"Neptune, you have a job to do!" Histoire, the Oracle of Planeptune floats down on her tome in front of me. "Come on, this is the fifth week you've gone without doing anything! Don't make me take away your pudding!"
"No! Anything but the pudding, Histy! Come on, let me finish up this level and I'll be off, deal?" I grin and glance back at the screen, only to let out a yelp as the boss of the level throws an arm down at my character.
"Fine. I will watch you until you finish the level. After that, no more gaming for the rest of the week, okay?"
Sheesh. Ever since we, meaning my pals, Noire, Vert, Blanc, the lil' sisters and I, had released Histy from the binds, she's become the mom who's always nagging their child to do their chores. Everyone says that I haven't been doing any work, but hey, I feel like I've done as much work that I can to keep Planeptune going.
"Okay, mom! You go ahead and do that. Lemme just get some pudding…" I lick my lips and start to get up from the couch when I'm interrupted by Histy standing… well floating in front of me, blocking my vision of the glorious pudding. "Nooo…. Pudding…!" I groan and slump back down in the couch with a grunt, picking up the controller and dodging another attack from the boss.
"Neptune. Don't get distracted. You're in the red zo-" As soon as she says that, the boss uses an AOE skill and destroys my character.
"Aww, man! Lemme have another go at it, Histy!" I was about to hit the "Continue" button, but Histy turns off the screen.
"No! This is an urgent request from a fellow citizen! You must come quickly!" She crosses her arms over her chest and explains the mission.
"So, apparently, that 'person' is in Lastation." Histy pulls up a screen which held the information about the quest.
"Why didn't Noire take care of that?" I immediately blurt out.
"That's a good point. It sounds suspicious so I would check it out just in case," She says, scrolling down. "Anyway, the person just wants to welcome you to try a new vial. Supposedly it should boost your shares by 200%. I would be careful though, with the Console War active, you never know what could happen to you."
"Thanks, Mom. I'll do my best!" I groan with sarcasm, getting a sigh out of Histy.
"You know, you should seriously start taking me more seriously." The Oracle floats across the living room and into the kitchen. Watching as she pulls out a pudding, my eyes light up as she tosses it to me and I catch it, immediately pulling out my handy, dandy spoon from my pocket and dig in.
"Theish ish sho goud! Thish ishn't like da resht ouf da osher brand zat you buy!" I shovel down another bite and Histy nods.
"Don't talk with your mouth full, Neptune! I'm glad you noticed, though. It was just because I felt like trying a new brand. Do you like it?"
"Yeah! I love it!" I exclaim, swallowing another bite.
"Come on, now. Finish up that pudding and let's get that quest done! That person has been waiting for a few minutes now. The longer you wait, the less of a chance you have to gain that stat boost!" Histy says as she turns and floats away to her bedroom.
Tossing the cup, which used to hold pudding, away, I jump off of the couch and transform into my HDD form. As I pass by Nepgear's room, I call out to her.
"Nepgear, I'm going to be out completing a quest. I will be back in thirty minutes!" I quickly leave off of the balcony and head over to Lastation's basilicom.
"I'm here!" I exclaim, transforming back into my normal form and land in front of the entrance of the basilicom.
"W-welcome, Neptune." Noire greets me in front and invites me inside.
"Long time no see, Lonely Heart!" As she was about to make a retort, I interrupt her. "Bet you haven't made any friends!" I grin as her face immediately flushes red but refuses to retort, making me sigh. "You were supposed to hit me or try and make a really crappy comeback, Noire! It was written in the scripts! C'mon, girl!"
Noire groans. "Whatever! It's not like I can't make friends. I'm just so busy working is all!"
"Says the one who cosplays for a few hours each day," I say under my breath, getting a glare out of the tsundere.
"Sh-shut up! Just follow me and be quiet!" She huffs and I giggle, following her down a hallway and into a room.
"Here is Miss Purple Heart, Gerald," Noire introduces me and I grin, observing the room. Man, what a sad name for an NPC. Couldn't've chosen a better name, huh? The room was pure white with just a metal table with a purple vial on top and two chairs, facing each other.
"Hello, Neptune, CPU of Planeptune," Gerald holds out a hand, which I shake.
"Nice to meetcha too, Gerald! Gotta love that name!" He chuckles and my eye twitches. NPCs don't know what sarcasm is, do they… I sigh and nod towards the vial. "What's supposed to be in this thing?"
"I'll give you a list of ingredients and what it's supposed to do." He pulls up a screen and flicks it so it flips to my side. Quickly skimming over the ingredients, I check to see if what Histy said it was supposed to do was true. Check. Flipping the screen back to Gerald, he closes it and puts his hands together and onto the table.
"So, Neptune." He holds up the vial. "This is a concoction that Kei, the Oracle of Lastation, had made specifically for you! As you have read, it will boost your share gain by 200%."
"Your point?" I say, pressing my chin against the surface of the table to even my eye level with the strange liquid.
"We're just wondering if you'd like to drink it!" He says with a wide smile. A little too wide at that. Whatever. I think to myself. Might as well give it a try.
"Sure. Why not?" I grin and take the vial, chugging it as he watches me with curious eyes.
Suddenly, I hear a crackle. Looking back at Gerald, he has a walkie-talkie in his hands. "Mission Success. Operation: Split was a success."
"Man, who uses those ancient things anymore! We have earpieces that you can wear that'll let you speak telepathically! If you wanna keep some sort of evil scheme hidden from your prey that's right in front of you, you could probably just either talk somewhere else or talk later." He looks at me, his eyes widened. "I'm just giving you some good criminal advice, dude! Peace out! I'm outta here!"
Grinning, I stand up and open the door, stepping out of the room and making my way out to the entrance. As if it were timed, I started to feel nauseous and sleepy.
"Wh...what is… this? I… didn't sign… up for… this…" Were the last words before my consciousness slipped and I fell to the ground with a thud.
~Author's Note!~
Hey, everyone! Thank you all for checking out this story! I know that I say that this will be about HDD Neptune x OC, but just you wait for the next chapter! I'll try to do my best in writing, but I'm sort of in a writer's bock soooo yeah. If I do have a chapter ready, I will do my best to post ever Saturday! Stay tuned for the next chapter and have an amazing day! :)