IF took in a deep breath of the slightly misty fresh spring air. An expression of calm happiness warmed her face as signified by a slight curl of the corners of her lips forming a smile. This was definitely Leanbox- there could be no mistaking it. Despite always keeping up her cool, calm, and occasionally chunbiyuu attitude, IF would never get over the rush of smelling the blooming flowers of Leanbox. Leanbox, as opposed to Planeptune, seemed to be in a state of just entering Spring as compared to Planeptune's feeling of a late Summer type of season. The mercenary enjoyed every single one of her trips to Leanbox. Despite her Planeptunian origins, IF had always wanted to move into Leanbox so she could live and work there. She had sent her admittance papers with Falcom when she went on boat to go to Leanbox quite a while ago, but she never got an answer from Leanbox on whether she was accepted or denied. Strange, really. Speaking of Falcom, where was she? IF hadn't seen her ever since she left.

Nevertheless, IF enjoyed spending any time in Leanbox she could. She had several reasonable reasons for loving the country and wanting to live there; There was the beautiful grassy scenery, the lovely feeling spring weather, the calm and classy atmosphere, and, best of all, there was even her: the lovely, graceful, and beautiful-

"IF?" IF snapped to attention as Nepgear called out her name. With a curious look, IF faced towards the candidate as she listened for what she had to say. "You're kinda... drooling a bit." IF raised an eyebrow before wiping her face with the arm of her coat. She hadn't been drooling, she was just a little lost in thought and- oh dear goddesses she had been drooling. A blush crossed IF's face as she furiously wiped away at her face, trying to get rid of even a small sign of drool. Nepgear couldn't help but chuckle at IF's expense. "What were you thinking about, IF?"

The blush deepened a bit. "N-Nothing! I-I mean, I wasn't thinking about anything in particular." Stuttering through her sentence, IF's lie was more obvious than a guy in a pink bodysuit shouting in a city.

Nepgear started to get curious. IF had been staring blankly into space during the ferry ride into Leanbox, occasionally switching between having a slight smile, a blank expression, and a concerned stare. Showing her concern, Nepgear continued, "Are you sure? It seemed like you were thinking about quite a lot on our way in."

IF kept looking at Nepgear for a few seconds as she considered telling her what she did have on her mind, but she shook her head at both herself and Nepgear. "Don't worry about it, it's nothing to worry about." Nepgear maintained eye contact for a little longer before dropping her question. The two traveled in silence as they continued to walk through the elegantly designed city and went towards the Guild.

When the Planeptunian duo entered the Guild, they were both greeted by several of the guild workers. IF had become a regular at the Planeptune and Leanbox Guild, so it wasn't strange in the slightest for anyone to recognize her. On the other hand, Nepgear was both the CPU Candidate and the frequent target of Vert's affections. These two facts, combined with her primarily white and light purple clothing made her stand out in the dominantly green and white clothed crowds, making her very easily recognizable just about anywhere.

After returning the greetings they received, IF and Nepgear headed to the quest board. While IF had received word that the rate of minor thefts had increased in frequency, they seemed to be mostly disconnected and not related. Nevertheless, the brunette had decided that going around the city while doing some additional quests was not only a good way to earn some extra credits, but would also give her the opportunity to check around the city for any small scale crimes in progress and talk with some of the locals on what they saw happen and what had been stolen.

The two girls scrolled through the quest list for a handful of minutes before deciding on what to do. "Hey Nepgear, how about this one?" IF asked as she pointed to the quest pulled up on the screen. "It's a quest to smash up a few M-3 drones that got infected by some sorta virus and went haywire. It should be fairly easy work, and since some of them probably scattered we should get a chance to travel around the city." Approving of the proposal, Nepgear nodded her head.

Glancing down at her phone, IF checked an online map of the city to plan a route throughout the area. IF made sure to not to look at her phone for too long at a time; she remembered what happened last time someone bumped into her while she was staring at her phone far too well. That was definitely a lesson she would never, ever forget.

Finally deciding on the optimal route, IF motioned for Nepgear to look over and started to speak. "Alright Nepgear, I've got a route planned out for us. The last three places that got stolen from were UncommonWare, Zoon, and Nokeyah. If we travel down this road here," IF zoomed in slightly on the map and pointed to a road, "Go this way, take a turn there, and go down that laneway, we'll be able to go to all three places, cover quite a bit of ground to search for drones, and we'll end up not too far from the Basilicom. Sound good?" Finishing her lines, IF looked up towards the candidate with a questioning look.

"Of course." Nepgear responded.

Beginning their walk, the duo's plan directed them towards Nokeyah, a phone manufacturer, first. Nepgear, who was known for being very interested in machinery and mechanics, was naturally eager to make a visit down to the store. The candidate wasn't the only one who was excited, though; IF also had her own notorious love for cellphones, the nine hanging off her coat being proof of that. After that… accident that happened involving her phone she had ordered phones of similar appearance from Nokeyah. They were strong, durable, and could survive an explosion. You couldn't destroy one of these things if you tried! They were just the epitome of the modern market's technological advancements and-

"I-IF?" Nepgear hesitantly tried to get the brunette's attention. IF turned her head to the lilac candidate.

"You're drooling again."

After 20 minutes of walking, the two finally arrived at the storefront. It was a fairly small and humble building. The outside of the store was a little rugged, but that symbolism represented the kind of product that was put out, and that in itself added its own charm. The only thing that was off about its appearance was fairly obvious; a collection of planks covered up a shattered glass pane. "Yup, the thief seemed to hit this place alright. Ready to go in Nepgear? ...Nepgear?" IF tried to snap Nepgear back to reality as the maker caught the candidate staring starry-eyed at the place. She was waaay too excited to enter.

Grabbing the daydreaming girl by the hand, IF opened the store's door and entered with Nepgear with tow. Nepgear's eyes darted to the left and to the right as she took in the shop's atmosphere. Phones lined the walls and filled the display cases. Most of the items on display were newer models, but some older phones had their own showcase to display the change between phones now and then. Nepgear looked at these ancient models with interest. She wanted nothing more than to take them apart and see their delicate, precious internals and reverse engineer them to learn from the past and make the greatest phone to ever grace Gamindustri-

"Clear!" A voice shouted from what sounded like a backroom part of the store. IF's eyes widened.

Nepgear's attention was directed away from the phones for a moment as she heard the shout. Curious, she started to question, "Huh? What was that voi-
WHATTHEGOODNESS!?"

IF had dived down to the floor, taking Nepgear down as well in the process. Nepgear let out an "oomph" as she hit the hard, white flooring. The impact didn't hurt her too much, but she still had to wonder why IF had just tackled her to the-

BOOM

Nepgear's question was answered almost instantly as chunks of drywall went flying, followed by smoke and dust filling the room. The girls strained to see as they coughed while still on the ground. Was the store being robbed? Was someone going to kidnap them? WAS SOMEONE GOING TO TAKE IF'S PHONE? These thoughts danced around in the candidate's mind as IF slowly started to stand.

A few seconds later, a girl started to peek her head out from the hole in the back store caused by the recent blast. She was in heavily padded blue and white bulletproof armor, the kind you might see someone wear if they were trying to stop a heist in progress. No sane criminal would dare go up against anyone in that kind of overkill armor unless they had either a payday on the line or a deathwish. The armored girl took off her helmet, revealing her heterochromatic grey and blue eyes and sky blue hair, as she got off the floor, using part of the destroyed wall to help her stand back up. "Holy shit did I kill anyone?"

IF managed to stand on her two feet and nod her head. "I'm fine. Nepgear, how are you holding uuuuup…" IF's question started to trail off as she looked down at Nepgear with concern.

"I'm fiiiiiiine…" Nepgear weakly waved as her eyes started to spiral in stereotypical anime fashion before fainting.

Entering the room once again, the armored girl set an armful of planks, a handful of nails, and a handy hammer down on the store counter. "Sorry about earlier, I didn't expect the blast to be all that large. Maybe a bit too much gunpowder that time?" The armored girl shrugged before grabbing her supplies and getting to work on patching up the broken wall. "By the way IF, I don't think you've introduced me to your friend there. Care to introduce us?"

IF, sitting down near Nepgear in one of the chairs the bombardier had gotten for them, responded quickly. "Oh, right, my bad. Ides-tan, this is Nepgear, Nepgear, this is Ides-tan."

"A pleasure to meet you, Ides-tan." Nepgear responded cheerfully, seemingly unphased by the earlier events.

The mention of the candidate's name caused Ides-tan to miss the head of the nail she was hammering into, slamming right into her hand. Shaking her hand as if she had suffered no more pain than if she had been flicked, she turned around to face the two girls before taking a closer look at the candidate. "Huh, well would you look at that? I didn't notice you the first time around, my bad. Sorry for not having anything special prepared." With that, the engineer returned to fixing the wall. "So, what did you fella's come in here for?"

Nepgear looked to IF as if to prompt her to answer, which IF did. "We came by to ask about the burglary that took place, if you wouldn't mind."

Ides-tan grabbed another nail and started hammering that one in as she spoke. "Sure, I'm willing to talk about it," she started before finishing with rhetoric, "No harm done with questions about it, right?"

Having been given the metaphorical greenlight, IF started to speak once again. "Alright, thanks. Could you tell us anything about the person or people who did it and what they stole?"

Ides-tan, oddly enough, smirked before responding. "Two hooligans were rifling through a bunch of my prototype plans. One was small and was was average height, and both were wearing grey. I didn't get a good look as both of em fled the moment they saw me enter my testing room with all this bulky stuff on." The engineer patted her armor. "They ran so fast they didn't even consider using the door; they just burst straight through the window! It was hilarious!" The girl couldn't contain her laughter, taking a few seconds break from her repairs to regain her composure. "Honestly, that was the best thing I had seen all month. Oh, and the best part is that in the end, all the designs they stole were near obsolete! What a bunch of shmucks, eh?" IF and Nepgear couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at the failed burglary, the worst damage done having only been the window.

IF started to note down what Ides-tan said, juuuuust in case they ever needed that information. Or a laugh. As she did so, a question that Nepgear had been wondering about came to her mind. "Hey Ides-tan, what were you doing earlier that caused that explosion?"

The armored girl wasted no time responding. "Oh, simple: blast tests."

"Blast tests?" The candidate wondered.

"Yeah, blast tests." Ides-tan affirmed. "Y'know, blast tests. I was checking to make sure my new design was blast proof. Here, check it out!" Ides-tan grabbed a prototype phone with her spare hand for a second and tossed it to Nepgear. "That thing was in the center of that explosion."

Hearing those words made Nepgear's eyes sparkle once again. Such a marvel of technology! There wasn't even a scratch on the phone! "How… how did you do this?" The candidate started to speak as she got close and violated Ides-tan's personal space. "I need to know." Ides-tan was reasonably scared of the lilac-haired candidate in that moment, as she was no more than a foot away from her face with an expression that practically screamed HIGH IMPACT NEPSUAL SNUGGLES.

Stepping away from her work to take a break, and by extension, get the heck away from Nepgear, the shopkeeper started to respond, "C-Calm down there, lady Nepgear. How exactly I make stuff is a bit of a trade secret, but I'm willing to show you some of my older, less durable prototypes if you're wanting to see 'em. They aren't the most durable designs in existence but you could probably learn a thing or two about sturdiness from them and ohdeargoddessesWHATTHEHELL!?"

Without any indication that she was about to, Nepgear sprang forth and glomped the blunette. "Goodness, thank you thank you thank you!" Now on top, the candidate firmly held Ides-tan closely as she hugged her.

Ides-tan, less excited about the situation, started flailing her limbs. "I-I need an adult!"

IF couldn't help but look on with a feeling of "just another monday" syndrome, a stereotypical sweat drop dripping from her forehead. "B-Bulldozer's history…"

15 M-3 drones, two more shops, and one fulfulled quest objective later, IF and Nepgear were back on the road and headed back towards the Guild. While their original plan after leaving Nokeyah was to go to Zoon and UncommonWare and ask a few questions to the makers there, they didn't get the chances to. When they had gone to Zoon, the small shop had been closed down for renovations. Nobody was around when the two had arrived, save for one girl. The lone girl had a slightly retro style in everything from her speech to her hair. In addition, she also had a pair of headphones on. The only word they could use to describe her was… Groovy.

On another note, the duo had about the same luck with UncommonWare. As they watched the large store from a distance, they saw many people protesting their new game, "Lute Flutie: Screws and Nails". Apparently, most of the fans of the previous two games didn't like the change from platforming gameplay to a game where you bolted together some nutty vehicles. At the front of the protesters appeared to be a slightly chubby man with a green bird. The Planeptunian duo were only able to hear a few phrases of his speech, those being, "Ech," "I LOST A ROCK," "HOLY SHIT UNCOMMONWARE HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME," and finally, "Cars? Cars!? CAAAAAAAAARS!?" The two fled as fast as they could from the fanatics, clearly creeped out.

As the two traveled down the road, they found themselves having nothing to do to pass the time as they walked; they had expended all options for small talk and IF wouldn't dare look at her phone again while walking. Bored, their idle attention turned to the nearby buildings. The two couldn't help but admire the sophisticatedly designed structures. There were admirable arches, intricate interiors, extravagant exteriors, and even beautiful, handcrafted statuettes that added just the right amount of pride to its overall appearan-

THUD

"Hey, watch where you're walking ya brat!" Said a female voice.

"Yeah, watch it, chu!" A male voice added on.

The Planeptune pair were so busy gazing that they had accidentally bumped into another pair (who had also been too busy gazing). Rubbing her head as she stood back up, Nepgear apologized first. "Goodness, I'm sorry."

"My bad." IF added on. After the collision, the two went on their way, going back to staring at the buildings they had been gazing at-

Wait

Both Nepgear and IF stopped and looked behind themselves at the people they had just bumped into. They saw two familiar figures. One short, one average size.

Both wearing grey.

One was a mouse. The other was a green-haired girl that looked like an underling.

The candidate and the maker looked at each other. Then back at the other two. Then back at each other. Then they broke into a full sprint as they chased after Warechu and Underling. It didn't take the criminal pair much time at all to notice they were being chased, them going full speed away from their pursuers. IF shouted at the ASIC members, "Get back here you two!"

The chase wasn't obvious to the bystanders standing by, the bustling crowd of Leanbox's sounds canceling out IF's shout to all except those who were already shoved aside by the underling. At this rate, the suspects would get away. IF turned her head to the Planeptune candidate before shouting, "Nepgear, transform!"

The purple sister looked at the windwalker for a second before nodding. Jumping into the air to keep her momentum, Nepgear went into her HDD form and grabbed IF before flying forward at incredible speed.

"Ah shit, the brat is going all magical girl on us!" Linda voiced her concern to her companion as she picked him up off the ground, holding him in both of her arms. She ran as fast as she could, her taller body allowing her to go at a faster pace than Warechu's stubby legs would have allowed him to go. Seeing the two girls behind them catching up quickly, Linda acknowledged in her head that they would lose any outdoor pursuit and looked for nearby shortcuts. With little time to make a decision, she kicked down the door to a conveniently placed abandoned warehouse and ran inside.

Panicking, the mouse spoke up by shouting, "This is why I wanted to go to Planeptune, chu! No matter where we start doin' stuff the CPUs are gonna be after us, so we might as well go to some place nice, chu!"

"Can it and help me look for a way out!" Fueled by a desire to simply not get caught, the underling's feet carried her at a rapid pace as her eyes frantically scanned for an exit she could go through to lose her pursuers. Unfortunately, she reached the other end of the shambled building before she could properly devise a plan. "Damn it!" Underling cried out as her face started to turn pale out of worry.

Sighing to himself, Warechu jumped out of the green-haired girl's arms. "Fine, fine, I'll be the sacrificial mouse, chu. Find an exit and get outta here while I distract em, chu!" The mouse stood his ground in front of the underling as he looked back at her. The girl looked shocked at his selfless sacrifice, but accepted it without hesitation. Nodding her head, she acknowledged her comrade and started to flee, knowing that all the mouse would want in return would be being busted out of jail later.

Moments later, the sounds of a pair of feet smacking against the ground grew louder as the two girls from Planeptune caught up to the rat. "Where did that underling go?" IF asked to no one in particular as she approached the stationary criminal with speed.

Warechu spoke as he blocked their path, "She's busy escaping, chu! Even villains believe in the power of friendship, chu!" IF and Nepgear looked down at the mouse.

IF cracked her knuckles.

As the dust settled, it faded away to reveal the aftermath of the fight. Empty boxes were scattered. The floor was scratched with marks from gun and sword. The Planeptune duo saw Warechu lying unconscious on the ground, having fainted only a minute or two into the fight. IF and Nepgear stood unscathed. The rat had barely even put up a fight! The most exhausting thing that he had done was run around the warehouse in circles, leading to a wild goose chase. Despite all this, he had still done what he intended to do; he bought time for his accomplice to get away.

IF grumbled unintelligible words under her breath while Nepgear sighed as she transformed back into her human form. The maker couldn't believe she had just let one of the thieves slip out from right under her hand! Nepgear noticed her friend's displeased state and came over to console her. "Don't worry about it IF, I'm sure it'll be fine. Look on the bright side- we caught one of them, didn't we?"

The maker's eyes turn to the candidate's as she nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Well, there's no use dilly dally shilly shallying here for much longer. Let's bring this rat in. We might be able to learn something from him if we… Do you hear that?" IF paused as both her and Nepgear looked towards the warehouse entrance, their attention captured by the sound of uniform, rhythmic boots hitting pavement.

As the sound got louder, the cause of the noises was revealed; policemen marched in line towards the two girls. The sound of voices also started to reach their ears. Were they… singing?

"We observe too great a stress," The person who seemed to be the sergeant of the squadron started, "On the risks that on us press. When the outlaw bares his steel, we uncomfortable feel, and we find the wisest thing, is to slap our chests and sing."

IF and Nepgear both raised an eyebrow as they watch the curious group of law enforcers approach where the mouse was on ground unconscious. Someone had definitely called the police earlier and they were definitely responding now. It seemed they had sent their more… "creative" unit to clean up the mess and take the mouse away.

Seemingly not done with his song after having picked up the mouse off the ground and cuffing him, the sergeant continued, "Yes, yes, we go!"

...And then marched in place.

Starting to get annoyed, IF made a remark. "Then do not stay."

The entirety of the police squad kept their rhythm as they looked at the maker and chanted. "Tarantara!"

"Then why this delay?" IF spoke again, still trying to figure out why they weren't moving.

"All right, we go. Yes, forward on the foe!" And yet, they remained still.

"But you don't go!" IF exclaimed as she groaned out. "What kind of shitshow did I just witness…? Why does all the weird stuff have to happen to me…?"

Entering the Basilicom as the sun set, the two girls let out a sigh of exhaustion and relief. From Neptune acting strange to meeting a bunch of policemen looking for pirates, today had certainly be strange- stranger than normal, at least. Finally upstairs where they could rest, Nepgear called out to Vert, "Hey Vert, we're here!" Nepgear would regret doing that. As the candidate finished her sentence, she and IF heard the distinctive sound of a controller being set down which was followed by a series of thumps against the ground. These thumps grew louder and louder until they turned to see the source; it was Vert running towards the girls to give them a hug-

"WHAT THE GOODNESS!?" Vert glomped the candidate mercilessly.

Immediately starting to convert her, the CPU inappropriately coddled Nepgear as they lay on the floor. "Oh my adorable little sister, I'm glad you're home. Hug your older sister Vert back would you, Nepgear?" A dumb smile and spiral eyes took over the embraced girl's face as the aforementioned suggestive cuddling worked its normal charm.

I'm never gonna hear the end of this from Nep, am I? IF asked herself as she watched the scene unfold with a light smirk and a mild blush. "L-Lady Green Heart? Nep told me to stop you from trying to do anything to steal Nepgear away from her, so if you could let go of Nepgear that'd be great."

Shifting from her lying position and sitting up, the CPU kept the candidate positioned on or near her endowments the entire time. "Aww, but IF, I'm just spending some quality time bonding with my little sister, am I not? It's not like I'm doing any kind of girl-guy thing here or anything." The maker sighed as Vert turned her attention back to Nepgear. "My dearest sister Nepgear, I'm so proud of you! I heard you did a quest for me and even caught one of the thieves in the process! Who could ever be as good as you? Now, repeat after me: Vert Onee-chan, Vert Onee-chan, Vert Onee-chan…"

Not wanting to deal with more insanity than she already had today, IF called out to the two and started to walk towards the guest room. "I'm… gonna head in for the night." The two were too occupied with hugging and brainwashing to acknowledge IF. IF stopped for a moment as she glanced back at the scene with a light blush, staring at the couple for a little too long before continuing on her path.

After changing into her set of pajamas and getting ready for bed, IF finally retired to the guest room for the day. There was only a single bed in the guest room, as there was almost never more than one guest in the upper levels of the Basilicom staying overnight. In the event that there was two or more, it was likely that Nepgear would have been present, so Vert would usually just convinced her to sleep with her that night. IF sighed to herself as she flicked the lights off and got comfy under the sheets. She hoped that those two wouldn't get too "friendly" and get her a stern talking down to from Neptune of all people. Clearing her mind, the maker closed her eyes and began to sleep and dream.

- ( End of Chapter ) -

"Goodness, this isn't going to be a reoccurring thing like in Victory, right?"

What are you talking about Nepgear?

"You made me get tackled twice in one chapter!"

Oh come on, it's not that bad.

"You're just going to bully me more!"

Maybe. Maybe.

Apologies for the delay on this chapter, I had meant to get it out earlier but a variety of things and a little bit of laziness disagreed with my planned schedule.

On another note, I've slightly modified the description to be more inclusive, as I realized that in future chapters having some Megadimension characters would help the story flow better, however this shouldn't affect my overall storyline by too much.

As always, reviews are welcomed!