CHAPTER 7: WELCOME TO LOWEE, HOME TO…. A LOT OF SNOW
"I hope we are getting to Lowee soon, I'm…starving," moans a slightly tired Ayden, as the group makes the tiring journey to Lowee, which is a farther distance from Lastation, than Planeptune was from Lastation.
"Is that all you can do," asks IF who is trying to keep herself from punching Ayden in the face.
"Please Iffy, don't do it. Ge-Ge may get mad if you hurt him," responds Compa as she walks next to IF.
"Why would she get mad? It's not like she has feelings for him…right," asks IF as she looks behind Compa to see Nepgear walking, which Nisa and Ayden trailing after her.
Nepgear looks at IF and Compa and waves. The girls wave back in response, turn around and continue forward.
"We are going the right direction right? The heroine of Justice is gaining blisters on her feet," complains Nisa as she trudges behind Ayden.
"Well, I hope so. That Falcom girl seemed very trustworthy and I am pretty sure she pointed us in the right direction," responds Ayden as he recalls the group meeting Falcom just a few hours back as she pointed out where exactly they needed to go.
After a few hours of walking, complaining and trudging along, our group finally reaches the opening walls of Lowee.
Ayden was amazed; Lowee was completely covered in snow and boy what a beautiful spectacle to behold. The colors of the buildings were lightly blanketed in even layers of powered white, and the townspeople were all cozy looking in big fur coats and snow resistant clothing.
As the group walks into the giant city of Lowee, Ayden was a bit confused that no one in the group was complaining of the cold, in fact, he wasn't cold at all either. He came to the conclusion that it was all a part of the unexplainable video game logic that no one understood.
The group makes their way down Downtown Lowee, both Ayden and Nisa gang up on the others and start complaining of hunger. After a few minutes of complaints, Nepgear decides that everyone should go to the candy store, which is located near the Lowee's Basilicom.
"I remember going there a few times when my sister and I came down to Lowee, so she could talk to CPU Blanc," says Nepgear as she smiles, but Ayden notices that Nepgear is hiding the pain behind that smile.
The group walks up to the candy store, and Ayden decides to stand outside, since it has a huge crowd inside the store. Ayden tells Nepgear if she can get him a pastry and hands her his share of the credits, and then he takes his place outside leaning against a wall.
As Ayden continues to lean against the wall, he starts to think about all of the things he has experienced already, and about getting home to his own dimension.
"How do I explain this to my mom? What will she say," thinks Ayden as he closes his eyes.
"Trying to figure out a solution on how to get back home huh," asks a voice, which startles Ayden.
"W-What," responds Ayden as he opens his eyes and turns his head to the left to see a young man standing there.
This young man must have been the age of 17, well he looked the part. Ayden automatically knows this man isn't from Lowee because of the style of clothing he is wearing.
He is wearing a dark-grey tank top with an unrecognizable logo on it that showed off his muscular tone (not too muscular), black skinny jeans with four belts connecting back and forth on the jeans, a sword sheath with a sword in it attached close to his lower back by the belts, black sneakers, and silver gauntlets that can be described as wickedly sharp. Ayden also notices that his hair style is a very short, clean cut.
"What did you say," asks Ayden as if he just got out of some weird trace.
The man laughs and turns his back to Ayden, "You do not belong in a world that is nears it rightful judgment."
"Judgment?"
"Yes. This dimension itself is nothing worth saving anymore, so why even bother," responds the young man.
"Stop spewing crap," yells Ayden who is now getting angrier at the man. Just who was this man, and what was he talking about. A minute passes before Ayden says something again.
"Are you with ASIC," asks Ayden after calming a bit.
The man turns back around and once again laughs, only this time, Ayden hears something that even he cannot explain. He hears what sounds like another laugh within the man's laugh; a darker, more hoarse laugh.
"ASIC?! They are nothing but the lowest filth in this damned dimension. Thinking they can pass rightful judgment when they are nothing at all," says the man with the darker, hoarse voice mixed into his voice.
The man then turns and starts walking away, "You better consider what is more important to you; your path back home or saving this dimension."
Ayden then turns to look at the store window to look at Nepgear and the others. Nepgear sees Ayden, smiles and waves. Ayden waves back, but before he turns back around the man says, "Oh and you better decide fast…Ayden White!"
Ayden froze completely in his tracks, but he manages to turn around to see if the man was still there, but he wasn't.
Ayden runs to the area where the young man was standing and looks around to see if he is anywhere in sight. He looks down to see dark grey feathers with red tips, and picks them up. They look to be the feathers of an angel, or something else…
Ayden shivers in fear for what he witnessed and returns back to the candy store at the exact moment the girls walk out of the store.
"Are you alright Ayden? You look like you seen a ghost," asks Nepgear as she approaches Ayden holding a bag in her hand.
"Y-Yeah… I am fine," responds Ayden with a fake smile to hide how frightened he is at the moment.
"Here you go then," says Nepgear as she hands Ayden the bag she was holding.
Ayden looks in the bag to see a chocolate-glazed donut and quickly grabs it. He forgot how hungry he was and now he can finally eat.
Everyone starts to snack on their goodies that they got from the store and continue down the sidewalks of Downtown Lowee. Just as everyone finishes their snacks, they hear screams ringing out of the distance.
"It seems that evil is here in the city. Nothing that the heroine of justice can stop," says Nisa while doing her heroine stance.
"Gear, should we check it out," asks IF as she walks up next to Nepgear. Nepgear nods her head, and everyone runs in the direction of the screams.
After a good distance of running, the group runs up to the building where the screaming was occurring and see that it is a bar. Upon getting closer to the entrance, a person is forced outside the front window of the building and lands on their back.
"Ge-Ge, this person looks in pain. Should I heal him," asks Compa as she gets near the person.
"No Compa, stay away from him," says Nepgear and everyone is surprised at that comment.
Nepgear gets closer to the person and nods her head, "He's an ASIC troop."
Everyone gasps at this point and just as they did, they hear a male's voice coming from the building, "This is the best ASIC has to offer?! Either you guys are too drunk or just too damn sloppy when it comes to fighting!"
The group runs through the entrance of the bar to discover a man going toe-to-toe with a horde of ASIC troops. This man looks to be about 19, maybe really early 20s and has a slightly muscular, but lean body. He has a short, curly hair cut and was already sporting a beard, but it isn't to its full peak. The man is also wearing a black t-shirt, dark-blue jeans, and classic black and white sneakers, as well as, glasses which did not fly off his face as he pulverizes the ASIC troops.
The main thing that caught the group's attention is the face that the man is fighting the troops with steel gauntlets, which were completely dull and rounded compared to the wickedly-sharp gauntlets of the young man that Ayden encountered a while ago.
Another thing that intrigued the group is the man's fighting style, which is a variety mixture of different styles such as mixed-martial arts to judo. Each style has its own part to play and they didn't clash, but yet supported the next. Ayden and the others have never seen fighting like this before.
The man continuously dodges bullets and sword slashes, and one-by-one, knocks the ASIC troops out cold within one minute flat.
"Wow, I guess my expectations weren't that far off," says the man after cracking his knuckles. He then turns to look at the other door in the bar, which must lead to the cellar, and exhales loudly in annoyance as more troops come pouring out of that door.
The troops train their guns on the man and then notice the group in the entrance, to which they then train their guns on the group. Moments later, another man walks out the cellar door, wearing a hooded-black jacket. His face cannot be seen, due to the hood cloaking it completely, but his posture and build was familiar to Ayden.
"Well, it seems that the bartender served one too many drinks," says the hooded-man as he surveys the room, looking at each ASIC troop on the floor.
"Your men just can't handle their alcohol too well," responds the man with the gauntlets, obviously the owner of this bar.
The hooded-man laughs and he then turns to some of the troops and orders them to continue searching the place. He then walks towards the bar owner, keeping a hand on his sword in his sheath.
"Sorry, we had to barge in. You see, a little birdy mentioned that a certain disc we are looking for is hidden in this property. An eviction notice would have taken too long, so we took the initiative," says the hooded-man as he now stands in front of the bar owner.
"I have no idea what you are talking about, but since you are here in my establishment…I welcome you…with closed fists," yells the bar owner as her throws a punch at the hooded-man.
The hooded-man quickly pulls out his sword and blocks the blow from the bar owner's fist. Then, continuously, the blows are being thrown, while the hooded-man successful blocks each of them.
"Heh. For ASIC, you put up quite the fight," says the bar owner in between breaths as he furiously throws more punches.
"I was properly-trained, unlike the grunts that lay before us," responds the hooded-man as he bobs-and-weaves and swings his sword towards the owner.
The two go at it for about 5 minutes; while that happens, Ayden turns to the group and asks, "Should we intervene and help?"
Nisa is all for the part about intervening and fighting, but IF and Nepgear advise the group to stay back a bit.
Just as IF and Nepgear give everyone that advice, they notice the bar owner quickly move in front of the hooded-man and inflicts a massive upper-cut to him. The hooded-man tries to dodge but instead, quickly maneuvers his blade and cuts the bar owner across the chest. The group gasps in horror to what just happened.
Both the men take quite damage from what just played out. The bar owner crumples to the floor, trying to apply pressure to his massive cut. The hooded-man's head flies back to the point where his neck should have been dislodged and broken, but instead he raises his head back to its regular position while his hood fell off.
Ayden gasps again, only this time, the gasp was more emotional and pain-filled, as he witnesses the man who was once hooded turn around to reveal his face to the group.
"I didn't want you to find out this way kid," says Zero as he now faces the group. Compa quickly pushes past everyone and runs to the bar owner to aid him.
"Z-Zero...But why," asks Ayden as he lowers his head, trying to make sense of what is happening.
"It's kind of hard to explain, but let's say I have motives that need to be fulfilled, and ASIC offered to help," responds Zero with a cruel looking smile. "Don't take it personal at all," Zero remarks after a moment of dense silence.
"You bastard! And to think we trusted you," yells a very pissed-off IF who pulls out her Qatars.
Just as IF tries to lunge at Zero, Nepgear and Nisa hold her back.
"This is his fight," responds Nepgear in a very heavy and depressed tone.
Ayden stands there looking down and defeated as Zero walks closer to the group. The girls take a step back, but Ayden stays in the same place.
"We both know what we are looking for, am I right," asks Zero as he stands in his spot as if he is degrading everyone with his words which cut Ayden deep like a blade.
"The mascot disc," mutters Ayden still looking down.
"Correct. So I have a proposition for you all, if you are all willing to listen," responds Zero with the cruel smirk on his face.
The whole building was silent, in fact, it was as if time stopped everything in Lowee as the sounds of outside didn't come into the building.
"I'll take your silence as a yes," says Zero after a minute of waiting. He then takes a deep breath and starts up.
"I am proposing that we group together to find the mascot disc. Once it is found, you let ASIC take it, and we will let you guys go. It will be like we never ran into each other. What do you say," finishes Zero as crosses his arms.
The girls were already starting to object to this plan of Zero's but he put his hand up to silence them, and looks right at Ayden.
"Well?"
Ayden clenches his fists and then looks up at Zero as if he had some new-founded energy. Zero can already see the answer in Ayden's eyes but he let Ayden respond anyways.
"I made a promise to someone that we will save all the CPUs, hell that we will save the world, even if that means having to take ASIC on by myself," responds Ayden as he unsheathes his rapier and points it at Zero.
Zero can see that Ayden is trembling with anger, fear, and sadness, but brushes it off. He then unsheathes his sword and gets into his battle stance.
"Taking down a kid is not my standard, but you have to do what you have to do," responds Zero.
Zero then whistles, and in a flash, the ASIC troops that were in the room, stood in their battle stances, ready to fire.
Nepgear readies her beam saber, and Nisa just readies herself to battle as she takes her heroic stance. IF brings her Qatars back out and gives a devilish smile of her own to Zero.
Zero, then orders the troops to fire, and once his order is out, the group breaks up heading to take down a different target. Ayden knew who his target is going to be and lunges right at Zero.
Zero blocks Ayden's attack and quickly tries to counter, but Ayden sees through this plot and dodges the attack.
"It seems you have grown in battle experience," says Zero as both Ayden's rapier and Zero's sword clash.
"Yeah, no thanks to you though," responds Ayden with a smile. Both blades clash on many occasions, sending many small sparks flying near the two.
Nepgear transforms into her HDD form and quickly takes out one of the ASIC troops with a swift Mirage Dance.
IF and Nisa fought back-to-back, covering each other and moving in smooth harmony, it was as if both their souls combined into one.
One ASIC troop fell on the floor near Compa and the bar owner, and just as he was about to recover from that fall, Compa picks up some of the debris and hits him over the head with it.
"Sorry," responds Compa with a smile as she finishes patching up the bar owner who passed out from losing a bit too much blood. He is breathing very subtly and Compa gently moves him near a wall, where he will not get hurt. She then gets out her syringe and joins in the battle with the other girls, while Ayden and Zero continue to fight.
Zero, getting sick and tired of Ayden blocking his attacks, cheaply kicks Ayden in the stomach, launching him back a bit. Ayden loses his breath and grabs his stomach, which leaves Zero the opportunity to use his skill Steel Slicer, but that was a loss as Ayden jumps out of the way.
"Stop blocking, and start fighting," yells Zero as he is very pissed for having an amateur block the attacks he has been perfecting.
Ayden looks Zero in the eye and sticks his tongue out at him, which drives Zero insane. Zero then lunges at Ayden and full-forces a punch into Ayden's stomach, making Ayden fly against a wall, which he hit with quite an impact.
Ayden's Rapier fell out of his hand, and as he tries to reach for it, Zero kicks him back against the wall.
"You just couldn't have helped ASIC out, huh? You just had to play the hero," says Zero angrily as he continues to kick Ayden in the stomach.
Ayden is on the floor now, back against the wall, to which he starts to cough up blood. Zero presents Ayden with a wicked smile as he lifts his blade in the air to deal the final strike against Ayden.
"Ayden," yells a distressed Nepgear across the room as she is about to witness Ayden's execution. The ASIC troops she is fighting keep advancing to her, stopping her from reaching Ayden and Zero.
"In the end kid…you never stood a chance," remarks Zero with his evil smile but just as he is about to bring the blade down for the strike, Zero feels himself being punched in the side with great force.
Zero flies across the room and lands near the exit of the bar. Ayden looks up to see the bar owner standing over him with his hand out. Ayden grabs the bar owner's hand and the owner helps Ayden to his feet. Ayden then grabs his rapier off the floor and slouches over to catch his breath, the bar owner stands next to him.
"You alright," asks the bar owner as he helps Ayden straighten out his back.
"Yeah I am. How about you," responds Ayden as he moves his rapier back and forth from his right hand into his left.
"Alright enough to fight," says the bar owner.
Zero struggles a bit before getting back up, and quickly turn to face Ayden and the bar owner with complete hatred in his eyes for both of them. He then dashes for both, holding his blade in reverse to get a wider-range attack.
To Zero's dismay, Ayden blocks the attack with his rapier blade, and without realizing it, the bar owner jumps over Ayden and pulverizes Zero to the ground with both his hands interlocked for pure brute force.
Zero collapses to the ground once again, his face landing in debris and glass and his body moving as if he is a rag doll being thrown.
Ayden and the bar owner run past Zero's body and prepare themselves for Zero returning to his senses.
"Follow my lead," says the bar owner as he keeps his eyes locked on Zero's body lying in the rubble. Ayden nods and follows right next to the bar owner as the run towards Zero.
Zero quickly springs to his feet and feels the two deep cuts on his face and sees the bar owner and Ayden rushing towards him. The bar owner then pushes Ayden towards the wall that Zero is nearby. Ayden closes his eyes thinking that he is going to crash but to his surprise he puts a foot on it and starts to run on the wall.
Time seems to slow down once again, as Ayden runs on the wall, the bar owner rushes Zero and lands two punches on his body, and just as he is about to land the second punch on Zero, Ayden jumps off the wall with his rapier in hand and swings his blade at Zero.
In synchronization, both Ayden and the bar owner yell, "Twin Fangs: Cobra Strike!"
Ayden's slash and the bar owner's punch land upon Zero's body and completely force him to the ground. Ayden and the bar owner then stand above Zero, who looks like a piece of paper that has been crumpled into a ball and the bar owner kicks Zero's sword away from him so he could not grab it for another strike.
Finally, the battle is over and everyone can rest easily. Ayden surveys the room to see all the ASIC troops completely knocked out and the girls standing there, catching their breath. He specifically looks at Nepgear and smiles, who blushes a bit upon seeing him smile.
The bar owner leans against a wall and presses one of his hands against the wrap that Compa used to cover his wound. It still gives off a lot of pain, and the bar owner closes his eyes a bit to catch his own breath.
After about 10 minutes, Zero and the ASIC troops find enough strength to get back up and do so. Zero though looks to be in the worst shape out of them all, the wounds on his face streamed blood down his cheek and chin. He walks over to his blade and picks it back up; everyone gets into battle position but get out of position as they see Zero re-sheath his sword.
"You…and I are now enemies completely. The next time we meet…I will make sure that I kill you right on the spot," says Zero as he struggles to speak, he also is coughing up blood, just as Ayden was in battle.
Zero then whistles and yells out, "ASIC, move out!"
Zero and the troops quickly march out of the bar, leaving Ayden and the others in pain, both physically and mentally.
Nepgear walks over to Ayden and puts her hand on his shoulder, and he puts his hand on top of hers.
"Ayden…I am so sorry."
Ayden removes his hand off of Nepgear's and looks at his hands and arms which were bruised and wounded.
"It's not anyone's fault but my own," Ayden responds.
"Don't even blame yourself," says the bar owner as he walks up to Ayden after opening his eyes and moving from the wall. "ASIC is the one who is to blame. Damn them," he says after scratching his head.
Ayden looks at the bar owner and nods, "Yeah, I guess you're right. Thank you for saving me back there."
"It was nothing. Besides, your friend patched me up pretty well and you guys did drive ASIC out of my bar," responds the bar owner.
The bar owner then sticks his hand out to Ayden and smiles, "The name is Rados. Rados Kishimoto, but everyone just calls me Rados."
Ayden takes Rados's hand to shake it and responds, "Ayden. Ayden White."
Afterward, everyone introduces themselves to Rados and Rados does the same for everyone else.
"You seem to have beef with ASIC already. Have you already ran into them before," asks Nisa as she stands there next to Rados.
Rados sighs and crosses his arms, "They killed my parents when I was a kid."
Everyone put their heads down and starts to apologize to Rados, but Rados shakes his head.
"You guys do not need to apologize. It wasn't your guys fault," he laughs, but then he gets serious once again.
"I was raised by my grandfather after my parents were killed. He was a kind man who lived to be 100. This bar belonged to my family, but when my parents died; my grandfather was too old to run it by himself, so I dropped out of school to help him. He not only taught me how to fight but he used to teach me a lot of other things. In fact, he used to tell me stories about when Gamindustri was young, and he travelled all around Gamindustri with the CPUs of old and a group of heroes that saved Gamindustri before from 'The Original Deity of Sin'. Of course no one believed him but me," says Rados as he picks up some of the rubble and throws it in a different spot.
"CPUs of old," questions Nepgear curiously as that peaks her interest.
"Yes, the CPUs before the ones that protect Lowee, Lastation, Planeptune, and Leanbox today. They ruled about 80 years before the new CPUs. Apparently Gamindustri isn't all that old," replies Rados.
Nepgear accepts the answer, since being a CPU Candidate; she needs to know the history of Gamindustri in which she was taught that Gamindustri was a fairly new world, and that there were CPUs before her sister and the others.
"His stories always made me dream about how the world looks outside of Lowee, and I want to know that world. Whether there are flaws or not, it still beats never leaving Lowee," says Rados with a sigh.
Ayden walks up to Rados and puts a hand on his shoulder, "I know how you feel. Being stuck in a rut every day. Not being able to see outside the world you live are stuck in."
Rados laughs and nods his head, "Yeah, I have had that feeling for 19 going on 20 years soon."
"Wow, you look like your 30," responds Ayden with his signature smile.
"Gee thanks," laughs Rados as he pushes Ayden a bit and everyone joins in the laughter fest. The mood in the bar lightened for a bit, and the group decides to move outside the bar to get some fresh air, though the lightened mood didn't last.
"Hey isn't that Underling," asks Compa as she points at Underling standing on the sidewalk passing out flyers. Everyone looks at the direction in which Compa is pointing in and exhales in annoyance.
"Oh God, not them again! And they keep multiplying in numbers," says Underling as the group approaches her.
"What trouble are you cooking up now? Or are you doing the petty underling jobs," asks IF as she glares at Underling.
Underling grunts and throws the flyers on the ground, "You just don't know when to shut up do you bitch?!"
Just as IF is about to get out her Qatars, Underling looks around and sighs, "Damn there is no escaping this one is there," she thinks. Underling quickly acts and grabs a young girl wearing a light-blue coat with a matching hat from the sidewalk and backs up.
"You wouldn't dare hurt me as long as I got a hostage," responds Underling as she continues to grip onto the girl's arm.
"Eep," says the little girl out of sheer fear.
IF lowers her Qatars and shakes her head, "That's a dirty trick!"
Underling quickly backs up and makes a dash in the opposite direction, still gripping onto the little girl's arm, keeping her hostage.
"See ya later, suckers," yells Underling as she continues to run with her hostage.
"Ram…help me," mutters the little girl as she is being pulled behind Underling
"She's heading in the direction of Lowee's Expo Center. I can lead you there," says Rados as he makes a dash in the direction Underling went. No one thinks about their options and instead just follow Rados in the chase to stop Underling.
A few minutes after the group dashes off the stop Underling and save the hostage, another little girl wearing the same coat and hat as the girl Underling kidnapped only in pink walks up to the spot where the kidnapping occurred.
"Rom? Rom, where are you," questions the little girl in pink as she looks around searching for Rom.
After looking around that general area for a few minutes, Ram decides she needs to move on to a different area.
"Geez, I hope she didn't get into any trouble," says Ram as she makes her way around the city of Lowee.
Oh Ram, you don't even know the half of it.
CHAPTER 7 END.