A Drunkard's Lost Sword
Chapter 2: Oh Look, The Chapters Are Named Now
Ugh, that lack of a cover on is killing me. But I suuuck at making covers and I highly doubt that I could find a picture accurately summarizing this clusterfuck of a fic.
Fun fact: I have not planned this shit out at all. This is fly-by-your-seat writing, folks, which means I'll lost interest in 4 chapters. Or maybe not, if I can actually tie something of a plot together with this.
Also, one again, I have played no other games than the first, so if someone's a tiny bit OOC, please tell me. Please review if you read too, I like to know the people reading this clusterfuck.
/
While Stein and Alba were fretting over their monetary troubles, something very different, yet related, was going on in Planeptune...
It was about noon in Planeptune, the sun shining brightly over the metropolis of the capital city. Citizens of the city were spending their ample free time buzzing off to work on the local highways or shopping down in the business sector of downtown. Whatever they were doing, Planeptune's technological progress was helping them; on one side of the town, a man ordered a new computer, custom-made, from the comfort of his own phone, while on the complete opposite side, a woman took the landmass-wide subway that would allow her to cross it in less than one hour. The whole city was designed with a pleasing warm lilac, in the image of the CPU Neptune.
Speaking of Neptune, she was enjoying a stroll with her sister, Nepgear, on the outskirts of the capital. The place they had chosen was a nice little garden, filled with lilac and purple flowers, away from the city and thus quiet and simple. Well, it would have been quiet had Neptune not been there. Actually, Neptune was more running around while Nepgear was chasing her...
"Yipee! Finally free from that boring business at the Basilicom!" Neptune twirled around the flowers blooming bright purple, smiling widely as Nepgear ran after her, nearly about to collapse from running so much. "Yeah, yeah, so that idiot destroyed it...who cares!? Dealing with bureaucracy honestly just cramps my style."
"Nep...tune..." Nepgear finally caught up with her hyperactive sister, gasping for breath, covered in sweat, before finally collapsing on the ground with a dull thud.
"Nepgear, what are you doing there?" Neptune was cheery even when watching her own sister practically waste away. "The ground isn't particularly comfortable, you know."
"I...know..." Clawing the dirt around her, Nepgear slowly dragged herself to her feet, gasping for breath. "But...you shouldn't...just run...off like that!"
"And who said, I couldn't? I'm the CPU!" Neptune proceeded to stroll onto the nearby flowerbeds like they meant nothing to her. "I can walk all over people's gardens if I want! I'm doing it right now! I just don't because people don't like a complete dick for a CPU!" Everything she said was so cheery.
Nepgear sighed at her sister's behavior. "And because you're not a 'dick', Neptune! I know that. You're just...too much to handle."
"Look, you just had to sit around outside while I dealt with everything. Who cares if one dude wrecks his car into a Basilicom, we have like five of them, don't we?" Neptune continued to trample the flowers without a single care.
"Four. And please step out of those flowers, they belong to somebody!"
"Alright, fine. But only because my beloved sister says so-" While Neptune said that, her foot impacted a sharp metallic object with a clang, tripping her. Arms flailing, she fell out of the Flowerbed on the other side; Nepgear quickly ran around it to help her. "Ow, what the hell was that?"
"You okay?!" Nepgear came over and helped her up. "It made a really sharp sound when you hit it..."
Neptune looked back and saw a sword lying in the flowerbed. "It's a...sword." She picked it up; it was a spatha in terrible condition: the blade was chipped in three places, so dirty it had only a dull reflection, and incredibly dull. The handguard was completely missing on one side and the handle's leather strips were tearing off. The thing looked like it had been through a war. "Holy craparoni! This thing is more used and dirty than Noire's vibra-"
Nepgear leaped in to cut her off. "ANYWAY...er...why is it here?"
Neptune shrugged. "Beats me." She examined it a little more. "Maybe the owner name-tagged it. Perhaps it was his pet sword."
"Then that's just plain pet abuse..."
Neptune examined it a little further before finding some writing etched into the blade. "I found something! It says...'Gladius' on the side, here, see?" Neptune pointed to the faint etching.
Nepgear had to strain her eyes to see it, but it was there. "That doesn't tell us much though. It looks so old, the owner might have just abandoned it."
"Eh, I guess. It's too battered for any use." Neptune casually chucked the sword into the nearby flowerbed, where it laid amongst the endlesss sea of purple.
/
"Someone just picked up my sword!" Stein bursted out with this from nowhere while he and Alba walked down the cold Lowee streets., his eyes wide-open, knuckles turning white from clenching them, his face in a grimace of anger that scared a nearby woman
After recoiling from the sudden outburst (along with several other people who stopped and stared at Stein), Alba rolled her eyes in annoyance. "How could you possibly know that?"
"Now they threw it!" Stein threw his hands into the air in a completely histrionic manner that smacked Alba in the face and sent her off her feet into the ground. "Oh, sorry!" That little incident appeared to have made Stein return to his senses as he quickly swooped down, intending to help Alba like the dashing gentleman he thought he was, only to trip as well and collapse into the snowy street with a dull thud.
Alba decided to merely help herself. "Good thing you're brainless, otherwise that could've been a serious concussion."
"I am NOT brainless." Stein objected, rising to his feet quickly. "And for that matter, I was merely trying to help you up like a gentleman."
Alba brushed herself off, snow delicately falling off her dress. "I don't need chauvinistic assholes like you to help me. Whatever, let's go." She made her way off, completely ignoring Stein's shocked response.
A while later Stein caught up with her. "You do realize that we need to gear up before going on an adventure, right? I have no sword and...I don't even know what weapons you use. And we have no money."
"Let's raid my parents' shop then." Alba pointed down the street. "They''re a few blocks that way."
"Yes, let's...wait, why don't we just raid the shop for money then!?"
Alba sighed and pulled Stein by the ear, bringing his face incredibly close to hers. "Because, they keep their money in our house, not the shop." She was whispering in his ear, making sure no one else could hear. "Do you think they'd let someone just waltz in and rob the place? Plus, they're not gonna notice some weapons missing."
She let Stein go, scoffing as he rubbed his beet-red face.
/
Down at the shop, Alba rudely kicked the door open with a resounding crash and strolled in like she owned it...which she technically did. "My parents aren't here, let's make it quick."
"Your parents are never here..." Stein made his way inside, nervously looking around. The place was still a disheveled mess with product stuffed everywhere, order being non-existent. The mess his entrance had caused earlier was still evident.
"That's a good thing." Alba carefully maneuvered over the piles of junk. "Weapons are in the back. Get moving!"
"Fine..." Stein followed her into the back of the store, which housed a massive variety of weapons—Alba's dad, according to her, was a rather big weapons enthusiast. Spears, swords, axes, warhammers, guns, and more adorned the walls, all impeccably cared for, gleaming in the ceiling light. The contrast between the front and back was rather shocking.
"...I feel like I've stepped into a whole different store."
"My dad's a nut about this shit. "Alba ignored Stein's "how convenient..." and began to walk around perusing the weapons, though without much care for safety.
"Well, I use sword—DON'T TOUCH THAT!" He yelled in response to seeing Alba handle a spear by the blade. "You should never touch a spear by the blade! You can cut yourself!"
"Man, does it really matter?" Alba put the spear down with a pouty face. "This is Neptunia, where no one gets seriously injured anyway."
"Maybe for main characters..." Stein began to look around for something like the spatha he originally used. He couldn't get anything quite like good old Gladius, but life sometimes wasn't fair. Once he saw where the swords were located, he spent a good 20 minutes carefully feeling and testing them—though Alba wasn't sure he actually knew how to pick a good one. To her, it just seemed like he was swinging them around like a hyperactive 10-year-old boy.
After testing them all, Stein laid them on the ground next to each other with utmost care. Then he sat down and began to intensely study them."After my testing, I like...this one." He picked up a spatha with an onyx blade that seemed to suck the light away from the surrounding area. The handle was an exquisite purple, and the pommel looked like it had an amethyst stone set in it. "Yeah, this one looks badass!"
Alba was rather bewildered—he had spent all this time testing them...to pick the coolest-looking one. "So, in the end...you didn't care if it was a good sword at all. You just wanted the coolest one...?"
"Of course! To an RPG hero, one must have an exquisitely cool sword! Performance means nothing compared to looks!" Stein held it up high, the pommel's stone shining brightly.
Alba's face was contorted into pure incredulity, hr eye twitching in disbelief. "You're not the main character, and that 'amethyst' is a cheap 10-credit fake."
"Who cares? It's all about looks!" Stein brought the spatha down hard and swung it around like an idiot. "Why do you think people buy counterfeit purses? It's all about how it looks to other people!" He ended his demonstration by sheathing it with a sharp noise.
"...Whatever." Alba looked around, trying to see what she could possibly use. She didn't know much about weapons, but wanted something kind of small and easily-hidden. She felt like she was more of a 'fragile speedster', so to speak. The knives section caught her eye...but knives were so mainstream. Then her eyes landed on two bizarre weapons lying on the bottom of the small arms wall. There was nothing else like them—they looked like two small swords with prongs at the guard... "What are those?" She asked, pointing to them.
Stein went over and pulled them off the wall. "These? These are sais, basically small batons with prongs. They're a rare weapon." He twirled them around in his hand, but he clearly was inexperienced with them, as they flew out of his grip and clanged on the floor. "I'm not used to them. Your dad is really serious about weapons to have some."
"I...think they're kind of cool." Alba almost felt ashamed admitting that something was 'cool'. Such a childish word...
Stein laughed a little. "Well, you actually like things after all. But, I can see why. You can spin 'em around your hands and they work well for disarming and defensive maneuvers. But they're short, too. They're great for fighting humans, but monsters...you have to get in real close."
"I don't care. I'm fast...I think..." Alba looked serious for once and scooped them off of the ground. They were a light blue, their handles covered in white leather. They felt like they were from Lowee, giving off a freezing chill, as if they were made of ice. She tried to spin one in her hand, but it flew out quickly. She then spent nearly 10 minutes trying to spin them correctly and failing.
After what must have been her 50th try, she stopped in frustration. "Man, these things are hard to use."
"Well...you're don't actually fight with them by spinning them..."
"Huh!" The sais fell to the ground as Alba gawked at him increduously. "What? I spent 10 minutes trying to spin them!"
"Well..." Stein rubbed the back of his violet hair in embarrassment and smiled awkwardly. "You fight with them by holding them and striking. You can spin them so you grab the long shaft and then thrust the handle into the enemy...but that's all I know. You don't spin them all the time..."
"I'm so gonna kill you!"
/
The two of them spent another hour while Stein taught Alba some basics of fighting. Amazingly, he was actually halfway decent, at least to Alba's neophyte eyes. While Alba's odd weapon choice restricted the amount of things he could teach, he still spent a decent amount of time priming her on Weapon Fighting 101.
"That's barely the beginning...but the best way is getting experience from actually fighting!"
Alba hung the sais off a belt she had found. "Well, I'm amazed...but you might not be a complete and total loser."
Of course, Stein completely overreacted to her minor compliments. "Well, I must say, you're perfectly free to enter my inn roo-"
"Never mind, you're still a loser." Alba strolled past a despairing Stein without even batting a muscle.
/
Somewhere else...
The town's guild was at the outskirts, a rather small building with only two floors. Inside lied a message board with various quests and several pieces of quite utilitarian furniture for adventurers to sit and chat on before leaving. The place wasn't completely sterile, but it was most definitely not a lounge.
IF and Compa had stopped by right before leaving the town. The two of them were enjoying a small cup of tea to steel themselves for the frozen wasteland beyond. Almost no one else was there, so it was kind of an intimate time.
"Those two, I wonder what happened to them?" Compa asked while delicately taking a minor sip.
IF hadn't even started on hers. "I don't know, and it honestly doesn't matter much. What they do is their business." She shifted on her uncomfortable seat, trying to get a better position. "Man, these guys need to buy new furniture..."
Compa set down her cup on onto the nearby glass table. "But you had told that girl that she should become an adventurer if she really wanted. What if they show up?"
"That's their prerogative.. It's not like we'll meet on a quest any time soon. Our skill levels are way too different." IF finally took one small sip of tea-the taste wasn't very agreeable to her, however. "Ugh, you like this a lot more than I do..."
Right as she set her cup down, Alba and Stein walked in, arguing over something as they were wont to do.
"Stein, what I'm saying is that you can't get it up-" Upon seeing Compa, Alba dropped the argument waved happily to her. "Oh, hello, Compa, was it?" She was wearing a much shorter dress than usual, but still light blue. Her outfit had a more rugged appearance thanks to a leather belt slung across her left shoulder adorned with pockets. The two sais hung off of her waist on a second belt worn normally.
Stein quickly walked in behind her in frustration at whatever they had been arguing about. "Dammit, Alba..." He quickly ignored her and the other two girls, instead making his way for the message board, intently checking each quest's details.
Alba on the other hand made her way over to the other two girls, greeting them enthusiastically. "Hey, you two! Glad to be among my own kind again." She fell into a nearby chair with little grace.
"Girls?" IF asked while picking up her cup again; she might not have liked the taste, but warming herself was top priority in this freezing landmass.
"No, just normal people in general." Alba completely ignored Stein's passioned "I'M PERFECTLY NORMAL, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" while pulling out her sais and admiring them. Secretly, she had hoped IF would ask about them.
IF's eyes widened when she saw the ice-blue weapons. "Are those sais?"
"Yeah..." Alba proudly threw them in the air, with a flick of her wrist to spin them, catching them on the way down. "You know about them?"
IF nodded enthusiastically. "I use a weapon that's kind of similar, called a Khatar." She quickly reached into her oversized jacket and pulled out two weapons that looked like massive daggers, but with handles that allowed the user to grab onto them. They were blue much like her jacket. "It's not quite the same, however."
"Huh, even my dad-he's a weapon nut-doesn't have any of those." Alba walked over and looked at the two daggers. "I bet he'd love to see them." She then directed her eyes towards Compa, interested in her killing implement of choice. "So, Compa, what's your monster killer of choice?"
Compa jumped up and proceeded to procure a giant syringe nearly as tall as her quite literally from hammerspace. IF, of course, was completely unfazed, but Alba recoiled back in shock, tripping over a table and crashing into the ground with a thwack. "It's this trusty syringe!"
"My CPU!" Alba stared at the massive implement, horrified. "That's not even a weapon! And it's ridiculously gigantic!"
"Well, it isn't much of a weapon, but I'm a nurse, so it fits, doesn't it? Especially since I load it up with poison and inject it into monsters!"
"Are you a nurse or a murderer?!" Alba continued to stare at the syringe like it was going to stab her to death any minute. "I-I ha-hate ne-ne-needles..White Heart, s-save me...
Compa rocked her syringe back and forth like a baby. "It's not actually a needle, though! It's a syringe!"
"THEY'RE THE SAME THING!" Alba got off the ground solely to get away from it. "They stab people and they're BAD BAD BAD" Cold sweat was pouring down her face in beads, her eye twitching in fear.
"Really, it doesn't hurt that much." Compa serenely walked towards Alba, rocking the syringe.
"nonononononNONONONO"
Stein all of a sudden walked between the two girls when Compa was nearly in stabbing distance. "Alright, girls, calm down and practice your weird sex role-play later."
"Aw..." Compa frowned, still pointing the syringe towards a sweating Alba. "I wasn't going to really stab her. Just break the skin a little." Her heavenly voice was freaking Alba out to the max, who was now backed up against a wall and fervently thanking Stein for once in her life.
"Thanks...Stein...oh CPU, thanks!" Alba, once she saw that the coast was clear, hid behind Stein, poking out before recoiling from seeing the syringe. "I can't believe I'm saying this..."
"Well," Stein boasted proudly, puffing his chest out. "You're always free to depend on me-"
"Whatever, I'm fine now!" Alba strolled nonchalantly over to the message board, letting Stein's dreams be crushed once more. "Jeez, there sure a lot of quests."
"I...I...found one..." Stein could barely function after that instant rejection. He just looked at his twitching hands, wondering where he could've possibly gone wrong. His own pathetic-ness never crossed his brain.
"What is it?" Alba perused all the quests, interested in their contents. Obviously, many were way too difficult for Stein and her. Some required traveling to other landmasses, and a few even in the Ultra dimension. A few didn't even require combat, though they didn't pay much either...
Sighing to regain his composure, Stein finally returned to normal. "Ugh, there's one on the far right of the board. 'Warriors Needed for Recovering Prototype!' it should say."
Alba searched the board for that one. It was signed by an anonymous person-on the little note explaining the quest, it said:
My latest invention is nearly complete, but while testing it I lost it in a small Lowee forest. I would've gotten it myself, but I didn't have the time. I need it as soon as possible! Meet me out before this Lowee forest!
Rank: E
Reward: 6,000 C and maybe some other stuff too, depends on how well you do!
Alba rubbed her eyes in shock. "6,000C!? For a simple rank E quest? That's fishy..."
"Who cares?!" Stein angrily snatched the note from her hand. "One quest and I have money to get a room and some extra spending money."
Alba promptly returned the favor. "Extra spending money?! I'm taking a cut too!"
Stein snatched it again from her. "What? You have a shop!
The childish back-and-forth continued for a while...but in the end, they decided to take the quest.
/
Somewhere in Planeptune...
Not many people asked Nepgear where she was going in Planeptune's main city. She quickly dove in between the various skyscrapers and streets, avoiding contact with most normal people. The city was massive, but of course she knew it like the back of her hand. Being involved with high-level governmental stuff, she was aware of many places that the average citizen wouldn't know.
The city was bustling at a time like this, roaring with crowds of people using the sidewalk and throngs of cars trying to get home from work. In here, a rather simple girl like Nepgear could easily blend in, even taking her Candidate status into account. She deftly maneuvered through the crowds, politely pushing people aside, until she could fit into an alleyway between two massive skyscrapers casting shadows over much of the city.
The alleyway didn't look like much, being covered in trash and other detritus. An overflowing garbage can was lying on its side, flies swarming around it. The stench was rather putrid and Nepgear quickly made a beeline for a door embedded into the walls. It was a simple metal door locked from the inside-or so it seemed to normal outsiders. A small fingerprint sensor was located on the handle, and it quickly beeped when she grabbed it. The locks inside the door started groaning, clearly being rarely used, and it slid open very slowly with a grinding noise.
Inside, was an elevator. She boarded it and pushed to go down 20 floors.
When the elevator had finally reached its destination, Nepgear exited into PTEL, or Planeptune Theoretical Experiments Laboratory. The inside was a complete contrast to the dirty alleyway she had been in. PTEL was slick and clean, formed of clean metal with a soft purple glow everywhere giving it an truly sci-fi feel. Planeptune was clearly ahead the other landmasses in technology, and it showed, as assistants were scurrying back and forth, carrying equipment, tests, papers, and other related materials. On a nearby table, a few scientists were poring over the latest results from an experiment on a computer. Right beside them, two were casually discussing theoretical physics. All of them, however, bowed as soon as Nepgear walked inside. A harmonious greeting of "Hello, Lady Nepgear...". One of them, a young woman with short silver hair noticed Nepgear and greeted her with a bow. "Lady Nepgear, it is an honor to meet you."
"Hello." Nepgear kindly reciprocated; then her face got serious. "I'm here to see Professor Inumaru. He requested that I come."
"Ah, yes, he's in the back, follow me..." The assistant led Nepgear past the whirring computers and test tables to the back of the lab, to an office near the back. Along the way, Nepgear passed by what looked like a high-tech suit of armor, which she hadn't seen before. She didn't much of a look at it however, as an assistant moved it out of the way.
The office at the back was a stark contrast compared to the rest of the lab. It was a cozy, carpeted place with a lacquered wood desk, various paintings from famous Planeptune artists on the wall, and a bookshelf covered in scientific magazines and books. Behind the desk lied a man-Professor Jubei Inumaru. He was a tall, commanding sort of guy who exuded an aura of pure attention-which was rather impressive, given that he looked like a girl almost, with long dark blue hair running down his back and a womanly frame. He was the epitome of what they called "bishonen". He reminded Nepgear of a woman she and Neptune knew, called Rei Ryghts, as the two almost looked like they could've been related, but when she had asked about any possible relation, Inumaru had merely said the resemblance was only skin deep.
Inumaru was enjoying a cup of coffee when Nepgear was led in, but he quickly put it down when he saw her. "Ah, hello Lady Nepgear." He rose from his seat and gave her a dignified bow. "I'm glad you could come. Please, sit down."
Nepgear slid into the seat lying before the desk while the assistant left. "Why did you call me, Professor Inumaru?"
"Please, call me 'Jubei'. 'Professor Inumaru' is so formal."
"We're in a formal situation, aren't we?"
Jubei sat down and returned to his steaming coffee. "Yes, well, let's move on shall we?" He cleared his throat and took a large swig of coffee, the steaming liquid giving him the energy to continue. "I've come to ask about funding for my project."
Nepgear looked annoyed and gave him a long, discerning look. "We've already given you a lot of funding. Planeptune is ahead of the other landmasses by a massive amount when it comes to hard sciences, and you're a household name in half of Gamindustri. What else do you need?"
"Well, research and development for Project Dreamcast is going well, but it could be faster if you could convince your sister to allocate more funding towards it." Jubei reached into his desk and pulled out a folder stuffed with papers. "You're a technological genius. It's thanks to your clout that Planeptune has such a good science department." He adjusted his glasses while handing Nepgear the folder.
Nepgear took the papers and speedily flipped through them to get the gist. "This 'Project Dreamcast' of yours has been going on for five years. I don't even know what it is, but I trusted you thanks to your previous successes-" Her gaze drifted over to various plaques lying on his bookshelf. Mainly of them were awards for Jubei's research. He had also taken the time to frame magazine articles praising his work from places as far as Lowee or the Ultradimension. One said "Prof. Inumaru: Planeptune's Finest Scientist, Claims to Have Found God Particle"; another "Prof. Inumaru Says Lifelike and Fully-Functional Prosthetics Coming in Less Than 5 Years". Such a long list of accolades had kept Jubei on Nepgear's good side. "But I'm starting to wonder just what this project is."
Jubei stared long and hard at his coffee. Nepgear normally wasn't this forceful, but when it came to the science department... "Look, it's nothing bad-"
"Neptune and I can cut your funding in an instant and throw you out on the street if you're doing something malfeasant." Nepgear angrily commented, though in an authoritative tone.
"Tch!" Jubei slammed his fist on the desk, causing several pens to roll off. Dammit! She had him good. Truth to be told, she always pulled that one when his research started getting interesting. Here he was, a grown man, endlessly having to obsequiously obey a girl who looked like she was barely out of middle school, just so he could get funding. He had no chance anywhere else-even if Leanbox, Lastation, or Lowee wanted him, they didn't have the high-tech infrastructure his research focused on. Putting it up would cost too much, so he'd be screwed out of a job. "That's what you always say...right when the research is leading us to new unexplored heights."
Nepgear had barely flinched from his outburst. Normally, she would've been freaked out, but she was so used to seeing Jubei fly off the handle from her demands. It was almost cute. "Maybe that's because you tend to act more 'mad scientist' than 'scientist'. Your sheer genius is one of the reasons we keep you at all."
Jubei set down his coffee, his hand twitching in anger. "It's called Project Dreamcast, but the real name I'm using is 'ACES'-Artificial CPU ExoSkeleton."
"Artificial CPU ExoSkeleton...what exactly are you trying to do!?"
Jubei slowly adjusted his glasses and took the folder back. "It's powered armor. It's designed to give a normal human power equivalent to you CPUs when you've gone HDD. It's...just the prototype, though. It only gives one about 70% of the power...and the artificial musculature costs as much as a house for one arm...and the battery dies within five minutes...but I'm working on it! I just need some more money to perfect the design!"
"That's what you've been making? But...why?" Nepgear looked at him, confused. What possible use could there be for powered armor like that?
"It's a personal reason. But there's also no reason why you CPUs get to have such power while us normal people don't...it's not exactly fair."
Nepgear sighed. "But my sister and the others-I'm only a Candidate you know-they're goddesses. Of course we get that kind of power!"
"That's no excuse for the sheer disparity! Even ignoring the military application of the ACES, just think about the medical industry! The artificial musculature used in ACES could be used to build prosthetics exactly as function as real limbs. If you get dismembered in an accident, they could give you an artificial limb that works just like the real one, maybe even better! We'd cure blindness and deafness overnight!"
"That...is a good reason for the research, but knowing you, I'm not sure I can trust you with it..." Neptune rubbed her chin in contemplation, trying to see how to make the situation move smoothly. "...If you can give us a working prototype by the time of Lastation Technology Expo happening in two months, then maybe we can think about it. The other Goddesses-Noire, Vert, Blanc, Plutia-they'll be there too. Along with their Candidates." Nepgear rose as she finished, eager to leave.
"...I can possibly do that." Jubei crossed his hands and slumped down in his chair before realizing he was doing the Gendou Pose, and straightened his body in response.
"Bye, Professor Inumaru." Nepgear proceeded to leave elegantly, her lilac hear fluttering as she closed the door.
Jubei calmly sat at his desk, glancing at the folder. "Dammit...I can't believe I have kowtow endlessly to a girl as young as her. If only...I need to test the ACES in combat with an actual CPU...but attacking one of the goddesses would be horrible form..."
"My Research" flashed around in his head alongside "My Country".
He had to pick one in two months.
"Well, in the meanwhile, where the hell did Momiji go? Dammit, don't tell me she ran off to Lowee again...I bet she lost something in the forests there. She always does when she's in that frozen shithole..."
/
Several hours later, Alba and Stein had left the guild and made their way to the forest given to them once they had accepted the quest. The freezing cold ensured that they were remarkably tranquil during the trip. Though, they had to admit the snowy landscape, pure white and gleaming with snow-capped mountains standing astutely in the distance, was rather nice.
They met their quest giver at the base of a nearby mountain-the walk was only about an hour. The person was a girl, about Alba's age, slightly taller than her but still short compared to Stein. She greeted them with a big smile, waving excitedly to beckon them closer, her single large braid of hair swinging along with her.
Waving to show that they could see her, Stein and Alba approached her at the mouth of the forest. Seeing inside was nearly impossible thanks to the immense density of trees. Going off the beaten path was not much of an option. The girl gazed at them like they were her personal saviors.
"My name is Momiji." The girl was wearing a thick hoodie built for traveling in the snow, with the hood put down. The overall design heavily resembled the hoodie of the goddess Neptune, except black-Stein figured it was a piece of replica merchandise.
Stein also noticed that Momiji had quite large breasts, but such information was hopefully pointless.
"Hi, I'm Alba, and this idiot over here is Stein." Alba shook Momiji's hand enthusiastically, though she was honestly somewhat nervous...
"'Idiot'? Oh, that's really funny!" Momiji laughed in such an innocent way that Alba honestly felt a little bad for the insult.
Stein watched her closely, marveling at her laugh. "How...is this what they call moe?"
Alba slammed him in the gut with a sai. "Fat chance." She then resumed talking to Momiji, acitng oblivious to Stein crumpling over and clutching his chest. "What's the problem?"
"It's really bad..." Momiji fidgeted in worry. "I was getting away from my brother to relax in Lowee, but I lost something I had made. It was a cell phone."
"You made a whole cell-phone by yourself?" Alba looked genuinely surprised. "Pretty cool..."
Stein had finally managed to pick himself up off the ground in pain. "How-oof...-are we gonna find a small cell phone in that massive forest?"
Momiji beamed brightly and clapped her hands together in excitement. "Well, I have a special device that tracks it. I'll give it to you." She produced a small device the size of a hand, with a screen on it. The screen was set to a map of the area with a dot showing their current location beeping intermittently.
"So we just go in and get this...two questions." Alba grabbed the device and stuffed into one of her belt pockets. "First, why can't you get it yourself? And second, what can we expect to get from this?"
Momiji said nothing but reached into her pockets to pull out two reflective black cards shining in the sunlight. "I said that I'd give you 6000 C, but I'll throw these in. They're passes to the Lastation Technology Expo. It's happening in two months. These'll give you VIP access." She crammed them back into her pockets. "I happened to swipe a few before going off to Lowee."
The LTE-Alba's parents had gone to that a few times before, but not with her. Now she could have a chance to go-plus they gave her an excuse to get the hell out of Lowee. "Fine, I'll take them. I wanna get out of here anyway. Stein?"
"I'm fine with traveling, as long as I can get blasted and cruise for chicks!" Stein fist-bumped the air-it didn't seem eager to reciprocate.
Alba shook her head in exasperation. "Just ignore everything he says, it's hazardous for your health. Now, about my other question?"
"Well..." Momiji sheepishly rubbed her head, chuckling nervously. "I'm not very good by myself. But I can come with you and help. I make some weapons on the side."
Right as she said this, a circular landmine
Then another one fell.
Then a flood of homemade explosives came cascading out of her hoodie like a portal to a weapons depot. Stein and Alba intently stared, wide-eyed, as what appeared to be an an entire army's worth of explosives fell in a rising pile of stuff, eventually creating a ring all around Momiji's feet coming up to her knees.
"Ehhehe...heh."
Alba and Stein couldn't say anything in response. They seemed frozen in time, gawking at the all the weapons.
"My brother's a scientist-one of his latest inventions, it's, well...a way of storing tons of items in one small place."
Smacking herself in the head to reboot, Alba managed to tear her eyes away from the explosives and gawk at Momiji instead. "I-I don't care about the way you're keeping them in there, I wanna know WHY you have them in the first place!"
"Well, I like watching things explode, I guess." Momiji shrugged as she began to scoop up the weapons and stuff them down her hoodie. "And explosives are great because they're not bloody like guns, so this can remain rated T!"
"First..." Alba stopped just to steel herself with a prolonged breath. "We're not even in a video game, and second, it's already rated M!"
"Thanks to yours truly, Stei-"
"SHUT UP! Let's...let's just go inside the forest and get this thing." Alba began to walk down the only cut-out path before turning to face the others. "And I swear if you blow me up or if you hit me with your sword..." Her tone was enough to make the other two sweat profusely as they followed her, though Stein did wonder who exactly made Alba leader.
/
The way into the forest was dark and badly-kept, but it was still traversable. Alba stayed ahead (the slender pathway forced the trio to walk in a direct line), carefully observing the tracking device. She felt at home in the forests of Lowee, having played in them frequently when she was young; though she had never gone into one this far away from home. A feeling of both excitement and apprehension filled her, and she nearly dropped the tracking device.
...Speaking of which, there was only one pathway into this forest. This was a rather easy job for 6000C. When she voiced this concern to Momiji, she shrugged and mentioned something about a "rich brother".
"Ignoring the monetary issues-why did you lose this phone in the first place? And why didn't you just go back and pick it up?" Alba stopped for a second to check the device. They were less than 100 feet from the phone, the thick brush all around them, predetermining their way. "There's only one way into this forest. You couldn't get lost."
"Well...there's this...thing out there." Momiji twiddled her thumbs.
"What?!" Alba stomped over in a rage and nearly choked her; Momiji quickly broke free, gasping for air. "You neglected to tell us this until now!?"
"Sheesh, it's not that bad! Just not something one person should take on." Coughing a little, Momiji stared daggers at Alba. The tension in the air between the two girls was so thick Stein retreated a little as they glared murderously at each other.
"You two girls are too much..."
The two quickly returned to the mission, though not without silently agreeing to settle the score later. Alba scoffed at Momiji's odd airheadedness. Surely she could've told them before hand they were fighting something. Even if she had expected it, Alba would rather have been prepared than caught off guard.
In an attempt to clear her mind, she checked the tracking device-it showed that they were...right in front of the phone. The pathway suddenly opened up into a large circular area, the trees having been cleared for whatever reason. The phone, however, was nowhere to be seen; Alba chalked that up to its presumed small size. The frigid air was stagnant, almost frozen itself in the cold. Nothing else seemed to be in the area., though the trees above shook and rustled unnervingly, as if something was in them...
Alba smirked. "How convenient. Big ol' area for us to find this thing in."
Stein came up behind her and peered over her shoulder. "It's here?"
"That's that the tracking device said." Alba motioned towards Momiji. "You sure you lost it in here?"
Momiji nodded eagerly, pointing to the middle of the circular area. "Yeah, I did."
"I don't see it though." Alba checked the tracking device.
It stated that the phone was...directly above her.
The tangled brush above her head rustled slightly.
Alba swung around. That was all that could be said about the action. It was devoid of needing extraneous adjectives or flowery description. It was the essence of swinging around, done by a girl who knew that some terrible thing was about to claw at her head.
Gripping her sais out of reflex, she brought them up and slammed something soft and furry. The impact sent her into the ground. She was barely able to see anything but a icy blur as Stein shot forward with surprising vigor and punched said blur hard, sending it flying out of her vision.
"You okay!?" Stein grabbed Alba's hand and effortlessly hoisted her to her feet.
"I'm fine!" Alba dusted herself off and then whirled around to see her attacker. It was a wolf, with fur the color and shine of pure ice. About the size of a human, it snarled at her, enough to make her second-guess fighting it-but then she remembered that she really didn't have a choice. Everything seemed in slow motion, each second feeling like a minute. Her knuckles were turning white from clenching her sais as hard as she could.
Momiji bolted up to her, pulling a makeshift grenade out. "That's what attacked me. It's an Winter Wolf, you normally only see them in roguelikes and things like that." The air around the wolf rose up in a raging typhoon, buffeting the trio fiercely.
Stein unsheathed his sword with a massive SHING! and dashed to the front of the group. He seemed like an entirely different person from before-Alba could barely tell it was the same drunken idiot she had met less than a day ago. "Alba, stay with me! Momiji, support us from behind!" He shot a glance at Alba, his face in a wicked grin of delight.
"So, girls, ready for your first boss battle?"