And here we go.
Ant, LordOfTee: BOI.
Akusui: Yeah, Seamus is still alive. A little crispy, but still alive.
Etotaiken: Special moves will eventually be a thing, although I don't really like them in my story. It's just a little bit harder to describe a special move, after all. As for the slow burn, it saddens me that this is rare enough in this fandom to be considered special.
Smashgunner, Hillycube, Draxinus: Thank you kindly.
I wake up before the sun rises. I clean myself, do a quick equipment check, and even finish with enough spare time to go find some food.
So that's what I do. After ensuring that the bed is made, I step out into the corridor, hoping to locate the kitchens.
Actually, they're definitely going to wash those sheets either way. Ah well, making the bed doesn't hurt. No point in making the cleaner's job any more difficult than it needs be.
The Basilicom is a lot quieter during the early morning. It's actually kind of unnerving, since the last time I've seen a Basilicom this empty was when Leanbox was having their trouble with Linda.
The staff are probably all at home, or just trying their best to avoid waking anyone else up this early. The halls aren't entirely deserted though, since I do pass a few cleaning staff on my way through.
Soon enough I locate the kitchens, and quickly whip up a hash for myself. It's easy, filling, and more or less tasty, so it serves its purpose well. I also fill a cup with water from the sink.
I'm about halfway through eating my breakfast when Uni stumbles into the kitchen. She doesn't seem to see me, so she must've just woken up.
"Morning, Uni." I state, setting my fork aside for a moment.
Turning to me, Uni blinks for a moment before she rubs her eyes with the corners of her knuckles. "Oh. Hey." she replies. "I don't think I've ever seen you up this early."
"I had a good rest." I reply, shrugging my shoulders. "You feeling better?"
Uni pauses for a moment, before she nods. "Much better. Thank you. What do you have there, by the way?"
"I threw together some hash. I uhh… I sorta only made enough for me. Is that okay?"
Uni shrugs back. "I'll just make something else. Don't worry about it. I usually make breakfast for myself anyway."
I nod politely, before I resume eating my meal.
There's silence from both of us, as she digs through a nearby cupboard for a pot. I mean, silence, besides the obvious clashing and banging of pots being moved around.
"Needs hot sauce." I murmur, as I reach for a nearby salt shaker.
"Did you say something?" I can see her place the pan onto the stove, before she cracks a pair of eggs onto a nearby saucer.
"Nothing. Don't worry about it. I just needed a bit more salt." I respond, taking a sip of water. "So, are you ready to come with us up to Lowee?"
Uni gazes over her shoulder back towards me. "What makes you think we're headed up to Lowee next?"
"Well…" I murmur, as I pause to polish off the rest of my plate. "We've obviously got you on our team now, but it'd be a great idea to go get help from the twins. You and Nepgear both want to rescue your sisters from the Graveyard, right? I'm pretty sure with just a little bit more firepower behind us, we'll be ready to go."
"You think that we're really ready for that? I…"
Yeah no, let's head that conversation off right now.
"If we're not ready right now, we'll definitely be ready soon. I promise you that." I assure her.
Uni still looks rather doubtful. Either way, she tips the saucer into the pan, before she places a few slices of bread into a nearby toaster.
"Look." I state, smile forming as I speak. "We've got ourselves all four Mascots now, or at least I'm pretty sure Nepgear does. We should strike while we can. Until we free the big four, we're in a sinking ship."
I blink. Shit, I never told her.
"That reminds me… I probably should have told you this yesterday, but…" I begin to speak slowly.
I receive a wary glance back and a pair or rolled eyes. "I don't like that tone. Just how mad am I going to be?"
"Depends. It's about Brave." My smile shifts to a sheepish one.
"Go on…?" she asks, as she retrieves her eggs, slaps them onto her toast, and then turns towards me, interested but unamused.
"Well… When I was coming to get you… I kinda… bumped into him?" I murmur.
Uni raises an eyebrow, and sits down across from me. The way she's staring at me is actually kind of intimidating.
"Okay. So you know how earlier you said that he left you there?" I begin, unsure of how to word myself.
"Yeah… And?" she responds.
"Turns out, he was actually watching over you. Uhhh... I mean... Not like in a perverted way or anything! Err. Or at least not that I'm aware of. Turns out, he said something about 'honor' after I bumped into him. Long story short, he didn't leave you alive because he thought you were below him… He apparent-…"
Uni sighs, and raises her hand to her forehead. "You are absolutely terrible at telling stories."
"I didn't finish! It's like six in the morning. I'm still half asleep." I sputter, raising my hands up defensively. "Basically, he said you'd be a worthy challenge later… Something something fighting spirit… Something something don't tell anyone that he spared you?"
Uni raises her empty hand up to her face. "So… He doesn't think I'm weak? Is that what you're trying to say?"
My sheepish smile is threatening to consume my entire face. "I… Guess so?" I drain the rest of my cup, but end up choking a little bit on the water and coughing instead.
Smooth.
Uni sighs, raises her toast to her mouth, and bites a chunk from it with a little too much force. "Well… I guess I should be thankful that you remembered to tell me at all."
"I... Uh. I should go get ready."
Rising to my feet and placing the now-cleaned plate where it belongs, I hear one final question from behind me. "Do you believe that I'm ready?"
"You bet I do." I reply without a moment's hesitation.
Something catches my eye, as I leave the kitchen. I can see the faintest shimmer of hope in Uni's eyes, perfectly matching the faintest curve of a smile.
When doing my rounds, I make sure to stop by the blacksmith to grab myself my new knife.
My old chitin knives are obviously desynchronized and stowed back away for safekeeping. I don't know if I'll need them again, but it never hurts to have backups.
Turns out that it's just as heavy as the metal it was made from.
My brand new toy resembles a double-edged dirk: thin, long, and very good at stabbing. They're insanely heavy too: if stabbing things doesn't work, I could always just bludgeon things with the pommels. They're definitely going to take some getting used to before I'll be able to throw them effectively.
Completely indestructible too, if my tests of seeing if I can break a summoned one is any indication. Bludgeoning two of them together was enough to crack the brick that I was using as bracing. All in all, it's a marked improvement in pretty much every capacity besides range, and I've still got my revolver to fill that niche.
The funniest thing though, was that they had a stat-scanner in the smithy.
Turns out, this knife, since it's made from defensive plating and crab shell…
Well, it's got almost as much defense on it as offense. I suppose it'll help me out when brawling, but man, the fact that these things somehow give as much protection as an entire set of armor...
I tip the blacksmith a couple hundred credits, and I head back to the Basilicom.
Oh, and Seamus very much enjoys his goosberry treats, although he still seems to be understandably weary of me. Oh well.
Nepgear arrives back at the Basilicom with relatively little fanfare. Sure, maybe a few of the staff recognise her, but it's not like her civilian identity is that widely known. I'm pretty sure that the number would be even fewer, if she ever wore a different outfit. She ducks into the Basilicom just long enough to connect bases, as well as to throw on her winter clothing. All of us do. It seems all of us have learned our lesson from last time.
Except for MAGES.. The Mad Magician is strangely insistent upon trying out a new spell that will allow her to ward herself from the uncomfortable effects of the cold. I mean, sure? But I can't help but imagine that would be a possible drain of magic, magic that might be useful later.
Thus, our group now stands just outside of the Basilicom, almost entirely dressed like we're preparing for an expedition to the arctic. Which we essentially are. A few onlookers give us curious looks as they pass, but I doubt any of them will recognise us later.
"We should head out as soon as we can." states IF, as she flips her current phone closed and slides it into one of her cases. "ASIC has been really quiet recently - it's making me nervous. The sooner we get the CPUs back on our side, the better."
I shrug as I raise from my seated position. "We're off then?" I ask. "We aren't forgetting anything, are we?"
Final ready checks are made, supplies are double-checked, and snow-pants drawstrings are tightened. With one final wave of goodbye to the front guards, we begin our journey to the cold lands up north.
The ground passing below us is slowly changing from pounded earth to permafrost. We're already starting to run into the beginnings of snow.
Some of the girls are absorbed in conversations, probably to pass time as we travel. If we keep our current pace, we'll definitely arrive before nightfall.
The party has long since split apart into several groups, each of which are absorbed in their own conversations. Earlier, Marvy had walked up to me and asked about my new knife, but after that I've mostly just been on my own.
I can't help but overhear a snippet of Nepgear talking to Compa. "... the twins were doing when we were in Leanbox?"
That's a good question, actually. We didn't see them down there… Maybe they were more focused on getting shares? I don't remember the exact details of the game… They were at the concert then, right?
I shake my head. I don't know if I can rely upon my memory of the games any more. Too much has changed. Not just the things that I've done… But it'd be insane to imagine that everything would happen the exact same way twice, especially after an outside influence is added.
Carefully, I extend my step into a lunge and grab a handful of snow.
Yeah, this is good snow. Dense. Great for packing.
I take in a sigh as I pass my new snowball between my hands. Cause and effect. I might not be able to change much…
I hurl it off to the side, where it impacts a tree with a quiet shuff.
What was the saying again?
Something about how for evil to win, good must only not act?
I'm butchering the saying, probably. But I'm pretty sure the idea still stands.
And with that thought bouncing through my mind, we continue our march northwards.
It takes just about another half hour for the city itself to come into view.
The night air of Lowee is just as crisp as I remember it. And remember it I do, because Lowee is cold. Still, it's no worse than Vancouver in the middle of a particularly brutal winter, and we're all dressed properly this time.
I can't help but look around as we stride through the streets. The city itself seems mostly quiet, no booms of combat or of destruction quite yet. In fact, it's rather serene, standing out here in the shin-deep snow. There's even a few snow angels nearby, each the size of a child. Ice-encrusted lampposts line the streets, and a light dusting of powder is still falling from the clouded skies above.
I breathe it all in, and can't help but feel myself relax.
Rather than stop for dinner, we decide to make a beeline directly to the Basilicom. Makes sense, since they probably have food too. Even better, Nepgear seems to remember how to get there as well, and we arrive in record time.
With careful steps, we make our way over the unshoveled walkway towards the Basilicom itself. Nepgear presents her Candidate Aegis the moment we are asked for identification.
There's a slight bit of murmuring between the rest of the guards, before they appear to come to agreement and part before us.
"Oh! You're here earlier than we expected. Come on inside: the goddesses are waiting for you on the top floor." states one of the guards, smiling broadly.
Our formation narrows now that we are inside of a building, rather than just walking down a road. Uni slowly maneuvers herself beside me, and I match my pace to hers.
"So what are the twins like?" she asks, her voice low to avoid being overheard. I suppose it's a good idea. Don't want to get ourselves thrown out for no reason.
"Well... " I hum, as I think of the proper words. "There's one, Rom. She mostly does what her sister says, but she's calm. Mostly nice, I think. She wears blue."
"Whoah!" shouts Compa, and I find myself running directly into Marvy. Uni is stopped similarly by MAGES., and we both stumble backwards to regain our footing.
"Oof… They really need to clean that puddle up!" groans Compa, as she rises back to her feet. "I'm okay."
The puddle in question is actually rather deep. Oh well, I'm sure the janitors will get it later. Maybe they just didn't see it?
We carefully make our way over the puddle without further incident.
"And what about the other one?" Uni continues. We've been walking for quite a while actually. Where are we even going?
"Ram… Ram's… Uhh…" I stutter trying to come up with acceptable words, before I shrug. Screw it. "She's a little shit. She wears pink."
"Oh come on. There's no way she's that bad." Uni responds, rolling her eyes.
"You'd think that, but trust me, it'll become obvious quite quickly." I smile. "Don't worry though, she's a little twat, but her heart's in the right place. Probably. She just doesn't like me. I dropped a roof on her."
We're redirected up a massive flight of stairs, and then down a hallway. A single guard sits beside a door, nose in their phone.
"Probably." repeats Uni. "And you're sure that they'll want to help us?"
"Look, even if they don't want to help us, I'm sure they'll stick around long enough to save their sister, at the very least." I shrug. "What they do afterwards is up to them."
"If you say so…" murmurs Uni. "I'm going to trust you on this."
The door ahead of us is opened, and one by one, we step inside.
The first thing I notice, is that Rom and Ram are sitting, eyes closed, on chairs on the opposite side of the room. They're facing us. The room itself seems to be a meeting room, with a large table dominating the center, countless doors down the sides. What seems to be a balcony sits on the furthest side, probably to allow overlooking the entirety of Lowee.
Nepgear walks forward several more steps, before she chirps, "Hello again!"
After several moments of complete silence, she echoes, "Hello?"
Slowly, the twins rise to their feet. Their motions are rigid and…
Crap.
As subtle as I can, I shift my left hand towards my inventory pouch. If we go loud, we'll go loud.
"Derek!" hisses Uni from beside me. "What's going on?"
"Bad news." I whisper back, but our attention is drawn to the right, where a slow, sarcastic clapping is easily audible.
"Oh you bitch." I murmur, as I pivot backwards to face the disturbance.
Sitting on a nearby table, with a shit-eating grin plastered onto her face, is Linda.
She's dressed exactly like Mina: red tasseled hat, glasses, fancy robe, but of course they're decorated with ASIC symbology, rather than the usual 'tendo fare. She's leaning back, but I can tell she's doing it to mock us, rather than due to relaxation.
"Oh, look what the rats dragged in." she smirks, "Not just one, but both of you two broads. Heck, you've even gone and saved me the trouble of tracking the rest of your annoying little friends! Bonus!"
Weapons are drawn, and Nepgear rushes towards the ASIC agent, only to be stopped by a sudden blur.
"Rom? Ram?" sputters Nepgear, finding her weapon blocked by the interlocked staves of the Lowee Candidates. "What? Why are you helping her?"
"Protect miss boss lady…" they murmur in a sleepy tone. Their half-lidded eyes are visibly crimson from here. Behind them, a solid barrier of ice springs up for a moment, blocking access to Linda.
Shit shit shit.
Around us, doors are kicked open with a cascade of near deafening blams. Countless people pour into the room, quickly surrounding us. Half of them are dressed as Basilicom staff, but the rest are in ASIC uniform.
"Throw the two Candidates in the special cell. Sir Trick will deal with them soon." states Linda to one of the nearest troops. "The rest can go with the others."
We glance between each other. The odds definitely aren't good.
"Oh, and you two? Go ahead and transform. I'm not leaving this one to chance." smirks Linda. "Oops. Nearly forgot."
Okay. And with those flashes of light, the odds have somehow gotten worse.
Okay. Shit. Think.
Around us, are uhh… A lot of troops, two transformed Candidates, and they all have weapons pointed at us. If we get captured, we're definitely going to be locked up, and there's a pretty good chance Nepgear and Uni will be brainwashed.
"I'm feeling nice today, so I'll let you surrender before I have everyone beat the hell out of ya. Sound fair?" chimes in Linda.
Doors are all blocked… Floor is solid stone…
"Balcony. It's our only chance." whispers IF. "Clear a path…"
Aren't we like… two or three stories up? I can actually see the tops of trees through the door to the balcony.
Still, I suppose anything's better than rotting in a cell.
I sigh. This is going to suck, but it has to be done.
I reach into my inventory, grab a large cluster of bombs, and light them as quickly as I can. I hurl the cluster directly at Linda. Marvy follows up my action with a smoke bomb, dropped directly at our feet.
"Get them!" shouts a goon, but they're drowned out by the hiss of black smoke billowing out and filling the room. This brand new source of confusion is magnified by the sudden inclusion of deafening explosions.
"Move!" shouts IF, just barely over the rapidly-unfolding madness, and as one, we rush through the dazed and disoriented crowd. At least, I hope we do.
Once or twice I find myself knocking aside someone as I make the dash for egress, but I don't really stop to care. All that matters is getting out while we can. And besides, if we knock a few goons over the edge with us too, all the better.
Oop. I find myself tripping over something… and then the sensation of falling.
Around me, I can hear screaming of terror, anger, confusion, and what probably is RED shrieking in excitement.
And then I find myself clear the smoke, and able to see once more.
I seem to be facing the Basilicom wall. Wow, we're really high up, aren't we.
Oh. I'm upside down.
Why… am I upside down.
Phooph.
Ow. Also, brrr.
I don't seem to have died. Luckily, this loosely packed snow was able to break my fall. Ouch. Softer than a belly flop on water, but still sucks. I at least managed to brace for impact and protect my neck. Too bad that means my arms are kinda pinned below me.
"Is everyone okay?" asks a muffled voice somewhere to my… uhh… down and left? Probably up.
Now, I could try to say something, but if I open my mouth…
At least it didn't go down my nose. Airways are still fine. Limbs are still fine. Don't seem to have any breakages or sprains.
Someone grips onto my legs and pulls, which jolts me back to the present.
Right, I should probably dig myself out.
A bit of frantic struggling later, I finally resurface. My hood seems to have kept at least most of the snow out of my jacket, but it's still cold, wet, and uncomfortable.
"I'm okay! I'll need to ice these bruises, but this snow is doing the job!" I reply. Shaking out the ice is proving to be entirely useless, since half of it is already beginning to melt and soak me through. I'm going to need to shake this coat out as soon as possible.
Above us, the smoke is still billowing out. I can't see anyone else falling off of the balcony, so they probably think we ran for the doors, like intelligent people.
We're all out, luckily. Unfortunately, from the rather-defined impressions in the snow around me, it seems that at least one of us was unfortunate enough to belly flop. At least the impressions are nice and deep though, so they were slowed instead of just eating the entire impact.
"Oh… that hurt..." gasps IF, whose hair is so caked with snow it's nearly white. "We should probably get away before they make it down here."
"M...My... preferred course of direction is towards shelter." shivers MAGES., who has nearly wrapped herself around a hastily-conjured flame. "E...Eugh… The kinetic impact was enough to disrupt my concentration…"
Compa looks us over for injuries. "Miss Mages is right. We need to heat up, before we all catch colds…"
"I...It's pronounced MAGES.…" protests the magician weakly.
"Would the Embassy take us?" asks Nepgear. "I mean… Last time it worked…"
Uni shrugs. "It's worth a shot. Noire always told me that the Embassies would always be neutral ground regardless of situation, so…"
I nod. "If that fails, cheap motels would work. Someplace where they won't ask questions."
A sudden clamour from above us seals our decision. The smoke is beginning to clear: we're losing our chance to get away.
And with that, we flee as quickly as we can.
"Is it always like this?" whispers Uni from behind me, as we sprint through the streets.
I can't help but chuckle in reply. "You have no idea."