Chapter 2

“Gamindustri is home to many things, and one of them is Dimension Hopping. It is said that the ability is limited to a few chosen by the Original Goddess, in a way to balance the universe. Two beings were able to hold it originally, but only one of them has kept this ability for unknown reasons. Their whereabouts are unknown. It is unknown why this creature was given this purpose as well. It might have been for reasons beyond any of our understanding…

“The book continued revealing information as it was written by the Original Goddess, she created everything. But with creation, it also comes with destruction, and it’s impossible to decouple one from the other. If she really made this world that way, then everything we do is a cycle. It repeats over and over, without anyone thinking about it. It’s meant to be this way. Heroes defeat villains, new threats appear, villains get the upper hand, creating new heroes that defeat the villains, and so on.

“If this is a cycle, a way to stop it might exist. No one has looked for it, and no one seemed to be interested in doing so. If we are stuck in this cycle, we might as well enjoy the ride… Except what if the cycle wasn’t the goddess’ creation but a consequence of her actions? Gamindustri is doomed to repeat itself because it had protections put in place by the goddess, not because she created the cycle. If that’s the case, then the cycle can be broken.

“The only question is… What happens when this cycle is broken?”

“I CAN EXPLAIN, CALM DOWN!,” said a very comically angry sounding Neptune against her fellow goddess friends, Noire, Vert and Blanc, standing in front of Arfoire, who wasn’t amused by anything.

“She’s not supposed to be here!”

“What is she doing here?”

“Neptune, you better explain this.”

The three goddesses were all complaining to Neptune about their most deadly rival being there at the Planeptune Basilicom.

Arfoire didn’t seem to be bothered by it. But she did speak.

“I’m here by my own volition. I have nothing left, since it was taken by me – arguably correctly – and I don’t wish to do this cat and mouse game anymore. Now I found out that somehow the world decided to either create a new version of me to cause mischief or it’s an alternate version of me doing what I’m not willing to do anymore. I don’t need you all to believe in what I’m saying here, since we have history, and apparently with alternate versions of me that soured our idea of me but believe it when I say this: If this world takes me for a fool, then I’ll show it that it’s more than just wrong. If it believes that I’ll always be a villain, then I’ll show it what I can do.” Arfoire gave the four goddesses a speech that was incredible.

The reaction from the four goddesses was silence. There was a moment they also looked at each other, making eye contact with Neptune.

Neptune chuckled nervously. “I say we give her a chance! She didn’t attack me at any point! She had plenty opportunities to do so.”

Arfoire nodded and agreed with “Yes. If I wanted to, I could have. But Neptune remains unharmed, and will continue to be so.”

The first goddess to complain was Noire, of Lastation. She sported traditional black twin-tails and red eyes, as well as a nice figure. She looked at Neptune with a face of utter contempt, impossible to mistake. “Excuse us for a moment.” She grabbed Neptune by the arm and walked around, with the other two following, to the other room.

“Hey! Watch it!” Neptune complained pointlessly.

Immediately, she drilled Neptune verbally. “So, you’re telling us that our enemy wants to do a truce? Did you forget what she did the last time she was around?! Or the other times we faced her?!”

The next goddess was Blanc. Her slim and mostly flat figure, almost matching Neptune’s, with brown short hair and blue eyes, was on display. Her cute hat was there as well. She didn’t seem to be visually angry but mostly confused. “I think she’s trying to deceive us… But hasn’t done so. I don’t trust her, but this seems very strange…”

The last goddess was Vert, a much taller bombshell of a woman, with blonde long hair and deep blue eyes, dressed very properly, almost like a princess. “While I agree with Noire, I also think that Blanc is correct. There is no reason for her to act like this unless… Perhaps she can also feel ‘shame’?”

“No, no! You guys aren’t getting it,” said Neptune, trying to steer the discussion back to an explanation. “Arfoire cried in front of me over the failures she had. And Noire, we went against an Arfoire from the Ultra Dimension, where Plutie came from. And that one from Uzume was a fake. But! I don’t think she’s trying to deceive any of us. Mostly because…”

Neptune’s face got a little dark. “I went to the PC Continent with her, it was chaos. The goddess there was taken, and apparently there was an Arfoire behind it. But it was not this Arfoire, but another one. We don’t know which, but they seem to be highly competent. The entire PC Tower Basilicom was just gone. The streets were under attack by robots too.”

Vert was the first to ask: “Do we have any leads?”

Neptune nodded. “Yes. We got someone from the group that attacked the PC Continent here. They are called ‘NAS’, short for ‘Not A Slave’, they are going against the perceived ‘tyranny’ of the Goddess there.”

Vert put a hand on her cheek. “Hm. The information is both good and bad at the same time. It’s good that we know who did the attack but it’s bad because we don’t have more to go on.”

Noire brushed her right twin-tail back. “Robots you said? It might be manufactured in some Lastation factory. I’ll try to see if I can find any orders from our factories. Don’t want to be funding an attack like that.”

Blanc looked at the other two. “Neptune, I’d like to go investigate the PC Continent, if possible. We need to find some sort of clue that could help us, now that the dust has settled.”

Neptune gave her a thumbs up. “Alrighty! But… Arfoire might join us in some capacity. Are you okay with that?”

Blanc nodded. “I’m fine as long she keeps her end of the bargain.”

Vert clapped her hands. “Okay. I suppose I could look up any information online about this NAS group. If I find anything, I’ll let Chika know, then she can let the other Oracles know.”

The four goddesses nodded. “Alright, we got our jobs to do.”

Vert and Noire went to the balcony, turning into their goddesses’ forms, and flew away in different directions. Neptune and Blanc went back to the living room, where Arfoire was taking a sip of tea.

“Back so soon, Neptune? And Blanc?” The woman said, with her legs crossed.

“Me and Blanc want to investigate the PC Continent,” Neptune said. “There’s gotta be something there that could help us find whatever did this.”

“Yes. We don’t know how they are structured either. Any information we can get from the source, directly, will be helpful.” Blanc added.

“Well… Then I’m coming with you. If the world wants to make me its bitch, it’s gonna get it.” Arfoire stood up and placed the cup on the coffee table. She sounded serious.

“Small problem… I don’t think you should have this look…” Neptune informed. “No offense Arbore, but you’re dark and purple, and evil all over. Bad vibes, bad mojo.”

“Hm. Can’t you use a disguise?” Blanc asked. Didn’t take long for Arfoire to do just that.

This disguise was a black haired, twin-tailed blue eyed high school girl, sporting a nice figure and wearing a black jacket, white dress shirt, high waist black skirt, and loose red tie. On her back, a backpack. The end result looked like a newbie journalist reporter. “This can work.”

“Ayo? Nice work!” Neptune clapped her hands at Arfoire. “You look the part. Can you sound the part too?”

“Hai!” Arfoire said, hyping her voice up to be high-pitched. “Oh. My. Gosh! I’m standing next to the Goddesses of Planeptune and Lowee! You two are insane! My name is Chiaki Post, and I work for the local Planeptune News journal… Would you mind giving me an interview?”

Blanc made a face that felt like her face shrunk to somewhere. “That… That was quite the whiplash…”

“Woah… That was perfect, Ar- I mean Chiaki!” Neptune was still impressed. “Now… We are good to go.”

“Hai!” Arfoire in her Chiaki guise said.

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