"Man, I could go for some pudding right about now…" Neptune grumbled. She clutched at her stomach as it growled, her last meal being some four hours ago. She had just cleared out a small monster infestation in Virtua Forest. It felt like forever since she had gone out and done a quest. It's been so long that her level had dropped quite a bit again! Nothing that bad that the main protagonist can't recover from, but it was quite a drop.
As she walked down the pavement, she finally came across a convenience store! Hopefully, there's some pudding in there. She could go for savoring some good delicious and tasty pudding after a hard workout.
Something shiny glinted in the alleyway to her right.
"Hmm?"
A glowing yellow hue emanated from behind a dumpster. She pinched her nose and peered over the dumpster to investigate. A shining five-pointed star laid on its side, and despite the trash around it, it seemed relatively clean of any grim.
"What is this thing?" She asked herself, "Is it some kind of special secret bonus? I hope it doesn't send me to some really weird place."
Slowly, her head reached out to touch it. Her forehead was sweating in anticipation. For all she knew, the glowing star thingy could magically teleport her to some weird place. For some odd reason, it always happens to her whenever she sees something glowing. Sure, the first time was when that girl shot some weird dark smoke at her, it was still all glowy glowy.
Her fingers made brief contact with the star before she pulled away quickly. For a few seconds, nothing happened.
"Phew…" Neptune sighed "I'm glad that didn't do anything weird. Although I do feel a bit more confident all of a sudden. Is this some kind of confidence boosting item?"
Several thoughts ran through her mind on what it was and why it was here, but most importantly, why would someone leave a confidence boosting item in the dump?
She quickly checked her surroundings to make sure this wasn't some sort of trap.
"Welp, since this confidence star is all alone…" Neptune says. Quickly, she picked it up from the trash pile. However, the glowing light from the star soon began to shine brighter and brighter. All of a sudden, it was shining too brightly.
"Ahh!" Neptune screamed. She dropped the now too bright star onto the ground. Had she activated some kind of anti-thief countermeasure? Slowly, she felt as if the light was pulling her towards the star.
"Oh no! Not again!" Neptune yelled. Her screams faded away as the light engulfed her.
Slowly, the light faded away. It felt as if the gleaming light had distorted everything around it. Yet, despite that, Neptune felt as if she was still intact, like as if she were the one exception to being wrung up or something. However, she couldn't even see anything. It was too dark.
All she could see was nothing. There was nothing in whatever void she had just been teleported to. All she could see was darkness.
Everything was just dark, darker, and darker.
Except that would be the case, if all of a sudden some weird face appeared right in front of her.
"Gah!" She shouted, her whole body jumped in surprise. "Don't do that, whatever you are! You scared the living nep out of me!"
The… the thing was weird looking. Its right eye had a crack running from the top of its head, while it's left had a crack coming from the below. The thing's shape was also heavily distorted, its torso constantly just constantly being… distorted. It's like it had caught some kind of glitch.
"Umm… Hello?" Neptune asked, "Can you tell me what's going on?"
The thing just stood there in silence, looking at her. It was really starting to creep her out. She was having the jitters just being in the presence of this thing. Then, its right hand lifted, or more like floated, up.
All of a sudden, it started making all sorts of weird symbols, with no seemingly real connection between the one after or before it.
"Umm… what?" Neptune says, tilting her head in confusion.
Once again, the figure began to make symbols with its hands, this time bringing in things like a skull and bones.
"I don't really understand, but I think what you're trying to tell me, it has something to do with… me touching the yellow star?"
The thing nodded its head in response. At least she managed to figure out what it could be trying to be getting at. She wished it would just open its mouth to speak, though.
It made some more symbols, symbols Neptune still had no idea about. Suddenly, it opened its mouth, garbled distorted ear-piercing noises coming out of it. She yelped and covered her ears as the thing grew, coming ever closer to her.
Then, she felt something tugging at her parka. Turning around, she saw a child, whose face was glitched out and covered by white bars, yet was tugging hard on her parka. It took her by the hand and began to lead her away from the thing. Even though the child's faces was still blurred, Neptune wondered how it was able to see at all, let alone the two of them still being stuck in the void.
It seemed as if they were running forever, until the child's pace slowed, and came to a halt. It looked as if it was panting, its chest heaving in and out.
"Thanks a lot, kiddo…" Neptune says in between her breathing, "What's this place anyways?"
The kid's head turned towards her, its face still heavily distorted. Was everything here all glitched up and twisted in this weird place?
"*y0u sh0ulDn't bE heRe*" It spoke, its message coming out in a garbled noise of an old dial-up machine.
"W-what?!" Neptune says, startled at the kid's voice.
"*hE wANtS mOrE, hE neEdS mOrE. iTs nOt eNouGH f0r hIm. sTaY lOnG eNouGH, aNd hE wIlL eAt yOu aS wElL*"
"So that's what that scary looking thing was trying to do? It was trying to eat me?!"
Before it could answer, she felt forces pulling her away from the kid. A light was dragging her, pulling her away. Neptune watched the kid wave from afar as she was pulled away by the light.
The kid was waving her goodbye.
Voices were calling for her.
They were calling for her name.
Although they felt faint, Neptune could hear people trying to reach out to her.
"Neptune, Please! Wake up!"
"Come on, get up Neps!"
"Please, wake up Nep-Nep!"
"Gahhh!" Neptune gasped, flailing her arms about. Her heart was pounding rapidly. Breathing heavily, clutching at her chest, the beat slowly normalized.
"Ah!" Everyone screamed.
Glancing around herself, Neptune found herself in her own bed, with Compa, IF, her sister, and Histoire by her side. Everyone had a look of concern.
"W-what happened while I was out?" Neptune asked.
"You were unconscious for eight hours" Histoire told her, "We were worried when we suddenly found you falling from the sky near the Basilicom."
"When we found you, you were clutching this." IF says, holding up the same yellow five-pointed star. It wasn't flashing brightly anymore, but it still had a faint glow to it.
"Ah! It's that thing!" Neptune exclaimed, pointing at the star. "It sent me into this weird black dimension that had nothing in it, not even a single pixel!"
"A black dimension?" Everyone asked.
"Yup. There was a weird face that popped out of nowhere, and it started to make weird symbols and stuff, before it screamed in my face. Then a weird kid came and pulled me out of there. The kid's face was all covered in a white foggy mist that was constantly flipping in and out of space and time!"
"I think Neps gone bonkers in the head…" IF sighed.
"I'm serious!" Neptune groaned.
"Well, whatever happened, I'm glad that my sister is okay." Nepgear chimed in.
"Aw, thanks Nep Jr."
"Well, now that Neptune has recovered, we can talk about the other thing now." Histoire says, smiling.
"What other th- Oh" Neptune asks, before quickly figuring out what Histoire had meant to say.
It was the beginning of the longest ear torture ever. Before long, IF, Compa, and even her own precious sister had bailed out on her. Hours felt as if they have gone by as Neptune's ears slowly became deaf.
Now she really wish she was unconscious, because it was time for another of Histoire's eternal lectures. As Histoire begins to babble on and on about goddess duties, the share energy depleting much more than usual, yadda-yadda, Neptune stared blankly outside at the balcony.
The only other sound other than Histoire's babbling was the sound of her stomach. She really wished she had some pudding right about now. She imagined herself with a cup of pudding, feeling the delicious taste of each bite while relaxing outside on the balcony with a skeleton.
Wait.
"Hey, Histoire, did you ever, by any chance, invite a skeleton into the Basilicom at any point?" Neptune asked
"Are you even listening Neptune?! This nation's shares have gone down drastically! Even the other countries have reported their shares going down even as well, but your laziness is worsening it! And what of… skeletons…" Histoire ranted on, but her voice trailed off after she turned around.
The skeleton was just standing there, not really doing anything. It was wearing a blue sweatshirt, a white t-shirt underneath and black shorts with white stripes, as well as… slippers? The skeleton looked really chilled, but Neptune felt something was… off about it.
"Histoire, can you go out there and see what Mr. Bones wants?"
"Why not go yourself Neptune?" Histoire retorted, "You're the CPU of Planeptune, after all."
"But come on Histoire! I'm soo hungry and tired…" Neptune complains.
"Neptune, please. Stop whining like a child and go see what it wants."
"Fine…" Neptune groans.
Pulling herself up, Neptune dragged her feet, just before the door out to the balcony. She still had a bad feeling about this skeleton. It was all casual looking, but just looking at it still had an eerie atmosphere around it. She shuddered just thinking of its bones creaking as it turned to look at her, its empty eye pockets giving her a soulless stare.
"Be careful Neptune," Histoire says "We don't know what it's capable of"
She gulped, before opening the doors. The moment she did, the Skeleton turned to face her. Now that it has, she saw that its mouth was locked in a big sinister smile. Its eyes sockets were pitch-black, yet it was looking at her somehow. She took a few steps back, before quickly regaining her composure.
"*Human," It says, extending a hand towards her "Don't you know how to greet a new pal?*"
"Umm, hi there" Neptune says cheerfully, a hint of nervousness in her voice, "Whatcha doin out here?"
Her own hand reached out to shake its hand, its bony fingers opening up slightly to accept her hand.
Pffffffft….
What had just happened?
"hehe, i love that trick" The skeleton says, pocketing the woopie cushion he had just used to pull a prank on her "i'm sans, sans the skeleton"
"Oh, haha!" Neptune chuckled, "Well then, my name's Neptune! I'm the CPU of Planetptune and the main protagonist of this story!"
"oh… that's pretty cool" sans says. "well, have you seen a skeleton that wears an orange scarf?"
"Hmm…" Neptune pondered, "Nope. Sorry, but you're the only skeleton I've seen today"
"well, it's okay. its just that my brother is a human hunting fanatic"
"What?!"
"nah, i'm just kidding. he's a cool guy with humans. he was even pals with one… i think "
"Oh, that's reassuring... I thought he would be some villainous 80s skeleton with a raspy voice, haha..."
"80s? never mind" sans moves on "so anyways, what's a cpu?"
How would Histoire put it, Neptune pondered. She placed her hands on her chin, thinking long and thoughtfully on how she could explain it without going super in-depth like Histoire would. She didn't want to drive her new friend deaf, after all, even if he has no ears to speak of.
"A CPU is the leader of a nation!" Neptune exclaims proudly "It stands for Console Patron Unit, and you have to say it in uppercase letters for the full effect!" Neptune exclaims.
"nah, too lazy too."
"Come on Sansy, it's not that much effort"
"sansy?" sans asked.
"Yup! My new nickname for you!"
"oh, that's neat" sans says nonchalantly.
"Sooo, what are you here for exactly?" Neptune asks
"nothing. i just like being high up, having the wind rattle my bones."
"What do you mean… oh, I see!" Neptune says, bursting into laughter. "That really tickled my funny bone!"
"hey, that's pretty funny. i like that you're a humerus person"
"Oh thanks! I don't get lots of praises for my comedic genius a whole lot. You're pretty hip yourself!"
The two of them burst out laughing, snorting loudly while attempting to exchange more pun jokes back and forth. This skele-bro is alright after all, Neptune thought. The eerieness of his sudden appearance has all but faded away from her memory.
"Neptune, I see you've made a new friend" Histoire says, floating in on their little charade.
"He's a great guy. I guess you could say he's a real punny!" Neptune giggles.
"Well, I can see that you're very lively. You're sister Nepgear has someone to show you. You can bring along your friend…"
"sans" the skeleton informed her, giving her a slight hand wave.
"Sans over there" she added on. "Please, follow me."
As the two of them followed the book fairy, Neptune noticed that the skeleton didn't really seem too interested in anything. Then again, he had no eyes to begin with, only two white glowing dots that served as his eyeballs.
"so, who are you?" sans asked, looking at Histoire.
"My name is Histoire. I am the oracle of Planetptune, as well as the tome of Gamindustri's history"
"wow, sounds like a load of work"
"Yes, indeed it is. If only a certain other was doing their share…" Histoire says in an annoyed tone, taking a glaring glance at Neptune. Neptune felt the cold stare and began to nervously whistle.
"so, who's this nepgear?" sans asked.
"Nepgear is the younger sister of Neptune, and is the CPU candidate for Planetptune. She's a much nicer person than a certain thing here, but she still has her own faults."
"She's also like super-reliable" Neptune added "She's very good at doing machinery things and brings me snacks when I ask for them!"
"she sounds pretty cool"
"There was also a moment when Nepgear saved Gamindustri from destruction. She really is a good sibling to Neptune" Histoire interjects.
"that's even better"
"What about your own brother, Sansy?" Neptune asked back. "I do recall you mentioning a skeleton wearing an orange scarf"
"hmm… i think i said that it was a blue scarf" sans replies
"Really? My memory must be jumbl- wait a minute! You're trying to confuse me aren't you!?"
"no wait… it must have been yellow" he then says, sneering at her.
"Jus-Gah! Tell me how your brother's like anyways!" Neptune says in an exasperated voice.
"hehe, alright. he's a cool dude" sans tells her.
"Is that all you're going to really say?" Neptune reacted, surprised at how short his answer was. She had expected him to tell more of his brother.
"yup"
"Come on, isn't there something your cool brother can do Sansy?"
"he can cook spaghetti"
"I guess that is something cool…ish"
The three of them entered Nepgear's lab. The assortment of glass bottles, machinery parts, tools and such laying in various parts of her workplace showed how eccentric Nepgear was when it came to her work. Neptune always found it a bit too weird with how Nepgear was a bit of a fanatic towards machines and robots. It kind of creeped her out sometimes.
Inside, Nepgear was talking with someone. It was a yellowish-dinosaur looking thing standing on both legs. It was wearing glasses and seemed to be chatting enthusiastically with her sister.
"oh, hey alphys" sans says, giving the dinosaur-looking person a handwave.
Outside of the basilicom, in a patch of green with an assortment of flowers, was a particular flower with yellow petals. It looked up at the tall tower, the one structure dominating the surrounding environment of concrete and steel around it. It was confused as to how this happened, let alone that this could even happen at all. However, it did, and it was all because of him. It could tell that he was feeding, trying to grow stronger in an effort to recover what was lost. He lost everything and shattered, not even a trace remaining, only fragments left in space and time.
It knew what he had done. He had swallowed whole the child, but it hadn't gone as he had hoped. The child had struggled, and denied him further access to its will. He needed a new power, power to mend back what was lost, and looked to worlds outside, outside even beyond the world of the Underground.
He had found it in this world.
Even the flower could feel it too. It was a strong intoxicating power, similar to the DETERMINATION of a human SOUL, yet it had a tinge, a feeling of divinity associated with it. It could feel him sucking away on it, trying to gather this new world's power till he is sure he has enough, enough to reconstruct and reform his lost shell.
The Flower had seen many timelines, several of them repeats courtesy of itself and the child, but it, nor the child, had ever done anything on this scale.
It smiled. The thought of a new story was interesting after all.
Author's note: I want to thank PixelDemise for betareading this story. It took quite some time due to a bad case of procastination.