Okay, so just to clarify a few things, this fanfic will play in continuity neptunia universe, which is just fancy way of saying that I'm going to be using all characters from all the games and make references to them and a few choice fanfics as well, which is the same with the other installments of this series, save for DT re;birth 2 which is based on the second spinoff game.
Got it?
Alright then, enjoy!
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Chapter 2: The Mechanic/Barista's morning
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~Amadeus and Minerva's House/Workshop, early morning; around 3 o' clock in the morning~
I don't really need to tell you guys that Amadeus took the job, right? No? Okay then, so as he started working for the basilicom as the barista and mechanical engineer, he wasn't really given much to do, if given any work to do at all, and most of those "work" was just to simply look over the lastest improvements and make changes if necessary. On most days, he would just make coffee during the mornings and tinker with some of the machines in the garage to pass the time, but that should probably be a given, considering the fact that the people he was working for weren't exactly slackers and were completely and utterly efficient in completing tasks. In other words, he mostly had nothing important to do on most days.
His goddess also allowed him to continue his business as a mechanic and machinist though, so he would occasionally get called on to do a few repair here and there and may or may not have been teased a couple of times by the NPCs that he knew, but those jobs were often too easy and non-time consuming for it to keep him busy during his work day.
He craved for something to do and to accomplish, whenever he walked into the basilicom every morning to start his new job, preferably something that wasn't as simple as make them coffee. Don't get him wrong though, he didn't feel like his talents were going to waste or anything, quite the opposite actually because he felt like he was taking advantage of his goddess' kindness. Furthermore, he wanted to show her that she would not regret her decision in hiring him, but the question was how was he supposed to do that?
How can he show his skills and expertise in fixing machines if he was in a place where nothing needed fixing at all.
You might be thinking that Amadeus is ungrateful, but truth of the matter is that he was searching for a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment and in this case, he could only achieve such a thing by doing something more for his goddess other than serving her coffee in the morning.
Well, it seems that he is going to get his wish today.
Waking up early in the morning so that he can prepare for the day ahead of him, which shouldn't really be much of a day at all, Amadeus walked into the kitchen wearing a brown and brass morninh robe and started preparing breakfast for him and Minerva, namely a fresh stack of waffles and pancakes and while those were cooking in his homemade oven and stove, he walked in front of his coffee maker. He yawned slightly before opening the cupboard to retrieve the white coffee beans that he always used for his coffee, as well as, his oracle and his goddesses' coffee.
"hmm?"
Only to discover that there was only an empty jar of what was left of the coffee.
"No coffee beans?" Amadeus seemed to still be groggy seeing as that he just rubbed his eyes sleepily, while saying that line nonchalantly.
A beat of silence.
His eyes widened in panic as he turned his head back to the empty cupboard so quickly that it almost sounded like his neck snapped. He looked at the jar and then the cupboard in disbelief.
Out of desperation, he quickly looked out at his inventory...
"..."
Only to gape in utter disbelief as he saw that there weren't any white coffee beans in it. The sound of an oven emitting a "ding" signalled that the pancakes and waffles popped out, simultaneously realization dawned on him a few seconds after opening his inventory; his whole figure frozen in disbelief.
There weren't any white coffee beans, which automatically meant that he couldn't make his morning coffee. More to the point, he couldn't make the coffee that his goddess loves so much...
"..."
*GA-ZOOM*
Amadeus dashed from the kitchen, after putting Minerva's breakfast on the table and putting his own breakfast in a paperbag, and into his room, getting dressed in his usual attire as fast as humanly possible, before he zoomed into his garage at the same speed.
He quickly searched for a few essential machines of his own invention that will aid him in wherever he was planning to go this early in the morning, before he hopped onto his motorcycle and started accelarated through the quiet streets of Lastation before daybreak.
...
~Lastation Pier Harbor, a little while after Amadeus' departure~
Apparently, Lastation has a harbor, which isn'treally all that unlikely since Leanbox was a bit faraway from the other three nations, not to mention the fact that to get to Leanbox one would have to cross the ocean so...yeah...it's perfectly reasonable.
At any rate, Amadeus entered the pier harbor (is it just me or does that sound rather redundant?), which looked exactly like a normal harbor or pier, except it had a Lastation theme to it, and parked his motorcycle in front of a boat rental shop.
"How may I help you, sir?" The typicsl NPC boat rental shop attendant asked.
"One boat, please" was all Amadeus said before the boat was transfered to his inventory and promptly paid for it.
Now, you're probably thinking that there's a ferry service for those who want to go to the land of green pastures, Leanbox, during this early in the day and you'd be correct, but if you haven't already noticed Amadeus was kind of in a tight schedule since Noire usually woke up at around 6 o' clock in the morning and he cannot afford to wait around for a ferry and travel through the sea at a snail's pace.
With that said...why would he rent a row boat if he was in such a hurry? It kind of defeats the purpose.
Amadeus was now on his rented row boat, which was floating on the water, after being taken out of the boy's inventory. He now took out something else in his inventory, something the looked suspiciously like a high speed boat engine propellor, the type that you just install in any other normal boat to make it go faster, as usual this held his signature machine-style; brass and brown steampunk.
*GA-Revving and engine purring*
Not as second later, Amadeus started the boat motor and his boat was propelled and practically skipped over the calm morning ocean as he made his way to his destination; Leanbox.
Had he not been in such a hurry, he would've probably slowed down and admired the quiet and peaceful ambiance, not to mention the early daybreak scenery, but since he was in such a hurry to Leanbox for goddess-knows-what he just glanced at it, while maintaining his focus on steering his boat.
...
~Leanbox Pier Harbor, around 3:45 in the morning~
Amadeus arrived shortly on the Pier Harbor of Leanbox. He quickly hopped onto the ground or whatever you call that place where boats usually and put the rented boat in his inventory.
Immediately after which Amadeus started running out of the Pier and Harbor in search for a new mode of transportation, which he found in a nearby bike rental store.
"How may I help you, sir?" Asked the NPC bike rental store attendant.
"One bike please"
The bike was transferred to his inventory and he promptly paid for it afterwards, he immediately took it out and started pedalling down the streets of Leanbox like there was no tomorrow. It was still before daybreak, so the streets were just barely lit and there was still a moon, but the sky was also beginning to light up with the faint sunrise, which Amadeus took as asign that tome was running out.
...wait a second...if he was in such a hurry, why didn't he just put his motorcycle in his inventory so he could use it now, instead of parking it in the Lastation Pier Harbor?
Amadeus felt like he was thwacked with a frying pan to the head; apparently realizing the very same thing.
Well he either forgot about such an idea because he was still somewhat panicing and that messed up his memory, commonsense, logic, and better judgement or because this was part of his somewhat clutzy and forgetful personality, just like how he forgot about the groceries in the last chapter.
Amadeus now had comical tears running down his face as he continued to rapidly pedal.
"Why do I feel like someone's making fun of me for forgetting the groceries yesterday and for forgetting about my motorcycle" Amadeus cried with comical tears streaming down his face.
The past is in the past, so just focus on...wherever you want to go Amadeus...come to think of it, where is he even going at this hour. I know that it should be obvious given what happened at the beginning of this chapter, but he couldn't be doing all this just to get a few coffee beans, right?
Well, we'll find out soon enough because Amadeus suddenly sped up his pedalling once he remembered just where he was going with this early morning trip of his.
...
~Leanbox Coffee Bean Factory, two hours before six o clock~
Amadeus arrived at what appeared to be a coffee bean factory, which had a medieval castle like theme, at least the front gate did. He buzzed on the doorbell nearby before putting the bike in his inventory. The reason he came all the way here instead of the steambot café that he made his first white for Noire was simply because it was way too early in the morning and they wouldn't open until 7 o' clock. That's what I call determination and devotion.
The front gates opened as soon as he buzzed the doorbell because he had helped out on this particular factory as well. He didn't just do repairs in Lastation, he went to all four nations for one repair job or another and all of his customers seem to be highly satisfied with his work and progress. With that said, some of his customers gave him a few privileges in addition to the payment of his invoice, which he rarely used; ome of those privileges being that he could come to this factory directly whenever he wanted. He always ordered his white coffee beans directly from this factory and the owner always gave him some form of discount, one way or the other.
At an rate, Amadeus walked in to the Coffee bean factory and was greeted by the NPC owner of the factory.
"Oh Amadeus, didn't expect to see you here this early in the day" The NPC shop owner said delightfully, before her voice took on a more teasing tone "just couldn't wait to get some of your white coffee beans, huh?" The NPC nudged him with his shoulder, while Amadeus just laughed nervously and awkwardly, while scratching the back of his head.
"You could say that" was all he said, which wasn't exactly false, considering the fact that he was still keeping up this ridiculous mission of his to get his goddesses and oracle some of his coffee.
For some reason, Amadeus felt the urge to be defensive and passionate with what he wanted to say next, but since he couldn't find a reason to do so, he decided to just dimiss it.
"Don't worry, Amadeus. I have a pair of trusted girls bringing back a fresh supply of coffee beans today" Said the NPC owner delightfully, which prompted a sigh of relief from Amadeus. The fiest good news he heard all day.
"That's a relief." Said Amadeus with a smile on his face.
At least, Lady Black Heart, Lady Black Sister, and Lady Kei would be able to enjoy their coffee in the freshest way possible.
The smile on his face got a bit wider at the thought, which didn't go unnoticed by the NPC factory owner.
"Oi, you're daydreaming about your goddess again, ain't ya?" Teased the NPC factory owner, whole nudging him playfully.
"O-of course not, I was just...thinking about what kind of coffee to make for the black sisters that's all" Amadeus said as an excuse, trying to will the blush on his face to disappear.
"So you were daydreaming about your goddess." The NPC owner did have a point; that's basically what Amadeus was doing. Before the NPC shop owner could follow up on her teasing though, her cellphone rang, which gave the blushing Amadeus a bit of time to compose himself.
The conversation on the phone went on for a little while longer, before the NPC owner turned to Amadeus with urgency in her tone.
"Amadeus, the delivery vans are stuck, something went wrong and they don't know what" said the NPC with shock and urgency.
"What?!" Exclaimed Amadeus with a rather worried expression. Granted, he was more concerned about the NPC's business and the drivers more than the fact that this was going to burn up his time. "Where are they?"
"Some kind of forest in the east" once the NPC said that Amadeus immedietly realized, which forest she was talking about since there was only one forest in that direction.
Wasting no time, he took out the rented bike from his inventory, got on it, and started heading for the said forest in a zoom.
*GA-ZOOM*
"Wait" the NPC owner shouted after the white-haired mechanic, but she was already too late. When she got outside the gates, all she could see was a faint trail of dust and Amadeus being already two miles away.
The NPC owner sweatdropped.
"He should've taken my motorcycle"
...
~Some Forest dungeon in the east of Leanbox, 1 hour and 45 minutes before Noire wakes up~
After pedalling non-stop from the factory without letting up even once or even stopping to take break, a rather spent and exhausted Amadeus entered the forest dungeon with his bike. However, as soon as he did this, he realized something else that he should've done before leaving.
"I should've asked for their exact coordinates, instead of just running off when I heard what dungeon they were in" Said Amadeus as he dropped his head in depression, but there was no time for that now because he still had delivery vans to find, which shouldn't be too hard.
With that thought in mind, Amadeus started pedalling through the dungeon; being extra careful to not accidentally engage a monster into a battle. Luckily, he didn't have to worry about that so much since some of the monsters, at least the high-tier ones were still asleep. Nevertheless, the danger was still there so he had to be quiet and careful if he didn't want to end up being burned to a crisp, slashed by a fenrir's claw, slapped by dolphin's fin and/or get dogooed.
Seriously, is it just me or is Amadeus really making a mountain out of mole hill here, I mean it's just a cup of coffee, couldn't Noire just...I dunno buy it at the same café?
"Lady Black Heart, Lady Black sister and Lady Kei are always busy with work, the least I could do is provide them with a good cup of co-"
Since Amadeus was too busy lecturing the fourth wall about his reason for going to infinity and beyond for white coffee beans, he wasn't looking where he was going and didn't manage to see that he had just slammed right into...
"...!"
An Ancient Dragon, which was currently waking up after priorly being slammed into with a bike. Heck, who wouldn't? The dragon was just staring at him with a neutral gaze, which only succeeded in making Amadeus sweat even more, while eying the beast with a terrified expression and a nervous smile. He's doing pretty good, but if I were him I would just start running away on that bike of his.
"Ancient dragons react violently to sudden movements so the best option now would be to stay still, until it falls back to sleep" Muttered a nervous Amadeus.
Oh...I see...
A beat of silence.
"GRAAAAAAHHHH!"
*Rapid Bike Pedalling and Frantic screaming*
"Apparently, it reacts violently to being slammed into with bikes as well" shouted Amadeus as he started pedalling faster than ever before all around the forest dungeon, hoping to outmanuever the bipedal dragon while said dragon chased after him on its legs as it growled angrily.
Shouldn't that fact already be a given, I mean how would you like it, if some guy suddenly slammed into you with a bike while you were sleeping?
"I don't think that would be very likely at all, but I see your point, I suppose I would be rather upset if that happened. I'm sorry!" Amadeus exclaimed to no one in particular and for no reason that he could comprehend, as he kept trying to outmaneuver the bipedal dragon that was still pursuing even after accidentally hitting tree or five and a stone wall or two because of its sloppy mobility and slow reaction time.
After a few minutes of this little cat and mouse chase, Amadeus glanced at his watch and looked at it worryingly.
If this keeps up I won't be able to make in time. He thought with gritted teeth in worry.
...Seriously?...THAT'S what he's worried about?
...I think worrying about the fact that if this dragon doesn't give up on this chase by the time he runs out of stamina, then he'll get mauled and possibly burned to a crisp would be a lot more sensible...
*Dramatic and Cliché Mid-air suspension and lift off noise...uh...whoosh!*
If you haven't already guessed, Amadeus accidentally pedalled right into a downhill slope and since he had such a high momentum and following the Newton's first and second laws of motion...this isn't a physics lesson...all you need to know is that Amadeus launched off his higher ground becuase of the sudden descending slope and was suspended in mid-air for a few seconds. It's often used in movies and anime for dramatic purposes so I bet you know how this looks like.
Amadeus, visibly panicked, felt like time was going at slow motion; everything around him seemed to slow down if not temporarily stop. From the rustling of leaves, the flying birds, the bouncing dogoos, even the bipe-
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
I wasn't even done narrating yet! Oh fine, Amadeus suddenly descended back down to earth because...gravity and found his RENTED bike running along the steep downward slope with a very alarming and frightening velocity; it's wheels nearly bursting into flames at the added friction and speed.
Also, Amadeus stopped screaming at this point and started focusing on steering his bike in the right direction by grabbing a firm hold of the steering wheel.
"I can do this" he murmured to himself, before thinking about what he needed to do. In other words, he thought about Noire enjoying a cup of coffee and smiling at him happily. Aside from the blush that swarmed around his face it seemed to work because the bike wasn't threatening to spiral out of control anymore, he even leaned forward like one of those olympic cyclist, while his eyes burned with the fire of determination.
"FOR LADY BLACK HEART'S COFFEE!"
Is it just me or is that the weirdest battle cry I've ever heard, plus isn't he risking waking up the still sleeping monsters?
At any rate, Amadeus resumed his pedalling since the slope had ended and the ground was now leveled in order to continue increasing his momentum and velocity. He was fired up that much is for certain.
Pay no attention to the fact that he had absolutely had no idea where he was go-
*GA-PEBBLE*
"Wha-"
For those yet unconvinced, Amadeus has a knack for misfortune.
Once Amadeus' bike hit that small rock in the road, his bike's equilibrium went out of balance and- I bet you know what happens when something like this happens in real life - sent him spiraling and somersaulting forward for what would feel like hours...
*GA-CRASH*
...until he eventually crashed. Fortunately though, he crashed on the bike's side and not on his back, head, arm, leg etc. Even more fortunately, Amadeus crashed into one of the delivery vans that he was looking for. Now who said Amadeus had a knack for misfortune?
...granted, the bike was probably broken because of the force that he crashed it with...and the delivery van is gonna have a HUGE dent on it, but at least he can finally get a move on with his 'mission'...
"Oww...my everything bone" Amadeus groaned as he flopped on the ground unceremoniously with swirly eyes and a dazed expression on his face. Luckily for him, he was greeted by two very blurry sights of reddish orange heads of hair and since we have a description for these characters that could only mean that they're not NPCs, save for Mr. Walter, which should've been an NPC.
"Hey, are you okay?" A slightly pubescent and girlly sounding voice asked with worry.
"He must be the mechanic that the owner sent us, though he looks pretty beat up" came the voice of a more mature sounding woman.
"You think he's okay?" Asked the younger one.
"Uggghhh" Amadeus groaned before sitting up and adjusting his glasses and blinking a few times at his inspectors.
Since the author isn't really good with describing the clothes of these characters and isn't really knowledgable when it comes to the name of clothes, save for a few basic terms, the two mystery characters are:
The adventurers from two dimensions who can't ride on any boat without bringing some form of disater to it and conveniently have the same name, Falcom.
"Huh? What's wrong, Falcom?" Asked the more mature HD Falcom.
"I could've sworn I heard some voice doing an introductory spiel about us..." Said the younger UD falcom, before shrugging. " More importantly are you okay, mister...?" Asked Falcom while offering a hand and a kind smile.
"Amadeus and thank you, Miss...?"
"Falcom" answered UD Falcom before gesturing to HD falcom. "And this is Falcom too" said HD Falcom waved at the boy happily.
"I see..." Said Amadeus before taking a few moments to get his bearings and putting his thoughts in order. "is this one of those from the ultradimension things?" Amadeus had remembered some of his friends talking about such a dimension before.
"Yes" the answered together.
"Okay..." With that the white-haired mechanic stood up and out on the best smile he could manage at that point. "So what seems to be the problem?" He asked before looking at the dent he created and winced. "Aside from that huge dent"
After being told of the problem with the vans, Amadeus immediently and quickly went to work, he still had a really tight schedule after all. It didn't seem to be anything major, it just needed a jump start that's all. As a matter of fact, the biggest problem would be the huge dent that he left on the side of the van, which was colored green and had a white coffee bean logo.
Amadeus took out the jumper cables from his inventory and proceeded to jumpstart the two vans. He then took out several tools from his inventory to fix the dent on the van, which is probably the only fix that took a long time, before doing the same to fix his rented bike. It was lucky that his inventory had so much space in it, it's amazing.
When all of that was finished, Amadeus hopped onto the van where the younger Falcom was driving and proceeded to sigh as his head leaned back on the comfortable leather seat.
"What are you doing in a place like this anyway, Amadeus? You're a long way away from Lastation" Falcom speculated innocently, curiously and worriedly.
Amadeus looked to the side in thought, recalling the events that he had to go through before daybreak, and looked at the young adventurer.
"It's a long story"
And it's not even half over yet.
Falcom then nodded understandingly before starting up the engine and proceeding to drive out of the forest dungeon, following behind the older Falcom. Amadeus only leaned back as the gentle sensation of steady movement calmed his psyche. He looked at his watch again.
"I still have an hour and thirty minutes left before lady black heart wakes up" he said with sigh of relief escaping his lips. It would take fifteen minutes to reach the factory, 15 minutes to wait for the coffee beans, 15 minutes to get to the pier, 15 to get to Lastation pier and 15 to get to the basilicom, he would still have 15 minutes to get the coffee ready.
This mission was finally coming to an end. Nothing else can go wrong. Amadeus thought happily before he went wide-eyed as realized that he had just set up a flag.
"GRAAAAAAHH!"
Amadeus went even more wide-eyed when he saw an ancient dragon in the rear view mirror charging right at their vans and it just might be the same ancient dragon that he had slammed into before.
"Whoa, what the-" exclaimed Falcom as she saw the ancient dragon coming right at them.
"Sorry about that, I think he's after me" said Amadeus with an awkward laugh and head scratch. "May I?" Asked Amadeus gesturing to the steering wheel of the van.
Falcom switched places with him in a second and as he was grabbing the steering wheel, Falcom couldn't help but ask.
"You know how to drive?" The answer should've been obvious since he was a mechanic and sort of good with machines and whatnot.
"Uh-huh" was all he said before putting the gearshift into maximum and slamming down his foot on the throttle; launching the van foward and ahead of the other Falcom, before it steered to the right and overtook the HD Falcom's van.
The dragon flew over the other Falcom's van and decidedly chased after Amadeus' van, instead. Wow, I didn't know that Ancient dragons held grudges...or that they actually have the mental capicity to actually distinguish apart...
At any rate, the flying dragon wasn't happy as it attempted to swipe at the van several times while flying above, which Amadeus narrowly dodged by steering the van from left to right.
"We can't just keep dodging it. The dragon might follow us to the city" Falcom exclaimed, which seemed to send Amadeus in thought.
"That's right, we'll have to shake it off or fight it..." Amadeus murmured, while glancing at his watch again. "Take the wheel, Falcom" said Amadeus before said adventurer did as she was told.
"What are you going to do?" Asked Falcom as Amadeus opened the window of the door nearly dodging a claw that was striking at it. He then opened his inventory and took out an item named 'Piston Bazooka', which appeared on his arms shortly after and had the size of an RPG launcher, it was cylindrical in nature and was clearly made of brass and was rather thin as well. It had three brass rings encircling its behind, its midsection, and its frontal portion. It was hollow, but only halfway though because there was a brass piece of metal lodged inside it. Also, it had a knob of sorts near the rear portion.
He then took out a cranking wrench of sorts and started cranking the knob, eliciting a 'crk' sound every time. It looked and sounded like someone was winding up a ratchet.
Once Amadeus was finally satisfied with just how much he winded up his machine, he then held it like one would an RPG launcher and aimed it at the open window door.
"What is that?" A question that Falcom should've asked a few narratives ago, but was busy trying to focus on the road and dodge the dragon's attacks.
"one of my prototype machines, it's still a work-in-progress, which is why I don't like to rely on it too often, unless the situatio-" Amadeus wasn't able to finish his sentence because the ancient dragon's eye appeared in the window, before it narrowed vertically, you know like a snake or wolf's eye would do when they get angry. He pulled the trigger on his machine and...
*GA-SLAM*
A piston shot out of the machine with a rather high velocity; slamming into the dragon's eye and sending it spiraling sideways, while growling in pain. Keep in mind that the piston was still attached to the machine, it was like a jack-in-the-box action kind of thing. It sprung out of the machine in a similar fashion as well...
but if you wanna get all technical and mechanical, it involved the coiling of a spring using a ratchet and a blockage of sorts, which kept the piston in place until the trigger was pulled and a spring being coiled and lots of gears somewhere. I'm not a mechanical engineer so I don't how that all comes together...
But I do know that it's gotta hurt like hell for several units of force to come slamming home right into your eye, so the ancient dragon probably won't be back this time around. Granted, that it'll probably have another reason to hold a grudge against him, better steer clear of this forest dungeon, Amadeus.
"Whew" Amadeus whistled before putting the machine and his tool back in the inventory. They slowed down a bit once the danger was gone, allowing HD Falcom to drive by their side.
"Everyone okay?" Asked the older Falcom through the driver's window.
"We're fine" replied the younger Falcom with a smile, while Amadeus just gave a thumbs up and leaned back his head on the van's seat.
At that point, they drove out of the dungeon and back to the coffee bean factory.
...
~Leanbox Coffee Bean Factory, 1 hour 15 minutes left on the clock~
"We're back" Amadeus and the two Falcoms simultaneously said, while they parked their van inside the factory's gates.
"Oh Falcom, Amadeus, you're back, I hope it wasn't a bother to go all the to the way to the forest dungeon" Said the NPC shop owner, while Amadeus just laughed nervously and dismissingly waving his hand.
"It's no trouble at all" was all he said.
"Well, if that's the case then, let's get you the white coffee beans for your goddess" Said NPC shop owner before her and the two Falcom began pouring ready-to-process coffee beans on a machines conveyor belt. Amadeus just sat at the sidelines as the two Falcoms began manning the machine's control panel.
"It'll just be a few more minutes" Amadeus said with a sigh and a smile escaping his lips.
*GA-JAMMING NOISE*
Amadeus' eyes shot wide open with hearing that particular noise, which never preceded anything good at all. Getting up from his chair, he approached the two Falcoms who were trying to figure out what was wrong.
"Something wrong?" Asked Amadeus while the girl'a just repeated what they were doing prior hoping that the machine would start working again.
"The machine's jamming and the conveyor belt won't move" Answered the older Falcom as she tried to pinpoint the problem.
"I'll take a look at it" Said Amadeus before venturing to the side of the machine. He took a few essential tools from his inventory and immediately got to work.
After he removed the side panel that revealed the machines inner mechanics and inner workings he could already see the problem, the gear was too old and rusted and couldn't rotate properly.
"Okay, it's just an old gear, I'm just gonna have to replace it" said Amadeus before taking out a gear of the same size out of his inventory and and carefully installing it. "Try again"
*GA-JAMMING NOISE*
Amadeus just sighed before looking for another possible cause of the jamming. Well, this was certainly going to take him awhile that's for sure.
~Leanbox Pier Harbor, 35 minutes left on the clock~
The whole repairs to the machine took about ten minutes to get finished and as a reward the NPC shop owner insisted that Amadeus take two bags of white coffee beans for free in addition to a handful of credits. Amadeus wanted to decline the offer thinking that it was ckearly too much, but he knew better than anyone that he had little to no time left, so he just reluctantly accepted the offer and took off on his rented bike to the Leanbox Pier Harbor.
Once he was there, he returned the rented bike and was about to depart when he noticed the two Falcoms getting left behind by the ship that held their delivery trucks.
"Hey, why were you guys left behind?" Asked Amadeus with concern.
The two Falcoms just laughed sheepishly while scratching the back of their heads, before the older one replied.
"We're not really good with boats" said The HD Falcom, while still laughing embarassedly.
"Yeah, that's one way of putting it" agreed the younger Falcom with an awkward laugh.
Amadeus only furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and thought. If they couldn't get on a boat then how were they going to deliver the coffee beans to wherever they had to deliver them?
"Then how did you get here in the first place?" Asked Amadeus again with concern seeping his tone, while the two Falcoms just laughed awkwardly.
"Well...it's sort of a funny story, since we didn't really intend to be here" said the older Falcom with the same awkward laugh, while averting her gaze.
"..." Amadeus just stayed silent.
The Falcoms then explained this thing they had with boats that whenever they get on one they get into a huge storm and they end up somewhere else entirely. They also explained how that was the same way they got here in Leanbox and that they were planning to ask Lady Vert to fly them over to the other nations later in the day.
Now it would be logical for Amadeus to just leave the two and get on with his mission, bit being the considerate mechanic that he was he couldn't but offer them a ride to Lastation. On his boat.
Was he seriously not listening to what the Falcoms just explained? The Falcoms did try to decline the offer, but Amadeus insisted saying that:
"It's highly unlikely for such a thing to happen, I mean just look at the weather" he then gestured to the sunny atmostphere and looked at them with bright close-eyed smile, until they eventually relented.
That brought them to the current situation they were in now. Amadeus has taken out the rented boat from his inventory and all three of them hopped onto the boat, albeit two of them being more than a little reluctant. He then took out the boat motor from his inventory and proceeded to in stall it on the rear end of the boat.
He started it up and not a second sooner they were cutting throught the water with a reasonably high velocity, but it would definitely take 15 minutes to get to the Lastation Pier Harbor, that's for sure.
"I never knew the sea could look so different during daybreak" speculated the young Falcom as she observed her surroundings with an expression of awe.
"Yeah, it's nice to get to see such a sight without ending up some place else" Said the older Falcom with a similar expression, before they looked at each other and laughed in good nature.
Amadeus himself couldn't help but speculate at the early daybreak sun, while he was at sea. The horizon seemed to be blending mutiple colors from a fiery vermillion to a soothing cerulean into the center where the sun will undoubtedly rise in a few minutes. The sea itself seemed to be attempting reflect and refract the colors of the horizon, giving off a slightly refracted vermillion and cerulean light on the navy blue sea.
He didn't really mean for all of this to happen, but he had little to complain about. Afterall, he had met two new friends, had beared witness to this breathtaking scenery, and had even managed to achieve his goal. It was truly a spectacular day all in all, not in the least bit boring to say the least and though there were lots of unexpected events that he would've been happy to have avoided he was content all the same.
"I never expected to see such a beautiful scenery" Amadeus speculated to himself. "I guess I should look in the background more often"
Yes, it truly was a beautiful sight, the vermillion and cerulean horizon, the navy blue refracting ocean, the ravaging storm that was headed for their direct- wait what?!
Amadeus shot his eyes wide open in alarm and sure enough, they were headef straight for thunder storm at sea, which was also headed their way. The navy blue water no longer reflected the vermillion and cerulean light of the horizon, giving way to a more ominous and black tint. The wind screeched in their faces and their ears as the ravaging waves grew im height and tossed their boat from side to side; threatening it to capsize and throw them overboard.
Need I remind you that Amadeus is only a mechanical engineer and a Barista, not a nautical captain, he knew how boat engines work, how to build one, how to fix one, and how to use one, but he has no idea how to navigate through this sea storm. He isn't superhuman, folks.
So with that being said.
"Why does this always happen?!" Exclaimed the Falcoms as they tipped back and forth on their boat, while Amadeus struggled to take control of the boat.
Yup, I'd like to know that too, do they have some curse called "Bermuda Triangle" or something because this is just happening way too often for it to ever become reasonable not to mention probable.
At any rate...you know where this is going...if you ever played one of Falcom's games then you'd know...at any rate they were all thrown off the boat.
"YAAAAAHHH" Exclaimed the three as their boat was capsized and they were flung into the tavaging ocean waves.
Now they were at the mercy of the sea storm's wrath, being swept by the humongous ravaging waves and the screeching winds going at blistering speeds. One would question if they were going to survive this ordeal.
...
Well duh, of course they were, like I said if you ever played one of Falcom's games then you'd know what will happen next...and also this is like the second chapter of this story, so we can't have the main character going elsewhere or anything, right?
"That's reassuring" exclaimed Amadeus who had a relieved smile on his face, which was highly inappropriate considering the situation that they were still in.
That's guy's got some hyperdevotion for his goddess black heart that's for sure. At any rate, let's just skip to the part where they end up on land, shall we?
"Please do" said all three to no one in particular.
...
*Lastation Pier Harbor, 16 minutes left on the clock*
Talk about Plot convenience...anyhoo, once the trio lived through the storm, they found themselves in the Lastation Pier Harbor. Hooray, Plot Convenience.
Once they have arrived the two Falcoms offered their apologies to Amadeus, who only waved off the issue with a smile saying that they managed to make his morning interesting and that he hopes that they could go an adventure some time, preferably one that doesn't involve nautical means of travel. What a trooper! :-)
A few laughs were shared, before they went their seperate ways. Amadeus glanced at his wristwatch, before his eyes widened at the time.
He dashed to the boat rental place apologized and immediately paid for the boat that he(?) sunk. The NPC didn't seem to be all that upset, since Amadeus has helped her out with mechanical repairs more often than not.
Once that was out of the way, Amadeus hopped on his motorcycle, which was miraculously still waiting there, and proceeded to rocket out of the Lastation Pier Harbor at a very alarming velocity and accelaration. His wheels even screeched in protest at the start of this race.
Let's cut to the climax of this whole chapter, shall we?
...
~Lastation Capital City Streets, 2 minutes left on the clock~
Amadeus was cutting through the streets of the early morning Lastation Capital streets like there was no tomorrow and luckily for him, there weren't any people around the streets this early in the morning, save for the NPCs that would either give him a knowing smile or a cheer for him. Apparently, the NPCs that he did mechanical repairs for in the past knew enough about him to figure out what this insane speeding was all about. Yup, it definitely looks like he was going to make it.
At least until he saw the draw bridge slowly starting to rise up. At the rate, he was going now, he wouldn't be able to make the jump across the other side. The sensible thing to do at this point would be to stop and wait for the draw bridge to calm back down, but since Amadeus was hell bent on getting Noire her coffee on time.
He only proceeded to accelarate even faster than before as he gripped the throttle of his motorcycle and turned it so hard that it was threatening to break. His motorcycle's front portion even dipped upward with the sudden speed as it was propelled with a high velocity.
...This boy's devotion and determination is scary...
The bridge was rapidly approaching and was steadily getting steeper.
He still isn't stopping.
He lifted his motorcycle front portion so that it wouldn't lose that much momentum when it made contact with the bridge's steep incline. He then proceeded to drive his motorcycle up the inclined bridge.
He still isn't stopping.
He was nearly approaching the edge but the incline was getting steeper.
He still isn't stopping.
This is incredibly risky the slightest fault or alteration in his velocity or the angke of left off could severely affect his trajectory so that he wou-
*Dramatic and Cliché Mid-air suspension and lift off noise...uh...whoosh!*
-and we have lift off. I think I already did this sort of scene before and you probabky already know how this looks like, from various movies like the minions. So, I'm not gonna bother with two or three descriptive paragraphs, since this whole thing is already past 6,000 words.
Amadeus successfully landed on the other side of the bridge and proceeded to use the sharp decline to gain even more momentum than he already has.
Time check: 1 minute and 10 seconds.
Amadeus then proceeded to race down the Lastation streets again, he could also see the basilicom slowly getting into view. He proceeded to increase his velocity even more. Nothing was going stop him now,...
Except for the rack of cosplay outfits that had just blocked the road.
"What the-"
Amadeus burst through the rack of cosplay outfits and ended up in a cat maid outfit. You know, like how some cartoon characters burst through stores and end up dressing differently.
Next to get in Amadeus' way was a rack of cosplay wigs.
"What in the-"
He crashed through it again and ended up wearing a purple wig in a style reminescent of one CPU candidate of Planeptune.
Next up was a fog of somesort of gas that was being sprayed through a black tank with a symbol of a balloon on it...I think I have a fairly good idea of what that gas is...Amadeus passed through the mist with his eyes closed, but he still breathed in a lot of the stuff.
"I hope that's the last of it" Amadeus' eyes widened as he heard his own voice, sounding a bit higher and girly than usual. "My voice! What happened to my voice?!"
If you haven't already guessed, Amadeus was the spitting image of Neptune's little sister, Nepgear, wearing a maid outfit, save for the fact that his eyes were a shade lighter than the candidate's but rarely anyone paid attention to that sort of thing.
To hammer the point home, he even heard a few whistles and catcalls.
Time check: 20 seconds.
Amadeus knew that he had no time to change his outfit so he just decided to roll with it as he bjrst through the basilicom gates, earning more than a couple of double-takes from the guards wondering, if Lady Purple Sister decided to dress up in a maid outfit and ride a motorcycle to their basilicom, before deciding to shake the thought away.
Amadeus parked the motorcycle outside the basilicom front doors and ran inside the basilicom to the kitchen; earning more than a few double takes from the staff as he ran across the hallways.
Time check: 5 seconds
He burst through the kitchen, took out the coffee beans and proceeded to make some coffee.
A few seconds later, Noire, Uni, and Kei walkes into kitchen sleepily.
"Good morning, Lady Black Heart, Lady Black Sister, Lady Kei, would you care for a cup of white coffee?"
The three Lastationites looked up in confusion and immediately gaped at the sight of Amadeus dressed as Nepgear in a maid outfit making them coffee. The glasses were the only indicator.
That's the mechanic/barista's morning.
...
Omake: Nepgear in a maid outfit
*Lastation basilicom kitchen, a little while after Amadeus' adventure*
"and that's how I got your coffee this morning" said a cheerful Amadeus, who was still dressed like Nepgear in a maid outfit, as he explained his tale.
"..."
"..."
"..."
The three could only gape at their barista/mechanical engineer and if the coffee wasn't so good they'd probably do a spit-take too.
"Why would you even go through that kind of trouble, that was pretty dangerous, you idiot. I could've just gotten the same thing from a steambot café" said the older Tsundere goddess as she averted her gaze.
"Goodness, if giving my hard-working goddesses and oracle a cup of coffee that will brighten them up for a day full of seemingly endless work and quests is idiotic, then I thank you for the compliment, Lady Black Heart" said Amadeus with a close-eyed innocent smile that looked a lot like Nepgear's smiles.
This only succeded in making Noire blush, though this would probably make her blush even more if he didn't look so much like Neptune's younger sister.
"Geez, you're even starting to talk like Nepgear" commented Uni while picking up her coffee and taking a sip.
"You're dialogue does sound reminiscent of the CPU candidate of Planeptune" agreed Kei with nod and a sip of her own coffee.
"G-goodness, I wasn't intending to impersonate Lady Purple Sister" said Amadeus with his hand hovering near his mouth and close-eyed smile. I think he's doing this on purpose, but I can't see a reason why.
"You still haven't answered my question, why would you do something this dangerous for coffee beans?" Asked Noire with a raised eyebrow and crossed arms. Typical Tsundere.
Amadeus looked down at his cup of coffee with a sad smile. "It's just that you always work so hard every single day, I thought that the least I could do as your Barista is to give you all a nice cup of coffee that would somewhat brighten your mood and prepare you all for the work day. Also, I rarely feel like I do anything at all, aside from giving you cups of coffee in the morning, so I thought that this would be a good chance to prove my worth as your Barista"
Wow, did this just take a dramatic turn or what?
"You're not just our Barista, you know?" Pointed out Noire in her tsundere tone, albeit with a blush on her face. "I've seen you draw a lot of concept designs and blueprints for new machines in that book of yours, instead of going to infinity and beyond with getting those coffee beans, you could've just been building a prototype" she took a sip of her coffee, before continuing.
"You're not taking advantage of us. If we needed your help with a machine or a mechanical device that we couldn't handle, we would've asked for it. You shouldn't underestimate us" Said Noire with an air of pride and supremacy around her.
She then glanced at Amadeus, who was smiling at her warmly, blushed and turned away.
"I'll just have Kei order a supply of these beans so that you won't need to go through this kind of thing again and so you can focus on building a prototype of your machines" said Noire before glancing at Kei, who nodded. Noire nodded before taking a sip of her coffee.
"Not only are you willing and capable of bringing your nation to heights by your multitude of skills, but you also have a kind, selfless and considerate heart for your citizens, Lady Black Heart truly is the ideal goddess" fawned Amadeus in his Nepgear voice, which made Noire blush.
"B-but don't think I-I'm going easy on you or that you can slack off, I expect a fully-functioning prototype in a week, got that?" Said a blushing tsundere Noire, while her sister and oracle just giggled amusedly. Amadeus only nodded with a bright smile on his face.
"Sorry to drop in this early, Noire" came a mature voice coming from the windowsill. "But Nep Jr. wanted to-" Purple heart trailed off he stared at Amadeus who could only smile back. "Nepgear? How did you get here so quickly? And why are you wearing a maid outfit?"
"W-what the goodness? Sis, I'm right he-" Nepgear was cut short as she saw Amadeus. Both Planeptune sisters could only gape in shock, while Noire just sighed.
"Good Morning, Lady Purple Heart, Lady Purple Sister, would you care for some coffee?"
...
...
Phew, that certainly took me a while to write, but it was all worth it.
Anyhoo, what do you guys think so far? I couldn't really think up that many funny scenes since the goddesses weren't here yet, but hopefully they'll be joining us next chapter, two of them at least.
Please feel free to leave a review, follow/favorite my little story, and if you have any requests for a chapter just send them via PM
See you in the next update.