Wow. I never thought I'd manage to get this out so soon, but oh well xD Here you go^^

This was a bit harder than the other chapters to write (even so, it is the longest chapter yet… (Something's not right here...)), since I feel like the episode this chapter would be in the anime, is more like a filler, than anything else… Anyway's I hope you enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own AKB0048 or it's characters.

Chapter 5: Blue Betrayal

A Kirara Drive appeared in what seemed like the middle of no-where, and the Flying Get entered the scene, flying forward, but only barely. As the gate closed, an explosion happened on one of it's right-rear-sides.

Yuka, Sonata, Suzuko, and Orine were in one of the hospital rooms of 00, where Makoto was laying with a bandage around her head.
"Here." Yuka said, giving Sonata a can with soft drink, before putting three more on the bench she was sitting on, for Suzuko and Orine to take if they wanted. "I'll go check on the others." She said, and rose up. She ran out of the room.

Through several screens in the Flying Get, Tsubasa was talking with the idols.
"What about Papa Cook, Tomochin, Kojiharu, and the rest of the understudies that was left at Akibastar?" Takamina asked, demanding an answer.

"Not to worry. They should have taken refuge in the underground temple, and there they are safe, as long as the barriers don't break, and I doubt they will."

"Will the people of Akibastar be all right? I mean, now that we have left, won't DES take control over their lives?" Sayaka asked.

"It's 00 that DES is after. They'd be in grater danger if we had remained there, since we weren't able to fend them off. Especially not when we just had lost Yuko. Hopefully, they'll leave the civillians alone."

Nagisa sat in one of the corridors. She was thinking. What was it Yuko had said?

"The Centre Nova must, and she will, bear the gusts of any storm to protect the other members!"

It seems too much for only one person to handle… That and always being the fixed centre of every performance… Did Yuko believe she could handle it? I believed it… But do I now? When she has disappeared? How can I save her?

"Yuko-san..." She whispered, not knowing of the tears that streamed down her face until now. The memory of the disappeance was so fresh in her head, and it hurt. "What about Yuko-san?" she asked, as she knew she was also connected to the conversation between Tsubasa and the others, even though she didn't listen. When she didn't get an answer from Tsubasa, she didn't say anything else.

"Tsubasa-san. Is it true…?" Takamina asked, when the silence threatened to be too long, and too consuming. "Is it true that Miichan led DES to us?"

"It… It would seem so, yes." Tsubasa replied, downcast.

"Why would she do that?!" Sae demanded.

"... It might be easier to talk about face to face. We do not know who's listening. Meet me in the waiting room." Tsubasa said after a long pause, but before she was able to shut the transmission down, Mariko stopped her by saying:

"Tsubasa-san, before that, I'd like to make a request."

Only a fem minutes later, Mariko, Takamina, Kanata, and Nagisa stood outside the room that was being used as the former Minegeshi Minami's cell. They opened the door, by dialing a 7-digit code in the lock. The door swiftly opened, and the four entered the room.
"What's this?" Miichan said, with faked happiness. "Am I being interrogated?" She was sitting on one of the benches, probably thinking, since that was the only activity she could do in there.

For a long while, the idols and the former Centre Nova were just looking at each other. Then Kanata finally spoke up, her voice accusing.
"You werere Minegeshi Minami the 5th! You were Centre Nova!"

"Kanata, calm down." Mariko said, and put a hand on her former fellow 75th generation understudy's sholder.

"But she is right." Takamina stated, a lot more calmer than her understudy counterpart*.

"Was I really a true Centre Nova?" Miichan asked and sighed. "I don't know. I would have found out, if I hadn't lost my nerve and ran away. Perhaps that shows I wasn't a true Centre Nova, but as I said, I lost my nerve and ran away."

"Ran away?" Takamina asked.

"...You have never been there, so it's hard to explain." Miichan sighed. "Imagine that you're Centre Nova, and that one day, when preforming, suddenly the Kirara around you changes form, into something more… hostile looking, I guess. None of my friends saw it, so I guess it's only something the Centre Nova can see… Behind the creatures, the view changes. It's no longer the audience. It is another world, I guess… I ran of the stage then and there, and graduated just after."

"So, what you're saying, is that the disappeared Centre Novae are in that 'other world'?" Takamina asked.

"If I had gone on, I'm sure that I too would have ended up there… If I was a real Centre Nova, that is..."

"Are all the past Centre Novae in that world?" Mariko asked.

"No, a lot graduated similarly to how Miichan did it." Takamina responded. "It's not widely known, since most people assume that all the graduated Centre Novae disappeared."

"The appearance and disapearance require different conditions. Appearance require a concert on Akibastar, stormy wheather, and a battle at that performance. The final thing deciding who will be the Centre Nova, if someone will achieve that title, is a torrent of emotions that surpasses all. Disappeance comes after a Centre Nova has awakened, when she aims for greater heights, and attains the ultimate radiance. In that moment, she disappears to the other world."

Nagisa took several steps forward. "Then… Has Yuko-san gone to that world?" She asked, grasping for but a haystraw, in order to be able to climb the rest of the way; To save Yuko.

"I'm sure she has." Miichan said, and a smile grew on Nagisa's lips for the first time since the battle of Akibastar. "The world where Acchan and the others are. That's where she has gone."

"So she's alive." Nagisa crossed her hands over her heart as new tears formed in her eyes, tears of happiness. "Yuko-san's alive."

"Then what about those who didn't disappear?" Mariko asked.

"If your ambition for radiance falters, even only for a moment, you will lose what radiance you had. A Centre Nova must always be gazing upwards, ascending constantly to greater heights. If she doesn't… She'll lose her radiance. I was a coward, and I hesitated… I lost my radiance because I was too much of a scaredy-cat."

"So that's why you graduated?" Takamina asked.

"Yes. Right afterward, I abandoned the name of Minegeshi Minami the 5th, and took the escape called graduation. I never held a graduation concert, and a lot of people assumed that I had disappeared… But there was also a big portion of the 00-fans who didn't, and it took years before I could show my face, even if it was disguised, without being recognized at the spot. There are still people who recognize me, even if they are rather few."

"If you ran away from 00, and wanted to hide, then why did you become a camera-woman working for 00?" Takamina continued.

After a long pause, Miichan finally opened her mouth. "I… I wanted to protect you all. I wanted to stay by 00's side, and prevent anyone else from disappearing."

After her words had sunk in, Kanata was the one to call out the next question, and her voice betrayed her: She had not forgiven Miichan yet, and it would take a lot of time for her to do that. "Then why did you invite the attack on Akibastar?! Was you too dumb to see that all the factors for awakening a Centre Nova would be met?! You knew of the conditions, and you still invited Zodiac… Invited DES! To the place which holds our hearts…"

"Kanata, calm down. You're not helping." Mariko placed a hand on Kanata's sholder - again - but her hand was just swatted away.

"You said you wanted to protect us. To prevent that anyone else would disappear. Isn't it so that, as an example, Makoto is bedridden, because of that attack, who was it again that was the cause of that attack? Oh yeah. You. Didn't Yuko disappear because of your attack? Wasn't your goal to prevent anyone else to disappear? Is Yuko not counted as anyone?!"

Before Miichan got a chance to answer, Kanata stormed out of the room.
"Kanata! Wait up!" Mariko called, and ran out of the room, chasing after her friend.

"I… That was… I was..." Miichan started. She did not really know what to say. Kanata's accusions may have been a bit redundant, but they weren't unfounded. "It's... … hard to explain…"

"Then you can try." Takamina replied.

"A while ago, Zodiac's CEO..."

"Zodiac's CEO! That has to be Chieri's father! She said she was the heiress to the Zodiac Corporation!" Nagisa interruted, worriedly.

He clearly double-crossed Miichan, could he have double-crossed Chieri too?

"I guess that's him..." Miichan said, before continuing, as if Nagisa hadn't interrupted her. "He started talking about Dualium, and made very clear that he knew I was Minegeshi Minami the 5th. At first, I thought he wanted me to photagraph dualium, and I can't say that I was that interested… Then, he mentioned the Kirara's, and continued with the Kirara Drive… The Kirara react to a certain kind of human will. I suppose you could call it 'soul'. They amplify their power in response."

"You don't mean..?" Takamina asked, with a hunch of what was going to come next.

"Yes. Idols. The predecessors of idols, ancient arts and entertainment appearantly begun as rituals to communicate with gods, or other worlds. Perhaps there is some sort of connection."

"So the reason DES wants to capture 00 alive, is..?" Nagisa asked, having a feeling, but wanting to know.

"To use you and the Kirara for military purposes." Came the answer

"A Centre Nova could cause the Kirara to glow brighter than ever." Takamina said. "That's why they'd want 00 to get a Centre Nova."

"Vast quantities of dualium exist on Akibastar. I was the one who told Zodiac that there was a dualium response on Akibastar, and that a Centre Nova might be born. As a result… 00 lost it's home planet."

"Why did you do it?" Came the question from Nagisa, who's voice now was unusually hard. Miichan stayed stayed silent. "Kanata's right! You said you wanted to protect the members! Please, answer me!"

A few minutes later, Nagisa and Takamina joined the others in the waiting room, to hear what Tsubasa wanted to say. They noted that Kanata still looked a bit upset, but seemed to have calmed down, at least a bit.
"She did it, because she wanted to save the disappeared Centre Novae." Tsubasa said, answering the unasked question, as she chose a coffee from a menu.

"Save them?" Yukirin asked.

"When someone awakens as the Centre Nova, a gate to the other world appears. She thought she could make use of that, and save Acchan and the others. So, she agreed to help Zodiac, and waited for her chance." Tsubasa continued.

"And then she got herself double-crossed. Sounds like Miichan, all right. I was always worried she'd fall for the wrong sort of guy." Ushiyama sighed.

"She might just have flat-out betrayed us." Kanata said, revealing herself to not be quite as calm as she looked.

"That's not the case." Came the answer from Tsubasa, who on the other hand was as calm as a forest lake at night.

"How can you be sure?!" Demanded Kanata to know.

"Because I feel the same way. I also want to save the girls who have disappeared. I want to see Acchan again. I was there when she disappeared, and I want to know what really happened, and bring her back."

"Sensei-sensei might have been thinking the same thing." Ushiyama stated.

"Sensei-sensei too?" Asked Mariko. "How do you know that?"

"We think that's why he brought back the General Elections, and tried to cultivate a new Centre Nova."

Nagisa rose up. "Can we save them?" She asked. "If somebody became Centre Nova, could they save Yuko-san?"

Tsubasa took a zip of her coffee, and looked at Nagisa, realizing what she implied. "Perhaps. I wouldn't count it out at least."

A rumble echoed though the underground caverns of 00, followed by a shaking in the ground. Cries filled with fear echoed through the caverns.
"Everyone!" Tomochin called. "Please stay calm! We are safe in here, there is a powerful barrier which guards the gate. They won't be able to break in here!"

'I hope' she added mentally.

A lot of people was wounded, and was cared for by the 00-members, and Papa Cook was busy getting food for everyone. Kojiharu's butterfly-shaped phone beeped, and she opened it up, and Tsubasa's face showed up on the screen.

"Ah, Tsubasa-san! How are you?" She asked, as if it was just a casual conversation, where the circumstances was as they normally were; Akibastar being non-conquered by DES, while getting Tomochin and Megumi's attention. She waved them to her, and Tsubasa nodded.

"I guess we're as good as we can, considering the circumstances. Right now, we're getting reparations made. Megumi, did all of the 76th generation get inside the temple safely?"

Megumi nodded. "Yes, everyone's here, including Papa Cook. It's incredibly lucky that he managed to get here. Without him, we would starve. The rest of the staff is also here, as well as about a hundred to two hundred fans. A lot of them are hurt, but we are getting it under control. We don't think anyone here will die, at least not from their wounds. There are also currently people out and getting food, and medecine, using the secret passage that one of the Miku's showed us."

"That's good. I'm glad you're there. I would tell you how and where we are, but I won't since we do not know who might be listening. And besides, we are still working on getting all the systems working again. Have you managed to establish contact with Sensei-sensei?" Tsubasa asked.

"Not yet, but the Miku's are working on it. We haven't been able to contact Tsukuba Foundation, or any other WOTA branch either, but we are trying." Tomochin replied. "Our situation is stable right now, but it'll get sticky, if you don't come back soon."

"We will try to come back as soon as we can. In the meantime, it'd be great if, as soon as there is enough people healthy enough to take care of the other wounded, that you could, along with the 76th generation understudies raise your radiance as high as you can. We will need as much radiance we can muster if we want to take back Akibastar, and drive DES out."

The three of them shared a look, and then Megumi spoke up. "We'd love to, but we're not sure how the fans in here would react."

"Then talk to them, and find a way. If you're not as radiant as you can be, taking back Akibastar is but a dream." After a short pause, Tsubasa asked: "Do you know what to do?" When the girls nodded, she smiled and continued: "Good. Any further contact would be too risky. I'm counting on you girls. Cease transmission."

"Right." Came the answer from the three girls, before the screen shut down.

"None… None...None..." A certain green-haired 00-'geek' said, as she was fiddling with the hologram screen on her phone.

"Suzuko, what are you doing?" Orine asked.

"Nothing is coming up." Suzuko answered worriedly.

"Eh? What do you mean?" Yuka asked.

"Everything concerning 00 is gone. Even the fanseries."

"Can you find out what happened? Did DES take them down?" Makoto asked from her place in the bed.

"That, or the fans themselves gave into the pressure of the crackdown. Things aren't looking very good for 00 right now..."

"Is 00..." Makoto asked, pulling the blanket up all the way to her eyes. "...Really done for now? I hope not..." When she didn't get an answer, she continued, just to stop the silence from taking over the room. "I… I wanted to get elected… I wanted to become a successor… I never wanted it to turn out like this..."

Just as Makoto was about to start crying, Sonata came running from her place beside the door, and launched herself up into the air, and landed on Makoto, who let out a sound between a groan and a scream.

As Sonata bounced up and down on Makoto, she yelled:
"Grumbly, you're being a worryworm! Worryworm! Worryworm! Worryworm!"

"I see… So Miichan was trying to save the Centre Novae…" Yukirin said.

"We don't know if she's telling the truth." Kanata replied, she still hadn't been able to trust Miichan by her word.

"Kanata..." Mariko spoke softly. She would say to Kanata that she was being to suspicious about people, but she knew Kanata wouldn't listen.

"Even if she is..." Sae cut in. "She still..."

"Yeah…" Yukirin smiled sadly. "We can't simply forgive her."

Chieri, Yuko-san, what would you two do in my position?

Nagisa thought. She was sitting in one of the staircases, thinking over what had happened, and what Miichan had said. Before her train of thought could continue, she heard footsteps, and Yuka came around the corner.
"Ah, here you are, Nagisa!" She said, smiling for a second, but then the smile fell off her, and was replaced by a face of concern. "Thinking about Yuko-san?"

"Yeah. Her, and Chieri…" Nagisa replied. "What do you think they'd do if they were here?"

"Yuko'd probably march on, and break through all of it with a big grin on her face. On the other hand, if she wouldn't have disappeared, then we wouldn't be in this situation. Yuko wouldn't have allowed it." Yuka said "Chieri… She'd probably pull us all up by our necks, and force us to move on. We'd see her harsh side once again. That would be quite nostalgic, wouldn't it?" The two of them laughed sightly at the memories of those very first dance practices.

"Still, I'd rather have harsh Chieri, than no Chieri..." Nagisa said after their shourt laughter quieted. "You know, Yuka," Nagisa said. "I'm thinking of becoming Centre Nova."

"What?" Yuka asked; she'd thought she'd hear any other words, but those, from Nagisa.

"I'll become Centre Nova, " Nagisa rose up. "open the door to the other world… And save Yuko-san and the others… No matter what."

Yuka first flinched at her words, and then saw the expression in Nagisa's face… No. In her eyes. Determination worthy Yuko the ninth.

"Nagisa, do you even know what you're suggesting?! Becoming Centre Nova is a huge challenge itself. Besides, I'm not having you disappear like Yuko-san!" Yuka exclaimed, and ran the steps up to Nagisa. She grabbed Nagisa's wrist firmly as she got level with Nagisa. "The very fate of 00 is uncertain right now! How are you thinking?!"

"I'm thinking like Chieri and Yuko would do if one of them was here." Nagisa replied, staring into Yuka's eyes with eyes of her own so full of determination that a little more, and they would burst.

"Then stop thinking like them, and start thinking like yourself!" Yuka yelled, but Nagisa only closed her eyes, and shook her head. "If I'd think like myself in this situation… 00 wouldn't have survived this far… And I don't think I could bear loosing 00 too. I don't know how yet, only that I have to do it!" Yuuka looked like if she was about to counter Nagisa's words, when a red lamp flickered on, illuminating the whole room in it's blood-red light. Only seconds after, a rumble shook the Flying Get, causing Nagisa and Yuka to loose their balance, only saving themselves by grabbing the fence beside the staircase.

"What?" Nagisa asked. "What's going on?"

"A DES attack?"

Takamina turned to the hologram screen in the waiting room, directed it to Tsubasa, and called:
"Tsubasa-san! Should we lauch?"

"No. We have no means of re-supplying. Our best bet is to avoid combat." Tsubasa's answer came.

"Are you telling us to run away?!" Kanata yelled.

"I know it's hard to swallow, Kanata, but yes. For the time being."

One of the women steering the Fying Get could be heard by through the transmission. "Enemy machines launched!"

Tsubasa answered by quickly giving the order: "Ready the Kirara Drive!"

"System repairs are not yet complete. We have no idea of where it will take us."

"Doesn't matter. We can't let them finish us off here! Activate Kirara Drive!"

"Energy at 10.85%. T minus five minutes to activation." Just as the girl said that, a second rumble erupted through the Flying Get. They had been hit a second time.

Tsubasa's voice sounded in the speakers.
"We are currently under fire from DES! Five minutes until emergency Kirara Drive!"

"An LAS?!" Mariko exclaimed, looking out the window.

"What?" Yukirin exclaimed herself before everyone in the waiting room stood nailed by the window.

"Tsubasa-san, who's driving?" Takamina said that just in time for them to get a screen transmitted from the LAS in question.

"Miichan?!" Both Takamina and Tsubasa exclaimed, and the others was thinking similar things.

"Is she running away?! Don't tell me she's gone to report to DES?" Sae exclaimed.

"What is she..?" Kanata asked as the LAS turned to face the Flying Get. It aimed towards the ship of 00, and shot.

"It can't be..!" Tsubasa exclaimed. "How can she?!"

The shots missed the Flying Get by an inch, and hit three of the DES machines. The next thing everyone in the big ship heard, was a song starting to play. One of 00's songs. Blue Rose.

"Miichan! Are you out of your mi-..." Tsubasa called as a screen flashed open beside Miichan.

"Don't try to stop me!" Miichan interrupted Tsubasa, and took her glasses off. "This is Minegeshi Minami the 5th's graduation concert. At least let me go out in style!"

Miichan's LAS shot forward, and engaged in close combat with the four DES robots that were left. She eliminated the first by first avoiding it's shots, then giving it a roundhouse kick, sending it flying, and with a fast, well-placed shot, she took it down. The next she took out by hitting it with another stream of bullets, and a third as well. By now, three more DES robots had joined the dance.

Seeing Miichan fight off all of the DES robots at once, left all of the idols awestruck.
"Whoa!" Kanata exclaimed, voiceing the thoughts of all the girls who were watching.

No-one really listened to the time, except Tsubasa, who, once again, called for Miichan to return to the Flying Get.
"Takamina-san!" Yuka exclaimed, as she was first of the girls joining in to watch.

"Who's in the LAS?" Nagisa asked, but the answer came by the voice singing. "Miichan?"

Meanwhile, Miichan had taken out another of the DES robots by sooting it down, and was currently avoiding a barrage of explosive rockets by dancing inbetween them. She shot down the robot which had sent them. The next two robots she destroyed by first grabbing one of them, and using it as a shield from the other's bullets, and then sending the damaged one at the one who had fired, and they both exploded.

Avoiding another barrage of shots, Miichan did a loop, and shot the DES who was casing her. Turning the LAS around, she fired another barrage of shot, which hit one of the DES machine's rocket launchers, which had opened to fire the rockets, so they exploded, taking the robot beside it as well.
That was when Miichan's success ended. She ran out of ammo, and one of the final DES robots well-placed a shot, which took off the gun arm of Miichan's LAS. It exploded, and it was a rather damaged LAS that fell out of the fire. The last of the DES robots flew over to it, and aimed at the shuttle. Time seemed to slow down.

The DES was about to shoot, when another stream of bullets dismantled the gun, and then took down the DES, which fell aside, and revealed a LAS. With a bow on top. A comunication window opened up, revealing Takamina.
"Takamina?!" Miichan asked, receiving a smile, a small one, bun none the less a smile, from the successor.

"Are you going to run away again?"

"Eh?" was all Miichan could answer. She was pretty shocked that she wasn't dead.

"I haven't forgiven you, just so you know, neither has the rest of 00, I'm sure, but right now..." Takamina had a hin of regret in her voice as she said the last part. "But right now, we need all the allies we can get."

"Y-you sure can fly." Came Kanata's voice, followed by Suzuko.

"They said your piloting was the greatest in 00's history. I'm honoured to have witnessed it!"

"Wow, wow, wow, wow!" Yuka added.

"That was so cool!" Sonata chimed in. "Boom! Ra-ta-ta-ta! Fwoom!"

"Thank you very much!" Mimori exclaimed.

"C-can I call you Big Sis?" Makoto asked panically, having listened and watched from her room on one of the hologram screens there.

"The truth is, I've been secretly supporting you!" Orine followed up.

"Um, I want to save Yuko-san, so please, lend us your strength!" Nagisa finished.

All of the voices brought tears to Miichan's eyes, and she smiled as Takamina took her LAS under the 'arms' (well, 'arm)' to stabilize it, and escorted it back to the Flying Get.
"Who'd have thought? Looks like I'll be starting over as a understudy."

They got inside the hangar of 00's ship at the very last moment before the Kirara Drive activated.

*The reason I referred to Kanata as Takamina's understudy counterpart, is Takamina is the captain of 00, while Kanata is the captain of the understudies.

...I don't know why, but it was fun writing Kanata's accusing speech/rant... Angel's a horrible person.

As for almost the whole situation where Miichan battles the DES, and it's only her and Tsubasa talking, I've kept it in, since it's a very important part of the episode, and the idols are listening through the communication screens all over the Flying Get.

Same as previous chapter: If you'd like to have your OC in one of my stories (and if you haven'r already), please read 'AKB0048 the 200th Generation' chapter 1 for details.