Neptunia: Merc's Involvement

Chapter 9: Leanbox - The Machine

"Alex! We have a problem!" Shouted Cave as she ran towards him.

"Yeah I'll say. The freaking rats here are huge." He said.

"The culprits have-!" She said with a stern tone before making a confused expression. "W-Wait...what?"

"I just saw a huge rat the size of a kid." He replied while measuring the mouse's size with his hands.

"I mean, I'm not all too familiar with the wildlife in Leanbox but surely having rats that big isn't a a good thing right?"

At first Cave was confused, but soon realized something about Alex's words.

"Wait! Was that rat you saw grey and had a heart-shaped tail?" She asked.

"Huh? Uh, yeah it did." He said.

"That's him!" Said Cave while taking a step closer to Alex. "Quick! Where did it go!?"

Although confused, he simply pointed at the direction they ran towards.

"Quick, follow me. I might need your help!" She replied while turning around and chasing after the rat without even giving the young boy a chance to ask.

As he saw Cave maneuvering among the already thinned out crowds, Alex got over his confusion and followed her.

During the chase, Alex tried asking her for more details.

"Hey Ms. Cave, do you know that rat?" He asked.

"Yes, I do. His name is Warechu. A member of the ASIC." She replied.

"ASIC?" Questioned Alex.

"I'll explain it properly to you later. For now, we need to catch him!"

"A-Alright got it!"

Both of them squeezed through the clusters of people when the crowd got thicker and maneuvered when it got thinner.

Alex had slight difficulty doing so while Cave moved as swiftly as the wind.

After getting through dozens of people, they finally managed to get outside the plaza and into the streets but it was already too late.

"It seems they got away" Said Cave while lowering her head and closing her eyes.

"S-Sorry it's my fault. I didn't know that they were suspicious people." Said Alex feeling a little guilty.

Cave raised her head to look at Alex and gave a small smile.

"Don't worry. It was my fault for not explaining the situation in more detail when I could." She said before turning around to face the stage again "For now, I should return at once. I still need to escort 5pb to her home."

Alex looked at her walking away before raising his head and looking at the night sky as he sighed.

"I should be heading back too." He said.

Although there were quite a few questions in Alex's mind, the only thing he wanted at the moment was to go back and sleep after a pretty eventful night.

The following day, Alex had received a call from Cave asking him to meet with her in some underground caves.

The young boy questioned it at first but figured it was really important so after a while, he had arrived at the caves and met up with Cave.

"Good day Alex. Sorry for calling you all of a sudden." Said Cave who was already at the entrance and waiting for him.

"Don't worry. I still feel guilty for what happened last night so I figured I could make things up today." He replied while walking closer to her "So what's up?"