I'll admit that I'm still working on the TL;DR. I'll update the authors notes soon too, this chapter was a culmination of several ideas I had floating in my head. Good luck with this one guys. This is the first of the last two decisions for the first arc. Good luck.

Multiple endings have been locked

Chapter Eleven - Lost and Found

OPENING THEME:

“Even if that’s true we can’t give up on searching for the crystals!” Slivsy insisted. “Our whole plan is dependant on us finding them!”

“And how exactly do you plan on searching for a sack of Blackvoid crystals in the dark?” Kurome demanded. “We have no idea of their general location much less a way to track them.” The group fell silent. Uzume’s mind started racing for a way to locate the Blackvoid crystals. The clue that Serenity had given them had certainly helped them narrow it down to Virtua Forest, but even so the forest itself was massive in size. Given the current number of Soulbots in the area and their concerns for whatever Chara was cooking up within the city itself made it risky to be in the area at all. Uzume hated to admit it but maybe Kurome had a point. Searching in the darkness was going to make their hunt even more dangerous.

No way, we need to find those crystals as soon as possible! Come on Uzume Tennouboshi, think! When was the last time she had needed to track something down on such short notice!? The first thing that came to her mind was Kurome back during Eden’s first attack on Lastation a year ago. But even then she had been following her other self, not trying to find a needle in a haystack. Uzume’s eyes widened as a plan snapped into her mind.

“Hold on a sec Kurome, I think we do have a way of tracking those Blackvoid crystals!” Uzume declared. At first everyone looked at Uzume in confusion. The moment before Kurome had been crushed by a falling, blazing wall Dexter had shot the wall using his Blackvoid energy. He had later explained to Uzume that he had tracked Kurome with Blackvoid. It was a basic ability that was shared across all types of Crystal energy, the power to locate sources of similar energy type and determine their type and if they’re usable or not. Dexter’s technique had been refined to track the Blackvoid energies of people, but they didn’t need to find a person. Just raw Blackvoid power. Uzume grinned at her counterpart.

“You want me to track them using my Blackvoid power.” Kurome realized before Uzume had a chance to speak.

“Exactly.” Uzume confirmed, her right hand forming into a determined fist. “If Kurome can track the Crystals we should be able to make it back to Leanbox long before the Soulbots have the advantage of nightfall.”

“That’s not very long.” Slivsy warned, looking up at the sky “I’d say we only have another twenty minutes of daylight left.”

“That’s plenty of time!” Uzume assured. “As long as we know exactly where the crystals are we can get to them in no time!”

Evesy shrugged. “I don’t see why not. If we can grab the crystals now we can all sleep in our own beds tonight!”

“Alllright then everyone! Let’s get a move on!” Nepsy declared, marching ahead of the group in a random direction.

“Nepsy, I’m afraid the crystals are in the opposite direction.” Kurome warned, causing the group to giggle in amusement.

“Right! I knew that! Onward my trusty companions!”

Despite Kurome being the one to know the exact location of the Blackvoid crystals, Nepsy was the one to lead the group onward at a brisk yet steady pace. Continuing to travel east, Uzume quickly realized that their current direction would take them directly to Lastation if they were to continue traveling their current route. Those survivors must have grabbed the crystals and tried to make a beeline for their nation. Uzume guessed.

Considering the atmosphere in the group, it was easy to put aside the stress of being in the middle of a Soulbot infested area on what was probably a mission to determine the fate of Gamindustri and beyond. Everyone was all smiles thanks to their new plan, marching onward with renewed purpose. It was as if they could see the light at the end of the tunnel, and all of their problems would be fixed if they could get to those Blackvoid crystals.

Still, Uzume had to admit that they had a long road ahead of them. Assuming they manages to get the Blackvoid crystals without any more issues, there was still the matter of creating the Paradox crystal, going back in time, and piecing together a new Eden program powerful enough to defeat Chara. On top of all of that the Guardians - lord and masters of the entire multiverse - were breathing down their necks! It was almost enough to discourage Uzume then and there, but she kept the hope of seeing Umio again close to her. She couldn’t simply give up on saving her friends. She couldn’t afford to give up on Umio, or Gearsy, or Unisy, or anyone else!

“Hold on everyone!” Yomisy called. Slivsy turned and gave the girl a look of confusion.

“What’s up Yomi? Soulbots nearby?”

Yomisy’s expression scared Uzume. It was a mixture of fear and confusion at a level she had never seen from the young researcher. “Every one of my scouts was just cut down almost simultaneously!”

“What!?” Slivsy’s eyes went wide.

“They must be onto us.” Kurome guessed.

“But Soulbots are just mindless machines!” Slivsy reminded her. “There’s no way they could coordinate an attack like this!”

“It’s Chara.” Uzume realized. “He must be personally leading the Soulbots against us. There’s no other explanation.”

“If Chara’s onto us then we need to hurry!” Ramsy declared. “I’ve seen him in action, none of us are powerful enough to stop him!”

“I agree.” Evesy nodded. “Kurome, how close are we to the Blackvoid Crystals?”

“Still a fair distance.” Kurome warned. “I’d say just under a kilometer at least.”

“It’s too far.” Yomisy shook her head. “My scouts were two-hundred fifty meters ahead of us. The Soulbots have us surrounded on all sides!”

“We’ll have to fight our way out.” Uzume declared, summoning her megaphone.

“We can’t! If any of us get injured now there’s no telling if we’ll be able to find more supplies!” Evesy cired.

“But we can’t go back without those Blackvoid crystals!” Nepsy pointed out. “Aww man! I should have known something like this was going to happen!”

“No point in worrying about it now.” Uzume decided. “We’ll have to force our way through and get to the Blackvoid crystals before it becomes an all out battle. Yomisy, do you know what type of Soulbots are directly ahead of us?”

“M- mostly Hunters. A few Mutts but it’s mostly Hunters!” Yomisy answered.

“That’s perfect. Slivsy, you’ll go in ahead of us, Ramsy will keep you safe from their guns. You’ll fly right past them and manipulate the roots of the trees to trap them in place. Once that’s done the rest of us will take them out. Then we’ll move on to the Blackvoid crystals!”

Slivsy grinned. “Sounds like a plan. Glad to see you haven’t lost your nerve Uzume!”

“No way I can let one defeat get the better of me! Besides, the whole of Gamindustri rests on us! We can’t afford to hold back!”

The group charged forward until Slivsy could spot the group of Hunters using Biohelix enhanced eyesight. Slivsy slowly summoned and extended her wings of light.

“You ready for this Slivsy?” Uzume asked. Slivsy nodded.

“Always.”

“Just try to avoid getting hit. The barrier I’m giving you won’t hold out very long against Soulbots.” Ramsy warned as her triangular tipped pink and white staff glowed with magical energy.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Slivsy remarked grimly before shooting forward. Almost instantly, red lights began flashing in the distance.

“Everyone take cover!” Uzume ordered before ducking behind a tree. A moment later a red laser zipped by where she had been standing a moment before. Everyone else in the group quickly followed suit. Moments passed as lasers continued to flash by without end, and Uzume was starting to worry that Slivsy had gotten shot down. Again.

“Now!” Evesy called, the call startling Uzume so much she almost didn’t notice Evesy using her Novalight energy to give the group a speed boost.

“Alright, time to show these Soulbots the power of the main character!” Nepsy declared, and with grip tight on her katana, charged forward ahead of the group. Not wanting to be left behind, Uzume quickly charged after her.

As the Hunters came into view it looked as if most of them were still focused on Slivsy, who had uprooted a pair of trees and was using them as a barrier to protect herself from the hailstorm of fire raining down on her. A pair of the Hunters had turned to aim at Nepsy and Uzume, however two quick headshots from Evesy quickly ended the threat.

Before any of the other four Soulbots had a chance to react, the members of the group crashed into their formation. Nepsy quickly slashed her Soulbot in two, while Kurome twisted hers using a drill of negative energy. With Ramsy focused on helping shield Slivsy, it was up to Uzume to finish the remaining two Hunters.

Igniting her feet with energy, Uzume slammed herself into the chest of the first Soulbot - sending it crashing to the ground with a satisfying shattering sound before using the momentum to position herself above the second Hunter. Normally Uzume would love nothing more than to scream into her megaphone and take her remaining opponent out that way, however Uzume had a feeling that a simple amplified scream wasn’t going to be enough from her current angle.

Forcing her body to start flipping forward, Uzume used the momentum from jumping off the first Hunter to crash the edge of her megaphone into the head of her second target, the force ripping it off the body in a shower of sparks and crimson blood.

As a result of her flashy and awesome move Uzume skidded backwards upon landing, nearly losing her balance but managing to stay on her feet. Thank goodness I stuck the landing. Uzume sighed in relief. That wouldn’t even be half as cool if I had tripped up there.

“Well done Uzume!” Ramsy gave a wink and a thumbs up in Uzume’s direction. Uzume quickly returned the gesture.

“Of course! It’s only natural for someone as cool as I am!” Uzume declared proudly.

“I’ll say, that was impressive.” Slivsy agreed.

“Save the compliments for later, we need to get moving before the other Soulbots arrived.” Kurome reminded the group.

“What happened to the Mutts? Yomisy I thought you said there were a few Mutts nearby with the Hunters?” Uzume asked. Yomisy pointed to a pair of Mutts that had been flattened by the two trees Slivsy had been using as shields. Uzume’s eyes went wide.

“Your move was a lot cooler than mine. I just kind of flattened them without any flare.” Slivsy admitted.

“Alright save the contests for later! Let’s move!” Ramsy declared, running off in the direction of the Blackvoid crystals.

The group began sprinting through the forest, following Ramsy over fallen trees and through thick brush until they arrived at a small clearing. Kurome instantly dove for a crumpled set of brushes to the groups left. She began to reach down to search for something in the brush, only to be stopped by a warning shot placed in front of her. Kurome shot back to her feet, and the group watched three figures emerge.

“I’m afraid I can’t let you have those.” A familiar voice warned. Uzume’s eyes widened as she realized who she was now facing. Two hooded figures accompanied the man - and traitor - now standing before them.

“Zer0! But how!? We all saw you get blown away by that Soul CPU back in Lastation!” Zer0 laughed, as if amused by the concept that everyone thought he was dead.

“No I’m afraid not. I only faked my death so I could finally leave you fools behind. Although I do appreciate the thought. I really would have liked to enjoy my ‘wife’ in bed one last time. Oh well, maybe after I destroy Leanbox.” Uzume never thought she could be so disgusted with a human being.

Uzume glanced towards Neptune, who seemed utterly shocked by this sudden appearance.

“Wait a second, I think I know what's going on!” Nepsy finally declared. “Chara’s got you under some kind of mind control! I’ll bet if we beat some sense into you you’ll go back to normal!”

Zer0 laughed. “Neptune you never fail to amuse me! However I am not under any sort of mind control, rather I’d say it was all of you who were under my thumb!”

“I don’t understand, all three of us are immune to mind and memory alterations!” Slivsy reminded him in bewilderment, gesturing to Evesy and Yomisy.

“I’m well aware, this is why I made to sure to alter the memories of everyone in Gamindustri not long after Uzume revived. It was a day before Katsuo’s arrival, and he never noticed the difference!”

We’ve been… played for fools all this time!? Uzume couldn’t believe it, and yet from the way Zer0 was acting she knew it was true.

“Well then, I guess it’s time to wake the fuck up!” Evesy declared, sounding furious. A powerful pulse of Novalight energy pulsed from Evesy, and Uzume managed to catch a blue glow coming from her Soul Gem. Before Uzume had a chance to make any sense of what it was, her memories began altering themselves. It was a similar feeling to when she got her memories back from before she revived, though the feeling was slightly different. It was warmer, more inviting than as if her memories were sealed.

She saw herself meeting Noiresy again for the first time, though this time Zer0 wasn’t there. He hadn’t been there for any of her first adventures with the current CPU’s! He had just shown up one day as Noiresy’s supposed ‘husband!’ For the last eighteen months he had tricked them!

“You bastard. I can’t believe you managed to pull this on us!” Uzume growled.

“I’m impressed you managed to alter my memories as well. Considering I wasn’t even around when you altered the memories of everyone.” Kurome commented, sounding impressed. “Considering the nature of my revival I’m guessing you had a hand in Eden’s arrival in Gamindustri.”

“I may or may not have tipped him off as to Katsuo’s whereabouts.” Zer0 admitted with a smirk. “It was all to set the stage for my masters revival. His power will end the world and see it gets the justice it deserves!”

“This man is no more than a construct of Chara’s design.” Slivsy warned in Uzume’s mind. “I’m ashamed I didn’t see it before, but this man is an embodiment of Chara’s rage towards the people who supposedly wronged Chara in the past.”

“But wait, we saw another version of Zer0 in the Crystal Dimension!” Uzume realized. “So does that mean both of them were Chara’s underlings!?”

“I don’t think so. Mato had me look into everyone in Planeptune’s inner circle when we arrived. His story about being from an underworld-type dimension checks out. I imagine this guy is based off of him as a way for Chara to get someone close to the CPU’s.” Yomisy guessed.

“Are you done with your little private chat?” The fake Zer0 asked.

“You bet we are! I should have known better than to accept the fact that Noire had a boyfriend! Those aren’t even allowed in this series!” Nepsy shouted. “And to think you nearly had me wooed too!” Actually you couldn’t stop talking about how handsome he was and how you were jealous for Noire keeping him to herself. Uzume recalled sadly.

Zer0 laughed. “And to think I would have had a harem in just under another year! Oh well, perhaps Chara will let me play with his toys when I return.”

“What the hell do you mean by that!?” Slivsy spat.

“Well he’s got all the good toys. Mine are just… not the same.” Zer0 ran his finger up the tattered cloak of the figure to his left. Uzume managed to catch the eye of the cloaked figure. Stunned, Uzume took a step back. She knew who was under that cloak, and couldn’t believe it.

Seeing Uzume’s shock, Slivsy blasted the trio with a strong gust of wind, blowing the two tattered cloaks off the figures bodies. Hidden beneath them stood Gearsy and Unisy, eyes darkened in a similar state when Kurome had caused the four CPU’s to fall.

“You bastard.” Evesy spat.

“Nep junior…” Nepsy gasped. “What the heck have you done to my little sister!”

“Nothing you yourself haven’t experienced!” Zer0 giggled. “Although I doubt a hyper share crystal will be enough to restore these two back to their former selves!”

“Come on Nepgear snap out of it! Come back to us!” Nepsy pleaded.

“I’m sorry Neptune, but I’ve been in your shadow for far too long! It’s time I took the spotlight!” Nepgear declared, pointing her gun towards her older sister.

“You’re right that destroying the multiverse would cause you to outshine Neptune.” Yomisy agreed. “However that light will shine for no one. Do you really want to be known as the goddess who killed all of creation!?”

“As long as I get to kill Neptune I don’t care.” Nepgear replied darkly.

Slivsy sighed. “Well Uzume, I think you and Eve both know what to do here. Even if Chara has a hold on them Soul Energy can’t overpower Novalight’s purification abilities if the soul of the person wills it.”

“Are you sure?” Uzume asked. Yomisy nodded. “She’s right. But you have to be in physical contact with the person for it to work, and something tells me that this guy has a countermeasure ready.”

Zer0 smirked, waiting for the group to make the first move.

“I’ve got the crystals.” Kurome declared mentally. “Yomi, you can activate the teleportation crystal.” Uzume realized that while everyone’s focus had been on Zer0, Kurome had managed to sneak her hand into the brush. Uzume had a feeling that some of her delusion powers were also at work.

“We’re not leaving here without my sister!” Nepsy declared.

“I agree. We’re not leaving Gearsy behind like this.” Uzume agreed.

“I understand how you both feel, but haven’t both of you realized that something’s wrong here!? You all told us that Nepgear and Uni both died in previous battles! If that’s the case then how are they standing in front of us!” Ramsy made a good point. The Gearsy and Unisy Uzume knew were both gone - at least for the moment. These two had to be fakes created by Chara to throw them off.

Uzume noticed Slivsy’s eyes narrow, but she said nothing.

“Yeah, you have a point. Alright then, let’s get these crystals back home.” Nepsy decided.

“Small problem, the channel of the teleportation crystal takes a few minutes. On top of that I have to remain in contact with the crystal and be focused on the coordinates. If I get thrown off even a little we could end up in the ocean!” Yomisy warned.

“So we need to distract these guys.” Uzume guessed.

“We could use the same barrier strategy as before.” Ramsy pointed out.

“You mean play it defensive? I guess that’s one option. However I have a philosophy, play to win. If we play not to lose we’re only going to get ourselves killed.” Slivsy warned.

“It’s your call Uzume.” Kurome looked Uzume straight in the eyes. “Do we go after these three goons or focus all of our efforts on protecting Yomi?”

1.Offensive

2.Defensive

ENDING THEME: RE: RE: - AMALEE

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