"Ram!?" Said both Blanc and Mina before the three of them ran to aid Lowee's CPU.
After taking Ram back to her room and putting her in bed alongside Rom, the oracle checked her condition.
"It's okay. She's sleeping right now." Said Mina.
"What happened to her?" Asked Alex.
"She seems to have passed out from exhaustion."
"Is she sick from the shares going down too!?" Asked Blanc with worry.
"It's possible." Said the oracle while looking at her.
"No way..."
Lowee's CPU lowered her head while making a sad expression as now both her sisters were in peril.
Alex looked at her for a moment before looking at Mina again.
"You said something about the root of the problem earlier, didn't you?" Asked Alex.
The oracle looked at Alex and nodded.
"That is right. I fear that unless we take care of said problem first, we won't have enough Shares to create a crystal capable of healing both of them." Said Mina.
"Okay. What are we looking for?" He asked.
Mina took a moment to think about the possible causes and recalled the reports she received during the last few days regarding the decaying state of the nation.
"Recently, there have been reports of crime being on the rise all around town. According to some of the rumors flying around, the ASIC could be involved behind it." Replied the Oracle to the young boy. "Piecing together this information leads me to believe that the ASIC could be doing some sort of illegal action to make people's faith sway towards Arfoire."
"How are you sure It's the ASIC?"
"At first I was skeptic, but the unstable state of the Shares confirmed it. No one else except the CPUs themselves or the ASIC are capable of making Shares sway in such extreme ways." Explained Mina.
"The other CPUs wouldn't do it. Even if they did, they would do it in a more open and direct way." Added Blanc while looking at Alex.
"I see. All we have to do is find the ASIC and stop them right?" Asked Alex.
"That is our only choice." Said Mina.
"Then let's go." Said Blanc to Alex before turning her head to look at Mina. "Mina, stay here and take care of Rom and Ram."
"Understood." Answered the Oracle while nodding.
Without any time to waste, Alex and Blanc ran towards the front entrance to leave the castle and search the town for the criminal activity.
Unfortunately for them, when Mina said 'crime', she didn't really bother to be more specific about what kind of crime.
Unsure of the exact thing they were looking for, the two of them decided to split up and scout around as much of the town as they could and meet up again on the same spot in a few hours.
Blanc transformed into White Heart to fly and cover more ground while Alex searched through the streets.
Although they searched for hours on end, neither of them saw anything out or the ordinary.
'It's like finding a needle in a haysack.' Thought the young boy while looking around him.
"H-Hey! Wait for me!"
"Come on, hurry it up! They could run out at any moment!"
Alex was about to go back to the meeting place, but the two people running past him at full speed quickly raised his suspicion.
Something about how nervous those two acted caught his curiosity, which led him to follow them all the way to a random hallway where an unusually large amount of people seemed to be gathering.
When inside, Alex had grabbed and put on a nearby spare cloak as he put on the hood to hide his face.
"Alright everyone, here's what you've been waiting for!" Said someone at the other end of the crowd "ASIC's new mod chips-Chu!"
'ASIC? Is this their hideout or something?' He thought with surprise.
After hearing the renowned criminal name, he walked closer to the center of the commotion and saw the people gathering around a small mouse carrying a large bag, which seemed to be full of chips.
'Wait a minute. The fucking rat from Leanbox is back!?'
"Hm. They don't look that different from the last ones" Said one man while looking at them.
"Don't let that fool you. These babies are the newest version-chu!" Said the mouse with confidence. "Not only can they give you infinite health and money, but they even let you spawn any item you want-Chu!"
"Woah, seriously!?"
"Hey, give me two!"
The crowd began growing impatient and noisy as each of them wanted one of Warechu's chips.
"Now, now. Calm down...There's more than enough for everyone here-Chu."
'Well, the rat certainly knows how to run a bargain at least.' Thought Alex before sweat dropping.
Judging by the large amount of people gathered to buy the chips, he assumed this was the cause of the Shares dropping so much.
Fortunately, Warechu wouldn't be able to recognize him among all the people which gave Alex the opportunity to get closer by squeezing through the crowds until he managed to get to the front and stand right in front of the mouse.
"Okay man, how many do you want-Chu?"
"None, I'm here for something else."
"Chu?"
Warechu looked more carefully at Alex, who took off the cloak, revealing himself to the mouse.
"The kid from Leanbox!? What are you doing here-Chu!?" He said while taking a step back with widened.
"I could ask you the same." He said as he placed a hand on his sword's handle. "You here for Round Two?"
"I don't think so-Chu!" Replied the mouse while quickly rummaging through his pocket and pulling out a black sphere.
Warechu quickly raised the small sphere high up and threw it to the ground as hard as he could, creating an explosion and a smoke screen that forced both the crowd of people and Alex to cover their faces with their arms, giving Warechu time to pick up the bag full of chips and run away.
Although it caused a commotion among the crowd, Alex managed to run out of the alleyway and back into the street.
He looked both ways quickly before spotting Warechu running away, squeezing among the clusters of people walking around and immediately gave chase to the mouse, running through the streets of Lowee without stopping.
Despite his small size, Warechu was quite a fast runner even while carrying a bag that should be pretty heavy.
Nonetheless, he didn't manage to outrun Alex who chased him all over Lowee until the mouse finally stopped on the outskirts of town.
"Just...how long is this guy...going to keep following me around-Chu?" Said Warechu while taking deep breaths from exhaustion.
"Nowhere to run now ya damn rat!"
"I told you already, I'm not a rat! I'm a mouse-Chu!" Snarled the mouse while turning around to look at Alex.
"Who cares they're the same thing!" He snarled back. "Just hand over the chips already!"
"Try catching this mouse first-Chu!"
Warechu then turned around and tried running away again, until a large axe fell right in front of him and stopped him from running away.
"Chu!"
Both Warechu and Alex raised their heads and saw White Heart hovering above them, this being the first time Alex had seen Blanc in her CPU Form.
White Heart had crimson red eyes, fair skin, and short sky blue hair that was mostly kept free.
She wore a tight battle-suit which was white and had minor touches of blue lining as the top itself appeared as a swimsuit-like armor.
The sleeves were detached and reached all the way to her shoulder, with a pair of gauntlets being equipped on both of them, and mechanical like devices connecting the joint of the sleeve.
"Lowee's CPU-Chu!?" Said Warechu in immense panic.
"How did you find us?" Asked Alex.
"I went back to the meeting spot but you weren't there so I searched around and saw you were chasing that mouse all the way out here." Answered White Heart to Alex while descending to ground level.
Once her feet touched the floor, she pulled her axe out of the ground and looked at Warechu.
"Okay, now hand over the bag before I pummel ya, buddy!"
"Looks like I'm under a bit of a disadvantage here-Chu."
That was by far a servere understatement.
He was now facing Alex, the kid who defeated Judge on one side and White Heart, Lowee's CPU, on the other.
No matter how he looked at it, the mouse was in a horrible pinch.
"I should just drop the bag and run away, but these chips are a bitch to make..." He muttered to himself. "No choice...Now that it's come down to this, I'll fight both of you with everything I have-Chu!"
With a burning determination and a strong confidence that he could win, Warechu leaped towards White Heart, ready to use his tail to swipe her in the face.
"Chuuuuuu!"
The fight didn't last a minute, though, as Warechu quickly ended up lying on the ground with a bright red bump on his head and a column of steam coming out of it.
"Ch-Chuuuuuu..."
White Heart simply looked down at Warechu and scoffed while putting her axe over her shoulder.
"You went against a goddess, so no bitching about it now, rat!"
While she walked towards the bag to check out the contents, Alex looked again at the mouse.
'First he was incinerated by Cave and now he was pratically bludgeoned by White Heart. Just how durable is this damn rat?' He thought.
Alex didn't even get to take part in the fight as all he managed to do was watch from the sidelines while White Heart beat up the mouse to a pulp with lots of brutality.
After checking the bag, she proceeded to close it and smash every single chip within it to shreds with her axe.
"That should do it for now." She said before turning her head and looking at Alex. "Let's head back and gather some Shares."
"What about him?" Asked the young boy while pointing with his thumb at Warechu.
"Forget him. He'll get chomped by a wolf or something else out here, now let's go!"
White Heart quickly made her way back into town while Alex turned around to look at Warechu one more time before facing forward again and following her.
--------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 16: Complete