"Yo, you awake?" The incessant prodding of her cheek caused the groggy Uzume to muster a mild wave, followed by a grumble. This somewhat smothered mumble was then partnered with a whine as she fought to open her eyes.

"What?"

"Cool, you are." Uzume stared through the slivers of her lashes at the blob of red and white. ignoring the multitude of colors glowing and bobbing around her peripheral vision.

"Who's what?"

"Hey." A new voice this time; Uni, if the squeakiness at the start was to be believed. "What's going on over here."

"She's waking up." The initial voice said, and Uzume was back trying to clear the fuzz from her eyes.

"Oh. Uzume woke up... she is Uzume, right, not you?"

"Oooh~ Can't tell us apart?" The figure moved, taking on... some sort of pose. "Guess that's a testament to my efforts." Another motion, but clearer this time; most of the sleep was gone now. The girl did a pirouette, and stopped with a half leaning stretch - hips shot to the side, and a noticeable grin as she cupped her cheek. "FU does it again!"

"Yeah... right." Uni bore a look on the edge of irritation. "Can we... I don't know, call you something else?"

"Huh... why?" FU tilted her head a little, and Uni appeared to be at a loss; then again, Uzume herself had been rather shocked with how the girl appeared so oblivious.

"I... um, well..." A good second of grasping for straws seemed to get her nowhere, but luckily for her, she managed to fumble out something sensible... kind of. "We, uh, we already have a friend who's name is spelled with two letters. Yeah, her name is IF, and... and we gave her a nickname: Iffy. Yes, that's it, we uh... we want to be fair and give you one too, you know, as a sign of our friendship."

Poor FU lit up like a star.

"Heck yeah! That sounds great!"

"G-glad you think so." Uni was on the spot again, slightly taken aback by how giddy the ruffled red-head appeared - if that was her natural color anyway. "Right, so, how about we call you... um." She paused, sweating a little. "We'll call you..."

"Yes?" The girl prodded excitedly. Uni was dropping the ball here, and FU was not making the task any easier - the girl was practically robbing the drill-tailed girl's air away with how close she was.

"We'll... you know what?" Uni looked to perk up a bit, her smile slipping from wary to relieved. "How about you pick a name?"

"Wait, really?"

"Sure." Uni tossed lastly, and FU grew all excited again.

"Awesome!" She paused, taking on a more thoughtful expression as her eyes narrowed ahead, and soon after, popping back to life as the proverbial lightbulb flicked on. "I got it! You can call me U!"

"Me?!" Uni's face was a twisted 'bwa'.

"No, not you, me." FU said pointing to herself. "I can be U."

"What are you talking about?! I'm me!" Uni was lost, understandably so, and that lack of understanding appeared to go both ways.

"I'm not talking about you!" FU stated with a slightly less than soft puff, seeming to grow upset with each second. "I'm referring to me! I can be U; not you, me."

"Huh?" Uni was short-circuiting over there, and Uzume decided it was best to try and rectify this issue before it spread out into a full on infection.

"Hey, FU."

"I thought I was U now?" The girl turned her way, and Uzume fought the urge to fall in line with the confusion. Her choice not to comment on the response was the only way she avoided such a trap.

"How about I give you a cool nickname instead?"

"Really?" Her eyes were burning with a trilling anticipation again, and Uzume put on her best and most badass smile.

"You bet. I've given kick-ass nicknames to all my friends here." She pointed to Uni, who was still trying to recover - now with the aid of Nepgear. "That's Unisy." She next pointed to Nepgear. "And that's Gearsy." She then looked back to her doppelganger; who, to her credit, was holding herself together pretty well - still staring with bright puppy eyes anyway. "Sound good with you?"

"Y-yes." It took every bone in her body not to screech, and anybody who dared look would see that, but Uzume decided to just roll with it - all the way downhill, very very fast downhill.

"Alright then. From here on - at least when you're with us - you shall be known as... Uzi!"

"Woah..." Her mind appeared to implode. "Like my favorite gun."

"Yeah... like, like that." To be frank it wasn't her first choice, but the alternative was 'Uzussy', and that not only sounded even worse but was stupid as hell too.

"Hey, what are you guys doing?" Uzume redirected her view, and it landed firmly on Ram, who had her arms crossed and stared with an equally cross expression. "C'mon, we've still got, like, another game to play!"

"We do?" Uzume stilled a second as her mind awoke in its entirety. "Oh, shoot, yeah we do. So is it my go?"

"Duh?" Ram rolled her eyes, all the while Rom just giggled.

"Miss Uzume is still sleepy."

Being made fun of by a child, huh, it was almost as bad as falling down a man-hole. However, much like the latter, it would only be a one time thing - Zero Dimension's main cities still needed some repairs, so nobody could realistically blame her for that blunder. Strangely enough, playing in virtual reality kind of made her tired, despite the fact her body wasn't moving. Sure, it probably had something to do with the forced perspective, or the fact she wasn't personally used to it yet, but Uzume wasn't one to back down without a fight.

She proceeded to lose the next six games, and would find herself being comforted by her doppelganger on their way out of the arcade.

"Hey, try not to feel too upset." Uzi let out carefully, somewhat unsure of how to council the coolest gal ever - but trying anyway because that's what heroes do. "I mean, some of those other players spend their whole lives practicing in there; we were just having a bit of fun with friends."

"Yeah, I know." But having your backside handed to you on a silver platter so thoroughly kind of felt weird, and considering the game was more physical - according to your mind - than anything, it came off as confusing in a way. Seriously, she should have done better - she was a freaking goddess for crying out loud!

"Sheesh, what is with you today?" Ram shot in, quite violently too of Uzi's frightful little hop was anything to go by. "You've been down in the dumps ever since we began playing back there."

"Are you feeling okay?" Rom followed up with the dreaded 'kicked puppy' face, which was rather unfortunate considering Uzume quite enjoyed those little skippers.

"Hey, don't go getting worried about me." She slipped on a smirk, that same dastardly expression she'd mastered up to this point; when in doubt, bullshit your way to victory. "We've dealt with a heck of a lot worse than this before, right? I'm just feeling a little lazy today, that's all."

"Well, in that case I've got just the thing to cheer your lazy butt up!" Ram declared with such passion it had Uzume secretly sweating. The little girl rummaged in her dress for a bit, before pulling out a cellphone. A second later and she was holding the screen up for Uzume's viewing pleasure. "Ta-da! Feast your eyes on this, and don't worry, you can thank me later."

"Uh, what is-" Her voice froze, as did her breath - and probably a good chunk of her arteries too; hell, her circulatory system as a whole may as well have been shot. "U-uh..."

"Uzume?" Uzi tried, moving close to try and spark a motion from the woman, before her eyes settled on the screen. "Oh, hey, I know that one!" Her smile then quickly tipped off into a more... perplexed display. "Wait, aren't you a little young to be looking at that?"

"Why?" Ram questioned, turning it around and trying to see what Uzi meant. "What's wrong with it?"

"What are you-" Uni froze up as well from a glance, her face turning a bright tomato red, all the while she seemed to stutter on the spot. "W-where did-"

"Are you okay, Uni?" Nepgear - as with all the others - looked to the screen from her position, but ended up having to step a little closer because Ram angled it down a little too low for her to see. Once she did get to see it however, she blushed softly. "Oh my... Um, Ram, where did you find such an image?"

"This?" She showed it up again, and Nepgear blushed harder, trying to actively look anywhere else. "Vert had it on her computer." The girl then grinned wickedly as she turned the device back on herself, taking in the image with glee. "It's wicked cool. I mean, look at how killer they look while fighting like that. And yeah, it's kind of weird that they're not wearing clothes, but I think that's due to how intense the battle is! Their outfits must have got ripped apart in the fight!"

"Fight... yeah..." Nepgear was going to need to have a chat with Vert about leaving such... things unprotected on her computer, as well as offer a mild prayer in hopes that Blanc doesn't ever find out. Vert might be a little eccentric at times, but Nepgear would rather she not die anytime soon - Leanbox released some interesting tech most of the time, and unlike Lastation's haul, she didn't need to fight tooth and nail to get her hands on it; frankly, that was probably because of Vert's sister complex, but hey, a win's a win.

"Ram." Rom started, catching her sister's gaze. "The others are turning red."

"Huh." Ram followed that statement with a quick look amongst the girls, and discovered that, yes, all aside from Uzi were a bright crimson; or a soft pink in Nepgear's case. "Hey, what's the big idea? Did you all forget how to breath or something?"

"Eh, don't worry about them." Uzi brushed off surprisingly well. "They've probably never looked at 'fine art' before; this'll pass in a few minutes."

"It better." Ram spat with a minor pout. "I want to grab some lunch before we head home, and we can't do that when everyone's fishing for flies."

Rom giggled a little as she spoke.

"You sound just like Blanc."

"Thank you. I've been practicing."

.

.

Why am I always stuck with the short end of the stick?

Warechu liked to think he'd been rather lucky throughout his life. He started out pretty advanced back in grade school, and then he learned just how trash the pay for most jobs were. A few buddies of his coaxed him along in one of their little schemes selling some burned games to a series of cranky nobodies in the backstreets of Planeptune, offering them at half price deal for new releases. Idiots never had a clue that these 'bargains' were the painstaking labour of his own work in cracking the piracy checks of modern systems, which was something that got more and more difficult to perform as the years went on and new systems came about; yet he always loved the challenge. Creating work-arounds for piracy checks came with this sort of 'super-hacker' thrill, and to be quite honest he kind of missed those days; the simple times where he'd do a few deals and relax at home, metaphorically rolling in the dough.

Yet navigating the networks of code was an entirely different card-game than attempting to find the end of a sewer network, and so the little dude was stuck making his way throughout the maze of the house.

Naturally the sewage would need to expel out of the house, and so he'd set himself on making it to the outer walls and such. Assuming they'd been chained up near the center of the building, reason dictated he could pick roughly any direction he pleased for his journey, and eventually he'd make it out, at which point he could begin looking for the end of the pipeline; usually these rich-folk tended to just dump their crap in the ocean, unless of course they were in the middle of the city, in which case he'd need to use a sewage entrance somewhere on the street.

Considering how the crazy girl from before spoke so casually - and the lack of any noise from the garden dump - he was banking on the former.

The next door creaked open, and seeing as how this one had been at ground level like a normal place, he'd gotten his hopes up that nothing wild was waiting on the other side... and it wasn't... well, nothing wild anyway. The sight of many, many different cut-outs of a bikini-bearing goddess was something Warechu never thought he'd see outside the bedroom of a fifteen year old boy. Actually, almost all of them bore a different outfit, and hell, even a few of them were some he recognised from one of the older games he'd cracked for his customers. When it came to teenage girls, he'd expected boybands and other such stereotypical nonsense, and then he recalled why he was here.

Right... kidnapping only women... It made too much sense to draw conclusions now, to the point it was becoming uncomfortable. And so, he decided not to draw conclusions, and instead continued on inside. The eyes of a thousand goddesses - all of which were the Lastation goddess specifically - had the rat feeling mighty tiny, more so than usual that is. Even the freaking floor was covered in the stupid cut-outs, and each and every step crumpled down just a tiny bit more.

One cracked, and the minor crunch was his only signal before claws sprang from beneath.

Agile little Warechu wasn't no sucker though, and right as that crackling sounded out he'd leapt away, fully expecting a bomb of sorts, only to watch with an equal amount of concern as the measly cardboard was torn to shreds. He hadn't gotten much time to admire them however, as upon finding nothing in their grip, the robotic claws shot back beneath the floor; this however was the least of his concerns.

A roaring alarm sounded out in response, as if the failure to take hold of the intruder had warned the building itself that someone had escaped. The alarm consisted of some snappy pop song, and Warechu was doubly disgusted at just how chipper and sassy it was.

Well there goes the element of surprise.

"Yoo-hoo~" The scratchy, somewhat fuzzy voice echoed out loud, probably coming from some sort of speaker, and it was upon its call that the music cut. "Who's down there being bad little girls?"

Huh... That voice was... oddly familiar; no, not just familiar... friendly even.

"Oh! Don't make me come down their young ladies, otherwise you'll get a spanking~"

Yep, that somewhat masculine, yet confoundingly chipper vibe could only belong to one person, and Warechu, like many a time before, had chosen to pounce, completely clueless as to whoever else might have been listening, as well as outing his location at the same time.

"Anonydeath, is that you?"

"Wait, I recognise that nasally squeaking anywhere. Warechu! Now fancy that~" The breathing accompanying the statement sent shivers up the little guy's spine. "What oh what are you doing here? Certainly you've recognised how the only one's brought here are cute young ladies."

"What the hell, chu?!" Sure, Anonydeath probably couldn't see him all that well from wherever the cameras were - not only was his form small, but there was too much Noire lying around for the creepy mecha to not drool over. "Since when do you deal in people?"

"Since my employer began hooking me up with all sorts of mischevious goodies~" A heartfelt sigh came afterwards, and Warechu felt a small part of his self-respect die with the knowledge that he'd once called this weirdo stalker an ally. Anonydeath it seemed was keen to share today, and considering he'd already found the Noire room, Warechu had a pretty good suspicion what these 'goodies' were being used for. "And would you know it, my darling's working so diligently to keep to her schedule! In fact..."

The accompanying moan was where Warechu drew the line.

"Hey! Don't go creeping out while I'm still here damnit! Do your voyeur garbage when I'm gone, chu!"

"So saucy~" Anonydeath gave a schoolgirl giggle. "But don't get your tiny tail in a twist honey, she's not dropping it all right yet; that doesn't happen until the mid-day shower."

"I did not need to hear that!" Right as Warechu spoke, the claws shot up from underneath, and without any time to move, he'd found himself in their cold steel grip. "Hey!"

"Don't you worry my fuzzy little friend, they won't bite. Now then, why don't you explain to me how you got roped into this?"

"How about you put me down instead?!" Warechu meant for the metal to drop him, but instead they just set him on the floor. "That's not exactly what I had in mind, chu."

"Do forgive them, they've been acting up a little lately."

"Can't you just shut them off?"

"Sorry, no can do. As you can probably tell, this place isn't exactly what you'd call ordinary. My wonderful little employer has quite the imagination, much to her own detriment. The only way to shut down my wonderful little helpers is to cut the power to the mansion, and I'm certain you understand why I can't do that." A clap echoed over the speakers. "Now then, would you mind telling me what happened; despite our short work history together, I do quite appreciate company from old acquaintances, and I'm dying to learn what trail of excitement tied our knots of destiny together~"

"Fine!" Warechu shouted with a grumble. "But only if you quit with the suggestive nods; they're freaking me out, chu."

"No promises~"

"Yeah..." Warechu especially hated that one, however he had a more pressing concern. "Hey, on the off chance, do you know were the sewer line ends?"

"Excuse me?" The robotic femme-fatale seemed taken aback. "Pardon the curt ask, but why are you searching for such a thing."

"Someone fell in the shoot out where the other sludge seems to gather. And another question as well, chu, but why is the muck blue?"

"Blue... oh!" A short chuckle snapped in place. "Let me guess, the sign said 'waste disposal' right?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

"darling, that's not sewage... well, it is, but not the usual type."

"Huh?" Warechu was lost again, but Anonydeath quickly shed light on that little mystery.

"My dearest employer likes to try her hand at cooking, and - to be quite direct - she isn't very good at it. As for why it's blue, well... I've used a concoction of chemicals to neutralize the toxic fumes radiating from it."

Really? Sheesh, and he thought the punk couldn't get any lower. However a new concern came to light.

"Hey, so that stuff: is it poisonous to touch, chu?"

"Worried about the clumsy little nut I see~ How adorable; never figured you had a heart for anyone but that Compa woman."

"Just answer the question."

"Fine; you're no fun at all. No, it's not toxic to the touch; the chemical mix not only neutralizes the fumes, but also the substance as a whole. At worst, it smells rather foul."

Good, at least Linda was alive; as irritating as she was, he didn't exactly like the idea of her death.

"Now then." Anonydeath was grinning, Warechu was certain of this from how giddy the mechanical hacker's voice was. "Now then, talk away; what has my little fuzzy friend been up to?"

Great, Robbed of both dignity and secrets.

With any luck Linda was faring better.

Author's note

...

Back at it again, although a little odd this time.

Good news, we're back with Uzume again, and FU continues to make waves for the group - mostly by frying the wires of sensibility, but what can you do? Oh well, at least the crimson wonder managed to settle things with everyone, and now our resident insult has become a weapon instead, at least in name. Try not to mix her up with Uni, okay?

We've also got a quick scene with Warechu as well, albeit a little wacky. Anonydeath showing up must have been a pleasant surprise, and to be quite honest I was a little shocked too. Now we just work him into the plot, and all will be well - baring I'm telling the truth that is.

Anyway, this is where the usual note ends, below however is where we deal with reviews and such, so if that interests you, continue reading.

Now then, to address some things.

First of all, know that when I deal with reviews, I tend not to name individuals. This isn't out of any disrespect however, but rather as a way to make blanket statements and avoid singling people out; a quick glance at the reviews makes it easy enough to figure out which ones I'm talking about anyway.

To start this off: props to our resident cheerleader - always there with the much appreciated simple spouts of encouragement, almost all of which raise my mood to write. Their short, yet consistent tidings are surprisingly wholesome, and everybody can use a little of that every now and then.

Now then, on to the more sudden change - and the one to prop this extended section. From here on, I'll be answering a few questions that were made apparent thanks to the triple-threat attack (name pending). Let's start with the simple one first, the name. L&K was originally the most accurate name for this tale, as within the initial draft Warechu wasn't even present; heck, originally it was just Linda and Kurome trucking across the countryside for a moving company.

That idea fell apart when I read it though, and realized just how boring it turned out - not to mention how blatantly OOC everybody was. Warechu was then introduced to the story, chosen to spice it up a little based on his character in the games, and his wit ended up being a driving factor for the group. Chuko was also slipped in, and the used games shop became the place of hiring. Even with this new version of the story, Warechu was only going to be a cameo, soon to be let go once they met with Chuko; being the background staple who worked in the shop itself. Fortunately, he ended up being so fun to play around with I kept him as a mainstay.

Next aspect to address is the grammar, which is admittedly simple: I'm relying mainly on Fanfiction's own spellcheck for the brute of it. Whatever I end up missing is usually picked up by the site itself, but not all the time; que is apparently spelt cue, and I've gone up until last week not knowing that until the google doc of my original 'novel-in-progress' let me know. I'll try to iron out what I can, but a few mistakes tend to slipping through regardless, as I only do a once over for every chapter before release.

Now we move onto character usage, or more specifically, the abundant usage of OC's. Now, as many know a crazy amount of OC's can usually ruin a story; they tend to feel out of place, and most of the time are shallow with nothing to them. Shallowness doesn't make them bad, and an OC with wild amounts of lore and history can be just as insufferable as one without; it all depends instead on how they're used with regards to the story.

Take Lonk for example: he is - quite blatantly - based off Link from the Legend Of Zelda series, mostly through his naming alone, but sporting a sassy and somewhat boyish personality. His name makes those familiar with the series bring that character to mind, and coupled with Neptunia as a whole throwing in 'chirpers' who are designed as such, it in essence doesn't feel too jarring when he shows up. His personality on the other hand is anything but his own series counterpart, and makes an interesting contrast as you - almost instinctively - recall the real Link, as opposed to Lonk, giving a sort of interesting whiplash with each appearance. There are plenty of other OC's, yes, but if anyone is having trouble telling who is and isn't a real Neptunia character, then I believe I've done my job well enough.

Some smaller things maybe worth mention include the tone, and Kurome's inclusion as a protagonist all her own. I've always found it interesting how her tale ended, and with the way her story developed as a whole it left a lot of crucial questions in the air. In the game we're fed crumbs of info, with which we can rake out a general playout of events. Yet we're never given specifics, and so I wondered if there was anything to be done about it.

Anyone who's suffered past the first thirty chapters of my other story on this site - yes, they're choppy, but all the good stuff relies on them, so if anyone's interested: skip at your own peril, baring you're interested in that one to begin with - I do quite enjoy a darker tone. Characters are most of the time at their most interesting when faced with challenges outside their expectations and skillsets. This story is mostly a light hearted run, originally started as a way to relax and break into a new tone as opposed to my other tale, however bits and pieces of my habits will show themselves every now and then. To further push the point, I'm the type to look at the conquest ending and go 'oh hell yeah!' in anticipation for what potential stories could come from such a dark world.

Now for a small bit of bonus info.

I have another story on the backburner, one featuring two Nepgears being isekai'ed into a different version of Gamindustri - the usual for most Neptunia games actually - and end up having to help a new friend take down the four corrupted goddesses of that land. Not very original, no, but with one of them being the usually dubbed 'Conquest Nepgear' things end up becoming a little more... interesting; all the while their friends from each respective dimension try to find ways to get them home.

That's really all for now. Sorry for the extensive end bit, but with more thorough reviews I like to break them down and answer what I can.

Catch you all later.