Disclaimer: the Hyperdimension Neptunia series is owned by Idea Factory International, and the Titanfall series is owned by Respawn Entertainment. Both franchises belong to their respective owners.

-Chapter 6: "Familiar Struggles"-

Cooper's Logbook:

Our search for the Key Fragment in Lastation's canyons didn't go as planned. We were ambushed by some woman who appeared to know Neptune. We managed to stop her, but not without her running off and managing to attack another passerby civilian in this area, unfortunately.

Whether or not she happens to be another 'goddess' like Neptune, or associated with this 'Avenir' group I keep hearing about, she's far too dangerous to be left alone. If it weren't for all the weird things I've came across in the past day or two, I'd say we're still being chased by IMC forces again, just not on Typhon.

One way or another, we're going to get answers; for both the key fragment's location and our new maniac out to kill us. Luckily, the roadblock outside the city's been cleared, so we should be able to explore the rest of this landmass pretty soon.

The newly-formed party of six soon arrived outside Chian's place right before the start of dusk.

"Home sweet home!" Neptune shouted as she barged right through the door.

"Would you cut that out?" IF sighed as she entered the building. "Sheesh, no need to be so loud."

"Based off data analysis, I have come to the conclusion that miss Neptune's voice constantly exceeds 85 decibels on a regular basis; in which prolonged exposure can lead to hearing loss," BT commented outside the building in its usual monotone voice.

Cooper, along with the others, simply chuckled at the comment before the young pilot turned to Noire, who appeared to be pulling out a pair of glasses.

"So, this place remind you of anything? Ring a bell by chance?" the young pilot asked.

"No, nothing at all," Noire reluctantly shook her head as she adjusted the red, half-frame spectacles to 'disguise' herself with.

"Shucks, and I thought we'd have some sudden character event pop up for you," Neptune groaned.

"By the way," the raven-haired twintails said to Neptune. "You said you lost your memory, but are you sure you're okay?"

"Heh-heh, well, not that great, really," Neptune nervously scratched the back of her head.

Just then, an idea suddenly lit up in the lilac-haired girl's mind. "Oh, I know! Let's try banging our heads! I'll do it on a pillow and you can try the wall right over ther—"

"…How about no?" the young pilot sighed as he lightly bopped the scatterbrained girl's head. "Last thing we need is for her to become just as clueless as you," Cooper joked, turning towards the ravenette in question with a headshake that clearly conveyed a warning of 'don't get dragged along this girl's stupidity'.

"Awwh, and it was a good idea too!" Neptune giggled as she rubbed the spot Cooper lightly smacked her at just moments ago. "See, with Coop here bullying me and all, I'm just a delicate little flower," she said towards Noire. "And you seem like the hard-headed tsundere type, so I figured—"

"Figured what?" the raven-haired girl asked before tensely smiling with a look of irritation on her eyes. "Oh wait… here, let me cover your face with a pillow instead."

"Tsundere?" Cooper raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Searching network files. Pilot, the term 'tsundere' appears to describe an individual that acts in hostility or disdain in order to compensate for a repressed feeling of affection." BT commented off to the side.

"That seems like a pretty specific word, don't you think?" Cooper replied sarcastically. "Could even be used to describe one of my last relationships, I'd say," the militia pilot joked to himself, not realizing how Noire had suddenly picked up a cushion off a nearby chair.

"Noted," BT simply nodded. Both the robotic titan and its pilot were soon brought back from their aside conversation by a certain lilac-haired girl's shriek.

"Ah?! Oh come on now, I'm just joking, you know," Neptune backpedaled with a fearful expression. "Your eyes… even with those cute glasses on… they're scary," she nervously smiled at Noire before breaking into a panic and running behind the militia pilot. "Come on! We're not simulating a murder scene now, are we? Help me here, Coop, IF!"

"You're only digging your grave deeper," Cooper remarked as he nudged off the genki preteen clinging to his back. For him, it was nice change of pace seeing another face more than willing to deal with Neptune's hyperactive energy. In fact, part of him couldn't help but smile at the predicament the girl found herself in due to her running mouth. Still, he'd prefer not having to deal with the repercussions of Neptune getting herself into trouble, especially when it meant even more delays for himself and BT from completing their mission.

Sighing, the young pilot placed a hand on the ravenette's shoulder as he shook his head. "Believe me, she's not worth your energy," he told the disguised CPU, defusing the current situation.

"Hmmph," Noire huffed in disappointment. "Fine, if you say so. Just please tell me she's not always like this."

"I'd be lying if I said that, sadly," Cooper replied jokingly. "Just ask BT over there," he said, pointing at his vanguard-class titan standing outside the building.

"Correct," BT nodded with its eyepiece. "Miss Neptune's personality appears to change drastically only in her altered form."

"Hard to believe they're the same person," IF shrugged.

'You're telling me,' Noire thought to herself.

"Looks like Nep-Nep and mister Cooper are already friends with Noire," Compa said cheerfully. "Oh, that reminds me. I didn't realize that glasses on you," she said, noting the new pair of spectacles on Noire's face.

"Why didn't you bother having them on earlier?" IF asked with a suspicious look on her face.

"Your vision does not appear to be significantly impaired, either," BT added.

"I… ahh, um…" Noire stammered across her words. "…I-I had these on me the entire time! I just didn't realize they were in my pocket until now, so…"

"Ooo, I know why!" Neptune shouted. "You're a cosplayer that just got caught in the middle of an unlucky situation! Those glasses were a part of the costume, weren't they?"

"Y-Yeah! I remember now!" Noire eagerly nodded. "I was a cosplayer and, um… I totally love dressing up in fancy outfits too! I-I even remembered making all these clothes from scratch!"

'Somebody has a bit too much free time on their hands,' Cooper thought to himself.

"I knew it! Now you have some of your memory back!" Neptune jumped in joy. "But, you cosplaying all the time is, well, kinda creepy, don't you think?"

"What—?!" Noire replied in a flustered manner. "Don't call me creepy! I can't help it, I have my reasons!"

"Aside from miss Noire's enthusiasm towards the act of dressing up," BT said to its militia companion. "It is important that we report our mission findings to miss Chian immediately."

"Agreed," Cooper said as he examined the dining café, looking for a certain blue-haired mechanic. "Let's see where Chian is around here—"

*BOOM*

A large explosion sound came from the other side of the room, of which the party turned their heads to. Soon after, Chian emerged through the nearby door, coughing and hacking in a puff of smoke as she walked into the room before noticing Cooper and the others.

"*Cough* *Cough* Oh hey, you're all back," she said, waving off the small debris of smoke around her. "So, did you all kill those monsters?"

"Designated targets in the location have successfully been eliminated," BT answered through the open window.

"What the big-ole' robot Beetsy said!" Neptune added. "He went all camper-mode and was like 'pew-pew', 'bang-bang' at the oversized chickens and blew them up with his giant sniper rifle," she said, making finger-guns and waving them around in the process.

"Really?!" Chian said in astonishment. "That's great! Now I don't have to worry about supplies for a good while, thanks!"

'One less thing to worry about, considering how Avenir's been killing the market lately,' the blue-haired woman immediately thought to herself.

IF nodded to herself. "I guess our first assignment in Lastation was a success, after all then."

"Minus the flying maniac that destroyed BT's plasma railgun and got away before we could catch her," Cooper muttered to IF.

"Oh cheer up, Coops!" Neptune mockingly patted the pilot's back. "I'm sure your robot hombre has tons of other OP weapons you've never even told us about!"

"Ouch, sorry to hear that. My old man should be stopping by soon. I'm sure he'll be able to fix up your gun up in no time," Chian sympathetically remarked at Coopers statement, before leaning to the side slightly and noticing the new member of the party. "Huh, looks like you've got someone new there. Who's she?"

"Oh, her? This is Noire," IF said, introducing the twintail ravenette to the woman. "She was hurt and lost her memory, so we brought her along with us."

"Yeah, Noire here ended up getting attacked by the same person we're currently after before flying away," Cooper crossed his arms. "We were hoping that you might happen to know her yourself by any chance."

"Is that so? Sucks to hear that there still bandits lying around." Chian said to herself, scratching her chin. "…Wait a second," she suddenly added, slowly approaching the raven-haired teen and examining her. "Actually, I think I've seen you before…"

"Wha—?!" Noire said in a panicked look, as Chian was carefully observing her face to face. "No, wait! What are you talking about?"

"Really now?" IF said in a suspicious glace at Noire.

'This isn't good,' the disguised goddess thought to herself. 'If they find out who I am, I'm DEAD!'

"Yeah, you do look familiar, almost like…" Chain examined the black-haired teenager several more moments before shrugging and backing away from her. "…Nah, it couldn't be. Nevermind."

'Th-That was close…' Noire thought to herself.

"Couldn't be who, exactly?" Cooper replied.

'—?!'

"Almost thought she was Lady Black Heart for a moment there…"

'Black Heart?' Cooper thought to himself. 'She doesn't mean the 'goddess' of this place, does she?'

"Hmm…" IF replied, giving Noire a very stern look.

'—Eeek!'

"…But, I guess not," the blue-haired woman shook her head as she sighed. "Guess I got my hopes up again, like always."

"So you don't know who she is after all, do you?" Compa said is a disappointed frown.

"Sorry, doesn't seem like it," Chian said reluctantly towards to party. "I don't recall anyone else around here having someone gone missing either."

"Well, it was worth a shot, I guess," the young militia pilot shook his head. "It's already starting to get late. We should probably head to place to rest for the night."

"Agreed, I'm getting a bit tired and hungry after everything that's happened today," IF nodded and then turned to the blue haired woman. "Chian, we're going to be leaving now, but is there anything else?"

"So soon?" Chian asked with a puzzled look on her face. "Let me at least treat you all to some good eating."

"Food?!" Neptune and Compa nodded, with glistening eyes.

"It's fine, you don't need to," Cooper casually replied to Chian's offer. "After all, didn't you say that you've been struggling to make ends meet lately? We wouldn't want to put any more strain on business than needed."

"Nonsense," Chian insisted. "You all saved me and other businesses around here over several months' worth of lost supplies and deliveries on that trade route. It's the least I can do to thank you all, really."

"Pilot, it has been over 72 hours since you've last acquired a full meal," BT added. "The opportunity to rest and recuperate out on the field has been known to significantly increase morale during operations of extended length and greatly valued among militia soldiers."

"Gee… I didn't know you cared about me that much," the young pilot lightly joked at his titan's almost fatherly-like statement. Although he more than knew by now BT's 'caring' nature to protect him at all costs, he couldn't help but crack a joke or two at his titan's less than self-aware statements.

"Protocol 3: Protect the pilot. We cannot uphold the mission if you are dead."

"Good point," Cooper admitted, rolling his eyes at BT's remark.

"Yeah, BT's right Cooper," IF said. "You shouldn't be pushing yourself too far. It's no good trying to fight on an empty stoma— Wait… seventy-two hours straight?" she suddenly asked towards the pilot and its vanguard class titan. "How are you not collapsed yet?"

"Coop must be on some kind of super-trendy-fad-diet, ain't that right Compa?" Neptune suggested.

"I'm not sure, Nep-Nep," the concerned nurse-in-training said. "But either way, mister Cooper shouldn't be starving himself like that," Compa protested.

"I highly advise that we use this as a chance to recover lost stamina and formulate a plan for the journey ahead," BT suggested. Right as Cooper's stomach began to growl lightly soon after, much against his delight.

"You know what?" he turned to Chian, then sighed. "On second thought, maybe I will take you up on that offer," he added right before slowly removing his pilot helmet and plopping a seat on one of the many barstools that lay throughout the cozy restaurant. "I could use a bit of rest after dealing with flying-miss-homicide."

Removing his helmet revealed a youthful, yet somewhat grizzled face of young adult in his late teens with an unruly shaved cut of hair. Although his appearance nowhere matched the face of a scar-ridden veteran, he wasn't by any means a green soldier straight out of training either. Certainly someone who's had their fair share of experience on the battlefield to say the least, despite his younger-looking. It was obvious that the miniature time device on his arm had regressed his age by about ten years or so as a side-effect of surviving the Fold Weapon's destruction.

"Wha—?!" Noire's eyes widened in surprise, not expecting something behind all those metallic pieces and tidbits covering the pilot. "Y-You're a human?!"

"Yeah, what about it?" Cooper nodded in confusion while rolling up his sleeve, revealing his lightly scarred skin as he pointing at it. "See? All skin and flesh," he remarked sarcastically at Noire, who still appeared to have a dumbfounded look on herself.

"Figured you were just human," Chian smirked confidently in anticipation, thinking to herself soon after. 'Now that I think about it, didn't old man MacAllan once wear something like that, too?'

"Could've fooled me the first time," IF shrugged with a grin, remembering the first time she saw Cooper without his helmet back on the cargo ship from Planeptune to here.

"Does everyone here some kind of thing against robots or something?" the young pilot shook his head and said to himself, wondering about all the dirty looks he and BT received from many of the Lastation citizens, as well as the comment made by his earlier 'fight' against Black Heart.

Cooper then turned the corner of his eye to Chian, who appeared to have a small frown on her face and seemed intent on replying to the young pilot's comment that she happened to have overheard. But much to his surprise, the blue-haired woman abruptly changed the topic, turning her frown around and looking at the others as well.

"I should probably give you all give you all something to drink as well," Chian told the group with a slightly nervous flinch before walking off, obviously trying to hide her concern over Cooper's earlier remark.

As the mechanic made her way back towards the kitchen counter, Cooper turned to the ravenette teen with a gloomy look on her face.

"You alright there?" he said, waving his hand in front of Noire's face and suddenly catching her attention. "Looked like you seen a ghost or something,"

'Yeah, that my potential murderer is just a human…' Noire thought to herself.

"Urmghbrug!' Sof' derifosh'—!" Neptune attempted to speak with her mouth full as she scarfed down on a large cheeseburger in her hands. "…Ah Chian, this burger is JAW DROPPING!" she added upon finishing her bite.

"The soup is so tasty!" Compa said gleefully, taking another spoonful of the vegetable soup she and the others ordered as they sat along the counter top. "I feel all warm inside."

"Nothing beats a home-cooked meal, I'll tell you that," Cooper said to the others, sitting along the far-end of the bar alongside the others and enjoying what appeared to be some kind of pilaf dish. "Haven't had something this great in ages."

"It's my mother's pride menu," Chian smiled happily at the party. "Glad to know you're all enjoying it."

While Cooper, Neptune, IF, and Compa all continued to enjoy the small feast, Noire stared at the untouched dishes in front of her side nervously before turning towards Chian. "It's really lavish, are you sure I can just join as well?" she asked her.

"Just dig in and enjoy," the blue-haired woman nodded with a thumbs-up. "After all, food tastes better with more people."

"Yeah," IF insisted to the ravenette sitting across from the others. "Just don't expect it to come with some kind of pillow fight, though," she joked, Cooper along with the others chuckling.

"Th-that's not my fault," Noire pouted with an annoyed stare at the young guild member. "It's not like I wanted to do anything to her," she added, twirling her hair as she had a slightly flustered look on her face.

"Your previous comment indicates otherwise," the large, robotic vanguard-class titan stated, followed by a small burst of laugher from the three other girls along with Cooper as well.

"BT's got a point, you know," the militia pilot lightly chuckled, much to Noire's embarrassment.

"By the way…" Chian turned towards the large, lumbering titan standing just outside the café. "You're sure I can't get you anything, big guy? Like some kind of juicy battery, or power generator, at least?" she asked.

"Unnecessary," BT noted from behind the window "My shields and energy supply appear to be slowly recharging on their own."

"Right," Cooper turned around and jokingly remarked at his vanguard-class titan. "I'll keep that in mind the next you activate your core and go into shut-down seconds later," he mocked lightheartedly.

"I detect sarcasm," BT replied in its neutral robotic voice, with Cooper and the others sharing a small laugh soon after.

Leaning slightly back on his barstool, the young militia pilot continued to enjoy what felt to be his first relaxed or home cooked meal in ages, considering all the field rations and he's lived off of as a rifleman-turned-pilot. It was at that point when Cooper had begun to reminisce about his time as an enlisted soldier out on the frontier, and how, under a sudden turn of events, was suddenly thrusted into the seat of his late mentor's titan and fought off the IMC from destroying the militia's homeworld of Harmony. The thoughts racing through his head soon came to a halt as he suddenly overheard a cry from Neptune; or more specifically, her complaining about something.

"Bleh," the energetic preteen stuck her tongue out in disgust, holding a spoonful of vegetable chunks from her soup in her hands. "Who added these eggplants?! They deserve to die!"

"Nep-Nep, you don't like eggplants?" Compa asked as she curiously stared at her own soup, identical to her friend's order.

"Don't like? More like hate!" Neptune repeated the nurse-in-training's question with an irritated tone before continuing. "How can you all eat these purple husks?!"

"Trust me," Cooper answered the preteen with a raised eyebrow as he held an identical bowl of soup. "You don't exactly get the privilege of being picky when you're starving out on the field," he told her, remembering one of many instances in which his squad was forced to 'live off the land' during an overextended skirmish on a barren planet, with rations and other resources beginning to dry out scarce. Trying to avoid any suspicious food or ingredients was one thing; simply disliking a properly prepared vegetable was another. Besides, there was no need to be so vocal about it, especially when their host is right beside the party.

"You do realize you could just not eat the eggplants, right?" Noire suggested to the lilac-haired preteen in an annoyed voice, which appeared to simply fall on deaf ears much to the ravenette's misfortune. 'How could someone like her have defeated me?!' she thought to herself.

Neptune suddenly sprung up from her sickly-like state, her eyes brightly lit with an epiphany. "I got an idea! Let's have Noire eat it!" she shouted in brimming excitement at her so-called 'plan' before continuing. "After all, food can sometimes help jog memories, right?"

"A stimulation of senses familiar to the individual's memories has been known to—" BT began to comment, but was then shortly cut by Noire's surprised expression.

"Nep, you're not a small kid," IF told the overly-energetic preteen before giving her an irritated glare. "Stop being picky and eat."

"On the contrary, miss IF," BT suddenly interjected. "Miss Neptune's mannerisms in her current state appear to match that of a ten-year-old child's thought patterns," the titan suggested. "Based off my diagnostic scans, she doesn't appear to have any hypersensitive reactions to the squash plant either."

"W-What are you two saying?!" Neptune protested in confusion. "Don't you know that forcing food on someone is dangerous? Especially for such a delicate body as mysel—"

"Says the girl who plummeted fifty feet toward the ground," Cooper retorted, recalling how he and Neptune had crashed like a meteor along with the mysterious white-haired woman.

"Fifty-feet!?" both Compa and IF asked in surprise, of which Cooper was about to explain to them before suddenly getting cut off by Neptune.

"That doesn't matter," she argued, pointing at the eggplants on her spoon. "Those things are the apocalypse I tell you! Oh the horrors! The horrors!"

"Well if that's the case, you shouldn't be giving them to others then!" IF got up and stood next to the lilac-haired preteen. "Just eat, and maybe this food might jog your memory," she told her with a smirk.

What came next, much to Cooper and everyone else's surprise was IF attempting to force-feed Neptune, as if she was nothing more than a bratty child. The poor Planeptune CPU shook and wobbled as she struggled to avoid the spoonful of eggplants being stuffed into her mouth, albeit gagging in a comedic manner. The others, meanwhile, simply observed what was happening between the two in a varied mix of amusement, humor, and slight hint of horror.

"I hope we're not being too loud here," the pinkette nurse-in-training said with a warm, if not slightly worried, smile towards Noire; the two, along with Cooper, having pretty much finished their plates as IF and Neptune were continuing with their . . . theatrics.

"Yeah, hopefully we're not giving you a hard time with all this ruckus," the young pilot added with a shrug, then took a small drink of water.

"Not at all," Noire answered back shyly at the two. "It's just that, I never had such a lively dinner before, so…" the twintailed teen assured them with a nervous smile.

"…That it reminded you of your family?" Cooper asked with a look of genuine concern at the ravenette, who simply nodded back with a halfhearted frown, not sure how to feel about her entire situation as the militia pilot soon continued. "Don't worry, we'll find your parents yet," he assured the disguised goddess before giving her a warm, friendly smile.

Much to Noire's surprise, the way Cooper had spoken seemed nothing like the pilot that had impaled her back just hours ago. She began to wonder whether this was even the same person she fought against earlier today. Things considered, the ravenette just hoped that her cover wasn't blown and discovered by everyone else.

'Perhaps he's not such a threat after all,' she thought to herself. 'At least, so long as he doesn't know who I am,' the disguised CPU considered, remembering how the young pilot was once merely inches away from ending her life in an instant. 'Still, I'll need to be careful. Especially towards… that,' she added, turning her attention towards BT and recalled how the lumbering titan had foiled her plans last minute.

Her train of thoughts was suddenly thrown out the window when she noticed Cooper walking off with his own and Compa's empty plates. "W-Where're you going?" she asked.

"Off to help Chian with the dishes; the least I could do for treating us all for dinner," Cooper shrugged. "Done too?" the young pilot then suggested, to which Noire simply nodded before placing her empty bowl on top of the small stack in Cooper's hands as he made his way towards the back room.

Walking into the backroom kitchen that connected both the restaurant and large hangar-like garage, Cooper soon came across Chian, who appeared to be staring intently at a small sticky note held in her hand with a noticeable frown on her face.

The militia soldier glanced at the woman as he placed the empty ceramics into the nearby sink before turning towards her. "Something on your mind?" he asked.

"C-Cooper!?" Chian looked up at the young pilot in mild shock before answering his question. "It was my old man. After you five left, I called my old man about you and BT," she told him, raising the sticky note in her hand. "He was going to stop by, but looks like work caught up to him last minute; had to leave out of town for a few days," the blue-haired mechanic added, shaking her head in disappointment. "Man, and he was actually looking forward to meeting you all as well."

Cooper just sighed and shook his head along with Chian as the two stood there. The young pilot couldn't help but understand how disappointed the latter must be feeling right now; knowing how it must feel to be separated from close friends or relatives. But then, another thought came up in his head, remembering the mechanic's attitude right before dinner, specifically.

"…Say, you seemed to act a bit strange when I joked about everyone here hating robots," Cooper said in a halfhearted chuckle. "Don't tell me you had a bad experience with robots," he said in a sarcastic manner, attempting to lighten up the mood before continuing. "So, what's up?"

"No, nothing like that," Chian waved off at Cooper's sarcastic comment before answering his question. "It's just that, what you said earlier reminded me of why everyone here in Lastation is struggling…" the young mechanic added with a deep sigh. "It's those Avenir bastards," she then muttered underneath her breath, tightening her fist in frustration.

"Hmm?" Cooper raised an eyebrow in confusion, unable to pick up on the last words she said.

Chian flinched lightly. "Ah, forget I said anything," she tried to assure the young militia pilot with a nervous smile. "I'm fine, really."

"…Speech pattern and heartrate readings indicate that something appears to be bothering miss Chian," BT suddenly intervened, approaching the two as he entered through the raised-roof factory doorway and earned a surprised look from both Cooper and Chian, as well as an annoyed glare from the former.

"It's not us, is it?" Cooper said to the blue-haired mechanic with a light chuckle, breaking the awkward moment as he nudged his head at the Vanguard-class titan, clearly unamused at BT's startling of the poor woman.

Chian shook her head and offered a weak smile at Cooper and BT. "No, it's not you two," she stiffened before sighing deeply. "It's Avenir, they've been causing nothing but problems for small businesses across Lastation," she told the pilot, who simply fired back with a confused glare. "Wait, you don't know Avenir?" she asked.

"BT and I aren't exactly from around here," Cooper gestured at his titan before continuing. "So I guess you could say this is the first time we've heard about this 'Avenir' that everyone here seems to be talking about," he told her, withholding from her his 'incident' with the Basillicom priest earlier that day as well as cracking into the city's satellite tower.

"Fair enough," Chian shrugged leading Cooper into the large factory room alongside BT. "Avenir's a technology company that sprang up a few years ago, pretty much ruling Lastation ever since," she explained to them. "They make everything from goods to weapons, and monopolize the industry entirely. Because of that, people like me can't even compete with them to make a living."

'Sounds an awful lot like Hammond Industries or Vinson Dynamics,' Cooper thought to himself before talking to Chian. "Let me guess, it has something to do with robots, doesn't it?" he asked her.

"Probably, might explain why people wanted to pick a fight with you two earlier today, like you joked about," Chian replied with a mild chuckle, despite the frown she gave off. Clearly this ordeal was putting quite a strain on her peace and livelihood, from what BT and its pilot could observe. "What I do know for certain is that they're definitely not the ones creating jobs," she sighed. "There's already been a few businesses that closed shop just because of them too."

"Damn," the young pilot sighed in pity. Putting two and two together, he could see how some greedy business like this 'Avenir' could cause so much strife and hardships in such a short time, assuming they were just as reliant on machinery and dogmatism as the IMC are. If what she's saying is true, it might also help to explain why the priest he manhandled earlier that day had the expression of pissing his pants upon seeing BT. Just then, Cooper's thoughts were soon interrupted as BT began to speak up out of the blue.

"We appear to have company," the large titan noted to Cooper and Chian, pointing a finger towards the kitchen/café doorway at which the two turned towards, immediately noticing four girls eavesdropping on their conversation. Stacked on top of each other starting from the bottom were Neptune, Compa, Noire, and IF; who were staring at the two before suddenly getting spotted by BT.

"Uwaa—!" The four girls' eyes widened in shock, startled by the sudden attention they received. "Oooof!" they uttered with a thud upon collapsing on the floor.

"What are you all doing here?" Cooper shook his head at the group, specifically the lilac-haired girl groaning in soreness on the ground.

"Spying on your important conversation, silly!" Neptune suddenly sprung up with enthusiasm, the others nervously backing away. "We can't miss out on that important dialog and exposition, now can we?" she told Cooper with a cheerful grin, who clearly didn't appear to be amused by her antics. Noticing this, the Planeptune CPU decided to change the subject, immediately pointing to the mysterious mechanical device on the other side of the open garage that caught her attention. "What's that doohickey, by the way?" she asked.

"Oh, that?" Chian groaned, putting a hand over her chin in frustration and picking up the object. "Just another of my failed inventions messing up on me. Yet again."

"Again?" Cooper asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion. "Perhaps BT here could help you with that," he suggested, gesturing towards his titan.

"Thanks, but no thanks," Chian offered with a weak smile before frowning again. "This is a fight for me and me alone against Avenir," she answered, pondering intensely at the object in her hands.

IF folded her arms in thought, approaching the others. "What do you mean?"

"Scanning. Item does not appear to contain a bio-verification mechanism," BT added, starring at the unknown part in the woman's hands before looking up at the blue-haired mechanic. "Elaborate."

Chian let out a deep sigh before explaining everything to the others. "Truth is… this place isn't actually run by my parents. Well, not both of them, just my mother," she explained. "My father created Passé, and we were pretty much one of many different suppliers of machinery to this district," the mechanic elaborated. "Sure, we didn't exactly live like billionaires, but we made an honest living for ourselves. At least we used to, until Avenir showed up and bought up all of the shippers, the suppliers, and customers. Despite that, my father refused to sell Passé to those rats. But then one day… he died in an accident…"

"Ooo, like some kind of hitman assassina—? Ouch!" Neptune began to speak, but was shortly cut off by Cooper bopping her in the head.

"That does sound awfully convenient for a so-called accident," IF noted suspiciously.

"After he died, I shut down Passé and worked with a family friend of my parents over at his workshop; the same man I wanted to introduce you all to," Chian continued. "However, business got so bad and slow over the years, that… that even he had to close down his business as well and find work elsewhere. That's when I eventually decided to come back here and reopen this factory again," she told them before pausing briefly, then holding up the invention in her hands. "Every year, the Lastation Basilicom holds a Technology Expo."

"Technolo-what?" Compa asked in a confused expression. "Is it like a festival thingy?" the doe-eyed pinkette looked up in concentration.

"Accessing files…" BT interjected. "The Exposition miss Chian explained involves companies showcasing their recent advances in technology."

"Oh, so it's like a contest or something?!" the nurse in training suggested.

"Or a chance to market yourself and promote your invention, I'm assuming…" Cooper suggested.

"Not just that," Chian explained. "The winner of the Expo does gets a huge cash reward, but more importantly, they also get the chance to meet the CPU. If I can just win the tournament and meet Lady Black Heart, maybe I can get these bastards out," she told them, lowering her head and focusing intensely on the mysterious invention in her hands. "Not only have they stolen the jobs from any other businesses in the nation, they're building factories everywhere. Lastation's pollution is already bad enough. If it keeps up like this, I'm not sure if any people will be able to live here at all."

Building factories everywhere and polluting worlds? Those strings of words seemed to echo a way too familiar experience to Cooper. More specifically, his bitter feelings towards the IMC constantly destroying pristine worlds through over-industrialization. Sure, this landmass just looked like a smog-filled city, but part of him had really hoped that it was just coincidence and not the Interstellar Mining Corporation simply by another name. It seemed like the making of another planet being transformed into a wasteland through his very eyes.

Noire shook her head subtly, realizing that it wasn't her people giving up faith in her, but rather… her people needing their goddess' help more than ever. Still, she'd prefer not revealing her true identity in front of everyone, which could lead to even more confusion, and possibly her death.

"Look," Chian added, "I appreciate you all wanting to help, but there really isn't much you can do," she said to BT and the others, placing back down the busted invention. "Like I said, this is something personal to me."

"Come on! There's gotta be something!" Neptune huffed adamantly. "Can't we just try to take down the company?"

Chian huffed dismissively. "Good luck. They're a massive company, with millions of Credits and a fully mobilized army."

"Oh please! Don't you see?!" Neptune argued, running over snuggling right next to BT's arm. "We literally have a bonafide-badass war-machine mecha right beside us. Coop here just needs to say the word, and this baby will go on a rampage and annihilate Abellir to the ground! MUAHAHAHA—"

"Do I even want to know how you mispronounced it that badly?" Cooper sighed exasperatedly as he tugged Neptune off the titan. Though he had to admit, if this Avenir was anything like the IMC grunts back on Typhon, he'd probably have no problem dealing with them at all, especially with the new 'upgrades' he and BT seemed to have acquired. Still, the militia pilot was sure there was more to it than just bust into their factories and blow everything up.

"Although I have calculated over thousands of methods and outcomes to infiltrate their main facilities in order to, 'take out' Avenir, as miss Neptune has described…" BT stated to the party.

"And how many of those involve blowing up a Fold Weapon?" the militia pilots interrupted sarcastically before BT proceeded to continue.

"…I strongly advise against declaring a one-man war against the entire Lastation military," the vanguard-class titan warned.

"Your friend's right, you know?" Chian shook her head. "Avenir's got the damn nation in their pockets, and now they pretty much own it. To attack any Avenir factory out of the blue would be considered an act of war on Lastation, and we'd be technically considered in the wrong," she told everyone with a sigh.

"So that explains why the Basilicom here seemed to be giving us the boot," IF huffed and folded her arms. "They have their goons placed all over the place."

"Such a waste too, since nobody knows where Lady Black Heart has even gone off ever since returning from Celestia," Chian nodded in response. "I want to take these jerks down as much as anyone else in this city, but they're basically impenetrable. So the only thing I can see working is to outdo them at the expo this year."

"I can tell you already that that's pointless," Noire suddenly rebutted with a sigh grabbing everyone's attention.

"W-What?" the blue-haired mechanic winced before gritting her teeth in frustration, realizing what the ravenette meant.

"Well, you seem pretty knowledgeable on this kind of situation," IF said to Noire with a raised eyebrow and suspicious glare.

"I… I guess I'm starting to pick up some of my memories back," the twintailed teenager frowned nervously before pushing the situation back to Chian. "Plus, she said it herself, didn't she? If it's true that Avenir has the nation it its pockets, then the Basilicom would always choose Avenir as the winner. My guess is that they this expo to see which inventors or smaller companies pose the greatest threat."

"A reasonable observation," BT commented. "If miss Noire's information is correct, there is also the possibility of this corporation 'forcibly' integrating their adversaries' technology to meet their own needs instead."

"But—!" Neptune and Compa were about to protest, only to be met with a solemn stare from Cooper's narrowed eyes before the two stood back down.

"A downhill battle either way," the militia pilot quietly said to himself, with him and the others aside from Compa and Neptune knowing full well how delicate of a situation they were in, as well as how important it was to weigh their options at hand.

After a few moments of silence and thinking, Noire had proposed an unusual idea. "Well than… how about doing some work for Avenir?"

"Huh?" the others, except for BT and Cooper, shouted in disbelief.

"See! I told you that twintailed-tsundere skank was nothing but a traitor— OUCH!" Neptune blurted out in compulsiveness, only to be met with another light whack by the militia pilot as she rubbed her noggin in soreness. "Oh come on, you know I'm right! Why should we be working for the bad guys?!"

IF blinked in thought. "Wait a second… that's actually a pretty brilliant idea," she suggested along with Cooper nodding in agreement.

"What do you mean, Iffy?" Compa asked.

"Think about it," IF replied to her pinkette ally. "If we start working for Avenir, we can topple them over from the inside,"

"It's simple, really," Noire added. "We shut down their operations from within, and watch their empire come crashing down right as Chian presents her invention to the Lastation citizens," she suggested with the blue-haired mechanic smiling in agreement.

"Standard espionage tactics; I like it," Cooper nodded. "Plus, it'll give BT and I the chance to scan around their factories, find out where this 'key fragment' is located," he told them with a shrug. Despite BT's ability to extract most of the city's potential 'dirty' secretes and data, none of which has been scanned or analyzed yet, the thought of conducting covert operations resonated in Cooper's mind. It reminded the militia pilot of the numerous amount of spies or 'moles' recruited or employed on both sides back on the frontier, and how their gathered intel had changed the tides of several battles throughout the war. It also helped that this would probably the closest he'd ever get to when it came to actual stealth missions, considering his less than effective use of the active camo utility on his pilot suit. 'Keep your friends close, and keep your enemies closer,' he thought to himself them with a grin.

"The ability of an adversary to underestimate their opponent is a valuable asset in warfare, pilot," BT noted to its companion.

"Exactly," Noire nervously smiled in agreement to the militia pilot and titan before returning back to her own thoughts. 'And I'll use this to find out what else the Basilicom knows of Avenir…'

"Hmm… Still, it doesn't feel right…" Neptune adamantly noted in frustration. "And here I was hoping we would bust into their lair and blow everything up like a 90s action-flick," the lilac-haired girl jeered.

"Well none of us like Avenir either," IF frowned at the thought of basically being at the mercy of this company. "But idealism isn't going to pay for our living expenses, now is it?" she spoke to the lilac-haired preteen in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Let's bear with it, Nep-Nep," the nurse-in-training suggested to Neptune, attempting to ease the girl's uneasiness just as much as her own.

"Hmm…" the Planeptune CPU hummed in her thoughts. "Well, if you say so Compa," she said reluctantly as the two walked off.

"Sure, just ignore us why don't you?" IF huffed in annoyance, seeing that the two were off on their own adventure away from herself and the others.

"At least they're in agreement," the young pilot chimed in with relief, trying to look on the bright side of things.

"You three sure have it tough, huh?" Noire asked with a slightly concerned smile at Cooper, BT, and IF.

"You don't even know the half of it," IF shook her head in annoyance.

"Well, not as tough as fighting off a horde of mass-murdering robots programmed to shoot on sight," Cooper joked with a weak smile, earning a nervous frown from Noire, as well as two confused looks from Chian and IF. "…It's a long story," he added, heading back towards BT.

-End of Chapter 6-

A/N: Hey everyone, Megazord here! I think it's safe to say that this story was long overdue for a brand new chapter, wouldn't you say. Again, I'd like to apologize for the bit of the hiatus between this and my other xover story, as well as the dialog heavy-chapter. Felt like Chian's explanation of Avenir was something that needed to hit home to Cooper on a personal level. As for the old-man that happens to be a family friend of Chian, well... I'll give you all a hint, anyone remember Demeter from the first game's final mission? (Yeah, neither did I) That being said, I feel like I should clarify on a few responses on the reviews, so here we go:

nopeite nopeite nope: Yeah, I'm currently in the process of going back and revising many of the earlier chapters. A bit of tedious work, since FF doesn't exactly notify readers when a chapter has been readjusted or edited.

Guest: The whole joke about STR or whatnot is meant to basically be an inside joke within the series (or really, any RPG in general), with Neptune's erratic personality and tendency to… well… break the fourth wall.

56006: Or like the Guilty Sparks? Perhaps. Though I feel like most of his charm, in truth, comes from his lack of human awareness and 'emotions' so to speak. The lack of tact on poor BT's end does make for some… interesting conversations, if I do say so myself.

Bottle of sasuage (& EL Hunter): If memory serves, according to R;B1's storyline, they travel from Planeptune Lastation Leanbox Lowee back to Lastation. And yeah, I do intend to add a few of the makers like MAGES down the line real soon.

As always, please be sure to rate, review, or comment. Besides alleviating my insecurities and inflating my ego (sarcasm), it also lets me be sure on what to improve on, or what to try adding more to; and most of all, whether or not you all enjoy it. Thanks!