A/N: Well it's time for the obligatory exposition chapter, and hey we finally get to fin out what's up with Neptune... mostly. I especially enjoyed writing this chapter so I hope you enjoy it, and hey I've decided not to get rid of the authors notes. Good time had by all, and without further ado, here's your new chapter.

"So you're telling me you got driven off by a purple haired loli? With a wooden katana?"

"Yes, lady Iris. However, we have reason to believe that that girl was the Purple Phantom, she had the same hair and eye color and her height fits the bill perfectly."

Currently Judge and Trick found themselves in a rather snazzy looking hotel room, the former was reporting to their boss, lady Iris, while the latter was standing back while picking his nose... oh never mind he's asleep. Well regardless of that lady Iris' interest was peaked at the mention of the Purple Phantom, but not for reasons that one might expect.

"Is that right? Wow it's been a long time since I've seen her, I wonder if she's doing well."

"Lady Iris, you've met the Purple Phantom before?"

"Yes, didn't I tell you, well whatever, I met her about 9 months ago, she was pretty strong too." Putting on a calm face and walking over to a couch the psycho lady recalled the time she fought with the Purple Phantom... and by fought I mean she destroyed the poor loli. "I can still remember the way she cried out when I broke her left arm. Oh and the way she screamed when I stabbed her legs, so adorable."

"R-right... just what exactly did you do to her?"

"Well I broke her left arm so she couldn't use her sword. I stabbed her legs so she couldn't run away. And lastly I tore out about 3 of her ribs to keep as souvenirs." It's kinda disturbing how she's saying that with such a calm demeanor, but at least the worst is over... hopefully.

"Why her ribs?"

"Well I had just eaten dinner and I forgot to bring a toothpick with me so I had to make do somehow." Okay then, I spoke too soon, in fact she looks especially happy about those memories.

"A-alright then, but then how did she get away from you if that's the case?" Judge was almost too terrified to ask any more than he already had, but his curiosity got the better of him (he needs to be careful, that stuff kills cats).

"Oh that, she distracted me by making an exact replica of the Neo Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong Canon out of snow." Wait, that sounds like something out of a porno. "The very weapon used to destroy Pedestria during the Ichbalan civil war. If only I hadn't been distracted by those crying children then this wouldn't have happened." Why were there children there? Why didn't she just run away while the crazy lady was paying attention to the children? All these question and none more will be answered... eventually.

"... Isn't that something out of a porno?" So it IS from a porno, I had my suspicions but this confirms it.

"In all fairness. It was really perfect." A fair point indeed, it had such a high quality finish too... I'm assuming.

"A-alright then." Yeah this got really awkward really fast.

"Still, if that girl who stopped you really is our darling little raven child then I'm quite surprised she didn't just kill you with her shadow and get it over with. I get the feeling she's planning something." The truth however, was that Neptune had no such intentions and Iris knew it perfectly well, she just wanted an excuse to torture the poor girl some more. "I suppose I'll just have to send Linda to keep an eye on her, or maybe Mr. Badd, OH!" As if an idea had just popped into her head the woman clapped her hands together. "I'll just send them both and just to make sure they get the job done, I'll even send in our two new recruits for good measure."

'Linda AND Mr. Badd AND those two newbies?! I almost feel sorry for that girl... almost.'

After the whole kidnapping fiasco Neptune and her ensemble of chums were gathered at Histoire's house. Why you may ask? Well let's find out.

"So Noire, if I may ask, why did you call everyone here?" Vert was of course the first to ask the question on everyone's mind.

"We were kinda busy so this better be good." Blanc of course was being... Blanc

"Because this purple haired moron's been hiding something and I feel like everyone should know just what they're getting involved with." The response from Noire was quick and laced with ice as she pointed a finger towards Neptune. And of course the only response Neptune could think to give was an awkward chuckle.

"Do I have to?" As expected, Neptune doesn't really want to. Sadly everyone was eying her up like eagles... although in Nepgear's case she looked more like a shy mouse, and Uni like a slightly less shy mouse.

"I lied to the police for you, the least you could do is tell us the truth."

"Lied to the police? Neptune, what exactly does Noire mean by that?" Noire's comment was enough to get mama Histy to take charge of the conversation. She was really worried when she got a phone call from Nepgear heck she even smothered Neptune in a face full of hug as soon as the purple prankster got back home. 'I guess that's a silly question since I already have a pretty good idea of what's going on.'

"W-well, you see... the thing is... I uh-"

"Boss please, I will explain, it is my fault that this happened after all." Magic, being the ever faithful and caring friend she was, decided to save her friend from such a situation by trying to explain things herself. Upon hearing those words all heads turned to face Magic, and Neptune's face was caught in a mixture of surprise, relief, and... some other thing that was difficult to decipher.

"You sure Magi? This isn't entirely your fault y'know, we both have a lot of things we've messed up." All heads slowly turned back to Neptune who sounded awfully sincere and kind like... like a mother almost.

"It's fine, you've always been there to pick me back up. So please let me do this for you at least."

"... Okay." Having been given the ok, Magic cleared her throat and mentally prepared herself for the worst possible outcome, this was all or not-

*SLAM*

"YO! Histoire, Nepgear, I'm hoooome... huh?" Nobody was sure what had just happened, the front door had just swung open on its own all of a sudden, however Histoire knew better and let out a sigh as she greeted her twin sister with a slight smile. Nepgear of course decided to follow her mothers lead.

"Welcome home Croire."

"Welcome back Miss Croire."

"Hey. So what's up with all the guests, are you throwing a party or something?" As croire surveyed the place her eyes settled on the duo of Neptune and Magic and she quickly walked over to them to confirm her suspicions. "Who are these two?"

"The small one is Nepgear's older sister Neptune, the other is a friend of hers, her name is Magic. That aside, we were in the middle of a serious discussion."

"Hey squirt, my name's Croire, Histoire's twin sister, nice to meet you two." Sadly Histy's words fell on deaf ears as Croire ignored her and extended her hand in Neptune's direction and giving the confused girl a rather welcoming smile. "I live here too so were probably gonna be seeing each other around a lot." And it was at this point that Neptune returned Croire's smile and gave her new aunt a hearty handshake.

"Please listen while I am speaking to you!"

"So this kid's the one you told me about in your text?" Apparently Croire didn't feel very cooperative today.

"Yes, she is your niece and Arfoire's daughter."

"So is she-"

"That is what I was trying to find out." Hello confused silence, my old friend. Indeed everyone was looking back and forth from both Histoire and Croire as if looking for answers, nay begging for answers.

"Ummm, excuse me, but what are you two talking about?" Uni finally speaks out hoping for answers, but uh... she certainly wasn't expecting Croire's response.

"Were talking about how Neptune might be part of a mafia gang."

Oh I see where this is going, 1. 2. and-

"EEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHH?!" Histy facepalmed, Croire giggled, and everyone else screamed out in perfect harmony. Of course as soon as all the shouting ended the questions quickly followed after.

"How do you know that?!"

"Sis?! In the mafia?!"

"Is that why she can ride a bike that fast?!"

"Where's my pencil?! This gives me a great idea for a story!"

"Why does Nepgear look so cute when she's shouting?!"

"Why are Noire's boobs so perky?!"

"WHY ARE YOU GROPING THEM?!"

"Why is... wait... Noire, what did you just say?"

Well I guess that's one way to shut everyone up. Poor Noire was blushing wildly, while Neptune was quickly bowing her head apologetically and spitting out as manny words that meant "I'm sorry" as she could possibly think of (most of which happened to be in different languages).

"... So kid, are you in the mafia or not?" And Histy once again firmly planted her hand onto her face (except for the firm part), but this time she did it with enough force to leave a mark.

"W-well... yeah."

"Oooh, now things are getting really interesting."

"Croire please, we need to handle situations like these with a bit more care than that."

"M-mom, what is she talking about, what's going on? Do you know something we don't." Said the purple sister, looking very confused to boot.

"Well yes, back when I met Arfoire she was the head of a mafia gang, and if my guess is correct, Neptune will most likely be taking over for her mother pretty soon." Everyone gasped, who knew that Histy already knew all of that. "I'm sorry I never told you, but I had hoped that this wouldn't turn out to be a problem, but it seems as though that was a naive idea. Neptune, how long have you been with the mafia?"

"... Since I was five."

"Would I be correct in assuming that that was the reason you found yourself unable to leave Italy?"

"... Yeah."

"Oh my, this is certainly a most unexpected occurrence. But why is it that you only came to Japan after your father..." Vert started speaking, but seeing Nepgear's face at the mention of her father, she almost regretted opening her mouth. "... Well you know." Her curiosity however, had won out.

"That's kinda hard to explain... I actually... well uh."

"That's enough, I think I've heard enough for one day, now all of you go wash up so we can finally have breakfast." If anyone had been expecting Histoire's response then their faces were doing their best to betray those emotions.

"Huh?" They're all getting pretty good at doing that kind of stuff in unison.

"Histy, are you sure this is okay? I mean we-"

"That's mom to you little missy." Histy stood up and gave Neptune a look that positively drowned the girl with both caring and understanding, and concern, don't forget the concern. "And besides, I made a promise to look after you and I plan on seeing it through to the end." She slowly walked over to Neptune and gently wrapped her arms around the girl in a very gentle embrace, but even though the embrace was gentle, the emotion it carried was overwhelming, it even brought Neptune to tears. Poor girl must've never felt that kind of love, being raised without a mother and all that.

"Sis... If mom says so then you can't be a bad person."

"Nepgear." By this point the tears had become a full on waterfall as Nepgear joined the embrace. Noire, despite her earlier feelings of anger was now finding herself, alongside Uni and maybe Vert, on the verge of tears, luckily for them, Croire decided to give them a way out.

"Well you all heard the lady, let's go get cleaned up."

"R-right." Needless to say, Noire took the offer with gusto (she must feel really bad for being so harsh) as all the girls left the room, though two of them seemed to linger, Blanc and Magic. Magic because she felt useless to Neptune, because she was a failure, because she always caused trouble for Neptune, because she was weak. With a bitter smile Magic turned to walk away. As for Blanc, the only who knew why she stopped to look at the family embrace was the busty Vert who put a hand on the smaller girls shoulder. The two walked back without a sound to leave the family to have their moment.

And when no one was looking Croire ran over to join in on the familial embrace.

Meanwhile at a certain office in a certain police building a certain new team was being gathered most certainly. The group hence forth known as the red ring.

"Gust would like to welcome you all for coming here, Falcom, MAGES., MarvelousAQL, Cave, and IF."

"Uh Gusty, my loyal sidekick, aren't you forgetting someone?" Currently at the hall of righteousness (as a certain someone called it) was a group of well renowned detectives and cops and scientists, Oh my! A very colorful group was gathered at a meeting table (and very young to boot, most of them are teens for crying out loud... that's actually kind of impressive) while a certain blue haired member in particular was feeling a bit sour at being left out. By her own partner no less! "I'm here too y'know."

"I have called you all here to discuss something of great importance."

"Are you ignoring me? Is it because I accidentally dropped all your alchemy stuff and let it get stolen? I said I was sorry."

"I am sure you all have a fairly good idea as to why Gust has called you, yes?"

"Uhmmm y-yeah... what was it again?"

"Did Nisa not read memo Gust sent her?" Hey she's talking to Nisa again, I'd say that that's progress

"Eheheheheh." Laughing awkwardly Nisa rubbed the back of her head as everyone stared at her, expressions all deadpan.

"W-well most of us are quite busy so not all of us have had the time to look over the message you sent." Luckily for Nisa, the busty Marvelous was trying to diffuse the tension.

"She does have a point besides, it was kinda hard to read." Apparently IF shared the sentiment as well. "Though if I had to guess, then I'd say this is probably about ASIC coming to Japan?"

"ASIC?" As if a lightbulb had been turned on over her head Nisa gasped, Gust facepalmed, and everyone else just decided to ignore this in hopes of getting back on track. 'If ASIC is here... then that means that so is Linda... which means I'll have to fight her again.'

"Ahem." Gust really didn't have the patience for this, she really wanted to get things back on track. "Yes, ASIC has arrived in Japan however, Gust has reason to believe that Purple Phantom has arrived as well."

Gasps could be heard from all the girls at the table. Falcom was especially in disbelief and as soon as she collected herself, she spoke up.

"Are you sure it's her, do you have any proof?"

"Gust cannot be certain, but looking over previous information regarding both of them, Gust can infer that ASIC has been chasing after Purple Phantom, can show you if you'd like."

"No, that's fine, you would never tell us something unless you had reliable info to start with."

"Good, but why ask?"

"Allow me to explain that." The calm and reserved Cave was the next to throw in her 50 cents. "About 1 months ago while Falcom and I were working as bodyguards for a rather wealthy aristocrat the phantom appeared out of nowhere and Falcom was forced to fend her off. The duel between them ended in a tie, Falcom hasn't been able to get her mind off of it since then."

"I see... Cannot make promises."

"..." Falcom was silent hearing Gust's words. She really wanted to fight her again.

"But if you find her first then Gust supposes there is nothing we can do to stop you."

"Gust... I wont let you down."

"Say Falcom, if you fought with her can you tell us anything you know about her?" IF was quick to ask, its always better to have info on your enemies after all.

"Well for starters she is very short, good with a sword, and she has purple hair and eyes. She may have been wearing a mask, but her eyes were glowing. And lastly she was able to attack with her shadow."

"Wait, what did you say?" All heads turned toward MAGES. (and yes that's how it's written, with the period and the caps lock in all its glory) and she seemed like she knew something too. "Glowing eyes and attacks with her shadow right."

"Y-yeah, do you know something about that?"

"The way you describe it it sounds as though she is a Raven Child."

"Raven Child?"

"Yes, the Raven Children were people who were cursed by demons, they were shown to have powers similar to demons and they were treated just like demons even though they weren't. These powers can also be passed on genetically. Furthermore they all have eyes that glow in darkness the one you described sounds like a shadow stitcher. They attack with their shadows, but their shadows also reflect their true emotions. Luckily they cannot attack if they have no shadow."

"Which means." Gust had a pretty good idea where MAGES. was going with this, but she wanted to make sure.

"It means that if her shadow is covered in darkness she will be unable to fight with it."

"I'm afraid that this one is a special case." Cave of course could still remember that day pretty easily. "From what I observed while she was fighting Falcom, she was also able to use her shadow while in midair and while it was covered in darkness, if anything, fighting her in the dark would give her the advantage. However, she didn't seem to keen on being near any mirrors or windows for some reason and at the very least it seems as though she can only use her own shadow to fight."

"I see, I guess there are exceptions to every rule. I suppose she was just born with a lot of talent."

"As was Falcom."

"Still, she sounds dangerous, what should we do if we have to fight her alone?" Marvy looked around as she spoke, she didn't exactly like the idea of fighting such a dangerous foe on her own.

"I would say that the ones who stand much of a chance against her are Cave, Falcom, Nisa and you Marvy. She may be strong, but as are we."

"Gust agrees." Oh goodness, it looks like Gust wants to remind everyone who's running things. "I suggest we look into any new arrivals to Japan within past few weeks and begin making patrols during night time. Look for short people wearing anything that can cover eyes, there is chance she might change appearance so be on lookout."

"Roger!" As said by everyone at the table.

"Gust has one last question though." She looked towards Cave

"Yes?"

"How did she get away if you were there to help Falcom?"

"Oh that, she made an exact replica of the Neo Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong Canon out of dead leaves while we weren't paying attention."

"You mean the weapon used to defeat fire lord during reappearance Suzy's comet after one hundred years?!"

"That's the one. It was really perfect." What kind of porn do these people watch?!

"So Croire." Back over on the Histy side of things the gang were all strewn about the room sitting on various couches and chairs whilst eating and enjoying some show about two brothers who fight SUPERNATURAL beings with only their wits and cunning and whatnot. Apparently they also worked with a fallen angel named Cassie and their alcoholic uncle. "Was there something you wanted to tell me when you came in, you looked rather excited."

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot, there's gonna be an eating contest at the mall in a few days and I wanted to see if you were interested."

"An eating contest?!" Like a woman possessed, Neptune rose to her feet and looked her aunt dead in the eyes. "We need to go there."

"I like you kid." Meanwhile everyone else either giggled or facepalmed since they just knew they'd end up getting dragged along for the ride.

"And so dear Linda, I would like you and your team to find her for me." Having finished the debriefing, lady Iris was getting ready to go to sleep.

"Yeah sure, but there's this eating contest over at a nearby mall in a few days so I can't start right away."

"As long as you bring the other three along with you then its fine." Oh I see where this is going.

And so a girl with creamy pink hair made her way through the building, showing employees her special access pass (that's probably not what its actually called but who cares) so that they'd know she was friends with IF. Soon she came across the room with the number on it that matched the number IF texted her and she poked her head in through the door.

"Iffy I'm here, are you almost ready to go?"

"Almost Compa, we were just having a break, you can come join us if you want."

"I'd love to." The cheery girl went over to sit down right next her childhood friend. She was also really excited to share her news with her friends. "By the way Iffy, did you hear about the upcoming food eating contest at the mall in a few days?"

"..." Nisa had gone quiet... everyone could already tell where this was going.

"... Well it looks like we're all gonna have to take that off now." IF and everyone else knew they were gonna get dragged along anyway so why not.

"I'll go start my training regimen." And without another word, Nisa walked off to prepare her stomach for the upcoming showdown.

A/N: Neptune has achieved Pride status! What, did you think Neptune was a demon? Nah, she just descended from a tribe that were cursed by demons and subsequently slaughtered because of it. Don't you feel bad now? Well don't worry, I just love misleading people. Well there you go Nep has a rival and I'm pretty sure you can all see where this is going. The next chapter will mark the end of the prologue arc as well as the start of the Mall Mayhem Arc so stay tuned.