A/N: So this chapter is a bit of a cluster fudge, but It's what I could come up with. Some chapters are obviously better than others because I'm either having a much better time with them, or I'm simply writing in something that I've been planning forever. Anyways, let's just get on with the chapter, here's:

The Puppet Master: Chapter 7; In which Maxi creates Forged Guide and sends out a Cry for Help

Enjoy.

Maxi stood in his forge, banging away at an ingot with a hammer, straightening the thing into a blade. He wasn't quite sure what it would look like when it was done. He could sense the presence of someone behind him, just over his shoulder, but he was too busy to turn around and see who it was. Eventually, Maxi decided to inquire about his visitor. "Need something?" he asked in between swings of the hammer.

"No, just observing." the voice belonged to Noire. Maxi could have figured it would have been her. Noire seemed to be the most interested in the various weaponry he had laying about.

"Observing? There's a window over there for that." Maxi said, now removing the forging mask from his face, and pointing over to the observation window with his hammer. Noire looked over, sure enough, there was indeed a window. "Even if you wanted a closer look, I'd recommend something more... work orientated." he gestured to her clothing, she was wearing her normal garb. She crossed her arms.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, "It's not like I wanted a closer look or anything." Maxi shook his head.

"Then get behind the window." he responded, his eyes dull. A parakeet landed on the tip of the anvil, looked up at Maxi, then said something in a language that Noire didn't understand. Maxi doubled over laughing.

"W... w-what did it say?" Maxi straightened himself out.

"Kay, first off, Sancho here is a guy, so that's he, not it. He's not an object, thank you very much." Maxi said with just a bit too much flamboyancy, second, I don't think you wanna know what he said." Noire crossed her arms and gave him a very cross glare. "Alright, you brought this on yourself..." Maxi had to take a moment to think about the translations of what Sancho had just told him. "Okay, so the literal translation makes no sense." He said first. He sounded out the words to himself before speaking. "It's a language called Xenic, it took me a while to figure it out. Su-k kiil-liona ku-l. That's what he said, so... 'Su' is type or kind, combined with the '-k' makes it 'kind of.' Next up... 'kiil' is annoying dog, or bitch as we'd put it in English, and the 'liona' that comes afterwards represents a negation after a passage of time, or just a change over time in general, and lastly, the 'ku' means 'is not' but the addition of the -l on the end of it makes it 'isn't it' and he phrased it like a question so... yeah, again, literal translation is 'kind of bitch that changes over time, isn't it?' since he's referring to you, 'it' changes to 'she.' There aren't really words for gender in Xenic... um... yeah, loosely translated and interpreted, he basically just said, 'wow, tsundere.' Is that what you wanted?" Noire huffed and glared at the bird. The bird spat something rude sounding out in that weird language again, causing Maxi to give it a sideways angry glance. "Hey, be nice."

"What'd he say that time?" Noire asked. It sounded like 'Ku-l su-k shan-shaliaaza.'

"Uh... Ku-l, isn't it, su-k, kind of, shan is a validation word, though the was he used it basically means true, and shaliaaza is... more or less a rude way of finishing the sentence. It's the equivalent of calling you a nasty name afterwards. So, loosely, again, that's something like, Isn't it kind of true, ass? While I agree with him, there's no need for that kind of language." Maxi noted as if it were the most normal thing ever. Noire's head was spinning.

"You're gonna have to teach me this some other time." Maxi shrugged.

"That's fine, now back to the topic at hand, put on something more suiting or get behind the window." Noire frowned, debating which she wanted to do. Eventually she agreed to put on something more fitting to the area. "Sancho, make yourself useful." he told the bird, "Get Noire a smithing outfit." Sancho left and came back sporting some metal plating and carrying a suit that looked like her size. "Go ahead and get changed, there's a changing room just over there." Maxi gestured to a door. Noire left to put on the clothes. Somehow, they fit her perfectly, matter of fact, looking in the mirror available, she even wanted to say she looked quite good in them. The outfit was a white shirt and thick tan pants accompanied by a thick working apron, thick gloves, and a blue puffy hat that was something of a combination between a beanie and a messenger hat. She quite liked the hat. The outfit had also come with some brown thin rimmed rounded glasses that she thought looked quite good on her as well. She walked back out to greet Maxi, who she had only just realized was in similar garb, simply minus the hat and replacing it with a protective mask. He looked Noire up and down. "Good. Now I don't have to worry about you getting burned or anything. Also, now you don't have to worry about your clothes getting dirty." The bird flapped his wings.

"Hey, don't forget, I was the one who picked the outfit." Noire recognized that voice. Where had it come from? She looked around in confusion. The same voice laughed. "Ha! You know the voice, but you don't remember where it comes from, do you? Look at the anvil." Noire turned and looked at the tip of the anvil. The parakeet moved his wings so it looked like he was bowing, then spread his wings out again. "Ta da!"

"What the fuck, he can talk?" Noire almost shrieked. Of all things she was expecting, that was not one of them.

"Why certainly I can. Matter of fact, I can probably speak better than most people you know." Noire managed to calm herself down. "I can also down most things better than most people you know." Noire crossed her arms.

"Oh yeah? Can you smith better than Maxi can?" she asked him. The parakeet facepalmed... er... winged? Facewinged? We'll stick with facepalmed. Maxi turned to Noire.

"Where do you think I learned it from?" he asked. "Besides, you've never seen me smith before, how do you know I can do it well? Why would you assume that? I can't do everything well you know."

Noire shook her head. "Nonsense, everything you've done so far has been exception..al..." Noire realized at the end of the sentence what she sounded like. "Er... not that I care or anything! Not that I've... not that I've been paying attention or any... anything? Um... idiot!" Sancho took his face out of his feathers just long enough for both him and Maxi to facepalm in unison. "Shut up!" Noire quickly hissed. Maxi shook his head.

"If you don't believe me that Sancho taught me to smith, he can teach you to do it just as easily." Sancho bowed.

"I would be honored to teach you." he said politely. He looked over at Maxi and Maxi gave him an approving nod. "See? I can be nice when I want to." It was another thirty minutes before any progress was made, but Noire was, indeed, metal smithing like a professional. However, when her products came out, they just weren't the way she wanted them to be. Maxi, noticing this, walked over to observe. Sancho was keeping a close eye on the materials in the furnace. After a while, Maxi knew what the problem was.

"Okay, here, swing the hammer like this, and try to focus more over here." he said, demonstrating with his hands, making rapid gestures that sort of looked like flailing movements.

"Easy for you to say," Noire quickly shot back, "I have no idea what that means." Maxi sighed.

"Fine, here," he went over and stood behind her, guiding her hands through the motion. "Like this. I'll do it with you." Noire's face turned hot red, but she accepted it. Kupo had helped her before in much the same way, yet when Maxi did it... Noire felt a bit of a burning sensation in her chest... She tried her best to ignore it. When Maxi was done guiding her, Noire tried it herself, noting that the swing took less effort, and the blade wound up sharper. She looked it over, satisfied with the result. She showed it to Maxi and Sancho who both gave her a nod of approval. Maxi went back over to finish his own blade.

"So what are these actually for?" she asked. Maxi turned to her, lifting his mask, gesturing over to Sancho first.

"Hey, take this and quench it in that hot oil for me?" The bird came over and took the weapon, flying off to do so. "A friend of mine ordered a weapon. Her name's Histoire." he said. "Something about needing a weapon for something she was doing? I don't know. Histoire's a nice lady. I don't ask questions, I just do. Besides, she's the mother of a good friend of mine, also a man of business, his name's Jay. Also a nice guy." To Noire, the name 'Histoire' was familiar, but the name 'Jayden' was not. Sacho came back with the sword, the blade now a lustrous blue colour. Noire quite liked it.

"How'd you do that?" she asked, pointing at the sword. Maxi looked at it.

"Oh, hey, that's a nice touch, Sancho." the bird gave a happy little squawk and set the blade back down so Maxi could finish it. As he was doing so, he explained it to Noire. "So, looks like he did this somewhere between 282 and 310 Celsius. When you heat the blade like this, if you do it carefully enough, you can colour the metal that way. I've been told that talented magic users can enchant coloured blades to have elemental or energy properties, but I've never learned how to actually use magic, so go figure, I guess. I couldn't confirm that second bit for you." Noire carefully inspected the blade.

"Maybe you ought to have Mina look at it? You said she could use magic, right? If Histoire needs that blade for something, chances are she's going to need it in the best shape possible." Maxi took that into consideration. He quickly fashioned a sheath for the blade out of some leather, silver pieces and a gold crest before putting the blade in its new sheath and heading off to find Mina, the bird sitting on his shoulder.

When Maxi found Mina, she seemed to be treating Vert with some sort of magic, which Maxi was not familiar with. He walked over. "This seems important." Mina ignored him, so he had a seat until Mina spoke.

"Okay, Vert. I know where she is. That witch who stole your powers has her as well." Maxi raised an eyebrow.

"That also sound important, what am I missing?" Vert looked over at him.

"You remember when I explained to you how we are goddesses, yes?" vert said, as if it were the most normal thing ever. Maxi merely nodded back with the same casual attitude. "Well, you remember what happened to my power, yes?" Maxi nodded again. "Well, here's the problem. Kei, and Mina, they are oracles, yes? Well, I have one as well, her name is Chika, and the same person who stole my powers has my beloved oracle as well. I'll not stand for this, and while Neptune may not worry about her oracle, and not care, I care very much about mine, and I'd like her back." Maxi gave a devilish grin.

"Then we'll knock two birds with one stone. First though, Mina you're a magic user, see this coloured blade? I don't suppose you can enchant it with anything, can you?" Mina had a look at the blade, examining it as if there was something extremely special about it. Maxi raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong?" he asked. Mina looked up at him.

"I've never seen this colour done properly before. This is probably the most powerful colour you could have given this blade. Here, let me enchant it for you." Mine held up her staff and the blade took on a brilliant cyan light. "This kind of blade possesses extraordinary power and guides the holder. That means you can wield it with skill even if it's your first time with a sword. A skilled user on the other hand, well they'd be almost unstoppable with it." Maxi nodded.

"Why thank you." he said. He took the blade and stashed it away for later. "Now then, let's get ready. I'll meet you in the armory when you're done. Alert anyone you wanna take with us, I've gotta get ready myself." Maxi headed off, a bit excited for the adventure they were about to have. He fixed his exoskeleton and got it on, installing minor upgrades here and there, then he grabbed a quiver full of spears. After that, he equipped himself with several types of knives, making sure that he had whatever knife he needed, karambits, long-blades, hunting blades, butterflies, anything you could think off, really. After he had all that, he grabbed his capsule spear that Kupo had given him. He thought he was all ready to head out, but he remembered something just as important. He headed over, into the one dark room, not far from Noire's room. He looked at the mask, sitting on the counter. It picked itself up and looked over at him.

'Finally remembered me, didn't you? I'm just as excited at you are.' it said to him. He picked up Myous and slung him over his shoulder. Suddenly, Maxi felt a bit smarter. Myous' eyes seemed to glisten slightly. 'Feel that? I've got more powers than you probably think I do. You'll see.' Maxi headed out, but not before triggering his emergency plan. He wasn't sure he would need it, but he might wind up needing it, and it was better to be safe than sorry. Suddenly, Maxi heard the doorbell.

"FELICIAAAAA! THE DOOOOR!" he shouted out. After a while, Felicia showed up in the room.

"It's your master medic and your guild master, sir." Maxi looked at her with a blank expression.

"I don't remember asking for those?" he asked.

"That's because I asked for them for you." said Kei walking into the room. She gestured to the two girls following her, one with a black outfit under an oversized blue jacket, the other with a cream coloured sweater and a plaid skirt. "This is IF and Compa. They'll be part of your mission for recovering Chika and Vert's powers." Maxi nodded and shook hands with both girls.

"Pleased to meet you both. Glad to be working with you." Maxi said, greeting them politely.

"Of course Mr. Maxi! I'm happy to be working with you too!" Compa chirped. As bubbly as she seemed, Maxi could sense that she was a pretty decent healer. Maybe there was more to her than he could note simply by looking. He turned to If and she gave him a nod.

"I'll do my best. You can guarantee that I'll at least take care of Nep's antics for you." Maxi nodded with a bit of a giggle.

"I appreciate that, both of you." The doorbell went off again. "Fuckin' hell, we're just getting all the new party members RIGHT now, aren't we?" Maxi opened the door to be greeted by a pistol in his face. With reflexes faster than should be possible, Maxi punched straight upwards, shattering the pistol in the user's hand. The girl recoiled back, her friend stepping forward with a sword.

"Don't worry, Uni! Rom, Ram, and I will handle this!" Felicia and Kupo came out to his sides. These girls looked rather familiar to him, but now wasn't the time to assess that. The gods give you lemons, you eat the lemons, then you see if they've got anything left to throw at you. Also, Maxi just really liked lemons. He was more for limes, but he'd roll with what he had. He sprung up into the air, brandishing his spear, landing on the far side of the field. Felicia had her dual handguns and daggers, while Kupo was equipped with a rifle, an exoskeleton similar to his own, and a rather special boomerang. He also had a rather special robo-pet, and Maxi had Sancho on his shoulder. The parakeet was wearing a robotic suit of armor, sporting his own set of equipment.

'You know, on your face might be a better place for me.' Myous noted last moment.

"Not the time, Myous." Maxi responded quickly. The pink haired one went at him, shouting something, then swinging a sword at him several times. Maxi was quick enough to block most of those attacks. Kupo seemed to be occupied with the raven-haired girl who'd had the pistol before, now she had several other types of guns. Felicia, on the other hand, was having a lovely time throwing daggers and stones at two girls who were trying to loose some kind of magic at her. "Not what I had in mind when I answered the door, but I guess it'll be just as well. Might as well get warmed up here." Maxi blocked the girl's sword with his spear, then turned back around and clocked the back of her head with the back of the spear. The girl fell to her knees, not completely disabled, but Maxi could see that Kupo need a hand. He sprung high into the air, and came down, slamming the spear into the ground, the resulting shock-wave throwing the girl through the air. Kupo loaded up a sleeping dart and shot the girl mid-air, the girl falling to the ground, sleeping. Felicia was already done on her end, the two girls laying in the ground, seemingly knocked out. He gave her a thumbs up. The pink-haired girl from before didn't seem to be quite down. Throwing something in the air, her friends got back up.

"We will save our sisters!" she yelled out, a beam of light making all of them transform. Maxi had seen that before. He also knew that he had nothing to quell the situation, so this was about to get really interesting.

'Now might be a good time to get me on your face.' Myous insisted. For whatever reason, Maxi complied, sticking the mask on properly, and sending Felicia and Kupo back inside to get the girls. Even if they couldn't calm these new girls down, they would at least provide some help. Maxi's vision tinted a slightly orangey colour, and it took him a moment to realize that this wasn't just his head messing with him, he actually had an orange aura. With a flip and a masterful swipe, Maxi spun through the air and slammed his spear down, crashing the girls away from him. The raven-haired girl (Uni, they called her?) open fired, but Sancho had him covered, firing off a volley of lasers to counter the bullets. The two magic girls (Rom and Ram, right?) began to launch icicles and freezing spells at Maxi, but Maxi was quick to counter. Swinging his spear in concise and quick motions, he deflected, or in some cases reflected, the spells and icicles, leaving the girls with nothing but some ice damage and drained mana pools. He turned to the pink haired girl. His aura strengthened as he charged, spinning the spear, countering each swing, giving his own attacks, slowly chipping the girl's health down until she only had a measly few left. The girl took a step back to reconsider her situation, but Maxi had no intention of letting her recover. Rushing forth, he was about to deliver the final blow, when suddenly, he swiped his arm to the side. The girl's eyes wen't wide, but she was still alive. The point of the spear had missed her torso by a few inches, a choice Maxi made within a moment. This girl had a life ahead of her, and, if he was guessing correctly, a sister, and probably someone he knew at that. He collapsed the spear and stashed the capsule for later. He offered the girl a hand in getting back up.

"Right, let's try that introduction again, yes?" After introducing himself and negating the want to beat the crap out of him, and also taking Myous off his face and dispersing his aura, Maxi was at peace, sitting in his kitchen, munching on some oatmeal raisin cookies. Felicia brought out a batch of peanut butter cookies which Rom and Ram eagerly dug into. Maxi made note of that. "So then, Nepgear, Uni, Rom, Ram, I hope there are no hard feelings about earlier." He got mostly positive responses from all four girls. "Why don't you go talk to your sisters, I'm sure they're all dying to see you again, I'm gonna go recover, Chika, Vert's powers, and probably Blanc's powers while I'm at it." As complex as that seemed, he said it with a straight face and a confident tone, so no one questioned. Oliver headed off, getting ready to recover the items and get out.

Arfoire had a base set up in this dimension, something like a combination of a military base and a castle. Maxi couldn't handle this alone. He was going to need some assistance here. conveniently enough, he knew just who to call for this. He'd just made a sword for the boy's mother. He needed Jayden.

So here's the deal... I'm planning to fuse this story into Paradox, and I've been planning this for a while, and then I'm going to use this story to introduce some other characters before things get really confusing. So... you've been warned now. Next chapter, or even this chapter, might be the last of Maxi in this version of the story. Maxi's adventure is going to be continuing over in Paradox, so make sure you head on over if you want to see where this is going to go next. I'm super tired, and it's like, really late, so let's do this outro.

An edit from Maxi: yeah... Ignore the non-bolded comment I marked above. I think 24 was too tired for his own good when he wrote this, that's like, not true at all, there should be like, two more chapters. Just wanted to let everyone know.

So then, as always, I hope you all have a lovely evening, and, be it here or anywhere elsewhere, may we meet again upon another chapter. See ya!