Guilty Crown: ROB's Wheel c65

As the pair woke up, Alex collected all of the pelts, and soon enough, they were ready to move out.

“So what now? We will look for a housing agency?” Julis asked her boyfriend.

“No need. When you two were sleeping, locals contacted me.”

“...Locals?” His pink-haired girlfriend looked at him with amusement. Is he trying to sound like an ‘alien’?

“Yep, I agreed to join the ‘Rebel Alliance’, we shall fight the tyrannical ‘Galactic Empire’.”

“...Star Wars?”

“Star Wars.”

“Kinda fits the whole narrative.” He shrugged.

“...Star Wars fits pretty much everything. But still, is it fine to join ‘rebels’?” She enquired pretty seriously.

“Yeah. I mean, these rebels are facing GHQ, and that's what we have been doing since arriving here.”

She nodded at his reasoning.

“Besides, they have hackers who will help us.” He added that on the top.

“...I guess. I need to improve my hacking skills; I don't think burning everything works.” Julis said that with a slight blush.

“It's okay. You tried.” He hugged her and then kissed her on the lips. It was, after all, the morning kiss.

The Pink Princess gradually forgot the embarrassment and enjoyed the morning ‘ritual’.

In the meantime, Inori looked at this with interest. She was experiencing strange emotions when watching all of this.

After the morning kiss, the trio proceeded to leave the warehouse.

Just right on the clock, they were greeted by a black SUV.

“Do you think they were waiting for a while, or they just arrived?” The Pink Princess asked him with a curious look.

“Beats me. I have no idea how ‘Rebel Alliance’ works. But you are right; this is hilariously interesting.” Alex is treating this whole thing as if it's a theatrical play.

“...I guess it is.” Julis had a slight smile on her lips. She is happy enough that Alex is having fun.

“Morning, I am Oogumo. I shall take you to our base from there; we can arrange things.”

A tall and burly man greeted them. He opened the car doors for them.

“Morning.”

As the trio got inside, the man dressed in black and red proceeded to drive them to the base of the rebels.

~~~

“A fort?” Julis looked surprised; it was in the middle of a forestry area, and it looked abandoned enough for people to ignore it.

“Yes. It's quite a large complex, which goes underground as well.” The driver explained to the pink-haired Princess.

“Not bad.”

Alex can feel the vibes of ‘rebel’ in this building.

As the car drove into the building, it stopped soon after.

The group was greeted by more people dressed in black and red.

“It's surprising that rebels have money for clothes. Wouldn't you invest in weapons and infrastructure more? Uniforms can be considered useless as it helps to stand out.” Julis whispered to her boyfriend. She is having a hard time with the whole uniform. Her mind, which is wired for efficiency, is complaining.

“I know what you're saying. I am thinking the same thing.” He whispered back at her.

Inori overheard their conversation; the girl looked at the rebels with curiosity.

“Welcome to our base. You may already know me, but I am Gai Tsutsugami, the leader of Funeral Parlour.”

“...What’s with this strange name?” Julis asked outright.

“...”

“...Don’t you think it would be better— like ‘Japan’s Liberation Front’?” Alex chirped in.

“Oddly specific,” Julis commented with a nod. But she is digging that name.

“Yep, from another reality, in that one Japan is conquered by a Britannian Empire. We might visit it one day.” The White Dragon Emperor casually commented without hiding.

“...”

As the pair ended their conversation, the blonde finally spoke. He found these two strange, but he accepted the fact that they were odd because they were from a different world.

“There is a reason for that name.” Gai got their attention back.

“Not that you would find the interest in the meaning of the name.”

He motioned for the trio to follow him.

Alex and Julis proceeded to walk, seeing that they were walking with him; Inori followed them.

In the meantime, Gai looked perplexed as he turned his head to the side and looked at Inori. For some reason, he had this feeling that he knew her.

But where?

“I originally thought that it was only the two of you. Is the girl just like you two? A traveller between worlds?” The blonde asked curiously.

“Nah, Inori is someone we found in the building.” Alex swiftly wrapped his hand around Inori’s shoulder. He knows the guy will get interested in this girl because of her unique attributes towards the virus.

“...She is related to GHQ?”

“...Something like that,” Julis said with a strained smile.

The blonde knew when to stop asking questions. But it doesn't mean he was not interested. Anything to combat the virus and GHQ is something he needs.

As they arrived in something like a command centre, they could see some high-tech computers, big screens to monitor activity and other gadgets.

A few short seconds later, another person entered.

“Oh! So these are the aliens!” A girl with cat-like ears dressed in a skin-tight suit walked over.

“Are you into some sort of strange kinks?” Julis asked the girl with a raised eyebrow. Why would you dress in something like that?

“H-Huh!? What do you mean!?” The girl looked self-aware. She had long black hair and looked slightly younger than Julis and Alex.

“Cat ears? Skin-tight suit? Some sort of roleplaying?” The pinkette continues to point out things.

“This is Tsugumi. She is one of the best hackers in Japan. She will help you get identities and places to stay.”

Gai explained while motioning to the cat ears-wearing girl.

“You should check her internet browsing history.” Julis sagely said to him.

“H-Hey! Can you stop that? I am wearing this suit to help me interface with holograms!” The girl got very defensive when she heard what the pink-haired girl said to her.

“Uh-huh… and the cat ears? Just fits right in, yes?”

“Gahhh! Just stop! Okay!?” Tsugumi started to blush. Seeing that it was derailing, Gai got it back on tracks.

“Tsugumi, we can discuss your tastes later; for now, we need to discuss what we will do next.”

“Gai, not you too!!!” The girl deflated like a balloon.

And everyone ignored her overreaction.

“With you two joining us, we can start going on proper offence.”

“You mean we will be your heavy hitters, triumph cards?”

“Yes. We need to remove GHQ systematically from Japan. With your offence on the main building, they are trying to regroup. This is why we need to strike while the iron is hot.”

“Fair enough. I would do the same thing. You can organise what to attack while we-” Alex pointed at the cat girl as well. “We will get settled down.”

“That's fine. Let me get some phones for you two— three.” With a nod, Gai left the trio and the nervous-looking cat girl.

“...So…umm… what can I do for you three?” The skin-tight, wearing, a black-haired girl with ‘hime-cut’ fiddled with her hands.

“Relax, my girlfriend didn't mean all that in that way. She is— fiery, thanks to her Pyrokinetic powers.” Alex tried to smooth the atmosphere over.

“...Pyrokinesis? Like she can make fire with her mind sort of thing?”

“Both, she can do it with mind and mana.”

“...Wow… that's cool. You guys really are Aliens.”

“More like interdimensional travellers; we don't have spaceships.”

“Semantics. I am pretty sure it's similar stuff.” Once Alex broke through the ice, the girl turned quite chirpily.

“Can we get to the part where we need a house and ID?” Julis asked with a sigh.

“...Oh Right! Follow me!”

…

…

…

The trio followed the girl to a room with even more tech.

“I will take some pics and add you three to the database. Let's start, shall we?”

The girl swiftly used a holographic interface to interact with the computer windows.

When Julis saw this, she felt nostalgic; this tech was close to her world’s tech.

“Right~ time for pics!”

She motioned for them to come over one by one. Then, it was time for names and other stuff to get filled in.

“...Wow… your name… it gives me vibes of a Princess!” such a name has convinced The cat girl that Julis was a princess of some sort.

“You are not wrong. I am the Heiress of a super big company that will merge with Alex’s when we get married.” The pinkette quite smugly said that.

“...Oh, so you guys can travel between worlds or something?” Hearing how certain she can leave this world made Tsugumi think they are not stranded here.

“Something like that.” Once again, the pinkette smiled while saying that.

“...Fair enough.”

After finishing the pictures, the hacker girl printed physical ID cards for the trio.

“...You can even do that?” Julis was impressed by how resourceful these rebels were.

“Yep, we have stolen many things from those GHQs.”

“...Nice. Then we are going to help you more.” Alex is feeling the vibes. He is itching to have some fun. He is getting into the whole ‘rebel’ role.

“...Appreciated. We all joined with Gai to get rid of GHQ tyranny.”

The one who said that was a new girl who entered the room. She was in a wheelchair.

“I am Ayase Shinomiya—the endlave pilot for Funeral Parlour.”

“Endlave? Wait, that's the mech, is it? Alex mentioned something yesterday.” Julis recalled him saying something about it yesterday. She wasn't paying that much attention.

“Yes. It's something the United Nations came up with recently.” Tsugumi said with a small smile, which quickly disappeared.

“Though the whole system is imperfect, one links the nervous system with a machine. It's a double-edged sword.”

“Let me guess, the pilot feels the pain when the machine is damaged.” The pinkette looked at the girl in a wheelchair.

“This is not related to piloting if you are asking.” The girl said that while looking at her disabled legs.

“It's the reason why I am part of Funeral Parlour.”

Julis nodded at the girl. She expected that. Rebels are always those whom the government hurts in some way.

She is not new to this. In her original world, being a Strega exposes her to the ugliness of society. There is a reason why people with prana are shipped to Asterisk Island to fight for people's entertainment.

“Can you do something about that, Alex?” Julis asked Alex.

“...Hmm? As in, fix her legs?” The White Dragon Emperor questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“...” The girl in a wheelchair didn't say anything; instead, she looked at a pair of aliens, her expression unreadable.

“Yes. I don't think your falna can do it but dragon blood? It did change your heart.”

With a burst of light, a pair of energy wings appeared on Alex’s back.

[It is possible, but it depends on what broke. I assume your spine is damaged, girlie?]

“Huh? Who spoke?” The pair looked around for this heavy voice.

[The wings on Partner’s back. I am Albion, one of two Heavenly Dragons. I am Dragon of Supremacy.]

“...Dragon? As in flying and fire-breathing lizards!?” Tsugumi exclaimed with wide eyes as she dashed over and looked around Alex, more specifically, his back.

“Albion is a Gwiber. Which in Welsh means a flying snake. But yeah, he is a dragon, a white dragon with unique powers.”

“...But its slick metal wings! Which part is dragon!?” The girl didn't believe it!

[I am a soul sealed in a special gear]

The cat ears-wearing girl exclaimed with a soft ‘oh’.

“So what, are you wearing this gear like some sort of weapon?” The question followed.

“In a way, this gear is soul-bound. It appears and disappears with a thought.” Alex explained a little bit more.

“...Cool, your world sure is interesting.”

“You don't even know half of it,” Julis commented lazily; she remembered annoying devils with subtle manipulations and seductions.

She doesn't want to return there for a few months, maybe years.