Switching Gears

“Your phone’s ringing!” I opened my eyes and looked around my room. Rubbing my eyes, I hopped out of bed and walked up to my phone. “Your phone’s ringing!”

I flipped my phone opened. “Yes?” I slurred.

“I see that you’re awake.” Why call me then, Histoire? “I’m sorry if I woke you up, but there is something we need to discuss.”

I looked at the time; it was ten in the morning. “Give me a moment to get dressed.” I replied. “And time to wake up fully.” I thought for a moment before asking a question. “Is anyone else going to be there?”

“IF is currently with me while Nepgear went out to visit Uni today.” The soft voice replied.

“Got it, I’ll see you in a few moments.” I ended the call.

I made my way to the closet when I felt a pain to my gut. Evidently, my wound isn’t fully healed. I removed my night wear and put on a purple shirt with black pants. With black socks on my feet, I left my room and made my way to where Histoire was, while trying to avoid falling down. I made it to the living room where both Histoire and IF were.

“Morning,” I grunted.

“I’m sorry that I had woken you up, but there is something I need to know.” Histoire started. “What happened two days ago?”

“Well…” I began explaining my misadventure back on Earth, leaving nothing out. Well, I left two details out. I briefly explain that Nepgear appeared and had saved me from Marisa.

“What did your sister do to earn that expression?” IF asked.

I materialised Marisa’s diary and passed it to the guild member. “This’ll explain everything.”

IF took a look at the diary. “Nothing really-” Her face darkened as she read onwards.

“What is it IF?” Histoire asked.

A few more pages were read before she closed the book. “No wonder you acted strange when we first meet.” She passed the book to Histoire. “But, to live with that…”

“It’s all in the past.” I interrupted IF. “I took pictures of the book and sent them to the proper authority before I left.”

“So, you’re real name is Mark Aurelius, formally Winters.” Histoire questioned. “Why did you use a fake name?”

“I thought I was dreaming when I came here first.” I replied. “I mean, I pirated a game, got knocked out and the first people I run into are Compa and IF. My gut instant was it was a dream, until I felt pain. It still bothers me that I had a cellphone and my handhelds with me when I entered this dimension.” It’s like the author made a continuity error when he wrote this up.

“There is one thing that I have to ask.” There was a ‘smile’ on Histoire’s face. “What did you and Nepgear do in your ex-sister’s room”

“I’m going to be lectured.” I sighed. I felt the Oracle’s stare intensify. My eyes widen. “I said that out loud, didn’t I?” I saw the tome vibrate a little. “If I’m going to get lectured on what happened in that room; at least allow me to get some coffee to wake up.” I could hear steam coming from the kitchen. One look on IF’s face showed that she wasn’t surprised at the noise.

“I was prepared for such occasion.” I’m going to hell.


I’m wide awake thanks to the coffee and ready to be lectured by the Tome of Gamindustri if it happens. “I should mention that there were three of us in that room.” I started. “I was tipped off by someone that I had other items under my bed that I didn’t know about. When I checked, I found some CDs and manga about incest. Looking under Marisa’s bed found a diary that explained her plans.” I implicated the book that was now on the coffee table. “She intended to knock me out again, but I moved out of the way. We talked and then she knocked me on her bed. Marisa was attempting to kiss me, when Nepgear busted the door to Marisa’s room and stunned her.”

“Why didn’t you fight back?” IF asked.

“I gotten into a fight beforehand and used some skills.” I replied. I lifted up my shirt, the scar still on my gut where Tom stabbed me. “I did get my revenge, even if it was immature.” I let go of my shirt. “Anyways, Nepgear tied Marisa up with bandages and gaged her. Nepgear transformed, healed my left arm and explained how I got to the Hyperdimension in the first place. I should also mention I had ingested a drug.”

“You took a drug?” Histoire inquired.

“Not voluntarily.” I lightly sighed. “I didn't know the drug was in a drink. The drug made me hot and bothered. It was then Nepgear, still in goddess from, decided to ‘relieve the pain’.”

“Relive the pain?” IF looked into my eyes. “Mark, please don’t tell me that-”

“Yup, it’s what you’re thinking.” Seeing a blush on IF is one thing, but to see one on Histoire is another thing entirely. “With my ex-sister was watching the entire thing too. At least the drug went through my body. After the deed was carried out, I took the diary and scanned the pages in order to inform the police. While I was busy packing my stuff, Purple Sister stayed with Marisa for a while.”

“What did you pack?” IF asked.

“Games, systems, and some personal stuff.” A thought came to me. “I’ll have to get rid of a few things before I set them up. I don’t think Neptune would want to see modified consoles in her tower.”

“Back to what I was saying. Nepgear came inside my room a while later after she put my sister to bed. She was going to punish me for attempting to download the game that got me here in the first place, but I asked her to do that later. I passed Nepgear a crystal and a bright light shined in my room.”

“What about the other Nepgear that IF mentioned?”

“Remember when I talked about the worst ending in the game, Histoire?” I got a nod from the Oracle. “She was pushed towards that weapon. All the other CPUs sacrificed themselves in order to strengthen the sword. In the end, Arfoire took the death willingly, vowing that the people of that Gamindustri will summon her one day. I meet her in LAN Castle and I promised her not to let Nepgear find and use the sword.”

“What’s the swords name?” IF asked. “You never mentioned the name last night.”

“Gehaburn,” I replied.

“I’ve heard about that sword before.” Histoire put her right hand on her chin. “Let me look up information on it before we do anything on the sword.”

“Take your time in looking up information.” I stood up from the chair. “I got to do some-”

“You and IF are going to the hospital to get a checkup.” Histoire interrupted.

“Wait, why am I going too?”

“Seeing how Mark is visibly weaker, we don’t want him to be taken hostage.” That’s pretty good logic. “I can get information on his body, but it’ll take three weeks to process it.”

“I understand.” I looked at IF, “Do you mind if we make stops after the hospital trip?”

“What do you need to pick up?” IF and Histoire asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I need to pick up a few items.”


“It’s too early to be doing this.” I sighed.

IF and I were walking to the main hospital of Planeptune, unlike last time when I went to a clinic.  I had swapped clothing again to the male uniform I had worn the last time I went out, but I got to keep my watch this time. With IF and I side by side, it looked like we were on a date. Let’s hope Nepgear doesn’t find out about this.

“So, you and Nepgear are going out now?” IF inquired.

I gave a weak chuckle. “We are,” I replied. “I’m a little hesitant with going out with someone like her, but I can’t say no to her. It doesn’t help that Neptune, if she finds out, will do unspeakable things to me.”

“You better not break her heart.” IF warned.

I could only laugh to her warning. “You assuming that I wear the pants in the relationship.” I quipped. “Besides, if I do something she doesn’t like, she’ll most likely tie me up onto a bed and have her way with me until I change my mind.” Or keep me captive in a hidden room in Neptower.

“How can you say that casually!?” IF started blushing.

“You remember the note I gave you?” she nods her head. “The day before I saw you at the Guild, Nepgear decided to show how much I mean to her by drugging my coffee and tie me up to my bed.” I could feel my face burning up. “She went on about how she didn’t want any female Guild members to take me away from her. She also mentioned a contest about who can get me on their bed first.”

IF narrowed her eyes, “I’ve heard about that contest. I recall three people who talked about it died the day you got trapped in the cave with Nepgear. There was a note sent to the guild after the explosion saying that they committed suicide after their plans failed.”

An explosion? “When was the explosion?”  I inquired. “Was it right before we showed up to the guild or after we left that day?”

“It was two hours after you and Nepgear left the guild.” IF replied. She brought out her pink phone and looked at her messages. “The three members killed were Keira, Raven, and Kora. There were five civilians hurt in the blast, but it was nothing serious.”

“Those names are familiar.” But, where have I heard them before? Have I meet them in the Guild? I shook my head. “They must have been one of my persistent stalkers.”

“It astounds me the lengths you go to in order to hide yourself from them.” IF shook her head.

“It’s not my fault I walked into Noire as she’s cosplaying that time…” I mumbled. I’m not a fan of her personality. I could never tell her in the face how much I dislike her. Besides the fact she’s a goddess and can kill me with a snap of her fingers, it wouldn’t feel right judging her over her videogame counterpart while I’ve only spent less than three hours around her.

Maybe I could convince her to…

“Excuse me?” a voice brought me out of my thoughts. IF and I turned around and faced a blond haired male. He wore a green dress shirt, with what looked like a white tee-shirt, and black sweat pants. The sleeves of the dress shirt were torn off from what looked like a blade swing. His blue eyes widen as he looked at IF in shock, but shook his head, keeping a purple cap on his head. “Have you seen a girl around yay high?” He brought his right hand up around IF’s height. “With green hair and looks out of place?”

“I’m sorry sir.” I replied. “We haven’t seen anyone like that.” I looked at the male a little more to spot something red underneath his dress shirt.

“I see” he sighed, bringing his head down. “Dam it Linda, where the hell are you.”  He looked back up and smiled. “I’m sorry to take your time” He took off running the opposite way we were.

“Linda?” I questioned out loud.

“Something wrong Mark?” IF inquired.

“I’ve heard that name before.” Then it clicked. Why is he looking for Underling? I shook my head and looked at IF. “It’s nothing. But, I have the feeling that I’m going to run into him again.” Speaking of that ASIC member… “Are all the members of ASIC captured?”

“There is one member that we don’t have any information on.” Please tell me it’s what I’m thinking! IF looked back down at her phone. “Someone by the name ‘Heywood Jablowme’ and-”

I broke down and laughed at what IF just said. It was a good thing no one was out on the street, or I may have been sent to the hospital for a different reason. To be fair, if I wasn’t with Nepgear, I would have joked about what IF said. But after what happened with my thoughts on Histoire, I’m not taking a chance.


“We’re back.” I called out in Neptower.

I saw Histoire floating over to us. “How was the checkup?” she inquired.

“Besides Mark wanting to run out of the room once the nurse pulled out a needle, it went well.” Dam it IF! “I’ve never seen someone run that fast from a simple needle.”

“I hate needles.” I muttered. “You never know what’s inside of them until it’s too late.” I shook my head and looked at Histoire. “Besides that little episode, I found out that I’m weak again. I had to make up a reason on how I lost strength to the doctors. If anyone asks, I was hit with a yellow beam that weakened me.”

“Weakened?” Histoire moved into her lecture pose. “If you have lost most of your strength, then I forbid you to go on quests alone” What! “I know I can trust you with gathering quests, but the last thing that I want happen is for you to get trapped by a viral monster.”

“I understand.” I replied. “I’ll only do quests with other people. It’ll probably be with either Falcom, IF or Nepgear.” Mostly Nepgear so that nothing bad happens.

“Speaking of Nepgear,” There was a fake smile on the Oracle’s face. “There is something I wish to discuss with you.”

“Would you look at the time, I should be going to the guild and track down that last member.” And IF left me to face one of Histoire’s lectures!

“W-wait a moment!” I yelled.

“Now then,” Histoire motioned for me to sit down. “Let’s talk about the dangers of having unprotected sex.”

And then, an awkward lecture ensued.


“It took her an hour to stop lecturing…” I was in R&D working on rebuilding one of my old guns. That Arfoire double stole one of my guns and started using it. It doesn’t help that Nepgear ‘borrowed’ my phaser when I wasn’t in the Hyperdimension. At least I only implemented the stun feature. “Who know a book about history knowing a lot about sex…”

To what I’m building right now, I’m remaking the card gun Kaitou Kid uses. I already made the hang glider and bought a white outfit that’s similar to his. The top hat and monocle was harder to find. I didn’t know that the Arfoire look alike, that has my original gun, uses elemental cards as weapons. She’s a nightmare to fight now!

“This goes here.” I placed the chamber to the gun. Why am I rebuilding it? I wanted it as a non-lethal weapon in case I have to defend myself and not kill my attacker. Sure, I could use my rendition of Tornado Sword, but I’m weaker at the moment. I can’t always rely on being able to use a skill. I could run out of energy or someone could bring a jamming robot that negates any use of skills.

“…And finished.” It took four hours to build. It helps that I kept the blueprints from when I first built it. I pointed the gun at the wall and pulled the trigger. A metal card shot out of the custom barrel and was deflected from the metal wall. “At least it works.” Twirling the gun, I sent it into my hammer space. “Let’s hope I won’t have to dress up like him so soon.”

I had worn the outfit, without the top hat and slightly changed my hair, to infiltrate ASIC behind everyone’s back in order to get the program code. Said code allowed the user to install and play pirated content. Unfortunately, someone saw my disguise and chased after me once one of the gatherings was over in Lastation. I had thought that jumping out of the building and deploying the hang glider would allow me to escape.

My back shivered as I remembered my attempt of fleeing. “I almost fell in the ocean that night.” My flying adversary was a good shot. They shot the fabric of my glider, sending me falling to the ground. If I didn’t throw my glider in the ocean, I don’t think I would have survived. My first thought was that my pursuer was Uni, until I found out that she wasn’t near the venue at that time. While I had to remake the glider, I was able to retrieve a copy of the program in order to make a counter code to do various things. But, it took a full week of sitting down and drinking coffee in order to figure out how to exploit a small bit of code to make my favourite error, the ID-10T error.

“But, I was never able to find out who shot at me.” Uni is the only Goddess that uses gun in a fight. I’ve only seen Nepgear use my phaser once, and her shot was accurate. And I doubt that she would chase after me at that point.

“I read it in Onii-chan’s journal that he keeps underneath his bed.” Nepgear’s voice rang out in my head.

“I should have asked when she started reading it.” I only wrote that I was doing something potentially stupid. I walked out of R&D and walked strait to the elevator. Once the door opened, I saw Neptune in her parka dress. “Ah, good day Neptune.”

“How it popping, Makie?” Neptune greeted. Every time I request for her to not use that name, she ignores me and keeps calling me that. I walked in the elevator and the door closed.

“I was just working on a small project.” I replied. “I see that Histoire made you show up to do paperwork.”

“Histy tied me down to the chair and I wasn’t able to transform.” Wow, she used the anti-crystal I found. “She even gave me a lecture on being a proper CPU.”

“To be fair, you have been slacking off for six months.” I pointed out.

Her eyes narrowed. “Then how come you get to mess around?”

“I don’t have a lot of time messing around.” I replied honestly. How did she come to that conclusion? “I’m getting an education and doing quests. The only time I have to-”

“What, hold on!” She pointed a finger at me. “You mean to tell me that you haven’t played anything for the past six months!?”

“Maybe an hour of videogames a week.” It’s probably even less. That’s excluding the game I played with Nepgear a few days ago. Global masturbation… What the heck Not-Wesker! “It depends on-”

The door opened as the small girl grabbed my hand. “Come on, let’s play a game!” She started running to the living room. “I know a game we can play together!”

“H-hold on there, I still have unfinished things to do!” Why do I have to be weakened at this moment!

“If you don’t sit down and play game ever so often, you’ll get cranky like Histy. Besides, how can you ignore a goddesses’ invitation to play games?”

We were in the living room as Neptune pushed me to the couch and tossed a controller at me. “One thing I could do is say no thanks and leave.”

“Awww, don’t be such a party pooper.” She placed a game in the console and sat down on the couch with a controller in hand. “Nothing bad is going to happen.”

“Famous last words” I quipped. The game booted up to a fighting game featuring all the CPUs and their sisters. “A new fighting game?”

“Yuppers, it was released yesterday and I picked it up.” She picked Vs mode and selected herself in the game.

“I swear Planeptune would be in debt if you keep buying games and pudding packs.” I selected Purple Sister and waited for the game to load. Once the game loaded, we started fighting. I started pushing random buttons on the controller. “Are the other CPUs going to show up later tonight?”

“They’re all doing work tonight.” Neptune looked right at me. “So, what’s with you and Nep Jr?”

“What do you mean?” I questioned.

“The two of you are always together like a couple of newlyweds.” I brought my right hand up to my face, my index finger on my mouth and thumb under my chin. Her eyes narrowed “Look buster, I’m not going to give Nepgear to…” she looked right at my index finger and saw something that wasn’t there before. “…anyone.”

I brought my hand back to the controller. “Is there something wrong?” I asked in fake concern.

“You’re engaged?” She said slowly.

Thank you IF for showing me a ring shop. “What do you mean?” I looked at my hand in fake shock and back to Neptune. “I forgot to take it off!”

Neptune paused the game. “When did that happen?”

“While you were going around to Leenbox, Lowee, and Lastation playing games with your friends.” This is going to be an easy bluff. I looked right at the Goddess. “A classmate and I hanged around and found that we have a lot in common. We started dating and after a month, I popped the question.”

Her eyes narrowed and looked into my soul. “I don’t believe you.” I started sweeting. “Are you sure you didn’t just buy a ring to ward off the horde of crazy fangirls?”

I sighed and dropped my head, thanking whatever god was watching me. “They won’t leave me alone. Female members of the Guild start following me around to the point of taking pictures of me and putting them on the internep.” I looked back up at the small Goddess. “Being popular isn’t my thing.”

“So, there’re after your beating stick.” I started coughing. How can you say that cheerfully!? “I know, who not ask Compa to cover as your girlfriend?”

“I’m pretty sure that would make my life worse.” I don’t want to deal with death threats just yet. “Besides, I would rather go for personality over body.”

Neptune started to grin. “What about with me.” Her face was now near mine as she leaned towards me. “I’m sure that I can take care of your problems.”

“I would rather not.” I closed my eyes and attempted to calm myself down. “Besides that fact that you’re joking, I don’t feel comfortable with going out with you.”

“W-what how can you say that. Is my sexy bod not good-!”

“It’s not that.” I opened my eyes and looked at her. “I’m going to die someday. I don’t want my loved one to watch me die while she’s going to be alive for a long time.” The atmosphere in the room dropped. I thought of an idea to bring it back. “But, your small body isn’t that sexy.”

“What!? How can you say something like that!? I’m the main character! There is no way my fan base will that that sitting down!”

I grinned and moved the controlled to my face. “Then why don’t you prove me wrong in this game?”

She unpaused the game. “I’ll wipe the floor with you for saying that!”

I’ll also note that I’m god awful at fighting games and I’m fighting a Goddess. A Goddess that plays games instead of working… Needless to say, I had to take back what I said about Neptune’s body. At least I got Neptune to drop Nepgear and I being together for the time being.


It was now night time and I was in bed with my nightwear. I played games with Neptune for three hours. One hour of her beating me in a fighting game until she found out I was couldn’t play the genre. At least she took pity on me and picked a co-op rpg using the Dark Alliance engine. Oddly enough, it featured a fallen goddess that killed her sisters and got corrupted by the power. The ‘mentor’ figure of the goddesses summoned four teens with varying abilities to take down the young goddess.

I started thinking back to what IF said earlier about the explosion. Nepgear was with me the whole day and I only saw her in the morning. She mentioned that she couldn’t sleep the time I woke up the next day because she was looking at my face that night. A little creepy, but there is no way she planted the explosion the night before. She would have to planted it in the morning, but I was away for five minutes when IF interrogated me in the Guild.

“Onii-chan,” a voice whispered in my ear. I opened my eyes and looked up at a fully clothed Nepgear in purple pajamas. There is something hidden behind that smile that made me shiver. But, her eyes weren’t dull at the moment. “How are you?”

“I’m a little tired.” Playing with Neptune is exhausting. “How was your day in Lastation?”

“Uni and I went shopping and played a few games.” She moved the covers off of me and got into my bed, moving my left arm between her breasts. She moved the covers on top of us. I was on my back while she was on her side. “I do want to know one thing…”

“Why was Onii-chan with IF this morning?’

Looking at the young sister, I could see her eyes slowly start to dilate. “Histoire wanted me to get a through checkup after returning to this dimension and she wanted IF to tag along in case anyone wanted to take me hostage.” She probably heard it from someone coming back to Neptower. I have nothing to hide. “It was only to the hospital, picking up some items and then back to Neptower.”

“Did that include buying a ring?”

“That’s to show that I’m taken.” Now, how to word this… “From what I read, girls and women look to see if a man has a wedding ring or an engagement ring on his finger. I had assumed that if I had one, they would stop chasing me.”

Her eyes looked into mine. “But Onii-chan,” Letting go of my arm, she rolled on top of me, her face coming closer to mine. “I would have made one for you if you asked.”

“If you make one, I wouldn’t mind wearing it if it doesn’t hurt me in any way.” Like a special level up glove from PP rings a bell. “Hey Nepgear, do you mind if we just cuddle tonight?”

“Heeeeh~ Onii-chan too tired?” Her hands went behind my back as she smiled. “Is it because Onii-chan played with Onee-chan earlier?”

…She placed cameras in the living room, didn’t she? “Neptune only wanted to play a game with me.” I don’t want her to kill her sister. “I just find doing it just because we can ruins it for me.” I moved my hands to Nepgear’s back, my right hand near her shoulders and my left hand near her stomach.

Her smile brightened. “I see.” She rolled on her side as I rolled with her. “Good night, Onii-chan~.”

I closed my eyes and embraced Nepgear. “Good night, Nepgear.”


“So, there’s another one of him here.”

“What! We already have to deal with one twisted bastard. Now we have to deal with two of them!?”

“I asked about him in the Guild, he’s not our issue.”

“But, what if it’s a façade like the other one?”

“I’ll deal with it later. Right now, we have to get back before he resurrects her.”

“Going to save your sister again?”

“…I’d rather send her back to the graveyard for all I care! The day she’s gone from my life is the day I’m free! I only did it to save the other three.”

“But, how can you take him down if you can’t t-!”

“I haven’t in eight years and I’ve gotten stronger since then; I think I can handle that clone.”


*Slice*

Blood dripped onto the floor as an unknown figure decapitated a young male with short hair. The murder grinned as he looked at the images he had gotten on the net and picked his next target.

“No one will take what I desire.” The image in question was a teen looking girl with two pigtails. Next to the girl was a young man with short, brown, hair as he aimed a gun down at a target. “Wait for me, Megami-sama.”


“Onii-chan~” Nepgear rubbed Mark’s head as she smiled. “I’m not mad at you for playing with Onee-chan or going with Iffy.” She summoned a choker and placed it on his neck. “Now, what is Onii-!”

“Don’t do it…” Mark mumbled, shocking his goddess. “Don’t kill your sister or your friends…”

Nepgear smiled as she moved her head near her ‘brother’s’ ear. “Don’t worry, Onii-chan.” She whispered softly. “I won’t kill them. But, if they confess to Onii-chan and take him away from me…” Her smile darkened. “There will be more than an explosion this time.”

“Onii-chan finally admitted his feeling for me, and I’m never going to let Onii-chan go.”


“This looks odd. I’ll have to go to that dimension again. But, at least I get to have fun with an old friend.”

“Anata, where are you going?”

“I’m going out for some fresh air, no need for the two of you to worry about me!”

“And she’s gone and going to attempt something stupid again.”

“But, isn’t that why we love her. Well, besides the pack-”

“I’m going after her.”

“No way, it’s my turn now and I know they want to see me.”

“…Let’s settle this using a different way instead of fighting among myself.”