Victory! - Chapter 2

Upon taking his first steps on Leanbox, Kuro took in the futuristic atmosphere of the place. As described last chapter (and due to the author wanting to take up space on this one, too), Leanbox is mainly urbanized, filled with corporate buildings, warehouses, skyscrapers, and typical urban structures. A noticeable towering structure can be seen all over Leanbox. It takes a form of a colossal white structure with black streaks filled with green light in the middle of its perpendicular sides, which ends on a green circle in between.

'Hey, Miss Mina? If you can hear me, where should I start, now that I'm at Leanbox?'

('I'd suggest you start by looking for the Basciliom. If not that then the guild to see if you may meet Lady Green Heart and tell her why you're there. Try asking around if you can't find it.')

'Just your standard RPG stuff, huh?'

('Most definitely, just please don't get distracted by—')

'Ooh! Is that a game shop? SHOPPING ACTIVITYYYYYYY!' he dashed straight in, ignoring Mina's annoyed sigh.

('I just had to open my mouth…') Mina muttered before cutting off the link.

Rows upon rows of different games for different systems were lined up, stacked, and arranged all over the store. Kuro mainly browses the section labeled "Leanbox One" for any new games. Now, Kuro is a very passionate gamer so he would which games were trending at the moment. One particularly requested game was "L-Stars Victory III" and that's the game he picked to buy. Of course, being the frugal little boy that he is, wanted to salvage money and bought the one game. Taking it off the shelf, he turned to make his way to the cashier's desk. But he soon found his vision obstructed, and felt his face constricted by pillowy softness.

"Oh, my. Are you alright, little one?"

Curiously, Kuro tilted his head upwards and was met with probably the most gorgeous woman he's ever seen. She had long, curled, light blonde hair with long bangs neatly framing her face as well as sad looking, half closed, blue eyes. She exuded an aura of grace and maturity. She was wearing a shoulder dress that is a dark sea foam green color with puffed somewhat sleeves and black spiked cuffs at the end. Her large breasts are on full display, but have very thin light green straps connecting to her choker-piece around her neck, resembling the belt she wears. The dress covers her lower half and goes between her legs, while the back part is much longer with spiked lining. Around her waist she has a black belt like piece with green circled pads on each hip, connecting to a very light blue ribbon/sash. Her hair also had a matching colored hairbow, while on her neck she has something matching the belt. Her shoes are black slip ons with same pads at the toe and ballerina-like wrappings around the leg.

It took the angel a moment to process what was going on right now and when he did, in came the typical awkward teenager's reaction: he blushed. Kuro took a step back and bowed his head, apologizing profusely in embarrassment. He saw the woman's feet step come closer as she ran her hand gently in a path through his black locks. This had the effect of calming him down a bit. Now, keep in mind that while Kuro is an angel, he is also only 13 years old. Meaning, that he gets nervous around beautiful women.

Kuro ran past her when she released her hand and paid for the game. He spared one last glance towards the woman in green who smiled serenely at him and walked out the door.

('Wow, Icarus. Just… wow.') Mina chastised while laughing.

'B-Be quiet…'

('Yeah, yeah, sure, you big baby…')

"Sh-shut your mouth!" Kuro screamed, causing the people around him to shift their attention to him. Taking notice of this, Kuro tried to cover up the fact that he was shouting at the sky.

"Uh… uh… Shut your mouth

Try not to panic

Just shut your mouth

If you can do it

Shut your mouth

Try not to panic

Just shut your mouth

If you can do it~"

He sang with a few flashy dances. This had the desired effect of diverting the original subject and the onlookers applauded. Kuro wiped his brow of his nervous sweat, only for it to come back when he felt someone poke his shoulder. It was the woman from the store. Kuro couldn't say a word before she grabbed his hand and pulled him along somewhere.

"Um… where are we going, Ma'am?" they stopped in front of a large building, obviously several stories, when he asked the question.

"What's your name, dear?"

"K-Kuro. But m-my friends tend to call me 'Icarus…'"

"'Icarus?' That's a rather unique name."

"It is?"

"Come along now. And my name is Vert, but you may call me whatever you want."

"Oh, wait! There's someone else I forgot to introduce in Chapter 1!" Kuro reached into his scarf (IDK why) and pulled out a round, fuzzy looking ball. The ball uncurled itself to reveal a baby hedgehog. "This my pet hedgehog, Zaku. I take him everywhere I go. He likes to rest in my scarf whenever danger arrives." Zaku's nose twitched when Vert stroked his soft quills.

"He's certainly very cute. And well behaved."

"Um… okay, Miss Vert. But right now I'm looking for this place's Basciliom. Do you know where it is?"

"Yes, I do."

"Really? Where?" Kuro asked in excitement.

"We're in it." Well, that was easy.

"Well, that was easy…" he repeated my exact words. "Thank you very much! It makes my mission much easier."

"Mission? Do you mind me asking what it may be?"

"Not at all. I'm here on behalf of Lady White Heart to assist in the externimination of the monsters endangering Leanbox." Kuro says while fist-pumping.

"I believe it's pronounced 'extermination' and also you serve White Heart?" Vert's expression fell briefly before returning to its usual serenity. "So, you came from Lowee?"

"Yup! I flew here. But most of all, I can't wait to meet Lady Green Heart. I bet she's so cool! …But not as cool as Lady White Heart, though…" Kuro's excitement was quelled slightly when he heard Vert laughing and leading him inside the Basilicom. The duo stopped at the front desk where they met an elderly gentleman.

"Why, hello! Is there anything I can help you with?" he greeted kindly. Due to Kuro's short stature, he had to get on his tip toes and prop himself up with the edge of the tall desk.

"Um… do you mind if I go see Lady Green Heart, please?"

"Oh? Why, my lady is standing right behind you." the man replied in confusion. Kuro blinked twice with a similar emotion.

"Um, no. This is Miss Ver-Ver. I met her in a gaming sto—" Vert interrupted him by covering his mouth with both hands.

"That's enough, Icarus dear~"

"Mmm-MMM! Mrrrff!" he gave the traditional muffled protests while flailing his arms. Vert then turned him around and gently pushed him past the man at the desk.

"Miss Ver-Ver, you're Lady Green Heart?" Kuro asked for confirmation as they walked towards Vert's room for some private time.

"Yes, I am. Is it that much of a surprise?"

"Yeah. When I first met you back at the shop, you being Lady Green Heart was the last thing on my mind. I thought… well, er…"

"What did you think, Icarus?" the busty blonde asked curiously.

"It's just… before you, I've never met anyone so beautiful before…" Kuro looked away shyly while performing the stereotypical shy person habit: pressing his index fingers together. Vert froze momentarily at his honest words before composing herself and biting back a blush.

"Well, thank you very much." she stroke his hair affectionately.

"Hey, easy. This hair isn't exactly the easiest to take care of…" Kuro fixed his hair (as if that were possible…) and opened the door for Vert.

"Peeeeea… PUNCH!" came a shrill, little voice. Kuro's defensive instincts took over for a moment and he got in front of Vert, who looked amused by his actions. Then a small, yellow bullet hit him like a freight train and knocked him onto his back after rolling backwards a fair distance, a few white feathers dancing in the air and falling on his chest and in a trail on the floor.

But soon, the angel found out that the yellow bullet was no bullet at all. Instead, it was a little blonde girl with short hair with some oversized hair bobbles on top. She wears a yellow/black striped jacket with a tail, a pair of shorts and sneakers. She was also wearing paw gloves which, from Kuro's experience, can put the hurt on somebody.

"Oh, my goodness! Peashy…" an older girl gently reprimanded young Peashy. She is a fair-skinned girl with long lilac-purple hair almost waist in length with few loose strands of long hair curling down. Her bangs are usually kept neatly brushed. She was wearing a white jacket-dress with purple lining consisting of thin double white stripes. A white choker, and around her neck is a pale yellow ribbon/ascot like piece with a N in the center. At her chest is a small pink marking while the pockets and buttons are purple. On her right leg is a white belt like purse object and she wears pink and white striped socks with white and purple shoes. In her hair, she wears a single direction pad button.

"There she goes again…" a third girl mumbled. This one has fair-pale skin and bright pink eyes. Her hair is about waist length with very wild, messy bangs framing her face while her hair looks to be worn down, but in a very thick/big braid held with a pastel pink frilled ribbon. She wears an odd outfit, consisting of a very loose powder blue top with a frilled neck segment with a bright pink-purple bow and a long white segment in the center held with a white multipiece belt with a purple piece in the center. At the top on the sleeve sides are pink cloth segments with ruffled white lining and a single white stripe on each piece. Her dress has small sleeves with button-clasp, making it look like a shirt pair of overalls. On each sleeve is a peach and white line, while the sleeves cuff buttons to the upper segment of sleeve, most likely to keep them from being too long. She also wears an uneven length white skirt piece that looks longer in back, and opened in the middle. Along with pink and white striped socks and pink bear shaped fuzzy slippers. She looks dressed for bedtime.

"I got the bad man~!" Peashy exclaimed while giving her version of a thumbs-up (which, in reality, is just her holding her "paw" up).

"I'm not a bad man! Ow!"

"Quiet, Bad Man!" Peashy yelled at the angel as someone lifted her off of him.

"Thank you." Kuro thanked her while clearing his chiton of dust and his own feathers. She is a fair skinned girl with light purple eyes and a matching shade of hair. It's shoulder length with somewhat messy bangs with many strands sticking up and few framing her face. She wears two gamepad-shaped hair clips. The girl was wearing a deep purple dress with lilac lining along the bottom, center, top, and pockets, along with white spiked edging at the hem. She wears a white, short-jacket over this with a big "N" button, purple plug-like strings, and purple lining and buckles on each shoulder sleeve. Her choker remains the same, along with her socks and shoes. On her wrist she has white bracelets with a soft spiked material and small powder blue spots in the center.

"You're welcome~! The name's Neptune, by the way~"

"I'm Kuro, but you can call me 'Icarus.' Everyone else does. I'm assuming the little bullet train is Peashy, and you're… uh…"

"'Kay! But why are you here? No one knows you…"

"Wel—Um… uh… that's a good question. Lady Ver-Ver? Lady Ver-Ver?! Mrrrph!" Kuro went from casual to frantic when he turned towards Vert, who somehow appeared right next to him and hugged him. (Un)fortunately, since Kuro was shorter, you guessed it! He was caught in between her bahama mammas, arms flailing and wings flapping frenziedly.

"It's quite simple: he's cute~" the blonde answered, seemingly oblivious to the struggling angel.

"I don't think that's a valid reason, Vert." Nepgear piped in.

"Aww~ Are you jealous, Neppy Jr.?" Plutia teased. This had the desired effect of causing Nepgear to become tongue-tied, blush embarrassingly, and sweat nervously.

"W-w-w-w-w-what?! O-of course n-not! Why would I be jealous of someone I just met?! Besides, Vert said she hates men, right? Eep!" Vert grabbed Nepgear and pulled her into a group hug.

"SWEET AIR!" Kuro cheered, but his excitement turned into embarrassment as his face was still up against her left breast. Nepgear was in a similar state.

"While it's true that I don't like men at all," Vert said, earning a displeased whine from the boy. "Icarus is still a cute, little boy~"

"I won't be little forever! …Maybe…" Kuro tried defending his pride, but soon faltered.

"Then, I'll cherish you until that happens~"

'NOOOOO! AIR, I LOVED YOOOOOOUUU!' the poor (lucky) angel was back in his marshmallow prison when Vert let Nepgear go (to her relief, but she soon felt sympathy for him). If his head wasn't in Marshmallow Hell right now, he would've heard the sound of knocking on the door. After setting down Peashy, Neptune opened it.

Bolting through the doorway was a light skinned woman with very long, curly mint colored hair worn in a high ponytail with a black and green twin bow piece with few bangs and long curls of hair framing her face. Her eyes are an almond red color. She wears a revealing black dress with long boots and gloves that end at her wrist, along with a black neck piece with a white sphere in the center that has a small green "X" in the center and two small pieces of purple cloth. On both hips, she has black ribbon cloth segments that have longer cloth pieces dangling from both sides with green sparkled coloring inside. The skirt is practically nonexistent on the dress, being a simple cloth in front of her lower area.

"HERE I AM, VERT~!" she shouted giddily.

"Mrrrsh hrrrrt?" Kuro asked, still suffocating.

"'Who's that?' you said?" Vert somehow understood Kuro's speech and he nodded. "This is—"

"Leave the intros to me, Vert~! I am the Oracle of Leanbox, the Great Chika Hakozaki!" Chika introduced herself with much flair, with some bishie sparkles. "Now, can you do me a favor and get out of Vert's breasts?!"

"Trrr thrrrt hrr Vrrrt!" Kuro retorted.

"What?" Chika said blankly until Kuro pointed his wing towards Vert, who was still immersed in hugging the guy to death.

"Ah~! I gotcha. Vert…" Chika gained the goddess's attention. "…HUG ME INSTEAD~!"

"I've got it, now!" Plutia abruptly shouted in realization.

"What is it, Plutie?" Neptune asked while she, Plutia, and Nepgear were watching the scene, each with a cup of pudding that they seemingly pulled out of nowhere.

"Icarus is a good guy, after all." she elaborated. Zaku was now perched on top of Vert's shoulder as Kuro was now pushing Vert by her breasts in an attempt to get free, which made Chika go into a jealous rage.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" said a fair skinned girl with emerald eyes and light brown hair that is about waist length. Most of her bangs are long and reach down to her eyes, curling outwards or inwards to her face, with a split on the upper corner side. A few parts of hair frame her face while more of it reaches her chest, about the length of the hair she wears in a ponytail, held with a leafy green hair piece. She wears a black, tank top and short-short style one piece with silver detailing and a belt around her waist. This is worn underneath a dark blue, oversized jacket with black, silver, and white detailing. It is worn open and has a big loose belt that she keeps all of her cellphones on. She wears matching boots. The colors of her cellphone carriers are blue, light blue, green, black, magenta, white, lime green, orange, and light pink (Who needs that many phones?).

"That looks… hurty…" said another fair-skinned young girl whose most noticeable feature is that she is well-endowed for her age (most likely about a year older than Kuro). Her hair a light creamy pink color that is somewhat long and curls along the edges worn with a black headband with a C patched on the side. Her eyes match her hair color. She wears a whitish tan wool styled tank top with big neck and un-attached sleeves and matching styled boots, but with small ribbons/fuzzy balls at the top. She also wears a red plaid skirt, a black choker with a small heart on it, blackish brown kneesocks with light pink heart cut frills, and often carries a black hip purse, and heart shaped buttons. Like her headband, both her purse and the heart on the choker has a "C" logo.

"I wanna play! I wanna play!" Peashy yelled in excitement and went for it anyways, effectively tugging on Kuro's right leg.

"My next question is: How is he still breathing? Shouldn't he have suffocated by now?" the brunette asked with genuine curiosity.

"I don't think he is, Iffy…" Nepgear replied with concern.

"And you just asked two questions." Neptune pointed out the obvious. "Compa, add some more dialogue to this Funny Background Event."

"Aye-Aye! Ahem… What do you mean? He's fine. Look at his wings. They're standing up—" just as Compa says that, Kuro's wings fell limp and his flailing came to an end. After about a millennium, Vert noticed and let him go… only for the angel to limply fall flat on his face with a blue face and spiral eyes.

"I think he's dead…" Plutia says plainly and without a hint of hesitation.

"Nah, he's got Plot Armor. He can't die…" Neptune brushed it off. Kuro shook his head to reorient himself with the world and stood back up, little Peashy still attached to his leg. "See?"

"What's 'Plot Armor,' Neppy?"

"It's a plot device in films and television shows that prevent important characters from dying or being seriously injured at dramatically inconvenient moments." Neptune explained in full. Everyone in the room looked at her in bewilderment. "What?"

"Sorry… it's just… wow…" Nepgear shared first.

"I'm mainly stuck on the amount of big words you just used in one piece of dialogue…" IF admitted.

"Well, when given that he's the 'main male protagonist' of this fan fiction, it makes sense for him to survive." Compa concurred with Neptune.

"Don't start breaking the fourth wall now!" Chika yelled exasperatedly.

"What fourth wall?" Kuro says coyly while standing next to a random brick wall with the number four painted on it. He then turned his ring into a giant club and whacked the wall into a million pieces with a comical expression.

"Where did that wall come from…?" Compa asked.

"Where did that club come from…?" IF followed up.

("DO THAT AGAIN!") Neptune, Plutia, and Peashy yelled excitedly.

"Back to more important matters, why is that angel here?" Chika started things back off.

"Yeah! Get on with the exposition! The readers are waiting~" Neptune piped in, but everyone ignored her.

"Monster exte-min-i-cation!" Kuro answered.

"'Extermination…'" Vert corrected.

"Ah~ I see~" Neptune rubbed her false beard she pulled out of who-knows-where. "That's how a lot of these plot events start~"

"Yeah!"

"Wait—Where are you from, Icarus?" IF interrupted.

"Lowee"

"So, you flew from Lowee to Leanbox… to help Leanbox with their monster problems…?"

"Yup" the angel answered, not noticing the edge in her voice.

"Why?"

"Lady White Heart says it's because she wants to keep Lady Ver-Ver alive for now…" tensions rose until—

"Whatever that means~" he tilted his head with an innocent expression and everybody who wasn't Kuro, Vert, Neptune, Plutia, or Peashy face faulted.

'Please… not a male Neptune…' coincidentally, Chika and IF thought the exact same thing.

"Anyways, gotta kill some things. Talk to ya later~"

"WAIT! You need to exposition us into the story…" Neptune explained. A brief silence ensued.

"…Next chapter!" Kuro darted out the door.

"Five…" Neptune counted down.

"Four…" Nepgear.

"Three…" Plutia.

"Two…" Vert.

"PEASHY!" Peashy cheered. Right at that moment, our resident angel walked right back in with a blank, comical look etched into his face.

"Where's the way out?"

"I can't believe the author forgot to instill in you some common sense…" Chika chastised.

"Besides, you've got a harem of such beautiful ladies. You can't leave them behind~!" Neptune chirped.

"Harem? Since when?" IF objected strongly.

"You'll see…" Neptune wiggled her eyebrow with a knowing smirk thrown in Kuro's direction.

"So, we're killing monsters together? Sweet~" Kuro was a follower of the idiom "the more, the merrier."

"Not me. I just recently had my nails done. Besides, I think Vert and I will hold down the fort until you return." Chika retorted while inspecting her nails.

"Actually, I was planning on going with them. You can stay with Peashy." the buxom blonde interrupted.

"But, Veeerrrt~" Chika whined.

"I'm fine with just Neptune and Plutia."

"Having Nep fight, I'm okay with. But Plutia…" IF shuddered at the thought.

"What about Plutia?"

"Well, let's just say that she can get… a little carried away when she fights."

"Okay…" Kuro didn't catch the dread in IF's voiceas he outstretched his hand towards Zaku (still on Vert's shoulder). The tiny hedgehog obeyed the silence command with a tiny squeak towards Vert. "Zaku likes you, Lady Ver-Ver."

"Is that so?" she was legitimately surprised.

"Yup. But then again, he'll like anybody who strokes his quills." Kuro shrugged.

"Can I hold him?" Plutia asked while the three left the Basilicom.

Kuro shot down the last Pumpkimon while Neptune and Plutia finished of the remaining Sunfloweries. The entire operation in Gapain Field, while a bit lengthy, was boring. Gapain Field was literally just a one way path littered with enemies and treasures. There was a big open field in the center and that's where the trio were approaching at the moment.

"Uuggh! Why won't anything cool happen?! This is so lame!" the angel complained.

"Can we take a break?" Neptune requested, looking winded.

"My feet hurt…" Plutia mumbled. Kuro contemplated something for a bit before shrugging. He bent his upper body forward, crouched slightly, and held his hands behind him.

Hop on." he commanded.

"Yay~!" Plutia gleefully hitched a ride on Kuro's back. The angel went the extra mile by curling his wings protectively around her. "Mmm… So fluffy~"

"Don't fall asleep now, Plutia. And Neptune, we passed by some soft looking brushes that you can rest on, if you want."

"Aw, yeah!" she didn't need to be told twice as she dashed towards a nearby shrubbery and plopped unceremoniously on top of it. Kuro could hear light snoring coming from his backseat passenger, so he decided to wait for her to wake up…

…That was until Neptune had fallen asleep while Kuro just stood there, dealing with any passerby monsters for an hour and a half.

'Alright, I think break time's over for now…' he thought while shaking his upper body to rouse the cute, sleeping girl on his back.

"Come on, Plutie. Nap time is over."

"Five… more… minutes~"

"*sigh* If we don't hurry, you'll miss your pudding time…" that got both of them up and running.

"NOOOO! NOT MY PUDDING TIME!" Neptune shrieked in horror

"No, no, please no…" Plutia begged whilst shaking Kuro's shoulders.

"Just kidding. You already had your pudding time while I was suffocating to death." the girls stared at him blankly before uttering a unanimous "Ohhh." Although, Plutia just bonked him on the head, called him a "meanie" and got off of his back.

Kokekokko!

An all-too familiar cry came from above.

"Ooh… It's payback time!"

"What're you talking about? I don't see any—" as soon as Neptune started talking, a towering avian creature crash lands onto the ground in the center of the clearing. The same creature as last time.

"Boss Battle Time!" Kuro's weapon shifted into a bow bearing the zodiac sign of Sagittarius.

"Aw, yeah!" Neptune cheered and then was engulfed in a bright flash of light.

'…Okay… so, Neptune is a CPU, as well… good to know…' he thought while shielding his eyes.

"Can I change, too, Icarus?" Plutia tugged on his chiton.

"Huh? Why are you asking?" Kuro asked in confusion.

"Because when Plutia transforms, she becomes a sadist and is prone to taking things way too far. So, instead we tell her when or when not she can transform." came a voice from where Neptune once stood. But this wasn't the same Neptune. She had become the CPU, Purple Heart.

As Purple Heart, her hair becomes a dark lilac-purple while her eyes turn blue. Her hair becomes very long and is worn in twintail braids while her bangs and the hair that frame her face are somewhat longer. Her hairclips turn into small black circular pieces with a glowing blue "X" on them. Her figure is more mature/curvier, only losing out to Vert. Purple Heart's suit resembles a black skintight leotard with purple segments and silver pieces along it. The boots/leg armor is above the knee.

"So, Plutia's… also a CPU… Great…" Kuro says with a shrug. "…But I'm sure she's not too terrible when she transforms and, quite frankly, I wanna see what she looks like! So, come on! Show me!" Purple Heart sighed at her words not being heeded.

"Fine… have it your way…" she mutters. 'But don't say Iffy and I didn't warn you…'

In a bright flash of light, Plutia had transformed into Iris Heart. As Iris Heart, Plutia's hair becomes a darker, purple color and lengthens somewhat as it's pulled out of its braid. Her bangs remain the same, though longer and tend to cover her eyes easily. Her eyes seem to be the same shade of pink but are much more squinted. She wears a black HDD outfit with pink accessories. Consisting of a tank top like bustier piece with very thin straps and button-like pieces with multiple holes in the center, a neck piece with a glowing line and pink line below it, small straps connecting to her bikini bottom piece, almost shoulder length gloves with multiple pink pieces, and long boot like parts connecting to the outfit by the outer piece. She also has on pink and black thin earrings. She brushed the astonished angel aside, ignoring his cry of "Hey!"

"Ooh, goody~! A new play toy~! I guess I'll show him my special services menu~"

"Is it me, or does Lady Plutia seem a little… different?" Iris Heart's unsettling smile grew when she overheard Kuro call her "Lady."

"Enough talk, Icarus. We have a monster to exterminate!" Purple Heart commanded as she charged at the monster.

"So that's how you say it!" Kuro pounded his palm with his fist.

"Critical Edge!" Purple Heart slashes the monster into the air once, then immediately follows up with another intense slash while it was staggering. Kuro flew above her and fired a large arrow that sent the creature falling fast.

"Arrow Shot! Since we're shouting attack names, I guess…!" he looked towards Purple Heart for the confirmation that never came. Iris Heart slashed at it in a heart shape with her sword electrically charged before turning away from it while looking bored.

"*sigh* I had too high hopes for you…" she says as the creature exploded. She looked towards the angel, who had his bow hand up in the air as he shot numerous arrows into the sky before a cannonade of white arrows poured down onto the still body, and smirked.

"Yeah! I was practicing that move all week! Thanks! You made a perfect guinea pig!" Kuro laughed. But his laughter died in his throat when something coiled around his left leg and pulled him down. He then came face-to-face with a dominatrix goddess with a highly unsettling smile on her face.

"Oh, my precious little Icarus~" she stroked his face.

'Oh, boy…' Purple Heart, already aware of Iris Heart's tendencies, made herself scarce.

"The big, bad birdie didn't fill me up enough. Would you like to help me out with that~?"

"Okay. How do I do that?" Kuro asked, not sensing the impending danger.

"Just be a good boy…" Iris Heart's sword morphed into a whip. "…and listen to 'Lady Iris Heart'~" Kuro finally put two and two together.

"Ohhhh…" silence.

…And he flew away, but Iris Heart remained undeterred.

"I love a man who plays hard-to-get~" Iris Heart decided to play hide-and-seek with Kuro (which comprised of her attacking Kuro whenever she found him). They stopped at another clearing closer towards Leanbox.

"You haven't cooled down yet?!" the angel panicked as he spotted Iris Heart standing on the opposite side of where he was.

"This game of 'Follow the Leader' had gotten boring the instant it started. I was just humoring you. Now, we're going to play my kind of game~" she got her sword at the ready. "We play until I'm either bored or relieved, or you scream my name in utmost terror. Preferably the latter."

'I've gotta fight a goddess essentially…' Kuro mentally sighed and had equipped dual claw blades. 'Well, I've lived a full life…'

Neptune, in the meantime, had just arrived back at Leanbox's Basilicom alone. Upon entering the room, she was met by her lovely group of friends.

"The Neps is back, yo!"

"Hi, big sis." Nepgear greeted her just as Vert was dressing her up in a pretty outfit. The blonde goddess was brought out if her reverie about what goes with what when Neptune entered the room and waved before return to her work.

"There you are, finally. We actually had already decided to… to—Hey, where's Plutia?" IF asked.

"Oh! I left Sadie with Icarus at Gapain Field after we kicked some major monster boo-tay!"

"You let Plutia transform?"

"Yep!"

"And left her alone with Icarus?"

"Yup!"

"And given the fact that Iris Heart's never dealt with a guy before… what are the chances that Icarus will be the same?" the last part got to Neptune.

"…Crud…"

"'Crud?' Is that really all you have to say?"

"What can I say? I messed up." Neptune defended right as the door had opened again, revealing a winded Kuro and a mysteriously refreshed Plutia riding on his back. The latter hopped off and pecked his cheek before merrily wandering over to play with Peashy. The disheveled and disgruntled boy walked towards Planeptune's CPU and tiredly pointed a finger towards her.

"Never… let… Lady… Plutia… transform… in front of me…" Neptune chuckled sheepishly, rubbed the back of her head, and gave a thumbs-up.

"Good… now…" he then moved towards Vert, who happily stopped what she was doing to greet him.

"Hello, dear~"

"Would you hug me, Lady Ver-Ver? I really need positive physical contact right now and I'm feeling very emotional. Especially after what I've been through…"

"Of course~" the two embraced each other and Kuro let out a few sniffles with moist eyes. Neptune's gang could only watch with sympathy.