Finally, I got around to writing this chapter! It's on the short end, when compared to previous ones, but its still better than nothing, I guess. I just don't have that much free time on my hands anymore, which is a bummer, cause I really want to continue writing. Oh well, life's like that. Anyway, I apologize for the long wait and thank you for your patience!

Chapter 50: Back at last

"Welp," Croire crossed her hands behind her head. "That's how it is. I bet things are getting real interestin over there, too… Soo…" Light began to gather around Croire. "Laters. Good luck and all that!" The tome said, as she disappeared.

"W-Wait! I wish to ask you more questions…!" Histoire attempted to stop her, but sadly failed.

Plutia watched in bewilderment the spot where Croire had once stood. "Whoooa… She disappeared…!"

"Damn it, she's gone." Suzaku cursed.

"Are you kidding me?! That jerk plans to leave us in this situation?!" Noire yelled out, clearly panicked.

Neptune was running around, worrying. "We gotta figure out what to do about the sky and whatnot! How do we stop it?!" She yelled.

"If this continues, will this entire dimension really be destroyed…?" Nepgear asked, turning to Lelouch, expecting an answer from him.

"I'm afraid so." Lelouch replied, as sweat started to form on his face. "You can feel it, can't you? The sheer magnitude of amassed power…"

Neptune ran in front of Lelouch and started pulling on his coat violently. "Yeah, but how are we going to stop that from wrecking everything?!" She asked him.

"Uuuu… This is all my fault…" Rei sulked on the side.

Lelouch removed Neptune's hands from his coat and readjusted it, whilst thinking on what could possibly be their best course of action. Knowing that time was of the essence, his mind began working at top speeds to forge a plan.

"Forget thinking about it. We need to gather information and get our people to safety." Blanc said.

"Yes, that's it!" Lelouch declared, having finished his thought process, surprising everyone. "Everyone, listen and do exactly what I'm about to say." He ordered, gaining everyone's attention. "Our priority is the evacuation of the citizens of all nations. Noire, Blanc, Vert, the three of you will return to your nations and evacuate the civilians, after which you'll return here."

"Right." Vert and Blanc nodded.

"I don't need to be motivated by you!" Noire said, blushing. "I'm going to head out first!" She proclaimed and transformed into HDD along with Blanc and Vert, the three of them flying off at full speed.

"And they're off." Neptune commented. "So, what have you got planned for us, your excellency?" She joked, with which Lelouch wasn't pleased in the slightest.

Just as Lelouch was about to speak, IF, Compa and Peashy ran inside the room, crying and scared for dear life.

"Waaaah!" The three girls cried, as they all ran over to Neptune and bear hugged her, effectively knocking the purple haired girl of balance and on the floor.

"Almost forgot about them." Lelouch mumbled and then resumed his orders. "Neptune." He said, gaining the girl's attention, while she tried to calm down the three children. "You and Plutia will go and lead the citizens of Planeptune to safety."

"But we can't leave the tikes alone!" Neptune protested, holding the crying Compa in her arms, while the other two clung to her.

"I've got that covered. Nepgear." He called for his nanny of choice's name, gaining her attention. "The kids are yours."

"Wh-What?! M-Me?!" Nepgear stuttered, shocked that she was given the role of taking care of the children.

"Yes, you. This is a role that only you can fulfil right now, so I expect you to do your utmost like you always do." Lelouch explained to her, not having the time to think for an alternative option.

"O-Ok." Nepgear complied, blushing. "I won't let you down!" She replied energetically, as she went over to the girls to relieve Neptune of them, after which Neptune and Plutia, strangely enough, dashed off to work.

"What about the four of us?" Suzaku asked, referring to himself, Rei, Lelouch and Histoire.

Lelouch went over to the sulking Rei and placed his hand on her shoulder, gaining her attention. "Look, I really don't have time to sugar coat this, so I'm just going to give it to you straight." He said, Rei having stopped her panic and paying attention, not knowing what to expect. "You're a dunce." Lelouch said.

"Eh?" Suzaku was dumb founded, not having expected that in the slightest.

"I know…" Rei returned to sulking.

"But you're a dunce who can help resolve all of this." Lelouch added, gaining surprised looks from the other two CPUs. "I know how it feels to do things you didn't mean to and how much regret comes after, but none of that matters anymore." Lelouch said, Rei staring at him shocked. "If you want to make up for your past mistakes, you'll have to stop pitying yourself and toughen up."

It was a first time for Rei to be listening to a motivational speech and frankly, it made her feel a lot better somehow. She felt invigorated, as she managed to steel her nerves as much as she could. "Thank you." She said, her resolve to atone for all of the wrong she had done unshaking. "I'll do my best! Just tell me what it is that you need me to do."

Suzaku was visibly shocked, as he found it exceedingly hard to recall the last time Rei had such conviction burning within her. He found himself thinking if he had just been too stubborn and was unwilling to give her a chance, to which he chuckled lightheartedly, a small smile placing itself on his lips. He was also happy that he got to see another side of Lelouch, as a strange feeling started to well up inside him. For some reason, he felt a strange connection to the dark haired boy, as if fate had intended for them to meet.

"Good." Lelouch smiled and let go of her shoulder. "Now, listen carefully to what I'm about to say." He said, gaining a vigorous nod from the other dark CPU. "I want you to go and gather as many of your Seven Sages associates as you can and gather them here when you're done."

"Understood." Rei replied and was about to run off, but then all her resolve evaporated, as she meekly turned to look at Suzaku, who caught her apologizing gaze.

Knowing that there wasn't a better moment than the present, he walked up to Rei and smiled at her. "Go." He said. "I believe in you."

His words brought Rei to tears, words that she'd had wanted to hear oh so bad for so long. She embraced Suzaku, who also wrapped his arms around her. "I promise I'll do good this time." Rei said through tears.

"I know." Suzaku said with an affectionate smile, as he gently placed on of his hands on Rei's head. "Because you're the Rei I know and love."

Rei blushed extremely upon hearing him, thinking that she couldn't be any happier. She wanted the moment to last longer, but she knew that there was work to be done, as they pulled away from each other. "I'm off." She said with a smile, lowering her glasses and brushing away her tears.

"Godspeed!"Suzaku smiled, as he watched Rei leave. He then turned to see Lelouch staring at him with a smug expression, his arms crossed. "What?" Suzaku asked, somewhat irritated by the smile on the other boy's face.

"Nothing." Lelouch said, his smile not dropping. "I was wondering when you'd stop with your foolish stubbornness."

"I really want to argue with you, but sadly I know you're right." Suzaku let out a sigh of defeat and then smiled at his friend. "Come on then. What do you need me to do?"

"You and I are going to go closer to the vortex, since we are probably the only ones who can currently get close to that magnitude of energy." Lelouch said, gaining a nod from Suzaku. "We are going to clear the debris and inspect the dimensional hole."

"Alright, let's roll." Suzaku said, as he and Lelouch switched to HDD.

While all of this was happening, Histoire was standing off to the side, joyful beyond belief to see everyone work together to save their world.

"Histoire." Dark Heart turned to the oracle before he left.

"Yes? Anything I can do to be of use, Lelouch?" The small tome asked.

"I want you to attempt to reach my Histoire." The dark CPU ordered. "Try as many times as it takes. It is crucial that we learn what's the situation over there, before we take any further action."

"I understand. I'll do my best." Histoire nodded, as she saw the two male CPUs off. The two of them flew off at dangerously high speeds and disappeared from sight. Histoire found herself envious of how the other Histoire had such a splendid CPU to work with. "If only Plutia became even half as responsible as Lelouch." She let out a sigh, but then got herself to her senses. "What am I talking about? I have work to do!" She said and proceeded with Lelouch's instructions.

After almost 12 hours, everyone except for Rei had returned back to the Planeptune Basilicom to discuss their next course of action. Suzaku and Lelouch flew in and transformed back into human form, seeing the others gathered and waiting for them.

"Seems everyone's here now." Noire noted.

"How did it go?" Histoire asked the two male CPUs. "Were you able to learn something?"

"We wish." Suzaku said, letting out a sigh. "That's just too much condensed energy in one place to be halted."

"We tried to intervene with the portal, but it didn't work." Lelouch added with a nod and a serious expression. "So, what's the situation for all of you?"

"I wish to say that things have calmed down somewhat. However…" Vert started to say, but her worried expression gave her away.

"The attacks are indiscriminate, coming at random times and striking at random places." Blanc explained. "We can't do much…"

"I see. I figured it would be like this." Lelouch said, sitting down along with the others.

"All the citizens were soooo scared…" Plutia said, saddened and tears could be visible in her eyes. "Neppy and I thought we could cheer them up with a comedy routine, but nobody laughed at aaaaany jokes…"

Everyone looked at Neptune and Plutia with pitying gazes. Vert decided that she would be the one to break the truth to the two girls. "Perhaps that is because you two are not as funny as you think you are." She said.

"No, the jokes were as solid as hard rock." Neptune immediately rose to defend herself. "Plutie just has a really slow tempo, so her timing is off."

"Sorrrry…" Plutia apologized, feeling useless. "I guess I'm not cut out for comedy, after all…"

"Um… That really isn't important right now…" Suzaku said, still not used to how the two purple haired girls could change the mood on a dime.

"In the end, it all comes down to us getting back home and somehow stopping the other Rei." Lelouch said, not being able to think of another solution to the problem, as he then turned to Histoire. "Histoire, were you able to reach our Histoire?"

"I have attempted to contact the other me several times, but I am unable to reach her…" The small oracle explained.

Unable to contain her disappointment, Neptune's mouth opened as per usual. "My Histy has way better processing power, but she kinda messes up at the most important plot points." She sighed. "I bet she's buried under a book shelf right now."

"That's not…!" Nepgear tried to defend their oracle, but then stopped and thought for a second. "Um, actually, it's very plausible."

"My Histy is kinda like that too…" Plutia said.

"Quiet, the three of you, or I will bury you under a bookshelf." Lelouch glared at them, not having the time to deal with their jokes, making the four girls shut their mouths.

The mini Histoire was about to retaliate to Plutia's comment about her, but then felt an incoming call. "Erm, yes?" She answered. "Hello?"

"I apologize for missing all of your calls!" The voice of Hyper Histoire could be heard, which surprisingly sounded very embarrassed. "It seems I was able to connect, at long last."

"Speak of the devil." Blanc stated.

"It's the big Histy! Long time no seeeee…" Plutia waved at her from the digital screen.

"You're really late, y'know! Geez. What were you doing at such an important time?" Neptune grumbled.

"Well, you see…" Histoire began, her cheeks flushing from embarrassment. "I suddenly got trapped under a falling bookshelf and dislodged myself just a moment ago."

A very awkward silence overtook the room, as Neptune turned to look at the dark haired boy, to see him with the most dejected face she had ever seen.

"H-Histoire…" Nepgear sighed, disappointed.

"Did you know that the logical chance of being trapped under a bookshelf is a 100 percent?" Lelouch mumbled to himself with a sulking expression, as if he was talking to someone.

Everyone gave him a worried gaze. "Right, let's leave him to chill out and return to normal." Neptune said, as she, Plutia and Nepgear backed away from the sulking aura that the boy was emitting.

"Enough about that." Noire returned the conversation to its course. "How're things over there? It's pretty awful over here, thanks to someone, who's currently missing." She said with a grumbly expression.

"Planeptune City is in ruins." Histoire said. "The CPUs are putting a plan in motion, but we cannot reach the city's center."

"What?!" Lelouch suddenly shot back to life, scaring everyone. "How bad is it?" He asked, his tone returning to normal.

"Worse than that time." Histoire said, her expression showing just how worried she was, which made Lelouch realize that everything has gone to hell already. "Please, Lelouch. You and the girls must come home at once."

Suzaku decided to interject. "Your request is good and all, but how are they going to go back?" He asked, not understanding how they would be able to cross dimensions.

Histoire let out a heavy sigh. "Unfortunately, there is no possible way for us to gather any Shares. Considering what you said earlier, I'm sure to assume that the same goes for you too." The oracle hung her head down, feeling defeated by the circumstances.

"We can still use my energy to open the portal." Lelouch said, realizing that they currently had only one option.

"What? Wait, how does that even work?" Neptune asked, surprised and confused.

"To explain it simply, CPUs gain their power from Share energy, no matter the source. With that said, it is a natural reverse reaction that a CPU's power can be converted back into Share energy, through us oracles." Histoire explained to Neptune, but then returned her attention to Lelouch and the mini Histoire. "Lelouch, are you sure that you'll be able to manage?"

Lelouch raised his hand and clenched his fist. "I'm positive that I can manage." He gave the oracle an assuring smile.

"Well then, please contact me back when you are ready." Histoire said and ended the call.

After the other Hisotire hung up, Plutia was the first to speak. "What're we gonna doooo, Neppy…?" She asked, bewildered and worried.

"Well," Neptune turned towards Lelouch. "We do what the boss man says." She shrugged.

Fitting himself neatly into the position of leader, Lelouch took things into his own hands. "Histoire," He called the small oracle. "We must hurry outside in the open and establish the portal asap!"

"R-right!" The oracle nodded stuttering from the sudden rush.

After everyone had made it outside of the Basilicom, Histoire and Lelouch prepared to proceed with the opening of the dimensional gate.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Suzaku asked, not really confident that the success rate was high.

"It's a delicate process," Lelouch said, glancing at Nepgear, who blushed from remembering how she had messed up the last time. "which requires utmost concentration of both oracle and CPU to avoid the slip up from last time."

"I'm ready, Lelouch!" The small Histoire said.

Lelouch walked over to her, though he too was a little skeptical that the little oracle could handle the pressure. "Are you sure that you can manage converting my energy?" He asked in concern, knowing that it could very well be too much for the poor girl.

"The fate of both of our worlds depend on our success, so I'll do my best." Histoire nodded, resolve sparking in her eyes.

"Alright then." Lelouch acknowledged her will to see this through and placed his hand on her shoulder, letting his energy flow into her, as dark light began to emanate from his hand.

"Uggh…!" Histoire groaned out, as she struggled to keep the sheer quantity of power in check and focus it towards opening the portal.

A pillar of light began to unstably form in front of them, but the energy couldn't seem to come together and open the gate.

"Ghh!" The small oracle groaned in pain, as she continued to struggle. "It's no use. I can't do it. The flow of dark energy is just too much!"

Seeing that things weren't going as planned, the girls started to panic, not knowing with what they could help and if they really could do anything for that matter.

However, in a moment of rare genius, Suzaku came up with an idea, surprisingly. "What if I could help?" He suggested, gaining a surprised look from Lelouch, as he approached Histoire and placed his hand on the oracle's other shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Lelouch asked him.

Suzaku's hand began to shine with a bright light, as he let his own energy flow into Histoire. "By adding my own power into the mix, it should help balance out the flow of dark and light energy…" He said, as he concentrated. "I think."

Hearing this, Lelouch was about to blow his casket. "Are you an idiot?!" He yelled out. "The energy overflow could make her explode!" He yelled and made to remove his hand from Histoire, but the oracle stopped him.

"No, Lelouch, wait!" She said, as Suzaku's theory actually turned out to be right, allowing her to properly establish the dimensional gate. "It's working!" She exclaimed, as the portal, seemingly three times the size of the one from back when Lelouch and Hyper Histoire had attempted to bring back Neptune, finally opened and a pillar of light erupted into the sky.

"Whoa!" Suzaku exclaimed, surprised by the sheer size of the portal, as he and Lelouch ceased their energy output.

"Holy molly!" Neptune exclaimed. "It's big enough to fit half of the entire Basilicom through it!"

"Finally, we can get back home." Lelouch said, pleased with the development.

However, there was one person, who didn't want to say her friends go, as she started to tear up. "But… but…" Plutia sobbed until she started to cry for real. "I don't want you to leave…! Neppy…" She went over and hugged Neptune.

"Aww, c'mon, Plutie." Neptune giggled.

"I am sorry, but we don't have the time for a tear-jerking farewell." Lelouch told the girls, as he wanted to avoid wasting precious time, which they currently didn't have a lot of.

"Yeah, it's cool." Neptune shrugged. "You understand, right, Plutie?"

"Uh-huuuh." Plutia nodded with a sad expression. "But I still don't want you to go…"

"Neptuna stay!" Peashy complained.

"Um, the portal's big enough for all of us to go through it." Noire commented, starting to get annoyed by their incompetence. "You do understand that, right?"

"Oooh…" Plutia's eyes started to shine happily. "Noire, you're so smart…!"

"Thanks, I guess?" The black haired girl accepted the praise, though she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed by her friend.

Histoire had gone to expect the portal and had reached a surprising conclusion about it. "Not only could all of you pass through it, but this path may allow you to travel between the dimensions as you please." She informed the others.

"Seriously?!" Suzaku exclaimed, surprised.

"Neptuna won't go away!" Peashy declared triumphantly.

"Darn tootin', children of Nep! Even if I go into the light, I can always un-go whenever I want." Neptune declared with a triumphant smile.

"Well, I cannot guarantee for how long, but…" Histoire muttered.

"Ok, then I want to go, too!" Peashy proclaimed cheerfully.

"Yes, let's go together." Nepgear said happily.

"I hope we haven't made some great taboo." Histoire worried, gazing at the giant portal.

"Too late to worry about that." Blanc told her.

Lelouch, who was standing off to the side with his arms crossed and tapping his foot on the ground, was starting to get impatient. "Can we go now?" He asked, wondering when would they finish their moment.

"Wait a moment!" Suzaku exclaimed, having remembered a crucial detail. "If all of us go over there, then who'll be left to watch over the situation here?"

"That is logical…" Blanc said, thinking on the matter.

"But whoever stays behind won't get to be in the spotlight for the final fight…" Vert complained.

"Ummmm…" Plutia thought about it for a second and then turned to Nepgear with an apologetic smile. "I feel bad about it, but… um… Neppy Jr…"

"Wh-what?!" Nepgear exclaimed, shocked by the thought of being left behind again. "No way! I'm one of the people who have the highest priority here!"

"I'm sorry I'm late!" Came Rei's voice, as she ran over to everyone, panting for breath.

"Right on time." Lelouch said, glad that everything was going according to plan. Behind Rei, approached other members of the Seven Sages, namely Copy-paste, Warechu and Abnes. "You brought them over just on time."

"This is the part in which we need to use our power of friendship to overcome adversity!" Copy-Paste roared cheerfully.

"Oh, great." Blanc grumbled. "The loudmouth is here.

"Copy-Paste!" Nepgear recognized the giant robot.

"Hey there! I've come to help out my dear friends in their time of need!" The robot declared proudly, as he then cheerfully spoke to Rei. "But to think that you would try to crush the whole world, Rei! You are a far tougher woman than I thought!" He laughed.

"N-no, I'm nothing special, but thank you…" Rei muttered, blushing from being praised.

"Wait, wait!" Noire complained. "Why are they all here?"

Then, surprisingly and without her control, Histoire connected to a call with a familiar hacker.

"Hiii, sweethearts!" Annonydeath's voice could be heard over the call. "Sorry for interrupting."

"Ugh! The creeper!" Noire exclaimed.

"Whoa! You hacked Histy?!" Neptune was shocked by the strangely sex oriented hacker.

"I'll get out of here soon enough, so don't worry. I'm here to offer my services thanks to the smarty pants in your group, who came up with this brilliant idea." Annonydeath said, making Lelouch's eyebrows to twitch in irritation. "Nobody can gather information anywhere near as well as me."

"What's your scheme this time?" Noire said, not trusting the creep.

"Scheme? I'm just doing a favor for an old-time friend, who came rushing over to me to beg me for my help, darling." The hacker explained.

Not wanting to deal with a prolonged explanation, Lelouch decided to summarize what was going on. "For those of you, who have yet to catch on to what's happening, I told Rei to gather her friends and ask them to help with managing the situation here." He explained, starting to get really impatient. "There, now are you going or am I the only here who doesn't want to see his world destroyed?"

"Wow, this guy's a real stick in the butt." Warechu muttered.

"Right?" Neptune agreed, but then both her and Warechu shut their traps when they felt the dark haired CPU's intense glare.

Suzaku couldn't help but smile at the funny and yet disappointing situation and seeing how Lelouch ceased to pay anyone attention and headed for the portal, the brown haired CPU decided to follow suite. "Well, we could always chat later, no?" He said, turning to Rei and giving her an affirmative nod, after which he dashed off after Lelouch, who entered the portal.

"Ah! Those two are leaving without us!" Neptune exclaimed, not liking how it felt to be left behind. "Wait for me!" She yelled, as she ran after them and into the portal.

And like that all of the CPUs entered through the portal, not wanting to be left behind, leaving Rei and the former members of the Seven Sages along with Histoire and IF and Compa.

"They're gone." Rei muttered, after which she smiled. "Good luck, everyone."

On the other side of the portal, Lelouch and Suzaku had successfully passed through and found themselves in Virtua Forest outside of Planeptune. The sky was the same dreary dark shade is was in Ultra dimension, which informed them that the situation wasn't positive.

"Did we make it?" Suzaku asked, looking around, thinking that they were in the same place.

"Yes, we're here." Lelouch nodded, but then started to hear a distant scream, no, screams, as he and Suzaku looked up. "Huh?"

"Look out!" The girls yelled out, as they fell at terminal velocity.

"Wha?!" Neither of the male CPUs had the time to react accordingly and became the landing cushions for all of the falling girls, stomping them into a ground with a loud thump from the fall, even cracking the ground around.

"Is everyone alright?" Neptune asked, as the others rubbed off the soreness from the fall.

"Gft uff uf mf!" An incomprehensible muttering could be heard.

"Do you hear something?" Vert asked, after which Lelouch finally managed to stand up, sending the Neptune, Nepgear and Vert on top of him falling over.

"I said get off me!" He yelled out, furious, as he took the time to dust his clothes off and fix his appearance.

Noire and Blanc were helping Plutia and Peashy to get off from Suzaku, so the poor soul could actually stand up.

"Uugh…" He groaned, as he rubbed his head. "It felt like I was hit by a thirty-ton truck at the speed of sound." His comment made Noire and Blanc blush, as each delivered a punch to the face to the brown haired boy, who didn't understand with what he had deserved it.

"Jerk!" Noire huffed, feeling insulted.

Neptune stretched her arms in the air, feeling fantastic. "Aah, this is definitely my old stomping ground. I'm getting all nostalgic…!" She exclaimed happily.

"Yay! Neptuna's world!" Peashy cheered.

"This is pretty close to our Basilicom, isn't it?" Nepgear asked Lelouch.

"Yes, let's go!" Lelouch said and everyone took off running at full speed towards the Basilicom.

Whew, goddamn this arc is taking forever to finish. I had originally planed this chapter to be a little longer, but it's fine to cut it off where I did. Neptune, why can't your series have a serious atmosphere? I'm busting my ass off to try and make the story interesting, but your character doesn't allow for much else but poorly written humor! Well, that's maybe my fault. I guess the only note worthy thing that happened in this chapter was that Suzaku and Rei made up... Yeah, I got nothing. Quality entertainment guys, quality entertainment. *Sigh* Anyway, we're going to see this joking atmosphere discarded pretty brutally when everyone receives a reality call at the culmination of this arc. I'm seriously thinking over killing off quite a few characters, just to get back at all the nonsense I've had to write up till now XD. I'm just joking of course. Anyway, I apologize for the late and seemingly low quality update, but still thank you for reading and I hope you have a great day!

P.S. Tomorrow's my English certificate exam, so wish me luck that I don't mess it up, guys :D.