Chapter 1: The Beginning of Something New

Hey, everyone. It's me. I…have something important to tell you all, and it's kind of the reason I made this in the first place. Back when "Welp, this is a thing" was still being written, there was a point where I wanted things to go differently, but it was too late to make major changes. And as I've been writing "We're really doing this again?", I…discovered that I didn't enjoy writing it anymore. That I didn't like writing some characters that just stroll in and save the day. So, I'm canning it. I can't keep trying to write a Superman story, which is what it's become, really. IRL will be finished, and I'm using that as a way to also give WRDTA an ending too. With all the heartfelt mushy stuff taken care of, please, enjoy this attempt to right what I feel were wrongs.

As we all know, life is full of choices. Get up or sleep in. Cereal or toaster waffles. Go about your regular day or punch some fucker in the face. Each time you make one of these decisions, you create a branching path. A new series of possibilities. That's the basis of the Multiverse Theory. This is just one of the ways things can play out.

My name is Steven Stanton, and I'm just a regular guy enjoying his summer after earning his Associate's degree in Electrical Engineering Technology. I'm in the middle of a hobby of mine, writing for a little place called , when things got noticeably…weird. I had to stop writing for my story IRL when the Bill Burr comedy special I had pulled up on Netflix froze. Not the most uncommon occurrence, but it didn't end there. The frozen image slowly changed in that snow like static you see on old TVs before distorting severely.

"Why does this seem so…Oh, Hell no!" The unfortunate thing about the layout of my room is that my TV is right on the route towards my door. The only real option I had was to latch onto my closet doorknob. As time passed, the pull I felt that started to break my grip. 'So, this is how I due…Some magic TV portal like from my very first story…' The hold I had finally broke and the force pulled me into the swirling darkness that was on the screen.

When light finally graced my eyes again, after what seemed like hours, I was about ten feet above what appeared to be a lake. I splashed down hard onto my left side and sank quite a ways before swimming up and to shore.

"Great…I'm soaked, I'm cold, and I don't have any shoes on. Let's see how things'll get worse." After removing my dripping wet socks, I followed the first dirt path that I found, which was only behind a couple layers of trees. After what had to be twenty minutes of walking, I came across three girls having an argument.

"How long are you gonna chat while sitting on me!?" A black haired girl yelled from beneath a purple haired one.

"Holy seat cushions! Someone's sprouting out of the earth! Are the mole people making their move!?" Okay, this was too weird to intervene. I mean, how do you not notice that you're sitting on another person?

"No…You were just sitting on her back…"

"Whoa! Where'd this guy come from?" The strange girl in what looked like a hoodie over a sleeveless dress asked.

"I've been standing here for a few minutes, watching this craziness. Are you okay?" I answered the girl before regarding the sat on girl.

"Um…Yeah, I'm fine. Who are you, and why don't you have any shoes on?" Let's shenanigans a thing, because I've got nothing that'll seem sane.

"I woke up on island in the middle of a lake like this. Hell, the only reason my pants are up is that my hands are in my pockets. I have no idea where I am or how I got there. Oh, and my name's Steven. What's yours?"

"I'm Plutia…That's Noire and this is Neppy…" The third girl present answered. She sounded tired and looked like she was wearing pajamas. "Nice to meet you, Stevie." Just roll with it Steven. Just roll with it.

"Jeez, this is the first time I've seen a guy with an actual player model. How come your clothes are so loose?"

"I wish I knew. Really, I do."

"*sigh*…You two clearly don't have anywhere to go. Come on, Plutia, we're bringing them home with us." The girl in what looked like a chest only corset and an extremely short skirt said.

"Thanks." I regretted going with them, seeing as how Neptune had spent the entire trip trying to convince Noire that she knew her.

"How many times do I gotta say it!? Are you listening to my words!? It's me! And you know me Noire!" We had arrived at Plutie's home, which was this massive building that was in the dead center of the city.

"Hey, Plutie?" I whispered, leaning towards the sleepy girl that I was sharing a couch with.

"Yes?"

"Do you happen to have any pain medicine? These two are giving me a headache."

"I think there's some in the cabinet in the bathroom."

"Alright, thank you." I found the bathroom after a bit of exploring and found the bottle that was labeled "Headache Relief". "Well, that was easy." I took enough pills for the recommended dose and headed back to the living room.

"Aww, you don't have any friends? That's soooooo sad…Huh? Waaaait, does that mean WE aren't friends…?" I came back at a weird time.

"Um…What did I just come back to?"

"This crazy girl is spouting nonsense! And of course we're friends!"

"We are? Yaaaaaaaay…!"

"The magic of friendship aside, I'd like to ask a favor."

"What is it?" Neptune asked.

"Some pants." I said, pointing at the purple towel that was the only thing protecting my modesty. You know, one of those things that they managed to forget about. "Currently, my only pair are in the dryer and way too big."

"That IS a problem…Hold up one of your arms."

"Why?"

` "So I'm not just guessing what sizes you wear."

"Oh, alright." Once she was done, she wrote all of the numbers she came up with down.

"Come on, Noire. We can go to the store that's close by." Plutie suggested, tugging at the black haired girl's detached sleeve.

"Fine, but she's coming too. I can't trust her to not break something."

"I'm not that bad!" Neptune cried as Noire dragged her away by the collar. I sat in that towel for five hours. FIVE FUCKING HOURS! And the air conditioning was on!

"Sorry we took so long. This one made us get clothes for her too, and Plutia fell asleep on a bench." Noire said, handing me several bags.

"I'm just gonna go put these on now. It's a little drafty in here."

"Okay." Plutie drawed out before flopping face first onto a couch.

Out of all of the combinations available to me, I went with the simplest. That just so happened to be what I'd wear on a regular basis; jeans and a t-shirt. I couldn't keep the frown off of my face because most of the shirts were purple. The rest were black, and it was just too hot for that. The jeans were black and blue, so at least I had options for a later date.

"So, how do I look?" I asked, clad in one of the purple shirts with a pair of the black jeans. It's nice that they got me underwear and socks too.

"Better than before." Noire answered.

"Cool. Now to see if the shoes fit."

"…We, uh…didn't get any shoes…" Neptune said.

"We'll get some on our way to the Guild." Noire stated.

"The Guild? Why do we gotta go there when we've got all these games?"

"Because if you're going to be staying here, I refuse to let you drag Plutia down with your laziness. Now come on and pull your weight!"

"Um…whose are these?" Plutia asked, holding something in her hands. Wait, is that…

"My glasses!" The object in her hands was the plastic case the glasses place gave me. I took them out and placed them on my face.

"You need glasses? Ha! Nerd!"

"And proud of it, you twerp."

"Are you two going to fiiight…? I don't like it when friends fight." The temperature in the room dropped as a scowl made its way onto the normally sleepy girl's face.

"Nuh-uh! Nope! No fighting here!"

"Yeah, I wasn't fighting with her. That was just friendly prodding."

"Okay." She seemed to buy it, and Noire demanded we leave now.

"Hey, I don't mean to be a nuisance, but there's one more thing I need." I said, now wearing a pair of black sneakers with white strips running across it horizontally.

"What is it this time?" Neptune asked.

"I don't have a weapon or anything, and if we're going back into the forest, I'm sure that something in there will screw me over pretty hard."

"Well, there's a weapons salesman in the Guild, so we could find something pretty cheap for you there." It didn't take much longer to get to the Guild. It was a large building made of sculpted stone and metal.

"Man, what's up with this? I try to play and then I'm told to go work. This is like déjà vu…Last time it was Histy up in my grill, but now it's Noire."

"Hey, at least she isn't making you do chores, Neptune." I joked. "That living room needed some serious cleaning, and I don't even want to know what her bedroom looks like."

"Will you two come on already? We're burning daylight." Noire stated, standing in one of the many doorways. We quickly made our way inside and I couldn't help but look around.

"So this is where you can go and accept people's requests and make money." I muttered, still taking in the grand building.

"You know about this?" Plutie asked.

"They had something like this in a book I've read." Can't tip my hand and make things weird yet.

"I know about 'em too! I had to do a whole bunch as the CPU of Planeptune."

"You're sticking to that story?" Noire said to Neptune. "It's getting painful to hear, so stop while you're ahead."

"Look, I love the fact that you two like to argue over this so much, but can we move on to what we came here to do?" I asked.

"All I'm saying is that Plutia is the CPU of Planeptune, so she can't be."

"And I'm telling you that I AM a CPU!"

"Then prove it. If you're really a CPU, then transform." The embarrassment I felt from being in the presence of a real person trying to be a magical girl was so mind numbing I don't even remember all the details.

"I'm gonna need a drink after this shit show. And some brain bleach. Can we PLEASE move on?" We did, but the smug look on Noire's face was impossible to miss. Said young woman gave us a tour of the building, and we ended it, for the most part, at the merchant.

"Whaddaya buyin'?" The Merchant asked in a gravelly voice, face hidden by a scarf.

"This noob's never been on a quest before, so something he could use." Neptune said condescendingly.

"Neppy, stop being mean." Plutie practically growled.

"I've got something in mind." From the long black coat he, the enshrouded man pulled out what could only be described as a walking stick, except that it was longer than I was tall. "This should do nicely.

"How much do we owe you?" Noire asked.

"Nothing this time. Think of it as…investing in a new regular…"

"That's so nice of you." Plutie commented with a content smile.

"Time to go get a quest." Man, Noire's really taken the reigns today. The area that held the actual quests was relatively small compared to the amount of reception desks there was. There were six plastic bins label E, D, C, B, A and S, and I assume that those were the difficulty ratings for the various quests.

"I got this!" Neptune exclaimed, reaching into the E bin.

"Um, excuse you, but I had this first." A red haired girl said, holding the same quest that Neptune had a hold of.

"Hey, am I seeing things, or does she have animal ears and a tail?" I asked, staring at the, admittedly, attractive girl. She had her crimson hair pulled up in a high ponytail, held there by a metallic crown looking thing. Her eyes were several shades darker than my ice blue. Her outfit was…a thing. She wore a red Chinese style dress that wrapped around her neck, clung to her chest, and exposed her back and hips/upper thighs. The ends of the two skirt-flap things went down to her knees and looked like gold feathers. Said feathers turned into a gold flame design once they reached her waist and went up over her bust. Her very visible legs were mostly covered by black fishnet-like stockings with gold and blue bands holding it up at her things, and she had on red high heeled dress boots.

"They look so fluffy…" Of course that would be the first thought on Plutie's mind.

"No, I'm sure those are real."

"Hands off, foxy, it's mine!"

"I'm a wolf, actually." She said while one of her ears twitched.

"Why can't we just do it together? It's not like we can't split the reward and there's strength in numbers." I suggested, hoping to defuse an argument…or worse. After a second of what I think is her thinking, she threw her hands up.

"Sure. Why not? There's another quest for the same place, so we can pick that one up too."

"What's your name?" Plutia asked. "I'm Plutia."

"I'm Cynthia O'Brian. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Neptune, the main protagonist!" Everyone, including the randos that were nearby, deadpanned.

"That aside, I'm Steven Stanton." I said, waving the makeshift staff.

"Noire. Now come on, I'd like to get this done as soon as possible." Neptune, Noire and Plutia ended up taking the lead, and I ended up hanging back, getting a feel for the weapon I didn't know how to use outside of random swinging and the occasional poke.

"So, I couldn't help but notice that you were staring at me earlier." Cynthia said out of nowhere, spooking me a bit.

"S-Sorry…" I muttered, turning away.

"Don't worry about it. I'm used to people giving me odd looks. The only other people that look like me are cosplayers." I think she noticed the color that came with the burning feeling that I felt all over my face. "Or is it that you liked what you saw?"

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't…" My lack of social experience is really coming back to haunt me, especially seeing as how I didn't mean to say that out loud.

"Thanks. Really."

"You don't get many complements, do you?" I ask, all embarrassment replaced with concern because of the sad tone in her voice.

"Not really. This isn't exactly normal, you know?"

"I can't tell if you're proving a point or getting me to look at your ass."

"You must not have any experience with women then."

"None, really. Just family and friends."

"Really?"

"I used to be a pretty big guy. Weight's hard to lose, and where I'm from, looks tend to be more important."

"What a bummer convo you're having back here. Come on, we're almost there." Well, that certainly breaks the sour mood.

"You heard her, let's get going." Cynthia said, smile returning to her face as the somewhat crazy girl left.

"Alright."

"There's sooo much to do…" Plutia whined, looking at the details of the quests we took as we walked a bit further into Otori Forest.

"It's only two quests, and there's five of us. This'll be a breeze." Neptune said, her voice oozing confidence.

"We could always split up. One team for each quest. They're both about killing a certain amount of an enemy, and it'll actually give me the chance to see how guaranteed I am to die." I half joked.

"Stop being pessimistic, you'll be fine. Here, we'll take the Jellies, you can go for the Froggies." Cynthia said. "They're a bit higher level, so it'll be worth your time."

"Sounds like a plan. Come on, you two." Noire commended.

"Bye-bye~!" Plutie said, walking off.

"Fine. Have fun on your date!" Neptune cried as she ran to catch up.

"It's not a-! Oh, fuck it. It's not worth it…So, how are we gonna play this out?"

"I'm just going to hang back and help you out if you really need it." She replied, drawing a knife from…somewhere…

"This is gonna suck." After a bit more walking, there was a blue Jell-O cube with a weird face on it. "That it?"

"Yup. Go get 'em." I brought my stick down on its head like it was a sledgehammer and learn that the encounter system from the game was actually how this world worked. One turned into three, and I instantly began to panic.

"Oh, this isn't good…" Thanks for the vote of confidence, Cynthia. Real helpful.

"Well, I have a stick, and I guess it's time to do my impression of a caveman." Deciding to take a defensive approach, I simply batted away the goo monsters away with my blunt weapon. Surprisingly, I was actually doing damage, but the fight took a while because of my strategy. "*Huff, huff* Okay…I'm gonna need to find someone to teach me how to use this thing."

"That WAS pretty sloppy."

"Thanks. I needed that comment, about as much as that one from when I started that fight."

"Heh…Sorry."

"It's fine. How many did the quest say we needed to kill?"

"Five…Hey, do you feel different?"

"Well, I wasn't tired before."

"*Facepalm*…That's not what I meant, smartass."

"This does feel a little lighter…" I commented, lifting my weapon.

"Congrats! You leveled up for the first time."

"RPG logic. Neat."

"Hopefully we only have one more fight to go."

"Knowing my luck? Not very likely." I know myself too well. Standing up, I charge at another of the slimes and there was only one. "Hm…I wanna try something." As it advance on my, a shot my stick down underneath it like it was a shovel before popping the thing up into the air. As it fell, since the one end was already behind my right shoulder, I brought it forward and sent it crashing into a tree.

"Four down, one to go."

"Hey, what would happen if I kill it before the encounter starts?" I ask the wolf girl.

"I…I honestly don't know."

"…Hold my stick…"

"Phrasing."

"I know how I said that, 'Tia." From the corner of my eye I saw the girl freeze. "What's wrong?"

"Sorry. It's just that someone I used to know called me that." She answered, taking the walking stick from me. It was comedic, seeing this girl that could only be a few inches taller than five feet hold a stick that was taller than my five-ten. Once both my hands were free, I did the one thing I was sort of descent at in football. I tackled it. As I landed, I could feel the monster stretch before exploding into a gooey mess.

"I'm going to have to change my shirt." The corpse had already started to stain the article of clothing I had just received today. "But hey, killing them before a fight works. It did work, right?"

"Amazingly." Noire said with some snark.

"Oh, you're back. I'm guessing you're done?" Cynthia asked the group.

"Uh-huh…Did you have fun?" Plutie asked.

"Fun isn't the word I'd use, but I can't say I didn't learn anything. Does anyone have the time? I'd check my phone, but even if I did have it on me, my forced swimming session would've ruined it."

"It's a few minutes to five." Plutie said, looking at a thin silver watch on her left wrist. "Dinner time already? But I didn't get anything out…"

"I've got…four thousand credits." Neptune said, rifling through a trifold wallet that a guy would use. "What? It fits in my pocket better."

"I have more than enough to get something for Plutia and I to eat somewhere."

"Does she have any money?" Cynthia asked.

"I'm on an allowance. I end up spending it on snacks and things for sewing."

"And I'm broke. The only money I have is the few hundred that I'll get from the rewards."

"I'll cover you. You can pay me back later."

"Are you sure you two aren't dating?" Neptune teased.

"We aren't dating! We just met!" The two of us yelling the same thing at the same time probably doesn't help.

"Relax, I'm just messing with you two."

"I know a place we can go." Plutie said, shifting the conversation back to the original topic. "Come on." She moved with an incredible amount of purpose towards wherever she was thinking about.

"Wait! We still have to turn in the quests!" Noire called out.

"Ooooh…Riiiight." It took us about twenty minutes to get back to the Guild and split up the reward. Wooo! I'm now a whopping three hundred credits richer! "Come on! Let's go!" The CPU whined. She took us to this little hole in the wall diner. And holy shit it was amazing. Or is that just my diner bias talking? While we waited for our meal, Plutie and Noire explained some stuff about CPUs.

"Wait, so you need some one-in-a-million item just to attempt to become a CPU?" Cynthia asked before taking a bite of her sandwich.

"And you have a better chance to become some freaky monster than a CPU? That's one Hell of a gamble." I added, munching on the fries that came with my burger.

"It'll be worth it, though. There's so many people out there on the rest of the continent that need a CPU's protection." Noire said with nothing but seriousness in her voice. But once that was done, we moved on to friendly chatter that we hadn't gotten the chance to have earlier today.

"So, are we having a sleepover? I don't have anywhere to go, and the Basilicom is right there." Neptune asked, pointing at the massive builing.

"We don't have any futons…" Plutie frowned. "And there's only extra bed."

"I'll just go home. I have laundry to do." Noire said, standing up from her chair. "I'll see you tomorrow, Plutia."

"Bye!"

"I call dibs on Plutie!" Neptune yelled.

"Yaaaay!" She cheered, latching onto her purple haired friend.

"Looks like I owe you for more than just dinner now."

"Don't worry about it. I got this apartment in case a friend needed a place to stay."

"So, shall we then? These two are a little preoccupied."

"Let's."

"See you two later then." I said, waving to them as we paid our bill and left. Her place was a ten minutes away from the Guild. The first thing you could see was books. So many books. The one window was framed by bookshelves. The furniture was soft, but not so soft that you feel like you couldn't get up, and almost all of it was red. She had a descent sized TV hanging from the wall and it had a game console and a VHS player under it. All in all, I could tell that it was a cozy place.

"And here's the room that you'll use."

"Thanks. Man, I sound like a broken record with how many times I've said that word today."

"Hahaha! Yeah, I guess you do. Well, the bathroom is down the hall on the left. Just let me know before you decide to take a shower."

"As long as you do the same. I don't wanna die for taking a leak."

"No problem." The two of us didn't really interact much for the rest of the night, which I was okay with. It gives me time to just collect my thought. I ended up just pulling a book off of one of the shelves, and the only thing I heard from her was when she let me know she was taking a bath. I was mid-sentence in this sci-fi book when I felt my head hit the desk.

There we go. All done. I hope you all enjoyed, and I'll see you next time I post.