Chapter 2: Solid Webs, Part 1
The sun shone like any other average day in the Land of Purple Progress. The streets were full of life, with tons of people moving around the busy streets of the shopping district. Tons of people went in and out of the mall, either searching for the latest games or simply window shopping until they felt like the employees were starting to become suspicious. Among the crowds emerged IF, awkwardly holding a bag and a receipt. She shivered as she read what it said. The cleaners wouldn't be able to finish cleaning her coat until tomorrow morning. Without her coat, she felt naked. Unused to not wearing it, she felt cold at even the slightest breeze. She had to manage through the day with only her black one piece on. She put the receipt away and walked up to a trash can. Peering into the bag, she quickly reached into it and pulled out a pistol, then rapidly shoving it into one of the pouches on her belt while dropping the bag into the trash can. After what happened yesterday, she figured it would be a good idea to have some extra firepower just in case she was too exhausted to use magic again. Feeling like she was becoming the subject of public fanservice, she speed walked over to her bike and rode off towards the guild.
IF pulled up up in front of the guild and parked her bike before walking up the steps. She stopped and gave a deep sigh as she was blasted by the winds of Lowee emanating from the air conditioner on the other side of the sliding doors. After walking in, she scanned around the main lobby for her partner. She found her sitting at a table where she appeared to be writing something. Nisa saw some movement from the corner of her eye and raised her head to give IF a smile.
"Iffy! I see you have felt the warmth of Justice. It can be overwhelming at first, but you'll get used to it!", she nodded. IF sat down across from her and rested her arms on the table.
"Actually, my coat's in the cleaners. What sort of thing do you have planned for us today?", IF responded as she leaned forward, eyes on the paper Nisa was writing on.
"Well first, we have to sign up for the tournament!", Nisa announced. She lifted up the paper she was writing on and showed it to IF. It was an application with several fields filled out, the most notable one being Nisa's name signed at the bottom.
"You mean we can't just show up to the preliminaries?"
"No way! Only people who have collected a certain amount of shares can enter. That way, they can make sure that only people who are serious about this can participate. The winner is going to be able to meet the Goddesses themselves, after all!"
Makes sense. If there weren't any kind of vetting process, then a bunch of weirdos could join and make the competition longer than it has to be. Nisa handed an application over to IF and she started to fill it out. It had some basic points to fill out, such as her name and which guild she regularly works at.
"Say, Nisa. How many shares do I need to have earned to qualify?", she asked, looking up from the paper.
"One hundred shares. Do you think you've earned enough?", she asked, stretching in her seat. IF took out her phone to check.
"I should have enough… after all, that request yesterday had a really high re-wait a minute." IF stared at her phone in disbelief. "That rotten little-! Not only did she only pay us half the money, but I only earned a quarter of the shares for it! I only have ninety nine!", IF hissed. Nisa tried to calm her down.
"Hey, that's not so bad! All we need to do is complete a simple request so you get can over the top. Come on, let's go get an easy one!", she said reassuringly.
IF sighed and nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Let's get this over with." The pair walked over to a kiosk and looked through the requests. "Hey, none of these quests are that easy. What gives? There were a bunch of them yesterday…", IF muttered. She then heard someone a few kiosks down talking.
"Yaaaay… I helped all of those people today…! My mom won't allow me to do anything dangerous, so I was lucky that there were a bunch of easy requests to do today…", the girl said to herself. She had orange colored hair resting over one shoulder and wore a green shirt along with brown pants. She pulled up her small wooden pickaxe and held it weakly with both hands. "Now I have time to tend to my farm…", she said, before going on her way.
"Isn't it great? Even regular people can become heroes in Gamindustri!", Nisa said with a smile. IF couldn't help but smile, seeing a bit of herself in the young girl.
"Yeah. Everyone can do their part. That's why I want to do mine. Anyway, I guess it can't be helped. We're gonna have to take a harder request. Now, what do we have here…", she scrolled through the list, looking for a decent one to take. She went on until Nisa pointed towards one of the listings.
"We can do this one! It's a request for materials. Depending on the quest… we might even already have some!", she explained.
IF nodded. It would cut their workload in half if they found a request asking for something they already had. Naturally, they searched for a request asking for Dogoo Jelly. Bingo. However, some other materials were also being requested.
"Hey, Nisa. Do you have any of these items on you?", IF asked. Nisa leaned in to get a better look at the screen.
"Hm… yeah, I think I have a few! That narrows this all down to… thick spider webs. To be honest, I never understood why anybody would need this sort of stuff." Nisa scratched her cheek while giving an awkward smile. IF shrugged.
"Me neither. As long as it pays us, I'll take anything. Might as well accept this one since we already have almost all of the materials. I actually have a pretty good idea where we could find some spider webs, too!", IF said with a confident smile. Nisa crossed her arms and grilled IF. "Hold on, you're not gonna suggest we go that swamp, are you?"
"Yeah, why not?"
"You're… not wearing very much. Are you sure you want to go there?"
IF shivered once more, the breeze cooling her more than she would've liked. "Ha, a measly little swamp isn't gonna stop me! Let's go, Nisa!", she responded, with feigned confidence.
It couldn't be that bad, right? Worst case scenario, monsters try to rip her clothes off. She should be able to take care of anything there, though. Nisa saw through the bluff immediately, but decided to keep quiet for once, admiring IF's determination. After making some final preparations, they set out onto the city streets and were on their way. IF didn't want to bring her bike into a musty old swamp, so they had to go on foot. On their way over, they noticed a crowd of protesters standing in front of the Basilicom. Fortunately, they didn't seem to be very riled up and were just holding up signs as the guards made sure to keep them away from the entrance.
"Where's the Goddess?!", one protester shouted.
"How're we supposed to believe in someone we've never even seen?!", another yelled.
"I wanna know if she's hot or not!", a younger one cried.
"Yeah! Maybe she's hiding because she's ugly! How're we supposed to give our faith to an ugly goddess?! If we don't hear from her any time soon, then we're taking our shares elsewhere!", an old man bellowed.
The guards exchanged uneasy glances at each other, the only sign of their emotions being shown being from their mouths. IF glanced at them as they passed by. "Yeah, good luck trying to see the other Goddesses…", she muttered before sighing deeply. This happens every other day. Despite the obvious progress Planeptune has gone through, there were still people who doubted the Goddess, Purple Heart. Luckily the nonbelievers were only a small, but vocal minority. The duo kept walking until the sounds of the protesting faded away as they approached the outskirts of the city.
They were greeted by a calmer, more natural ambience as they travelled down the path surrounded by lush green grass. The occasional dogoo bounced by, though they were harmless on their own. IF gave one a cold stare shook her head to scare it off. Nisa hummed a cheery tune that totally didn't sound like her theme song. After walking for awhile, they decided to take a break in neighboring town. They sat down in a cafe to review their game plan.
"We're only here to collect some spider webs! Don't overdo it this time, okay?", Nisa said.
"Hey, that was an honest mistake. I'm pretty sure I know my limits now.", IF replied with a smirk.
Nisa crossed her arms. "These aren't the same as dogoos, IF. I have to ask. Have you even fought giant spiders before?", she asked in a firm tone.
"What kind of adventurer do you take me for? Of course I have. I'm able to slice and burn them no problem. How about you, Nisa? You're not seriously going to just run and and kick them all, are you?", IF replied with a smirk.
Nisa's eyes widened with shock as she recoiled.
"How'd you know that?!"
"Just a wild guess", IF said with a shrug, "You did that twice last time, after all. Anyway, don't try that here. If you get caught in the spider webs, you won't be able to run away like with the dogoos."
Nisa lept into the air and landed on the chair, standing up with one foot on the table. "The light of Justice shall free me from those bonds!", she announced proudly to the restaurant.
"I guess you won't mind when I leave you behind with the spiders, then", IF stated with an icy glance.
Nisa chuckled awkwardly and climbed back down into her seat. "Heroes shouldn't leave people behind, IF", she answered with a chuckle. The chunni pushed herself up from the table.
"It'd be best if we just stuck to gathering the webs without trying the fight the spiders. If we have to fight, then we have to make it quick before we get overwhelmed", she explained. "Please don't say anything else. It's a death flag waiting to be raised."
The swamp wasn't a very pleasant place to be in. It was humid, musty, and there were flies everywhere. You'd think there would be less of them with all the giant spiders crawling around. IF felt even more naked without her jacket now that insects were landing on her arms. This caused her to periodically wave her hands over her arms to scare them off. Nisa's goggles began getting foggy, so she found herself wiping them off frequently. They found a patch of web and IF began to cut it up. She handed the thick strings to Nisa so she could store them in her backpack. IF initially tried to put the webs into the pouches on her belt, but there was simply too much webbing to fit into them while still carrying her necessary equipment. They kept doing this for a while, trying to sneak around to avoid any monsters.
There would be more dialogue in this scene if it weren't for all the flies waiting for the moment the girls opened their mouths to land their dirty legs inside them. After cutting up a patch of spider web, IF stood up straight to continue walking but then immediately ducked again, signalling Nisa to do the same. They both crawled behind two separate logs and peered over them in unison to observe. Nisa didn't know what IF saw, so she was really surprised to see how close they were to a large, orange spider. The spider stopped and turned its body to look in the direction of the two girls. Nisa knocked on the log she was on to attract the spider's attention. It began to crawl over the log IF was hiding behind, allowing IF to perform a Symbol Attack and eliminate it quickly.
IF and Nisa exchanged nods before IF began to gather webbing from the fallen foe. Nisa moved to the log where IF was hiding behind and zipped open her backpack. She kept watch while the brunette stuffed more and more webbing into her bag as quickly as she could without being too noisy. IF zipped the bag up and tapped Nisa on the shoulder, letting her know she was done. They ran out of inventory space so it was time to go back. Nisa nodded and began to make her way towards the entrance, IF following suit. As fitting stealth music played, the worst case scenario happened: one of them stepped on a stick. Both of their eyes widened, and an exclamation point appeared over the head of every single spider in the area.
"Ru- ACK!", Nisa wanted to yell, but a lone fly had other plans…
The duo started to ignore all stealth mechanics and just made a run for it. Nisa was ahead, but IF quickly overtook her.
"Nisa, come on!", she shouted back. Nisa was already struggling to keep up, thanks to the extra weight in her backpack.
"T-too heavy...!", she complained.
"What?! Those webs are as light as string! They ARE strings!" IF cried out. A spider sent out a shot of web and hit its mark on Nisa's arm, making it even more difficult for her to run. Another spider got her in the back, giving her no choice but to turn around and try to free herself. IF halted with a skid and sprinted over to Nisa.
"I'll send you all into darkness!", she shouted, as she leapt up into the air above Nisa and unleashed her Demon Flames onto the spiders, burning off the webs that had gripped onto Nisa. If there's anything she learned from Christin's Guide to Adventuring Vol. 4, it was that fire was super effective against spiders. However, IF's quick attack was only able to wound and disorient the monsters. IF backed up while facing the monsters until she was next to Nisa.
"Good diversion, IF!", Nisa praised.
"You can thank me when we get out of here!", IF responded.
Nisa nodded, and they resumed their escape.
The two girls gasped for breath now that had they finally reached the nearest town.
"That was close… Good thing we both made it out in one piece", IF muttered with a tired smile. Nisa nodded.
"You did great, IF! Your quick thinking really saved the day! As expected of my prized pupil!", she replied cheerfully, with a warm smile on her face. She did a long stretch and placed her hands on her hips. Her usual idle pose.
"Now that we're all done here, let's go turn these in! Come, IF! Justice awaits!", she shouted.
Nisa spun around and did a heroic pose before starting to walk towards the path leading back to Planeptune. However, something caught IF's eye. Or rather, the lack of something caught her eye.
"Nisa… you DO have the webs, right?", she asked while grilling the blue-haired heroine. Nisa stopped walking and silently reached behind herself and felt her back, where her backpack was supposed to be.
"...By Bravery! My bag is gone!", she cried out, "I must have lost it when the web grabbed on to my back!".
IF took a deep breath and sighed heavily. "I knew it was too good to be true", she muttered as she crossed her arms, "What was with you back there, anyway? There's no way those webs could've been that heavy."
Nisa shifted uncomfortably and cleared her throat. "Well you see, when my bag is full it gets really heavy."
"It was just string."
"I understand that, but my bag was full."
"That doesn't even make any sense! Bah, whatever. Arguing about it isn't going to get it back", IF barked before crossing her arms.
"We got it once, so we can do it again. Come, IF! Let us ride into battle and claim what is ours for the taking! Justice is on the side of the bold!", Nisa declared heroically as wind blew her scarf into the air and the sun shined brightly behind her, as if Justice itself were right with them at that moment.
"Hold your horses, will ya? After what happened, those spiders must be pretty angry. Running in now wouldn't be a good idea at all", IF spoke up.
"If we don't get that bag back, you won't be able to sign up for the tournament!", Nisa answered back.
"We can just do another request! We still have plenty of time, remember?" IF deflected. Nisa stared at the ground.
"This is not about the string anymore, IF. My backpack… my special backpack was left behind! It's a part of me! As heroines, we must help those in need! That includes our comrades (unless the fate of the world hangs in the balance or something)!", Nisa cried out.
Giving it some thought, IF could feel where Nisa was coming from. She didn't have her own jacket with her right now, after all. Nisa must be feeling the same "nakedness" as her right now. IF nodded to herself with a smile on her face.
"You really are a pain in the neck sometimes, you know that?", she finally answered.
Nisa smiled back and turned around to start walking, only to trip over something. "Yow! When did this get here?!", Nisa coughed out. IF lowered her head to look at the ground. Somehow, a cardboard box had made it's way directly behind Nisa. Overcome with curiosity, IF slowly made her way towards the box and squatted down next to it before giving it a few gentle knocks.
The box erupted, and out popped out a scantily clad woman in silver hair wearing a (tiny) olive green vest, short shorts and bandana, along with knife and a mechanical looking eyepatch.
"R-r-rocketo punth!", she spat out as she took a desperate swipe at IF. For someone who calls herself Gamindustri's "Gust of Wind", her response time was pretty slow. All she could manage to say before a strand of her hair was cut off was: "Whooohooooooooooooa!" IF recoiled and took her daggers out to defend herself from the next swipe. She clashed both of them into the attacker's knife, which allowed the box-crawler to grab one of IF's arms. She then proceeded to kick her below the knee followed by an elbow to the forehead, causing IF to fall onto her back. The woman looked around and placed two fingers on her ear.
"Weeacon, I'm done he-pffft!", she was interrupted by a karate chop to the neck from none other than the blue haired heroine herself. The green-clad woman turned around with a rapid swipe, aiming to take out Nisa in one fell swoop. Nisa backflipped away from danger and lept into the air.
"Behold the power of Love, Bravery and Justice!", she cried out as she threw several knives towards their eye-patched assailant. The woman reacted quickly by shielding herself with the cardboard box she was hiding in. Nisa landed onto the ground after launching her attack and kicked off once more into the air. The attacker threw the knife-filled box away and pulled out a gun, ready to fire it upon Nisa. However, almost as soon as she pointed her gun, Nisa's foot was already but mere inches from her face. "Justice Kick!", Nisa shouted. The kick hit the eye-patch wearing woman so hard, it was replayed several times from several different angles as Justice's latest victim groaned in pain.
Nisa struck a pose over her defeated opponent as a teenager carrying a radio walked by, a familiar victory theme emanating from it. IF groaned as she slowly raised her back from the ground and pushed herself up into a sitting position. She rubbed her forehead and looked up at Nisa, then down at her defeated attacker.
"Who the hell even is this lady?", IF muttered. Balancing herself where she sat, IF opened one of her pouches and took out a Nep Bull. After chugging it down, she felt her strength return to her and got up onto her feet. Nisa shrugged at IF's question.
"No idea. However, my sense of Truth tells me that she must have…", Nisa muttered as she crouched down over the unconscious woman and began to search her possessions.
Around her neck, she found a hint of something silver reflecting sunlight into her eyes. Nisa gently tugged it out and nodded. "...Bingo! A dog tag! It says here name is… Lid." IF approached her crouching partner.
"Lid, huh? Well, how about we ask her what the big idea was, shall we?" The brunette slid her hands underneath Lid's armpits and began to drag her. She was heavier than she thought. It must be those sacks of extra weight she's flaunting around. IF couldn't help but take a quick look from time to time until she reached a water fountain. The girl slid her hands away from Lid's arms and lifted her head up, only to dunk it into the water. She submerged her head for a few moments until the silver-haired woman began flailing her arms.
"Pffffffttttttttt! Wh-whath da hellsh?!", Lid spat out. IF couldn't tell if she was coughing out the water or if she had just bit her tongue. Probably both. Nisa walked over and pointed at Lid.
"Only a villain would ambush two heroines of Justice. Who sent you?!", she accused. Lid coughed a little more as she sat on the ground with her back against the fountain.
"Ambush? I have no idea what you're talking about! I was walking around when you suddenly fell over me! I simply reacted according to my training," she spat out.
Nisa nodded and gave the not-so-sneaky box dweller an awkward smile. "I… er… apologize, dear citizen! The fault is all mine!". Lid pushed herself off of the ground and patted the dust off of the little clothing she had.
"This appears to be a misunderstanding… I'll be taking my leave, now", she said as she began to turn away from the duo. She was only able to take one step before IF spoke up, causing her to freeze in place.
"What brings you all the way out here to this remote town, anyway?"
Lid paused for a moment and awkwardly turned back around to face IF. "I… needed to get some spider webs for a mission. To be honest, I was going to sneak up on you two and take yours, but then I found out that you lost all of the web you gathered.", she admitted calmly. IF was about to step forward towards Lid, only to be held back by Nisa.
"I just had a brilliant idea! Stealth is your specialty, right? We could use your skills to get my bag back! If you help us out, we'll share some of the web we gathered with you! A fair trade, don't you think?", she suggested proudly. Lid turned away and gazed into the water fountain, gazing into her own reflection into the water. The three of them stood there quietly for a few moment as the sounds of the water pouring down filled the area.
"I… work better alone.", Lid responded in a serious tone. Briefly after saying this, she looked up and placed two of her fingers onto her ear before getting down onto one knee. IF, being a mobile phone genius could only deduce that Lid was using some sort of tiny mobile device to speak with someone. However… Lid wasn't saying anything at all. Her face reflected emotions that would fit that of someone who was in a conversation, but her lips stood still. After a grunt, she stood up straight and faced Nisa and IF.
"My… associate and I concluded that it would be mutually beneficial for me to help you out," she said to them. Nisa cheered while IF shrugged.
"As long as we get that bag back, I don't care what we do.", IF said nonchalantly. Lid nodded and grinned at them.
"Let's get going and survey the area. We'll come up with a plan once we know what we're dealing with." IF and Nisa nodded and the three of them began walking towards the swamp.
The crosshairs of a scope steadily followed them as they left the town, shuffling between each of their heads. The silent sniper lowered her weapon away from her emerald eyes and placed two fingers over her ear.
"Target acquired. She is not alone. How should I proceed?", she muttered in a quiet, monotone voice.
She paused for a moment, allowing the other person on the line to respond.
"Understood. Pursuing the targets now."
She stood up from her prone position and stood up on the ledge, stretching her arms out. She let herself fall off, flipped through the air, and landed in a crouching position. She waited for her red school uniform to come to a rest before slowly rising up, her vision directed towards the path where IF's group had gone. The girl stood up slowly and adjusted the "K" brooch of her ribbon.
"Mission Start."
CHAPTER 2... END.