Location: Gamindustri Graveyard
CFW Magic is once again basking in the "glory" that is the Deity of Sin, the only sounds in the area is the sound of Judge sharpening his axe behind her to her right side
And a short distance away we can see Brave meditating
Off to the side of this group is a large yellow robot that looks like a fat lizard with its tongue sticking out of its mouth, this is CFW Trick, and if you listened closely you can hear light snoring indicating that he is a sleep
As things remained calm in the clearing 5 cloaked figures appeared, kneeling behind Magic
"As i'm sure that you've been made aware, you are to help in finding and eliminating the Mascots in all 4 nations, succeed and i'll personally ensure that you receive the completion that you have earned" Magic states not even bothering to look to whom she is speaking to, "however, should you fail and return, i will end you myself, am i made clear?"
"YES MA'AM" they respond to her in union
"Then stop wasting time and go do the jobs you've been assigned" Magic says darkly
The 5 cloaked figures disappear as quickly as they had appeared
"... i see that you've taken my advice" Brave says evenly
Magic hums, "even if they fail in stopping the candidate, should their assistance ensure the elimination of the Mascots, it will hinder them significantly"
Judge snorts "it'll be a cold day in hell if they are able to stop that bitch"
"Who knows" Brave speaks "i have high hopes for the one we left at your old post"
Location: Virtua Forest - Depths
Nepgear, IF and Compa are making their way through the depths of Virtua Forest
Something that IF had noticed that was odd is that other than the viral monsters that attacked them when they entered the depths, every other monster is going out of their way to avoid them and she for the life of her cannot figure out why
Either way, they are arriving at the location that Histoire had given them
"I can see something there, so it's probably that" IF says
"And i see someone else there, this can't be good" Nepgear says with a frown
"What do you mean, Ge-ge?" Compa asks
"If we consider the fact that the most anyone knows about where the Mascots are incomprehensive hearsay" IF speaks up instead of Nepgear, "and Lady Histoire needed to take some time to find its general location, it's safe to say that whoever that is isn't friendly"
"Chances are that they belongs to ASIC since they are the only ones who have any reason to feel threatened by the Mascots continued existence" Nepgear adds on to IF's statement
Compa's eyes widen at that "oh no" she whispers
Nepgear's narrows her eyes, "let's go put an end to whatever nonsense that she's trying to do"
The three of them quickly make their way over to the clearing the unknown person was
"HEY! What do you think you're doing!?" Nepgear yells at the unsuspecting person
The person jumped from being startled, and turns around to face them
The person is a girl who looks like she's 17-18 years old. She has red eyes and light green hair, her skin is grey, her most notable feature would be her hoodie that looks like a rat. She's carrying a metal pipe, most likely what she would use as her weapon
"What the hell!? Who the hell are you!? You better stay out of my damned way!" she snaps at them
"What are you doing to the Mascot?" Compa asks trying to sound aggressive only for her to sound cuter than she normally does
The unnamed girl blinks, "er, destroying it, duh, ASIC orders, they're a problem" she says like it's the most obvious thing in the world
"Meaning you're a member of ASIC" Nepgear assess
She huffs, "i don't have to explain myself to you, but i will tell you just how amazing i am, I am Linda, a proud and powerful member of ASIC front line infantry, you best remember it"
"So you're an underling…" IF says unimpressed
"Absolutely an Underling" Nepgear says with an amused smile on her face
" is an Underling" Compa says with a nod
Linda, now aptly renamed as Underling, was getting angrier with each comment that labelled her as "just" an underling
"You… You…. YOU!" Underling stammers angrily
Nepgear was enjoying Linda's predicament when she caught something in the corner of her vision and her ears caught the sound of gushing wind that was getting closer by the second
Without a second thought she pushes IF and Compa away with enough force that they ended up a few meters away from her and brought her arms up into a cross formation as light-gear formed around them, just in time to block a massive steel ball that hits her and sends her skidding back
"Gear!" "Ge-Ge!" IF and Compa yells as Nepgear was covered by a dust cloud that was created when she was hit
Even little Linda was surprised by what just happened
Heavy footfalls along with the sound of rattling chains caught the attention of the group in the clearing
What they saw was a man entering the clearing
The man looks to be in his twenties, he has spiky black hair and sharp grey eyes. He's wearing a pair of dress slacks and dress shoes and very much shirtless, very nicely showing his lean muscular build. In his right hand is a chain that is connected to the ball that hit Nepgear earlier
"L-lord Lancio" Linda said in surprise
"I'll be honest, that stung" came Nepgear's voice from the dust cloud
Causing everyone to turn to the dissipating dust cloud to see an unharmed Nepgear
"You're quite resilient CPU Candidate" The man said
"You know who I am, yet I haven't the faintest clue as to who you are…" Nepgear says looking straight at the man keeping him in her line of sight
'looks like Ohm was right, the first unknown has made its appearance' Nepgear thinks to herself
'i can plan around the De-Sync, i can't plan around unknowns that i don't know about' she grits her teeth at the thought,
'while i have no doubt in my mind that i can take this guy and anyone else like him but i need Uni, Rom and Ram to be able to, at the very least, begin to stand on their own two feet by the time we go to save our sisters', here she takes a deep breath to calm her self '…hopefully there's an unknown that works in my favour'
While all her actions can be described as dramatic, the actions performed by her body is undeniably subtle
"I am Lancio, Rank 3 CFW of our deity and you're lives, are forfeit" The man, now named Lancio, says with no emotion in his voice, "Linda, go destroy the Mascot, i shall deal with them"
"Y-yes sir" Linda stutters as she makes her way over to the Mascot
"IF, Compa, go stop the little underling, i'll deal with big, lanky and shirtless" Nepgear says to her companions
"But Ge-Ge" Compa starts to speak
"But nothing" Nepgear says, cutting Compa off, her voice was far more authoritative than either of the girls had ever heard from Nepgear, "If any of the Mascots get destroyed, things will get way harder than they have to be, now GO!"
"Fine, but don't you dare do something stupid" IF says looking at Nepgear, "Come on Compa"
"O-ok" says the peach haired girl as she goes with her friend to stop the little underling
Nepgear kept her eyes on Lancio the entire time that IF and Compa made their way to stop Linda
"I'm surprised that you didn't attempt to stop them" Nepgear remarks
Lancio just hums, "eliminating them now or later matters very little, same with destroying the Mascot, we've been informed that you, CPU Candidate, Purple Sister, are the biggest threat that we will face, that you are the one we should focus on should we need to choose between our objectives" He says
"My, I certainly didn't think me sending Judge flying half-way across the graveyard would have this kind of effect on the ASIC" Nepgear says with an amused smirk, 'so there's more than just him, good to know'
Lancio simply narrows his eyes at Nepgear
It's a standstill between the two of them, once one of them starts moving
their battle
Will
Begin
Omake: CHAPTER 2 ALT CUT
The atmosphere in the Kitchen/Dining room is getting undeniably serious, especially between Histoire and Nepgear
Suddenly a Black and Red blur entered the room surprising almost everyone in the room, the blur stops right next to Nepgear revealing Magi with a pair of black shorts in hand
"Lady Nepgear, I've got the shorts you requested!" Magi declares completely ignoring and unintentionally breaking the seriousness in the room
The suddenness of the seriousness breaking and Magi's appearance with a pair of shorts, of all things, for Nepgear caused IF to face-fault, Compa to look confused, Histoire to fall off of her book and Nepgear to bury her face in her hands
There was complete silence for a moment as IF, Compa and Histoire try to collect themselves and Nepgear tries to drown her secondhand embarrassment from Magi's entrance
"Magi?" Nepgear speaks up, her voice sounding suspiciously hoarse
"Yes, lady Nepgear?" Magi says seemingly completely oblivious to the sudden shift in atmosphere that she caused
"How…do you pull this off… .time?" Nepgear gets out with the same oddly hoarse voice
"Pull what off, my lady?" Magi asks with a tilt of her head
Nepgear sighs and clears her throat, "n-nevermind, here", she hands Magi a piece of paper, "a list of things i need you to get me that i forgot about earlier"
"Very well, my lady, i shall return shortly" she gives Nepgear a short bow and takes off in a blur of black and red just like how she arrived
After Magi leaves Nepgear summons a pillow from her inventory and screams into it out of embarrassment much to the amusement of IF, Compa and Histoire