"Slow down a little, will you?" Thomas protested as he caught up to the briskly walk of his rescuer Uzume Tennouboshi, "Seriously, how do you have so much stamina after a fight?"
"Oh?" Uzume seemed a little thrown off by the question as she finally decided to slow down a little so Thomas can keep up, "Oh, you know! The usual! Exercise, plenty of good rest, healthy foods like fish and chocolate. You should probably look into that, haha!"
"Um, chocolate?" Thomas was more hung up on that one word being associated with healthy.
"Sure, I always feel a little perky after a chocolate bar, don't you? Ooh, especially when they are different kinds of chocolate!" Uzume clasps her hands together, "Dark chocolates, white chocolates, milk chocolates. But the ones with the different kinds of chocolate with the little flavors in them are like totally so cool, y'know? Orange, mint, strawberry... they'll put, like, anything in there! That's so amazingly awesome, right?"
"Uhhh, sure," Thomas didn't want to argue with Uzume, nor paid any attention to Uzume's sudden change of tone, "I guess you have a bit of a sweet tooth, huh?"
"Sure do!" Uzume gleefully continued, "Any time I have one, it's almost like I'm living in a dream! A dream of delightful, delectable, deliciousness! I just love it when it's made fresh too! Just the process and everything about it just makes me wanna jump for, uhhhh..." There is an audible pause as Thomas just looked forward. Uzume eventually continued, though not as excited, "A-a-anyway, I like chocolate, so what of it?"
"Um, nothing wrong, really," Thomas said in a bit of confusion, glancing a little to see Uzume looking rather flustered for a second, though she quickly turned her head away. Thomas then shrugged, and looked back forward, hoping to find the village he's expecting in the distance to show up at some point.
"Ahem, right! B-by the way," Uzume changed the topic, away from her high stamina and sweet tooth, "What do you plan to do once you get to the village, anyway? Something you're looking for."
"Among other things, yeah," Thomas said while he was formulating thoughts, "Really, I just need a place to rest to compose my thoughts and figure out a plan. I'll probably check out the Guild, or ask around for some possible leads."
"Oh? Are you a detective or something?" Uzume asked, being rather curious.
"Not really. Although," Thomas said looking up once more, "I guess there is a case to solve."
"Yeah, I suppose there is," Uzume could only agree, as she seemed in thought as well.
Thomas stopped for a moment, turning his head to the side and looking more closely along the road they are traveling. Uzume paused a few steps ahead, looking puzzled at the man. It took a few seconds before Thomas continued on.
"Alright," Thomas said aloud for Uzume to hear, "I recognize these roads a bit more now. We're definitely on the Narita Roads, heading to Narita Village. It's not a very big place, since it only has a few buildings, but it should have some people we could speak to."
"I think I was passing there a long while back," Uzume responded, "At least now I know where I am, though you must have a map of Planeptune in your head, huh?"
Thomas could only "mhmm" in the positive, before pointing off in the distance, "And there it is, Narita Village, and - ah crap."
Uzume turned her head over to look at the far-off village, only to see one problem with it, "What is it? Oh! No, it's..."
"Behind the firewall. Great, we won't be able to pass through here, not unless we can break this wall down," Thomas stopped and rubbed a little of the sweat from his forehead.
"Firewall?" Uzume quizzically asked Thomas, before turning her head to the sky, "Is that what this thing is?"
"It's no use. We'll have to find another place to visit, but I don't know of any other village in this area. This is not good," Thomas looked frustrated, and kicked a little bit of the air with his left foot.
"O-o-okay! Well, how about we try and break it down ourselves! You saw how strong I am!" Uzume gets back into show-off mode, "I'll just give a good punch and that wall will just bust wide open!"
"Wait, no! Don't!" Thomas said in a panic, "That's not a good idea at all! That wall is basically like a giant electric fence!"
"How would you know that for sure?" Uzume spat back, "Why do you know so much about this firewall?"
"I, uh, I don't want to risk you getting hurt!" Thomas retorted, as he tries to check his inventory for that tome he read earlier. He remembered that it told of how dangerous it was to even touch the firewall, but until he had it out, he just wanted to stop Uzume from going.
"That's strange, because I risked my butt just to save your sorry ass," Uzume said as she got more heated, "Now you're suddenly hesitating?"
Thomas grew more irritated, but he knew if he were to verbally retort now, it wouldn't go very well. His face reddened, "Of course I am hesitating. Wouldn't you be worried in my shoes if someone who just rescued you might hurt herself just on the zero chance it would work?"
"I'd gladly do it myself!" Uzume had no problem answering that question as Thomas pulled the tome from his inventory, "My whole life has been about taking that chance, even if the percentage is zero! Uhhh..." Uzume's temper went down a little as she saw Thomas flipping through the pages, "What are you doing?"
"While you were hyping yourself up to do something crazy," Thomas said in a dull tone, "I was trying to find the passage here that would tell you how crazy it would be."
"Oh!" Uzume felt the heat drain from her body, and she slumped her shoulders, "So, you had a book about this. Ugh."
"Um, sorry about that, I did not mean to hide this from you," Thomas explained, as he continued looking in the book, "But, well, I would really hate myself if you just did something like that and hurt yourself badly."
Uzume glanced downwards, feeling a bit ridiculous for pushing herself. She was going to say something, but as she opened her mouth, something else made a noise.
GRRRRAAAAAAWWR!
Uzume snapped back from her downcast expression, moving behind Thomas, or rather, in front to meet with where the noise was coming from, "We'll check over the book later! We've got company!"
Thomas scrambled to put the book back, and brought out his poking stick of doomy-doom, turning around while trying to get back into a fighting stance. As he was doing so, his hands were already shaking a little, as he recognized the sound of that monster.
Coming up along the road to greet them was a large wolf-like creature with rather massive claws sticking out from its front claw, and even some blades on its back paws. It seemed rather much for a beast to have those things, but this was a dangerous beast to deal with anyway.
"A Fenrir? Here? Damnit all. It's one thing to take on Dogoos, but another to take on something like this," Uzume took her megaphone and readied herself, before glancing back to Thomas with a serious expression, "Tomsy, you may have to hang back for this one. These things are awfully strong, so I'll have to give it everything I got." She winced, looking back briefly, "I don't know how it will go, honestly. I haven't been a hundred percent since that firewall dropped."
"This is bad, isn't it?" Thomas' voice cracked a little, his hands visibly shaking so much holding the weapon that even Uzume could see that he was nervous, "Why did it have to be this? Why..."
Uzume tried to rally her travelling partner, "Tomsy, get a hold of yourself! We have to work together in order to bring this thing down. Just, hang in there-"
GRRRRAAAAAAWWR! The Fenrir was just saying hello! Also, welcome to your doom.
Thomas jumped in place, visibly shaking now, "Why... Oh please, save me." As Uzume clenched her megaphone and went right in front to shield Thomas, Thomas clasped his hands together, with his weapon, raising them up as though to pray.
He murmured, "Please, goddesses, save me. Any one of you, can you hear me? I need your help. We need your help. Please, save us. I know if anyone can deal with this, it would be you, so please..."
Uzume was not sure what was happening, but she felt someone calling out to her, and a familiar feeling rushed over her body. She widened her eyes, coming to a realization, "Tomsy? Was that you?"
Thomas paused from his plea, and looked over to Uzume, "Huh? Uzume?"
She smiled softly, and turned to look at him, "Trust me, and watch this, okay?"
"Wait, what do you-" It only took a second, but Uzume was quick to call upon this feeling and interrupt Thomas with a "Transform~!"
Both the Fenrir and Thomas were briefly blinded by the white light that engulfed her. When it returned, Uzume was completely different. The red-haired girl had transformed into an orange-haired goddess, complete with the wings that were commonly seen among the other nations' CPUs.
"Transformation complete~! Uzume's not going to let the big bad wolfie hurt anyone!" The CPU said with definite confidence, even if her tone did not match that intensity.
"Wh-wha-" Thomas, stunned, was at a complete loss of words.
Uzume beamed another smile at him, "Uzume'll help, okay?"
"Uh, uh, ok..." Thomas' complexion turned, as he tried to refocus himself. He will undoubtedly have a lot to say later, if he could get around to it, that is.
GRRRRAAAAAAWWR! Fenrir unimpressed by transformation! Also, this is its only line of dialogue!
To say this was a one-sided fight that would not be given much detail would be understating it. From Thomas' perspective, this was like watching the last fight, except now it was a goddess taking down a much more dangerous monster. It was a surreal sight that he couldn't really process in the moment.
In comparison, Thomas... had a stick to poke the Fenrir with. He wasn't exactly sure how he was going to damage this enemy, but he had to at least try to assist. So, as Uzume was thrashing the enemy with a barrage of punches and sound waves, Thomas took opportune moments to kick the Fenrir in the limbs. At least, he kicked the areas that were not sharp blades or claws. It looked rather silly, honestly, but Uzume did not have the heart to let Thomas know.
Thomas gave the Fenrir one last kick, though it kicked through the air as the Fenrir vanished, dropping its loot. With the Fenrir defeated, Uzume did a victory pose to celebrate her victory, "Alright! Uzume took down the wolfie! Is Tomsy okay?" She beamed cutely, hovering over to check on the man, who tried to catch his breath after the fight.
There was an awkward pause, as the CPU waited for Thomas to say something. Anything?
"Y-y-you're a CPU!" Thomas said excitedly, then tried to curb his enthusiasm, "Er, sorry! I'm just so happy! And excited! And a lot of other positive emotions! Although I think I'm also feeling a bit of anxiety as well! Sorry! I... I..."
Before Thomas continued, Uzume changed back to her human form, and took a deep breath, "Ho, I feel a lot better now. I should've brought a share crystal when I was taking a stroll but I am so glad to feel that share energy once again. I have you to thank, Tomsy... um, Tomsy?"
Thomas was deep in thought for a second, then pointed a finger questioningly, "Wait. You, you're a CPU."
"Uh, yes," Uzume replied.
"But," Thomas looked really confused by this, "but I don't recognize you. What nation are you from?"
Uzume blinked, "Uh, Planeptune."
"Planeptune? But you're not Neptune," Thomas continued his line of questioning, "I don't remember there being a new goddess. A candidate? No, I don't think Histoire mentioned a new CPU Candidate. Are you from another dimension?"
Uzume continued blinking, looking just as confused as Thomas, "Uh, yes and no? Wait, you know Nepsy? And Histy?"
An awkward pause later, Thomas slapped his forehead, a headache coming on, "Uh, this seems like a long story for the both of us right now. Right now, though, I need your help!" He reached and grabbed for Uzume's right arm.
"Hey, what are you doing? Hey!" Uzume is brought along by an excited Thomas back towards the firewall near Narita Village, "I can walk, you know!"
"Huh? Oh! Sorry!" Thomas let go of Uzume's arm and quickly went back to his inventory, taking the tome from earlier and reopening it, "But as a CPU, there is a way to break this wall down."
"Break down the wall?" Uzume's cheeks were only briefly red.
"Yeah," Thomas flipped over to a page he mentally noted in his mind when he first scanned through the book, and speeds through it, "Let's see... ah! Here it is! Okay, uh," Thomas looked to Uzume and blinked, "Oh, right! You need to be transformed for this."
"Alright," Uzume shrugged, and did a less dramatic transformation sequence to resume her goddess identity.
"It's here in the tome that you need to... hold your arm out, like this," Thomas held a free arm out, palm outstretched. Uzume copied the motion, realizing that it is similar to when she holds out a share crystal to transform. "Good, good!" Thomas continued looking through the page, and squinted his eyes, "Next you... you..." He struggled as he read the page, "Please don't tell me I'm losing it here. We're so close!"
"Did something go wrong?" Uzume frowned, concerned.
"Well-" he seemed to be stuck on a particular part of the page, then looked to Uzume, leaning the book towards her, "This part here, can you read this?"
"Hmm?" Uzume looks down at the page shown, and after the silly diagrams showing the outstretched arm pose, there are a bunch of strange symbols listed on the next step, including a symbol of a Dogoo, and a swirling logo similar to the one Uzume is familiar with. Uzume perked up, as though the symbols made sense, "Got it!"
"You do?" He asked, before Uzume nodded and turned her head down to her open palm, concentrating on something. A beat later, yellow pulsing energy grew over Uzume's hand, and shot at the wall in front of her.
The result was sudden, as the firewall began disintegrating from where the shot hit, and the hole it created grew until the path to Narita Village was clear. The two watched and grew more hopeful when the wall continued breaking, until the section that was isolating them from the village had dissolved. However, the sky continued to spark electricity, and much farther away, they could still see 'walls' still holding their strength.
"I, I guess I was a bit too hopeful," Thomas said with a small sigh.
Uzume, who quickly reformed back into her human form, still looked incredibly excited, "This is great! We have a way to get rid of this thing! Tomsy, where did you get that book?"
"An old castle not too far off from here," Thomas answered, "A former goddess offered to me to help."
"Former goddess?" Uzume was intrigued, but then composed herself, "Looks like we have a lot to talk about. But perhaps we should check on the village first."
"Agreed. I am sure there'll be people wondering what just happened."
Narita Village. The small village had a few buildings along the path, but most of it was basically farmland, as there are a few crops growing nearby, namely wheat and corn. As Uzume and Thomas enter the village, they noticed that there aren't really many people around. Sure, they can see one NPC, a farmer, occasionally looking up at the sky while using a scythe on some wheat. However, it didn't look like there was much in the village.
"I don't know if there is any Guild around here, Tomsy. Perhaps we should just find a place to st-" Uzume thought she was talking with Thomas when she turned her head to see him bolting towards someone. Puzzled, she followed along, until she caught up to Thomas meeting with a lone guard hanging in a small booth. The guard didn't have any outstanding features - although he at least was not just a silhouette - but he did appear to recognize Thomas, who called out to him.
"Woah! Well if it ain't Tommy! I ain't seen ya since I was at the Basilicom! How's it going, eh?" The guard, putting his spear aside, relaxed considerably and shook Thomas' hand.
"I didn't expect to see you here, Gary!" Thomas was positively beaming as he returned the handshake, "So this is where you've been posted this whole time?"
"Oh no, I got here like a week ago after the last guy retired, eh," the guard with a strange accent said as he let go of the handshake, "Pretty much nothing going on here, eh, but I don't mind so long as I get fed and the pay's good. Though lately, the sky falling caused everyone to be all spooked out, yanno?"
"Yeah, I can't really say I blame them," Thomas said with a frown, "Any luck trying to contact anyone?"
"Nah, no luck here, eh," Gary shrugged, "Couldn't get a hold of the Basilicom ever since the sky fell on our heads. Well that just don't beat all, yanno? Communication's been cut off to other places too, can't even check on my girl back in Haneda City, eh? I dunno what I can do at this point."
"It seems peaceful enough here, though," Thomas said as he gestured around the small village. The NPC farmer gave a nod as though he was being acknowledge. Everyone say hi to the farmer! Or not. Fine, be that way.
"Oh not really," Gary corrected him, "Well, yes, it's all peaceful here, sure, but since the sky fell, there's been some noise north of here. I mean, like, there's been explosions and stuff happening there." He pointed north, towards a few mountains.
"Explosions? That doesn't sound good. Have you planning on doing anything?" Thomas asked.
"Normally I'd post a request to the Guild, but the closest one's in Haneda City, eh," Gary frowned, "And I don't know if I should go alone, yanno? It could be very dangerous..."
"Lucky for you two, I happen to be here!" Uzume finally spoke up, getting into that cocky demeanor from earlier, "I can check it out if you want!"
"Huh? Hey Tommy, who's this broad, eh?" Gary asked, before his eyes widened in recognition, "No way! Oh, I am so sorry, my Lady! I didn't mean to speak out of turn!"
"Wait, you know her?" Thomas asked as Uzume blinked in surprise as well.
"Know her? Tommy, where you been all this time, eh? That's Lady Orange Heart! She was goddess of Planeptune long before you were even born!" Gary exclaimed in offense.
"Uzume, you -" Thomas gestured a little to Uzume, who just waved a little 'hello' to his travelling partner, "Uh, well, I don't remember reading anything about this."
"Oh! Right, I guess there are people who still didn't know, eh," Gary said, patting his colleague on the back, "I mean, I just learned from my grandpapi about her not too long ago, yanno? That whole crisis long ago... well, the one before this one we have? Well, Lady Orange Heart was revived after all that. Long story involving her sealing herself and rewriting everyone's memories long ago, so she just now came back and all. Really weird story, but you should've seen the look on grandpapi's face! Happy as a Neptune eating pudding, he was!"
"Oh geez, this is kind of embarrassing, hearing your own story being told like this. Really, I'm just happy to be back home," Uzume said as her cheeks reddened.
"But if a CPU is here, than that's even better, eh!" Gary looked pumped, "Could you do us all a favor and check it out? I'm afraid to leave my post on account of the monsters bouncing around. Don't want them to be eating the crops or worse, eh. Plus, I know a CPU would definitely take care of anything like that! Um... if it's not too much trouble with you, my Lady."
"Of course I'm willing to help!" Uzume said, pumping her fist up and trying to strike a 'cool' pose, "I've been itching to get back to helping the people of Planeptune again."
"Oh, that's so kind of you, my Lady," Gary said, looking incredibly happy, "I can see why my grandpapi was so smitten with you, eh! I'm guessing you were also the one that broke that wall back there?"
Uzume just nodded, and looked almost ecstatic in being recognized for her achievement. "Ah, bless you, my Lady," Gary said, "I have every confidence in you helping to fix... whatever this thing is, eh? Just be careful when you go over there, okay?"
"Uh, before all that, Uzume," Thomas interrupted, "er, Gary, is there a place where the two of us could lodge for a while? There's quite a lot to discuss before doing anything."
"Hmm? Oh, yeah, sure, I got a place in the village here, eh? It ain't much, but it's got plenty of beds and space, so you can use it while you're around here," Gary offered.
"Thanks Gary, appreciate all the help we can get," Thomas said, smiling once more.
"Oh, it's no problem at all. Just doing my part for the community, eh?" Gary said before asking Thomas, "Are you planning to go with the CPU up north too? Aren't you no longer of Planeptune?"
"I plan to go, yes," Thomas said before hesitating, "And, uh, that's a bit complicated. I have some things to take care of down by the coast, after all."
"Ah, okay," Gary replied, "Well, so long as you're still helping, I ain't gonna stop ya."
"Thanks again. I'll see you later, hopefully with one mystery solved," Thomas patted Gary on the back before the guard took back his spear to resume his post, but not before pointing the way to the building he was staying at, and offering a spare set of keys he had on him.
With that, Uzume and Thomas went into the building. It would not be long before they would check out the Otori Cave. It was there that they would meet something potentially more dangerous than the firewall. At least, that's what this teaser is telling me as I am reading this. I don't know if you should trust it. You know how off-the-mark those things can be. One minute, it's impending doom, the next, it's a fluffy plushy.
Honestly, these teasers can go take a hike somewhere. Ah well, screw this. I'm gonna go get a bite to eat now. I'm sure the next part will be fine.
