Another day, another chapter (a largely inconsequential and somewhat short chapter but a chapter nonetheless). Another chapter, another bunch of reviews to respond to.

Zaralann: Here it is.

Eyeshield: I try to keep my analogies interesting. Also, I think the pages would have... well, they're not exactly useful; if he was desperate enough, he could scrunch them up and throw them but that's about it. They're about as useful as fake Chaos Emeralds.

Eisenfaust: I don't believe better equipment would have helped him unless he had an insta-kill Screw You Assault Rifle.

crimson heresy: Well, that strength did Black Heart bugger all good if her prey still escaped, didn't it? Also, if you're not lazy, why are you still not logged in?

Saturn56: I don't think White Heart has the patience for torture. Also, PLEASE GIVE ME TIME TO GET TO THE OTHER CPUS. (Also, thank you).

godofmadness43: There was always the possibility of her just bringing a basket so that they could have a picnic. A very small possibility that could be measured in nanometres but a possibility nonetheless.

one who walks the path of fire: Well, that's most definitely true. Of course, that's assuming he falls onto solid ground in the first place and not straight into the Deep Sea (or whatever it's called)... Bugger it; I'm just going to Persona.

Red-Drive: Hehe. Thanks heaps. :D And you'll find out... oh, you'll find out... :D

Zdood: That was actually Twitter/Chirper/Whatever Gamindustri uses. Also, those other names were just random. Yeah, Rombacks meant Lombax, good on you for picking that up. Also, sorry in advance for making this chapter largely inconsequential. Still, I'll try and pick up the pace now.

MegaRaziel: That's what I was aiming for so thanks heaps. Also, that doesn't make any sense; there is nothing at that dungeon except for his shop. Reaching the end of the dungeon only means that they'll find him and nothing else. The only thing left to do is leave.

"Guest": I admit that Neptune's a really hard character to capture and she really blurs the line between "eccentric" and "completely bonkers" but I don't really see her as being subservient; she's pushing as hard as she bloody well can to get Jacob to go with her to Gamindustri. I think 77 other reviews would like to speak against that. Also, if screaming SELF-INSERT is a bad sign of a self-insert fanfiction, what's the point of a self-insert? Do I just write the game's story again without Jacob? What's the point of that? ... Well, as I explained to DMAsh several yonks ago... hold on, let me get it: "one thing I often see in self-insert fics is the self-insert knowing about the story and how it goes but they never go out of their way to change it and the fanfic in question is more of a novelization with one more character added, which I feel defeats the purpose of a self-insert in the first place."

kevin bozak 7: Aw, thanks, man. That really cheers me up. :D And I doubt I will.

Crimsonheresy: Just log in already. Anyway, I know that, except I live in Australia and I had to shell out $80 for it. About a month ago.

Chapter 14: Take a Breather

Those dining at Chian's restaurant found their lovely oriental atmosphere shattered once again just like how that boy came in, only this time the door was opened about as slowly and softly as a charging rhino, there were actually four boys, three of the boys were actually girls (or two of them, depending on who you asked), they didn't look fatigued or battered and… Okay then, they conceded that there were many differences between the boy and these girls but, when you're trying to dine in peace, all interruptions feel the same.

"Chian!" Compa called. "Where are you?"

Chian came into the restaurant by the entrance that led into the hallway. "Ah, there you are. Come on; Jacob's this way."

Chian led the part of four down the hallway into the room where Jacob was, much to the relief of those dining. Chian opened the door to show the state Jacob was in to the party. The blood on his neck was cleaned off but he still had the scar on his cheek. Before he turned his head to face the party, he was reading a novel in the bed. His clothes were different; his grey t-shirt and hoodie jacket were replaced with a purple t-shirt that was maybe a size or two too big for him. His gauntlets had also been removed and were placed at the foot of his bed.

"Jacob!" Neptune and Compa rushed over to Jacob's side and bent down.

Jacob smiled at them as easily as he did every other day but no one was fooled; they could all tell that Jacob felt weak. "Hey, Neptune. Did you have fun while I was gone?"

"Never mind that, dummy!" Neptune retorted. "What happened to you?"

Jacob sighed. "I can't really say."

"Why not?" asked IF.

Jacob glanced in Chian's direction.

Thankfully, she seemed to get the hint. "Oh, this is private business? Alright then, I'll leave you alone." Chian left the room and shut the door.

"Okay then…" Jacob turned back to his friends. "Black Heart found me."

"What?" everyone shouted.

"H-How?" asked Compa.

"Guess she found me while I was flying. She wanted to know where Neptune was. When I refused to say, she attacked," Jacob explained. "You can see how that went."

"I can't believe you had to fight Lady Black Heart all alone in the middle of nowhere…" IF looked concerned. "How did you escape?"

"It wasn't easy but I ultimately spat in her eyes when she pushed me up against a tree to give myself the distraction I needed to get away."

"Why didn't you call for help?" IF asked.

Jacob looked at IF, hesitant to speak. After three seconds of this silence, he turned his gaze to his feet.

"… Well?" IF pressed on.

Jacob, defeated, sighed. "I don't have a mobile phone."

IF raised an eyebrow. "You don't?"

"I don't," confirmed Jacob in a tone that indicated he preferred to not pursue this topic.

"… Why don't- oh, right." IF facepalmed. "I can't believe I forgot about you being from another world. You don't even have a phone that works here."

"… That's right." Jacob nodded, wisely keeping to himself how he didn't have a mobile phone in his world either. "I should probably work on that." He then leaned back on the bed, looking at the roof with regret. "I can't believe I went out into hostile territory alone without any means of communicating with you all…"

"Hey, don't worry about it," IF said reassuringly. "This happens a lot more often than you think. At least we know now for next time. Still… That was incredibly brash of us."

"No doubt about it." Jacob turned to Neptune. "I at least should have taken you with me. You can fly, so you could have bypassed the dungeon with me."

"Why didn't you?" Neptune asked.

Jacob smiled as if he just remembered an embarrassing memory. "I didn't want to inconvenience you. Plus, I thought I could get it done faster on my own."

"Hey, don't worry about that," Neptune responded. "We're a party! If you scratch my back, I'll scratch your itchy spots."

Compa smiled. "My grandpa said that all the time."

"… Okay then." Jacob decided to move the conversation along. "Anyway, Black Heart said something before she left."

The party's attention was caught. IF, in particular, was very interested in this. "What'd she say?"

"She said I'll… pay for what I did to Neptune."

The party was silent, thinking about this new piece of information.

"What does that mean?" Compa asked.

"I have no idea." Jacob turned to IF. "In any event, I couldn't get to the materials. I don't suppose you four could get them in my place?"

"Sure." IF turned to the rest of the party. "We'll go right now. Is that okay with everyone?"

"H-Hold on!" Compa spoke up. "Jake's still in pain and needs someone to tend to him. I'll stay here and treat his injuries."

"What?" Neptune shouted. "Then I'm stayin', too!"

"Neptune," began Jacob, "there's no telling if Black Heart will find IF and Nisa, too. You're a CPU, so you can fight on equal footing with her. You need to go with them to make sure she can't stop them."

Neptune sighed. Clearly, she had not thought about that. "Okay, I'll go..."

"Well, fantastic." IF turned to Jacob. "See you later."

Jacob nodded. "Bye."

Jacob gave a small wave as Neptune, Nisa and IF went out the door. After they left, Chian came back into the room. "You done?" she asked.

"Yeah, we are," Compa responded. "Sorry about the secrecy but it had to be so."

"I understand that. I trust you all so don't worry; I won't pry. You've all helped me so much."

Jacob smiled with Compa. "It's just what we do."

"Anyway, Jacob, I've been meaning to ask…" As Chian left her sentence hanging in the air, she walked to Jacob's bed and picked up the gauntlets. "… can I please look at these?"

"… How come?"

Chian held one gauntlet in each hand. "I've never seen this kind of technology before and I'm curious. Plus, I need something to keep me busy while the girls are getting my materials and business slows to its usual crawl in maybe ten minutes."

Jacob thought this over. "Sure, go ahead. Just make sure they're still in one piece when I get them back. I need them to fight with, you know."

"I know that. Don't worry." Chian turned to the door, holding a gauntlet in each hand.

"Wait," said Jacob. Having Chian's attention, he reached inside his disc and took out the briefcase. "Ooh…" he exhaled after it was out of the disc. "I forgot how heavy this thing was…" He opened the briefcase and took out a small paper book. "Here," he said as he handed the thing to Chian. "I think it's the instruction manual. I never used it because using the gloves themselves is straightforward enough but I think you can use it."

"Ah." Chian took the instruction manual. "Thanks. Have a good rest." With that, she finally left the room.

Compa turned back to Jacob with a smile on her face. "Well, now that everyone's got their business taken care of, I can finally look at your injuries."

"Yay," said Jacob with as little enthusiasm that he didn't care to muster.

"Now, first of all, I need you to take off your shirt."

Jacob flinched. "… Really?"

Compa immediately understood. "J-Jake, don't worry! I'm… Well, I'm not a trained professional but I'm definitely capable. You can trust me!"

Except for that one time with Neptune and the bandages, Jacob thought but never said. Instead, he just sighed. "You're right. I'm sorry. I… I'll be okay."

Much later, Neptune, Nisa and IF had arrived at the shop. It was not in the next town over as Chian had said the day before but, rather, it was at the end of a Cave #1 dungeon. Still, even though it was located at the end of a dungeon, it was rather odd. Behind the wooden counter were wooden cupboards below shelves that held labelled cloth bags and wooden boxes. To the right of all that was a dark room with glass windows high up and piles of unbound hay, separated from the main room by a green cage and a waist-high green rail. Strangely enough, there were no animals inside of it. Between the cell and the counter was a hallway leading to the back with one green steel door on the side leading elsewhere.

"Once again, the heroine of justice and her party conquer the dungeon and annihilate the monsters, not leaving even a single cell behind!" Nisa loudly boasted as she opened the door as grandly as she could get away with.

"Glad to see you're at least remembering us," IF responded as they all entered.

"Hi-hi!" Neptune shouted. "We're here to get Chian's stuff! Is anyone here?"

Sure enough, someone was there. From the back passage came a rather obese silhouette that wore a cap and seemed to have a beard and a ponytail. He was most likely the Chevre that Chian mentioned. "Oh, really?" he replied. "I was told that a boy with a jetpack would be picking them up."

"There were complications," IF responded. "We're here in his place."

"I see." He chuckled a bit. "I'm not going to complain, since Nisa herself has decided to grace my store with her presence."

Nisa smiled wide and blushed.

Chevre continued. "Anyway, the bag's in the back. It's got a big label on it and it's fairly heavy."

"No sweat," IF answered. "I'm in command of these two girls with decent strength stats. They can carry anything."

"Great," said Chevre as Neptune and Nisa went into the back of the store. "Seems Chian found some lovely friends to help her out. She's been too high-strung ever since she took over after her father. I'm glad she's found people she can depend on."

Neptune and Nisa came out from the back passage with the bag. "Y'know…" started Neptune as she and Nisa put the bag down near the entrance, "… we haven't met her pop yet. Could he be… 1) Working on another planet. 2) A binge drinking gambling addict. 3) Impaled by a hedgehog. Answer away."

"Steady there, my sister," Nisa cut in. "What about 4?"

Neptune blinked. "What's 4?"

"You know, Chian's father is actually the cold-hearted villain who will identify himself as such during the fated climatic battle."

"Oh, right," Neptune answered. Then she slowly gasped, her eyes widening in realisation. "You don't think… that Singe is her daddy?"

Nisa quickly gasped, her eyes snapping open as wide as they could. "Oh no!"

Chevre laughed loudly. "That's an entertaining chat you've got going on there but…" Chevre's demeanour turned solemn. "Unfortunately, 3 is the closest. He was killed in a cliché tragic accident."

Nisa calmed down a bit as well. "Oh no, that is very tragic… If I may ask, how are you related to Ms Chian?"

"I've known her since she was born. I worked with her old man at the factory in Passe but, like the other factories, Avenir's claws dug deep and we had no choice but to abandon that place. Her mother asked me to come back after her father's death but I had committed to this shop by then."

"So that's how Chian because the president," IF concluded.

Nisa put her hand under her chin, framing her face with her thumb and index finger. "I must say, Chian's is a rather complex backstory, much deeper than my own. I don't suppose she will one day become a member of our party?"

"That would be awesome!" said Neptune. "She has a rocket launcher! 'BOOM' would go a rocket that she'd pull out of her pocket! She'd have an infinite stash and no armour would ever block it!"

Chevre possibly smiled. "She'd probably love that but that'd never happen, I don't think. Even if she wasn't only a silhouette, she still needs to manage her business, especially with Avenir around monopolising the industry."

"Then I guess we gotta right all their wrongdoings and take 'em down!" Neptune pumped her fists.

"That would be nice but I doubt you can," responded Chevre. "Avenir's under the direct protection of the Parliament."

This news surprised Neptune. "Whaaaat? The Parliament is part of the Basilicom, right? Why'd they wanna protect Avenir?"

Chevre sighed. "I guess you don't know. Avenir is still on the loose, even after putting so many people through misery…" Chevre paused, evidently trying to calm himself down, "… because our Parliament simply refuses to do anything to stop them. Parliament requires the votes of the people to execute an order. Avenir currently holds the biggest market on the landmass, meaning they stand for the majority of Lastation's residents."

"I see," IF answered. "With Avenir on their side, then practically have enough support to do anything they want, as well."

Chevre nodded. "It's a small price to pay for them to ignore what Avenir is really doing. Avenir will continue to grow and the Parliament will continue to collect favourable votes. It'll only get worse."

"I never knew this," said IF. "Sounds like we really should focus some effort on this Avenir business."

"Yea-heah!" Neptune cheered. "That's what I'm talkin' about! Now, we should probably get back." Neptune went over to the bag to pick it up.

"I couldn't agree more," responded Nisa as she supported with the other side.

IF went to the door. "Thanks for the materials and discussion…"

"It's Chevre." Chevre tipped his hat. "A pleasure to make your acquaintances."

"Right. Thank you, Chevre. You've been a big help." IF opened the door fully. "You go first, Neptune."

"Right!" Neptune and Nisa carried the bag out of the store. "Wowzers, this is heavy..." When Neptune and Nisa finally exited, IF followed and shut the door behind her.

Chevre picked up a newspaper and started reading it. "I wasn't aware that Nisa had a sister…"

Much later, Neptune, Nisa and IF had returned to Passe. Opening the door of the restaurant, IF quickly stepped in so that Nisa and Neptune could collapse to the floor with the bag pressing down on their backs. IF was kind enough to roll it off of them. Thankfully, the restaurant was unoccupied.

"Thanks… Iffy…" Neptune panted.

"My arms of justice… feel so numb…" breathed Nisa.

"Neptune, you could have transformed and used the extra strength to help with the bag," IF noted.

Neptune didn't answer right away.

"Aww…" she groaned. "Why didn't I think of that…?"

"And stop whining. You're not the one who had to fend off the monsters that tried to attack us on the way back." IF left them alone. "Chian, we're back with your materials!"

At that call, Chian entered the restaurant from the hallway. "Oh, hey-" Then, all of a sudden, she started giggling uncontrollably.

"… Chian, is something wrong?" IF asked as Neptune and Nisa managed to get themselves off the ground.

"N-No, it's just…" Chian held her face in her palm as she kept giggling. "S-Sorry! Jacob made me promise I wouldn't- wouldn't tell- hahaha!"

The three girls of the party exchanged puzzled looks. "… Where's Compa?" IF asked.

"Sh-She's still with J… J…"

"I'm here!" Compa called as she ran out from the hallway. Unlike Chian, Compa was not in an uncontrollable fit of laughter. She was, however, incredibly flustered; her face was all red and she was pulling on her collar.

IF eyed her suspiciously. "Compa, what happened while we were gone?"

"Nothing!" Compa responded very quickly. "I was just t-tending to… J… Jake's w-wounds… and then we went shopping for some new clothes for him…"

"Compa, I thought we agreed we couldn't waste the money!" IF shouted.

"I'm sorry but Jake needed the clothes!" Compa shouted back. "His old ones were wrecked from his… last outing… and the clothes Chian had were too big. He needed new travelling clothes!"

IF sighed as she facepalmed. "Fine then. Anyway, where's Jacob?"

"Right here," answered Jacob as he walked out from the hallway. Unlike Compa, he did not look flustered. He did, however, look incredibly agitated. "Did you get the stuff?"

"… Yes, we did," IF replied.

"Jacob!" Neptune looked indignant. "What have you been doing while we were away?"

"Well, Compa treated my injuries and got me new clothes." Jacob stretched out his arms and span around. "What do you think?"

True to his word, Jacob did get a new set of garments. He wore a shiny black coat line with white and a white zipper and an "LS" logo printed on the back in a thin, serif font. Underneath his coat was a black t-shirt with a white collar and sleeves and printed on the front was a white X inside a white square inside a white circle inside a white triangle. He had black long shorts, black ankle socks and black sneakers.

"… That's a lot of black," IF commented.

"That's all they had," Jacob responded.

"Speaking as a Lastation citizen, I can vouch for that," Nisa added.

"Okey-dokey. Now," Neptune put her hands on her hips and walked right up in front of Jacob, "why is Chian laughing so much and why is Compa super-embarrassed?"

"I'm not telling you." Jacob remained staunch.

"Fine." Neptune crossed her arms and walked up to Compa. "Compa, what's going on?"

"Compa, I swear to God, if you tell them, I will not let you get away with it easily," Jacob warned.

"D-Don't worry, Jake!" Compa saluted to him. "I will never tell them about your boobies!"

At once, the entire party was silenced.

Chian, who had taken a seat at a table, now had her head against it, laughing as loud as a human being could manage while banging her fist on the table.

Compa, realising what she had said, quickly move her hands over her mouth.

Jacob facepalmed.

"… What?" IF managed to say despite her bewilderment.

"Jacob has boobies?" Neptune parroted.

"Inconceivable!" Nisa exclaimed.

"Damn it, Compa…" Jacob moaned.

"I-I'm sorry!" Compa recoiled.

Jacob would have continued but, while he was too focused on Compa to prevent it from happening, Neptune rushed forward to place a hand to his chest.

She squeezed.

"They're there!" Neptune informed the others.

"Let go!" Jacob snapped as he swiped his arm at Neptune, who backed away quickly to avoid it.

Neptune looked at her groping hand. "Whoa, I think they're like yours, Iffy!"

"What?" IF ignored the nickname for now.

"Go on, feel!" Neptune urged.

"Don't touch me!" Jacob crossed his arms in front of his chest defensively.

"A boy…" Nisa muttered, despair evident in her expression and voice. "A boy has bigger breasts than me…"

"N-Nisa, are you okay?" Compa asked the heroine, concerned.

"What…? Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm fine… I'm absolutely okay…" Nisa took a seat at a table and sat down. "Even a boy has bigger breasts than me…"

"For God's sake, leave me alone!" Jacob roared, causing Neptune, Compa and IF to flinch.

"Whoa… Okay, then." Neptune paused for a moment. "… Jacob, why does a boy like you have boobs?"

Jacob snarled.

"Sorry! Curious!"

Jacob sighed. "Sorry, sorry… It's actually fat. It happens sometimes. Please leave me alone."

"Okay, okay." Neptune exhaled.

"Bigger breasts…" Nisa droned.

"Oh my…" Jacob massaged his forehead. "Chian, enjoy your materials. We'll be going now."

"Al… Alright then…" Chian snorted. "See you all later- Wait!"

"Huh?" Jacob and the rest of the party stopped at the door and turned back to Chian (except for Nisa).

"Sorry, I almost forgot!" Chian, having composed herself, got up from her chair and ran to the back of the store. The party remained where they were, confused, until Chian returned with three objects.

"Oh, my gauntlets. Thanks." Jacob happily took his weapons back and put them on. "Say... they look different. Did you modify them?"

Aside from the gauntlets changing from white to black, the only part of the gauntlets that changed were the forearms. The three black bar spines on each gauntlet had been removed in favour of a symbol of a hollow white diamond with a full white diamond inside it.

"Yeah." Chian might have smiled. "I added a new function into it. It's a shield that blocks enemy attacks. Go and try it out."

Jacob turned the back of his forearm outward. "A shield?"

Then, all of a sudden, the white diamond glowed and projected a small circle of translucent white energy maybe thirty centimetres in diameter, large enough to be a buckler. Jacob activated the other gauntlet and achieved the same result.

"Well, this will come in handy," Jacob commented as he deactivated the shields. "Hm..."

Jacob crossed his arms in front of him with the forearms facing outward. This time, he generated an even larger shield that was three metres wide, more than enough to protect him and whoever was standing next to him. When it came into contact with the floor and ceiling, it just stopped growing in that direction.

Chian was surprised. "I'm pretty sure I didn't make it so that it could do that."

"A natural function of the gauntlets, I think," Jacob explained as he deactivated the shield. "If I use both gauntlets to use a function, it's greatly amplified."

"Ah."

"Chian, how did you make the gauntlet do that?" IF inquired.

"Well," started Chian as she held up the instruction manual, "this little thing here explains how to modify the gauntlets to include new functions. It's tedious but handy, not to mention the possibility of making whatever weapon you wanted and actually keeping it is much better than going through vendor trash for twenty hours."

"... Okay," Jacob said simply.

"Anyway, I also increased the strength output so whatever it did before should be greatly amplified. Its stats were pretty low before so I thought I'd give it a buff."

"Aw, thanks." Jacob took the manual back. "Well, we'll be going now. Maybe we'll see you later."

"Bye, Chian," said IF as the party headed out the door.

"See you later," returned Chian before the door closed.

"Ah, it's good to be back…" Jacob sighed pleasantly as the party arrived back at the motel. At once, the dogs barked happily and swarmed to the party. Jacob crouched down to pat one of them. "Hey boys, how are you all?"

"Bigger…" Nisa ignored the dogs entirely, much to their confusion.

"Nisa, please cut that out," IF requested before going inside the motel.

Neptune's first instinct upon entering the room was to run towards her bed at full speed before jumping on it. "Oh yeaaaah… My arms need this rest badly…" Then she sat up. "Hey, Jacob, can I feel-"

"NO!" Jacob roared. "And stop asking! For God's sake..." He then breathed in and breathed out to calm himself down. "Anyway, IF," Jacob started as he sat down on his bed, "did you learn anything that could advance the plot on your little trip?"

IF shook her head, also sitting on her bed. "Nothing, really. We did learn about Chian's history, though."

"Ooh, what was it like?" Compa asked, intrigued.

"Incredibly deep, all things considered," IF answered. "Turns out the shopkeeper actually used to work with Chian's dad at the old factory but he left when Avenir made things too troublesome. Also, Chian's dad is dead."

"Shocker," said Jacob in a way that indicated he was anything but shocked.

"So Avenir was around even then…" said Compa.

"Yeah," IF confirmed. "Anyway, we may need to focus on Avenir more now."

Jacob raised an eyebrow. "How come?"

"As it turns out, Avenir's protected by the Parliament. The Parliament needs votes to do whatever the public wants it to do but Avenir, representing most of Lastation right now, overwhelms any opposition it has. As Avenir basically controls the votes, the Parliament just doesn't take action against them. Avenir keeps getting bigger, the Parliament stays in power… It goes on forever."

"Hm… So Avenir's protected by the Parliament…" Jacob reiterated as he lied down.

"Yeah, that's right. Sorry that we don't have anything to go on about the Key Fragment or a Guard Vermin but-"

"Hold the phone!" Jacob sat up suddenly as if he just had an epiphany.

Even Nisa seemed to have snapped out of it in the face of this odd action. "Uh, Jacob, is something wrong?"

Jacob didn't react. "The Parliament pressured the Sanctuary into shutting down the Tech Expo," he said to himself. "The heretic said that the parliament only listens to the sound of coin. Now it turns out that Avenir's got protection from the government… Avenir's monopolising the engineering industry of Lastation…" He faced IF. "IF, do you know what this means?"

Even though she was caught off-guard by his eccentric behaviour, IF still put thought into Jacob's words. "… I don't really get it. What do you know?"

"IF." Jacob stood up and walked over to IF. "Listen to me, and listen well…" Jacob bent down.

"Avenir is bribing the Parliament."

And just like that, everything fell into place in the minds of the party.

"Wait, that means the Parliament is corrupt!" IF exclaimed.

"Wow…" Compa didn't see that coming.

"Those dogs!" Nisa's enraged fist slammed into the wall. "How dare they twist justice to their own ends!"

Neptune, however, didn't seem excited. "Well, that's all handy-dandy and all but how does that help us?"

Jacob turned to the amnesiac. "Don't you see, Neptune?" He was getting excited now. "Avenir is sending money to the Parliament. That's why they won't do a thing to stop Lastation's inevitable downfall. I don't know a lot about politics but I imagine they're sending a hefty sum. That's not the kind of thing you can just drop off at someone's door in an envelope. They're sending the money electronically. That means there's going to be electronic records, statements or something saying that a transaction has taken place between the Avenir and the Parliament. If we can find proof of this corruption, then…"

"Then we can use it to expose Avenir and shut them down," IF finished with a smile.

"Exactly!" Jacob raised his arms in the air in a triumphant motion. "If we can just find proof of this, we'll wrap up this subplot here and now!"

"Um, Jake... how are we going to get the proof?" Compa inquired.

Jacob exhaled. "I know. That's going to be the tricky part. The records are going to be either in the Basilicom where the Parliament is, in Avenir's HQ or stored on the electronic banking website they're potentially using for these transactions. The first two options require breaking into an incredibly important building that's most likely very well guarded and the last option requires hacking experience. I doubt any of us are skilled at infiltration or hacking." Jacob turned his gaze to IF. "Unless-"

"Sorry, no," IF cut in. "I may look the part but tactical espionage action isn't one of my class abilities."

"Lame," Jacob droned.

"Shut up," responded IF.

"Anyway, that means we really don't have any way of getting the proof… unless we ask Black Heart about it. Even though she's tried to kill us, do you think she's willing to talk this through?"

"Not a chance," IF shut him down. "I know she seems diplomatic but I don't think she'd take our word over the Parliament's. You know, since we're not exactly friends. Also, there's that whole thing about how she'll make you pay for what you did to Neptune... I still don't know what that means."

"Neither do I." Jacob fell back onto his bed. "Well, I guess we can't really do anything at this point."

IF smiled. "Still, we now know what we have to do. I have to say, this is a pretty good morning for us." IF pulled out her pink flip-top cell phone and opened it. "I'm going to look for quests. We'll just keep doing those until we think of or find a way."

"In the meantime," started Nisa as she stood up and walked to the door, "I will take my pupil…" She grabbed Jacob's coat sleeve and pulled him with her, "… for some training."

"Uh, Sensei, I just got curbstopped only a few hours ago and I think parts of my body are still recovering. I don't suppose we could-"

Before Jacob could finish, Nisa turned around, grabbed his collar and pulled his face down to hers and pressed against it. "No."

"… Okay." Jacob didn't complain as Nisa took him outside with her.

"Aw, pooey," Neptune complained. "I wanted to measure him."

Yeah, Jacob's mostly guessing about Avenir bribing the Parliament. However, given the clues that have appeared up to that point combined with how unsubtle the story's been, it's a fair guess in his eyes. Anyway, now they have a clue to go on. All they need now is an opportunity to use it.

And, again, I forgot about the dogs. Thank God I picked up on it in time.

See you all next time in Chapter 15: Another Altercation.