Chapter 5: Proving Yourself in Lastation Part 2

When Noire showed this girl some of these quests, the first thing she wondered is that, when showing what she chose to her, the quests were either too hard or too easy to do. She personally rather have it on an even playing field than giving or taking the advantage from her, even if the person in question decided to angered her.

However, Sapphire isn't even bothered by the quests she was shown. Whether it was an A or B Rank, she just shrugged and said, "I think I can do that." which honestly kind of throwed her for a loop for a bit.

"Hmm~! Hum hmm~! Hum~! Hmm~! Hum~! Hmm hmm~!"

Even now as they were walking to where all the quests were, Sapphire seemed to be humming something like she had nothing about her surroundings. It was almost random, yet it sounded almost like a cohesive song. At least, that's how Noire notes internally.

'She is so much like Neptune… In a very weird way…' Noire thought, sighing to herself as she stared at Sapphire.

It wasn't that she wasn't annoyed by Sapphire per say. She dealt with Neptune almost all the time at this point, but this feels a bit different. It almost feels like the first time she met Neptune in her human form.

"Hm? Is there something wrong?" Sapphire asked, looking back at Noire with confusion.

"No. Nothing's wrong." Noire answered simply, shaking her head.

"You sure? You seemed deep in thought." She then thought for a bit before shrugging to herself. "Ah well! If nothing's wrong, then nothing's wrong!" She exclaimed before marching away, walking towards the front of everyone.

Noire just sighed before going back into thought. 'Jeez… Can't she mind her own business.' She thought to herself, grumbling. She then looked up, seeing the same girl looking back at her with a rather neutral stare while walking backwards. "What do you want now?" She asked with a frown.

"Nothing! Just wondering about something!" Sapphire exclaimed before thinking about it for a bit. "Actually… I wonder… Are there any good places to get some sweets that's specific to your nation?" She asked.

"Sweets?" Noire narrowed her eyes, wondering what she's getting at by asking this.

"Yep. I love sweets! I guess it helps me get my brain working or something…" Sapphire said, muttering that last part.

"Oh. Really?" Noire then frowned a little, seeing the girl nod. "I might give you some recommendations, if you win this competition." She then smirks to herself.

"Okay!" Sapphire exclaimed as she pumped up her fist before turning her back to Noire and marched away.

"Hey… Uh… Sapphire?" Uni suddenly spoke up, making the young girl turn around in curiosity. "I need to ask; what is yours like?" She asked.

However, this made Sapphire really confused for a bit. "Eh? What do you mean by that?" She asked. "Yours as in?" She frowned a little.

"I mean. What is your Lastation like?" Uni clarify her question, seeing her going "Oh" and looked slightly up in thought,

"Well, my dimension's Lastation is more like a futuristic utopia." Sapphire explained, nodding to herself. "But the CPU is the complete opposite of Noire over there." She frowned a little.

"So someone like Neptune?" Nepgear asked, looking at her very quizzically; seeing her nod to that question.

Noire then frowned, trying to imagine what Neptune would do if she ever took over Lastation. She then immediately shuddered at that thought. "W-Well, I hope your Lastation is doing okay." She said with a nervous smile.

"Hm? Of course! As long as her Oracle is looking over her shoulder and that we choose the right people to help her, she'll be fine!" Sapphire exclaimed with a huge smile on her face. "Anywho! Enough about my dimension, let's go!" She exclaimed before rushing off.

"Is this girl and her Lastation going to be okay?" Uni asked Noire, crossing her arms with a frown as she finally spoke up.

"That. I'm not even sure." Noire muttered before looking at Nepgear. "Was there anything notable about her, Nepgear?" She asked, wanting more information on this girl.

Nepgear just shook her head. "No, not really. Other than well…" She then shut her mouth and looked to the side. "I'm not sure I should say it right now." She muttered under her breath.

"Hm? What do you mean?" Noire asked, narrowing her eyes in suspicion.

"Well… Since she doesn't seem to remember it, I guess I can tell you this." Nepgear then looked towards the young girl, who was very far away from earshot. "She, well… scared someone out of a store."

"Wait. What do you mean by scare them off?" Uni then looked at her friend with a frown.

"She pretty much glared at the person and told him that if he continued what he was doing, something bad might happen." Nepgear told the two Lastation CPUs. "But, the person in question was harassing B-Sha at the time so she kind of had to step in."

"And you said that she doesn't remember it, correct?" Noire asked, seeing Nepgear nodded very slowly. "Huh. Strange. We should probably watch her if she's doing anything similar to that."

"Yeah. I've also been watching her, but strangely she hasn't done anything remotely similar to that from yesterday to today." Nepgear said, looking like she's in deep thought.

"Really? That is strange" Noire frowned, trying to figure out who this girl really is.

"Strange? What do you mean by strange?" A certain someone asked, making everyone turn to the said girl. "Say. Who are you guys talking about?" Sapphire asked, staring at all of of them with confusion.

"Uhh… Nobody in particular." Noire said immediately, making the girl narrow her eyes, like what Noire was saying sounds wrong to her.

"I see." Sapphire muttered before shrugging and pointed behind her. "I think we're at where most of the quests are. Come on!" She exclaimed, rushing off without anyone saying anything.

"Geez… this kid…" Noire muttered before shaking her head. "Let's just go after her before she does something stupid." She looked toward the other two, seeing both of them nod before going after her.

And after a few minutes of chasing after Sapphire, they all came up to a clearing that led to a large field filled with Dogoos and a bunch of different monsters all spread out. Some of them are the ones for each specific quest.

"Ooh~! That's a lot of monsters!" She exclaims, surveying the area with a wide eye with surprise before going in.

However, Noire immediately grabbed her by her extremely long hair to try and get her to stop her from going any further. Sapphire seemed confused by this, so Noire had to ask her a few things.

"First of all, what the heck are you doing?" Noire asked with a disapproving frown.

"Oh. Just starting the quest before you do. Why?" Sapphire said simply, seemed very confused about why she's being asked this.

"And getting ahead of your opponent, am I correct?" Noire then crossed her arms as she narrowed her eyes.

"Getting ahead? Nope! Didn't the competition start when we came to this forest?" Sapphire asked.

"Uh… No. The competition starts when both of us are ready." Noire asked in a very strict tone of voice.

"Oh! Oopsie! My bad!" Sapphire exclaimed as she laughed like an idiot before giving Noire a dorky smile.

"Wait. Weren't you the one who challenged me?" Noire said, remembering why they started this competition in the first place. And seeing the girl's sudden realization just made Noire sigh.

"Is this girl really this stupid?" Uni whispered to Nepgear, who just laughed awkwardly.

"Well… I wouldn't say that…" Nepgear muttered, staring at Sapphire with a rather worried expression.

"Either way! When do you want to start?" Sapphire asked, turning around before she started punching the air as she looked like she was raring to go.

Noire just sighed again before shrugging to herself. "You know what? Let's start now." She then turned to Uni and Nepgear. "This is a 1v1, so you can stand by for a little bit." Noire told the two girls. "If anything strange happens, you can tell us, okay?" She then smiled at Uni, seeing as she trusted her sister.

Uni then stared back, noticing that her eyes told something very different, before nodding slowly as she understood the assignment.

Noire then turned to Sapphire. "You already know the rules right? Complete the given quests as fast as you can until all thirteen quests are done." She explained to her before looking to see if she actually got all that. "You got all that?" She asked.

Sapphire stared at her for a little bit. It looked like she was processing what she just heard. Or maybe she somehow heard the fact that Uni called her stupid and is still processing that instead of the rules.

She then blinked twice before nodding very slowly. "Yep. I think I got all that. Maybe. I think." She frowned a little before nodding again. "Yes. I think I got that." She confirmed.

Noire just stared at her, not thinking she actually got all that. But she just shrugged it off with a sigh. "That's fine. Either way, get ready. Three… Two… One…" She said as she started to countdown.

And before Noire said go, a burst of wind could be felt by all of them as Sapphire had seemingly rushed down there by herself. Noire was immediately surprised by the speed of this girl, something that couldn't really have seen when she first saw her fight that Ancient Dragon.

"Hey! I didn't say–!" Noire then groaned before she rushed in after her. By the time she caught up, the girl had already taken out three Dogoos with a rapier in her hand.

"Behind you." Sapphire said, pointing her gun directly behind Noire as she then pulled the trigger, shooting the Dogoo that was behind her.

"Wha–?" Noire looked at the girl, seeing something she had seen from this girl before. Her eyes had the eyes of a killer.

"Four Dogoo Extermination Quest Completed! Onto the next one!" She exclaimed, shifting back to her goofy expression as she then rushed off to the next quest.

'That was… definitely strange…' Noire thought to herself before shrugging that off. 'Never mind that! I need to complete some quests fast!' She then rushed off to complete her first quest.

Noire started to look through the list of quests she has on her phone and pick the ones that seemed the easiest. One is to defeat three Delinquent Cats, which she decided to head over to where they supposedly were. She found at least five of them, which she quickly handled with ease.

'She may have that strange speed, but I have the home advantage.' She thought with a smirk. Even though it didn't seem fair, she just had to hope that this girl is actually smart enough to learn the layout of this place.

She then felt a small tap on the shoulder, making her turn to see Sapphire with a rather huge smile. "Hey, Noire! I completed another one!" She exclaimed.

This made her jump nearly thirty feet away from the girl. "Woah! What are you–?" Noire exclaimed in shock, blinking twice before clearing her throat. "I mean. What are you doing here?" She asked, trying to hide her surprise with feign calmness.

"Oh. I just wanted to tell you that I already completed another quest. I think it was, 'Defeat five Kupokitty' or something like that." Sapphire said with a smile.

"Huh…? That quickly?" Noire muttered with a frown before shrugging. "Either way, you don't have to come over and tell me. We're in an open field." She told the young girl, who then slowly nodded with understandment.

"Okay! I'll tell you when I finish six quests!" Sapphire exclaimed before she rushed off somewhere down the field, making Noire sigh to herself.

"Geez… What am I supposed to do with her?" Noire muttered before rushing off the other way.

Meanwhile, Nepgear and Uni are watching this entire thing unfold and both seem to be surprised how fast Sapphire is dispatching the monsters.

"Woah… She's really that fast…" Uni said, sounding almost like a whisper before she turned to Nepgear. "How much have you figured out about her? Besides the whole 'scaring off a person' thing." She added.

"Well, other than that, she usually never goes out and mostly does her work." Nepgear said, tilting her head in thought. "She also mentioned that she sometimes visits the other CPUs." She added.

"She mostly does her work? Never imagine that from someone like her." Uni said with a frown. "Was there anything else she mentioned?" She asked.

"Well… other than that… there isn't really much I can… Oh! There is one small thing she mentioned." Nepgear said with a smile. "She mentioned that she has a friend that she wants to hang out with, but can't because of some problems."

"Oh really?" Uni frowned a little. "That's weird. The stuff she says versus how she acts is very different."

"I mean. I'm not exactly sure. Like I said before, there was that one time she acted pretty differently." Nepgear then tilted her head "Well other than her wondering why I was being nice to her when there are people that do not trust her."

"Huh. She's even aware of that." Uni said, rubbing her chin.

"Yeah. But still, I want to believe that she doesn't want to hurt anyone." Nepgear said before turning to her friend with a nervous smile. "It's pretty weird, is it not?"

Uni just shook her head. "No. I have known you for as long as the time ASIC was still around. You may be a weirdo, but you're my friend." She told the girl.

"Aw~! Thanks Uni!" Nepgear smiled, putting her hands together while Uni just huffed as she looked away with a blush. Then she looked back over to the two people in the large field. "Oh. I think both of them are coming back."

"Huh!?" Uni then looked back at the field. She saw that her sister and that girl had already cleared out most of the quests and were walking back up. And the ones that weren't a part of the quest probably ran away somewhere or were just collateral.

"So uh who won?" Uni immediately asked as the two came up to them, seeing that they had their weapons put away.

"Neither of us. We're both tied 6-to-6." Noire told her younger sister with a huff. She sounded a bit annoyed right now.

"Yup! Unfortunately. The one we need to complete the last one is apparently somewhere else." Sapphire piped up with a smile. "Probably retreated while we were beating up other monsters."

"So basically it ran off somewhere." Uni frowned a little, crossing her arms.

"But at least Sapphire could showcase her abilities to us, right?" Nepgear said as she smiled nervously.

"Yeah. She's pretty good, I'll give her that." Noire said, crossing her arms before turning the said girl with a disapproving frown. "But, you really need to take things a bit more seriously." She told the girl.

"Whaa!?" Sapphire's eyes widened with surprised shock. "But I am! Aren't I?" She then cocked her head to the side, like she was trying to remember something.

"But you sure don't act like it." Noire frowned a little, crossing her arms.

"Eh? But that's how I always am." Sapphire told her with a frown. "Unless you want to act like…" She closed her eyes and cleared her throat. "This? Well… this is… very annoying…" She said in a rather mellow and cold way with a rather cold expression, before going back to her usual expression with a huff. "Phew! That took a whole lot of me!" She then smiled. "Hm? What's up?"

"Wow… That's uh… a very nice act, Sapphire." Uni looked at the girl nervously. She felt a small shiver going up her spine.

While Nepgear looked at her with a frown because it was very similar to how she acted yesterday.

However, Noire didn't seem too unfazed by this. "I don't mean like that. I meant… Agh! Never mind. You're probably not gonna get it anyway." She said while shaking her head.

"Hm? What am I not gonna get?" Sapphire asked, seeming very confused at what Noire really meant by getting serious.

"Geez. Basically, you're not taking anything seriously." Noire told the girl very clearly. "It's not acting like you're serious, it's whether your heart is in this 'competition' or not. It's whether you can do actual field work or not."

"Eh? But my heart is in it. And I can definitely do field work" Sapphire said with a frown.

"Then what if, for some reason, you get caught off guard by something that you couldn't handle. Or better yet, what if I gave you a handicap that would actually win." Noire told her. "You should be wary about a dimension that is not your own and the people you don't know."

"Of course I know that. But I'm not too worried about either of those 'what ifs' and such." Sapphire said. "And besides you won't do something like that, and it's something I know for certain you won't." She told her with a trusting smile.

"What? Is it something you look into my mind to know?" Noire asked, to which Sapphire shook her.

"Nope. It's just how I see the world. After all, there are good people and evil people in the world and you're definitely a good person." Sapphire told her. "Like you said, you, the opponent, would have given me a handicap to spin it into your favor." She said with a smile. "I mean… you had every chance to try and spin this competition in your favor. But you didn't do that."

"That's because there were only those quests at this time. It has nothing to do with anything you just said." Noire said, crossing her arms. She didn't even know why she was defensive about this.

"I see. But even if you said that…" The blue-haired girl then leaned forward, her smile turned into a playful smirk. "I could tell you're a good person, even before coming here."

"Huh? Wait… Hold on… What do you mean by that!?" Noire exclaimed, seeing as she just started to walk away. "Hey! Where do you think you're going?"

"Oh? Gonna defeat that giant horse thing." Sapphire said, turning around with her hands behind her back. "After all, there is one quest left." She then smirked before rushing off.

"Hey! Don't think you can just drop that and walk away!" Noire then rushed after her. "Hey! Get back here!" She exclaimed, before turning to Uni. "Oh. And stay here while I track the monster. Don't go anywhere." She then follows after the young girl with a stomp while the other two are completely confused from the scene they've just witnessed.

"Should we follow after them?" Nepgear finally spoke up after a long silence.

"I guess? But I feel like Noire's got this." Uni said with crossed arms. "Besides, she got this competition in the bag."

Laughing awkwardly, she turned to Uni with a smile. "I guess?" Nepgear told her friend. "But. I don't know. I'm a bit worried. I hope they're okay."

–

"Where the hell did she go!?" Noire exclaimed as she looked around the young, blue-haired girl. "Argh! Why did she go ahead and said that!?" She then stomped her foot in her frustration.

"Said what?" She heard a familiar voice speak up, turning around and seeing Sapphire with a smirk.

Noire immediately jumps back again. "Wh–!? Ho–!? COULD STOP DOING THAT!?" She exclaimed angrily.

"Doing what?" Sapphire asked as she tilted her head in a bit of confusion. "Oh and don't mind me. I just happen to be walking in the exact direction you're walking."

"Huh? But you ran–!?" Noire then tried to figure out how she got behind her in the first place. "Argh! Why are you so confusing!?" She asked angrily, to which the girl just tilted her head in confusion. "You know what? Never mind. You probably don't even know, so let's leave like that. So I'm just gonna finish this quest before you do." She then turns her back and walks off.

As she stomps forward, she can pretty much hear Sapphire keeping her pace. At first she tried to ignore it. She then tried to tell her to stop following her which kind of work for a little bit, but then she went right back to following her.

"Could you stop following me?" Noire asked again in a frustrated tone, seeing that Sapphire looked very confused.

"I'm not following you. I just happened to be walking in the same direction you are." Sapphire said with a smile.

Noire just stared at her like she just said something really dumb. 'Is she really trying to play dumb here?' She asked herself before sighing to herself. "Do whatever you want." She then walked off.

"Okay!" The girl said happily as she marched along the Lastation CPU.

After walking for a few minutes, they both come across the rather large horse, a Sento Unicorn. Seeing that this is the monster labeled a quest marker, they both kneeled down as to try and hide themself from the monster.

"Huh. That's rare. I don't think I've seen this type of monster where I'm from." Sapphire said with a frown. "At least, near where my Lastation is. You would find those near Lowee." She stood up with a smirk. "First one to get the last hit, win this competition." She told the Lastation CPU before she summoned out her weapons again and rushed after it.

"Hey! You can't just–!" Noire just sighed to herself before standing up. "Heh. You know what? I think I should be able to do that." She said with a smirk before she charged after the young girl.

Sapphire, without a single word, fired her gun, getting the attention of the monster. The horse monster noticed her as it charged after her. The girl immediately tried to block it with her rapier, but was immediately pushed back.

"Tch. It's a strong one." Sapphire muttered before smirking to herself. "Oh well. I guess I have to keep going–" She then saw Noire zipped past her.

"Hueh?"

Noire then gave a quick glance to the monster's face before turning to Sapphire. "Pay attention. Or else you'll get burned." She told the girl before giving a swift slice of her rapier as the monster was charging after her.

"Woah~! That's so cool~! Way to go, Noire!" Sapphire exclaimed with starry eyes and a really dorky grin.

'You do know we're in a competition right?' Noire thought in disbelief.

"Either way! Thanks for kicking its butt for me." She said with a grin. "I'm gonna finish before you can say–" She then noticed that the monster was charging after her. "Geez~! Just stay down!" She then roundhouse-kicked it in the face.

The monster slowly gets back up, which makes the girl visibly pout. "Geez~! How many hits does this thing take anyway~!" She said angrily.

"Are you even trying?" Noire asked as she crossed her arms.

"Hueh? I am!" Sapphire exclaimed in a childlike way, turning around with a surprised look on her face.

Noire then narrowed her eyes with a frown. 'She's really not trying, is she…' She thought with a frown.

"It's just… No time for that!" Sapphire exclaimed before pointing at the monster. "If you have the energy to judge me, you should use that to fight this stubborn thing." She then grinned. "But if you can do just that, I'll finish this in under three seconds."

She then turned to the monster with the same dorky grin, but there was something different with her eyes. It was different from her rather cheerful-looking eyes, but it was the same as before where she had those of a killer.

'So it wasn't my imagination…' Noire frowned a little. 'But can she actually do that?' She thought as she narrowed her eyes, looking at the girl cautiously.

The monster started to immediately charge at her. Instead of walking back, she decided to immediately take three steps forward.

Three seconds.

Her eyes are filled with the same cold look, but seemed very determined to defeat this monster. When the monster was coming closer, she immediately dropped both her gun and her rapier.

Two seconds.

The monster is now at her face, but she didn't budge from her. Her eyes are still the same, like she is facing death itself.

One second.

Her smile faded as she then raised her arm and muttered a single word from her mouth.

"Burst."

And not even a millisecond later, the monster immediately was blown away from, what Noire observed, was some sort of beam. However, it wasn't enough to take out the monster.

'"What was that?" Noire asked before narrowing her eyes with a frown.

"Huh? You mean what I just did? It was a skill I can do." Sapphire said with a smile. "It's the pretty weak version of it. It's not something you can take down huge mechs with.."

'THAT was a weak one!' Noire thought, looking pretty befuddled by what she just did.

"So, do you want to take the final hit?" Sapphire asked, giving the black-haired CPU with a smile. "We pretty much weakened it at this point, so it should be an easy picking for the both of us." She added, sounding like she doesn't really care about this competition.

"Huh?"

"Well, if you're not gonna take it, then I'll just take it from you." Sapphire said, readying her rapier for an attack before charging in.

"Oh no you don't!" Noire exclaimed as she too readied her weapon and charged at the monster, quickly catching up to her.

It felt like everything was playing in slow motion. Each step they took felt in sync to each other. When they got close to the fallen monster, they both thrust their weapons at the exact same time.

When both of their weapons hit the monster, it dissipated into digital energy, signifying that it was destroyed. Both then fell silent, trying to process what just happened.

"Huh. Who killed it first?" Sapphire asked, speaking up first while cutting the silence. "Oh well! Guess we'll never know!" She exclaimed, unsummoning her weapons and walking away.

"Wait. Where do you think you're going!?" Noire exclaimed. "Geez… It's like you didn't even care about this competition in the first place."

"I mean I didn't actually care. I thought it was fun and a chance to prove myself." Sapphire said, turning around with a childish smile. "That and I knew how to push your buttons."

"Wh–!? HUH!? WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT!?" Noire exclaimed angrily.

"Oh. Remember when I mentioned my Lastation CPU?" The girl asked, but continued on without even hearing an answer. "Basically, despite her rather lazy nature, she was very prideful. So me trying to insult you was me taking a chance to see how you would react."

"Huh? So wait. Did you seriously say that just to…?"

"Yup. You activated my trap card." Sapphire said with a childlike smile, giving Noire a thumbs up.

Noire's mouth just dropped immediately. She was speechless. She couldn't believe that she was being played by this girl. This entire competition was essentially a cover up, just to prove to her.

"Who are you?" Noire asked suddenly, making the young girl very confused. "Like who even are you? You're not even normal by our standards."

"Hmm… Well…" Sapphire looked up in thought before twirling around before facing Noire with her hands behind her back. "That's a secret~! We all have secrets, don't we? So it's best to keep those hidden. Makes it better for the person who doesn't know the secret and…" Her tone immediately changed. "And the person that is keeping that secret." She said in a cold voice.

"Huh?"

"Just kidding~! What you see is what you get~!" Sapphire said with a smile. "Anywho~! Let's get back to Nepgear and that Uni girl." She then turned around and walked away.

As she saw the girl walking away, Noire was about to call out to her again before stopping herself. 'Secrets. Huh… I wonder what kind of secrets she has.' She thought. 'Something about her is really strange. Someone's gonna keep an eye on her. But…'

'If she is what I think she is, I'm gonna take her out.'

And that's all for now! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

This took a while since I had a bit of a writer's block. That and I was a bit busy with some school stuff. I hope I didn't write these characters, especially Noire, out of character since she was the one I had a hard time on.

Either way, Please Review and Stay Safe!