found it difficult to go back to sleep. With slumber now eluding him the Perfect Soldier got out of bed and slipped his shoes on, thinking that some time outside would help to ease him back to bed. Heero took a moment to lift his tank top and examine the bandages around his torso. Going off of how clean the bandages were, he hadn't reopened the wound on his chest, so he should be fine to go out.
Heero made his way to the bedroom door and slowly opened it, then just as slowly closed it behind him once he was outside his room. The Perfect Soldier proceeded through the dark hallway at a slow walk, careful not to make any loud noises so as to avoid waking any of the girls.
Halfway down the hall the Gundam pilot found himself stopping at the window to look outside. The moon was casting it's light over Planeptune, and in the distance the lights of the capital city lit up the night sky in varying shades of purple that made for a dazzling display. However, it was neither the brilliance of the moon or the wondrous display of lights from the city that had pulled Heero to the window, but something else altogether.
Situated in the backyard of the safe house was a fighter plane... a very familiar plane, in that Heero and the rest of the group had seen said aircraft earlier that same day. It was the 'Purple Plane' as Compa called it, that Purple Heart had transformed into in order to deal with the group of monsters after her test with the other CPUs.
Curiously, the purple and black plane was just sitting in the backyard completely inert. Why Planeptune's goddess was sitting outside in her other transformed state was perplexing to Heero, even more so considering that there was no rhyme or reason to be using it since there were no monsters around to fight.
His own curiosity pushing him forward, the Perfect Soldier made his way through the rest of the second floor, down the stairs and out the back door of the house to find out why the party's leader was outside at this time of night.
As he approached the Purple Plane parked in the backyard, the Gundam pilot was mentally trying to figure out how he was to communicate with the CPU in her current form… IF she could communicate. As if to answer this question, the familiar voice of Purple Heart floated through the air once the boy had neared the aircraft, "...I was wondering when you would finally come out. It's rude to make a lady wait, but for you I'll let it slide."
How the party's leader was communicating with him, Heero didn't know. But apparently Planeptune's goddess had been waiting outside for him to show up, which the boy couldn't understand considering that the most consequential battle of their journey was to take place tomorrow, "Why are you out here? I know I don't need to remind you of what our plans are for tomorrow."
Purple Heart was very much aware of where the party was going tomorrow and what they would be doing. Of course, it wasn't as if she had been waiting outside for no good reason either. She had been waiting for this boy to come out for a personal reason. "I'm fully aware of what our plans for tomorrow are. That said… I needed to talk to you. Privately." Before Heero could ask the goddess what she wanted to to talk to him about, the cockpit canopy of the Purple Plane opened to reveal the interior. Evidently, Purple Heart wanted to take the conversation elsewhere, "Let's take this somewhere else. I think we're due for some quality time together."
Heero took a moment to look back at the party's place of residence before walking over to the open fighter plane and slipping into the pilot's seat, taking care not to aggravate his injury while doing so. Once inside, the Gundam pilot got a good look at the control suite and found that it wasn't all that different from a mobile suit's. Two throttles with one on each side of the cockpit, an assortment of buttons and switches and a pair of foot pedals.
While the boy was looking over the controls, Purple Heart spoke to him again as the cockpit canopy closed over him in preparation for the flight they were about to go on. "Thank you for choosing Purple Heart Airlines, the only airline made for two. You might want to buckle up."
Heeding the suggestion of Planeptune's goddess, Heero buckled the safety harness of his seat as the black and purple fighter jet lifted off the ground. A few seconds after the plane started hovering in place, the sound of jet engines flaring to life filled the otherwise silent night air, and the fighter plane that was the party's leader took off into the sky.
Looking out of the glass canopy, Heero could more easily see the lights of Planeptune's city painting the night air in varying shades of purple. As he looked at the dazzling display of lights, Purple Heart spoke to the teenaged soldier for the sake of making small talk, "I've never used my CPU Neptune form like this before. It's a novel experience to say the least, and one that I'm glad to be sharing with you, Heero."
The Perfect Soldier would have asked Purple Heart if using her CPU Neptune form was really such a good idea but considered the fact that it was only after firing her onboard weapon that the goddess had become winded earlier. Suddenly, the CPU Neptune as the plane was now known as, stopped climbing into the air and was left to simply glide through the night sky, "I'll leave the controls in your hands now."
Heero wanted to know what it was that was going through the CPU's mind but got the impression that she wouldn't be forthcoming with an answer. The only way he was going to find out was by playing along with Planeptune's goddess. Looking at the console in front of him, Heero started pushing a few buttons to turn on the navigation system. A few stifled giggles filled the enclosed space that made the Gundam pilot stop before continuing the act of pushing buttons which brought about another round of giggles from Planeptune's goddess, though her laughter wasn't muffled the second time. "Sorry, I'm ticklish there."
Directing his attention at the array of buttons before him, the Perfect Soldier was left to question where exactly on Planeptune's CPU was 'there?' A few more button inputs turned on the monitor on the center console, displaying their heading, altitude and speed among other things. Heero was about to get the CPU Neptune moving, when he suddenly heard a gasp the moment his hands game to rest on the throttles. Thinking he had done something wrong, Heero swiftly took his hands off the controls and waited for a response from Planeptune's goddess. After a few seconds, Purple Heart spoke to the cautious boy, embarrassment evident in her voice, "Please be gentle when you touch me… THERE."
Once more, Heero stopped to look at what he was putting his hands on. Where exactly was 'THERE?' Again, the Gundam pilot placed his hands on the throttles, gently this time, and eased them forward. The black and purple aircraft began to move forward even faster than it was already, and in no time the CPU Neptune was cutting through the night air at incredible speed.
Once he was comfortable with the controls, Heero was navigating the goddess of Planeptune with the same skill and precision that he exhibited with a full-size mobile suit. For five minutes the black and purple fighter jet gracefully streaked through air, rolling, twisting and turning as it flew across the sky. There was no set destination or reason behind the maneuvers, as if they were done simply for the sake of doing them.
Having spent most of the time at the same at the same altitude, Heero suddenly directed the CPU Neptune straight up, taking the plane higher into the sky as fast as it could go. Throughout their dance through the sky, Purple Heart never took her gaze off of Heero as he handled her controls, silently observing the Perfect Soldier. During the last five minutes Planeptune's goddess could feel the palpitations of his heart, and even witnessed the instances where his lips would curve into a smirk… or a smile, like they were in now.
Purple Heart found it rather pleasing to see the boy exhibit real excitement, as he normally kept his emotions inside, and it was a fact she couldn't help but bring up, "Are you enjoying yourself?"
With his hands still pushing up on the throttles, Heero directed his attention to the screen on the center console. He couldn't see the CPU's face, but it was about as good a place as any to look when conversing with her while she was in this form, "...Why do you ask?"
"Because your heart's beating fast... And because you're smiling."
It was only after the party's leader had mentioned it that the Perfect Soldier realized that he had been smiling. Had he really been showing his emotions this whole time? The boy was going to ponder just why he would be displaying emotion, when he thought about where he was and what he was doing. Heero constantly had access to the Wing Zero or even HDD for flight, but he only ever used them when the situation required it. When had he ever used them for something like this?
As Heero dwelled on this, the CPU Neptune emerged from within the clouds and had an unobstructed view of the full moon. Looking out at the lunar sphere and the ethereal glow it cast on the world below, the Gundam pilot realized he had never stopped to really enjoy little moments like this. He never stopped to just… have fun.
The Perfect Soldier pulled back on both throttles, cutting power to the engines and causing the purple and black fighter plane fall back down into the clouds. With gravity pushing down on it, the CPU Neptune was soon plummeting towards the ground nose first. Before long the plane achieved terminal velocity, a piercing scream filled the air with its free fall, and the altimeter was rapidly changing it reading as the aircraft drew closer to the ground, yet despite the situation Purple Heart didn't say a word, nor was there any unease on Heero's face.
Curious to know how the CPU of Planeptune was taking this, the teenaged soldier asked if she was averse to what was going on, "Are you nervous?"
Purple Heart wasn't worried, knowing that Heero wouldn't be attempting something he wasn't fully capable of handling, "Not in the least, considering who I have at the controls. Then again, I did tell you that I trusted you more than anyone, right?"
He could remember what the goddess had said clearly. That there was no one in the world that she trusted more than him. And the Gundam pilot was not going to let that trust be misplace, not when he trusted the CPU in turn. Heero pushed forward on both throttles causing the CPU Neptune's engines to come to life, and the Perfect Soldier quickly leveled out the purple and black fighter jet just before it was too late to avoid the tree line.
Heero felt now as good a place to stop their flight through the night sky as he didn't want Purple Heart exhausting all of her energy, and because he wanted to know what it was the CPU wanted to speak to him about, "...We'll stop here before you run out of power. And so you can tell me what it is you needed to talk about."
Purple Heart scanned the area below and found a suitable location for them to land, which coincidentally, wasn't too far from the safe house. It was a patch of forest with a lake at the center and enough room for her to maneuver into, "That should be fine."
The CPU Neptune began to slow down as it neared it's destination, eventually coming to a stop as it hovered in place next to the lake. Heero unbuckled the safety harness as Purple Heart open the cockpit canopy while bringing them to ground. Once her passenger had gotten out, Planeptune's goddess discontinued usage of her CPU Neptune form, reverting to her goddess form of Purple Heart.
Observing the party's leader, Heero waited for her to say something to get the conversation though she had her back to him, and the Gundam pilot didn't know why. After a moment to collect herself, Purple Heart looked over her shoulder at Heero with her arms around her chest and cheeks flush with color, "...You really do enjoy touching my chest, don't you?"
Heero's cheeks took on a red hue at the revelation that he had essentially been groping Purple Heart's chest the whole time. Looking away from the swordstress, the Perfect Soldier tried to expel those thoughts from his mind, "It's not as if I knew where and what I was touching aside from what I could see."
Allowing herself to calm down, the CPU of Planeptune moved the conversation toward the reasoning behind why she had waited for the Gundam pilot. "I didn't bring you out here just so I could tease you… tempting as it is." The shift in Purple Heart's tone helped Heero to get his mind off of what he did with the CPU and served to remind him that she brought him here for a reason. Taking a deep breath, the goddess turned around to face her human lover, "I wanted to apologize… for what I've done."
Purple Heart had been looking at Heero's chest as she spoke, which told the teenaged soldier that the party's leader still couldn't quite get over the incident that caused his injury. Having already forgiven her for what had transpired, the only thing Heero could think of that might make her feel better was if he shared the blame with her. "I'll accept your apology… if you will accept mine. After all, it wouldn't have happened if I hadn't forced you into the situation that caused it."
Planeptune's goddess had to stop herself from saying that the boy had nothing to apologize for. The whole reason she was feeling so guilty was because of the mistreatment her lover had faced at Arfoire's hands, and how the injury she inflicted on him nearly killed got him killed. Heero wanted her to stop blaming herself for something she had no control over and move on. He was even willing to shoulder the blame along with her if it would help her do just that. And just like that, she felt an invisible weight fall off her shoulders… one of them, anyway.
A curt nod was Purple Heat's response, but before Heero could even think about leaving there was another matter the swordstress needed to apologize for, "I also want to apologize for being uncooperative… with the other goddesses." Because Purple Heart had failed to cooperate with her counterparts from the other landmasses, Arfoire had taken taken her lover from her and made him commit attack the people of her land in an effort to hasten Gamindustri's demise. What made it so much worse was that the incident could have been avoided. "Some part of me wanted to prove that I could defeat Arfoire without their help. Because I refused to listen to reason, you were taken from me… used against me… and Planeptune is now worse off than it was before. All because I didn't leave my grudges in the past where they belong."
It had been a terrible experience to be sure and being left physically drained didn't make it any better. But Heero wasn't about to let his current state of health hinder him from carrying out the mission he had been given, "There's no point in dwelling what's already happened. All we can do is keep moving forward. I have a mission to complete, and I will see it through to the end."
Anxiety and fear over Heero going with the party to face Arfoire had pervaded Purple Heart's every thought, but as much as she didn't want the boy to go, there was to be no rest for him, "If I thought we could make this alliance work… that the four of us goddesses could work together seamlessly, I would ask you to wait hear until we returned from defeating Arfoire. However..." However, Purple Heart wasn't blind to the reality that the CPUs still took issue with one another. Just because they formed an alliance, that wasn't going to magically make their centuries long animosity disappear. "I know that's asking too much. We still don't entirely trust one another, and that could lead to making a mistake that will cost us the world."
Purple Heart didn't like that she would have to place her beloved in harm's way when he was recovering, but there was no other option. Deep down, she couldn't trust the other goddesses to stay focused on the task at hand. Not without the reason for the creation of their alliance being there with them, "We may not agree with one another, but I believe I speak for the four of us when I say that if you're there… if it's for you, the four of us can work together."
Distressing as it was to hear, Heero wasn't one to ignore the obvious. They may have cooperated with one another for their exercise battles earlier, but it had been clear that the CPUs still didn't fully trust one another, as was made clear by their lack of coordination. The only time the goddesses showed real teamwork was after he had given the four of them a clear plan to deal with the CPU Breaker.
She may have failed to protect him last time, but Purple Heart refused to make such a mistake twice. She had felt what it was like to lose Heero once, and she refused to go through that again. "Ever since we first met, I've always relied on you. Both for your strength in battle, and as a source of support throughout this adventure to save Gamindustri. You've been a source of strength for me, and so I-"
She stopped. 'I will be your strength.' was what the goddess was about to say. Purple Heart gently shook her head, mentally slapping herself for thinking like that. While it was true, she wouldn't be fighting for Heero alone. It was only by working with the party that she had succeeded in rescuing the Gundam pilot, so it was only by working with them again that they could make up for the teenaged soldier not being able to fight at his best, "...WE will be your strength."
Heero knew exactly what Planeptune's goddess was about to say before she stopped, so to hear the CPU correct herself like this was proof that she was working toward breaking her old habits and acting like a real leader. Hoping that the team leader was better off now that she had gotten all of this off her chest, the Gundam pilot asked if there was anything else that needed to be discussed, "Is there anything else, or are you feeling better now?"
Bashfully, Purple Heart looked away from the boy. There was ONE more thing that she felt needed to be addressed. "Well… there is one more thing..."
Planeptune's goddess focused her attention on the Perfect Soldier as she covered the short distance between them. Before Heero could ask what it was that was on the goddess's mind, Purple Heart cupped his cheeks with both hands and closed the remaining distance, seizing his lips in a chaste kiss. The goddess let go of the boy soon after, covering her mouth with one hand to hide the smile that graced her lips, "I wanted my reward for all the work I've been putting in."
That was the fourth time today that Heero had been caught off guard. Either he was slipping up, or the girls were simply getting the better of him. A flash of light engulfed Purple Heart that gave way to her human form of Neptune, who was embarrassed, yet at the same time proud of what she had just done, "And just like that, I've kissed you in both my human AND goddess form! Now no one can deny that we're lovers!"
As much as he wanted to say something, Heero couldn't deny that the purplenette in front of him deserved something for the work she had put in during his absence from the group. It was then that the Gundam pilot experienced a wave of exhaustion and would have fallen over if Neptune hadn't caught him. Planeptune's CPU was understandably alarmed at the boy's loss of balance, believing he had opened his injury during their time in the sky, "You're not bleeding, are you? Maybe I shouldn't have brought you out here..."
Heero shook his head while trying to reorient himself, not wanting to worry Neptune any more than she already was. After all, he had originally gotten up so he could tire himself enough to go back to sleep. He just hadn't planned on all of what came after waking up prematurely, "It's not your fault. I needed a way to exert myself enough to go back to sleep. This is just a result of me not planning ahead."
They may not have been far from the safe house, but Neptune still didn't want Heero walking when he was tired. With nothing else available, the purplenette offered her lap for the Gundam pilot to rest on until he could make the trip back, "You wanna use my lap as a pillow? We'll stay here until you're good enough to walk."
It was a generous offer, and one that Heero couldn't exactly refuse. Neptune helped the Gundam pilot down to the ground before closing her legs and presenting her lap to the boy, who laid the back of his head against it. The softness and warmth of her thighs served to entice the boy to sleep. Before he completely lost consciousnesses, Heero made sure to let Neptune know that she needed to wake him up before too long so that they didn't spend the night outside, "Wake me in a few minutes. Otherwise, this could get uncomfortable for you."
Neptune didn't need a reminder. After all, the boy currently resting on her lap wouldn't get the sleep he needed if they didn't get back to the safe house, "I know, don't worry about it. I mean, I don't want you sleeping out here tonight."
Planeptune's CPU watched Heero's face as he slept, reaching over at gently grabbing his right hand as she did. Neptune had worked harder in the last five days than she had in her entire life, and her reason for doing so was right there on her lap and she would work harder still to keep him safe from Arfoire. As bleak as the world's situation was, Neptune knew that long as she had Heero, as long as she had the entire party behind her, things would turn out alright. With that thought in mind, the CPU silently watched over the boy that was the center of her world.
Xxx
Me: There we go, chapter 51, done! I swear, these original chapters just get harder and longer to write up the further we get into the story. Thankfully, this is the last one we actually need for the story, and the rest is just following the script of the game with some changes here and there."
Heero and Purple Heart: (Enter ACCC from Lounge) "Normally I'd be upset about the time it took to get this chapter out, or how the other goddesses were being difficult, but I'll let it slide this time. If only because I had a very romantic moment with Heero."
Heero: "It would be in your best interest to keep the free hand chapters from getting so long. It's the whole reason it takes longer to update the story with them."
Me: "Well, I couldn't exactly help how long this chapter wound up being. There is no question this is our longest chapter, and thankfully we won't have another one this long. I'm even more thankful that I've at least got the remaining chapters planned out, unlike this one. But this is the price I pay for making original content to fit this story."
Compa and IF: (Enters ACCC from Break Room) "I liked how I finally got to kiss Heero! It means that we're really lovers now!"
IF: "I just wish I had gotten it sooner. But I had to play the good girl and give up on those chances earlier."
Zero: (Enters IC from Lounge) "Some concessions needed to be made in order to bring the story together. At least he made sure to keep all three of you in mind for this chapter."
Me: "I just figured that the first three girls of the party deserved some love for the chapter. But now that the free chapter is out of the way, the rest of the story will follow the game as usual, so it won't take quite so long to write those up. We're nearing the end, and I can see the light! It looks beautiful!" (Points at cast) "Wrap up this chapter for us so we can get to work on the next one."
Heero, Purple Heart, Compa, IF and Zero: (Turns to readers) "Please read and review this chapter and look forward to the next update."
Me: Back to work, peeps! We've only got a few chapters left to go!"
Me, Heero, Purple Heart, Compa, IF, And Zero: (Leave ACCC from Left Entrance)
