[Around one hour after the capture of Nepgear and her friends...]
A Planeptune fighter jet is flying above the Leanboxian channel, the pilot see the Basilicom form afar but she also notice two small dots coming in front of her on the radar, she turns on the radio
Two Leanboxian jets comes to encounter the Planeptune one, they do a U turn once they are behind it and flies beside it
"Leanbox air base to Planeptune jet, please identify and declare the reason of the flight in the Nation airspace."
"Planeptune jet to Leanboxian air base. I was escorting Planeptune diplomats but they got shot down by an unknown ship, I will say more about it if you allow me to land."
The radio operator put her hand over the mic and turns her head to her superior "What do we do major?" she asks
The Major immediately responds "Allow her to land. I got some questions."
The operator removes her hand "Permission accorded."
[Later…]
A woman is siting on a chair while crossing her two arms, she's wearing a pilot G-suit, she removed her helmet revealing an attached light purple colored hair in form of a chignon, her eyes are dark gray as the clouds and are staring the corporal who is standing in front of her
The Corporal opens the conversation: "I am the corporal Oliver. So, who are you firstly?"
"AM2, I'm one of the fighter pilot of the Nep Force One escort."
"Okay, can you make a description of the ship that attacked the escort?"
"It looked like a battleship form the middle to late 1930s I think, it got refitted with modern weaponry. It claimed to be a Leanboxian it started opening fire after we introduced ourselves."
"That's weird since the only remaining Battleship we have is a relic of the great eastern war and used a museum ship."
"I also forgot to state that it didn't have a Leanboxian flag so it might be a pirate one."
"Okay. What kind of weapons the ship you encountered was equipped with?"
"form what I could see, Laser auto cannons and Rail guns."
The corporal raise en eyebrow "Rail gun you say?"
"Yes, they replace the battleship cannons."
Hearing that, the corporal walks to the door
"Stay here I have to call my superior." He says and leaves the room
A2M wait there, for around 20 longs minutes and the corporal comes back at stays at the door
"You are free to go, don't worry about the officials, we are taking care of this, we started to search for them, you can participate in the search if you want."
"It would sure be faster if I help." A2M gets up of her chair and head out of the room
The corporal closes the door
OCEAN
SOMEWHERE IN THE NORTH OF THE LEANBOXIAN CHANNEL
LATE AFTERNOON
CFW Magic is flying above the Leanboxian sea, heading to the south-west, searching for the Dreadnought that they renovated, after some search she eventually finds it
Some crew mate on the bridge see the goddess
"Is that another CPU?"
"I think… Should we tell the Capt-"
Before the crew mate have the time to finish what he have to say, the "CPU" Landed right in front of them. They notice who this is, they immediately salute her
"Where's the Captain of your ship?" She asks
The two sailors looks at each other
Magic enters the bridge of the ship, the Captain is sitting on his seat looking at the ocean
"Bay." a voice says coming form behind him
The Captain turns his head "Oh, hello Magic."
"Can I see the prisoners?"
Bay sighs "I'm sorry but I have to tell you that they escaped."
"And how did they get out."
Bay hesitate for a bit "It's due to a gua- No no, a default on the cells locking that caused the doors to not close correctly. They just walked out, killed the guard, I with marines attempted to stop them. But they managed to steal a dingy and get out. Many of them died." He explains but also thinks that it would be humiliating to be blackmailed by a Maker
"The Marines?"
"Yes."
"I see. In which direction they escaped?"
"Wait you want to chase them down? Are you sure because you are kinda far form the Gamindustri Graveyard."
"That would be dangerous in first place but the Candidate should be pretty weakened, and so does her friends. I should have enough power to take them down."
"Good luck with that. They went over that way"
"It isn't about luck."
Magic then get outside and flies away
[Meanwhile.]
SOUTH OF THE LEANBOXIAN CHANNEL
Nepgear is on the dinghy with the makers, they are discussing
"So you were sure that fire could have been set to the thing that was used as a rope?"
"Yes of course, they are full of gas so it takes fire easily."
"But how it could have triggered the grenades?"
"Due to overheating a grenade with the fire. It would have caused a chain reaction and explode all the others ones around it. To be honest tough I'm not really sure that it would have worked now that I think about it but the main purpose was to scare the shit out of crew."
"Double or quits."
"It was that."
A small silent moment ensues stopped by Compa
"So Ge-Ge. So why you did that?" Compa asks to the Candidate
"We were about to get shot down so I had to do something."
"Yeah and that was useless."
"Sorry. I did my best."
"You don't have to be sorry, you tried." RED responds
"She right but be more cautious next time, its the same kind of thing that caused me to have a bullet in the head. A friend used to say to me to never rush into battle and underestimate your opponent. Especially when the said opponent is Lastation dreadnought." Explains Bethesda
"Lastation? It was the ASIC." IF corrects the inventor
"The ship itself was form Lastation, it served during the great eastern war and got sunk by a Leanboxian torpedo bombers." Bethesda explains further
"Oh. I didn't knew that."
"Its the short version, I forgot the full one."
"But how they managed to get it back?" RED asks
"You know technology now is so advanced so they must have made a very effective recovery system." Nepgear responds
"That's weird since when they invaded Planeptune they mostly used old assault rifles." IF says
"That mean they got more budget." Compa says
"Surely. When I was in the mountain range the ASIC could visibly already control monsters."
"That's bad. How we are gonna do to dismantle them then?"
"There is probably one only on way it can end." Bethesda then sigh "Nepgear, I'm sorry."
"About what?"
"I was trying to manipulate you."
"Wow, slow down Bethesda."
"It was what I was doing. Forcing my views into someone else."
"You not longer want to kill all of them?"
"Not all of them. Its a question of point of view I'm starting to realize."
"What do you mean by that?" Compa asks
"Well, RED what do you think about the ASIC?"
"They are dummies that want to destroy Gamindustri."
"RED see them as bad guys but for them we are the villains."
"I don't really get it." Compa says
"ASIC official objective to the public is that they want to make a fairer society, if their organization got so much power than there is a problem in the nations." IF explains
Something make Nepgear on alert
"Gear?" IF asks
"I feel that someone is approaching quickly!"
"That's weird, we are in the middle of the sea."
"I-i-i Just feel it!"
A blur shows up right behind Nepgear, with a gigantic beam scythe about to strike on her… Nepgear have barely the time to turn her head…
CLING
IF Block the attack with her qatars
"Jeez, the same scene happened in the volume 4!" IF says
"Ge-Ge! Transform!"
"Right here!"
Nepgear transform into Purple Sister
"Its, her!"
"I had enough of you all. I will finish you all right now!" Magic says
"How she knew that we were there?"
Bethesda remembers about something when he negotiated with admiral Bay "So that was his third choice he was talking about?!"
"That make sense now!" Responds RED
Magic moves away form IF, dive in the ocean and emerge next to Compa, she proceed to kick in the head, she get propelled out of the boat and end in the sea
SPLASH
IF seeing that immediately jump in to the water to get her
Magic swings her scythe to Purple Sister
KLASH
Purple Sister blocks the first swing, but Magic continues so will slowly over powering the Candidate
Nepgear feel as she hardly blocks her attacks, the power of the Leader of the ASIC, reminding her first fight with her, she shakes more and more on the un-ending assaults of Magic, she decides to fly away form her and take a position in the skies, She takes an aim at her with her gun blade
PEW PEW PEW
She shots multiples times
Magic dodges most of them except the last one who hits her
"ARGH" She yelps but it only slow her down a second before she restart flying at full speed
This confuse Nepgear. She was nearly invincible on their first fight but here she seem to be somehow hurted by a blast?
Magic takes advantage of the confusion by giving a blow with the pole of the scythe, she then grab the Candidate by her neck and starts to strangle her
"When I noticed that you and your friends were causing me so much trouble and seeing that you were isolated in this area. I decided that it was best moment to finally solve the problem."
Purple Sister attempts to free herself by removing the hand of her aggressor but in vain, she starts to have trouble to breath making her lose her focus… She then re-transforms back to her human form
"We have to do something, we can't let my wifey die! Shot her or anything!" RED says
Bethesda grabs his jammer and set it on "I got a better idea, you will punch her in the eye or Hiroi will do it."
"How you want me to go that high?!"
Bethesda grabs RED and throws her towards Magic, he take a breath...
Nepgear is now fighting just to stay conscious
"Too bad you will never see your sister again." Magic says while strangling even further the Candidate
The Candidate who suddenly drops her hands down, the very last thing that she could hear is a distant "Fus Ro dah!"
"Why the other guy is yelling some random word-"
POW
RED emerge right under the Leader of the ASIC and uppercuts her, RED get slightly over her and throws her Yo-Yo full speed in her eye
"AAAAAAAAHHHHH! FUCK! MY ONLY FUNCTIONING EYE!"
Magic drops Nepgear down
Nepgear who falls a dozen of meters down before getting catch by Bethesda
IF with Compa gets back into the dinghy
"Where's RED?"
"Up here."
"WHHEEEEEEEEE!"
Splash
"Down here."
RED jumps back into the boat
"Start the boat! FULL SPEED!" Bethesda yells
IF immediately starts the boat and the gang get away leaving the Criminal of the Free World there, suffering
"Phew. She isn't that strong actually!" RED says happily
"That's even weirder, how she could have defeated the four goddesses? How that works? Did the Shares of the syndicalist made her weaker?"
"That doesn't make" Compa coughs in the middle of her sentence "Sense."
"Yeah not at all! Her power system is mystery."
"Nepgear can you hear me?" Bethesda says and shakes her a little while carrying her
Compa approaches and check if she's still breathing, she put her hand on the Candidate chest "She's okay, just unconscious."
Bethesda gently lay Nepgear down next to him on the dinghy, everyone looks at the Candidate
"CPU's can't die along they still got shares, right?" RED asks
"Normally yes, there is specials weapons to kill them but they are pretty rare." Bethesda says
"Good thing." IF responds
"That's amazing how much a CPU's can take, she got direct hit by a rail gun and now she got strangled." Compa says
IF turns her head and looks at Compa "There is a difference of gravity between the two."
A half an hour later. Nepgear finally wakes up, she looks at the blue sky right in front of her
"I-i am dead?" She asks
"No." A voice responds to her
Nepgear then looks around her and see her pals on the dinghy, she get's up and sits next to Bethesda"We won?"
"Somehow, yes." IF says
"Everything I can remember is getting strangled. What happened?"
"Neither I, barely saw anything after she kicked me in the head." Compa adds
"Einstein sent me flying and I threw a Yo-Yo right in her eye!" RED responds, proud of what she did
"Einstein?"
"She talk about me."
"Oh."
"You used your yelling magic thing?" Compa asks
"Of course. I'm strong physically but not that strong to throw someone that high, Maybe Id would be able to do it."
"Awww. I didn't see it."
"Yeah I would also like to see it." IF says
"Next time maybe." Bethesda responds
"I would mind being thrown by your sister." RED says
"I see that you wouldn't mind being thrown by female's characters in general." States the Inventor
"As long they are my wifey." The wifey collector Affirms
IF smiles and talks "Then we should organize a RED throwing contest." she says
A second passes, the second after everyone starts laughing
"That's sure hilarious but let's get back on the actual mystery. Why the fuck she was weaker?" IF says
"Are you sure that she was actually weaker?" Compa says
"We would have been annihilated other wise."
"Maybe she was holding back?" Nepgear says
"Why she would hold back in first place?" Bethesda responds "We are a pretty big problem for the ASIC so she would have no reason to hold back."
"Fair enough."
"ASIC shares affecting negatively her strength?" Nepgear says
"We already talked about that track when you were unconscious." IF responds
"Or maybe that her power is based on the distance between her and the graveyard?" Nepgear continues with hypothesis
"But how that's works? And this also confirms nothing, we need a concrete evidence." Bethesda responds
"Well it seem that we can't really confirm anything, but we can consider it as useful track."
"I hope so."
RED looks at the horizon in front the boat, she gets excited and points at it "Hey, I'm starting to see the continent!"
Effectively, the continent of Leanbox can now be seen by the group, a part of some kind of square shilouete Is quickly noticed
"Finally!" IF sighs in relief
"That weird square, is that the Basilicom?" Nepgear asks
"Yep."
WOOOOSSSSHHHHHH
A jet flies over them
"Uh?"
"Wow it was flying low!" States Compa
"That's unusual." Bethesda says
Not long after, a patrol boat sails to them
"A Leanboxian warship?" Compa says
"A patrol ship. Probably the coast guards, since its very lightly armed." IF corrects
Effectively, there is only a small 20mm auto cannon on the front of the boat. There is also someone next to the cannon who wave at them
"Hey you! Stop the boat!"
IF turns off the engine of the dinghy
"Y-yes?" Responds Nepgear
"You are the Candidate of Planeptune?"
"Uh, Yes! I am! And these are my friends I'm traveling with."
The man quickly looks at the passengers of the Dinghy
"I see."
He then leaves and go inside of the boat, he grab a radio
"We found them." "Yes, Lady."
The man goes back on the front of the ship and looks at the Candidate dinghy
"Follow my ship please." the man says to the
At the patrol boat sails towards Leanbox, IF turn back on the engine of the dinghy and she handle the rudder, the dinghy turns and follows the patrol boat
[Later...]
The dinghy and the patrol boat enters in the naval base while the sun starts setting on Leanbox, most of Leanboxians warships are stationed here which range form patrols boats to an aircraft carrier
LEANBOX
LEANBOX NAVAL BASE
EARLY EVENING
They arrive to the quay, IF parks the dinghy, they leave it, the group of friends stretch as they leave it
"Aw shit that was a long trip, but here we are." IF says
"Are you happy to be back at your home nation?" Nepgear says to Bethesda
"Yeaahhhhhh." Bethesda responds while yawning "Gosh, I'm tired."
And then a light green haired woman with a black ribbon in form of an X that joint her hair into a long ponytail wearing a fashioned black dress who match with her high heels and stockings, she also have red eyes
"Welcome to Leanbox." She says "Oh and welcome back for Bethesda."
Bethesda raise his hand to salute "Hi chika." he responds to the oracle
"Who this is? A friends of yours?" Nepgear asks to Bethesda
"Ladies, you got the oracle of Leanbox in front of you." Bethesda responds
"Chika Hakozaki, that's my full name."
CHIKA HAKOZAKI
ORACLE OF LEANBOX
"Mind we talk at the basilicom? I got some other stuff to do."
"We-e can talk on the way there!" Nepgear says
"We can also do that." Chika starts to walk away "Its not far form there anyway."
Nepgear group follows her
"So… Miss Chika, why you wanted to see me?" Nepgear asks
Chika quickly responds: "Well you know, Leanbox don't have Candidate to gather shares and due to that Leanbox is going to very rough times, you are probably aware of the pirates that are causing problems right?"
"Yes, IF told me about it."
"Due to that and also the ASIC implant themselves at Leanbox. All we could do until now is to attempt to contain the threat but it was midly effective, the economy was the first thing hit, businesses had to closes, increasing unemployment and poverty and so as a consequence, criminality in general got a gigantic rise. It allowed the ASIC to gain a big influence here."
Nepgear and RED are shocked by hearing that, but IF, Compa and Bethesda quite expected it, they exit the naval base and goes into the streets, as Chika said, there is a lot of closed markets
Nepgear looks at her surroundings while advancing "That's horrible!"
"But I thought of a solution, if CPU's form a foreign country can get the shares instead of the ASIC, then it would totally prevent them spread their influence further."
"Fair enough, but the shares will be back to Planeptune so it wouldn't be problematic for Leanbox?"
"Less than the ASIC having the shares."
"I-i get it."
They reach the Basilicom and enters inside, the naval base is literally next to the basilicom, Chika holds them the door and they enters in
"But whats your plan?" Bethesda inserts himself in the conversation between the oracle and the candidate
"Simple, firstly the Candidate will complete one or two quests tomorrow. Secondly I'm planing to organize a concert also tomorrow but in the late evening with a famous idol and another music group there." Chika explains
"Oh." Nepgear responds to Chika
"By the way what's your name?" Chika asks to Nepgear
"N-nepgear."
"Nice to meet you then. You will be able to rest comfortably for the night, there is an excellent hotel near there."
"N-no need to!"
"I'm gonna house them." Bethesda says
"Sure thing. Do you have enough bed's at least?"
"No need to only have bed's. But that's true that I have a plenty of people to house… Maybe Nepgear could sleep in Vert room?"
"Uhm… okay she can." Chika responds to Bethesda "But! You better leave it CLEAN." Chika says menacingly to Nepgear
"Uh! Y-yes! I swear It will be very clean!"
"Also, I want to know what happened at the Gamindustri Graveyard, I want to know if my dear Vert is okay..."
Nepgear sighs and then explains what happened…
"So she is prisonier of them." Chika sighs
"And that's why. We need to know where's the Mascot."
"I will tell you the location of the Mascot once we are done with all of this. The only thing after is that you will promise me that Vert will return home okay."
Nepgear closes her eyes and nods "She will be!"
"…You are all free to go."
"Goodbye."
Nepgear and her pals starts to leave
"Except you Bethesda, I have some things to talk about with you."
Bethesda goes back to her
"Be quick please."
Nepgear, IF, Compa and RED leaves the Basilicom, they wait in front of the main door for a few minutes
"What do you think they have to talk about?" RED asks
"Probably about the deal that they made with Planeptune." IF responds
"What deal?"
IF explains to RED why Bethesda was at Planeptune and were helping them in first place
"Oh… So that's about revenge?" RED says
"Sort of." Compa responds
Bethesda than exits the building and join the Nepgear and the gang
"So what you talked about?" Nepgear asks
"That's a bit confidential." Bethesda responds
"So you will make us visit the city?" RED asks
"No." Bethesda responds on cold tone this time, he starts to walk away
"Hey! Histoire allowed you to go with us because we needed a guide remember!" IF says angrily
"Laziness + I'm tired." he continues to say on a cold one
"Understandable." Compa responds "You should get to sleep first then."
"You better do it!" IF adds
"Not sure about that. I'm gonna go to a pub. Call me if you need to find my apartment." Bethesda says getting further away
"Do you have an alcoholism problem?" Compa asks
"Maybe."
[Later…]
Bethesda enters a pub, there isn't a lot of people, he just take a seat near the barmaid who is visibly in the late 20s
"Long time no see."
"Yeah. I was busy last three years."
"So what it will be?"
"As usual."
The barmaid open a bottle of Lastation Whiskey, she fills it in a glass and put some ice cubes in it, she handle it to Bethesda
Bethesda drinks it bottoms up and takes a breath
A mysterious man enters the pub, he have a big slouch hat black with a brown band on it, he's is slightly shorter than Bethesda and wears a pitch black long sleeve jacket matching with his black gloves and a khaki pants with some combat boots, he wears sunglasses
The man takes a seat next to Bethesda, he orders a yellow chartreuse
"Hi." Bethesda says
"Hello." The man, he have an Australian accent responds "There isn't a lot of PUB opens." he talks casually, he don't seem to know who he is talking with
"Yeah, its due to the economic situation, but we will ride out of that spiral."
"It would be a good thing for sure."
A glass filled with the yellow liquid is given to the man
"You don't seem to be form Leanbox." Bethesda says to the man and raise his hand "Another one barmaid!" He says to the barmaid
"Effectively, I'm form Planeptune. Born in the canyon." the man says between two sips
"It must be pretty hot there."
"You can't imagine. There is also a stupidly dangerous wild life."
"Like mega-scorpions?"
"Yeah. You seem to know the area, you already went there?"
"No, but I would maybe pay a trip there. Sound like a good spot for monster hunting." The whiskey glass is filled and handled to Bethesda who chug it down again
The man chuckles a bit "Its sure is."
Bethesda takes another breath "Are you visiting the region?"
"No, I just have a job to do here."
"I see." Bethesda then gets up "Well good luck on your job and good evening." Bethesda give a credit bill to the barmaid
"Thanks."
Bethesda then leave the pub and head for his home, he manage to get there with some difficulties since he is a bit tipsy, he doesn't really pay attention to what his neighborhood now looks like.
"Hey you!" Someone calls him while blocking his way
Bethesda stops, the shadowy guy pull a gun and point at the Inventor, another one
"Your phone and your money mother fucker." He threatens
Bethesda takes a breath and takes a step to get closer to the thugs
B.A.T.S
THUG (1): HEAD (85%)
THUG (2): HEAD (70%)
Bethesda punches the thug with the gun in the head, He then quickly punch the other one with the knife
They both fall on the sidewalk
Bethesda is not sure if he killed them or they are just unconscious... but he doesn't give shit and advances past them, he then reach his building and go to his apartment
"HICK I shouldn't have HIPS asked two full glasses." He says as he search for his door keys, he eventually almost forgot that he putted it in his inventory
He opens the door and steps in, RL-3 comes, a bit dusty
"WELCOME BACK."
"HIPS-llo RL-3."
"SIR, YOU SEEM TO BE DRUNK."
"OF COURSE I AM!" Bethesda says loudly as he tries to imitate his robot
"THERE WAS ALSO PEOPLE WHO ATTEMPTED TO GET INSIDE OF YOUR HOUSE BUT I REPELLED THEM."
"With you-HIPS fists?"
"AND LASER ADDED BY OBSIDIAN."
"How the fuck Obsidian managed to get inside of my house and upgrade my robot?" Bethesda thinks but right now he knows that what he need is a good night of sleep
So the Inventor head to his bed and closes his eyes, finally he can get some rest...
[Earlier, in an another area of the city…]
Just after Bethesda left them, Nepgear, IF, Compa and RED are still near the Basilicom and are wondering what to do now
"Uh! Clearly a boy thing to leave girls like that." RED says angrily
"So... should we still look around the city?" Nepgear asks
"I'm not sure about that, it looks like a ghetto." Compa responds
"We should get some rest for tomorrow first." adds IF
"Okay. Good night." Nepgear says as she starts heading inside of the basilicom
"Hi everyone, listen to my song!" A feminine voice says
Nepgear stops walking upon hearing the announcement
"Uh? Where that come form?"
"A street concert! We're gonna watch it okay?!"
"Uh, fine I guess this can't hurt before going to sleep."
"Still better not get too close to the loud speakers, It can cause hearing problems."
And they go the direction of the announcement, they find a stage with a crowd around it, on it there is a girl in the late teens on it, she is white skinned, have a blue long hair, some magenta eyes, she is wearing a typical stage costume for idols, which is mainly black put there is also some pink on her belt and some white stripes on her costume. She also wear a headphone and have a music note tattoo with a heart next to it
"Thank you all for coming today! You've given me the energy I need to sing my heart out!" Announces the idol "This next song is my personal favorite, so I hope enjoy it!"
The idol grab her guitar and starts to sing while also playing it
(Kirihirake! Role-Play Star Girl starts playing)
The crowd is silent, just enjoying the idol song
"It's a very catchy song." Nepgear comments
"Yep. Everyone is staying quiet and listening to her voice." Compa states
"Hard to believe that's being overrun by the ASIC." IF says
At the same moment, on a building someone is looking at the show trough binoculars, it observe the crowd but mostly the performing idol. Nothing of his appearance can be said due to the darkness but it deploy a bipods attached to a sniper rifle, it is deployed at the edge of it and the person is looking trough the scope of the weapon…
There is the idol right in middle of the sight, the sight is adjusted due to the ballistic of the bullet, it goes slightly higher, once sure the person start to pull the trigger...
BANG
And the music abruptly stops...
Last chapter of 2022 at least in the timezone where i'm uploading it, nothing else to say so... happy new years! (well it depends when you guys read this chapter)