Now let's play 'who the hell can find all Beaglerush references?' These are pretty old, so I'm not hoping for much.

Interdimensional RED-Coded Contract

Doom, Might and Magic

The moment she woke up, IF got the distinct feeling that this was going to be a very weird and tiring day, and she was quickly proven right when she, Blanc and Compa teleported into Merc's Hotel… and were met with this… these things.

"I have an Owl head!"

"Beep boop, maggots! I am a robot!"

"I became Archimedes!"

"Everyone, look at me! I am the prettiest unicorn!"

"Heavy is wish-making fairy. Make wish."

"Partner, I wish for some brains… and bacon. Bacon brains."

The girls stared at the sight before them. The mercenaries had undergone a few… changes. Sniper, Medic and Demoman had their heads replaced with birds' heads. Engineer's and Scout's skin turned green, some of their flesh was missing and what remained was rotten and decayed.

Soldier had an outfit that made IF subconsciously wary of him, while also lifting her hands to grab her hair.

Heavy… was wearing a tiara, a pink tutu and fake fairy wings for some reason while Spy was wearing a pink unicorn hood over his usual mask.

And Pyro…

...Pyro didn't change at all, actually.

"Alright… What is this?" IF deadpanned.

The mercs turned their heads towards the girls. IF reflectively took a step back. Engineer waved at the girls and Compa realized that his entire torso was just a skeleton, no skin or muscles… just bones.

"'Morning, girls. Y'all mind if I eat some brains?"

"Yes?" Blanc frowned, becoming more wary of the mercenaries.

"Mr. Engineer, Mr. Scout… are you feeling alright?" Compa asked, contemplating if she should go get the Quick-Fix. The mercs' medical technology and durability were impressive, but their current state seemed unnatural even by their standards.

"Hoot!" Hooted Sniper, briefly catching the attention of the others.

"Aw, we alright, Compa!" Scout reassured the nurse, despite missing flesh on his leg and elbow. "Me 'an hardhat over there are just carvin' for some brains, they're delicious!"

"Well you can't eat our brains." IF said, crossing her arms. "We need it."

Scout's and Engineer's shoulders fell at her rejection. Engineer sniffed and rubbed his nose.

Blanc rubbed her temples and shouted. "Alright, seriously! What the hell is going on with you guys!?"

"Pain." Heavy answered.

"Yeah!" Demoman agreed.

"It's just Halloween, Frau Blanc, it will pass." Spy said and flicked his… mane. "But for now, don't you think that I make a very beautiful unicorn?"

Blanc stared at him, dying inside, while the mercenary kept his smug expression and stared back at her.

And then Neptune and Nepgear barged in, because all they needed was more chaos.

"Good morning everyone!" Nepgear greeted.

"It's Halloween everyone!" The CPU of Planeptune shouted.

Both of them were carrying straw baskets full of candy. No one knew where that candy came from and IF had more pressing matters to worry about, like the sudden emergence of a certain holiday.

"...But Halloween's still a few months away..." IF said.

"No you silly, it's today! Their Medic moved Halloween up, remember?"

A headache was starting to build up in Blanc's head, the CPU already considering leaving the Hotel and never looking back. She would go to Histoire, give her back those mercenaries, leave Planeptune and (maybe) come back when they've all died of old age. She already had to deal with her sisters, she can't just… ugh.

Blanc mentally broke… if that wasn't clear enough.

Because how the hell can someone just move a goddamn holiday?

"...No? I don't remember that being a thing..." IF answered hesitantly. The mercs (and Neptune) acting like lunatics was perfectly normal, but the fact Nepgear was playing along with it so wholeheartedly was making her question reality.

In the meantime, Neptune shrugged and placed her basket on the table, Nepgear did the same. "Oh well, me and Nep Jr. have already prepared some candy for the trick-or-treaters."

"Where did you get those?" Compa asked.

"Me and Neptune went shopping yesterday and bought a large supply of various sweets." Nepgear answered. "The shopkeeper was very surprised when he saw us."

"You went shopping?" Medic asked, looking at Neptune.

The CPU tilted her head. "Eh? Yeah? Why you ask? Cool head, by the way!"

"Thank you. I am zhe Archimedes, zhe angry bird god of zhe Badlands!"

"Oooo." Neptune clapped her hands in approval.

Blanc sighed. "You weren't supposed to show your face until the press confederence."

Neptune's shoulders fell. "...Oh."

Compa patted her shoulder. "It's okay, Nep-Nep. It's alright."

"Well, maybe. But still…" IF took her phone and tapped a few keywords into the internet browser. The Guild agent wasn't happy with what she found. "People are already talking about this. Cat's outta the bag now."

Long rusted gears in Neptune's brain turned and the CPU's brows knitted as she realized something. "Umm… Iffy? Why was I supposed to hide myself from the public anyway? Shouldn't they know that I'm here so I can gather shares?"

IF blinked twice as Neptune made a startlingly good point. "...Yes." IF answered. "But Histoire wanted to hype everyone up, and then reveal your freedom during the confederence. She thought she could maximize the Shares gained that way and also calm people down if she placed you on a pedestal and made a big show of how you're fine."

"Ah, I see." Neptune nodded. "Why is this the first time I'm hearing this, then?"

IF blinked. "Huh?" The brunette looked at her before turning towards Engineer.

Everyone else followed, staring at Engineer.

The mercenary grinned sheepishly.

IF, and everyone else, now realized why.

"You had one job." IF said.

Engineer gulped and stepped back, his hands raised in surrender.

"One job." IF emphasized.

"Really now, hardhat. You messed up." Scout shook his head.

Medic walked up to his comrade and placed a Ghastly Gibus on his head. "You must vear zhis hat of shame!"

...

Someone knocked on the doors.

"Ah! The first batch of trick-or-treaters!" Neptune skipped to the doors and everyone already forgot about Engineer's failure. "Coming!"

"Here he comes." Groaned Demoman.

"Hold up guys, I'm gonna get ma' bat." Scout said as he went upstairs.

Neptune opened the doors, revealing a person wearing black robes and a ram's skull... Ram as in male sheep, and not the Lowee's Candidate.

The wizard spoke in a grandiose tone. "It is time, mortals! Merasmus is here!"

The mercenaires collectively groaned at him while Neptune stared at Merasmus in awe and amazement. She looked up and down at his outfit, examining every detail her eyes could find.

"Wow! Cool costume!" The CPU said. "While a wizard is kind of a overused shtick, I see you've put a lot of effort into your costume. For that I shall award you with these candies!"

She took the basket and held it out for him. The wizard glared at her, clearly unimpressed with the offered sweets.

"Merasmus isn't here for candy-"

Then his eyes noticed what kind of sweets Neptune had in her basket. Those were full sized chocolate bars and batons, full sized chocolates. Given away for free. Those weren't even some cheap knock-off brands, but rather expensive high-tier stuff. Merasmus quickly changed his mind upon seeing what kind of candy she was giving him.

"Can I- Can I have this one?"

"This one?"

"Yes."

"Sure!"

"Thank you."

With Neptune's blessing Merasmus took one baton that caught his eye. This little exchange left him a bit embarrassed but a promise of free, full sized, chocolate bar was more than worth it

Merasmus cleared his throat and started again. "Now then, FOOLS! It is Halloween, so I've come to kill all of you again… Not you though, you're good." The wizard quickly added, giving Neptune a thumbs up.

Neptune smiled at him and put down the basket.

Then she punched him in the crotch.

"Argh?!" The wizard doubled over in pain, while the CPU put her hands on her hips. "What?!"

"Not on my watch, buster! If you're here to kill any of my friends, then you'll have to get through me first." Neptune said.

"Then you can die as well!" Merasmus spat out.

He tapped his staff against the ground and everyone started to glow green, Merasmus included. The mercenaries were already geared up and were calmly waiting for the spell to finish, while the girls looked around confused and panicked.

Merasmus cackled evily.

"See you on the other side, mortals and not-mortals."

Up in True Celestia, Magnavox sensed something attempting to leave her universe. She frowned when she saw that the origin point came from NEO Hyper Dimension and the target was the mercenaries' universe.

That wasn't through Engineer's teleporters, so Magnavox had no idea what was going on. This wasn't Samuel's doing, or else she would know about it. Someone else was trying to escape Gamindustri.

"Nope." She said and killed the connection.

Then Merasmus's spell malfunctioned.

The first thing they felt was cold.

The second was the taste of snow.

One by one they stood up and looked around.

They were… in Lowee. Blanc recognized the mushroom-shaped buildings around them as Lowee's main square. The civilians stopped to look at them as the mercs scattered and braced themselves for… whatever Merasmus might throw at them.

Blanc brandished her hammer and the civilians around them started to become wary. The CPU of Lowee gulped. Out of all places that bastard had to send them, it had to be where collateral damage was in play.

"Watch where you fire, don't harm the civilians." Blanc said to the mercs, earning grunts of affirmatives.

With how tense she and the mercs were, Blanc realized that she might cause panic to spread across her people. The people kept staring at them, like deers in the headlights.

Then she heard Merasmus talking to her. However his voice… came from within her? What?

"Wait wait wait wait, what? What happened?"

Blanc and other girls looked around but they didn't see the wizard anywhere, not even above them. And yet they could clearly hear his voice coming from… inside their own heads.

"Who did this? This is not where Merasmus was planning to teleport! Who interrupted my spell?!"

Oh, so whatever he was originally planning had failed and their arrival here was an accident, that's great! Blanc's shoulders relaxed and she hid her hammer away.

"Sorry about this, everyone." She addressed the public. She didn't exactly know if they could hear him too, but Blanc didn't see any of them reacting to Merasmus's voice. Hopefully she could play it off as an experiment going wrong. "We had a little mishap when testing a new spell, drills and all. I apologize for the inconvenience, please, relax and continue about your day."

Merasmus spoke again. "Okay then, change of plans. Let's see… Let's see… Oh!"

Blanc and everyone else started to get worried about what that 'Oh!' meant to them. Obviously some bad news, but how bad will it be?

Merasmus appeared in their vision, coming out of nowhere. He was flying above the crowd of people, glowing green for some reason. A few people pointed their fingers at him asking who is that.

Merasmus spread his arms wide. "Aha! You're all DOOMED, mortals and not-mortals! I summon! An army! Of DOOM!"

Lights appeared in front of the group, lights that Blanc quickly identified as portals, and when she saw what was coming through said portals, her blood ran cold.

Killachines.

They were big, much bigger than any robots the mercenaries fought when they were defending Mann Co. Gray and orange armor protected their hardware, while a gigantic axe and mace acted as their form of offence. They had no legs, instead they hovered above the ground like CFW Judge.

People started screaming and running away and the mercenaries opened fire on the machines. Bullets, rockets and flames came at the machines, but the Killachines ignored the punishment and focused their eyes on Blanc, Nepgear and Neptune. The former let out a quiet "...Shit." as she realized what that meant.

"CPU detected. Initializing Enhanced Combat Protocol."

Their armor and weapons begun to shift. Now they had even more plating protecting them while theirs weapons became bigger and more wicked-looking. Theirs axes got a serrated blade while their maces grew spikes. Their new armor plating easily resisted Mercenaries' fire, their bullets didn't even leave a scratch on them.

One of the Killachines grew annoyed by the constant fire and it turned towards the mercenaries.

"Do I look like I give any fucks?"

Sniper fired at its head. The bullet pathetically pinged off the robot's armor.

"Maybe you didn't hear me the first time."

"Damnit." Blanc cursed under her breath. She really wanted to leave these things to the mercs. That 'Enhanced Combat Protocol' of theirs makes them annoying to fight against, especially when they had such big numbers. But now it was too late for that.

A flash of light covered Blanc as she activated HDD. "Mercs, get the civilians out of here and protect them, even if it kills you. Nepgear, Neptune, transform. No need to hold back now that they're pissed. IF, Compa support us but watch out, these things look and are dangerous."

Now that their armor was hardened, there wasn't any point letting the mercs fight these things, not in her own city. The mercenaries listened to Blanc's orders and fled, herding the panicked masses away from the main square and the danger stationed in it.

Light enveloped Nepgear and Neptune as they also activated their HDDs. Purple Heart eyed her sister with a raised eyebrow, while Blanc already rushed to fight the machines.

"Nepgear? What happened to your HDD?"

The Candidate blinked twice and looked down at herself. There wasn't anything wrong with her processor. Her white and red leotard were just like she remembered, as were the crimson ends of her hair.

"I don't see anything wrong with it? What do you mean?" Nepgear asked.

"It's red now, wasn't it purple?" Purple Heart pointed out.

"...Ah! Right." Nepgear just realized what she meant.

Her HDD changed colors when she got the mercs' bionic enhancements. The parts that were previously lilac purple were now bright red.

"Hey! Focus!" Blanc called out to the Planeptune's CPUs. The CPU of Lowee was already flying around the horde of Killachines, doing what she could to make them focus on her and not on the other people. IF and Compa were below her, thinking how they could support the CPU without flying abilities.

"Get over here already! I can't do this by myself!"

As she said this one of the Killachines swung his axe at Blanc. The CPU blocked the blow with her shaft, but that still forced her to lose altitude. Then other Killachines took this opportunity to attack and Blanc had to back off.

"Come on, let's go!" Nepgear said to her sister, already joining the fray.

"Right behind you, Nepgear."

The CPUs flew towards Blanc, their weapons drawn and ready… then Blanc suddenly fled, taking all of the Killachines with her. Neptune and Nepgear were surprised, but they caught up with the CPU of Lowee.

"Do you have a plan?" Neptune asked.

Blanc nodded. "Yeah, but first we have to drag them away from Lowee, I don't want any collateral damage."

Neptune nodded while Nepgear looked back. "Umm… I think they're catching up to us."

Blanc looked back and swore. "Goddamnit…" The space the CPUs put between them and the Killachines was gradually shrinking, and they couldn't go any faster. Fortunately there was a decent chance that they could still leave Lowee before Killachines caught up with them.

Nepgear aimed her Gun Blade at the Killachines, zeroing onto the closest target before Blanc suddenly grabbed her weapon.

"Not yet." The CPU shook her head. "After we leave Lowee."

Nepgear nodded and focused on flying, sometimes casting a glance back towards the Killachines. These robots were marginally faster than them… But they didn't have any ranged attacks. Nepgear theorized she could just shoot them from a distance while her sister and Blanc could keep them at bay.

"Alright, on ten we scatter and wreck them, you ready?" Blanc said, holding her fingers.

Nepgear and Neptune nodded, readying their respective weapons.

"I'm ready."

"Ready!"

"Alright, one." Blanc lifted her index finger.

"Two." She lifted her middle finger.

Three never came.

They reached the outskirts of Lowee, and were almost safe from collateral damage, but just when they were about to cross the border, they hit an obstacle… Literally.

There was an invisible barrier around Lowee and the CPUs slammed into it. Head first.

They didn't even make a sound when they crashed, they just did. From their terminal flying velocity to complete halt in an instant.

"You're trying to run away? Muhahaha!" Merasmus laughed. "Fools! There's no escape from this map!"

Blanc's thoughts were filled with rage, anger and how she's going to find that wizard bastard and shove his skull hat up his ass.

Then the Killachines caught up to them.

Hiding away from the coldness of Lowee, Uni and Nisa sat in a cafe, drinking some chocolate shakes. The Candidate spent her time observing the surrounding area, watching for anyone that might be eavesdropping on them while also taking in the sights. The Heroine meanwhile checked the news on her phone, her drink almost untouched.

The cafe was almost empty, only them and the waitresses were here. Uni feared that they might eavesdrop on their conversation, but they seemed to be more focused on getting the place ready than on the pair of girls that were just spending their time together.

"It appears that Lady Vert has reached Leanbox... And she already apprehended someone." Nisa announced.

Uni raised her eyebrow in surprise while Nisa shown her the screen.

The headline read "Lady Green Heart raids 5pb's house, two people arrested."

"Yesterday noon Lady Green Heart visited 5pb's residence and arrested two people that were recently reported to be seen near her. The CPU has been confirmed to be accompanied by a group of robots, similar to those that were attacking Lastation's citizens. While there has been no official statements regarding the connection between the machines in Lastation, and the machines accompanying Lady Green Heart, internet viewers have already reported that both of these machines are the same models.

The arrested group has been reported to be following 5pb and her bodyguard. 5pb has stated that those were her new bodyguards and refused to share any additional information about them. Witnesses say that gunshots were heard during the time of arrest, and there's a video of Lady Green Heart being knocked out of the apartment through a window.

"No official statements have been made regarding the arrest, and only Lady Green Heart appears to be harmed. 5pb was reported to be currently living inside the Basilicom until further notice."

Uni made an impressed expression and placed her finished drink."Well, her nation is a swarm of criminals. I'm not surprised at all." The Candidate commented while Nisa retracted her phone.

"Mhm. Though, I wonder why 5pb? If those were Miss Pauling's men then for what reason did they try to get close to 5pb?" Nisa said, taking a few sips of her drink.

"I dunno. Maybe they weren't actually with her and that was simply unrelated to the bigger problem?"

Nisa shrugged.

Their conversation has hit a brick wall and died. Neither Uni nor Nisa said anything as they got lost in their own worlds. Uni looked around the cafe, her mind still blown by how different the inside was compared to the outside. In fact it amazed her how different this nation was at all from Lastation. At first she thought this was some kind of small village, but it turned out to be the capital. Uni snorted when she heard Nisa saying this, the Candidate thought that a nation with a capital so small couldn't possibly compete with others, much less her own nation.

Now she was sitting in a cafe that looked normally from the inside, but outside it was actually a giant mushroom. Across this cafe was a small wooden house that couldn't have more than 2 floors.

...It was actually a hotel that had thirty floors, all of them packed into the two-story high house.

While nations like Leanbox tried to be as large as possible, Lowee was doing the opposite. They were trying to be as small as possible without losing anything that the other nations had. Magic truly allowed for some creativity in architecture.

"I think the Basilicom will be open to visitors soon." Uni suddenly said. "Once you finish your drink we'll start again-"

"-I'm already finished." Nisa cut in. An empty glass standing on her side of the table.

…

Uni stared at Nisa's glass in shock.

The Heroine just gulped down the glass at once, instantly. Not only that but Uni didn't even see Nisa doing that, her drink just disappeared!

"H-How did you do that?" Uni asked.

Nisa switched off her phone and pocketed it.

"When it's time for justice nothing will stand in my way, not even a full glass of chocolate shake."

Nisa stood up and dramatically pointed at Uni, earning an amused look from the Candidate.

"Let us move to see Lady White Heart!"

Then they heard screaming. Uni turned towards the window and saw people running away from… something. The Candidate couldn't see the cause of their distress, but she guessed that something was attacking the capital.

Nisa also heard this and was changing her shoes in response. Her new pair were primarily white with blue accents, and had small pair of wings on the sides.

"Let us move to save those innocents!" The heroine said, fastening a pair of red mittens to her fists before punching them together. Nisa ran out of the doors and Uni followed her… only to stop at the doorway. The black haired girl looked between their drinks and the waitresses… who have been giving her weird looks.

"Umm… Yes? What is it?" One of the waitresses asked.

"H-How much for the drinks?" Uni said quickly while pulling out her wallet and cash, hoping that she could quickly finish paying for the drinks and avoid trouble.

"...You already paid us." The waitress deadpanned.

...

"Oh, right. It's upfront here. 'Kay, bye!"

Uni slammed the doors open and was met with masses of people outside, running away from something. She saw Nisa not far away from her, staring at the person hidden among the crowd. Uni knew who that person was.

Clad in red and already armed, they saw Miss Pauling's Engineer herding people to somewhere.

"Move up! Move up, y'all! Hide somewhere and wait!" The merc ordered, his voice audible despite the public's loud cries of distress. Some of the panicked civilians ran past the girls and hid in the cafe they were just in. Uni poked her head in and asked.

"What's happening?"

"Th-There's Killachines! There's Killachines in the city!" A woman answered.

A waitress gasped and dropped her tray. Uni looked at the Nisa who was quietly staring at the mercenary, Uni put a hand on her shoulder and the heroine looked at her.

"Let's deal with them later, first we have to deal with those Killachines." Uni said.

...Before some rude citizen brushed past her and knocked her off her feet.

The Candidate fell to the ground and was immediately trampled by other people. Nisa quickly grabbed her arm and dragged her to safety.

"T-Thanks." Uni said.

"Don't sweat it. Are you ready for a fight?"

Uni unhooked her rifle from her back and quickly inspected it. No bullet in the chamber, the clip was full and the safety was on. Uni pulled its bolt, loading the bullet into the chamber, and nodded to her friend.

"Yeah. Let's kick some ass."

They ran towards the town square, staying on the side of the road to avoid the majority of the people fleeing for their lives. It didn't take long for them to see the threat. There was a squad of machines hovering above the houses, already fighting Lowee's and Planeptune's CPUs. They weren't Gray Mann's robots.

There was 15 of those machines, and they were against 3 CPUs and IF and Compa. The mercenaries weren't fighting them for some reason...

Nisa was about to jump in with her Justice Kick when a hand grasped her shoulder, keeping her in place. She whipped her head back and was met with eyes covered by goggle lens.

"Ma'am, it's dangerous out there." Engineer said to them. "You two should run along with the other folks."

Nisa brushed his hand away and faced him fully, her expression unreadable. "It's me, Engineer. Nisa."

The mercenary recoiled and looked up and down at her. Even with his eyes covered she knew he was surprised to see her.

"Ah, didn't recognize ya there. Move along then. They might need some help."

"That's what I'm about to do, thanks." She responded coldly.

Engineer watched her and some other black-haired woman join the fray and help the CPUs. The mercenary nodded to himself and turned his back towards the fight.

"You're doing fine, y'all! Keep going!"

Neptune quickly remembered why she asked Lowee's mascot to seal those things away. They were dangerous to fight and relentless, especially when they had numbers.

A mace came at her and Neptune flew out of its reach. The CPU could her sister having trouble fighting in the background, but she couldn't assist her with 6 Killachines in the way.

One of them swung its axe at her and Purple Heart flew up to avoid it, then dived into it, her sword already swinging.

"Cross Combination!"

...Nothing happened.

"What?" Neptune frowned at her skill failing, but nonetheless she swung her sword at the Killachine, normally. Each of her strikes left a dent in its armor, and the Killachine couldn't retaliate against her. She was too agile for it to hit her at this distance. One of its friends came from above to help it… But it hit its friend instead. The struck Killachine fell into the building, completely destroying it. All of those compressed floors violently expanded and launched the defeated robot upwards.

Neptune snorted and fled, other Killachines chasing after her.

These things were dumb as bricks and didn't know that mp_friendlyfire was ON for them.

However those houses are going to be a problem… If they explode like that when something hits them, then collateral damage is going to be high. They can't leave Lowee so those Killachines are going to fall onto the buildings and make them explode… Although the rubble didn't look to affect other buildings. She saw a piece of rubble hit other building at high velocity, and the rubble just bounced off. It didn't even leave a mark on the building.

The Killachine swung its mace at her, and two other Killachines came at her from other sides. She had no room to dodge-

"-Guh!?"

One of them struck her and sent her cratering into the ground.

"Oooouuuuhhh…" Neptune groaned, her vision blurry.

...They also hit like tens of trucks. Goodness bless her immortality. Neptune tried to move but she found herself embedded within the road.

"N-Neptune?!" Nepgear exclaimed, only to be smacked away by another Killachine.

The Killachine that attacked Neptune dived into her and stabbed her with its mace. "Kauf?!" Air left her lungs and pain exploded in her abdomen… but the mace didn't penetrate anything. It hurt a lot and it stunned her, forcing her into the ground ever further, but Neptune… was fine.

Other Killachines surrounded her while the one that attacked her raised its mace for another blow… Then Blanc smashed her hammer against its head and ran away. Now Neptune's Killachines started to focus on Blanc instead.

The CPU of Lowee parried one hit, only for two more to come after her. Blanc flew to the side to avoid them and another Killachine tried to attack her. These machines won't fight one-on-one with their target, they'll eagerly use their numbers to overwhelm them.

Compa jogged towards Neptune and healed her with the Quick-Fix. "Are you okay, Nep-Nep?" She asked, wary of any machines that might leave Blanc and go back to them. The healing beam quickly dulled the pain Neptune felt and replaced it with sweet relief. The CPU stood up, leaving a person-shaped hole in the ground, and flew to help Blanc. A Killachine charged at the CPU, only for Neptune to swoop in and tackle her out of the danger.

Blanc was now in Purple Heart's hands. White Heart looked around confused before she saw Neptune's smug grin.

"Cheers for that." Blanc rolled her eyes.

"Anytime, here."

Neptune let Blanc go and used her skill and applied a STR buff onto both of them.

Or at least she tried to. The skill failed to activate…

"What the… Seriously, what's going on?" Neptune asked, looking at her own hands.

Before she could ask Blanc if she could use her own skills, they heard Nepgear crying out in pain. The Candidate had pulled too many Killachines and got surrounded by them, with the perimeter slowly shrinking.

"S-Stop! N-no… Don't come any closer!" She fired her Gun Blade as Killachine after Killachine swung their weapons at her. Nepgear dodged and parried what she could, but one of their attacks hit her and flung her into one of their teammates.

"Graaaaaah!"

She darted to the side, avoiding a mace, using her increased momentum to smash Killachine's face in. Then she escaped the perimeter and flew towards the other CPUs.

Nepgear fired at Blanc's and Neptune's Killachines, while Blanc and Neptune flew towards Nepgear's chasers. Neptune reached out to her sister and grabbed her hand, then swung and threw her at the horde of Killachines.

Blanc crushed another machine's armor with a single strike, while Nepgear's Gun Blade dented another machine's head, a few quick shots at point-blank finishing the job afterwards. The lights on the destroyed Killachines died before they fell towards the ground, destroying whatever they fell on.

That's three down.

"They're still retarded, great." Blanc commented before chasing after Neptune.

There was a certain bug in the Killachine's system. If a threat takes their attention for long enough, they'll develop a severe case of tunnel vision and ignore anyone else. Blanc was glad the ASIC didn't fix that.

Other Killachines charged at them and they backed off. Blanc led the machines higher into the air, while Nepgear brought them closer to the ground. Neptune was left alone and she waited for an opportunity to strike.

The Killachines caught up with Nepgear and started attacking her, an axe came from the right and the Candidate flew up to avoid it, then she was forced back down as another axe came for her head. With their superior speed the Killachines started to surround Nepgear, like they did before.

Then help arrived, though not the kind of help she expected.

"EX Multi Blaster!"

"Haaaaaaaah!"

A beam struck the back of one of the machines, surprising it, then an unknown girl flew towards the struck robot and delivered an enormously strong kick, sending it flying. Nepgear got out of its way before the ragdoll could hit her.

Amid the confusion, Neptune dived down and stabbed the Killachine in the back. Her sword left a sizeable dent in the armor and another strike ripped it to shreds. The CPU then jabbed her weapon inside the Killachine; whatever it was she had hit, it must've been important, as it shut the machine down instantly and it fell to the ground.

That makes four.

...Five, that makes five destroyed Killachines. The one that was hit by the reinforcements crashed through a building (which exploded like the previous one) and stopped moving.

Then they heard Merasmus's voice coming out of the heavens.

"It appears that newcomers have joined the fray… Merasmus did not expect outside help."

Blanc decided that after she beats up these machines, she'll sic the mercenaries on that wizard bastard. They seem to have some history with the magical asshole anyway, she got the feeling they'd be more than happy to do it. In the meantime, Nepgear saw a Killachine approach that girl that kicked the other robot, and moved to intercept its blow.

"N-Nisa?! Is that you?!" The Candidate exclaimed in shock.

The Killachine raised its other weapon, and Nepgear tensed at the sight of the axe was slowly looming over her… Only for Neptune to parry it. The Killachine stopped struggling with Nepgear and focused on her older sister. The robot swung at Neptune, who dodged it, only for a bullet struck its hand and send the weapon careening back towards the Candidate. There was no time for either sister to react.

Nepgear felt the axe cutting away her body and then she lost feeling in her right arm. Neptune saw the Killachine's axe severing her sister's arm and leg, leaving a shower of blood behind.

"Nepgear!"

Nepgear heard her sister scream. She's never heard Neptune scream like that before. Her tone gave her chills… or was it the blood loss and snow?

Her HDD was off. Nepgear didn't know when it was turned off, but she expected it to happen eventually. Any moment now she'll know the true pain. There was a lot of movement before her eyes but her vision was blurry and she didn't know what was happening.

Her breath was ragged and shallow as she was on the verge of death, left to wait for her demise or salvation.

The pain returned, reminding her that Nepgear was still alive. Every time she had her butt handed back to her, every time when she was in critical condition, her heart would fail. And it hurt. Oh my goodness it HURT.

Why does it always hurts so much?!

Why?!

When will it stop?!

Could someone KiLl her to make it stop?!

Compa!

"Merasmus has an idea!"

That was no Compa, shaddup!

Everything felt heavy, her fingers would barely listen to her. Nepgear clenched her fist and grit her teeth to bear the pain.

She was cold… and tired. She knew she needed to keep her eyes open, she has been through this before, but it was so hard. Her body demanded to sleep while her mind fought to prevent it. She knew that if she closed her eyes she would end up dead and Re;Spawning, but it was so hard to keep her eyes open.

Compa… please…

"Compa! Over here! Hurry!"

Yes, please. She… She...

...

...Was her vision wrong or was there someone above her?

"Don't die… don't die Nep Jr."

Then Nep Jr. felt… Warmth… Relief.

"Nepgear!"

Neptune's eyes widened as she saw her sister gored by the Killachine. The axe went through her sister's arm and leg, cleanly cutting them off her body. A chilling scream reached Neptune's ears, a scream with her own sister's voice. Her Gun Blade fell from her grasp and hit the ground, with her body following it.

Nepgear hit the ground and her HDD turned off. Neptune saw blood leaving her wounds.

Neptune heard someone yell "Sorry!" but she drowned it out. The only thing that mattered was that someone harmed her sister, in front of her eyes. The CPU of Planeptune slowly turned her face towards the Killachine, the perpetrator, the culprit, the murderer.

Her body briefly glowed and an instant later she was behind the Killachine, post-swing. A gash appeared where Neptune's sword has struck.

"Grrrraaaah!" She struck the machine again and again, countless wounds appeared on the machine's hull as Neptune outright teleported around it. Every time the Killachine thought it had a lock on her, Neptune attacked it six times within a single second. She struck from every direction, leaving the machine helpless as Neptune fiercely pummeled it without any breaks.

After two seconds of onslaught the Killachine's systems gave up and died.

Neptune wasn't done.

She set her sights on two other Killachines that were close by. Two other threats to her sister and other people.

"Neptune Break." Purple Heart whispered. Her form glowed once more before she disappeared, 2 seconds later one of the Killachine was destroyed. She used her EXE Drive again and the other Killachine fell shortly after.

Nisa's eyes grew wide as she saw the CPU of Planeptune wipe the floor with not one, but three Killachines at once. The heroine's legs froze in awe and fear as Lady Purple Heart appeared and disappeared around the battlefield, too fast for Nisa to track her with her eye.

"Merasmus has an idea!"

Merasmus's words fell on deaf eyes. Nisa looked down at Nepgear. She was alive… but in pain, she was clutching her chest with the sole arm she had. Nisa didn't have any recovery items, nor did she know first aid… She could call for a Medi-bot, but… uhh...

Nepgear would be fine, she will be fine… She has Re;Spawn. She still needed medical attention, though. Nisa was about to say 'fuck it' and call the entire Carrier Tank, but then she noticed two girls - IF and Compa - running towards Nepgear.

...Compa had a medi-gun.

"Compa! Over here! Hurry!" Nisa shouted, waving her hands.

Neptune landed near Nepgear and pulled her into a tight embrace. "Don't die… don't die Nep Jr." Neptune whispered as she wrapped her hands around her sister. Compa's sprint slowed to a halt when she got close to the Candidate and the nurse spared no time healing Nepgear. Compa took the severed arm and leg and gave them to IF.

"Press these to her wounds." Compa instructed. IF took the limbs and pressed the severed ends to Nepgear's injuries. Neptune blinked owlishly as both of her friends worked on healing her sister. With IF holding the severed limbs where they were, Compa started to heal Nepgear with Quick-Fix's Übercharge.

"Ah!" Nepgear gasped when her body reattached her severed limbs, and then corrected them so they face the right way. Her heart stopped hurting and Nepgear opened her eyes wide open as Compa still healed her with Quick-Fix.

"N-Nepgear?" Neptune asked as her sister began stretching. A second ago she almost lost her sister, now she looked… fine.

"Ooough. Thanks Compa." Nepgear said and patted her sister on the back. "I'm fine now, Neptune."

Nepgear didn't fight as Neptune pulled her into even tighter hug. IF turned her gaze away from the CPU sisters and landed her eyes on the blue-haired heroine.

"Hi Nisa." IF waved at her. "Fancy seeing you around here."

"Hi~!" Compa greeted. "Do you require some assistance?" The nurse raised her Quick-Fix, not-so-subtly suggesting what she meant by that.

Nisa smiled and shook her head. "No, thank you. I'm all fine." She glanced back to check on Uni, before turning back to them.

"A Wheel of Fate!" Merasmus announced. No one cared about it at first, until Nepgear pointed her finger at the sky. "Sis… what is that?"

They all raised their heads to see what was going on.

The whole sky has changed. What was once a cloudless blue sky now had green clouds gathering directly above Lowee. Those clouds were moving, creating a whirl above the city, and a rectangle appeared right in the middle on the whirl.

"The wheel spins~!"

The images on the rectangular card rapidly changed, too quickly for them to see what they were. Then the 'wheel' was slowing down and the picture that it settled on was...

A picture of a bumper car?

"Bumper Car Carnage?! What?" Even Merasmus was surprised!

Then everyone found themselves seated in a small red bumper car, with their hands stuck to the steering wheel. Even the Killachines didn't escape the Wheel of Fate and were also stuck with… a noticeably bigger bumper car, painted with a shade of blue as well.

"What?" Nepgear tried to move her hands away, but she couldn't bring herself to let go of the wheel. She could steer her vehicle just fine, but she couldn't let go of it. Her legs were free to move though.

"Whaaaaaaaaaat!?" They heard Blanc yell as she was falling from the sky, White Heart fell not that far away from the rest of them. The Killachines were falling down too, apparently no one could fly when they were seated into a bumper car. A ground shook as several tons machines crashed down into the earth, and more buildings were lost because of it.

"What? Merasmus doesn't remember adding this card here." The wizard said, proving once again that this wasn't his plan… Whatever his plan was.

Blanc changed her mind, she won't send the mercenaries after him. She'll find him herself, beat him up, have Medic heal him, beat him up again and then make him repair every building that was destroyed today. And goddess (that is her) forbid that someone actually died because of him. Blanc put her foot down and the bumper car shot forward. Her eyes widened from shock and she released the pedal, the car slowly brought itself into a halt.

Her sisters rode these things before, right? She remembered that the mercs had these things… For whatever reason… And either Scout or Pyro had let them ride around in some before. If a child could drive these things, so could she.

"Woah!" IF said as her own cart drove forward… and hit Nisa.

"Hey!"

"Sorry!"

Others were having trouble driving the bumper cars, the Killachines were sitting completely still, as they probably weren't programmed to drive a bumper car, or handle such an absurd situation in general. Blanc noticed one of those machines was on her 2nd, turned her car to face it and… These things had some sort of boost, right? Ram had said something about it, but Blanc didn't really listen to her. How strange that this knowledge would be useful right now in bumping that oversized tin can and tell it to piss off.

"Head bomb! Head bomb! Comin' through ya!"

Blanc - and other girls - turned their heads around to see Scout coming up to them. Blanc and Neptune raised their eyebrows in confusion when they saw Scout's head glowing and being an unnatural shape.

Once he neared they realized his head had turned into a cartoonish bomb.

"Hi girls!" The merc waved at them and activated his car's boost. His 'head' was thrown back as his bumper car rapidly accelerated and he drove straight into the Killachine that Blanc wanted to hit. There was a loud explosion and the Killachine was blasted away… Into the stratosphere as it looked like.

...That's eight… Probably.

It was worth noting that, despite being at the epicenter of the explosion, Scout was fine. He still looked like a zombie and was missing flesh in a few places, but the explosion didn't take his head off. If anything, his head just turned back to 'normal', green flesh and bone. The merc turned his car around and drove towards Blanc.

Once he was close enough Scout raised his hand towards her. Blanc gave him a blank look. "Ya see that?" He asked, looking smug as hell.

"That was my kill you little brat!" The CPU of Lowee shouted at him and high-fived the bostonian. Despite having her kill stolen, Blanc had a small grin plastered on her face. Then she realized she had taken her hand off the steering wheel somehow, if only for that high five. She decided not to question it.

"Hah! You gotta git gud, girl!" Scout grinned at her.

Blanc rolled her eyes.

"Tell your team that once the people are safe, find that wizard bastard and beat the living tar out of him for me. We'll handle the Killachines, there aren't that many of them left anyway."

Scout gave her a casual salute. "Aye aye, ma'am!" And then he drove off with a boost-accelerated speed. Blanc nodded at his disappearing form moved onto the next task, that task being learning how to drive a bumper car, whether she could use it to get rid of more Killachines while they're effectively stunned, and finding out how she could get out of it.

The entire fight was put into a standstill, as neither the CPUs and their friends nor the Killachines could operate the bumper car without looking like a drunk idiot. Nothing worthwhile actually happened. At worst someone bumped into other person's car or a building which didn't do much. The mercenaries didn't blow up anything else, and the Killachines were still not moving at all.

Then the spell wore off.

Everything quickly became chaos as the CPUs and the remaining Killachines took to the skies once more. No one else could fly so the rest of the group waited on the ground, watching the fight unfold. Neptune hovered around Nepgear, watching her intently.

"Are you fine, Nepgear? You can take a break if you want."

Nepgear smiled at her sister's protectiveness. "I'm fine, sis. It's not the first time that happened."

If a look could do something, Nepgear would have holes in her body from Neptune's stare. The Candidate just realized that this probably wasn't the best time to reveal that she already died once.

...

After a moment of awkward silence Neptune gave her sister a small nod. "I… trust you, Nepgear. But once this is over we'll have to talk about your experiences in this crossover."

Nepgear smiled to her sister. "Okay!"

Through the scope of her rifle Uni saw Blanc running away from all of the Killachines that were left. 7 Killachines tried to surround the CPU as she desperately tried to avoid being hit. Uni lined up a shot and fired. The bullet… Missed the underside of a Killachine by few centimeters. Blanc zigzagged through the air while the machines threw themselves at her.

Uni lined up another shot and fired. This time she hit a Killachine's chestplate.

She fired again and hit the shoulder.

And again, this time hitting the wing.

Uni fired bullet after bullet to support Blanc. Her shots almost had a rhythm to it that was only broken when Uni needed to reload. Nisa was a little nervous as she didn't want to disturb the Candidate from when she was 'in the zone,' however she had a question she really needed to ask.

Nisa waited until Uni ran out of ammunition. "Hey, Uni. Could you transform and help the CPUs directly?" She's a Candidate too afterall, surely she could easily transform and fly up there to the other CPUs?

Uni shook her head as an answer. "No. I'm too low on shares."

Nisa nodded understandingly and walked away… only to be tackled by Uni.

"Axe!"

Nisa hit the ground with Uni on top of her, a moment later there was a Killachine's axe buried where the girls once were. The robot ripped the weapon free while the girls stood up and prepared themselves.

The first one to attack was not Nisa, but IF. The Guild agent reached out towards the robot, her hand glowing. "Demon Flames!" The ground underneath the machine exploded and engulfed it whole in flames. Once the skill was finished they noticed that IF's attack… Left basically no damage.

"I have computed the minimum amount of shits,"

Uni took a shot at the robot and Nisa dashed in front of it. The heroine punched it with her mittens and IF slashed the armor with her Katars.

"and I'm currently applying them to the situation." The Killachine continued talking, seemingly unbothered by the assault. It ignored Nisa and IF and attacked Uni, swiping at her with its spiked mace.

Uni jumped back, away from its range, and reloaded her rifle. The new magazine was marked with black and bright yellow tape. IF and Nisa kept attacking the Killachine as it ignored them. Nisa punched it in the back.

"Ha. Ha. Ha. Current shits given:" The robot was amused now, it briefly stopped to laugh at them.

The girls used theirs skills.

"The power of love! The power of bravery! And the power of Justice! Go!"

"La Delphinus!"

"Paralysis Shot!"

Nisa threw her knives around. IF engulfed the machine in her holy magic. Uni shot the robot's head with special ammunition.

None of that worked.

"Negative three."

All of their attacks pathetically bounced off its armor. Only Uni succeeded in leaving a scratch, but that wasn't enough for it to give a shit. The Killachine spread its arms and spun, destroying everything that was around it.

Nisa's eyes widened and she quickly dashed out of its range, life flashing before her eyes. IF was too slow to avoid the attack and she got impaled on its mace. IF didn't even have time to feel the pain as the Killachine crashed its mace into the building. The building exploded and a piece of rubble hit Nisa right in the back, knocking her to the ground like a ragdoll. She didn't get back up.

Uni cringed at the death and carnage.

Then she noticed it was just her and the Killachine. The robot never turned its head away from her as it casually took out IF and Nisa.

"Die, CPU." The Killachine said while nonchalantly flicking IF's dead body off its mace.

Uni took one more shot at the Killachine before running away.

…

After a while Compa slowly peeked out of the alley, she looked around and saw no one nearby. She saw one Killachine but it was a few buildings away from her, chasing after Uni.

There was a mess that was once called IF lying among the rubble, her whole body was smashed and turned into bloody pudding with bits of organs inside. She was already dead, obviously.

Compa stepped out of the alley and walked towards Nisa. The heroine was unconscious with her spine and ribs broken. Normally, if she even survived that she be paralyzed for the rest of her life.

Good thing 'normally' doesn't include having a Quick-Fix.

Neptune's breath grew heavy as she deflected an axe coming for her. That axe went above her and parried an axe from one of its friends. The CPU of Planeptune felt her strength starting to give out from exhaustion. It was her first fight since her captivity and all she had was one day to regain her strength.

She blocked a spiked mace and let it push her away, putting some distance between that clusterfuck and her. Neptune took a deep breath and flew away, trying to find either Blanc or her sister so they could switch.

...Then a Killachine swatted her away like a fly.

"Uwwwaaaaughuuuwaaah!" Purple Heart screamed as the blow sent her spinning. She was in pain and dizzy from the somersault and pirouettes she was doing. Once she stabilized herself, Neptune had the urge to vomit that pudding she had for breakfast.

At least she was pretty far away from the Killachines, the robots didn't waste any time chasing her but Neptune had a chance to find someone before they catch up to her. "Sssss... aaah." Neptune sucked some air through her teeth. Her back hurt a lot but the CPU simply beared with it. If it persists then she would simply ask Nepgear or Histoire for a massage.

...And then her HDD turned off.

"Huh?!" Neptune's eyes widened from surprise. She was back in her human form, and she didn't mean to do that. Now there was nothing preventing the gravity from taking its hold on her. "Wha-?! Ahh-?! Whaaaaaat?!" Neptune screamed as she was falling down, flailing her arms around while trying to reactivate her HDD.

The Killachines didn't question this as they dived for her blood. Neptune looked at them and panicked as they were still gaining up on her, while she couldn't do anything! The CPU of Planeptune looked around for something she could use, but all she had was her sword. There were no items nearby that could've helped her.

"Woah! Uhh… Time out! Time out! We're having some technical problems!" Neptune said while making a T sign with her hands.

The Killachines didn't stop. In fact they went faster.

Neptune noticed it didn't work and went back to panicking. It suddenly occurred to her just how high she was. She had fallen for 10-15 seconds already and she was still high above Lowee. If she were to destroy a Killachine from this height it would be like crashing a meteor into the city.

One of the Killachines got close enough to attack. It swung its mace at Neptune and the spiked ends were millimeters away from her. Neptune started to steer to the right so she could do something to avoid the world of hurt.

Neither the fall nor the blow would probably kill her… but it would suck if she actually crashed into the ground from this height.

Light engulfed her and the CPU quickly swayed to the side, again in her HDD. The Killachines didn't expect that and they fell past her before stopping. When they turned back towards her, Purple Heart was already booking it as fast as she could.

She didn't know why she lost her HDD, but this wasn't a time to ask questions. She was in the middle of a fight. After this she could bug Histoire or Medic about it.

Neptune spotted her sister flying towards her, 3 Killachines chasing after her. The Planeptune sisters exchanged nods and flew towards the other's tail, taking advantage of the robots' tunnel vision weakness once more.

Both Killachines were destroyed within the assault… and both of them were Nepgear's kills. Neptune tried to strike her targets with another Cross Combination, but the skill failed to activate again. "Just what is going on here?" The CPU muttered to herself as she was forced to manually slap her sword against the Killachines. Once Neptune took their attention she started running away from Nepgear.

This new group of Killachines were slow to follow, as they were choosing between targets. Neptune dived at them again to draw their attention, slashing twice... and then her HDD turned off again.

"You have gotta be kidding meeee~!" Neptune screamed as the gravity took ahold of her once more.

Uni had to admit it... When push came to shove, she could really run fast. it surprised her how fast her legs could carry her. Also the adrenaline boost really helped with her stamina.

But no matter how fast or far she ran, she couldn't outpace a flying machine of doom and destruction. It loomed over her like a hawk, making sure Uni knew she was in constant danger. It reeled its mace before slamming it down into the ground. Uni jumped to avoid it, rolled, and continued to run. It didn't even slow her down.

The Candidate ducked into alleys. The buildings didn't provide any safety or cover from the Killachine, but that was one more obstacle between her and the Killachine. The robot buried its weapons on both sides of the alley, locking her in.

Uni ran towards the wall and put her feet on it, running on the wall's surface and jumping over the Killachine's axe and out of the alley.

Advanced parkour techniques were a handy skill, especially when navigating a city. Her fancy footwork must've surprised the Killachine, as it took a moment to process what happened before continuing the chase.

She wasn't running away, she was playing decoy. While Miss Pauling's men herded the civilians to safety, Uni will lead the danger away from them until help arrives. The Candidate looked up at the sky and felt annoyance as the other CPUs kept fighting in the sky, none of them even attempting to help her.

"Come ooon! Take him off me, already!"

With that thing chasing her Uni couldn't go to check on Nisa. She wasn't really sure if she was dead or not, but her friend could really die if she was injured without any help.

The Killachine caught up to her and Uni weaved around its attacks, not slowing down even once. The road behind her was destroyed, and a few buildings she passed by were reduced to rubble. The Killachine didn't care about the damage it was causing… All it wanted was her death.

Then the Wheel spun again.

"The wheel spins!"

"Gaaaaaah!" Uni groaned. Not again!

While she was distracted, the Killachine managed to trip her with its axe. "Uwah!?" Uni yelped as she hit the ground, her rifle falling from her hands and landing a meter away from her. The Candidate rolled to her back and glared at the Killachine. The robot hovered above her, its weapons already reeled to strike.

Then a card was chosen.

"Dance, fools!"

Uni suddenly found herself back in the main square. She was on her feet again and her rifle was secured on her back. She could only move her eyes, the rest of her muscles didn't budge and Uni was trying really hard to force her feet to run, because in front of her were Killachines. 5 of them.

"Wh-What? Where? What's going on?! Oh." The CPU of Planeptune - Neptune - said. Apparently she and other CPUs were standing next to her, creating a perfect line parallel to the Killachines' line.

"Where- What- What's going on?!" The CPU Candidate of Planeptune - Nepgear - said.

"Hey! I-I can't move…" The CPU of Lowee - Blanc grunted.

At least the Killachines in front of them were also perfectly still, probably because they couldn't move as well.

Then someone dressed in a black robes teleported to their right side. He lifted his hands to the right and Uni's body mimicked his movements, a quick glance at others said that they were also following this person's moves.

The man in black robes lowered his arms and lifted them again, this time to the left. Uni had no idea what was going on. They were stuck doing this… weird dance in the middle of a ruined main square, with murderous robotic opponents right there in front of them. It would've been terrifying if the Killachines weren't also being puppeted by the same force.

"You bastard! Let me go!" Blanc roared.

The wizard didn't say anything as he continued his dance. The moves were rather simple; first he lifted his hands to the right, lowered them, then he lifted them to the left and put them down again. Rinse and repeat. Watching the wizard, Uni felt like she remembered this from somewhere… What was it called… Thriller?

"You know, it would be more fun if we didn't just wave our hands left and right." Neptune complained.

"Don't. Just shut up." Blanc growled.

"Did I hear that right? Someone is eager to show their dancing skills? Go ahead then, show us!" Merasmus stopped dancing and teleported Neptune into the centre, stuck between both teams. The CPU of Planeptune looked around, confused by the sudden change of positions.

"Show us your moves, not-mortal!" Merasmus ordered.

Neptune turned towards him, then she rubbed her hands and grinned. "Alright then, watch and learn kiddos!"

Neptune crouched and put her arms on her hips, then she started kicking her foot one after another. Suddenly everyone started to hear a fast paced folk music coming from somewhere while Neptune danced Kazotsky Kick to the beat. The reactions from her friends varied from confused to annoyed.

"You're doing great, Neptune!" Nepgear cheered.

Uni noticed that she still couldn't move her body. If she could she would rub her eyes to check if she was seeing this right. The CPU of Planeptune had just successfully tricked the wizard into giving her back control, only to willingly dance the opportunity away instead of retaliating. Uni was at a loss for words.

Neptune herself felt nothing but smug. "You see this?" She grinned at Merasmus. "You see those moves, Merasmus? I bet you can't do what I can!"

Merasmus's head recoiled at the challenge. "You dare to challenge me?! Merasmus the Magician! The master of dancing! To a duel?!"

"Yeah!" Yelled Neptune as she stopped dancing. The CPU slammed her chest and roared her challenge. "Come at me, bro!"

It's worth noting that Blanc was currently dying inside. Her nation was in ruins around her, there's still active Killachines standing right in front of them, and instead of being able to do anything productive about it, she's being forced to listen to Neptune (in her human form for some reason) challenging a reality-bending wizard to a duel of dance. Not to beat him up with her sword and finally end this damn fight, but to dance with him for… whatever reason she had.

...Why did Histoire want Neptune back again? Nepgear would be better off on her own.

Merasmus narrowed his eyes and threw his staff away. "Fine! Then let's have a dance off, fool!" He rolled up his sleeves and readjusted his hat. "If I'm not able to follow your lead, you win. Otherwise you lose."

Neptune smirked and extended her hand to him. Merasmus grasped it and Neptune pulled him to herself. The height difference between them was staggering, but Merasmus quite literally shrunk himself to her level. Now they were even in height.

Uni watched intently as Neptune and Merasmus danced their first dance. She recognized the fast and rapid spins and fancy footwork as the Salsa. Neptune spun Merasmus around, and the wizard followed her lead without any troubles. Interestingly enough Neptune took the male part in this dance. Merasmus jumped to her chest and Neptune wrapped her arms around his legs, then she really started to spin him.

"Wooo! You're doing great, Neptune!" Nepgear cheered.

For a moment Uni thought Neptune will suddenly slam Merasmus's head into something, either accidentally or intentionally, but Neptune simply let him go without any trouble. Once Merasmus's feet were on the ground, they continued their dance. Merasmus lifted Neptune's arm and started doing pirouettes underneath it, then Neptune suddenly pulled him to herself again interlocked their arms.

With their elbows locked together, both Neptune and Merasmus started doing the Square Dance.

It was milder in comparison with their previous dance. Both of them were simply hopping around in circle. Uni wondered if Neptune chose this one so she could take a breather and think of a next step, but that might be giving the Planeptune CPU too much credit. After they did an entire circle they clapped twice and did it again, this time in another direction.

Once they were finished with the Square Dance Neptune took 2 steps backwards and crouched, she was doing the Kazotsky Kick again. Merasmus rolled his eyes and perfectly copied Neptune's movement. The wizard crossed his arms and looked at Neptune, one of his eyebrows raised expectantly. "Well? Now what will you do?"

Neptune grinned in response and bent backwards. Now she was doing Kazotsky Kick with her legs and arms, just like Nepgear once saw Demoman do. The CPU raised her head to give Merasmus a smug look as she flawlessly switched her legs and arms. Uni was impressed. While it's not hard to support oneself with just an arm and leg, it would be hard to constantly switch them around in dance. The ridiculousness of their situation aside, Uni would've clapped her hands if she could.

...Although now Uni had a clear view at Neptune's panties. While the Candidate tried to keep her gaze anywhere but at the CPU of Planeptune's crotch, a pair of white and blue striped panties had to be an annoyingly eye-catching object.

Neptune knew she was flashing her panties to her party, but she didn't care one bit.

It was an interesting turn of events. Uni was seconds away from dying at the hands of a Killachine and now she was watching a dancing contest between the CPU of Planeptune and some old guy in a dress, and said CPU was flashing her as she was doing so. A part of her wondered if this was all really a fever dream. Then Uni noticed a red dot on Merasmus's neck, which gave her a sudden renewed interest in Neptune's undergarments. She recognized the dot for what it was, and she hoped that whoever was responsible would hurry.

Merasmus, meanwhile, scoffed at Neptune and followed Neptune's lead. With minor, but visible difficulties, the wizard also used his arms to dance. Unlike Neptune's flawless transitions, Merasmus was just slightly a bit too slow with his movements. It wasn't enough to make Merasmus pathetically fall down, but there was a noticeable difference between Neptune and him.

"Just finish this already!" Blanc roared.

"Alright! Here comes the finale!"

Neptune kicked off her legs and started breakdancing. Now Uni was impressed with Neptune's dancing skills. She seamlessly transitioned from one style of dancing into another. The CPU planted both of her hands on the ground and started spinning with her legs, then once she gained enough momentum the CPU planted her elbow into the snow and spun on that! Merasmus's eyes grew wide as Neptune went from dancing a Kazotsky Kick to dancing Boston Breakdance… And he's forced to do the same.

"Yeeeeah! Go sis!" Cheered Nepgear as her sister finished her dance. Neptune smugly looked down at the wizard. "Your turn, pal. From Kazotsky to Boston, come on!"

Neptune enjoyed the doubtful look Merasmus had on his face. He was still stuck on the Kazotsky Kick with arms and legs phase. Stopping would mean defeat as Neptune didn't stop either, he needed to do what she did.

Merasmus kicked off his legs, just like Neptune, then he tried to spin around like her but his leg hit his arm and he lost balance. Merasmus was sprawled on the ground, lying in his defeat, while Neptune tasted her sweet victory.

"Victory! You see that? I'm awesome!" The CPU bragged and pointed her thumb at herself. Merasmus got up from the snow and patted his robes, throwing off any snow that gathered on them. The wizard sighed. "You… win, not-mortal. I-"

His head recoiled as Sniper's bullet penetrated his skull. "You win. No, wait, it's a tie! A tie! Argh..." Merasmus's body started to violently spin before it disappeared into a green cloud. Neptune snickered to herself.

"A tie, huh? Nah, I won fair and square."

With Merasmus gone, there was nothing keeping other CPUs paralyzed. But the same thing applied to the Killachines, something that Neptune just realized.

"Oh, right."

The CPU of Planeptune whirled around and brandished her sword, and the other CPUs gathered next to her and behind her. From 15 Killachines, only 5 of them were still alive. We all know who would win this fight, so we will just skip ahead and end this chapter. It's been going for too long already.

Neptune blinked. "Wait, what-"

Interdimensional RED-Coded Contract

Doom, Might and Magic

And with this chapter all major things I wanted to do in Lowee are finished. But before we move into the last part of the story, I'll have to wrap up Leanbox arc and give some rest to the girls and the mercs.

Don't worry, your halloween shenanigans are saved for the next chapter.

About the fight. If you guys forgot Nepgear's HDD blocks skills, that was established in "Davids and Goliath". Uni was too far for Nepgear to block her and Nisa didn't use any of her skills when she kicked the Killachine.

At first I wanted to end this fight (and chapter by extension) by introducing you to my self-insert (Samuel/Samantha is not a self-insert) and start throwing oranges around… then I came to the dance off idea. I regret nothing.

Neptune and Merasmus dancing salsa, my old idea could never top that.

The Beaglerush references come from Beaglerush Highlights 2. I also put "Why Engineers Shouldn't Defend"

Responses:

Boomerito -

Good question. Yes, Magnavox could change Sam's gender whenever she wanted. But she didn't need to do that yet, and she wanted Sam to be mentally prepared for this. So she didn't do it outright from the goodness of her heart.

Fun Fact: She also tried to change the mercenaries' gender, and also all male people that came from their world, but they're outside of her jurisdiction. She doesn't have as much control over them as with her own subjects.

Doom King of Latveria -

Machias ran away from them, that's basically it. He had orders to disappear and he did so, his colleagues came to 5pb's home and took all of his stuff. The prison scene was basically just Angela being angry at Samantha.

For me that whole chapter sucked, but I say that with every one I write.

YORCHspartan117 (Srs dude, just set up an account)

I'm glad you like those 'behind the scenes'... scenes. All of them are happening roughly at the same time as the main story. The previous chapter for example took place as the "Aftermath" chapter.

Yes Gehaburn!Falcom would be very powerful after killing a CPU. Eyelander and Gehaburn work in the same way, as in get stronger with each kill, and right now Gehaburn!Falcom is strong enough to take on an unaware CPU.

The reason why Sam and Falcom can keep their stuff… is not because of their bond with 5pb. I'm not gonna spoil it, look at the previous chapters yourself.

Samuel choosed mercs because he thought their greed would allow Histoire to easily control them. That part worked as planned and the rest is as you said, he failed to consider the repercussions a few thousand murders would bring.

So "dumb, yet clever and smart." It fits.

- Harmless Orange