Me: "Hello again, one and all! Well, with the overly long chapter from last time out of the way, we're all set to send the party to Celestia for the finale of this crazy story."

Heero and Neptune: (Enter IC) "So we're finally gonna beat up that jerk face Arfoire? It's about time."

Heero: "Personally, I think her death has been long overdue."

Compa and IF: (Enter IC from Lounge) "We'll finally deliver justice to the evil goddess! She was really mean to Heero, and the story got dark because of it."

IF: "That bitch has had this coming for a while now. If we're lucky we can get rid of her in this chapter and spend the next chapter celebrating, or something."

Histoire: (Enters IC from Break Room) "I wish it had not come to this, but Arfoire is being uncooperative. I fear there is no other choice."

Zero: (Materializes in IC) "It's regrettable, but there are those who can't be convinced to change there ways, no matter how hard we try."

Me: "It's an unfortunate fact, but one we must come to terms with. Just as we must come to terms with the fact that the others aren't here to help us with the disclaimer. So, let's hurry up and read this off so we can focus on the remainder of the story. Let's hear it."

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

Me: "We thank you for time, and hope you enjoy the read. Back to work, people!"

Me, Heero, Neptune, Compa, IF, Zero and Histoire: (Leave IC)

Ch. 52 Toward The Final Battle

It was early morning in the Land of Purple Progress. A soft breeze blew across the land and a few clouds were lazily drifting in the sky. The denizens of the land went getting up and going about their lives without a care in the world, completely oblivious to the threat of doomsday looming over them.

Within the confines of his room, Heero was lying across his bed and had just woken from his slumber. Looking down from his lying position, the Gundam pilot saw Neptune's sleeping face as she lay on top of him. After they had made it back from their late-night outing, Planeptune's goddess spent the night with the Perfect Soldier as, in her own words, she got her best sleep when she was with him.

Sure enough, the purple haired girl was sound asleep. There was no kicking or tossing and turning of any kind. Just soft breathing and minute movements now and then. Neptune was at peace right now, and Heero didn't want to disturb her. Partly because she needed all the rest she could get for the day, but mostly because he wanted to savor what time he had left with the party's leader. Once they defeated Arfoire, his mission would be over… there would be no more need for him to remain in Gamindustri. Neptune would have no more use for him.

As the Gundam pilot dwelled on the depressing fact that he would soon have to leave Gamindustri, Neptune began to rouse from her sleep. The CPU's eyes fluttered open slowly, moaning as she dispelled the grogginess that came from waking up after a long night's sleep, and finally opened her mouth and letting out an audible yawn. Once awake, Neptune rolled off of the boy she had been lying on top of before shifting over to the side of the bed facing the door, stretching her arms over head to finish waking herself up, "Aaah, I slept well. A good night's sleep with my lover is just what I needed."

With Neptune no longer on top of him, Heero was able to get out of bed to make preparations for the day. His final day in this world. Looking over his shoulder at Planeptune's goddess, Heero began to worry about what would happen to her once he was gone. Would she go back to fighting with the other CPUs? The boy wanted to believe that the guardian goddesses wouldn't, considering that it was because of Arfoire's manipulation that they went at it to begin with. But if the four CPUs decided to have at it, their world might not be able to sustain itself. Not after all of the damage that Arfoire had done.

If nothing else, Heero wanted to make sure that Neptune wouldn't have to worry about fighting with the other CPUs, and that their world would continue to exist after he was gone. To do that, he needed to rectify a problem that currently existed with Neptune's alliance with the other CPUs, "Neptune, there's something we need to talk about."

Planeptune's goddess directed her attention to the Perfect Soldier, wondering just what it was he wanted to talk about that he didn't bring up last night. Her first guess was that it had something to do with their final battle with Arfoire that was to take place in Celestia. "What's up? Are you worried about the throw down we're gonna have with Arfoire? We'll be fine. Me and the other goddesses are working together just fine."

While close to the matter the boy wanted to discuss, it wasn't quite that. No, it wasn't so much their teamwork that he was was concerned, but the driving force behind it that had the Perfect Soldier worried. "It's not your teamwork that bothers me. It's the motivation behind it that we need to talk about."

Neptune was caught off guard by Heero's response. There was something wrong with the motivation for the goddesses working together? Was there a problem with the four of them fighting for this boy in front of her? "Our motivation? But I've got plenty of motivation for fighting Arfoire when I'm thinking of you! What's wrong with fighting for my Destined Lover?"

In truth, Heero would have been fine with being Neptune's reason to fight with the other goddesses against Arfoire… if she was the only one doing so. The problem was that Neptune, Vert, Blanc and Noire were all making him their reason to face the former goddess, and it was clear that the purplenette didn't see the inherent problem with all four CPUs fighting for one person when they were so close to the end of their journey, "Neptune, you and the other CPUs are currently in a rather fragile alliance. When we finally deal with Arfoire what do you think is going to happen?"

Taking a moment to think on what the party was to do once Arfoire was defeated, the purplenette's first thought was that the party would celebrate for their victory over the former goddess and for saving Gamindustri, "Well, we'll throw a party and celebrate saving the world from Arfoire, right?"

Neptune was certainly thinking ahead, she just wasn't thinking far enough. Heero was focused on what was to come beyond the immediate aftermath. "Zero has hinted that a major point of contention between the four of you has to do with me. If I'm the reason you, Noire, Blanc and Vert are cooperating right now, what do you believe will happen between the four of you once this is over?" As she was about to open her mouth to answer, it finally dawned on Neptune what Heero was getting at. If the Gundam pilot was the sole reason they were working together now, then he would be the reason the four goddesses would be right back at each other's throats again once they had defeated Arfoire. As soon as he could see that Neptune was actually thinking on the question Heero continued, "I don't mind being A reason for you and the others working together. What I don't want is to be THE reason for it. Not when that means potentially being responsible for the deaths of countless people."

To hear it from her human lover, if Neptune and her fellow deities were to go back to fighting one another after defeating Arfoire, Heero would be left feeling guilty for the people of Gamindustri that died as a result. Planeptune's goddess had not intended to put the Gundam pilot in such a position, and now she felt bad for using him as her sole reason for fighting alongside the other goddesses. "...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel bad. It's just… it's kinda the whole reason we agreed to stop fighting one another. It made sense to fight for you."

Now it was Heero's turn to feel bad. He didn't want to dampen Neptune's spirit, he just wanted the party's leader to think about all that she was fighting for, not just him. A noise just outside the bedroom door drew the boy's attention away from Planeptune's CPU, knowing full well just who was behind it, "...I already know you're there. There's no point in keeping quiet."

Neptune turned towards the door as a period of silence ensued. Finally, the door opened, and on the other side was the rest of the party. Compa gave a quick bow, knowing that they had just interrupted an important conversation between Heero and Neptune, "We're sorry. We heard you talking in here, but…"

IF continued for the nurse in training, hoping that the rest of the group would be allowed to hear the rest of what the boy had to say, "The topic you guys were talking about sounded heavy, so we didn't want to interrupt. But we do wanna hear the rest of it."

The rest of the group had naturally gotten curious about what was being discussed. Given what the conversation entailed, Heero thought it best that they hear it as well. "This conversation concerns all of you, so you might as well come in."

Having received permission to enter, the girls filed into the room to be part of the discussion going on. Once the party was in Heero's room, Vert was the first to voice her dismay over hearing the Perfect Soldier's state that she and the other CPUs would devolve back into fighting one another after defeating Arfoire, "Your words wound me, Heero. Do you truly believe that we would start fighting with one another again?"

While Blanc was also upset by Heero's words, she knew that the possibility for her and the other goddesses to go back to fighting with each other was still there, "...I don't really blame him for thinking that way. I mean, what ARE we going to do once this is over? We've put our issues with each other on hold for now, but..."

There was no way Gamindustri's goddesses could simply forget all that had happened to them. Not the war they had waged war against one another, the damage done to their lands by Arfoire, or the reason they had ultimately stopped fighting each other for the time being. They may have become a bit more trusting of one another, but what little trust the four goddesses had would go out the window once Arfoire was gone and they decided that they just had to fight over Heero.

From the perspective of the party's human members, it was a terrifying thought. Their world could end up going over the brink if the goddesses started fighting after all the harm Arfoire had brought about. Just the thought of war breaking out was enough to leave Lyrica a trembling mess, "B-But I'm too young to die!"

Nisa was no fonder of the idea than the songstress next to her, knowing that should such a disaster become reality the party would be unable to stop it, "Forget Arfoire destroying the world, these four could do it themselves."

Noire was feeling attacked now. Did these girls really have so little faith in them? Although they didn't see eye to eye on everything, Lastation's goddess was at least confident that the relationship between the four goddesses was such that they wouldn't immediately go back to fighting for some arbitrary reason, "I'm right here, you know. Do you guys seriously think we would do something as stupid as go back to fighting each other?"

The exchange of glances from the girls was enough to convey that although they wanted to believe Noire, they weren't entirely convinced. She, along with Vert and Blanc had come after the party more than once, with the targets of their transgressions being either Heero, Neptune or both. Moreover, when they had come after the party all three CPUs had done so without provocation. They may have ceased hostilities now, but their interest in Heero remained and going off of past experience that seemed to be reason enough for them to fight.

Noticing the concerned looks the CPUs now had from how they were being perceived, Heero directed the conversation back to the matter of their reason for working as a team, "As I said, I don't mind being a reason for you to cooperate. You just need to keep in mind everything else you're fighting for." The Gundam pilot gestured toward Compa, IF and the other human members of the party as he went on. "Compa and IF have been with us since we first began our mission. Lyrica, Gust, Nisa and Red have also assisted us along the way. After all they've been through with us, don't they matter just as much as I do?"

Looking over at the girls she had been traveling with since she had lost her memory, Neptune had an apologetic expression on her face. In her haste to try and make nice with the other goddesses and stop Arfoire, Planeptune's CPU hadn't really spared much of a thought towards them and their well-being. Hanging her head, Neptune apologized for seemingly neglecting them to focus on Heero, "Sorry about not thinking of you guys. I've been so worried about Heero that I really haven't been thinking about anyone or anything else."

Compa wasn't about to admonish the purplenette for her lack of concern for them, when they themselves had stopped thinking about everything else to focus on Heero's health, "That's alright, Nep-Nep. I was so worried about Heero that I stopped thinking about your unhealthy eating habits."

Even IF had shelved a number of her concerns to focus on the Gundam pilot, one of which was the fact that Neptune was the leader of the party, despite the questionable leadership style she displayed, "I'm with Compa on this. Looking after Heero as he is now is more important than worrying about your competence as a leader. Though, I do still question your decisions at times."

Planeptune's goddess couldn't help but feel as though the two girls were throwing shade at her, what with the implication of her being weighty and incompetent, "Hey, are you guys saying I'm fat and a bad leader?! That's beyond rude!"

As if it wasn't bad enough that Compa and IF that were making off-handed remarks about Neptune's fitness to be the team's leader, Blanc took a verbal shot at the purplenette as well, "...You act like you don't have a brain most of the time. No one in their right mind would trust you as the leader."

Noire joined in as well, knowing that the unhealthy amounts of junk food that Neptune ate was undoubtedly going to her hips and stomach, "You do shovel a lot of junk down that gullet of yours. I'm pretty sure that underneath that hoodie, you're turning into a fatty."

Having the two of goddess gang up on her in addition to Compa and IF was more than a little upsetting to Neptune, who immediately complained to her only salvation in situations like this, "Heero! Everyone's being mean to me again! What did I do to deserve this?"

Not wanting the discussion to go completely off the rails or damage the CPU Alliance, Heero steered the group back on topic, "I ask that you set aside such attacks on Neptune's character until after we've dealt with Arfoire. We don't need the four of you to break off your alliance now." It was imperative that Planeptune's goddess maintain a good working relationship with the other CPUs. After all, it wasn't just those in the party that Neptune should be fighting for. There was also Nepgear and the people of Planeptune that Heero knew that Neptune had been fighting to protect before and after she had lost her memory. "You have your younger sister, and the people of Planeptune who believe in you. Surely they are worth fighting for."

The Gundam pilot turned his attention to Noire and Blanc, knowing that they had the exact same reasons to join forces as Neptune, "Noire, Blanc, that includes the two of you. You have just as much reason to work together and stand to lose just as much as Neptune if you don't."

Whether it was Noire's younger sister Uni, or Blanc's twin sisters Ram and Rom, Lastation and Lowee's goddesses had family that they stood to lose if they failed or went back to fighting one another, which they most certainly would if they continued to believe that they had only one source of motivation. Hearing that Neptune, Noire and Blanc had younger siblings, Nisa was curious to know if Vert had a sister as well, "What about you, Lady Green Heart? Do you have a younger sibling as well?"

Almost immediately after the question was asked, Leanbox's goddess looked as though she would burst into tears. Unlike her Planeptune, Lowee and Lastation counterparts she didn't have a younger sibling, and that fact was deeply saddening to her, "Unfortunately… no. Unlike them, I'm sisterless. Even though I am clearly the most deserving, I have no younger sister to call my own!"

Hoping to calm the distraught CPU, Lyrica tried to assure the goddess that things would work out for her once their journey was over, "W-Well… if we defeat Arfoire and things go back to normal, maybe you'll get a little sister. Maybe..."

Red turned to Gust as she thought of about who would make for suitable sister material for Leanbox's CPU, "What about Gust? I betcha she could be your sister!"

The party's alchemist had a blank look on her face as she focused her attention on the red head, wanting to know why she was volunteering her for what sounded like the most exhausting experience in the world, "Why does Red volunteer Gust for this? Being sister to goddess sounds like lots of work."

With it becoming more and more likely that Vert was going to cry a river, IF tried to assure the goddess that things would work out for her in the sister department, "I know it doesn't mean much coming from us, but I'm sure you'll get a little sister in the future. I mean, as long as Gamindustri is still around."

Vert calmed down after hearing IF's more positive words regarding the possibility of finally attaining sisterhood for herself. Once the goddess was no longer about to cry buckets Heero determined he needed to wrap up this discussion before anyone went off on another tangent, "Neptune, the point is that you, Vert, Blanc and Noire have other reasons to work as a team. If I'm your sole reason for cooperating, this alliance between you will fall apart in the very near future. Instead, fight for the sake of your comrades, your sisters, and the people of Gamindustri. And above all; yourselves. Your futures."

The thought of going back to how they were before now was not the least bit appealing to the goddesses. Not when they knew how long and futile all of their fighting was. Now that they remembered what all hinged on the upcoming battle, Heero was hoping there would be little discord between the CPUs when they were face to face with Arfoire.

Thinking of Nepgear and the denizens of Planeptune, Neptune turned to the other CPUs, resolving herself to fight and defeat Arfoire to preserve all life across Gamindustri with Noire, Blanc and Vert, "I sorta forgot that Nep Jr. and the peeps of Planeptune were also in danger...but you heard him, ladies! We've got more to fight for than just Heero."

Embarrassingly, Noire had also forgotten what all was at stake in her bid to assuage Heero's worries about her ability to work with the other CPUs. Not wanting to be lumped together with Neptune, Lastation's goddess berated the purplenette while masking her own forgetfulness, "You're just now remembering what's at stake? Typical. Then again, remembering everything for you is just something else you've dropped in Heero's lap, isn't it? I never forgot about Uni or the people of Lastation."

Blanc was able to see right through the pig-tailed girl, but held her tongue as she thought about how she forgot about her twin sisters who would end up paying the price if she dropped the ball here against Arfoire, or later if she fought with the other CPUs, "...Ram, Rom, the people of Lowee… I might lose all of them if I go back to fighting you three after this. I'm not sure I could handle that."

Although she didn't have a sister like her counterparts, Vert still had the people of Leanbox who believed in her. She could not, would not let their belief in her be misplaced, "The citizens of Leanbox live peaceful lives and I do not want that to change. Not because I did something as meaningless as fighting you three. And certainly not because Arfoire has decided she wants to destroy our world."

Turning to the other members of the party, Neptune wanted to hear what they were planning on doing. This was going to be a battle against the former goddess after all, and she didn't want them risking their lives as well, "What are you guys gonna do? You don't have to come with if you don't wanna."

The human members of the party couldn't understand why Neptune was only now worrying about them. They had faced Arfoire multiple times, each encounter containing the possibility of an untimely demise and the only difference between then and now was that Gamindustri in its entirety was at stake with every man, woman and child being threatened as well. Compa knew it wouldn't do them any good to sit on the sidelines when they would still be in danger regardless, "We can't sit this out, Nep-Nep. We're a party, so we should be facing this together!"

IF wasn't about to sit out on giving Arfoire the comeuppance she so richly deserved. Not just because of what she did to Heero, but for constantly harassing the party and now trying to destroy their world, "We've come this far, might as well see this through, right? Besides, she's trying to kill all of us and I kinda like being alive."

Nisa broke into one of her heroic speeches as she refuted the idea of sitting out the battle to determine the fate of their world, "The face of evil has revealed herself and has stated her intent to destroy Gamindustri. As the Keeper of Justice I will not stand by and let her do as she pleases!"

Lyrica held her tongue on Nisa's spiel knowing that the situation was too serious for her to be poking fun at the self-proclaimed heroine, "I wanna go back to my career as a singer and songwriter, but I can't do that if the world's gone! I mean, who would be around to listen to me then?"

Just like her compatriots, Gust also wanted to save the world from devastation at the hands of the former goddess. Although she was young, her sense of justice wouldn't let her sit out this pivotal battle, "Gust became alchemist to help people. Defeating former goddess will help everyone, so Gust must go."

Finally Red voiced her intent to go with the party towards their final battle with Arfoire, both to save the world and so her quest to obtain her one hundred wives didn't come to an unfortunate end, "If we don't stop that whack job from destroying the world, I'll never get my one hundred wifeys! And since my wifey number one is going, I gotta go too!"

Neptune had a feeling that the girls would want to go face Arfoire with her and the other goddesses, but hearing them actually say that they would was reassuring. It wasn't just Planeptune's goddess that was relieved to hear that they would be going, Heero was also grateful for their continued assistance. Not just because he was still in a weakened state, but the Gundam pilot believed that if Vert, Blanc and Noire were around the human members of the team it would further dissuade them from wanting to go back to war with one another.

With the much-needed discussion about their motivation over the Perfect Soldier addressed the group over their level of preparedness, not wanting any of them to forget anything before they left for Celestia, "Once we leave for Celestia, there is no going back until we have completed our mission. All of you need to make sure you're fully prepared before we head out."

No one in the party was keen on being unprepared for the final battle since it literally meant the difference between life and death. The girls departed from Heero's room to check their belongings in case they were missing any needed items for the trip they would soon embark on, leaving the Gundam pilot to his thoughts. Based on what the CPUs had said, they were open to the idea of shelving their hostilities toward one another permanently in favor of better relations between themselves and their lands. Whether or not they would hold themselves to that, the Perfect Soldier couldn't say. But if they did, at least he wouldn't have to worry about Neptune once he was gone.

Thinking on how his mission was about to end brought an empty feeling to the Gundam pilot. Histoire may have extended his mission beyond their previous parameters, but that was only because Arfoire was alive and still posed a very real threat to the world. Once she was gone, the Perfect Soldier's usefulness would be at an end. Doing his best to ignore the growing empty feeling that in his chest, Heero exited his room and made for the garage to make his own preparations for the final battle.

Walking through the upstairs hallway, the Perfect Soldier cast a glance into each room he passed by and noted that the girls were going through their supplies and checking their equipment as he had recommended. Having come this far, it made no sense for any of them to die because of faulty equipment or missing supplies. It made no sense for them to die at all.

Descending the staircase to the living room, Heero headed straight for the garage. Turning on the garage light, the Perfect Soldier directed his attention to the five suits standing against the wall, silently waiting for the moment when they would be needed. The coming battle would likely be the last time these machines would see use, but that made it all the more important that the boy give them a complete check now while he could.

Between running systems diagnostics, applying grease to the servos, checking the internal and external structures, and testing the fire control systems among other checks, Heero spent an hour on the five functioning machines making sure there were no problems and that they would function at peak efficiency, even if he himself couldn't. What had proven to be the most time-consuming aspect of the checkup had been removing the Avalanche equipment from the Exia, and considering how long and difficult the process had been, Heero wasn't sure he had either the time or energy to spare on refitting the sword wielding Gundam.

Deciding not to remount the extra equipment the Perfect Soldier went about to the task of putting the Exia's weapons back into their assigned hard-points. As Heero went to work, Noire poked her head in through the open doorway, and upon seeing the boy spoke to get his attention, "Hey, Heero? Are you busy?"

Heero slipped the GN Short Sword and Long Sword into place along the Exia's hips before giving Lastation's CPU his undivided attention, "My preparations are almost complete, so I can spare some time if you need something."

Noire did need something from the boy, but it wasn't some material item that she required. Rather, what she needed was the Gundam pilot's ear for a moment. "Well, I just needed to talk to you for a moment." The Perfect Soldier waited to hear what the raven haired goddess had to say, watching as she would alternate between standing on the ball of her heels and the tips of her toes with her hands behind her back. After a brief moment of silence Noire spoke up about what she wanted to discuss with the boy in front of her, "So… I've given it a lot of thought, and… I'm going to rescind my order to the Basilicom. I'm going to remain Lastation's CPU."

Hearing that Noire was going to continue being the Console Patron Unit of Lastation was certainly good to hear, but it did beg the question what had happened to change her mind. Knowing that Heero was curious, the raven haired CPU explained her reasoning for about-face. "Traveling with you and the others has given me some perspective. You… may be right about me. Maybe I do ask a bit much of myself. It's something I can't really help. I just want Lastation to be the best. To succeed where the other lands would fail." Looking away, a contrite expression formed on the CPU's face as she continued, "Also, I… let you down. I acted irresponsibly with the other goddesses, and because of that… I've seen the extent of Arfoire's cruelty. How far she'll go to destroy Gamindustri."

After seeing what the former goddess had done to Heero, it was clear there was nothing Arfoire wouldn't do to see the world brought to ruin. And beyond what had been done to the party's sole male member, what was happening to Planeptune now could very well have happened to Lastation. In fact, the bleak situation that the Land of Purple Progress faced could still happen to Noire's land. She couldn't possibly ask Uni to be responsible for protecting Lastation from such a crisis, it would reflect poorly on her both as a goddess and an older sibling. And beyond that, Heero would be disappointed with her for shirking her duties in the face of the crisis before them.

Heero could tell that Noire was being sincere about her decision to retain her position as CPU of Lastation. It didn't matter what her reasoning was, what mattered was that the goddess was over her bout of depression for her perceived failing to protect her land. Right now, that was all the Gundam pilot, or anyone could ask for, "There is nothing wrong with wanting the best for your land, so long as you don't set unreasonable expectations for yourself. Only perform as best you're able and ask for assistance when your own abilities alone are insufficient."

Asking others for help wasn't something Noire was used to, having taken care of her problems by herself all the time. But given the situation and the eclectic party she found herself in, maybe Lastation's CPU could rely on others now and in the future. Just maybe.

Having told Heero that she would resume her duties as the guardian CPU of Lastation there was one more thing Noire wanted to speak with the boy about. Shuffling her feet out, the raven haired girl shifted her gaze away from the Gundam pilot before working up the nerve to discuss the other matter on her mind. "So, I was thinking… when this is over maybe you could… come by the Lastation Basilicom sometime. N-Not for any questionable reasons, obviously! Just so we can maybe… hang out?"

The teenaged soldier had not expected such a request from Lastation's goddess and knew that he should have said that he couldn't. He should have, but couldn't. For some reason, Heero couldn't bring himself to say no to Noire, and not because he was worried about dampening her spirits before the final battle. Ignoring his better judgment, Heero gave an answer that the CPU wanted to hear. "...Maybe. When our mission is complete, that is."

Lastation's goddess quietly expressed her relief over the boy accepting her invitation before going back to her usual haughty attitude, "Don't forget, it's a promise. So, you better not break it, or I'll never forgive you!"

As she left, the Gundam pilot could hear the CPU muttering to herself, though he couldn't really hear what was being said and felt it was none of his concern. What he did want to know was why he agreed to something he knew he wouldn't be able to make good on? Wouldn't it have been better to tell the truth, or tell some other lie that wouldn't have gotten Noire's hopes up?

Trying to ignore what he had done the Perfect Soldier finished fixing the Exia's remaining weapons to its chassis, dismissing the five functioning machines while leaving the battle scarred Epyon where it was. Looking down at the Avalanche equipment lying on the floor, Heero determined that he had neither the strength, energy or time needed to put them away properly and left the parts where they were as he wiped his hands clean with a nearby rag.

Tossing the piece of cloth aside, the Perfect Soldier headed for the door leading back into the living room. As he was about to enter the most spacious section of the house, a pair of voices that Heero identified as belonging to Compa and IF filled the air. A back and forth discussion was taking place between the two girls and seemed to be about what the group was to do after the coming battle, "Don't you think the others would like to take a break once we've won? I know I would, Iffy. We should have a party to celebrate our victory when we get back!"

"Should you be making that decision prematurely? I mean, I'd like to unwind as much as anyone, but you should ask for their input before making any plans. What if the others have things they wanna do?"

Stepping into the residence's primary living space, Heero directed his attention toward the kitchen where the voices of the two girls was coming from. Compa had been focusing on IF when she spotted the party's sole male party member out of the corner of her eye, and turned her gaze on him in the hopes of getting his support for her idea, "Heero, you agree with me right? Once we come back from Celestia we should all just take a nice long break."

Although she liked the idea, IF wasn't sure if everyone in the group would be up for it. After all, the whole reason they came together in the first place was to stop Arfoire, and once that they had achieved that everyone in the party would be free to pursue their own goals again. "I don't think the others would disagree with your idea, but they might have plans of their own."

Before Heero could even stop to think of an answer, Lyrica emerged from upstairs and provided her two-cents worth, having listened in on the discussion, "I'd like to go back to writing music and singing around Gamindustri, but it would be nice to relax a little with everyone before getting back to my passion."

Red suddenly came out of the laundry room with a pair of panties in her hands and another pair dangling from the end of her ponytail, "I wanna have a party so I can spend more time with my wifeys. And with that old crone Arfoire gone, I'll be able to continue my quest for more wifeys!"

IF was taken aback by Red showing up clutching a pair of panties with another pair dangling from her hair, and was immediately suspicious of what the red head was doing with them, "...Red, who's are those? And what are you doing with them?"

Looking at the undergarments in her hands, the flamboyant red head lamented the fact that she had only now thought about cleaning her clothes before what was to be the final battle over the fate of Gamindustri, "These happen to be my pretty whiteys. Things have been so hectic lately I haven't been able to get these washed. I've never tried it before, but it can't be that hard, right?"

Images of the party's house collapsing from flood damage came to Lyrica's mind, and the idea was in no way comforting to the songstress. She did want a house to come back to when they returned from Celestia, "Maybe someone should help her. Y'know, just in case."

Compa went into the laundry room with Red to assuage Lyrica's worries, while IF muttered to herself about how ridicules it was that the red headed came out with panties in her hand of all things, "At least they were hers..."

What had just occurred had been random, had nothing to do with the battle they would be heading into… and yet somehow felt so normal to Heero. Not just what had happened here, but the little moments that had transpired since he had arrived in Gamindustri. It was things like this that he was going to miss once his mission was over. He would truly miss this.

As the Gundam pilot dwelled on his time in this world that would soon come to an end, Nisa and Gust came down the stairs with the Quartet Arms in hand, and the blue haired heroine's enthusiasm was on full display, "Think about it, Gust. We're about to defeat the root of all evil in Gamindustri! Even if defeating Arfoire doesn't get rid of all the monsters in existence, we'll still stop new monsters from being created."

The idea alone that there wouldn't be more monsters was tantalizing. And with no more monsters being willed into existence, the four landmasses would only have to focus on exterminating those that remained. As nice as the thought was, Gust knew the party stilled had to defeat Arfoire before that thought would be their reality, "Do not count potions before they've been made. Must first defeat evil goddess first."

Hearing the young alchemist talk about what the party needed to focus on helped the Gundam pilot to brush his thoughts of leaving Gamindustri aside. Sad as it may be, he still had a mission to complete, and there was no room for weakness if the party was to succeed. Failure would result in Arfoire destroying them and all of Gamindustri. Heero would have to leave, but at least they would still be here and alive. It was better than them finding out what he had done before coming to their world and potentially living in fear of him.

A set of voices could be heard from the second floor that became clearer as they moved towards the stairs. With all of the human members of the party on the ground floor, it was obvious that the exchange was between the CPUs.

Oddly enough, there was no shouting, accusations or threats of violence being thrown about. The goddesses were having a normal, albeit serious conversation about the current situation. Noire was the first to descend the staircase, continuing to move her discussion with the other CPUs along, "Well, as long as we're all on the same page, it shouldn't be TOO hard for us to cooperate."

Vert was the second to arrive in the living room, voicing her own thoughts on the subject of their cooperation, "Agreed. While I cannot say what the future holds, right now there is too much at stake for us not to work with one another."

Third to arrive down the stairs was Blanc, and given that the ivory haired girl hadn't start shouting or blurting our profanity, the group was able to take it as a sign that she too was of a similar mind as her counterparts, "...As long as we don't act like dipshits and start fighting each other, we can win this."

Finally, Neptune came down after the trio had made it to the living room. The party's leader slid down the guardrail while clutching the ZERO System, and landed next to her fellow deities, "Glad we had this pow-wow, guys. If we fight like besties, we'll take down Arfoire in no time. That's a Neptune Guarantee!"

While a 'Neptune Guarantee' didn't really mean much to three goddesses, it was nice to know that there would be no acts of violence against one another while they focused on saving the world, and it helped that they had capable companions that would assist them in this endeavor.

Casting a sidelong glance to his left, Heero noticed Compa and Red emerging from the Laundry Room, which meant that the entirety of the party was now in the Living Room. By this point it was safe to assume that everyone had what they needed for their trip, so there was no reason to delay their departure any longer, "It would be in our best interest to head for the mission area. We're already operating on a time limit as it is."

With their equipment and supplies checked and rechecked, and the idea of going out for last minute practice against monsters out of the question, the group was as prepared as they were going to be for the final confrontation. Turning on the portable projector in her hands, Neptune waited for the party's second otherworldly helper to appear before inquiring on Histoire's location, "Hey Z, is Histy at those ruins she showed us? I don't wanna get there to find out she's goofing off somewhere."

It didn't take long for Zero to find the girl in question, and it was clear that she was busying herself with the final preparations to send the party to Celestia, "Histoire is still taking care of things on her end. By the time we reach her, she should be done making preparations."

Where the purplenette got the idea that the Tome of the Goddesses was going to be loafing around when doomsday was hours away was anyone's guess. Instead of holding a discussion over the nonsensical idea, the party gathered their gear along with the Quartet Arms and headed out the door toward the battle that would decide whether Gamindustri would live to see another day, or if the world would end then and there.

Xxx

After taking care of their morning routines and gathering the Quartet Arms, the party set out to meet with Histoire. The Tome of the Goddesses had already gone ahead to the ruins she had shown the party before they went to gather the four heroes' weapons and recruit the other CPUs.

As they approached their destination Noire voiced her skepticism about the proposed method by which the party was supposed to enter Celestia. She only knew of the way by which she and the other CPUs traveled between Celestia and the human world, and had never heard of a method beyond in all of the time she had been alive, "So, how do we know that this is going to work? I mean, Histy didn't tell us anything specific. Just to meet up with her."

No one was sure what to say to assuage the goddess's concern. None of them knew how the party was getting to Celestia, just that the Quartet Arms was the key to doing so. From Heero's perspective, it did them no good to start second guessing their efforts when they still needed to meet with Histoire to actually open the way to the land of the goddesses, "We'll have our answer once we reach Histoire."

A minute of silence ensued as the party made their way through the cave leading to the ruins where the Tome of the Goddesses was. From normal ideas like a platform or staircase coming out of the ground, to more outlandish ideas like the Quartet Arms magically growing in size and flying the party to the heavens, everyone in the group had their own idea as to how the party was to reach Celestia. When they finally made it to the ruins and found who they were looking for, Neptune started shouting at the fairy-like girl to let her know they had arrived, "Histy, we're here! We've got all four weapons with us!"

Histoire had not been traveling with the party when they went to gather the heroes' weapons nor had she actually gone looking for them around the safe house, but she had been aware of the fact that the party had assembled all four weapons, "Yes, I have followed along with your journey in the records, as well." Looking over the four weapons the group had assembled, Histoire was able to verify that they were indeed the genuine articles. "Great work. Looks like you got all the right ones."

With the knowledge that none of the weapons were replicas, the party was set to head to Celestia. Compa, curious as she was, wanted to know how exactly the Quartet Arms was supposed to get the party to the land of the goddesses, "So what should we do now?"

Because the party had only been told to acquire the four weapons and nothing beyond that, they were unsure of what needed to be done with them to allow passage to their final destination. Of course, the reason Histoire had come to the ruins before them in the first place was to handle the final preparations for their departure, "I have finished preparations on my end." Turning around, the Tome of the Goddesses gestured for the group to follow her, "Come over here."

Doing as they were asked, the party followed after Histoire as she led them into the ruins. After passing through the room with ancient relics, the group found themselves in a section of the ruins that had not been open the last time they were, this was the 'preparations' Histoire had taken care of while waiting for them.

Neptune's eyes darted around the unexplored room, curious about what was therein the previously hidden room, "Whoa there, I never knew about this room! What is this?"

The fairy-like girl focused her gaze on the largely empty room that contained the means for the party to reach Celestia, "This room contains the 'keyholes' for each weapon."

Scanning the four sides of the room, IF could see spaces on the walls that were the exact size and shape of the four weapons they had retrieved, "Yeah, I see indentations on each of the four walls…!"

While it wasn't much to look at, seeing the largely empty room gave the party a sense that they really were moments away from reaching Arfoire. All of their work thus far had led up to this, and they were one battle away from securing a more peaceful tomorrow for the world.

Histoire directed the party on what needed to be done next, as the path to Celestia would not open unless the weapons were placed in a certain order. "Now go and place the weapons in the order I specify. First is the spear, into the east wing."

Grabbing ahold of the Trust Spear, IF headed over to the wall on the east side of the room, "That's Miamoato's Trust Spear, right?" The brunette needed a moment to get the spear to fit in place, but was soon able to slide it in place. "Th-There."

Turning her gaze toward the west wall, the tome referenced her records on what weapon needed to go there. "Now the gun, into the south wall."

Compa took the Dual Revolver and walked over to the wall adjacent to the one IF was standing in front of "South is that way, right? Kuterogi's Dual Revolver…" Like IF, the nurse in training had to work a little bit in order to get the weapon to fit into the indentation, but ultimately it went in. "Okay, It's in!"

Once the Dual Revolver was in place, the Tome of the Goddesses directed her attention to the westmost wall, "Next is the bow, into the west wall."

Heero picked up the Wisdom Bow and made for the wall that was opposite of the wall that the Trust Spear had been placed, "...Gheytz's Wisdom Bow." As with the two weapons before it the Wisdom Bow needed a bit of effort to before it fit into place, but it too fit snugly into the wall. "Done."

With three weapons in place, Histoire turned her attention to the remaining wall that still needed a weapon. "Last is the sword, placed into the North wall."

Neptune took the Trinity Sword and headed over to the north wall, quickly sliding the weapon into the concave shape in the wall, "The hero Yuzusuki's Trinity Blade…!"

After Planeptune's CPU slipped the final weapon into the wall, Histoire began to recite the information from her records that would open the way to Celestia, "Ancient Heroes… Release the pathway to Celestia from your seal!" After commanding the Quartet Arms to release the seal, the entire area began to shake violently as the pathway to Celestia came undone. Once the pathway was open and the room stopped shaking, Histoire looked around the room at the party. "...I-Is everybody all right? The path is open now. The path connecting the human world with Celestia..."

While shaken by the sudden quake, the party had remained standing and was able to see the results of their efforts. The center of the room was emitting light in a circular formation that extended upwards towards the ceiling, as if reaching for the heavens.

Neptune looked at the newly open pathway to the holy land of the goddesses. A wave of anxiety washed over her as she looked at the glowing circle that would take the party to what would be their final battle. "Th-This is it, huh…?!"

Taking her eyes off the portal to Celestia, Histoire focused her attention on the party's leader. With the path open, it was time to confront Arfoire and put a stop to her machinations. "Neptune, the time has come. It is time to face Arfoire and save the world!"

Planeptune's goddess felt nervous about what the group was about to undertake. Even though they had fought Arfoire more than once, the fact that there was so much riding on THIS battle was unnerving to the otherwise headstrong CPU. Heero could see the uncertainty on Neptune's face, knowing that she was under a lot of pressure at that moment. The Gundam pilot firmly gripped the CPU by the shoulder, breaking her out of the quagmire she was in, "There is no reason to be nervous. Remember that this isn't a solo effort. You have allies here to fight this battle with you."

Unlike her first attempt at trying to get into Celestia to face Arfoire, Neptune wouldn't be going it alone. The entirety of the party plus the other three goddesses would be their supporting her. She had nothing to be scared of. Of course, that didn't stop the party's purple haired leader from recalling how the party had roughed her up during her brief stint of confusion and anger, "I'm still kinda worried you guys are gonna beat me up like last time."

Nisa didn't have any sympathy for Neptune, even if she was a goddess. Trying to take on the responsibility of facing Arfoire by herself was, in a way, irresponsible, "You tried to ditch us to stop the evil goddess on your own. You had it coming."

Even Gust was unwilling to let slide the purplenette's stunt that could have easily gotten her, and by extension the party killed, "Gust does not not feel sorry for you. Perhaps lesson will encourage Neptune to use head in the future."

Given the gravity of the final task before them, Zero wanted to make sure that the party's leader wasn't demoralized when they reached their destination, "Last time the team had to stop you because they care about you and your wellbeing. This time, everyone is here for you. There is nothing for you to fear."

Neptune had been about to sulk over the negative responses she was receiving when Zero reminded her that instead of trying to face Arfoire on her own, she would be with the party for this showdown. With her nervousness dispelled, Planeptune's goddess lead the group into the circle of light that would take them to Celestia.

Once the entirety of the group was standing in the circle, the light coming from the ground intensified and the party was engulfed ina column of light. When the light dissipated the group was gone with no trace left behind that they were ever there.

Xxx

In the blink of an eye, the party found themselves in the holy land of the goddesses; Celestia… and it was nothing like what they were expecting. Given that Arfoire was there now, they had expected things to be dark and dreary. Instead, it was rather well lit and spacious, which juxtaposed IF's preconceived idea of what they would be getting into, "Is this really where Arfoire is? It kind of clashes with her dark, evil attire…"

Neptune had been wordlessly looking around at where the party ended up. In all of the time she had spent in Celestia, not once had she ever seen the castle she was looking at now, "I never knew a castle existed in Celestia."

Given that the CPUs spent a long time in Celestia before coming down to the human world, Compa found it strange that the purple haired girl didn't know about the structure they were in now, "You didn't know? Maybe you were already Nep-Nep-ing even back when you were a goddess."

It wasn't just Neptune that had been unaware of the castle that existed in the land of the goddesses. Noire hadn't been aware of the structure until now, so the sight of the construct before her was somewhat surprising, "Celestia is… rather large and not nearly as clustered as the human world, so… I never knew of this place either."

Histoire was taken aback upon hearing that Lastation's goddess had been unaware of the castle's existence, "Arfoire did not even tell any of you about this castle...?" The knowledge that even the most committed of the four goddesses was saddening to the Tome of the Goddesses. "Even then, the time we spent apart was far too long."

Being away from the goddesses for so long got to Histoire, and as such was hoping to remedy their lack of time together. With a bright smile on her face the Tome of the Goddesses proposed "We should all spend some quality girly pillow-talk time once this has all concluded."

As strange as it was to hear the tome suggest the idea, Noire was unopposed to it. The idea of doing normal things that friends do was rather appealing to Lastation's CPU, "Sure, um… book. Neptune calls you Histy, so that's fine, right?"

The proposal to have a normal get together when the battle with Arfoire was over reminded Vert that the party had been friends long before she and the CPUs of Lowee and Lastation joined up, and as such was curious how such varied and different people came together in the party, "How did all of you meet one another? You're not all from Planeptune, right?"

Heero could easily remember how he met Neptune, as the brief first encounter resulted in him falling unconscious, "Our first meeting resulted in me falling unconscious after fell on me."

It wasn't hard at all for Compa to recall how she met Heero and Neptune, considering she had watched Planeptune's CPU drop on the Gundam pilot when she first saw them, "I took care of Nep-Nep when she fell from the sky and landed on Heero. We bumped into Iffy in a dungeon shortly after that!"

Heero and Compa's answers to how they met Neptune made Vert feel bad as it was because of her, Blanc and Noirethat the purplenette was sent to the human world in the first place, "From the sky… Right. I really should apologize to Nep-Nep…" Turning to Neptune, Leanbox's goddess extended an apology to her Planeptune counterpart. "I'm so sorry. The other goddesses and I are the ones who led to your fall. It was when… We were all impatient to just finish the stupid Console War… We finally chose to eliminate one of us to start with. We, the other three, managed to defeat Neptune."

Compa looked over at Planeptune's goddess, dismayed by the rather negative reason for her being cast down to the Human World,"...Nep-Nep, sounds like you were definitely not everyone's favorite friend."

Neptune couldn't believe her ears. She remembered that she had been singled out by the other CPUs to be disposed of, but had never gotten an actual reason as to why it had to be her specifically. The idea that Vert, Blanc and Noire got rid of her because they didn't like her was almost enough to make Neptune burst into tears, "What?! Nuh-uh, no way! ...Is something wrong with my memory again?"

Blanc was frankly amazed by the level of endurance displayed by the human members of the party. They had been able to travel with Neptune and put up with her for so long, and NOT kill Planeptune's CPU, "...I look up to you guys. I couldn't imagine traveling with Neptune and not strangling her."

IF had her patience tested more than once throughout party's journey, and there had certainly been moments in time where she had considered brutalizing the goddess to make her annoyance stop, "Yeah, it was pretty bad at first. She was still a total dunce like now, but add amnesia to that. It's like the birth of the ultimate moe cavewoman. Her aura of ignorance was just so suffocating.

Now Neptune was confused and troubled, unable to comprehend why the brunette was saying she had emitted an aura during their time traveling Gamindustri, "I...I never emitted any stinky auras! Girls only emit rainbows and marshmallows!"

Lowee's goddess found it highly unlikely that everything was rainbows and marshmallows for the party with Neptune being with them the whole time, "...I bet you did. To make it worse, you're naturally indifferent towards yourself."

Folding her arms over her chest, IF nodded in agreement with Blanc. More often than not, Neptune had a habit of sticking her nose in other people's affairs, and had done so without telling them about herself, "Right. You're so nosy about other people's business, but you never really talked about yourself."

Lyrica knew of an instance in which Neptune telling them more about herself could have spared the group from a moment of infighting, "If you had told us more about yourself, we could have avoided the goddesses refusing to join us. We might not have had to fight you, either."

Neptune didn't like how IF and Lyrica were hounding her, doubly so when it was during the point in time when she didn't remember a thing about herself, "Th-That's cuz I didn't remember nothin'!"

Having witnessed the party leader's tendencies first hand, Nisa wasn't sure if Neptune actually had amnesia back then, or had been faking it the entire time, "I don't know. You've shown a proclivity for being random over a wide range of issues. You could've been lying about not having your memories."

Despite the fact that they were in Celestia to fight the former goddess, Compa noticed how the party was joking around and more or less calm, "We're relaxed here, but this might be the final dungeon. Isn't this Arfoire's home?"

Histoire offered up a timid smile in response to the question posed by the nurse in training. She wasn't sure where Compa got the idea that Arfoire was using the castle as her home, "I do not believe so. I think this is merely used as a base of operations."

With the knowledge that the former goddess was operating out of this location rather than living there, Compa came to the wild conclusion that the party would be able to acquire unique items of value. "Then we might find her Evangelist costume, special weapons, and armors!"

IF gave the pink haired girl an incredulous stare, wondering why she would even want to acquire the outfit of their enemy to begin with, "...Evangelist costume?"

Gust saw no reason to acquire the articles of clothing mentioned by Compa, as she couldn't imagine a sane person wanting to buy them, "Gust does not see good reason to search for item. Too much effort for no reward."

It was not just the business savvy alchemist that saw no merit in going after such an item, but Red as well, though for a different reason, "But wouldn't an evil goddess's clothes give minus points to my charisma stat? No thanks. I need that for getting more wifeys!"

The conversation was drifting further away from the matter at hand. Not wanting the party to get distracted, Histoire broke up the discussion they were having, "Enough chatter, girls. We should move. Arfoire will laugh at us if we continue to dilly-dally!"

Although she had never seen the castle once in all the time she had been in Celestia, Neptune was determined to lead the party into it's depths and defeat Arfoire, "If we're all set, then Hyper Dimensional Neptune Party, move out!"

Planeptune's CPU had only taken a single step when IF stopped her, wanting to know where she got the idea for the name that she had given them without anyone else's input, "Before we move anywhere, we need to talk about that name. Were you looking at alphabet soup or something when you came up with it?"

Neptune seemed rather offended by the question. In truth, the party's leader had picked the name after much consideration, "Why you gotta be like that, Iffy? I worked really hard on our party's name, I'll have you know!"

Nisa was just as curious about the party's new name as IF and was hoping the leader of the group would break it down for them so they could make sense of it, "Well, could you tell us what it's supposed to stand for? Let's start with 'Hyper,' why's it in the name?"

Understanding that she had just sprung the new party name on them without giving them a heads-up, Planeptune's goddess explained the meaning behind the name one word at a time. "Honestly, that was the hardest part when making the name. I wanted to put EX in our party name, but I thought that would be kinda pretentious, so I went with Hyper instead."

To hear it from their leader, a surprising amount of restraint went into the naming process. With the first part of the name explained, Red inquired about the second word of the group's name, "What's 'Dimensional' mean? Are we going to other dimensions to beat up baddies? That would let me get more wifeys!"

Neptune hadn't given any thought to such a thing, mostly because she didn't see the party getting sent to another dimension. No, the word meant something else to the purplenette, "Well, our party is made up of people from all over Gamindustri. And not only is Heero the only boy in the group, but he's from another world. I want everyone to know that we're an equal opportunities group!"

While there were probably other words that could have been used in it's place, no one could argue that in the context in which it was used, 'Dimensional' did make them sound more inclusive. There was just the matter of the last word of the party name that had to be addressed, and Lyrica had a pretty good idea why it was picked, "Okay… and why is 'Neptune' in the name? I mean, I think I know why... I'd just like to make sure there isn't some other reason for its inclusion."

Her name being part of the party's name was rather obvious to the purplenette, "I added my name cuz I'm the party leader, and because Heero and Histy said I'm the most important."

Blanc felt that was debatable, as Heero had proven to be much more valuable to the party than Neptune had, "...Are you sure about that? The way I see it, Heero's more important than you."

It wasn't as if Neptune didn't understand why Lowee's CPU thought that way. To her credit, the purplenette had tried to come up with a party name around Heero's name first, but nothing immediately came together, "Well, I tried naming the party after Heero, but I couldn't think of anything catchy with the time we had left."

Zero interrupted the discussion of the naming of the party to focus the group on the more pressing issue at hand, "Before all of you get too wrapped up in this, I must remind all of you that we are facing a time limit. Arfoire must be dealt with before time runs out, or this world may well be lost."

With their minds refocused on their objective, the party broke into a run in an effort to save what time they had left. While the structure was supposed to be that of a castle, the means by which the party was meant to reach Arfoire wasn't so straightforward as walking across a bridge or passing through an open gate. No, the group would have to travel around the outside of the castle before they would reach the former goddess.

There wasn't all that much to look at as the party made their way around the structure. The path they were stepping across, the walls and the pillars that lined them were made of stone, and the only thing that contrasted the bland masonry besides themselves was the turquoise sky above them.

Just when it seemed like the run along the periphery of the castle would remain uneventful, the sound of stone rubbing together and heavy footfalls resounded through the air. Not far from where the party was, a creature made of black and red stone emerged from behind the cover of a monster in question was a Master Golem that, like many monsters the party had encountered before, was just a stronger variant of a previously encountered monster.

Under any other circumstances, seeing a monster in Celestia would have been cause for alarm. However, with Arfoire being there now, it was something the party had anticipated. What Lyrica wanted to know was how or if they were even going to deal with stone monstrosity, "Wh-What do we do about that monster? Should we fight it? Run around it and pretend it doesn't exist?"

Heero would have suggested that they ignore the Master Golem and proceed straight toward Arfoire, but there was the possibility that it would just come after them, and having to deal with any monsters while confronting the fallen CPU could spell trouble, "If what Histoire said is true, and the real Arfoire is more capable than any of the fakes we have dealt with, then we need to operate with more caution than before."

Zero was of the same mindset. Getting rid of any and all monsters between them and Arfoire wouldn't necessarily make things easier, but it would at least keep them from getting harder, "It would be in our best interest to eliminate any resistance Arfoire has setup along the way. The last thing we need is to split the team to fight multiple enemies when we reach her."

There was no opposition to the idea. Everyone knew what was at stake if they failed, and would do nothing to jeopardize their chances of success. Not wanting to lose the initiative, Heero armed himself for battle. The Gundam pilot knew he wasn't exactly fit for combat, but that didn't mean he couldn't provide support, "Neptune and IF will take care of frontline combat, Compa and I will provide support."

The entirety of the party wouldn't be needed to defeat the pile of stone moving towards them, when the four of them were sufficient. Brandishing her katana, Neptune was ready for a quick finish to the lumbering enemy before them, "Let's hurry and beat this guy up! We got a world to save!"

To IF the golem was to be a warm-up for the battle with Arfoire, if even that, and wanted to quickly move on from it, "Let's not waste our time here too much. We have something more important to do than play around with a glorified pile of rocks."

Both Neptune and IF ran straight for Master Golem as a short barrage of weapon fire from Heero and Compa brought the stone monster to a halt. Although the ranged attack had stopped the golem, it hadn't been enough to prevent it from attacking, as it threw out it's right arm at the two approaching female combatants.

Neptune and IF jumped out of the way of the attack, with the party's leader taking a swing at the golem's outstretched limb in an attempt to cut it off, only for her sword to leave a small cut on the stone appendage. As the party leader tried and failed to deal significant damage, IF circled around to the Master Golem's unprotected backside in hopes of finding a weakness to exploit. While there was nothing on the stone monster's back, the area that appeared to be its ankles would open as it moved to reveal what was akin to it's tendons, which made for an inviting target if it remained exposed long enough.

Casting a quick glance at her support, Heero and Compa got the message that she needed an opening. The Gundam pilot took aim at the golem's right arm and fired three times, with all three bolts of thermal energy blasting off chunks of stone that connected the arm with the main body and leaving behind the weaker, brittle stone that had been underneath.

Compa immediately took aim at the newly exposed weak point and fired four bullets at it with her oversized syringe, with all four striking the weakened support and effectively breaking it, leaving the golem's right arm to fall to the ground.

Having lost a limb, the Master Golem became lopsided, and began to stumble around in an attempt to balances itself, all the while exposing the weak point IF had been waiting for. Not wanting to give the stone monster time to recover, the brunette rushed in and quickly severed the ligament of its right leg.

With the right side of its body largely disabled the Master Golem collapsed to the ground. As the monster used it's remaining arm to prop itself up, Neptune charged in to deliver the killing blow. In one fluid motion, Planeptune's CPU swung her katana and separated the stone creature's head from it's shoulders.

Only once the headless golem crumbled to the ground did the team of four put away their weapons, with Neptune stretching out her arms in back to get herself ready for the battle against Arfoire, "I'm good and warmed up now! We just gotta give Arfoire what she's got comin' to her!"

As the purplenette finished getting in her stretch, the rest of the party ran past their leader with Nisa shouting back to the CPU what everyone else was thinking, "Well, we have to find her first, so pick those feet up!"

Two minutes of running passed by with the party making uninhibited progress towards their final destination. A heavy feeling lingered in the air that grew more intense with each step the group advanced toward the castle entrance that if nothing else served to confirm that Arfoire was indeed there.

Shrugging off the oppressive air, the party continued on their way, only to be stopped by the appearance of monsters along the path. Standing in the party's way was a pair of Tanighe, with lanky green and purple bodies exactly like those of the Night Beam the party encountered earlier in their journey around Gamindustri. Along with the two spindly creatures, a Basilisk with a black scaly body, sharp talons and equally sharp teeth was also positioned to stop any intruders.

Continuing with the original plan of eliminating any monsters between them and Arfoire, Zero thought it best to commit the remaining seven members of the party to deal with them so that the entire group had a chance to warm-up for the final battle, while ensuring a quick resolution to the immediate battle, "Gust and Lyrica will work with Blanc to eliminate the enemy in the middle, while Nisa and Red cooperate with Vert and Noire in dealing with the two other targets."

Noire stated her intent to keep the battle short so as to keep to the schedule the party had set for themselves, "Thirty seconds. That's all we need."

There were no arguments with the idea, as no one wanted to be too late to stop Arfoire from doing irreparable harm to the world. Though that didn't stop Vert from instigating some friendly competition with the other two goddesses, "Do try to keep up. Falling behind here won't do us any favors."

Both Tanighes with their spindly arms conjured up four orbs of energy that shot out at the group of girls, while the Basilisk skittered towards them in an attempt to take advantage of the chaos from the multitude of attacks.

Noticing the reptilian creature approaching them, Lyrica started strumming her guitar, causing electricity to form along the strings of the instrument. Before the Basilisk could get too close the cerulean haired singer discharged the electricity directly at the monster, stunning the creature and leaving it vulnerable to further attack.

Gust had been in the process of mixing together a potion when Lyrica disabled the monster charging toward them, which made it the perfect test subject for the new volatile concoction. Seconds after the ingredients had mixed in the glass vial in the alchemist's hand, the liquid turned a glowing red and began to shake so violently that Gust almost dropped it.

Not wanting to drop it on her person, the young alchemist tossed the vial into the air just in front of Blanc, prompting Lowee's goddess to swing her mallet at the sinister looking potion. The mighty swing propelled the red concoction through the air toward the paralyzed Basilisk, which shattered upon impact with the monster, having already cracked from the blunt force of the goddess's hammer.

The instant the red liquid came in contact with the Basilisk, the monster burst into flame. In a misguided attempt to extinguish the fire, the creature began thrashing about, but nothing came of it. As the Basilisk collapsed onto the ground burning Lyrica found herself rather terrified of the little girl responsible for creating the potion that had been responsible for the display in front of her, "Gust, you don't make potions like that all the time… right?"

Gust had been jotting down the information on the potion that had just been used when the songstress asked about it. Putting the notepad into her pouch, the business savvy alchemist responded to the inquiry, "Gust is constantly experimenting to create new potions. From potions that heal people, to potions that hurt monsters. It is important that Gust test out new ideas to see how they work."

Unlike Lyrica, Blanc didn't care what the potion did. All that matter was that the monster was dead, and the party could move on once the others had finished, "...Done. Now, hurry up. We don't have all damn day."

Red and Vert closed in on the first Tanighe as it charged a second attack. The monster was able to finish preparing its attack and immediately unleashed it on the two girls, forcing Leanbox's goddess to jump out of the way, while the flamboyant red head next to her dived toward the ground and lay as flat as she could.

After successfully dodging the attack, Red quickly got back on her feet while pulling her yo-yo out from under her sash, flinging the rounded object at the monster once it was out. Instead of striking the creature the yo-yo wrapped around it's left arm three times, at which point Red tugged on the string to pull the monster in her direction, and into the spearwoman heading right for it.

Vert didn't miss a beat, driving her spear into Tanighe's head once close enough. Death came instantly to the monster as it's head was impaled, crumbling to the ground the moment Vert removed her spear from the creature's head. Leanbox's goddess was quite satisfied with how quickly the monster was defeated and was impressed with how Red had been able to use something as simple as a toy so effectively, "I never would have guessed a toy could be such an effective weapon. You're certainly full of surprises, Red."

Hearing the goddess remark on her ability to handle her yo-yo as an effective weapon made Red swell with pride. She was quite happy that she was able to look good in front of one of her potential wifeys, "I've had lots of practice, so monsters like this are no problem for me!"

While the two reveled in their quick victory, Nisa and Noire were taking care of the second Tanighe, with the Keeper of Justice jumping onto and then off of one of the stone pillars to get behind the lanky monster. As the Tanighe began to turn around, Nisa slapped away the monster right arm before delivering a flurry of punches to it's abdomen before finishing with a roundhouse kick that launched the Tanighe toward Lastation's CPU, who stopped the monster with a spin kick and ended with a single swipe from her sword that left a vicious cut across it's torso.

As the Tanighe fell over from the fatal injury, Nisa flashed a peace sign at Noire to show her support for the goddess of Lastation, "If we fight like this, we'll defeat Arfoire in no time!"

Noire was about to make a peace sign herself, but stopped herself and extended her gratitude the way she believed a goddess should, "R-Right. I'll be counting on you, Nisa."

With the trio of monsters gone, the party could see the end of the path leading into the castle, and there were no other monsters to obstruct them. Quickly rounding the final bend in the structure's stone pathway, the party could clearly see Arfoire ahead of them in a circular room, her back toward them as she seemed to focus her efforts on something that no doubt pertained to her plans. Neptune could feel her anger boiling to the surface as she recalled the cruelty she subjected Heero to in the name of bringing an end to Planeptune.

Seeing the CPU clench her hands into tight fists, Zero endeavored to calm the goddess down so that she wouldn't blindly charge into battle, "It would be better if you maintained a calm mind when we engage Arfoire, so you don't make a mistake that jeopardizes our chances of victory."

Neptune looked back at Zero, then to Heero, and then across the rest of the party before taking a deep breath. They had come too far for her to throw their efforts away because she got upset. As soon as Neptune had her head on straight, the group advanced into the structure to face to fallen CPU. Once she was aware of the party's arrival, Arfoire broke into an all too familiar laugh as she turned to face them. "Haaaah ha ha ha! So you're finally here." Looking past the combat-oriented members of the group, Arfoire noticed Histoire among their ranks, "Histoire, too? How cunning of you all to bring her along!"

The former goddess's laugh was no less ear-grating now than it was every other time IF had heard it. The only thing that gave the Guild Moderatist solace was the fact that this would be the last time she would have to hear it, "How many times have we suffered that laugh? I'm glad we won't have to anymore after this."

Noire wasn't content to stand on the side and listen to the one responsible for tricking her into fighting the other CPUs and jeopardizing the safety of her land and it's people, "Sorry to interrupt, but… it's been a while, Ms. Arfoire. Remember me? The goddess you tricked and manipulate?!"

Arfoire appeared annoyed with Lastation's CPU "...I've no idea what you're talking about! However, I do remember this one hopeless, arrogant goddess who…" A cruel smirk formed on the fallen CPU's face as she addressed Noire, wanting to push her buttons and get under her skin. "...couldn't do anything but watch Avenir practically take control of her own land!"

Heero's biggest concern was that Arfoire would succeed with her mind game, which seemed to be the case with how the tsundere CPU looked to be flustered by the attack on her character. "Well, excuse me! I-It's not like I'm the most efficient girl in the world…" Instead of letting the former goddess get to her, Noire owned up to her own shortcomings while taking pride in the way she had watched over and lead the people of Lastation, "But I've always done my very best! I've regretted a few things from my past, but I haven't lost hope."

Admitting to her own mistakes was undoubtedly difficult for Lastation's CPU, but Histoire saw it as a sign of improvement on her part, "Yes. Sometimes, trying too hard can cause mistakes. Admitting that is the hardest part!"

Noire found it pleasing to hear Histoire's words of encouragement for admitting to her flaws but still pushing forward, "Thanks. I was able to finally realize that, too." Turning her attention back to Arfoire, Lastation's goddess was intent on exacting long overdue payback on the one responsible for instigating the Console War that took up so many years of her life, "I wasted thousands of years fighting with the other goddesses, because of you. For that, I'll make you pay!"

It wasn't just Lastation's goddess that had a few words for pale woman, but Leanbox's goddess as well, "Long time, no see. I have to thank you for something. I would never have left my room if you didn't come to my land and screw things up…"

Regardless of whether the blonde haired woman was being sincere or sarcastic with her thanks, Arfoire found it insulting that someone as sheltered as Vert was going to try and stand in her way, "Hmph! What's a sheltered, amateur goddess doing here? Gonna try to defeat me, you fool? You must not know what I'm capable of. Sounds like your brain grew mold while you overheated in your locked room!"

Vert was befuddled as to why Arfoire would think there was mold on her brains, when by this point it would have been much worse, "Mold? They're more like mushrooms, really..."

What was supposed to be a serious conversation had taken a turn for the weird because of Leanbox's gaming goddess, and not only was Arfoire slightly unsettled, Histoire was worried that "...Green Heart?"

Contrary to what the Tome of the Goddesses thought, Vert had actually been making a small joke as a way of showing how she herself had changed. "I would never have made jokes like that before because I didn't have any friends. But now, I have Iffy and Heero…!" Taking a moment to deliberate, the blonde haired CPU realized she could consider the other human members of the party as her friend. And perhaps Neptune, though to a lesser extent, "Compa, too. Lyrica and Gust, as well. Oh, and Nisa and Red. And I guess… Nep-Nep."

Whereas the human members of the party had been fully accepted as being Vert's friends, it was the halfhearted way in which she said Neptune was her friend that left Planeptune's CPU peeved, "What's that supposed to mean? You saying you're too cool to hang out with me?"

Nisa tried to calm down the irritated goddess of Planeptune, believing that Vert would come around to truly accepting her as a friend in the near future, "C'mon, Neptune. I'm sure that's not true. You guys can hang out later... When the world's not in danger of being destroyed."

Vert turned her attention back to the fallen CPU before her. While she could never forgive Arfoire's transgressions toward Leanbox, the CPU also could not deny how the former goddess's actions did bring about a necessary change for Leanbox's guardian goddess and as such expressed her gratitude, "Arfoire, you gave me the opportunity to open my eyes and see the world. Thanking you with all my heart isn't enough to show my gratitude. I hope you can accept."

Blanc herself had some choice words for the former goddess herself, and none of them were by any means friendly, "...So it was you, Arfoire."

Arfoire had saw this encounter coming, and of the four CPUs the fallen goddess thought the least of Blanc, surpassed only by Neptune, "We've met a lot in my Evangelist disguise. Don't think I've forgotten your crass way of speaking. If you're going to cuss and throw a tantrum, do as you wish. However, you must realize that's your true self!"

The ivory haired CPU had lost count of how many times that fact had been brought up by the woman in front of her. But so what if a crass, angry girl was who she really was. Was that such a bad thing? She may have been a goddess, but was that any reason to deny who she really was? "Maybe you're right, but I ain't gonna let it get to me each time you rub it in my damn face! I'm gonna stop holding my tongue just because I'm a goddess! I'll bitch at anyone I don't like whenever I want, because those are my true feelings!"

Lyrica honestly believed that Lowee's CPU never let her position as a goddess stop her from using profanity at any point, "I'm pretty sure she never let her position stop her from swearing..."

Blanc found it quite liberating to just speak her mind like she was doing now, and was already wondering why she hadn't done it sooner. "What's the point of a frickin' goddess if she's quiet all the time? I ain't ashamed. This is how I roll, dammit!" It was now clear to Lowee's goddess just why it was that Neptune had never really bother acting like a prim and proper CPU. It wasn't just the freedom to do what she wanted, but that Planeptune's goddess wouldn't have gotten anywhere otherwise. Embarrassing as it was to admit, Blanc really did have to look up to Neptune in that regard, "Staying true to herself… That's Neptune's real strength. You can't drag me down anymore! I won't let you pull me down to your level!"

Knowing that this was her last chance to do so, Histoire tried to change Arfoire's mind about what she was doing before it was too late, "Arfoire, I am neither enemy nor friend. You already know that, right? Look within yourself. You are your greatest nemesis…!" Arfoire was momentarily silent as the tome continued to work on her in a misguided attempt to stop the fallen CPU. "You are doing all of this to change yourself."

The concept of Arfoire being her own worst enemy flew right over Neptune's head, and was beginning to question what that meant for the party and their quest to stop her, "Her enemy is herself? Is she gonna beat herself up? Does she want us to defeat her?"

Histoire knew there was much more to it than that, which was why she didn't fault Neptune for not knowing what was going on with the former goddess, "No, she is trying to destroy the world in an effort to gain herself!"

Hearing the explanation from the fairy-like girl did nothing to make the situation any clearer to Neptune than before. "That explanation really didn't help..."

Arfoire broke into another fit of laughter over the Tome's explanation for why she was trying to destroy Gamindustri, finding it particularly humorous that the one who had stuck by her side for so many years "Haaaah ha ha ha! So you've come to that conclusion as well, Histoire? You've been at my side for millions of years and you finally caught on, huh? Hysterical!"

It wasn't just Neptune that was confused, IF couldn't decipher behind Histoire's words, "She's her own nemesis? Gain herself? What? What's all this mean?"

Red felt that her brain was going to fry from the lack of a coherent answer to what she saw as an overly complex riddle, "Could someone explain what they're saying? My brain's turning into mush!"

Compa didn't understand why IF was having trouble understanding what was being said, as she understood just fine, "You don't get it either, Iffy? I do! Think about what Histy has always said about herself."

Neptune repeated the words the nurse in training was alluding to in the hopes of understanding what their significance was. "Huh? She's the world's everything and the world's her everything?"

"Yes! It all comes back to those words. What do you think will happen to Histy if Arfoire destroys the world?"

The first thought that came to mind for the purplenette was that if the world was destroyed, Histoire herself would cease to be. "...She'd disappear?"

Histoire corrected Planeptune's goddess, for disappearing was not the fate that would await her should Arfoire be allowed to follow through on her plans, "No, I would not disappear, but there is no doubt I would forfeit most of my existence. I will lose most of my power to stand against Arfoire."

Thinking she knew what Histoire meant, Neptune blurted out the first answer that came to mind, "Oh, so Arfoire could do whatever she wants to Histy when she's sleeping."

Heero himself had been stumped over what Histoire had meant when she mentioned Arfoire being her own nemesis, but was able to put two and two together and figure out what would actually happen, "...No. Histoire wouldn't fall unconscious, but her power would end up going to somewhere… someone else."

IF couldn't believe Neptune still hadn't figured out what Arfoire's real aim was even with all of the information that was given, "Could you be any more thick? It means Arfoire would be able to gain Histy's power!"

Compa finished where the brunette left off in case the others didn't understand what it meant, "And have her way with the world! That's her objective."

Arfoire could have told them what her ultimate aim was, considering how close the group seemed to be. Instead, she wanted to hear what Histoire thought the answer was, "Hmm… close. Histoire, is your answer the same as theirs?"

Shaking her head, Histoire revealed what she believed to be Arfoire's real goal, "No. Perhaps your goal is to use my power, and..."

Zero cut off the Tome of the Goddesses to answer the question regarding Arfoire's ultimate goal, having arrived at that the only possible conclusion for why the former CPU was going to such extremes to force Histoire's hand, "Overwrite yourself as the complete being known as the True Goddess, correct?"

It was a chilling prospect. The thought of Arfoire acquiring such power when she was already capable of creating monsters was not the least bit appealing, and no one in the group wanted to imagine just what she would do with that kind of power at her fingertips.

Arfoire erupted into another round of laughter, taking a certain delight in hearing her true goal being said out loud,"Haaaah ha ha ha! Excellent! I am most amused! I can tell Histoire was thinking the same thing, but to think an otherworlder would be able to figure it out so quickly. However, you're missing something quite important." With her glaive at the ready, the former goddess was prepared to do battle with the party to ensure her plan was carried out. "I'll show you what it is in this battle. Now, Neptune! This is the last time I shall call out your name!"

The former goddess wasted no time in going on the offensive, with the party responding in kind. Neptune's katana and Arfoire's glaive clashed as the two goddesses tried to overpower one another, but the stalemate was broken when the fallen CPU was forced to back away under a hail of supporting fire from Heero, Compa and Lyrica.

Arfoire gathered energy at the end of her weapon and fired a sphere of energy at the trio responsible for attacking her when she wasn't looking. The sphere split into four separate projectiles, each one racing toward it's destination faster than when it was a single mass of energy.

The trio stopped their support and broke away to avoid injury from the attack, leaving Arfoire free to focus on Neptune again. Or at least, that had been the plan, until Blanc decided to ruin the idea with a surprise attack.

Lowee's CPU caught the former goddess completely off guard, landing a direct hit across the right side of her body that sent pale woman flying across the room. Picking herself up off the ground, Arfoire shot a glare at Blanc for daring to attack her when she was unaware, "You little brat! That hurt!"

Blanc wasn't exactly intimidated by the foe she had literally sent flying not ten seconds ago and promptly shot a retort right back at her, "...Good. If that had tickled, it would mean I'm not hitting hard enough."

Arfoire wanted to deliver some much deserved comeuppance to the ivory haired girl, but was forced to shift her attention to Vert, who was fast approaching with the clear intent to skewer her. Leanbox's CPU thrust her spear at the former goddess, who parried the attack with her glaive before locking weapons with the blonde. Arfoire had expected to overpower the goddess of Leanbox with relative ease, but was surprised to find the spearwoman actually putting up a fight, "I must say, I'm surprised. I expected you to be as weak as you are clueless about the world. Yet here you are fighting back… for what little good it will do you."

The words of her opponent did nothing to shake Vert's resolve as she fought back the goddess responsible for desecrating her land, "Well, I've been given ample reason to take up arms and fight. And I will not yield to anyone that would harm my land!"

During the deadlock between Vert and Arfoire, IF had maneuvered around to the fallen CPU's unprotected backside. Seeing that she was given an unsuspecting target, the Guild Moderatist did the only sensible thing, which was run up and deliver a kick

Getting back onto her knees, Arfoire looked over her shoulder at IF while casting an angry expression her way, "Stop that! Aren't you supposed to be fighting for love and justice and all that nonsense?! You're supposed to be fighting fair!"

IF didn't see any good reason to throw the party's numerical or strategic advantages out the window in the name of a fair fight, given what was at stake, "You're trying to destroy the world, and we're trying to save it. Why should we fight fair against you?"

Before the former goddess could come up with a retort, a glass vial rolled across the ground the ground toward Arfoire. When it finally stopped, Arfoire noticed the sticker on the side that looked like Gust's face for all of a split second before the vial exploded, throwing the CPU onto her back.

While trying to get up from being tossed around so violently, Arfoire felt a liquid being poured down on her head. The source was a water bottle in Lyrica's hand, which she had brought along as she had not given up on the idea that the fallen goddess would melt if subjected to water. Arfoire directed her anger at the cerulean haired songstress, now even angrier having been humiliated by the act, "What the hell was that?! Am I a joke to you?!"

Lyrica fired back at the goddess in which attire, even now clinging to the idea water was her ultimate weakness, "That was water! You're a witch, so it's supposed to be your weakness!"

The display would have been humorous, were it not for the gravity of the situation the party faced. Not taking well to Arfoire's persistence, Lyrica grabbed the neck of her guitar, and swiftly smacked the CPU across the head with it's body, causing Arfoire to clutch her head in pain. And just as she moved her hands away from the top of her head, the former goddess was struck in the face by a frisbee that came from Red, who was sticking her tongue out while pulling down on her left eye to show her discontent.

With her anger at its peak, the former goddess picked up her glaive and swung wildly in front of her in an attempt to inflict some kind of damage to Lyrica, Red or any one of the party's members. Instead, Arfoire found herself being held back by Noire, who was taking a certain amount of delight in seeing the fallen CPU behave in such a pitiful manner, "You're getting so worked up because things aren't going your way. How pathetic can you be?"

Arfoire would not stand to be thought of as pathetic by a CPU that she created and thought of as a lesser being, "I'll show you pathetic, you miserable little…!"

Nisa suddenly descended upon the preoccupied Arfoire, dropping between her and Arfoire. Before Arfoire could even react, the Keeper of Justice through a strong straight punch into her stomach the forced the fallen goddess back and onto her knees.

After everything Histoire said about Arfoire being so strong that all four goddesses would be needed to defeat her, and given that the world was very much at stake in this battle, Arfoire was proving to be no more difficult to beat than any other time to party had faced her.

With no interest in dragging the battle out any longer than necessary, Heero leveled his GN Sword at the hapless former CPU, "There's no point in letting this go on. We should eliminate Arfoire now before she's allowed to recover."

Planeptune's CPU charged toward the enemy of Gamindustri, ready to deliver the finishing strike. Arfoire refused to be defeated by Neptune of all people and immediately charged an attack to put a stop to the purplenette, launching an energy sphere exactly like the one she had used against Heero, Compa and Lyrica that broke into four separate, smaller spheres.

As the four projectiles soared through the air with the intent to harm the party's leader, Heero fired off four rounds from the rifle of the GN Sword, destroying all four of Arfoire's energy projectiles. With nothing else in her way, Neptune finished closing the distance and swung her sharp blade at Arfoire, cutting the goddess down from the top of her right shoulder down to her left hip.

The attack was undoubtedly fatal, and no normal being could survive such an injury. Even a being such as a goddess would perish after a short time, and Arfoire was no exception. Her body began to disintegrate right before the party's eyes. The fallen CPU's body began to crumble like dust in the wind, yet even as she turned to nothing, Arfoire had a wicked grin on her face until she was no more.

Even after the battle was over, Neptune was still trying to figure out what the 'something quite important' Arfoire was referring to that she was supposed to show during the battle, but never quite saw. It was bothering Planeptune's goddess to no end and would continue to do so even after they returned to the human world, "So what was the answer? Did I miss something? Ugh! I'm not gonna be able to fall asleep until I figure it out!"

Unlike the party's leader, Compa wasn't as concerned with what the former goddess has tried to show them, and was more focused with leaving now that the party's work was done, "That aside, Arfoire is down for the count. Let's get out of here!"

IF was of a similar mindset at that moment. Now that Arfoire was defeated, the brunette was worried that the structure would started to come apart around them, fall out of the sky, or even self-detonate, and wanted to be on solid ground before such a scenario happened, "Yeah. I have a bad feeling about this place. You think it'll start falling or self-destruct?"

Histoire was not convinced such a thing would happen, knowing that the structure wasn't so weak that it would break apart without Arfoire around. Though she felt a sense of dread wash over her that might have made the castle falling apart seem preferable, "This building is not as fragile as you think. However, I do feel something awful approaching…!"

Noire had had more than enough of Arfoire, and was hoping that the Arfoire she had watched disintegrate in front of them was the real Arfoire and not another one of her doppelgangers, "I hope that wasn't another one of her fake little counterparts. They were all over the human world, right?"

After witnessing the fallen CPU crumble away into nothing, Histoire was convinced that any traces of Arfoire had to be gone from the tome. "I highly doubt it. Arfoire's records should be deleted in the tome by now."

Somewhat annoyed with the vagueness in the fairy-like girl's response Noire sought a more concrete answer from her, "You say that in such a vague way. You ARE the tome, right? Can't you, like, flip through your pages and check for sure?"

While Histoire COULD look through her records to make absolutely sure that Arfoire was well and truly gone, the fairy-like girl wasn't sure if Noire was willing to wait for a conclusive answer when it would take some time, "Well, I can search, but are you sure? It may take me about three days…"

Not wanting to waste that kind of time to get an answer, Lastation's goddess quickly shut down the idea, "No, thanks."

An unpleasant chill ran down Vert's spine as she observed the group's surroundings, looking for something that wasn't there, "It feels like Arfoire's soul remains and is wandering around us, laughing…"

Neptune didn't like what the blonde haired woman was suggesting. The idea that Arfoire was now a ghost circling around them was more than a little unsettling to Planeptune's CPU, and she didn't want to hear any more of it, "S-Stop it! I ain't afraid of no ghost…" Despite her claim of not being scared, Neptune had already drawn her sword once more while looking around the area, "I hope physical attacks will still be effective against her!"

"I forgot my holy water, too. Y'know, you shouldn't get so scared, Nep-Nep…" "That wasn't meant to be offensive, but… Maybe you actually are scared of ghosts? I didn't know… That's kind of cute."

The purplenette didn't understand what could be cute about her being scared of something like ghosts when there were other things she was afraid of in the world. "O-Of course, I'm scared of a lotta stuff. Like carrots, eggplants, bell peppers..."

Compa didn't think it was rationale for the purplenette to be afraid of the items she listed, considering that they were just the food she held the lowest opinion of, "Those are just your least favorite foods. And they're all veggies! Bad girl!"

Neptune couldn't understand why the nurse in training WASN'T scared of such foods, especially when in her mind they could come to life as boss monsters, "Wouldn't it be freaky if they all popped up as food boss monsters, though?!"

Seeing that their leader was still unhinged, IF to poke fun at her disdain for vegetables, "You better not be leaving them on your plate… Or it may come true…"

Whereas the others were concerning themselves with the recently fallen CPU or other unrelated topics, Blanc wanted very much to depart Celestia, having accomplished what the party came to do, "...Whatever you're all feeling, we're not going to sit here until Arfoire revives, are we?"

No one in the group was keen on having to deal with Arfoire again, but it wasn't as if they could leave when there was the possibility that their work could come undone because they got careless at the very end. IF supported Blanc's idea of leaving, but would only do so after making doubly sure that nothing was going to happen as soon as they turned their backs to leave, "No way. I'd like us all to leave as soon as possible… but we're all worried. We've all got strong motives to fight her… Don't you want to make certain this is over?"

Nisa wasn't about to leave until she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Arfoire wasn't going to get back up when their guard was down, "As the Keeper of Justice, I must make sure that the sure source of all evil in Gamindustri is disposed of. Even if that means sitting around waiting."

Lowee's goddess wasn't interested in sitting on her hands and waiting for something that may not happen. Not when there were other, more pressing matters that required her attention, "...So we're gonna sit here and contemplate something we can't do anything about? Besides, not everything is gonna be back to normal just because we defeated Arfoire." The very real, very annoying fact remained that there were still monsters on the four landmasses that needed to be dealt with "...Monsters still exist. There are so many stupid, annoying things we have to do to fix our exhausted lands."

Even once they were certain Arfoire was gone, there was still all the damage she had inflicted to the four lands that needed to be addressed. IF was somewhat ashamed of having forgotten about the work the CPUs still had to do once the current situation had been sorted out, "True. This is just the start of the fight for you goddesses." With Neptune's memory back, the brunette began to wonder what was in store for the party's leader and if she could handle it. "...I wonder what Nep will do?"

The ill feeling that came over Histoire was putting her on edge, such that the tome believed the party needed to vacate the area as soon as possible, "Everyone, we must get out of this place immediately. Hurry…!"

Heeding the recommendation of the fairy-like being, the party made to leave Celestia the same way they got there. With the scant few monsters that were there already slain, nothing stood between the team and their exit.

As they drew closer to the entrance to Celestia, Zero picked up a biological reading that was identical to the reading she observed from Arfoire. A fact that had the ZERO System questioning whether or not the party should be concerned, "(This could be a problem...)"

The party had made it to the final corridor leading back to the entrance of Celestia, when IF noticed someone leaning against one of the stone pillars near the exit, "Wait! Someone's blocking the entrance."

That someone that was blocking the entrance was none other than Arfoire. The former goddess didn't have a scratch on her body, as if the battle against the party never happened in the first place. The all too familiar laugh that came out of her mouth served to further prove that it was her, "Haaaah ha ha ha! …You see the answer now? I won't let you go."

A sense of dread fell over Histoire as she looked upon Arfoire. The tome couldn't understand just how it was that the former goddess was standing before them when the party had defeated her no more than three minutes ago, "How? You were defeated..."

"I returned from the realm of death just to give Neptune her precious answer. Be honored!"

As much as she wanted to know what the all-important answer was, Neptune would have preferred that the fallen CPU remained dead, "You didn't hafta do that, geez!"

IF wanted to know how exactly it was that Arfoire had come back to life after the team had given her such a thorough beating, "You'd better answer Histy's question, too. How're you still alive? Was that just a phantom earlier?"

For as much as she had wanted a different outcome to their battle the fallen CPU could not deny that she had been slain by the party. But of course, she had planned for such an unlikely result, "No, I was definitely crushed. However, the power of faith from my followers helped me to revive!"

Red was trying to understand how it was that there were people in Gamindustri that could believe in someone that wanted to destroy their world, "I know everybody's got their kink… But I didn't think there were people that wanted the world to get destroyed."

Planeptune's goddess also had a hard time believing that anyone in the human world could ever actually put faith in a goddess as cruel and vindictive as Arfoire, "What?! Who in the human world would have faith in you?!"

"Many humans do! It's a little different than the followers you get, however. Have you forgotten the name of Overlord Momus? Why'd I spread such a myth? To force people to have faith and fear!"

Neptune couldn't see how Arfoire could receive power from people's faith in Overlord Momus. After all, the only way goddesses received power was from faith placed in them by people that wasn't brought about through fear, "But that's for the Overlord! It's not for you."

Heero worked to figure out just how Arfoire could have acquired followers from spreading the rumors and myths regarding the fake overlord, but he didn't need to think on it long. Although Momus wasn't real, the person behind the myths was and believing in the Overlord was no different from believing in Arfoire, "Not necessarily. If the way in which she acquires power is simply through fear, then the name attached to it doesn't matter. Both the fake Overlord and her are essentially one and the same."

Given the current circumstances, it was clear that Arfoire suspected someone would reach Celestia to try and stop her, and made a backup plan in case she was unable to defeat her enemies first time. So long as there were those who feared reprisal from an evil Overlord, regardless of whether he existed or not, the former goddess would have disposable pawns to spread monsters throughout Gamindustri for her to further fuel her power, "Quite right. The name's insignificant. The heretics fear the Overlord and loyally spread monsters around the world. The world's end and an absolute ruler… People's fear acts as faith and becomes my source of power!"

Neptune had all but forgotten about the fake Overlord that the heretics around Gamindustri had been going on about, and had not even considered that it would actually serve as the reason for Arfoire coming back from the dead, "Hmm, I see… That's your final answer, huh? I totally forgot about the pretend Overlord until just now...

IF wasn't about to fault the purplenette for her lapse in memory regarding the fake deity when she herself had forgotten about it. Despite the fact that Arfoire had power from some of Gamindustri's denizens, the Guild Moderatist was confident that the party would still defeat the former goddess once more, "We're not scared of some artificial faith you've forced upon people. We'll defeat you over and over and over again!"

Nisa clenched her fist as her eyes burned with righteous fury. The source of the monsters attacking Gamindustri was before the party, and she was beat down this foe however main times it would take to keep her down, "Yes, evil must fall to justice! That is the way of the world!"

Round two against the formed goddess began the same way as the first, with Arfoire charging straight for the party. Neptune moved to stop the fallen CPU, but instead of an even clash the party leader found herself getting pushed back by her foe. Somehow, Arfoire was stronger than when the party had fought her a few minutes ago.

Noire tried to take advantage of the situation by cutting down her foe while she was preoccupied, however, the fallen CPU forced back Neptune and intercepted the attack from Lastation's goddess. The raven haired CPU of Lastation was not allowed to recover from her initial clash, as Arfoire continued to pressure her, grinning the entire time she watched Noire struggle to hold her back, "What's the matter? Didn't you say I was pathetic? Do you still think that now?!"

Lastation's goddess couldn't even retort because of the vicious onslaught she was defending herself against. The moment Noire thought there was an opening she immediately went to attack the former goddess, but found out too late that it had been a feint when Arfoire maneuvered to the side and slammed her glaive into Noire's back, sending the CPU onto her stomach.

Arfoire would have capitalized on Noire's prone position, but IF and Blanc closed in before she could do anymore to injure Lastation's goddess. IF tried to force an opening in Arfoire's defenses, but none of her attacks were strong enough to force the fallen CPU off balance, while Blanc's attacks were too slow to connect with her evasive enemy.

Wanting to focus her attention Lowee's goddess, Arfoire batted away the Guild Moderatist with a single brutal swipe from her glaive. As IF was thrown onto her back the former goddess focused her attention on Lowee's CPU, easily evading the slow mallet swings from her before deliver a hard strike across Blanc's abdomen.

Blanc may have been able to take a hit better than most, but that didn't mean she appreciated getting hit in the first place, and she made sure the former goddess knew that, "...That hurt, you bitch! You better brace yourself for the asskicking you're about to get!"

The fallen CPU's response was a smirk as she watched Blanc fight through the pain, "Well, if you can take a hit like that so well, maybe I need to hit a little harder."

Believing that they had caught Arfoire with her guard down, Vert and Red closed in from behind and made to attack the fallen CPU. Arfoire had anticipated an attack from behind, and simply sidestepped while tripping the girls, sending them to the ground while mocking Leanbox's goddess. "You thought that tired old trick would work? You really have fried your brain playing games all the time."

As Arfoire brought her glaive down to smite Leanbox's CPU, Nisa appeared in time to catch the weapon before it made contact with the blonde goddess. The former goddess backed off from her attack, while the Keeper of Justice was stuck opening and closing her hands to get some feeling back in her numb limbs.

Compa was in disbelief as she watched Arfoire beat back the other party members, something she had never been capable of before, "Wh-What's going on? She's stronger than last time. And that wasn't very long ago!"

In Lyrica's mind, this was the result of her not having enough water to douse Arfoire with, "I knew one bottle wasn't enough. Maybe I should've brought enough water to drown her!"

Gust didn't see such a scenario playing out for the obvious reason that it was so unrealistic to transport THAT much water, "Gust thinks Lyrica is being unreasonable."

It was disturbing that the former goddess was able to stand on even ground with the CPUs, even with support from the human members of the party. Heero decided to get more personally involved with the fighting, knowing that Arfoire wouldn't pass up any chance to kill Neptune once it was presented, "Compa, Lyrica, Gust, focus on support. The moment you see an opening take the shot."

The Gundam pilot ran into the fray as the blade of his GN Sword snapped into place, and not a moment too soon, as Neptune was struggling against Arfoire again. Planeptune's goddess was knocked to the ground by the fallen goddess, who was dead set on seeing the purplenette die, "You've been a thorn in my side for far too long, Neptune. It's time I disposed of you!"

Neptune's braced herself for what was to come, but was instead greeted with the sight and sound of clashing metal. Heero was able to hold back Arfoire's glaive, but that was it. Any other time he would have been able to overpower her, even with her increase in strength.

Looking upon the boy in front of her, Arfoire tried prodding the boy with a verbal jab to see if she could get him to make a mistake. "If it isn't my former servant. How's that chest wound?"

Heero knew right off what the former goddess was going for and he had no interest in playing her game, throwing out a comeback in response, "...Fine. How's your back?"

With the impression that mind games wouldn't work on the Gundam pilot, Arfoire went back to her Plan A; beat the party into submission, "Cute. But it won't save you from-"

The fallen CPU was cut off by a sharp pain in her back brought about by IF cutting into it with her katars. Taking advantage of the distraction provided by the brunette, Compa and Lyrica laid down supporting fire on Arfoire while Neptune grabbed her sword off the ground and cut into the former goddess's arm, forcing her to distance herself from them before she sustained anymore injuries.

Seeing Arfoire back off so easily after taking a few hits led Zero to the conclusion that despite her increase in strength, she was still quite fragile and would fall as easily as she did in the first battle, "Arfoire may have improved her offensive capabilities, but her defense is still non-existent. She will fall easily enough if you can keep her from evading any further attacks."

That the party was already planning for her defeat got under Arfoire's skin. She didn't come this far just to be stopped by them when she was so close to her goal. "You cling to false hope because you know you can't win! I won't be defeated! Certainly not by you, Neptune!"

During the former goddess's pronouncement, Red reached into her pocket and pulled out a handful of pachinko balls that she quickly tossed over at Arfoire's feet. Noticing the round objects scattering around their foe, Nisa rushed the fallen CPU to create the opening the party would need to win.

Arfoire backed away as the Keeper of Justice drew closer, believing the bluenette would try and use brute force to catch her by surprise, "If you're so eager to die, I will happily oblige you!"

The fallen goddess had prepared to swing her glaive at Nisa, but her right foot was caught on the pachinko balls Red had tossed out and had lost her footing while trying to balance herself. With her foe unable to defend herself, threw all of her weight behind a kick that sent Arfoire flying towards Blanc. At the same time Lowee's CPU was getting prepared for her off balance enemy, Gust had mixed together another potion to keep Arfoire from moving out of the way. Once the ingredients for her concoction had mixed together and settled into a sky-blue color, the alchemist chucked the glass vial as hard as she could.

Finally able to stop herself from sliding across the ground any further, Arfoire made to dodge the inevitable hammer swing from the ivory haired girl in front of her, "As if I would let you hit me with something so slow!"

The former goddess wouldn't get the chance to dodge the incoming attack, as Gust's potion came falling from the sky and broke against her foot, encasing it in ice and leaving her stuck where she was. With Arfoire stuck in place, Blanc had an unmoving target that she wasn't about to pass up, "Bottoms up, bitch."

Although Arfoire had brought up her glaive to defend herself, it wasn't enough to keep her from being thrown backwards yet again. Arfoire managed to remain upright, but her arms and legs were tingling from the force of Blanc's attack. "Am I being forced back…?! Even after increasing my power?!"

Refusing to give the evil goddess and respite, Noire and Vert quickly closed in while she was debilitated. Arfoire started to lose her cool from how the situation had turned against her, and instead of waiting for the CPUs of Lastation and Leanbox to make the first move and the counter them, the fallen goddess charged straight for them.

With their enemy closing in, Vert was hoping that the goddess next to her wouldn't drop the ball when they were so close to victory, "Do try not to mess this up.

Noire was more concerned that Leanbox's CPU would come up short in their battle for victory, and made that concern known, "Worry more about yourself, Mush for Brains!"

Whereas Arfoire had thrust out with her glaive, Vert and Noire stepped to the sides of their foe and gave her swift reprisal for her failed attack that resulted in sharp cuts across the fallen CPU's shoulders. While they weren't able to inflict any serious injuries, the two goddesses had succeeded in weakening Arfoire to the point where any further damage would be too much for her to take. And it so happened that Heero and Neptune were already closing in for the final blow.

Being faster than Neptune, Heero reached the beaten goddess first. Arfoire tried to block the incoming attack, but her arms weren't responding as fast as they did before. The Perfect Soldier swung his bladed weapon in an upward motion, disarming Arfoire of her weapon and unable to defend herself from Neptune, who had reached the former goddess the second her glaive was no longer in her hand.

Planeptune's CPU swung her sword across Arfoire's body and succeeded in cutting down the remainder of what will she had to physically resist and sent her crashing to the ground. For the second time, Arfoire was defeated. The fallen CPU picked her beaten body off the ground, refusing to accept defeat at the party's hands, "...No! It's not over yet… You've seen those last bosses… There's a third form…!"

Histoire could see no point in Arfoire continuing to fight when the strength she had accrued from her fear induced faith was quickly drying up, "Pointless. Your power is running out. This is your last chance to turn things around. It is not too late to overwrite your wound."

Even now the former goddess found Histoire's naivety to be both amusing and insulting, "Haaaah ha ha ha! How naive. My only wish is to destroy this wretched Gamindustri and absorb your powers! Your charity is not appreciated, so shut up!"

Despite Neptune's claims that she could never forgive Arfoire for what she had done to Heero, she was still willing to take the moral high ground and give the fallen CPU a peaceful way out of her situation, "Arfoire, you've been doin' this to change yourself, right? You can do it wit your own power instead of resorting to the tome. It's prolly a lot easier that way."

Having Neptune of all people extend mercy of any kind to her was beyond insulting. It was a disgrace. One Arfoire didn't think she could live down. "Perhaps my initial motive was to become the True Goddess… However, that is no longer the case!" Planeptune's goddess was taken by surprise when she realized her words didn't have the effect she intended. Instead of getting Arfoire to change her ways, she seemed to be going crazyas her body started to convulse, "I've awakened to my true inner evil! Oh my dear, how satisfying to have control! I'll keep fulfilling my selfish desires! It is certainly more pleasing this way! Haah… ha ha… Haaaah ha ha ha!"

Between her distorted voice, continued laughing and convulsions Arfoire had become particularly unsettling. Neptune was trying to figure out what to do about the former goddess now, but wasn't coming up with anything, "She's acting like a funky chicken. Is she going all crazy?"

Histoire lamented what was happening to the one she had once considered her friend, both that it was happening and that there was nothing that could be done for her now, "Arfoire is a goddess, after all. The gathered power stemming from fear has begun to eat away at her soul"

On one hand, Planeptune's goddess believed Arfoire deserved what was happening to her. Not just for what she did to Heero, but for all the harm she had done to Gamindustri and its people. On the other hand, the purplenette didn't think it was right to just let her suffer like this. "Normal folk call that karma. Are we just gonna leave her? She kinda looks like she's in pain."

IF was moderately surprised by Neptune's willingness to try and help Arfoire, despite the fact she had just tried to kill the party, "I don't think you've ever sympathized with a villain before."

"...Hah… ha ha... Ghh! Grrrngh?! Ha…?

At first no one was sure what to make of what was happening to Arfoire, her movements all looking like someone in the throes of death. However, the former goddess's body began to change in both size and shape, turning into something that wasn't at all humanoid. "Heh… Hahaha… I can feel the overflowing power coursing through me! Histoire, you are worthless to me now!"

When Arfoire finished her transformation, she was a dragon with orange and black scales, red colored horns with the fingers on her wings and the nails of her claws taking on a similar color. The former goddess-turned-dragon extended her wings to their full length while reveling in her new power,"I am born again… Watch closely! My final form, which surpasses all goddesses! The almighty, complete form of a true CPU!"

Heero had been so sure that Arfoire was going to expire once again that he hadn't bothered to propose getting rid of her right then and there, and the Gundam pilot was fast regretting his decision not to,"...An unexpected development. We could have avoided this if I had just killed her."

Neptune was trying to wrap her mind around the idea that before her was the true form of a CPU, and it just didn't mesh with the purplenette's concept of what a goddess should look like, "...You mean a dragon? Yep, you're a dragon. That doesn't look anything like a pretty, perfect goddess. You wanted this?"

Even after her transformation, the former goddess-turned-dragon was still able to communicate, and care in the slightest whether Neptune or anyone else could understand that this was the true form of her that was on Arfoire's mind was using it to crush all that opposed her… starting with the party before her, "You don't have to understand. Just know this is my true power!"

The dragon that was Arfoire opened her mouth as it began to glow red, then orange all the way to the back of her throat. Before long, the goddess-turned-dragon launched a fireball at the party, forcing them to disperse to avoid a direct hit.

While no one was caught in the attack, the immense heat put off by the orb of fire was enough to tell the group that anyone caught by it would like suffer serious injury, assuming it didn't kill them out right.

Neptune, IF, Nisa, Red,Vert, Blanc and Noire charged toward the monster that was once a goddess while supported from the rear by Heero, Compa, Lyrica and Gust. However, the support from the rear didn't amount to much, as despite having a target they couldn't miss, none of their attacks had an effect on the dragon's body.

Not knowing what the former goddess was now capable of, Neptune could only charge in and see how she responded. What she got was more than she bargained for, as the dragon swung it's left claw at the CPU. Neptune was barely able to block the attack, but cracks had formed in her sword as a result, and she hadn't prepared herself for the follow-up from the dragon's other claw. As soon as Arfoire's right claw hit, the katana blade shattered, and Neptune was left to take the full force of the attack which sent her tumbling across the floor a few feet away.

Heero ran over to check on the CPU that was struggling to get back up. A quick look over her face revealed that a cut had formed over Neptune's left eye just above her eyebrow from the hit she took with blood pouring out of it in a small stream that traveled down the side of her face. Planeptune's goddess shook her head to try and reorient herself, having gotten back up in a daze, "Why does she have to be difficult? Can't Arfoire just stop being a jerk for five minutes?!"

Red had pulled out the kendama she kept behind her back and smacked the dragon's left leg as hard as she could, but the wooden toy did nothing to faze it. Arfoire raised her leg before immediately, dropping it back down, resulting in a tremor that knocked the girl crazy red head onto her backside before the dragonic CPU swung her tail at the defenseless girl.

IF dived toward Red, sending them both to the ground and narrowly avoiding was would have surely been a bone crushing blow. Picking herself back up, the Guild Moderatist tried to dissuade Red from trying anything similar to what she just did, "Maybe don't do that again. I might not be able to save you if she tries to crush you again."

She may have understood why IF was telling her not to do anything, but Red couldn't accept that when they had to try 'something' if they wanted to win, "But how're we supposed to beat her if we don't fight back?!"

Looking back at the goddess-turned-dragon as she fought against the other party members, the Guild Moderatist was wondering the same thing. "Against THAT? I don't know..."

The party found themselves being pushed back by Arfoire, and the trio of Vert, Blanc and Noire were no exception. Every attack launched against Arfoire was met with very limited success at best, while the former goddess's attacks proved to be too much to defend against.

With every failed attack, the party's situation grew worse. With every attack from Arfoire, injuries began to pile up. The rate at which members of the group were getting injured began to outpace Compa and Gust's ability to heal them, and the pressure was starting to take it's toll on the nurse in training as she tended to Nisa's wounded leg, "It's so hard to treat everyone like this… A-Am I not good enough…?"

Compa was about to break down and cry, when Gust showed up to help treat the injured heroine. The young alchemist was handling the pressure much better than the pink haired girl next to her, knowing that if she started to breakdown now then there really would be trouble for the group, "Now is not time for Compa to start feeling doubt. Now, we must fight to make sure everyone lives!"

As the nurse in training marveled at the young girl's composure, Nisa grabbed hold of Compa's hand while trying to reassure her that somehow they would prevail over the evil goddess, "Gust is right. I know things seem bad, but we're all in this together. We're all counting on one another to get through this, so don't lose faith in yourself now."

Doing her best not to cry, Compa wiped the tears that had pooled up in her eyes from hearing how the two girls still had faith in her abilities even now. Despite the boost in confidence, the girls weren't blind to the reality that they were still very much in trouble with how poorly the battle was going for them. Histoire began to fear the worst for the group, believing that all of the efforts up to now would ultimately be for nothing in the face of Arfoire, "To think Arfoire had such power… If something isn't done…!

It was a grim situation the party found themselves in. There attacks weren't producing any noticeable effect on the dragon, and they were being pushed back with every passing minute. If things continued the way they were, the group would end up with their backs literally against the wall and no way out.

Seeing no other way out, Heero determined that he needed to take a drastic, and otherwise suicidal measure. Utilizing HDD, the Perfect Soldier was encased within the Wing Gundam, intent on using it to get Arfoire's attention, "All of you need to retreat. At least until Zero can come up with a plan to deal with this."

IF didn't like what the boy was insinuating. It sounded as though he was planning to fight Arfoire by himself, despite the fact he was not well enough for such a task, "You're not gonna try and fight her all by yourself, are you? That's crazy!"

The Gundam pilot knew it was a crazy proposition, but without a plan they would likely fail in stopping Arfoire from realizing her objective. If someone had to follow through with such a risky idea, it was better he do it than any of the girls. "Someone has to hold her here. It's better if I do it."

Neptune didn't want to leave her Destined Lover to face such an enemy on his own, even if the chances the party have if succeeding were slim, "But this is OUR problem! I don't want you to die because we weren't ready for this!"

Planeptune's goddess didn't ask for this situation and neither did the Gundam pilot, but it was the reality they were faced with. And whereas pandemonium would befall Planeptune if Neptune died, no such thing would happen were it to happen to Heero. "Your land needs you. If you die, Planeptune will never recover from the loss. As for me, I'm no one. If I die, this world will continue as though nothing happened."

Just like that, Neptune's heart sank. Even if it was a situation that none of them could have predicted, the goddess of Planeptune was faced with the very real prospect of losing Heero and there was nothing she could do, but leave and hope Zero could come up with a plan to defeat Arfoire.

Arfoire, eager to continue using her power against the seemingly helpless party, reared back her head as she prepared another fireball to incinerate them. As she prepared to discharge her attack, the Wing Gundam quickly flew at the dragon and rammed into her face with it's shield, forcing the monster to fire the malevolent ball of energy off into another direction.

Once the immediate threat was dealt with, the Wing Gundam aimed the Buster Rifle at Arfoire. And unlike the dragon's attempt at trying to attack the party, Heero didn't have to worry about Arfoire stopping his attack.

The Buster Rifle fired a beam of intense energy that was powerful enough to force the dragon back. Arfoire didn't even get a chance to brace herself as the Wing Gundam fired a second time at her, knocking the goddess-turned-dragon over.

Unfortunately, the attack wasn't enough to substantially injure or kill the dragon. Soon, Arfoire was back on her feet and directing her full attention to the threat that was the Gundam. Keeping his attention on Arfoire, Heero addressed his partner, hoping she could handle what needed to be done, "Zero, I leave the rest to you."

Zero grimaced at the dire situation the group was in, but sought to carry out the request made to her despite her personal feelings. Turning around, the manifestation of the ZERO System headed in the direction the group had previously been going before the situation became what it was now, "...We need to go."

Reluctantly, the group of girls headed toward the entrance to Celestia. Leaving the lone male party member to face the former goddess alone. Having gotten Arfoire's attention, the Wing Gundam streaked through the air in the opposite direction of the entrance to Celestia. Sure enough, the goddess-turned-dragon took off after the Gundam with the single-minded purpose of exacting revenge for it's injuries.

As soon as he arrived back at the castle-like structure, Heero disengaged the thrusters of his suit before turning to face the monster that had followed him there. The dragon let out a roar in an attempt to instill terror in the enemy it had chased to this point, but the Gundam would not be made to feel fear. Not from a foe like this. Leveling the Wing Gundam's Buster Rifle at Arfoire, Heero prepared himself for what was likely to be his last battle, "Arfoire... I will kill you."

Xxx

Me: "Chapter 52, done! With this, we're one chapter and an epilogue away from being finished with the story. Are you not happy that the story is almost over?"

Neptune: (Storms into ACCC) "How can I be happy when you're making my lover fight Arfoire all by himself?! I thought you weren't gonna do anything like this for the rest of the story!"

Compa and IF: (Enter ACCC from Break Room) "Does this mean all of our work from the previous chapters was for nothing? Are… we gonna lose Heero…?"

IF: "Please tell me you're not gonna pull the rug out from under us this close to the end. That's just cruel."

Me: "I don't see why you guys are getting worked up. We still have one more chapter after this, plus an epilogue. So calm down."

Noire: (Enters ACCC from Lounge) "Don't tell us to calm down! We're at the end, and you're making Heero fight Arfoire even though he really shouldn't be fighting at all!"

Blanc: (Enters ACCC from Break Room) "...Are you trying to give us all a heart attack? This shit isn't funny! It's serious!"

Vert: (Enters ACCC from Game Room) "I have to agree with Blanc. My sweet Heero shouldn't be forced to face such evil like Arfoire by himself."

Me: "I wouldn't be doing this unless there was some kind of payoff for you guys. You'll just have to wait until the next chapter to find out. WHICH we could finish sooner, if you guys would stop badgering me!" (Looks at phone) "See? We're wasting time as it is. Nep, wrap things up for us while we get back to the office to work on that chapter.

Neptune: "Fine… But you better give me back my lover in the next chapter!"

Me, Compa, IF, Noire, Blanc and Vert: (Leave ACCC from Left Entrance)

Neptune: "Please read and review this chapter, and look forward to the next update! I just hope my Heero isn't taken from me for good! The author keeps taking him away, I want my lawyer!" (Leaves ACCC from Left Entrance)