"Sorry I wasn't able to help with the ASIC," I rubbed the back of my head awkwardly. I did want to help, but.

"Judge was launching an attack and you needed to deal with it," Nepgear shuttered, seemingly uneasy even thinking about the metal monstrosity. Not that I blamed her. Judge was a nightmare to fight even on a good day. Driving him off was the best I could do.

The concerning part was the attack was very unseasonal, by his standards. Was this him going tit-for-tat for me smacking him first during the operation? Or was this the start of a new norm? One I could deal with, but if this was the start of a new norm then it was going to drastically cut into just how long I could leave Leanbox unattended. I could deal with that, but I wasn't going to like it.

"Still, it feels kinda bad to be the first one to extend a hand in cooperation, only to be the first to have to take a rain check," I offered. It was out of my hands no matter what I did, but at the same time, it felt hypocritical.

Nepgear sighed, shaking her head. "Have you found any information about how Warechu and Underling managed to escape prison yet?"

The question of how they even managed to get out of Leanbox in the first place went unasked.

"Somehow, the ASIC managed to scrounge up enough explosives to stage a break-out," I scowled. It certainly hadn't gone well for the group. We had more ASIC members in custody after the attempt than we had before. But those two managed to slip away in the chaos. "We arrested most of the attempted escapees and the majority of those trying to get in, but those two ended up getting away."

"I'd kinda hoped we'd seen the last of them," Nepear said as I patted her on the shoulder. That was a feeling I was all too familiar with. But the pair lived a charmed life, no matter how you tried to spin it. If I didn't know any better, Arfoire herself kept a personal eye on the little gremlins.

"Oh, I wish that would be the case," as much fun as Linda was to mess around with, I'd rather not have to deal with her ever again until after this was all resolved. "Then again, given how this place almost runs on tropes."

"Tropes?" Nepgear gave me a confused look. I flushed, realizing how that sounded. I must have been more tired than I thought.

"They're kinda storytelling motifs from back home, things used over and over again," I explained. "Like a recurring villain in a video game."

"Oh," Nepgear rubbed the back of her head as I internally panicked. That was basically what Underling was. A recurring boss!

My life made way too little sense.

"I know you've told me a little about what your home was like, but could you tell me a bit more about it?" Nepgear asked. I resisted the urge to scowl. I really hadn't tried thinking about it beyond what I could do to keep Leanbox from falling apart. It had been years, but I was still bitter about not being able to return home. "Or what you were like before you came here."

"I admit, I'm a bit curious about that myself," IF said, giving me a look. Compa seemed like smiles as always, and I could tell RED wasn't as asleep as she pretended she was.

"Well," I started, forcing down my urge to bristle. Nepgear certainly didn't mean anything by it. While IF certainly wanted information. "I worked for the Government, focusing on transportation. I lived by myself, and had some plants. Spent a fair bit of my time either writing or playing games."

"Then I wake in a place I'm not familiar with in a body that's about a decade younger than the one I used to have," I groaned into my hands, as everyone mostly winced. Though I spotted IF's grin out of the corner of my eye.

"A decade younger?" She looked at me inquisitively. "I guess that explains a few things."

I frowned. This was bait, this was one hundred percent complete and utter bait. The smart part of me simply wanted to ignore the obvious trap. But the curious part of me?

Wanted to see where this was going.

"Explains what?" I prodded carefully as IF smirked.

"Your interest in older women, of course," IF's words sent a chill down my spine. How much did she know? Was that some sort of bluff? An attempt to get me to admit to something?

Making things worse was that denying things would make me sound suspicious. The lady doth protest too much and all that.

"What gives you that impression?" I respond, trying my best to play it cool. She could just be fishing for a reaction. I was stuck in a teenage body again. I knew for a fact I was feeling the effects, and poke that direction was a safe way to reveal something.

"I don't know how someone so good at playing off crowds is this dense," IF shook her head. "Everyone can tell how you look at Cave. You aren't exactly subtle."

The heat began to rise in my face before I could even attempt to stop it. A cue for everyone to notice just how on the head IF had just hit things. I would have tried to cover my face with my hands, but if anything, it would just draw more attention to myself. Thought it wasn't like that was going to be an issue.

"Cave? That sounds, cute," Nepgear was trying, bless her heart.

"It isn't though," I groaned, leaning back. "She looks a decade older than me, so that would make her look like a creep. Never mind the power imbalances involved."

Never mind how someone closer to how I looked in age would make me feel like a creep because that would be creepy no matter how things got cut. By this point, I was about twenty-nine-year-old software running off of a sixteen-year-old's hardware. Simply put, no matter how one tried to look at it, my dating life was dead on arrival.

Beyond dead. Buried six feet under, then entombed in volcanic rock. Even without me being far, far too busy to consider dating most of the time.

Okay, I'd admit, my workload was an excuse. An excuse to avoid a considerable number of issues. Of which not having a date possibly ever wasn't even in the top five. Frankly, there was a whole lot right now I didn't much care to think about. It was better for my mental health that way.

Not really. But I had enough on my plate as was. I didn't need anything else right now.

"A fair few people wouldn't even consider stuff like that," IF commented, something I was far too aware of. "It's thoughtful that you consider her public image."

"Plus it would only get worse as time went on," I grumbled. But that also went with, once again, everyone. Dating while being an immortal sucked, and it was never going to be worth the effort.

"I'm sure you'll find someone," Nepgear patted my head as I huffed, crossing my arms. I was adult enough to deal with the fact that sometimes I wasn't going to be able to get nice things. And I certainly didn't need head pats over it!

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

No, that was far too much teenage brain! I didn't need to shower anyone around me in minor angst. Quick, I needed a distraction!

"So, how exactly do those Mascot powers of yours work?" I asked. I was curious about how that type of thing even worked. It didn't seem like something had changed with Nepgear, as far as I could tell. So I was kinda curious as to what exactly they did.

Nepgear shifted her feet, clearly not exactly comfortable with my line of questioning.

"I, don't know," Nepgear said, frowning slightly. I paused at the admission. That was not the answer I'd been expecting. "They haven't seemed to do a whole lot."

I gave it a brief pause. Nepgear had the powers of the Mascot of each nation. However, outside of Planptune's own, none of them had much of a reason to want their power to be used by someone outside of their nation. Which seemed counter-intuitive. Unless.

Oh bloody hell, this works on the power of friendship, doesn't it? Of course, there would probably be some restrictions, but dear lord, was that the best they could do? I was not in the mood for that sort of thing.

"Maybe it's an all your powers combined sort of deal? Like Captain Planet?" I was dating myself with that reference. These people didn't even know what Captain Planet was, and they'd probably find the reference just as dated.

"I've never heard of anything like that. Is it some show in Leanbox?" Compa gave me a confused look as I resisted the urge to rest my face in my hands.

"It's an old show from back before I was born," I said, trying to keep the embarrassment in my face down. "It was about this group of kids that discovered these magical rings that when used together could summon Captain Planet, who would go on to fight the show's villains, which were generally industrialists and polluters."

One of the more annoying parts was that it undersold just how craven and self-destructive such groups could end up being. It undersold that by quite a bit. Which wasn't great by any stretch of the imagination.

"You literally had an old show that was nothing more than an environmental PSA?" IF shook her head. "That's a bit crazy."

"It wasn't the weirdest thing to come out of the eighties," I shuttered. That was a time of children's entertainment. He-man and She-ra, Transformers, GI Joe, as well as a whole host of other shows. All of them were even more of a drug-fueled fever dream than the last. Even without getting anime involved in the whole mess.

Wait, we'd end up getting away from the topic.

"Bringing us back," I groaned. "It probably has something that the other Candidates might be needed for. You found the other Mascots in pretty rough shape, right?"

"I did," Nepgear nodded, though she still seemed uncertain. "But that's a bit of a weird way to look at things."

I raised my eyebrow, curious as to where that was coming from.

"It sounds like something Neptune might say," her expression looked downcast, and it wasn't hard to figure out why. The naming scheme made who Neptune was abundantly clear. "Except you try to make it sound more rational, rather than just saying it."

I paused for a moment. I was unsure how to process that. Well, I mean, there was one way to process that.

Wrapping my arms around the shorter girl, I gave her a brief hug.

"We'll get them back," I said, hoping to give her some confidence back. It was still hard to fathom. It had been three years since the kidnapping. Three long years. But we were starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I broke off the hug, as Nepgear had a faint dusting of pink on her face.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"You're a bit, bigger than I thought you would be," the statement caused the blush to become contagious as I sputtered, IF laughing in the background.

"I wear a binder a lot of the time!" I huffed in protest, trying to get the heat in my face under control. "It's not my fault everyone is so weird about it! I use a bow, it's not that big of a deal."

Nepgear's statement had done more than just rouse laughter from IF, as RED was no longer pretending to be asleep.

"That's why your-" my eyes narrowed to slits, with a glare so vicious I could punch a hole in a wall.

"Not. A. Word." I hissed. I knew exactly where that was going, and wanted no part of that. Of course, IF still hadn't stopped laughing. "What is her deal?"

"I think she finds it funny we live in a world where a relative of Vert would willingly make their chest look smaller," Compa's words made me blush again, groaning into my hands. The worst part of that statement was that I couldn't raise a single word of protest. Because Vert was very willing to flaunt that part of herself. A lot.

I, missed her. A lot. I still wasn't sure what she actually was to me. Even if the odds of me ever getting home were slim to none, I still wasn't able to let that go. I'd changed a lot. I knew my old family wouldn't recognize me one bit. Without the obvious reason as to why. What I'd been through in this crazy world, it changed me. There was no way the stress of trying to lead a nation through a crisis wouldn't.

But I still cared for her. Things had been raw, it wasn't like there was any way they wouldn't be. Not after all that was said and done. It had been three years since then, and it still hurt. Without that closure, things kinda stung, like a digging feeling in a cut.

But, what I told Nepgear was right. We were going to get them back. No matter what. Still, part of me was scared. How would she feel after all this time? Certainly not well. Whatever was happening there couldn't be good. It had to hurt. Even if it was nothing, just, three years of that. To have nothing to stew with but your thoughts. I know she said she didn't hold a grudge, but I hurt her a lot. My words hurt her a lot, and that's what I intended them to do at the time.

Left by yourself, and your thoughts, left to stew in bitterness? What would she be like after three years of that sort of hell? Would she still have that care that Vert once held? Or would she not?

I shuttered, as I felt Nepgear pat my head again, as if she sensed my discomfort. I gave her a small smile in thanks. I didn't like physical contact all that much, but Nepgear was a good person. And I really needed to stop spiraling. I, hadn't had enough free time for even that, as of late.

"We have arrived in Lowee. Please prepare for departure," a voice came over the intercom, a sign that we had arrived at our destination. I took a deep breath as I stood up, trying to calm myself. This was my first time out of Leanbox. Just stay calm. Nobody is going to suspect a thing.