Hello, and welcome.
Today is...a bit of a...good day or something? I have Lio off handling another update's notes, so he won't be here this chapter. If you're...you know, curious or like him being here.
Anyways, it's been a while since I put up the first chapter. Like, over a year. I do apologize for that: I've been busy with other things. And...well, relaxing/procrastinating. And RPing. So...yeah.
Really odd that I'm sounding more like my usual self. You'd think I'd be focusing on making sure the notes are somewhat interesting, but I dunno...
Oh! As of the writing of this set of notes, I did look at the traffic for this story a small bit, and...well...
...I got about half of the story's current views in the month I released the chapter (which is currently below 200 views as of this update, if you're curious).
Good news: I think there's definitely some sort of interest, otherwise it'd be much more scattered. So I'm hoping that I can see if the theory is right and see how this chapter does.
Anyways, before we get to the chapter at hand, let me first reply to the reviews (well, review, but still):
ARSLOTHES: Thanks for the review, and sorry it took this long to reply in this section. You know...given you placed reviews for multiple stories with the same kind of wording, if not the exact same, you'd think I'd have more to say, but I'm kinda glad that someone's at least left one. Not that I'm requiring everyone to do it, but it does help a bit to know that someone is reading it. View count doesn't help in seeing who reads it, so I kinda enjoy checking those who favorite, follow, or leave reviews (at least, non-guest reviews unless they specify a username they go by). Well, I should get back to doing it so I can kinda see at least what kind of walk of life I can see. Still, as I said, thanks for the review, and I do hope you continue to enjoy reading my work, even if it's not this.
And for everyone, and not just you: feel free to leave me a review if you feel like I could improve on something or if you liked something. or something: I have three more chapters I just have to edit before updating before I have to start catching up, and I hope to continue writing from the last point I stopped in my drafts, so hope to see those come out when I can get them there.
Anyways, with the reviews done for now, let's get to the next chapter! And heads up: I've got an idea I want to run by you guys at the end, so try to hang around until then, okay?
Also, for the chapter drop-down menu, I'll be using the title in parentheses, so be careful in case you jump between chapters in the future. It's just for this story, but I'm prepared to try a different approach for this story as far as chapter titles are concerned.
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Chapter 2: The Nurse, the Wind Walker, and Registration (New Friends!)
After coming back to the Basilicom upon completing the Quest, Rocky was busy staring at Histoire as the two were sitting inside a briefing room of sorts, Rocky having told Histoire about what happened during the Quest they took.
"So I assume that the Quest was done?" Histoire asked him to confirm the news.
"Yeah," Rocky replied as he raised an eyebrow. "Guard Vermin was defeated. I did notice a few things during the fight, though…"
"Hmm? Like what? ( •́ ⍨ •̀)"
"Well...when I told Nepgear to transform...she didn't."
"Oh. Oh dear…"
"Yeah...it kinda threw me for a loop." Rocky looked at Histoire with a worried expression. "So...why can't she transform?"
Histoire sighed a little. "It's not that she can't transform…"
"So...she was feeling pressured or something?"
"...In a sense, yes. Look, I understand whole-heartedly that you came from a different dimension, one you don't seem to either remember or want to talk about, but...in this dimension, Nepgear is relatively young. In a manner of speaking. ┐( ˘_˘)┌"
Rocky looked at her with a weird expression as he took in the information. "So...she's, what, a year old?"
"She's around...fifteen, I guess would be a good age to place her as. That is what she looks like physically. In reality, she's more like...I don't know how to describe it to you… סּ_סּ"
"Somewhat older?"
"...Yeah. She's considered the oldest of the Sea-Pee-You Candidates."
"Erm...why is that?" Rocky tunneled around within his memories and thought about it. From what he recalled, the dimension he was from had the same goddesses, but...he only really knew his mother, and she wasn't really his birth mother.
But...who was she then? She felt similar to Nepgear, so maybe it was her from that dimension...or maybe it was Neptune.
"Are you alright, Roquefort?" Histoire asked the boy.
"Huh?" Rocky asked as he blinked. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking, that's all."
"I see. Anyways, out of the four Candidates, she is considered the oldest, but they all are relatively close in creation age."
"Could you, perhaps, explain please, Miss Histoire?"
"Certainly." Histoire then floated over to his face. "You are aware of how a Sea-Pee-You Candidate is created, correct?"
"Um...not quite?"
Histoire backed off a bit as she put on a pair of swirly glasses (where she drew it from he didn't know or probably even want to). She then cleared her throat. "As you know, each landmass is governed by a Console Patron Unit, or goddess, and each vie for Share Energy, which is based on the power of her people's faith in their represented goddess." Rocky nodded his head slowly. "One day, after I had gotten on Neptune about doing Quests to improve her Shares, the collection of the Share Energy, she went out and did the usual things to do with increasing it. Doing Quests, mainly. Anyways, I digress. Some time later, I went down to check on Planeptune's Sharicite and found it to be glowing really bright."
"Isn't that how it's supposed to be?"
"In theory, yes. The brighter it is, the more Shares a goddess has. In practice, it's the same concept, but...on that particular day, it was...different. It was extremely bright. And then...just like that, it emitted a flash of blinding light, and when it was over I saw Nepgear standing there. (・□・;)"
"I see. So…?"
"Right, this is where the point comes in. I did a bit of research, and it turned out that when a Sharicite had too much Share Energy inside it, it forced itself to expel the excess energy, which would get redirected into creating someone called a Sea-Pee-You Candidate. Which is what Nepgear is. It's kinda strange, though...my records said that Candidates were able to transform in the past once they were born, but when I asked Nepgear about it we both learned that she was unable to do so. Σ(゜゜)"
"Hmm...does explain why she's unable to transform…"
"I'm fairly sure that she will eventually be able to do so. I just don't know when, sadly."
"Right. Though...you said there were four Candidates, did you not?"
Histoire nodded her head. "Yes. About a few weeks later, Oracle Mina called me wondering about some girls who had materialized from Lowee's Sharicite, and a few weeks after that it was Oracle Kei with the same thing for Lastation's. I headed over there to take a look and learned that their Sea-Pee-Yous had collected a lot of Share Energy and had it happen to them as well. Though it was a bit odd… Σ(゜゜)"
"How?"
"Lastation had one Candidate, but...Lowee ended up with two."
"Twins?"
"Yes. So far, Leanbox is the only one without a Candidate."
"So...why does Neptune call Nepgear her little sister again?"
"...It's easier to think of Nepgear that way. She was created from the excess Share Energy from Planeptune, after all."
"Oh…" Rocky then placed a hand on his chin. "So…Neptune and Nepgear are bonded by the Sharicite…" He then sighed. "So…what about me?"
"Oh...yes...you...did mention something that had happened in the midst of a battle…" Histoire looked nervous about telling him something.
"...Are you alright, Miss Histoire?"
"Oh, yes! It's just…" She then shook her head. "It's nothing to concern yourself over, but...there is something I noticed about the way you summoned that weapon you reported. Has it happened before?"
"I'm...not sure there. It's a first for me that I know of…"
"Sorry, wanted to ask. Anyways, I think I have a theory you can try."
Rocky raised an eyebrow. "And that would be?"
"Could you make another bond with a second girl?"
The young man then blinked in shock. "Hold up! What do you even mean by that?!"
"I just need you to make a sort of connection with another girl. I want to check and make sure of what I'm thinking."
"And that is…?"
"I believe that you may be able to produce weapons based on bonds. I don't have any clear-cut responses, but I know that you should try to at least get one more and let me know what happened."
Rocky then sighed wearily. "Right…" He then stood up and bowed a bit. "Thanks for letting me know, Miss Histoire."
"You're welcome, and thanks for letting me ask you some things. Please get some rest and heed what I told you. (●´・△・`)"
"Yeah."
Histoire watched Rocky leave the briefing room and let go of a sigh that she didn't realize she had inside her.
I'm sure it's nothing, she told herself. However...I cannot let him walk around without looking into this matter further. I've only heard tales of it, but if it's true...then he's the one…
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The next morning, when he woke up, Rocky found himself looking up into the eyes of Neptune, who looked to be staring really hard at him.
"What did I do to make you stare at me while I was asleep...?" he asked the CPU.
"Oh, not much," Neptune told him nonchalantly. "Just that my little sister said that you apparently formed a bond with her and summoned a weapon. No biggie."
"...I have the distinct feeling that this is a 'biggie'..."
Neptune then backed away, allowing Rocky to sit up, albeit slowly. "No, why would I, the main heroine of this series, consider this as being problematic?"
"Because she's your younger sister?"
Neptune then jabbed a finger against Rocky's chest. "Hey, of course she's my younger sister! I'm just protecting her like any big sister should!"
"Still...it's not like I asked for a weapon to appear from that." He still wasn't sure what exactly gave him the ability to even do that.
"...You have a good point." Neptune then snapped her fingers. "Right! I saw my rank with you when I was looking at my little N-Gear, so I know that I have no ranking with you. Well, until I get a weapon out of the deal, you're not leaving my sights!"
"Neptune!" Nepgear's voice called out. "I opened another pack of pudding! Did you want some?"
"Pudding?" Neptune looked ecstatic. "I'll be right there, Nepgear!" To Rocky, she added, "You stay put. We're not done talking here..." She then ran off to go get some pudding.
"I feel she's getting protective…" Rocky told himself, rubbing the back of his head with his left hand. "Then again, I'm a guy around here. Maybe she's worried I'd get attached to Nepgear romantically or something…"
"I believe that you may be able to produce weapons based on bonds."
Rocky recalled what Histoire had said to him, and he looked at the ground as if in thought.
How do I even go about with that? Rocky thought. Nepgear's already gotten a level in the rank. Neptune's at least getting there, but I can't use a weapon or anything because of it. And working on Neptune's might take too long given I'm not sure how the rank is increased. I should find some more girls...or somebody to form a bond with. Hell, maybe a guy might suffice if I just need a friendly bond with them.
"Either way, getting a place where I can find someone is going to be a bit difficult...it's not like I can just go down to a dungeon and pick up a girl…"
"Maybe you can sign up for a Quest?" Histoire suggested. "I believe that Neptune and Nepgear were going to head out on a Quest with some friends. I'm usually not very...intrusive about the matter, but I must ask that you try your luck there."
"Uh...right...where would I find them anyways?"
"You should try the Guild. Lots of adventurers head there to handle Quests and help with gathering Shares for their goddesses."
"I see…" Rocky soon gave off a confused look. "What's a Guild exactly?"
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You know, sometimes not knowing or remembering what should be basic knowledge is a bad thing…
Rocky rubbed the back of his head, where Histoire had smacked him with a paper fan before having him sit down and listen to her explain about the importance of a Guild as well as where to find one in Planeptune. And this was after grilling him about not knowing about it.
He honestly didn't know…he thought that there used to be Guilds back where he came from, but it was rather…horrid or something back then…he only really remembered being found by his adoptive mom and being raised by her. He didn't really remember too much apart from that and Gemini.
Like he was supposed to forget about what caused him to leave…
"Anyways…" Rocky said to himself as he was walking through the city, following Histoire's directions to get to the Guild. According to what she instructed him to do, he needed to get there and find a person named…IF.
…Okay, something told him that he should remember that name somehow…but where? Maybe Neptune said it one time: she did enjoy chatting when she wasn't eating pudding or playing video games.
Rocky shrugged his shoulders a bit.
It's not too bad, he figured. If he hadn't met her before, then this was the perfect time to meet her.
Unconsciously, the boy slid Castor out of its sheathe behind him and stared at it as if examining it. It looked to be in somewhat good shape, but he had forgotten to look at it after that fight with the Guard Vermin. Or after the Dogoo hit it.
Still, it was rather good for being a weapon he made to complement its…sister? Brother? What gender do weapons usually have when someone's attached to them?
Rocky made sure the safety was off on it as he placed his hands near the trigger, looking to see if it got messed up. To his relief, it didn't seem too bad.
Placing a hand on the main body of his weapon (he would call it a barrel or something, but as it was both a sword and a gun he figured it was easier to describe it as that), he was about to look at it before he ended up bumping into something in front of him. This ended up catching him off-guard, and he fell onto his rear, Castor landing a few feet away. Thankfully, it didn't fire a shot.
"Wow…" Rocky told himself as he looked ahead and found…a body carrying a couple bags of groceries? "What the…? I don't recall groceries growing legs and walking around the city…" He looked carefully at what he could see. From his perspective, there seemed to be a pair of boots with some fuzzy orbs or something hanging off the tops. There also appeared to be a brown pair of thigh-highs that seemed to have frills at the ends, and a tartan plaid skirt covering the rest of the lower body along with a pack or something at her side. He noted arms that seemed to have been covered in a sort of wool sleeve over each arm. "Um…"
"Are you alright?" a feminine voice asked him. It sounded like it came from behind the pile of groceries.
"Yeah…I'm fine…"
"Oh, thank goodness." The voice then seemed to notice Castor. "Um…did I accidentally made you drop that?"
"Hmm?" Rocky crawled over to Castor and picked it up. It seemed to be alright, if not a bit scuffed from the bump. "Yeah. It's alright, though. Thankfully…" He then remembered something. "Hey, um…why are you holding so much groceries?"
"Hmm? Oh, I was planning on cooking something later on for dinner. I'm making something for my friends."
"Oh. Hang on…" Rocky placed Castor back where he pulled it from and went over to the girl (since he could call it that). "Can I help carry some of that?"
"Yes, please."
"Right, let me just…carefully grab something here…" Rocky pulled out a random bag and seemed to uncover a bit of the person behind it. "You know it's not really safe to be carry…ing…" He stopped.
"Is something wrong, mister?" the girl asked him. She seemed to have cream-colored hair along with the same colors in her eyes, and her hair seemed to be a bit…curvy.
"Erm…" Rocky only uttered before he blushed deeply and closed his eyes. "Sorry, but…I didn't really…expect to have bumped into a…cutie like…you…"
"Oh. I see. Um…are you going to be able to help out still, mister?"
"Y-yeah!" Rocky shook his head and cleared some of his blush as he grabbed some more bags, carrying four of them, two in each hand. "So…where are we taking these groceries?"
"My house, silly." The girl then started walking off before she stopped and looked at him. "Oh, what's your name, mister?"
"My name?" Rocky took a deep breath. "It's Roquefort. You can call me Rocky if you want."
"I see. It's a pleasure to meet you, Rocky. My name's Compa!"
Compa? The boy asked himself. She definitely feels familiar…but where? "Alright. It's good to meet you as well, Compa."
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"So…what brings you into the city for today?" Compa asked Rocky as the two were now walking around. After delivering her groceries, Rocky had asked where he could find the Guild as he remembered that he needed to get to it and find this "IF" person. Compa said that she was thinking of finding a request there that fitted her profession more, being a nurse-in-training.
That, and she knew someone who would help him out with what he needed. The nurse-in-training called her "Iffy".
"Well, apart from the Guild…" Rocky started as he thought about any other reasons for him being out and about. "I guess I wanted to take a bit of a look-see around. I haven't been around the city long…"
"I see. How long have you been here?"
"About…a week?"
"Oh. What hotel are you staying at?"
"Hotel? It's not like that…I'm actually staying at the Basilicom for a while until I get my bearings…"
"Basilicom?" She then blinked as she realized something. "Do you know Nep-Nep and Ge-Ge?" She looked at him expectantly.
"Uh…yeah…they're Neptune and Nepgear, aren't they?"
Compa clapped her hands together. "Yessy! Wow, you must be lucky to have found them when you did!"
"I kinda just…popped in, but yeah…"
"Don't worry. Hopefully you don't get scared off. Maybe Iffy and I can come by when we get a chance so we can hang out."
"H-hang out?" Rocky's blush returned to his face. Okay, don't panic: she must want to come to the Basilicom to hang out with the goddesses, that's all it is. I'm just there…
"Yeah." She then looked at him in a curious way. "Do you…not like the idea?"
"N-no way! Just that you kinda…just said it out of the blue…"
"Sorry, but a friend of Nep-Nep's is a friend of mine! At least, I think so."
Very trusting… Rocky told himself. "Alright, but first we need to get to the Guild so I can see this…Iffy…"
"Right! Just follow me, Rocky!" Compa grabbed his left hand, which caught him off-guard, and started walking faster.
"W-wait!"
{Compa's Partner Rank Progression: 37%}
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"So this is the Guild…" Rocky said in awe as he and Compa stepped inside the Guild. It seemed rather huge, with booths for Questers to do things as well as members chatting with other members.
"Yessy!" Compa told him. "The Guild is a kind of cool place to meet other adventurers!"
"Ah. You must be rather popular seeing as you're a nurse who's training."
"Yeah, well…" Compa chuckled nervously. "I'm not really very strong physically in combat. I'm more of a healer…"
"Which is why you should be more popular. I mean, any old idiot can go swinging around a weapon. Why, look at me!"
Compa giggled a bit. "Yeah, but I know that tanks and damage-dealers can get the job done easier. Still, I kinda prefer tackling Quests with friends. Especially with Nep-Nep, Ge-Ge, Iffy, or any grouping of them!"
"Ah. So…I'm taking it by yourself you're more of a newcomer?"
"Yessy! When I do take requests alone, I usually take volunteer work for medical purposes. What about you?"
"Well…I'm new here, remember?"
"Oh yeah. Don't worry: Iffy will help you out. Speaking of…" She then spotted someone. "Hey, Iffy!"
Rocky looked in the direction she shouted that to and found Neptune and Nepgear chatting with a brown-haired girl with a suit that seemed to be fused together to make a pair of shorts and a tank top. Over that was a huge blue jacket that seemed to be a few sizes too big for her, with black, silver, and white detailing. She didn't have the jacket buttoned, and there was also a belt around it that was left unlatched, with a buckle having the letters I and F together. Boots covered her feet, and on her belt were an assortment of cases. Her hair was rather long, reaching down to her waist, and some of it was put up to the side as a ponytail, tied with a green leafy ribbon.
"Uh, hi," Rocky decided to add. "Are you this Iffy person Compa knows?"
Neptune looked over at him and realized that it was indeed him there as she started booking it over to their position.
"Neptune…Pounce!" the CPU called out as she lunged out at Rocky, knocking him down to the ground as she straddled him. "There you are, you sneaky little dogoo!"
"I'm not a dogoo…" Rocky protested weakly. Neptune apparently could tackle hard...who would have thought?
"Histoire told us she sent you off to find the Guild," Nepgear informed the boy as she and the brunette joined the group. "We weren't sure where you went…though Neptune kept saying something about you meeting Compa…and something about Partner Ranks…"
"Speaking of, I'm assuming you're the boy Histoire informed me about?" the brunette asked as she looked down at Rocky.
"Yeah…" the boy groaned before he gently shoved Neptune off him and sat up. "My name's—"
"Roquefort Dalton, but you prefer 'Rocky'."
"Uh…yeah…you knew how...?"
"These two told me a bit about you." She gestured to the Nep sisters.
"Oh." That made...perfect sense, actually: who else to tell her than the girls he had effectively been living with?
"I'm IF. Histoire told you to look for me, right?"
"Yeah!" Rocky jumped up and onto his feet. "Do you happen to know where I go to get registered?"
"Yeah, I actually do. I am a member of the Guild here. Follow me really quick." She led Rocky over to a small electronic booth. "Now, just input the information prompted." She then tapped something on the screen to go into the process.
"Right!" Rocky said as he looked through the fields of text he needed to fill in. "Name…Roquefort Dalton…Age…fifteen…Landmass…?"
"It helps identify you for purposes involving loyalty. It can be changed at any time."
"Um…I'm just going to leave that as undecided for now…I would select Planeptune, but I don't really know much about the other landmasses, so until I have a better idea of them I don't want to align myself with the default."
"Hey!" Neptune protested. "The default for you right now is a fun fest! And we get to break the fourth wall!"
"…Exactly why I'm not deciding right now…anyways…Sex…male…would you like to be an organ donor?"
"It's a new feature in case you want to do that," IF told him.
"I guess no? I mean, I'd like to keep my liver and lungs…address…erm…what's the address of the Basilicom?"
"Just put in 'Planeptune Basilicom' for now. You can change that too if you ever move."
"Right…" Rocky inputted the rest of the data needed. "And that seems to be it…"
"Right. Now, just need a picture." IF led him over to an area in front of a camera, collecting a card that had printed out for him containing his information. She then set him in front of it and said, "Alright, say 'cheese'."
"Uh, cheese?" CLICK! "…Erm…"
"Almost…" IF placed the card into a machine and watched as it spat out the card again, this time containing a picture of Rocky. "And done." She then handed the card over to Rocky. "Your own personal identification card. Use this when registering for Quests and services around here. Taking on Quests is free, but you have to pay for access to some other features."
"Uh…right…" Rocky took the ID card and placed it in one of his pockets. "Thanks."
"Oh, and just eff-why-eye, try to take on low-class Quests for now if you're still new at this sort of thing."
Rocky raised an eyebrow. "Low-class?"
IF raised her hands defensively. "I don't mean it like that! Just…there's a tier system for Quests."
"Tier?"
"Yeah. How do I put it? Well…anyone could do a super-easy Quest, like kill Dogoo or something. Simple enemy bounty kills and all that. Those types are examples of the lowest rank you can get for Quests." The brunette then fished out a flyer of sorts. "Here. Have a look."
Rocky accepted the flyer and perused it, noting the different tiers of Quests. There were the E-Ranks, which were like what IF had told him. Just above them were the D-Rank ones, which seemed to have an example of gathering Dogoo Jelly. C-Rank Quests had what seemed to be tougher enemies to handle, and the same went for B-Rank ones. At the A-Rank tier, there seemed to be a single item to collect but it being rare for their example, and the S-Rank ones…
"How come there's a class that high?" Rocky asked IF.
"Oh, the highest rank is usually reserved for CPUs and anyone strong enough to handle them. Which you have to be in your seventies for levels in order to even contemplate doing them.
"Ah." Rocky mentally looked over his memories of things. From his knowledge, Nepgear was only Level 6 alongside him, and he had no clue about Neptune's. "So…what kind of Quests do you handle, IF?"
"Ah, good question." IF looked at the flyer and pointed to one of the ranks. "I usually deal with D-Ranks, though I have dabbled in a bit of C-Ranks."
"Oh. I see…"
IF chuckled a bit. "You can get there as well, Rock."
"…Please, for the love of the goddesses…"
"Oh, right. Histoire also noted something about a possible dislike for that nickname…" IF laughed nervously. "My bad…"
"For the last time, I am not some guy wearing a set of blue armor! Nor do I know a man named Doctor Light!" Rocky then groaned before sighing.
"…All good?"
"Yeah…"
"Anyways, let's see what Quests you can take on for today." IF then led the girls and Rocky off to go look at some Quests.
{IF's Partner Rank Progression: 32%}
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"Wow…" Rocky found himself saying as he was reading through some of the Quests in order to find a Quest he could handle. "There's so many low-rank ones…"
"Well, somebody's gotta handle them," IF told him as she looked at a few of them. "I mean, experience does help with the whole 'going places' thing, so…"
"I know that. But…why is it we need to collect a lot of Dogoo Jelly? Or…Petals? I want to find a mission that would require me to fight some tough enemy."
"Well, those might be a bit too much for you."
"I dunno," Neptune told the brunette. "This guy's already taken on a Guard Vermin with the help of Nep Junior."
"Wait, what?" IF then pointed to Rocky and Nepgear. "Hang on, this guy took on a Guard Vermin with Nepgear being unable to enter her goddess form?! What the hell?!"
"I'm still a bit surprised by that, to be honest," Nepgear admitted. "I mean, if Rocky hadn't used that new weapon he got just then, I probably wouldn't be standing here to talk about it."
"That's not the point, Gear! The point is that this guy shouldn't have dealt with a Guard Vermin! What were you two even doing anyways?!"
"Well…we were just doing some routine monster exterminating. Neptune and I decided to let Rocky tag along since he had been doing nothing but train with the Leanbox Kinect for the last few days, and, well…"
IF then sighed. "Alright, I can see him being with you for that. But what about the weapon you mentioned? All I see are those ones on him…erm…" IF then raised an eyebrow. "What are those things anyways?"
"They're my weapons," Rocky told her as he readied them and flicked the triggers up to activate each one's Sword Mode. "I call them 'Gemini', but separately they're Castor and Pollux."
"Alright…but what are they?"
Rocky blinked. "Erm…sword-gun combination weapons?"
"…You have no idea what they're called, do you?"
"I think I do, but the simplest name I get is a 'gunblade'."
"And that term reminds me of some of the old weapons used by some people in Lastation," Nepgear added. "One of the earliest ones resembled an extremely large knife with a revolver base. I think someone going by the name 'Leon' used it…"
"Alright…I'll just take that answer then…" IF concluded before she shook her head. "So what about which one having which name?"
"Castor is the one in my left hand, and Pollux is the one in my right," Rocky said confidently.
"And how do you tell the difference?"
"…My grip?"
"Oh, I think I get it!" Compa called out of left field. "The grip on your weapons feels like they belong with their corresponding hands, so if you shift them to the opposite hand they don't feel natural to you. Right?"
"…Is it scarier that Compa figured that out when she uses a syringe or that the logic is so sound I have no idea why I didn't realize it sooner?" IF asked, baffled by the nurse-in-training's comment.
"I'm not sure…" Nepgear and Rocky replied at the same time.
"Erm…yeah," the boy then added as he flicked the triggers back down to withdraw the blades before sheathing his weapons. "But not quite like that. I have them marked on the grip themselves. See?" He then turned around and pointed at the gunblades, which had the word "Castor" or "Pollux" on their corresponding grip. "I kinda trained myself to use both at the same time…makes for some good combos, at least."
"Right," IF said before she spotted a Quest on the screen. "Oh, hold on. I should grab this Quest."
"What Quest is it?" Neptune asked her friend.
"It's one that had been giving some people trouble. A bunch of Tulips, mainly."
"How come it's causing so much problems?" Nepgear asked next.
"I'm not sure. Reports suggest that there's a tough monster in the area. The parties that take it on are usually teams of two or three, and they seem to have trouble with it. Though at least we're not all mainly damage-dealers…still, a team of five damage-dealers shouldn't have too much trouble, but they can only clear out so much before they have to retreat to get healed outside the area."
"Hmm…" Rocky said as he thought about it. "What rank is it?"
"It's a Rank…Sea." IF then got an idea. "What say the five of us take on this Quest as a team?"
"Wait, for real?!" Neptune shouted. "I thought we were here to help Rock get a Quest, not go on one!"
"You know, I'm pretty sure Miss Histoire would like to not have to constantly tell you to get some Quests done every day. Seriously, you don't really seem to do anything."
"Hey, Vert is just as bad!"
"But at least she knows when to get her work done…even if she usually leaves it to her Oracle most of the time…"
"Maybe this is a good chance for you to get that Partner Rank you've been talking about…" Nepgear told her older sister.
"Right…the mythical 'Partner Rank' Nep's been complaining about for quite some time…"
"Well, I'd love to come along!" Compa said quickly. "I can get to know Rocky a bit more and hang out with Nep-Nep and Ge-Ge!"
IF nodded in agreement. "I can evaluate Rocky here for his effectiveness in battle. After all, if he's going to be helping with Quests then he's got to be able to handle combat."
"Alright, fine!" Neptune called out. "Then Nep Junior and I will come along!"
"Neptune?" Nepgear asked in confusion.
"I can see what weapon he got from that one level in Nepgear's Rank as well as try getting mine up as well." She then hopped onto Rocky's back. "And we're not stopping until we get that rank, alright?"
"Uh…right?" Rocky asked more than replied. "Wait, why are you on my back?!"
"Well, I don't know how this 'Partner Rank' works, but I know that it's gotta have something to do with bonding, so I'm going to ride on your back and you're going to love it."
"I don't know why Nep's getting all…attached like that…" IF commented. "It doesn't seem like her, to be honest…"
"Hey, I'm supposed to be the main heroine of the series, and Nepgear got the first rank ever from him!"
"Well, I did have the leading role of my own game…" Nepgear pointed out. "Well, until the next game…"
Rocky looked at the younger Nep sister.
"What?" he asked.
"Onwards, Rock!" Neptune called out.
Rocky groaned. "I'm not the Blue Bomber!"
XXXXXXXXXX
...I cannot promise that Mega Man references/jokes are done. Let's just hope I don't go overboard with them, okay?
Anyways, I might make this a sort of habit for this story and make some notes about this chapter, so...let's see:
1) Said Mega Man references/jokes: ...Self-explanatory. Doesn't help that, on thinking about this section of the notes, both are seeming like they're influenced in their weapons based on their environments, with Rocky's adapting based on links and Mega Man Rock (at least) getting new weapons from the Robot Masters he beats.
2) Compa's and IF's Partner Rank growth: I'm going to work on this, but most likely it'll be that going from Rank 0 (initial state) to Rank 1 (the point where a weapon forms from the bond) will seem rather fast, though it will definitely be getting slower progression the higher it gets, with Rank 10 being the highest, of course. Mainly because I'd have to think of a whole lot of passives and actives Rocky would learn all the way up to Rank 100 if I didn't stop it at 10.
3) Histoire's kaomoji: Hopefully this isn't going to get too dragged out for her. I know that it's part of her character at this point, so removing it completely would be dumb to me, but at the same time I don't think she'd always employ it. So I'm taking the middle ground and treating her like how a Prinny would use "dood". Let's hope that this goes well?
Anyways, I think that's all I have for the notes.
Right! That thing I mentioned earlier before!
I'm not sure how much you guys would like to see the idea, but I'm considering starting a prologue story of sorts taking a deeper look into Rocky's life before his entry into the Turbodimension. I figured that it might be fun to see how Rocky starts out before he ended up in this dimension and see what led to his entrance. There would be some...slight (depends on your view) issues with the idea. I won't discuss the details too much since I won't start publishing it until I can finish this arc with the next chapter, but I will say this: it does involve an infamous(?) ending for Mk2/RB2 for a starting point (honestly, this seems like the best idea I can do to tell it how I'm seeing it for this project/series).
Still, it'll be a while. So in the meantime, let me know what you guys thought of this chapter and what you guys think of the prologue idea (might be more of a prequel or something).
Thanks for sticking around until then, and I hope to see you guys in the next update. Well, much faster than over a year.
