Believe me, I'm as surprised as anyone else that I got this chapter up. Well, uni's just started (I mean university; not Black Sister, thank God) and it's still just picking up momentum. I just hope I'm ready for it when it crashes. Anyway, questions...

Holy Mercury: I have no idea what the hell those are but I'm reminded of a girl dressed in a cat suit (and I mean an actual cat suit; not just ears and a tail and the skimpiest underwear they can find) jumping around in a ball pit full of ball-shaped cereal bites. Now I've made myself hungry.

CypherPen: I'll remember that. Thanks.

Eisenfaust: Oh, thanks for the English comment. About the blood brothers/sisters deal... well, he just met these people. They're nice and all but he's not going to pledge some sort of lifelong oath to them like in Romance of the Three Kingdoms. I watched one episode of KHR but I can't remember the character's names so I can't really give an answer there. About Mk2... I don't know. I went to get some games about two weeks ago and I got Dark Void (fun) and Atelier Totori(boring). Mk2 was on the shelves but I can not take that game to the counter and actually say "I want to buy this" with my dignity intact. I want to play it if only out of sheer morbid curiosity but don't get your hopes up.

godofmadness43: Indeed he did. How well he'll fight with them will be revealed in this chapter. As for Green Heart, you'll just have to wait.

DMAsh: As far as Jacob is concerned, getting home and staying alive have slightly higher priority than telling a good story. Neptune's concerned about good plot twists but Jacob really just wants to get his over and done with. Also, thanks, thanks and thanks. In regards to the item storage, I was thinking about those summoning discs and how they worked. As Compa carried that disc carry case with her wherever she went, I decided to let my imagination run wild.

liexi: That is a definite maybe.

Have fun with this chapter.

Chapter 6: Going to the Basilicom

"Whoa!" exclaimed Neptune after they arrived at the Basilicom after going through a bunch of trees (why would anyone put a public building of great importance in the middle of a forest where anything could be lurking?). The structure was in the middle of a wide area of grey pavement and resembled a church. To be more specific, the Basilicom had two towers at the front with blue spires at the top. The walls were white and arch windows lined the sides of the building. The walls were shorter than the ceiling, which made the whole thing resemble a small rectangular box with a massive triangular prism on the top, with the prism being the blue roof with what seemed to be a golden weathervane at the front.

Now, the front of the Basilicom was a sight to behold: in addition to the golden edges that were present on other parts of the building, the front also had detailed stained glass windows that made it look like a collection of giant shaped jewels including a ruby, an emerald and a few amethysts with golden borders. It looked really grand. "That's a Basilicom? It's so big and towering and pretty and stuff!" Neptune then looked left and right. "But where is everyone?"

"This place is meant to be densely populated?" asked Jacob.

"Not really," answered IF. "Still, there are normally at least a few people walking around. Unfortunately, they're all hiding from monsters. Planeptune seems more ravaged by them compared to the other lands. Anyway, Neptune, go talk to the Basilicom's staff. They'll communicate with a different one and then we'll be on our way. Also, while you're there, ask the Basilicom staff anything you want while you have the chance. I'll stay here to keep Jacob and Compa company. "

"Okay, then I'll be back in a jiffy!" Neptune walked into the Basilicom, leaving her three companions outside.

"You sure it was a good idea to let her inside alone?" asked Jacob as he reached for his disc.

"I'm sure she'll be fine. She just has to get the permits and we'll be on our way. Anyway, what are you doing?" IF observed Jacob pull his jetpack out of his disc.

"I figured I'd give this a bit of practice before she gets back. Now," he inspected the instrument and found a small door under it. He opened it and found a small book inside. "Oh, it's the instruction booklet. Let's see… put on the jetpack as you would a backpack." He did as the instructions instructed and was pleasantly surprised as the straps automatically fastened. "Okay, now… just think about… where you want to go and the jetpack will take you there? What? How does that work?"

"Let me look." IF took the booklet from Jacob and flipped a few pages. "Apparently, it's designed to read your thoughts and act accordingly."

"I gathered that but how does it do that? I mean, does it plug into my spine or something?"

""Unfortunately, we are unable to divulge the secrets of our product due to copyright and other things. If you would like to find out the secret, you are free to join our company and work for a few years before you are entitled to see the blueprints"," IF read. "Don't worry about it; just fly."

Jacob groaned. "Fine, whatever." He thought about flying straight upwards and was very surprised when he found himself suddenly shooting from the ground. "Whoa!" Fortunately, he managed to make himself stop ascending. The bad news is that he was now falling. "AH!" Fortunately (again), he managed to stop his descent. "Whoa… this is… this is new…" He set himself on the ground. "This might take me a while."

"Don't worry too much about it, Jake," Compa said to Jacob in a warm manner. "I'm sure you'll get the hang of it. Just keep your cool."

"Thanks, Compa." Jacob took a deep breath. Slowly, he elevated himself off of the ground to about two meters in the air. "Okay… I can do this." He moved parallel to the ground while maintaining his height. He then began rotating as he moved. "Hey, this isn't so bad…"

The interior of the Basilicom, which resembled a church, was also very attractive. It had blue and purple stained glass windows that made the inside very purple even though the walls were blue. Gold was also very present; it was on the edges of the seats, the altar had golden ornaments protruding from it and bound collections of golden rods supported the structure of the building. Oddly enough, the building didn't seem to be as long and the roof didn't seem to be as tall as they looked from the outside. Anyway, a red carpet ran down the middle.

"Excuse me!" called Neptune to the nearest person; a male silhouette wearing a tall hat and carrying a book around. "I wanna go to other landmasses! Is that okay?"

"Ah, hello," answered the man. "Applying for terraportation? Could you give us your reason and how long you will be travelling for?"

"How long? I dunno. Reason…" Neptune thought her answer through. "Um, to defeat monsters! I wanna travel the world and fight bad guys!" She finished by pumping her fist into the air.

"Admirable for one so young." The man got out a pen and began writing. "Okay… long term… salvage areas attacked by monsters. There." He then looked up. "Or shall I word it in a more vague way? Volunteer work, maybe? That'd look better on your resume."

"I don't care, whatever. Hurry it up; my party is waiting for me!"

"Oh, you have some friends with you, hm? Could you write their names here?" The man gave Neptune his pen and allowed her to write. "… That's it. Thank you very much. Bye."

Neptune was about to leave but then she remembered her questions. "W-wait! This is my first time doing this so I dunno much about the Basilicom. Could you tell me about it?"

"A Basilicom novice, eh? Let me tell you a bit about our origins and give a small history lesson." The man cleared his throat. "Long ago, Basilicoms were created by the CPUs, Console Patron Units you call goddesses."

"Oh, like me?"

"… I beg your pardon?"

"Well, I'm a goddess. At least, that's what my friends tell me and I believe them." Neptune had no problems whatsoever telling this to someone she just met.

The man, however, didn't seem to believe her if his chuckling was of any indication. "Oh, your friends told you that? Well, then they must be kidding you."

"Really? Well, they said I'm a goddess because I can do this." Right in front of his eyes, Neptune transformed into Purple Heart. "Is that true?"

The man was stunned silent. "L-Lady Purple Heart? Is-is that really you?"

"My friends have no reason to lie to me. I am certain that I am Purple Heart, your goddess."

The man put his hand on his forehead but he did not close his eyes. "Y-You're here… and you're safe."

Purple Heart raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't I be?"

This inquiry confused the man. "You do not know? I've heard from the other landmasses about this… Overlord Momus, whoever he is, attacked Celestia and drove the other three CPUs down here. Only you were unaccounted for. We all feared the worst, b-but…" He wiped his eyes. "You're okay… and you're back here with us. I could not be happier, my lady. Now, please come along; we have many things to discuss."

"U-um…" Purple Heart was hesitant.

The man picked up on this. "What is wrong?"

Purple Heart took a deep breath. While she was not really nervous, she didn't want to come across as rude or dismissive to the man. "I… I have been asked by someone named Histoire to rescue her from her captor. She seems to be connected to me and the other goddesses and she claims to be "the world's everything", whatever that means. I believe she needs to be rescued in order to stop the monster attacks. This means that I must travel to the other landmasses and find the items needed to release her."

"B-but Planeptune is in disarray!" The man argued. "It needs your guidance, my lady! If you are not here to boost morale and save the people, then the casualties will pile up!"

"I believe," Purple Heart interjected, "that you should meet my comrades outside. They should be able to explain the situation better than I could."

The man rubbed his forehead, this time closing his eyes. He sighed before saying "Very well. If that is what you wish, my lady."

"Hey Jacob, you think you should go a bit higher?" IF asked.

"Nah," the floating teen responded. "I'll just stick to hovering for now. Baby steps." He began moving a bit faster. "Still, there's no harm in hovering faster- hey, there's Nep- Purple Heart?"

IF, Compa and Jacob saw Purple Heart exit the Basilicom with the silhouette man in tow. Jacob lowered himself to the ground. "Hey, Neptune," IF greeted. "What's going on? And why are you transformed?"

"I have informed this man of our mission to the other landmasses to free Histoire," Purple Heart explained.

"Let me guess; he doesn't believe you?" said Jacob.

"Actually, he does. He just doesn't want me to leave."

"My lady, Planeptune has been torn apart by the invading monsters. Without your leadership, it will crumble. Please, return to us," the man implored.

"You seem to have been functioning pretty well without her so far. I have yet to see a single sign of fighting for the whole day and a half I've been here." Jacob glanced around. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen a single soldier and we've already cleared out two dungeons."

"You have?" the man seemed surprised. "That's… unexpected."

"We're just starting out," IF responded. "So the problem is that you need Neptune to lead the people?"

"Indeed. You may have noticed that Planeptune has been more ravaged by monsters than the other landmasses."

"Sorry, we haven't been to the other landmasses yet," commented Jacob. "Also, Planeptune, from what I've seen, really doesn't look all that ravaged."

"I can assure you, the damage is subliminal."

Jacob coughed.

"In any event, the monster attacks are indeed fierce. The other landmasses can cope; their goddesses are present. Our lady was presumed to be missing before now. However, now that she is here, she can bring peace to our land once more."

"Um, Mister Worker?" Compa spoke up. "I don't think Nep-Nep will be much help right now. N-not to say that she's bad or anything! I mean, she's actually got amnesia right now so she can't remember anything before a day ago."

"Amnesia?" the man quoted, confused.

"Yeah, Compa's nailed it. Terribly sorry, but Neptune's in no state to govern an entire continent. She can't remember her life as a goddess. Hell, she didn't even know she was a goddess until I told her," Jacob explained.

The man eyed him with suspicion. "How did you come across such knowledge?"

"Would you believe me if I said I came from another world and this place is a videogame that I put into my PS3 but blew up and created a portal leading here?"

"… I am terribly sorry; what?"

"Okay then, just assume I worked for Neptune as some sort of international spy."

The man sighed and rested his face in his hand. "I shall assume that."

"Look," Jacob began as he walked towards the man, "I'm no politician but I do get what you're saying and I fully understand your predicament. However, Neptune- Purple Heart, sorry, isn't in the right state of mind to lead Planeptune. We need to go to the other landmasses in order to get the other items necessary to free who we're looking for. I'm pretty sure this'll stop the monster invasion."

The man sighed again, although this time it was an expression of mild despair. "I understand. I'm just… so many people have died because of the monsters. If Lady Purple Heart could lead us again, we could save so many lives…"

"I understand that but, with Neptune missing her memories, I think she'll cause more problems than she'll fix. In any event, I think it'd be best to stop the casualties completely faster than to just keep them lower for the rest of her life."

The man looked down at the ground. "… Fine. I understand. Take her to the other landmasses and free this Histoire. Please stop the monsters stone cold in their tracks. We will… try to manage from here."

Jacob, Compa, IF and Purple Heart all felt a little bit guilty. "Do not worry," Purple Heart responded. "We will be back before you know it."

"I truly hope so, my lady. I wish you safe travels." He then turned to Jacob, Compa and IF. "As for you three…" He then glared at them… at least, Jacob thought he did; silhouette facial expressions are hard to read, "… if Lady Purple Heart comes to even the slightest harm, I will make your return here very unpleasant. Do you hear me?"

Compa and IF nodded with haste.

"Yeah, yeah," Jacob responded dismissively. He wasn't the type to be easily moved by threats. "Don't worry; we'll look after her. That is, when she's not looking after us as she's, you know, a goddess. That can fly."

The man snorted in amusement. "You have your permit. Now, make your journey a good one-"

Suddenly, a ringtone came from IF. Everyone looked at her as she pulled out a phone. She flipped the top open. "… Nope." She then closed it.

"What was that, IF?" Compa asked. At the same time, Purple Heart's transformation ended.

"The Basilicom sent me another message. Said that the Sand Worm we took out wasn't actually taken out and they want me to take care of it again. We're kind of on a mission so I said no."

"Wait; you four took out the Sand Worm? I am very grateful." The man bowed. "It makes me feel easier to know that you are going on a quest to maybe save the world."

"Aw, shucks…" Neptune rubbed the back of her head. Then she turned to IF. "Iffy! How can you say that? There are people still suffering here! The least we can do is take on just one more dungeon!"

"This is coming from someone who was whining about her quest to save the world being boring," Jacob muttered to himself.

The man had keen ears. "What did you say?"

"Nothing!" Jacob said quickly. "Anyway, this shouldn't take us too long. Also, I have my new weapons and it'll be a good opportunity to test them out."

IF huffed. "Fine but let's hurry."

"Bye, Mister Worker!" Compa waved courteously.

"Farewell, Nep- Lady Purple Heart, Compa, IF and Jacob," he responded in kind.

"Wah!" Compa was not expecting that. "How do you know our names?"

"Lady Purple Heart listed them as part of the permit."

"… oh. Well, okay then. Take care."

"Bye, man." Jacob extended his hand towards him.

This gesture confused him. "Um, I am flattered but-"

"Handshake, form of greeting."

"… oh. Well," the man took the hand and shook it, "pleasant travels for all of you."

"Bye now!" Neptune said. "Take care of the landmass while I'm gone!" Jacob began to hover in the air as the party moved to the tram.

"We will. Do not fret, my lady." The man went back inside the Basilicom.

Neptune looked at Jacob. "What's with the hovering?"

"I want to get some practice in," Jacob explained.

Neptune nodded and the party proceeded.

The party went back to Cave #1. At the entrance, Jacob put on his gloves. They fit perfectly, which he found odd as the gloves were specifically designed for Neptune. He stopped caring around the time he remembered they could let him fire lasers from his hands. "Okay, so we just gotta find the Sand Worm again, right?"

"Mhm. I'm just wondering how it survived our attacks. I mean, we were kind of brutal," IF commented.

"Let's not worry about that and just kill it again."

The party took maybe three steps before three… things appeared in front of them. They were small, purple and they hopped on one three-toed foot which supported what looked like a living telescope with small wings on the side and a massive eyeball where the lens should be. "What are those?" asked Jacob.

"Imps," answered IF.

"Alrighty. Let's see, how do I operate these things?" He outstretched his right hand as he used his left to pull out the instruction manual. "I don't suppose I'm supposed to just think about it-" Without warning, a laser sort of resembling a line of red fire about half a foot wide erupted from the palm of Jacob's right glove and impacted the Imp, pushing it back a little bit. The monster looked burnt and a little bit off balance but it still looked ready to fight. "… I guess wireless neural interfaces are the future?"

"Apparently so," IF responded.

"Eh, whatever. Anyway, she said something about force balls or whatever…" Jacob concentrated and a ball of energy (yes, energy isn't a thing but he really couldn't find a better word for it) formed in the palm of his hand. "Cool…" He aimed his right hand at the imp and… imagined the ball firing forward. Which it did. It struck the imp dead on and pushed it. Upon impact with a wall, the ball expanded and released a small concussive blast before disappearing. "That was nice," Jacob commented.

Neptune crossed her arms and huffed. "Okay, I want a super cool high-tech weapon now. Jacob's no longer allowed to have any cool stuff."

"Eek!" Compa responded to the second Imp that leapt towards her by swinging her syringe and hitting the Imp with it like a bludgeon. It batted the thing away but it just got up and charged again. Compa was ready this time; she aimed her syringe and fired a fire bullet which correctly predicted a light shower of data.

"Nice work- Neptune!" IF charged at the third Imp that leapt towards Neptune and promptly made short work of it via a series of skilful manoeuvres and the use of her daggers. "Wake up, Neptune! You were almost hit!"

"They don't do much damage. I think I'd cope," Neptune replied nonchalantly, much to IF's chagrin.

"Girls, let's move on," said Jacob.

The party progressed onwards through the dungeon, going through the twists and turns again and again. It concluded with the party coming face to face with the Sand Worm once more.

"So what do w-" Compa didn't finish as the Sand Worm immediately jumped forward to attack the party. It swung its head around, intent on attacking both Compa and IF. Thankfully, they both dodged backwards. "Ah! Why do they always attack me first?"

"I'll be damned," remarked Jacob. "They actually know to kill the medic first. Still, let's have some roast worm." He thrust his right palm forward to shoot a laser at the face of the beast. True to its purpose, it "ate away" at the Sand Worm while impacting it. While it seemed to at least affect the monster, the Sand Worm nonetheless lunged at Jacob who had to be tackled out of the way by Neptune.

"Are you okay, Jacob?" Neptune asked with concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks. Now, can you please get off?"

Neptune didn't respond. She just stayed suspended over Jacob's body, which was lying on its side. She kept looking at the side of his face in silence.

"Neptune, I'd rather not be worm food. Relinquish my body at once."

Neptune stayed silent. In the background, Compa yelled "AH!" as the Sand Worm tackled IF into a wall.

Jacob sighed. "Fine, then." He activated his jetpack and rose into the air. Neptune, having not anticipated this in the slightest, fell off.

"Ah! Hey! What was that for?" Neptune asked as she stood up.

"You wouldn't- OH CRAP!" Jacob hovered to the right away from the leaping Sand Worm. While the Sand Worm lunged forward to bite at… nothing, Jacob fired another laser at the side of the Sand Worm's face. Again, it didn't have the effect that Jacob would want from a futuristic death ray.

"For God's sake, die already!" Jacob thrust both of his hands forward at once, which created a much larger laser than one hand did which almost entirely engulfed the Sand Worm. When the seven-foot wide attack ended after a few seconds, the effects became clear; the Sand Worm seemed to be panting and it had burn marks all over.

"It's tired! Finish it off!" IF shouted as she and Neptune ran up to it to take it out in close combat while Compa and Jacob supported them from afar with bullets and energy balls respectively. After about thirty seconds, it was finally finished off.

Jacob breathed heavily as he landed back on the ground. "Curses, bosses can take a lot of hits… come to think of it, the Sand Worm seemed more resilient than it was last time."

"They tend to do that," IF commented as she retracted her daggers.

"That was awesome, Jake!" Compa commented. "How did you do that?"

"Well… I just got frustrated that my lasers weren't doing as much damage as your bullets were doing. I guess using both hands magnifies a function?"

"Looks like a weak attack used to take on a lot of smaller monsters. You seem to be able to keep up the beams as much as you can get away with so maybe it works like bug spray," analysed IF.

Jacob thought about this. "You might be right. I guess I should use the balls for single targets."

"Probably. Anyway, let's go back."

Before the party could exit the cave, however, they all heard an evil laugh from behind them. "I've found you, Neptune!" boasted the voice of an older woman. "I didn't think you actually fell to the world below!"

The party turned around. "Who's there? And what's with that melodramatic laugh?" asked Neptune.

A woman stepped out of the shadows and Jacob recoiled in shock. He thought Green Heart's CPU appearance was insane. Who the hell designed this woman? She had pale purple skin, hair like Neptune's except a bit shorter, black eyeliner and her black fingernails made her hands resemble claws. She wore a witch's hat with its base lined with olive-green thorned vine decorations and an ornamental rose. Purple thorned vines circled her biceps and neck. Her outfit consisted of some sort of black corset that was held together at the middle by cords so that her cleavage and midriff were exposed and her detached sleeves had poofy cuffs and were frayed at the parts that would connect to the shoulders. She also wore a studded belt, keeping with the gothic theme, as well as skin-tight black pants and black witch boots. At the back of her torso-wear was some form of ornament that resembled the pointy edges of a skirt. Jacob could not figure out for the life of him what it was.

He could, however, figure out who this opponent was.

"Arfoire!" he called, surprising everyone else present, especially Arfoire.

"How do you know my name, boy?" she demanded to know.

"I know a lot of things, dearest," Jacob responded. "You're just the icing on the cake."

"Well, then…" She pulled out from behind her a rod with a massive cross-oriented spearhead, as in it had like two spearheads with one running through the other so it looks like a cross when viewed from one end, like a cross-headed screwdriver but a big flipping spear. To accurately describe the thing would take a lifetime so just believe me when I say it's overly intricate and likely to snag on something. "… I guess I better kill you before you spoil my surprise!"

The entire party braced themselves. They knew the hurt was coming.

… only it didn't.

"What are you waiting for?" Neptune asked.

Arfoire clearly looked irritated. "I can't go until you three attack first, so get to it."

Neptune blinked. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that. You see-"

"Neptune," Jacob interrupted, "may I have a word with you?"

"Huh? Oh, okay then. What do you want?"

"Please hurry up!" Arfoire called. "I don't have all day!"

Jacob walked over to Neptune and began whispering in her ear. "If I'm right, we can attack about three times before it's her turn, right?"

Neptune nodded. "Uh huh."

"So, I was thinking… why don't we take advantage of those attacks to get in three legitimate hits and then beat the living stuffing out of her?"

Neptune nodded more vigourously. "Ah ha! That makes a lot of sense! Okay, we'll go with that."

"Okay." He turned towards IF and Compa. "Girls, we're gonna take turns right now. When I give the cue, thrash her. Alright?"

The girls nodded.

"Excellent. Now, Neptune, you're first."

"Alright! Let's go!" Neptune rushed forward towards Arfoire. When she stopped in front of her, Neptune swung her sword overhead with her right hand, ending up tilted forward off balance and standing on her toes.

"You're not a skilled swordsman, are you Neptune?" Jacob commented.

"Hush!" Neptune followed up her attack by spinning left with her sword then right and then she slashed diagonally twice before doing it all again. She then jumped back. "Compa, go!"

"Okay!" Compa fired her syringe four times in quick succession and then she fired another four times. "Iffy!"

"Right." IF ran up to Arfoire and slashed with her daggers while performing jumps and spins four times. She then did it again but this time only three times before getting back.

"Ending your turn already?" Arfoire taunted.

"No," IF answered. "Jacob?"

"FIRE!"

Before Arfoire could respond, she was suddenly engulfed in the red energy from Jacob's gloves and she was also repeated pelted by bullets that would not stop hitting. "Gah! What is this? You can't do this!"

"Yeah, we kind of gave up on that stupid arbitrary tripe in our first dungeon." Jacob didn't move as he kept his mega laser up. "Neptune, transform. I don't know how much longer we can keep her in my attack. My arms are getting a bit tingly."

"Righty-o!" Neptune aptly transformed into Purple Heart. "Now, Arfoire… the real battle begins."

Arfoire was silent for a bit before she burst out laughing. The girls were confused but Jacob wasn't; bad guys seemed to laugh a lot when confronted. He had yet to figure out why. "Oh, indeed it does! Get ready!"

At once, Arfoire charged forward at Jacob. "Nnnnnnnnngh!" It was obvious that Jacob's attack was hurting her but she disregarded it anyway. Jacob attempted to deliver a quick jab to her face when she got close but Jacob had no skill in the area of hand-to-hand combat so his punch was easily dodged. Arfoire decided that an appropriate counterattack would be to pierce him in the stomach.

"ARGH!" The spearhead went in quite a bit, especially after Arfoire raised the spear so that Jacob was hoisted into the air. She then shook him off the spear, allowing him to fall to the hard ground. Blood was pouring out of the cross-shaped wound in his stomach.

"JAKE!" Compa rushed towards Jacob but was intercepted by Arfoire, who attempted to slash Compa vertically. However, Arfoire was intercepted by Purple Heart.

"Compa, get to Jacob and treat his wounds now!" Purple Heart batted Arfoire away. "Iffy and I will take care of Arfoire!"

"R-Right!" Compa ran to Jacob and knelt down beside him. "Jake, are you okay?" she asked as she rolled Jacob onto his back so that the blood would stop pouring out.

"Urgh..." Jacob could barely respond, his eyes were half closed and his skin was looking pale.

"Don't worry; you'll be okay!" Compa took out some gauze and began wrapping it around Jacob's torso.

Meanwhile, Purple Heart was keeping Arfoire at bay. She carried her gun in her left hand while wielding her sword in her right hand. "Mark my words; you will pay for that." Purple Heart tried an overhead slash, which was blocked, but she then followed up with a shot to Arfoire's stomach. It didn't kill her- main antagonists were incredibly resistant to that kind of thing- but it did distract Arfoire long enough for Purple Heart to elbow her across the face. This attack was followed up by a snap kick to Arfoire's stomach, which sent the witch flying back.

"Not bad, Neptune," said Arfoire as she rotated her head. "I underestimated you. I guess I should stop holding-"

That was as far as she got before IF slashed her back with her daggers. Arfoire quickly span around with her spear, hoping to behead her sneak attacker, but IF ducked and punched both of her daggers forward towards Arfoire's stomach. Arfoire jumped back into the air to dodge and she remained floating. "You can fly, too?" IF asked, incredulous.

"That's right!" Arfoire pointed her spear at IF and was about to fire about six homing balls of red energy at her before Purple Heart rushed up to her, forced her spear upwards and kneed her in her right side. Arfoire, understandably, was peeved. "Get away!" Arfoire summoned all her strength to push Purple Heart away and then proceeded to rise into the air out of IF's melee range. She charged at Purple Heart like a bull but Purple Heart moved to the side, causing Arfoire to keep moving. The witch snarled and rotated around to fire six fireballs at Purple Heart, who dodged three of the energy balls, was grazed on different limbs by two and was impacted on the chest by one. Individually, the attacks didn't do much damage so she was fine.

Arfoire flew forward and engaged Purple Heart in close combat, using sword techniques and the occasional thrust with her spear. IF helped out Purple Heart by firing at Arfoire. As time passed, it was clear that Arfoire couldn't block IF's bullets and Purple Heart's techniques at the same time so Purple Heart overwhelmed Arfoire, cultivating in the with being sent flying into the wall.

"Damn it all…" she panted as she stood up. "You don't even look like you exercise, so why?" Arfoire then had a realisation. "Tch, that's right… this is Planeptune…! It's your home turf, Neptune. But it won't be like this next time… Don't forget my words!"

"Wait!" Purple Heart could not stop Arfoire from disappearing, leaving the party in the dungeon. IF and Purple Heart rushed towards Jacob. "Compa, how is he?" the CPU asked.

"He's fine." Compa stood up from Jacob's body. One could see tears leaking from his eyes. "The gauze should keep him from bleeding out. I just gave him a bottle of reflex to help speed his healing along but I don't want to give him any more in case his wounds don't heal right." Compa looked at IF and Purple Heart. "He still needs to go to a hospital, though. His wounds are severe and need stitching, which I'm not qualified to do. Nep-Nep, can you carry him, please?"

"Certainly." Purple Heart picked Jacob up bridal style and flew to the exit. "Jacob?" she whispered. "Can you hear me?"

"Nep… une…" Jacob mumbled as he looked at Purple Heart. "Help… m…"

"Jacob, trust me when I say everything will be okay. We'll get you to a hospital and you'll be right as rain. Okay?"

Jacob groaned something unintelligible.

Ow. Well, that was definitely not pleasant.

If there's one thing I wanted to get across at this point, it's that a bunch of fancy toys won't help you when your opponent is powerful. Contrary to what most anime believe, power is not something you can wear like a hat; power is something that you are. Jacob may have good equipment but he's still horribly inexperienced and hopelessly outmatched when faced with a CPU or most high-level enemies. Likewise, Neptune may be physically adept but her swordsmanship is unrefined and she would benefit greatly from a teacher. I believe an analogy is in order: a well-trained soldier armed with absolutely nothing and equally armoured can take on a heavily armoured new recruit armed with an assault rifle and still most likely win.

I don't know when the next chapter will be. Again, be pessimistic. I think it's healthier that way. After all, if a chapter comes in early, then great. If it's years late, then you've lost nothing.

Oh, yeah. Thank you all very much for the reviews. It makes me very proud of my work. :D Constructive criticism is, as always, welcome.

P.S: If anyone has any problems with Jacob getting all the cool stuff, I would like to tell you that Neptune gets a lightsaber later. If that doesn't help, I promise that I'll give the other girls upgrades too. I was planning to, anyway.