The girl opened her eyes. It was bright for a moment as a white glow faded away from her vision. Once it did, she blinked a few times to get her bearings on her surroundings, finding that she was in a large circular room. She was lying on the floor, and so she sat herself up, the first emotion that she felt being confusion.

What was going on? Who was she? What was this place?

So many questions circled in her mind as she pulled herself to her feet, and looked down at herself. The only thing she wore was what looked like a thin, white, almost see-through nightgown. She felt a twinge of a blush in her cheeks as she looked around. As stated before, she was in a large circular room, various colorful neon shapes dancing across the silver walls and ceiling, almost like a video game's graphics. She did a full twirl to look around, spotting a door, but that wasn't what grabbed her attention. What really grabbed it was what was just above her, where she'd woken up.

It looked like a power symbol, hovering in midair and slowly turning. It was small, small enough that it could've fit in the girl's palm, and its surface looked crystalline. She could almost see herself in its surface. It was…beautiful. The girl felt a warmth exuding from the crystal, and before she knew it, her hand was reaching towards it, and as she did, it felt like the crystal grew warmer, and brighter. Just as her hands were about to close around it…

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Someone shouted as the door was opened. The girl turned to see someone rushing towards her, spouting fiery red hair and a fancy-looking red dress. She had a wide smile on her face as she walked right up to the girl, startling her. Once again, the girl became aware of how thinly dressed she was, and her hands subconsciously wrapped around herself as her blush deepened. The other girl immediately noticed and laughed. "Ah! Don't worry, we'll get that taken care of, but first, hello! My name is Red! I'm your sister!" The girl didn't really know how to react to that, so…

"U-um…h-hello?" She said softly, her first words. Immediately, the girl, Red, grabbed her hand and started pulling her away. She glanced back one more time at the small crystal before the door closed behind her.

"I'll get you dressed first, trust me, I know how awkward it is to stand in front of a stranger dressed so thinly." Red paused, and looked back at the still confused girl. "Er…don't ask." The girl allowed Red to take her up some stairs and into a brighter, still large room with some windows, then up more stairs until finally they reached what looked like a living room. Red pulled her down a hall and into what looked like a bedroom. As they went in, Red pulled her towards the bed, and sat her down before going towards a closet. "You look about my size, so you can wear some of my clothes before we get you your own."

"I…what is happening, exactly?" The girl asked, still confused as she was thrown some clothes. Red turned to her and smiled again.

"You're my CPU candidate, duh!"

Once the girl got dressed in a comfy red sweater and cute pink skirt, Red sat down and explained everything. What this place was, the Basilicom, in the capital city of the nation, called Reepage. She explained share energy, and how an excess of shares led to the creation of a CPU Candidate, who was essentially the heir to the CPU, Red's little sister.

"That's about the gist of it. Of course, there's a lot to learn but we can get there." Red said, obviously excited. "I just…can't believe I finally got a candidate of my own! Tarou always brags about how he's gonna get a ton once he becomes CPU, even though he's still just a-"

"I-I have a question." The girl suddenly interrupted.

"Yeah?"

"What's…my name?" Red's smile grew again.

"Well…I've given it a lot of thought ever since I realized I could one day get my own, and I decided on two, one for a boy, one for a girl." Red said, then giggled. "Wow, it's like I was naming a baby! Anyway!" She cleared her throat and looked the girl in the eyes. "Your name…is Aila."

"Aila?" She asked softly, trying it out on her lips.

"Yep! It means 'blessed' or 'holy' in the Old Language." Red explained. "I think it's a perfect fit, don't you?" The girl thought it over a bit, and as she looked into her sister's smiling face, she couldn't help but smile back.

"Yeah. It is." She said softly, then suddenly, she was startled as Red clapped.

"Oh! You haven't even seen yourself yet!" Red said as she leapt off the bed and grabbed a mirror from her large closet. She brought it out and set it down in front of Aila, allowing the girl to see what she looked like for the first time. What she saw was…

Well, it was basically Red. They looked like twins, though Aila had much longer hair and seemed to be a bit taller. Her face also seemed a little more babyish, but other than that, they were almost the same. To emphasize that, Red sat down next to her.

"Two gorgeous girls, right~?" Red said as she elbowed her sister. Aila reached out to her reflection, and gently placed her hand against the glass, and smiled again.

Her smile was pretty.

"Red?" She asked.

"Mhm?"

"Can I see…the town?" Aila asked. For the first time, Red's smile seemed to falter, and she cleared her throat.

"I-If…if you want to…sure." Red said, and Aila gave her another smile, because it just felt good to do so.

"This is the capital of Reepage." Red explained as they exited the Basilicom, the guards standing at attention as they passed. "Some people like to call it the 'Red City', and I think it's a cute name, though it's not the official name. The official name is-"

"Woah!" Aila exclaimed as she ran out ahead of Red and looked around. The area was clear of buildings around the Basilicom itself, and she could see down multiple different streets. The circular area was like a hub for all the streets to connect into. A few civilians walked around. Some looked like normal people, like office workers and the like, while others looked like fantasy characters, such as a person wearing a wizard cloak and hat, and another wearing a suit of armor. The buildings also looked ripped out of a fantasy anime, the sloped roofs a bright red. It all looked weirdly magical even though, in reality, it wasn't much. Red walked up next to the girl and laughed as she put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, don't run ahead of me, alright?" Red asked. She grabbed Aila's hand as she started leading her down the street. Several people stopped to say hello, and when they noticed Aila, they asked Red who she was, to which Red would introduce her while Aila hid behind her. "We're gonna hold an official ceremony to introduce you soon." Red said as one person walked away after interacting. When she saw Aila still hiding, she laughed. "Why're you so shy? You're the one who wanted to come out!"

The two made their way around the surprisingly bustling town, and Red seemed to go out of her way to help people. Helping lift heavy boxes, finding lost items, and even getting a cat out of a tree, something she had Aila help with. Seeing the look of joy on the little girl's face when they saved the animal brought a smile to Aila's face that Red immediately noticed, and gave her a smile in return.

As they walked, Red thought it over a bit before she snapped her fingers. "Ah! We could visit the guild if you want! It's probably good to know where that is because it's a great way to get shares."

"O-okay…" Aila said, and she let Red guide the way.

The guild was a large building located just outside of the city. As the two walked the path up to the impressive structure, Aila could see a forest a bit in the distance.

The two entered the building, to which several of the people inside immediately greeted them. Red extended the greetings back as the two of them walked to the front desk. Red greeted the woman behind the desk. "Hey! Can you give us an easy quest? I'm showing her how quests work so I don't want something too difficult for her first time, if that's alright." She said as she gestured to Aila. The woman nodded, and pulled out a flyer from under the desk, and handed it over.

"It's a simple quest to kill some low level monsters." The woman said. Red opened her mouth to speak, but the woman answered her question before she said it. "They're not dogoos, don't worry."

"Thank you." Red said with a nervous laugh, while Aila just tilted her head in confusion. Red took the flyer, and took note of the location. "Oh! We need to get you a weapon." Red said. "May we borrow something?" She asked the woman at the counter.

"Please. As CPU, you may take and keep whatever you'd like." She said politely, and Red smiled.

"Thank you so much!" She said, and turned to her sister. "Alright, let's go get you a weapon!"

"W-wait, you want me to fight? But I…I was just…" Aila stuttered.

"I know it feels like a lot at once, but I believe in you. Again, it won't be anything too tough, and I'll be there to help if you need it. This is our responsibility, so I'm teaching you about it now. Now come on!" Red said, and even though she was still hesistant, she followed Red to the armory in the back, and as soon as the door was opened, Aila was left aghast. The walls and floor were littered with all sorts of weapons from blades to staffs to magical weapons to even guns. Anything she could think of was here.

"Wow…" she said softly.

"Pick whatever speaks to you! Then we'll give it a try and if you don't like it, we can try something else another day." Red said. Aila nodded and started walking through the room, giving every weapon she could see a glance, but for a while, nothing quite stood out to her.

"Hey, what's your weapon?" Aila asked. Red smiled as she summoned her weapon, and showed it off.

"It's two energy-powered sickles!" She said as she waved them around. "I can use them separately, or connect them together." To demonstrate, and held the handles of the weapon together, and they seemed to almost magnetically lock together, allowing her to wield a dual-bladed weapon. Aila admired it for a bit before she went back to searching for her own.

She tried a few weapons out. She tried a sword, which felt kind of boring to her. She then tried a spear, which was taller than she was, so that was also a now. She saw a really cool looking blue axe that she tried to use, but she couldn't even pick it up, leading Red to advise for something lighter, so Aila kept searching.

Eventually, she saw it. At first she only saw a flash of gold, but as she turned to it, she saw more. It was a golden staff, with a curled design leading up to a holding spot where a red crystal rested. Aila couldn't explain it, but she felt a strange pull towards the weapon and she walked over and placed her hand around the handle of the staff. As soon as she did, the crystal lit up, and words flowed into her mind.

Spells.

"I'll…take this." Aila said as she held the staff up, the glow of the crystal filling her with a magical warmth.

"A magical staff, eh? Alright! Well then, let's go!" Red said as the two made their way back out. "We should be back soon! Thank you!" She said to the woman behind the counter as they walked past.

"Anytime." The woman said with a wave and a smile as Red and Aila exited the building. The CPU started walking towards the forest with her sister in tow.

"So we just need to head into the forest a bit and we should be able to find the nest. We'll need to take care of the monsters inside to clear it out before we destroy the nest itself. Easy." Red said as the two ventured into the slightly dense trees. Aila clutched her staff tightly in her hands.

"That doesn't sound easy…" Aila said softly, but Red waved her off.

"Trust me, it'll be nothing." Red said with confidence. As they walked, Aila recited the spells she heard in her head to herself, and once she had them memorized, the voice speaking then vanished, until she had several spells.

The two emerged into a clearing, and at the opposite side, where the trees began again, there was a group of wolf-like monsters. They hadn't noticed them yet, so the two of them ducked down to launch a sneak attack. They crawled onto the top of a hill overlooking them, and the staff felt warm in Aila's hands as she thought about which spell to use.

"Okay I think one of us should be a distraction while the other one takes them out from behind." Red said, and turned to Aila. "Got anything?"

"Yeah, I think I know something I can do, if you're okay with that." Aila asked.

"Trust me, if anything happens, I'll rescue you." Red said. "These guys are pushovers if we do this quickly. Now, you ready?" Aila nodded. Red nodded back and started making her way down. Aila stood up, pointed her staff at the group, and spoke the spell.

"ʇloqǝɹᴉɟ!" She shouted, and a fireball rocketed out from the staff and smashed into the ground, incinerating one of the monsters while the nearby ones were burned. All the monsters turned to Aila, who suddenly felt a lot weaker, likely due to casting the spell. Some of them began to advance up the hill, but Red quickly moved behind them and began to attack, startling them further and allowing the CPU to take out several before they even knew what was going on. Aila raised her weapon to attack again, only to suddenly feel dizzy, and tumble down, landing in front of the monsters. One of them quickly ran towards her, it's claws poised to strike.

"AILA!" Red shouted as she bolted towards her, but just as the monster was about to slice through the girl, someone grabbed it by the neck, and chucked it into the air, sending it flying past the tree line as it howled in shock. Aila looked up, still feeling dizzy as she saw a looming shadow quickly advance on the other enemies, slicing them to pieces with a giant golden sword. Whoever the man was, he wrote a suit of armor, yet it didn't look like it limited his movements as he moved cleanly and quickly. Soon, every enemy remaining was defeated, and both the man and Red rushed over towards Aila.

"Are you alright?" The man asked, the sun behind him masking his face from her as he reached out a hand.

"Um…I-I think so." Aila said as she grabbed the man's hand and he lifted her up to her feet. Once she was up, Red got in her face and began checking for injuries.

"Are you sure? I'm sorry! Why did you use such a powerful spell? Where did you learn it? Are you okay?!" Her questions were frantic, but Aila grabbed her hands and steadied her.

"I'm fine, just a little dizzy." Aila reassured her, using her for support. "Who is…?"

"Ah! Forgive me, I have not yet introduced myself." The man said, before he sheathed his blade, and bowed, allowing her to finally see his face. "My name is Arc, CPU Cobalt Heart, ruler of the nation of Morkom. It is a pleasure to meet you." The man had a surprisingly boyish face, with black rimmed glasses adorning stunning brown eyes. Short black hair also topped his head. His smile was gentle, and almost fatherly. Aila felt safe just looking at him.

"H-hello." Aila said. "I'm Aila." She then bowed as well, though much more awkwardly. Once the two had stood back up, Aila saw two others heading towards the nest, holding torches. "Oh, who are they?"

"I think they'd rather like to introduce themselves rather than have me introduce them." Arc said, before turning Red. "It's nice to see you, Red. I feel like you venturing outside your Basilicom, much less your capital, is becoming much rarer these days." Red blushed.

"I-I just don't like going out much…" she said weakly, watching as the two other guys burned the nest, before they too walked over to join them. The first one that spoke was a boy with tussled brown hair, and he looked like an adventurer in his getup, two swords strapped to his waist, his smile looking slightly mischievous.

"Hey! You're Aila, right? Nice to meet you! My name is Boken, CPU Brown Heart, of Bios." The boy said. Suddenly, Aila had a realization.

"How do you already know about me?" Aila asked, and this time the other boy answered.

"News travels fast. I'm Tarou, by the way." He said. The boy was probably the shortest of the three, about as tall as Red was. His hair was short and dark blue, matching his wild eyes. He wore a dark blue and white striped shirt, with a light blue jacket on top. His shorts were brown, but his boots were blue. Arc cleared his throat.

"Address yourself as we practiced, please." He said, and Tarou rolled his eyes.

"I am Tarou, CPU Candidate of Morkom, otherwise known as Cobalt Brother, pleasure to meet you." The boy said dramatically, and this time it was Arc who rolled his eyes. The boy turned to Red. "Nice to see ya, Red!"

"Same to you, Tarou." Red returned the greeting. "Thank you for saving us, Arc."

"Eh, don't thank him too much, or else his ego will grow too big." Tarou said with a shrug.

"Oh please, I do not have such an ego. At least…I hope I don't…or come across that way…" Arc said, suddenly looking worried.

"I'm kidding, don't worry." Tarou said, and then turned back to Red. "Anyway, what are you two doing?"

"I was showing Aila how quests work." Red explained. "I took an easy mission for us to do, but Aila managed to cast a fireball spell that almost immediately knocked her out."

"That sounds familiar…" Boken said quietly.

"It seems she used a high level spell without any prior training. It's happened to many adventurers before, don't worry about it." Arc said with a smile.

"How did you know that anyway?" Red asked, and Aila blushed as she recoiled a bit.

"I, um…it…told me." She said quietly.

"It what?"

"The staff…told me." She said, expecting them to find her crazy, but Arc just smiled wider and laughed, a loud, hearty laugh.

"Wow, you already managed to find a magical weapon that's linked with you telepathically? That's fantastic!" Arc said.

"I-it is?" She asked, startled.

"Yes! Many adventurers who attempt to be a mage often spend years finding their perfect weapon, a weapon willing to speak with them, to help teach them how to cast the most powerful spells available to them, yet you found one on your first day! You must be something special." Arc said, and Aila couldn't help blushing again. This time, it was matched with a smile, however.

"Th-thank you…"

"What were you gonna do after this?" Boken asked. Red opened her mouth, but Aila answered first.

"Well…I actually wanted to see some of the other nations." Aila said, and Red looked shocked, but Arc laughed again.

"Wonderful! We were actually done with what we were just doing, so we'd love to accompany you, if that's alright?" Arc asked. Red was once again about to speak, but Aila got her words out first.

"I'd like that. Right, Red?" She asked as she turned to her sister. Red looked at her, saw how happy and excited she looked, and sighed.

"Sure. That's fine…I guess…" Red said. Aila smiled as she turned back to Arc, but before anyone else could say anything, Red's phone began to ring. The girl frowned as she fished it out of her pocket, and opened it up. She answered the call and held it to her ear. "Yeah? Oh…right now? Yeah? Okay, I'll be there in a bit. Yeah, bye." Red finished the call and gave a small smile. "Well…that works out well."

"What?" Aila asked.

"Well…you wanted to go to another nation, right? Well…lucky for you, we're needed at one." Red answered. "We're going to Tetri."

As everyone but Aila transformed into HDD (with Red having to carry Aila there as they flew), Aila was shocked by how…skintight Red's outfit was. She also noticed how Red seemed to keep glancing at Tarou and Boken, and while Boken didn't seem to look back at her, Tarou did, his own cheeks lightly red. Aila had no idea what was going on, but she felt some second hand embarrassment for her sister.

As they flew, everyone was at the mercy of Arc's horrible dad jokes, which made everyone except Aila groan.

"Honestly, I'm afraid for my calendar. Its days are numbered." Arc said.

"God…" Tarou groaned.

"Singing in the shower is quite fun. Until you get soap in your mouth, then it becomes a soap opera." Arc said.

"Please stop…" Boken said.

"I think math should grow up and solve its own problems." Arc said.

"This is like torture." Red said quietly, but the entire time, Aila was just giggling.

When he wasn't telling terrible jokes, he regaled Aila with some of his adventures. He told of times he had to fight off pirates from the coast that came from another continent, how he managed to create a somewhat safe passage through the sea of monsters between Tetri and Stara, and how he was able to stop a monster from trying to create an army of other monsters that wanted to take over Morkom.

"Wow…that all sounds so amazing!" Aila said, and Arc smiled.

"Well thank you. I always try my hardest to do what I think can best help the most people, no matter what it takes." Arc said. "But I think that if what you do helps even just one person…then all the hard work is worth it in the end."

"Unless that one person is a shitty person." Tarou said snidely.

"Hey, language! We're in front of two wonderful ladies, and they don't need to hear such things." Arc said with a sigh.

"It's alright. It's just a word, after all." Red said. She saw Tarou smile out of the corner of her eye.

"That's true, I suppose. Still, I just generally don't like such words." Arc said.

"Sorry." Tarou apologized.

"Looks like we're almost there." Boken said as they could see the top of Tetri's Basilicom in the distance. "Why did we come all the way here again?" He asked Red.

"I don't know. Chena said she needed my help with something, and it just ended up working out." Red explained.

"Who's Chena?" Aila asked.

"She's the CPU there. She's probably one of, if not the smartest person in all of Gamindustri. If she needs help, it's probably important." Red said. The five of them swooped down towards the Basilicom, and went onto a balcony. They turned back into their human forms and entered the main room.

The first thing Aila noticed was papers strewn about the room with equations and what looked like gibberish on them, some covered in what looked like crayon. That same crayon covered the walls and floor as well, though the pictures drawn with them were surprisingly detailed. There was a crashing sound in the other room that startled them, followed by a howl, and the five of them gave each other a look before they headed into the kitchen.

The kitchen was a mess, with pots and pans everywhere, as well as more paper and crayon drawings. A blonde woman in a brown sweater and glasses stood at the counter, scolding a small child with bright blue eyes, pale skin, and short, dark black hair. She was dressed in a small pink kimono as she stuck her tongue out at the woman and tossed another pan onto the floor.

"Just because you're throwing a fit doesn't mean you're gonna get what you want, you know." The woman said, only to have the child throw another pan.

"Um, Chena?" Red asked, and the woman turned around, and she looked stunned.

"I…didn't expect to see five people here." She said, before some bread was tossed at the back of her head, and she wheeled around back to the girl. "Alright, that's it. You're going in the pen." She tried to pick the girl up, but she just began to scream in defiance as she weakly bat at Chena's body. The CPU set her back down, and looked her in the eyes. "Well, are you going to stop, then?" The child pouted, and looked away, crossing her arms. Chena turned back to Red, who looked confused.

"Who's-"

"Oh! This is Eva." Chena explained. "She's the daughter of a family I'm close friends with so sometimes they have me babysit her. She's…a brat."

"I can tell." Red said. "A-anyway…you said you needed me for something?"

"Yes, yes, okay so…" Chena said, brushing the hair out of her face. "Lately, there's been some weird things happening in the woods in Tetri."

"What kind of things?" Aila asked. Chena blinked at her for a moment, then continued.

"Um…some of the adventurers have been reporting seeing monsters that they've never seen in Tetri before, even coming from adventurers with decades of experience." Chena said. "I wanted to go and investigate and ask people about it specifically, but I'm a little bit…tied up right now." She gestured to the child, who was now snacking on the bread, the calmest she'd been since the five of them had gotten here. "Now, I was assuming you didn't want to do some babysitting for a stranger, so I was wondering if you could go talk to the adventurers for me? Get some information, then come back here?"

"Yeah, we're not really busy, so I guess we can." Red said, though she seemed hesitant. Tarou and Arc however, stepped forward.

"Ah, forgive me, Red, but we need to go." Tarou said.

"Yeah, the trip took longer than expected, so we must leave for some training." Arc said.

"Training?" Red asked.

"It's always important to have a strict training regiment." Arc explained. "Same time every single day, no exceptions."

"Yeah, sorry. I would stay if I could, but he's kinda…" Tarou started, but Red shook her head.

"It's alright. We can take care of it. Thank you for accompanying us." Red said. The two nodded.

"I wish you luck on your quests, whether they be big or small." Arc said, and the two began to leave, but Tarou stopped and stepped close to Red, speaking low.

"It was nice seeing you again. Really. I…kinda miss you sometimes, you know?" Tarou said, and Red couldn't help but blush.

"Y-yeah." She said.

"Let's catch up sometime, okay?" Tarou asked, and Red nodded. After that, he gave her a wink, and the two finally left, transforming and flying off of the balcony. Red watched after Tarou for a bit before she turned to find Boken staring at her.

"What?" She asked.

"Oh, nothing." Boken said as he looked back to Chena and cleared his throat. "We'll go and talk to the adventurers for you."

"Thank you. Come back whenever you're done to tell me everything you can." Chena said as she turned her attention back to Eva, who was tossing bits of bread onto the floor, all while smirking at Chena, who sighed.

"Alright, let's go." Boken said as he turned and started walking towards the door, though before they left, Chena spoke again.

"Oh! I almost forgot, who's she?" She asked, gesturing to Aila.

"You haven't heard?" Red asked. "Everyone else has apparently. She's the new CPU Candidate of Reepage. Her name is Aila."

"Oh…well, nice to meet you, Aila! I guess being cooped inside with a child will make you miss some stuff, huh?" Chena said with a laugh.

"Um…aren't you normally even more of a recluse than me?" Red asked, and Chena paused mid laugh, before clearing her throat.

"A-alright, yeah…" she conceded.

"Anyway, we'll be back." Red said as they finally left, leaving the CPU and child alone once more. Chena stared at Eva with crossed arms as she watched her spill more food onto the floor.

"Maybe I should make you pick that up." Chena said.

Red, Aila, and Boken went around talking to several of the adventurers, but didn't get much information. They all basically stated what Chena had already said, that the monsters they'd been seeing lately weren't from Tetri, though almost no one could identify where they might have come from. Some suggested Lenderia or Wowfrist, but none sounded confident.

They did get some extra information that, other than not being from Tetri, the monsters had another sort of quirk to them. They all seemed to be…wrong. When asked to elaborate, every adventurer reported that the monsters had a sort of dark aura, and, along with being fairly terrifying on their own, they all seemed extremely erratic and particularly monstrous. Other than that, no new information.

As they made their way back to the Basilicom to tell Chena, Boken pulled Red back a bit.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Boken asked.

"S-sure…" Red said, feeling a little embarrassed by how close he was.

"What did Tarou say to you?" He asked, a frown adorning his face.

"O-Oh! He just said how it was nice to see me." Red said with a small smile. Boken seemed to process this for a bit before nodding.

"Well…it is." Boken said softly. "I miss seeing you. I miss hanging out, and I don't like why you won't tell me why you don't like being out as much anymore."

"I have told you, I don't really like socializing anymore." Red explained, but Boken shook his head.

"That's…" he stopped, and sighed, then gave her a smile. "I won't push, but…seriously, let's do stuff again sometime, alright?"

"Alright." Red said with a nod. Satisfied, Boken pulled away, and the three continued back into the Basilicom, up the stairs, and into the living room, where Chena was waiting, having put a cartoon on TV about a wacky scientist that seemed to finally pacify Eva as she watched with wonder. Chena shot to her feet as soon as they entered.

"What did you-?"

"Not much." Boken answered. He relayed what they'd learned to her, and once they were done, she looked more confused than reassured.

"Monsters with a dark aura? Ugh, if I could just see some myself, I might be able to identify where-" Suddenly, she was cut off by a ringing phone. Once again, it was Red's. The CPU fished her phone out and opened it up, and before she could get a word out, Aila, Boken, and Chena could hear a loud voice on the other end.

"What? What do you mean?" She asked, before her face went pale. "I-in the city?! What kind? What?! Really?! Okay, okay, just hang tight, I'll be there soon." She ended the call, and looked to the others. "There's a big monster invasion in the capital! We have to go back, now!"

"I'll come with you." Boken said, and Red nodded. She looked at Aila.

"I won't use any big spells this time, I promise." Aila said, and Red nodded again. She and Boken transformed, picked up Aila, and flew out the balcony window, back towards Reepage as fast as they could.

A sword clanged against a naginata as Tarou and Arc battled, the sound reverberating through the large room. Arc was, of course, going easy, but it was still challenging enough for Tarou that he had to concentrate. They had healing on hand in case anything happened, but Arc was skilled enough to know when to avoid a bad strike, though still laid it on hard enough for Tarou to need to pay attention.

"So," Arc started, "Aila already seems promising."

"In what way?" Tarou said as he deflected a strike, and went in for a right that Arc easily dodged. "The telepathic link thing?"

"Precisely. I haven't seen someone get that skilled that quickly since…" Arc paused, "well, nevermind." He swung his sword and Tarou only barely dodged, their blades clanging together once more. "Anyway…you seemed happy to see Red."

"Well of course, ever since she started becoming a shut-in, I've barely gotten to see her." Tarou said as he tried to concentrate, but was starting to fail. "We used to go on so many quests and adventures together, but now…" He slipped, and Arc's blade nearly cut his shoulder, where he just barely parried the blade.

"You seem to be losing focus." Arc said, then smirked. "Though that always happens when it comes to Red, doesn't it?"

"H-huh?" Tarou asked, as suddenly he was knocked off his feet, and only barely stopped the blade from poking his chest. "H-hey!"

"You can't let a distraction like that happen, alright?" Arc said, though he smirked again. "And you probably shouldn't let it be so obvious."

"I-I don't know what you're talking about!" Tarou said, though he blushed. He pushed against Arc's blade to move back, then jump back to his feet, and lunge, an attack which Arc easily blocked.

"Maybe you should talk to her." He said.

"What?" Tarou asked, spinning around to attempt to strike Arc's side, but missing.

"Maybe ask her out on a date."

"WHAT?!" Tarou said, so stunned that he was once again knocked off his feet. Arc sighed, and held out his hand to allow Tarou to get back on his feet once more. "Y-you can't just say something like that!"

"I only said it because it's clear thinking about her is a weakness." He said. When he saw the look on Tarou's face, he backpedaled. "N-not to say that's a bad thing in general, just…don't let it ruin your focus in battle, alright?"

"I'm not. I won't!" Tarou said, but Arc shook his head.

"You know, there could come a day where focusing on her too much could be your downfall." Arc said, and Tarou scoffed.

"Please, I know what I'm doing." Tarou said. As he was about to launch into another strike, he heard someone call out for him.

"Tarou?" A small voice said. Tarou turned to see someone standing at the door, holding two water bottles. She was a short girl, with short brain hair in a bobbed haircut and deep brown eyes, wearing a black corset, black boots, and red skirt. "I brought you two some water."

"Thank you, Maya." Tarou said as he walked over and grabbed the bottles, tossing one to his brother. The 16 year old girl was an orphan that lived at the Basilicom as a sort of maid, though none of the three of them ever thought of it that way. She'd been found outside the Basilicom as a child, nearly starving, and Arc had taken her in. Tarou was young at the time, and the two became fast friends, to the point that neither Arc nor Tarou wanted to give her up, so she offered to stay at the Basilicom in exchange for doing chores and housework. She and Tarou had always been friends, but lately…

"Hey, Tarou?" Maya asked.

"Yeah?"

"If…if you're not busy later…can we watch a movie?" She asked. "W-We can even snuggle-"

"Sorry, I've got plans for later, maybe another time." Tarou said, oblivious to what she'd just said. Maya looked sad.

"Okay." She said quietly. Tarou turned back to his brother to continue, and Maya looked like she wanted to say something more. She met Arc's eyes, and he nodded for her to say it, but she couldn't, and instead she slinked away.

"Alright, let's continue." Tarou said. "Though I'm not sure why you seem so adamant on training so much." Arc sighed as he watched Maya leave.

"Well, it's important to train, so you can be ready for…unexpected threats. Powerful…unexpected threats." Arc seemed to be lost in thought for a moment before he shook his head. "Look, it's important for a leader to be ready, alright? And you will have to take my place some day." Tarou scoffed.

"Yeah, but I'm sure I've got plenty of time." Tarou said.

"You never know." Arc warned. "Tarou…I just want to make sure you're ready. For anything. You have a way to go, both physically…and emotionally." Before Tarou could ask what that meant, the door suddenly opened, and a man rushed into the room.

"Arc! Tarou!" Gorudo said as he rushed into the room.

Gorudo? What are you-" Arc started, stunned by his best friend's arrival.

"I was coming over to visit, but along the way I heard some news. Reepage is under attack!" He said.

"What?!" Tarou said. "By who?! What?!"

"An army of monsters." Gorudo said quickly. "But not just any monsters, one that seem…powerful."

"We have to get over there! Red needs help!" Tarou said as he grabbed his naginata and quickly rushed out the door, passing by Maya, who watched as Arc and Gorudo also ran past. The girl scowled.

"Red this, Red that…always about Red…" she said in the empty hallway. She had been trying to withhold the information so she could watch Tarou train. She always loved watching him show off his skills against his brother, watching his slender, yet gorgeous body move around and sweat and be cool…

But of course that stupid jock had to come in and ruin it. She snarled to herself as she bit her lip. She'd just have to try to find another way to get Tarou's attention.

Or get Red out of the picture.

"We need to give them enough time to get people to safety!" Red cried as her, Aila, and Boken held off the wave of monsters as best they could. Every time she sliced through a monster, it felt like another one would take its place. What Red was really worried about however was how strong they seemed. Sometimes it took several stabs and slices to take down just one. And on top of that, none of these were monsters Red recognized. Sure, she didn't go adventuring and quest taking that often, at least not anymore, but even so, she didn't recognize any.

Just like the adventurers in Tetri.

"How are you doing, Aila?" Red asked, looking over to see her sister blasting the monsters with various elemental attacks, like lightning and fire and ice. This time, they were weaker spells, but they seemed to be doing the trick, especially working together with Boken. She'd paralyze or freeze one, and then Boken would swoop in and slice them apart with his blades. They were managing to mostly hold back the monsters, but Red was still worried. None of them were extremely experienced or ready for a horde like this.

Red rushed in and activated her HDD. She didn't know if she'd need it at first, but she definitely did now. As Red Heart emerged, she began to cut through the enemies a little faster, but they kept coming. Monstrous werewolves snarling at her, faceless demons poking at her with spears made of bones, grotesque creatures that looked like giant deformed fetuses attacking her. Nevertheless she kept going, doing her best to thin the herd as much as possible. She took solace in the fact that she hadn't seen a civilian or even heard someone other than three of them for a while, which gave her hope that everyone was as safe as they could get.

As she was swinging at a monster, one knocked her down, knocking the wind out of her. She looked up to see a face looming over it. The creature was incredibly tall, its skin black as coal. Its shape was blocky, and its eyes bright purple as its jaw unhinged, and screamed at her so loud it hurt her ears. It leaned in, and raised a fist, about to bash her head in before it's head was cut off, falling to the ground next to Red Heart. She was pulled to her feet, and into the strong, warm arms of Boken, now Brown Heart, who held her as he cut them a path back. Red Heart blushed as he carried her, but she also felt…safe.

Once they were back, he set her down. "Are you alright?" He asked.

"Y-yeah…thank you." She responded breathlessly. The two stared at each other for a while, not speaking, before Aila startled them.

"WHAT IS THAT?!" She shouted as she pointed into the crowd. The two turned and went pale as they saw it. A very, very tall creature that looked like a man, naked except for a loincloth. His muscled body was scarred and burned, his face mangled, yet he had a wide, disturbing smile and crazed eyes. He had no weapon, but something told them he didn't need one.

"I-it doesn't matter what it is! We need to take it down, now!" Red Heart said. "Aila, you stun it or freeze it or whatever you can as best you can, and we'll both charge in at once. Got it?"

"Yes!" Both Brown Heart and Aila said. The two CPUs separated to either side as Aila aimed her staff, and shouted a higher level spell.

"ʞɔoɥsunʇs!" She shouted, and a bolt of yellow lightning flew from her staff and struck the monster in the chest, yet it seemed to do almost nothing, and the monster laughed. Aila felt her legs wobble, though she didn't know if it was from the spell, or fear.

Even though it didn't seem to do much, the CPUs ran towards him nonetheless. Red Heart struck from the left as Brown Heart struck from the right. Their blades simply seemed to bounce off of the monster, and he laughed again as he swept his arm out and smacked both of them away, before tilting his head back and roaring as they slammed into buildings, and tumbled onto the ground, groaning. Aila continued to be frozen in place as she stared at the monster as he continued to advance.

Then suddenly, a spear emerged from his chest.

The monster roared in pain as Arc pulled out his spear and leapt onto his head. As his blade transformed into a sword, he stabbed him in the eye. As he did that, Gorudo slid from the right, wielding dual pistols that he fired at the monster's ankles, some of which seemed to discharge various elements. As the monster screamed, Gorudo leapt up, and fired at his shins, which was enough to knock the monster down to his knees. As Gorudo continued firing, Tarou was busy slicing through the surrounding enemies, leaving them panicked and confused for a moment before they turned their attention to him. Even so, they were no match even for him as he cut through them like butter.

Arc finished off the massive monster by spinning around his neck, chopping through the skin until the monster collapsed, his head falling apart from his body as Arc landed on his feet in front of him. He turned to Red Heart and the others.

"Need some help?" He asked, and Red Heart laughed.

"Yes please." She said as she was helped to her feet by Arc while Gorudo helped Brown Heart to his. Once everyone was back up, they faced the horde once more, and ran into the crowd. Working together, the six of them managed to dispatch the remaining monsters with ease. Red Heart expected some of them to maybe retreat once their numbers decreased, but none did. They all fought to the very end which Red Heart found to be…strange.

On top of that, while Red Heart didn't recognize them as being from her nation…they still looked almost familiar. But before she got a chance to think about it, she was swept up by Boken, who laughed.

"Not gonna lie…not sure if we were gonna pull through before they got here." He said, and Red Heart couldn't help but laugh back.

"Yeah, me neither." Red Heart said as she transformed back. "Thank god they came."

"Yeah…I'm…not as powerful as I want to be." Boken said softly. "I think I'm gonna ask Arc to train me as well, especially after seeing how easily Tarou was able to battle that horde."

"I think that's a good idea." Red remarked. Boken nodded, then smiled again.

"For now, I think we should relax though." He said, gesturing to the Basilicom, where Red could see the others heading. She nodded and the two made their way to the tower together as people began to come out of hiding around them.

The small girl stared up at the black spire before her, the center of the decrepit-looking capital, a sight she would've thought she'd have gotten used to by now, but apparently not. It still looked so…menacing.

But also really cool, she had to admit.

Nevertheless, she went inside, and was greeted by a pale, bored looking man at the front desk. Though his way of greeting her was simply waving her past as he checked his phone. The girl rolled her eyes as she quietly made her way upstairs. The stairs creaked underneath her feet, though she wasn't worried about them caving in. The man had designed them to creak, claiming it was for atmosphere.

She made her way into the dark, empty living room. A black couch sat in front of a flash screen TV, various consoles and games littered around the black and white carpeted floor. The walls were solid and dark, just like the outside, the sky outside the windows was a black void.

Almost immediately, she could hear sounds coming from a nearby room. Sounds she…wasn't quite happy to hear. She walked towards them, her body creeping quietly across the carpet as the sounds grew louder.

"Mmmmm…fuck~!" A woman's voice could be heard, a sound that made the girl cringe. She continued, moving down the dark hallway, and eventually reaching the door to the man's bedroom, which she pushed open. She almost regretted it as soon as she saw what was on the bed.

A man and a woman…having sex.

The woman rested upon the man's pelvis, blankets obscuring almost anything below the girl's waist. She bounced up and down on him, her bare body undulating with every movement. She let out lewd, perverted sounds that made the girl blush as she tried not to stare, yet also couldn't look away completely. Especially from her obnoxiously bouncing chest. The man had his hands on her waist and ass, squeezing them as he enjoyed every little movement and sound. Neither of them noticed her at first, so she cleared her throat, and the woman finally stopped.

"Oh…it's you." She said as she turned to her, giving the girl a full view of her chest, which only made her blush deepen. Her eyes once again roamed to the boy's pelvis, which she was simultaneously disappointed and relieved she couldn't see. His eyes locked onto her, and she felt herself shudder a little as she forced her own eyes to meet his.

"Yurei." The man said softly, and gestured for the woman to get off of him. She rolled her eyes as she did so, and he pulled the blankets up before Yurei could see anything. "What are you doing here?"

"Yeah, we're in the middle of something, little girl." The woman said with an edge to her voice, her long silver hair cascading down her body, which she didn't bother to cover, almost as if she was taunting the CPU with her assets.

"Chill, Keisha, I'm sure it's important." He said as he turned to Yurei again.

"Arun…I just…um…" Yurei struggled to maintain eye contact, especially since the blanket had a visible tent in it. She took a deep breath to steady herself. "I…wanted…to check on you."

"Check on me?" He asked. "What for?"

"Well…you haven't been to any of the meetings lately, so I-" Keisha scoffed.

"Please, why should he have to go any stupid old meetings? Because you want to see him? Clingy, much?" Keisha teased with a smirk. Yurei wanted to bite back with an insult, but Arun stopped them both with a hand.

"I haven't been going…because it's been horrifically boring." He explained.

"What?" Yurei asked.

"In fact, everything has been boring. Nothing exciting has happened lately. Nothing at all." Arun said as he put a hand on his chin. "I wish something…exciting would happen."

"Something exciting was happening until we were interrupted." Keisha said as she crossed her arms, only causing her chest to jiggle more, and making Yurei even more annoyed.

"There was a monster invasion in Reepage that-"

"I could've taken care of easily." Arun finished with a sigh. "Not even a huge monster army would be enough to satisfy me." He stared at Yurei. "Why do you care, anyway? Is it because you miss me, like Keisha said?" Yurei blushed again.

"Something like that, I guess. I was just…concerned." She said, and he laughed.

"I'm the last person you need to be concerned about, Yurei." He said, and then sighed again. "Now if you don't mind, we were in the middle of something, and I'd like to…finish. Call me again later, if you want." He said, and Keisha smirked at Yurei as the girl climbed back on top of him, wiggling her ass towards Yurei as she did. Yurei's face burned as she turned and quickly fled out the door. Arun watched as she left.

"Now, where were we~?" Keisha said as she settled back onto his body, but his mind was elsewhere now.

"Something interesting…" he said quietly to himself.