Welcome back to the story. Sorry it took sooooo long to get this out. But a lot of you know how school is. But now it's done for now, meaning more time to be spent on this story, playing games, etc. But for now without further delay, the chapter.


Desmond was walking back to the basilicom from just finishing a few easy quests and lunch. He's been waiting for this day for a while, the day they get everyone back. By the time he got up to housing part of the building and opened the door, there was no one. He was half expecting IF to say something snarky about being late or something but no words were heard. "Hey! I'm back!" he called out as he moved through the building, finding no one still.

"Desmond! Desmond!" Histoire called out in a far-off room.

Desmond hurried over to where she was "Hey, what's up? Where's IF and Compa?"

"They have already gone to the Gameindustri Graveyard." She answered with slight worry in his voice.

"Why did you let them? We were all supposed to go, crap. Send me there quick." He quickly spoke.

"Ok, it will take me… three minutes." Histoire stated as started to create the portal.

Desmond groaned a bit "Can't you hurry it up?"

"I am sorry, but I cannot … … … done." She answered, and three minutes later it was finished.

"Great, thanks, see you soon." He said before stepping into the portal. The first thing he saw was what the name of the place suggested, a graveyard, junk everywhere. 'Ugh, it's going to be a pain to find those two in here, why couldn't they have waited.' He thought before going on his search. After a while he finally found them and… it looked like Gear was with them. IF was on the ground with Compa helping her up, and Nepgear was fighting some giant robot, and it wasn't looking good for her.

Desmond then saw the CPUs, hanging up by what looked like black cables. He saw them on that broadcast three years ago, but seeing it first hand, it hit him hard. Anger suddenly rose within him, he started to move closer to the three and robot, it looked like Nepgear's fight with the robot didn't affect him much, he was finally close enough to hear the robot talking "This was just a waste of my time! I'll finish you all off right now!" it swung it's axe down, but before it could hit anyone Desmond materialized his two swords and blocked it "The hell?! Who are you?!" The robot asked.

"What does it look like, I'm with them! I think you should be more worried about yourself Judge!" Desmond yelled as he gritted his teeth in anger and pushed the axe off his swords.

Judge looks at the boy in front of him. The young man wore a dark red t-shirt with a dark purple colored jacket the length down to just past his waist, sleeves down to his wrists. His jeans a jet black and his shoes black with dark red accents. His hair longer now, reaching down to his brow, while still keeping its reddish hue.

"Ha, another one that thinks they could hurt me?! That must be a joke, I'm unstoppable!" Judge screamed as he started to take another swing with his axe. "At least make this fight interesting, those other two were too weak!"

"Weak? Really? Then I guess they weren't really trying, shouldn't take much to kick you to the curb tin can!" Desmond yelled as he parried the axe and then shot a large dose of electricity at Judge causing him to reel back a bit.

"Aghh, at least it looks like you know what you're doing! But it was your mistake to come here, dieee!" Judge yelled out like a war cry, but before he could do anything a bright light blinded his vision. "What!? Agggghhhh! The light! My eyes, my eyes, my eyes!"

Desmond could see that a bright flash came from behind him, and he then heard a body fall. When he turned around he saw Nepgear on the ground, his anger subsided. With Judge out of the way for the moment he called out to IF and Compa "Let's get out of here, Compa grab Gear and let's move." And as he said they all left the area with Compa holding Nepgear.

After the group made their way to a different part of the graveyard Histoire contacted the group and they were transported back.


After a few days Nepgear finally woke from her sleep, and the others were filled in on what happened in the graveyard three years prior. Histoire also informed them that their next step was to gather shares, also to find the mascots from the nations and recruit their help.

The four were getting ready to head out, Desmond sat on the couch with his head downwards looking as if in thought. IF and Nepgear were in an adjacent room, while Compa was getting snacks ready for their trip. "I'm surprised to see Desmond still here, I would've expected you and Histoire to send him back to his world after we were captured." Nepgear said to IF.

"We were trying to speed up the time that he would have been sent back, but… he said not to bother with, that he wasn't going to go." IF responded with her arms crossed and back leaning against the wall.

"Really? Did he say why?" Nepgear asked.

"Yes, he did. Do you want to know?" IF said, Nepgear nodded. One story later. "and that's all he told me." She took a sigh before speaking again "Ever since you all got captured, his attitude has changed a little. I've noticed a few times during battle he goes in a frenzy, like he snaps. I've been able to stop him a couple of times it's happened, but not every time. When I haven't, it's been… well let's just say that I'm glad I'm not a monster. He's also been working at other nations as much as possible, I've even caught him staying up for days at a time trying to get the preparations ready for the Sharicite."

"So, that's why he stayed. If I see any strange mannerisms from him I'll let you know." Nepgear looked at the boy still on the couch. "I'm going to go talk to him." IF nodded as she watched Gear walk off. Nepgear got to the couch and sat next to Desmond with her hands in her lap and head forward "Hey, are you ok? You look a little down." She asked him.

Desmond slowly sat back up, looked at her and put on a small smile "I-I'm good, just a little tired is all." He then yawned and stretched his arms back. "But what about you? Being stuck in the same position for three years has got to be bad for your back or something." He chuckled softly "Anyway we need to focus all we can to getting the others back." His face gave off a serious vibe.

"Thank you, thank you for stay here and your help save us Desmond." Nepgear blurted out.

It caught Desmond off guard "W-what do you mean? Of course I'd stay and help what else would I do?"

Nepgear looked at him, her fingers poked together "IF told me about your past, I can't imagine how bad it must have been. I…"

Desmond put a hand on her shoulder stopping her mid-sentence "I'm ok, it's been what, about four years since it happened. I've had a long time to think about it and having someone to talk to about it helped me move past it as well. But that's also another reason why I stayed, I couldn't let anyone here or the other candidates lose anyone they cared about. I don't want any of you to know how it feels." She just nodded "Anyway, we probably should be heading out, the faster we get this done the faster we get everyone back." After saying this he stood up and walked closer to the door, Nepgear did the same as IF and Compa came into the room ready to go. "You two ready?" Desmond asked.

"We're good to go." IF responded.

"Yessy." Compa commented.

After leaving the group went to the guild to get a quest, then left for the Virtua Forest. The group walked for a bit before running into a group of dogoos. "There's some dogoos. Ready?" IF asked.

"Ready" The others called out together.

The group started to cut down the mass of dogoos jumping around, occasionally trying to attack our heroes only to get sliced down. After many of the dogoos were killed one hopped away and the chase was on. Once they caught up to the dogoo, it had grouped up with another herd of dogoos. They then started to unite to form a giant dogoo. "Did they just combine!?" Nepgear shouted.

"Oh, that's big. Gear, transform and we'll be able to get this done with fast." IF commented.

"T-Transform?" Nepgear replied.

"Ya, you know that thing that only you CPUs can do, it probably would be good for you to transform after being stuck for those three years." Desmond said.

"Iffy, Dez, you just wanna see Ge-Ge in her super pretty HDD form, don't you…" Compa stated.

"Well, I can't speak for IF, but I would like to see how well she can fight after being stuck for three years." Desmond replied, as he said that Nepgear was trying to transform then stopped and looked back at the three.

"I… I can't do it! I'm too scared!" Nepgear cried out.

Desmond looked back and forth between Gear and the Giant dogoo "R-Really? You're scared of this thing?" He released a sigh "Ok, I can understand a little, being trapped for all that time, your psyche might not be up to par yet. I'll take this one." He walked forward as the dogoo slowly jumped over. Desmond was about 15 yards away from it, lifted his hand, palm facing the beast and shot three balls of fire into the creature. After a couple of seconds after the flames entered the monster, Desmond closed his hand into a fist causing the fire to violently explode. Throwing pieces of dogoo goop everywhere for a second before it all dissipated into data.

"Ok, we're done here, let's go turn in the quest." He said as he walked in the direction of the dungeon exit.

"We're right behind you." IF commented as she followed.


After getting back to the basilicom, the group was greeted by Histoire. "Ah, perfect timing. I was able to locate the Planeptune Mascot."

"Awesome. Where?" Desmond asked.

"You will find it in the Virtua Forest. It seems the Mascot is hibernating there." Histoire answered.

"Huh, we were just there." Desmond thought out loud.

"Finally feels like we're taking action. Let's roll!" IF said aloud as she started to walk toward the door.

"Ya, let's go!" Desmond shouted as he followed suit.

Nepgear just stood staring for a couple of seconds.

"Ge-Ge are you ok? You look a little pale." Compa asked

Nepgear looked back at Compa realizing what she said "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm okay." After saying that the two girls chased after the other two group members.


After some time of searching and monster slaying, IF called out to the others "Is, that it over there? I think I see something!"

"Me, too! Wait… someone's already there." Compa pointed out.

"It looks like your right." Desmond added.

"Seems as though that person is trying to break… something… What the goodness!? Please stop!" Nepgear pleaded.

The person looked back at the group "Huh? Who the hell are you? You'd better stay outta my way, kids."

"Pffft. What!? Do I look like a kid to you?" Desmond asked dumfounded.

"Likewise, missy! What are you doing to the Mascot!?" Compa ignored his words and asked the girl a short distance away from them.

Desmond turned to IF "Seriously, do I look that young? I'm like at least a head taller then everyone here." He continued his rant while everyone else ignored him.

The girl in the mouse jacket answered "Destroying it, duh. Orders from ASIC."

"You're a member of ASIC, then?" IF asked.

"Not like I got any reason to explain myself to you, but… All right, listen up! I'm a proud and mighty member of ASIC's front-line infantry. Don't you forget it!" She finished with a haughtily look to her.

"Front-line infantry? Wouldn't that make you just one of their expendable underlings?" IF said.

"Underling… well I was going to say a disposable tool, but I guess that works too." Desmond stated after finally ending his little rant. The other two girls agreed upon the new girl being an underling.

"What!? Where the hell do you get off calling me an underling, huh!?" Underling asked angrily.

"Underling's the only name you need, Underling. Now beat it." IF said.

"Could you please move out of our way, Miss Underling?" Compa joined in.

"If she's just an underling, maybe I could fight her…" Nepgear said with a little confidence in her voice.

"I agree with the others. If you died the higher ups wouldn't give a crap. So, ergo, underling." Desmond commented adding his two cents. "I'm gonna sit down over there, you three should be able to beat her just fine." He finished and walked back a bit.

"Underling this, and that! Enough already, you brats! Now you've really pissed me off! You'll regret calling me that!" Underling yelled out in a rage.

"Doubt that!" Desmond shouted in the distance.

Underling went up to Nepgear and hit her, knocking her down. "How is she this powerful!?" IF asked.

Compa tried to come up with an answer "Do you think it's because ASIC has so many shares from this area?"

"Possibly. But you three should still be fine." Desmond said loud enough for the others to hear.

"You're all bark and no bite at all. Now time to kill you one by one, starting with…" Underling started looking at Nepgear "Let's start with you, brat!"

IF called out to Nepgear "Watch out!" IF jumped in and took the hit. She then looked to Desmond "Could you help over here! I need to talk to Gear for a sec."

"Ok, fine with me." Desmond said as he stood back up.

"Like I'd wait for him to stop me from killing you!" Underling yelled as she swung her weapon. But before she could hit anyone a beam saber knocked her pipe back "W-what, how did you get over here so fast!?"

"Screw you that's how." A grin started to form across his face "It looks like it's my turn to play…" Underling held her weapon out in front of her, Desmond brought a finger up to the pipe. As he touched it he sent a large discharge of electricity which caused her to fly back several feet. He let out a sigh of content "Isn't it so nice to know how easily I could break and crush you into an oblivion." He slowly started to walk toward Underling. "IF, you might want to hurry and finish your little chat with Gear, before…" as he was speaking he looked back and saw… well something. It appeared that IF had kissed Nepgear, which led Nepgear to transform into Purple Sister. "Well, that was something… interesting." He said quietly to himself "Gear, you're up!" He shouted back before jumping back to IF's side.

Nepgear moved to fight Underling as she reached her she shouted, "I won't lose!" before attacking. It was a rather one sided fight that showed the victor being Nepgear.

Underling obviously hurt but still standing, looked rather aggravated "Dammit, that's unfair! Transforming and crap? C'mon!" she looked at the Mascot she then started making her way over to it "Screw you all and this Mascot!" She swung her weapon down and destroyed the Mascot, then quickly made her escape.

Desmond looked like he was in deep thought, but was brought out of it as he heard the mascot break, "Huh? Wa-? Oh, crap. If I was paying a little more attention I could have stopped her." He then brought his palm to the front of his head, sighed, and brought his hand back down. "Anyway, that was a good fight Nepgear. It's good to beat down an opponent like you did, but not everyone will be as weak as her and I noticed some movements that need to be worked on. So, after we get back we need to do some training." He stated with a small smile.

"T-Thanks. Ok." Was Nepgear's response to his words.

The group then heard a disembodied voice before seeing a bright purple orb. They then found out that it was the Planeptune's Mascot and without much said it gave power to Nepgear and disappeared.

"And just like that it's gone." IF commented while looking at where the orb just was.

"Yes. But we managed, all thanks to you, IF." Nepgear said

"It, was a little embarrassing, though." IF responded.

"No fair… Iffy got to act all brave and lovey-dovey with Ge-Ge…" Compa commented in a rather jealous tone.

"Yes, that was a rather interesting moment wasn't it." He looked at IF and a teasing grin formed across his face "I didn't know you swung that way, Iffy~."

"Wh-What!? What are you saying? That's not what's going on here! And I do not swing that way!" she stuttered with a reddened face.

"Are you sure, because from where I was standing it looked like you enjo…" Desmond teasing was brought to an abrupt end as IF knee came into contact with his crotch "… I-I was… not… expecting that… good hit… I'm just going to lay here… and take a nap." He then fell to the ground still writhing in pain.

"Now, let's go back and report what happened to Histoire." IF said as she turned from the man on the ground and then started to leave the dungeon.

"S-Shouldn't we carry him back?" Nepgear asked with a little worry in her voice.

"He'll be fine. It's not the first time that I've had to knock him down a peg or two, he'll catch up." IF answered still walking toward the exit. The other two girls followed suit.


After meeting, back up with Histoire and reporting what happened to her. The group decided to head to Lastation, to gain the Mascot's help. Shortly after arriving they decided to head to the guild. "Not many people here." Compa stated as the group walked in.

"This place must be under heavy control of ASIC. I hope we can get legit intel." IF pondered.

"Tsk… that might be true. I can't help but feel like it's partly my fault for not helping them here. But at the same time, it's not like the other nations are much better right now." Desmond said as crossed his arms.

"Hey, now don't think that. You helping three nations like that is insane enough. Heck, to keep one in line in this situation is hard enough. You did more than what anyone could as for." IF told him

"Thanks, I just did what I could." He responded.

"If you don't mind, while you're gathering information, I'll go and accept some quests." Nepgear stated awaiting acknowledgment.

"Ok Gear just don't take too long." Desmoned replied before she went off.

About 20 minutes later Nepgear told us that the quest she got, needed the group to go to Rebeat Resort. She also told them that she'll catch up to them, that she had to do something quickly. So, the other three headed toward the dungeon. About 10 minutes after the three got to the entrance, Nepgear and another girl arrived. "Who's this Gear?" IF questioned giving a watching eye toward the new girl.

"Wow, so you made a cute little friend while we were at the guild?" Compa asked while looking at the girl.

"Y-Yes, I met her at the quest desk. Her name is…" Nepgear started to answer.

"My name's Uni. We wanted the same quest, so we decided to do it together." Uni finished explaining the current situation.

Desmond just stood, looking at Uni 'Is that… maybe. She looks just like her, or at least for the most part. I guess I can ask her later, might as well get the quest done a soon as we can' he finished his thought and moved forward. "It's good to meet you Uni. I'm Desmond, this is IF and she is Compa." He said as he pointed to the two girls.

"Hello, I'll admit, I wasn't expecting other people to be with you Nepgear. But at least with the five of us this quest will be a piece of cake. Let's go." Uni commented as she started to move further into the dungeon, the others followed suit.

After some monster slewing the group stopped for a couple of minutes in the dungeon as Uni spoke up "There, all done! What did I tell you, easy or what?"

"We finished so fast… Uni, you really are strong." Nepgear said

"Same goes for you, Nepgear. Better than I thought, anyway. Nowhere near a match for me!" Uni quickly replies.

"What am I chopped liver over here? And of course, it was easy, these monsters are weak and there are five of us. But it is nice to see someone else here that knows how to use a gun." Desmond finished his small rant, that once again fell on deaf ears and sat on the floor. 'She even acts tsun, there's no way she's not Noire's sister.' He thought as he looked toward the two girls talking.

After a few minutes later the trio heard a couple of yells in the distance. "IF?! Compa?!" Nepgear and Desmond shouted in unison as they looked toward the direction the two were at.

Underling walked up to the group "Heh. I got rid of the Chaperones with barely any effort at all. Next up… you stupid little brats!" she started to walk closer before noticing Desmond who was starting to stand up "Crap, looks like I missed you. I guess it'll take a little longer than expected to kick you all to the dirt."

"Always with the quick mouth, huh. Shouldn't you know that pride comes before the fall, and you seem to have a lot of it." Desmond stated as he stood just behind the two girls with an uninterested look on his face.

"You won't be saying that when your beaten black and blue!" Underling quickly retorted.

"Who's this?" Uni finally asks.

"I think her name is Underling. She's one of the ASIC's low-ranking peons." Nepgear answers.

"Yes, Underling sounds right, nothing but cannon fodder for the higher ups." Desmond added.

"Argh! I told you to stop calling me that!" Underling angrily stated.

"Ha! Like were gonna stop calling you that, now that's funny." Desmond spoke back with a small chuckle at the end.

"ASIC, huh? Stay back, Nepgear, Desmond. Let me handle this one." Uni said with confidence.

"No way, I'm fighting too. I can't let her get away with hurting my childhood friends!" Nepgear stated with an extra boost of confidence herself.

"Hmm, I think I might stand back and watch the fireworks. You two should be able to take her down without breaking a sweat. Also, I want to take a closer look to see how well you two fight." Desmond said as he took a couple of steps back while crossing his arms.

"Hey, quit with the yappin', wouldja? You caught me off guard last time, but now I'll beat you to… a… huh?" Underling stopped mid-sentence as she saw two bright pillars before her. "Y-You're kidding me! What the hell, man!?"

Desmond looked on as a small smirk grew across his face, as he thought 'I was right, she is Black Sister. Well, that makes things a little easier. Well hopefully.'

The battle itself didn't last long, Uni shot a plethora of large energy blasts from her oversized gun, cannon, thing. While Nepgear danced around the shots while slashing at Underling. The battle didn't last longer that a couple of minutes.

"Dammit! This has to be considered cheating! Two CPU Candidates against one normal person! Y-You'll pay!" Underling pouted as she dashed off.

Desmond stepped forward clapping "Impressive ladies, you two work quite well together for people who just meet each other today. And I guess it's nice to formally meet you Black Sister."

Uni looked at Desmond shortly before turning her attention back to Nepgear "Nepgear… you're a…" She started.

"You too, Uni…? Then you must be Lastation's CPU Candidate! We came here to look for you!" Nepgear interrupted. "Could you please help us? We want to save the CPUs—our sisters—and protect Gameindustri…"

"Don't come any closer!" Uni abruptly shouted at Nepgear, as both her and Desmond looked dumbfounded "Why? Why are YOU here and not my sister, huh!?" Uni demanded.

"Oh… that's…" Nepgear started but was interrupted.

"She didn't let me go along with her three years ago… I could've saved them if I went! I could've done what you failed to do!" Uni unloaded on Nepgear.

"Hey, calm down Uni! Why are you bringing up the past, she's already been through enough, having her freedom taken from her for three years probably isn't fun." Desmond cut in trying to end the confrontation as soon as possible.

"I… I'm really sorry… I couldn't help back then, but… I'm doing my best to rescue them now." Nepgear replied with a partially sad tone.

"Shut up! I don't want to ever see you or hear your voice again!" Uni viciously screamed at Nepgear before dashing off.

"Wait, Uni!" Nepgear called out, but it was useless.

"Crap… that's not good." He saw IF and Compa starting to stand up "Gear, check up on IF and Compa, I'll be right back." She nodded before going to see the two. Desmond proceeded to take a few steps before teleporting around the area before finding Uni behind a building leaning against the wall. He then teleported next to her. "Hey Uni, what's up?" he asked startling Uni as she jumped slightly and pointed her weapon toward his sudden appearance. He quickly moved the barrel of the gun toward the wall as he took a step to the side. "Hold on, calm down, it's me. Desmond, ok, just put the gun down."

She eased up and dematerialized her weapon before giving him an annoyed look "What do you want?"

"Right to the point I see. I want you to reconsider Nepgear's proposal, it would great to have you be a part of our party. Also, you did take it too far during your little rant. If you were there instead of her, it wouldn't have ended any other way. Even if I was there I wouldn't have been able to do much myself, I was just getting a true handle on my abilities at the time. And think, all of the CPUs were taken down by one opponent, I really hate to talk about this, I've been here working through all this crap, trying to take care of three nations to the best of my ability without them. So, I know what you've been going through to a degree." Desmond finished his talk.

"No! No, you don't know what I've gone through. What it's like to have your sister taken from you for three years!" Uni backfired, eyes closed and hands clenched.

Desmond sighed before speaking again "At least your sister can still be saved. You didn't have to watch her slowly die in front of you at the hospital, able to do nothing to save her."

Uni stood there wide eyed "I… I-I di…"

"I'll stop you there, it's ok, I've moved on from what happened in the past. Losing my family hurts, but life still moves on whether you like it or not. So, I may not know exactily what it's like to have a sister taken and kept by the enemy, but I do know a feeling worse than that. That's a big reason why I'm trying to save them, so none of you have to experience that feeling. But also, because there all friends to me as well." Desmond said as he plopped his back to the wall.

"W-Wait, your friends with Noire?" Uni asked, giving him a perplexed look.

He shot her a wide grin "Yes I am. She was quite excited about it, even drops out of her tsun persona a little whenever I brought it up." He laughed a little remembering a few memories. "That's another reason for you to join us and apologize to Nepgear. Think of what Noire would want you to do, save her or sit in your room and pout." He moved away from the wall "Let us know whenever you make your decision, I'd say take as much time as you want. But we don't have that kind of time, so as soon as you can would be for the best. So, I'll leave you for now and don't worry, I won't tell anyone else that saw you."

"O-Ok, I-I'll think about it, just don't expect anything too fast. And I would appreciate that." Uni responded

He waved to her before teleporting back to the other three girls. Upon arriving he saw the that IF and Compa looked like they were back to their pain free selves. "Hey, you two feeling well?"

"Yes."

"Yessy."

"So, where have you been?" IF asked.

"I went to see if I could find Uni after she speed off to try to bring her back, couldn't find her though." He didn't want to lie to them necessary, but he needed an excuse and at least he told part of the truth.

"Ok. Let's head back to town and start asking people if they know where the Mascot is." IF stated before starting to head toward the head of the dungeon. The others followed behind her.


I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. If you haven't noticed yet I'm making Desmond an OP character. Also, his "teleporting" ability, is not teleporting in the traditional sense of it. He basically turns his body into an electric form and can move around fluidly and at the speed of lightning. So, in other words he becomes lightning to move around at insane speeds. I just wanted to make sure you all knew what I meant by him teleporting. Again, I hope everyone enjoyed it, leave a review and always have a good day.