Chapter 7 HD-oh false alarm

The group of four made their way to Virtua Forest, intent on completing their first quest to restore Nepgear's combat ability. They had travelled at a moderate speed since Nepgear hadn't fully recovered her full strength yet, only some good old fashioned exercise could solve that problem. Once again Nepgear had been impressed by Vent's stamina, as she was under the impression that guys were weak still, despite Compa and IF's word's saying otherwise. She did trust their judgement, but wanted to see for herself if they were telling the truth or not.

And apparently they were.

When they reached the entrance, IF looked up her Phone to check the quest details once again. She narrowed her eyes for a second, before looking to the others with a firm expression on her face, "alright we're at the right place, we should be finding the Dogoos somewhere close to the entrance." She told them as she turned to make her way into the Virtua Forest, only to blink owlishly. "… oh."

"What is it Iffy?" Compa asked as she walked up, having remained behind the group for the majority of the trip. When she stood right beside her friend she saw what IF had paused her speech to notice, and her face loosened in surprise, "eh? That's…"

The other two looked as well, now curious as to what had surprised the two of their companions. Nepgear and Vent were reduced to the same state though, when they saw a pack of 20 Dogoos already assembled before them, "… wow, now that's a lot of Dogoos. I know they operate in a pack mentality, but still? Where the fuck's the leader out of them all, they look the same to me." Vent commented with a sweat drop beside his head. Nepgear laughed weakly as she agreed with his statement.

"No clue, so we just have to get rid of them all." IF told them with a battle ready smirk forming on her features as she summoned her Qatars. She held them out in a ready stance while the Dogoos all looked at the girls with eager gleams in their eyes. It was clear what they were after judging by where they were looking, which only pissed Vent off more so than normal. "You ready?"

Slowly, a dark smile came onto Vent's face, one that would send even the worst of the worst villains running for the hills. It sent chills down the spines of the Dogoos and even the girls, though IF and Compa were less affected by it. The same couldn't be said for Nepgear, who was shivering like a leaf at the slasher smile on his lips. Raising his hand, Vent cracked his index finger while he activated his Ring and had it transform into his Scythe, twirling the Shaft in his hand before grasping it firmly and holding it over his shoulder. "Oh I'm ready alright. Let's cut them up really good…"

KI radiated from his body as his Kakugan activated, scaring the Dogoos senseless as he charged forth without waiting for a response from the others. The creatures all shrieked in unison as the male jumped at them, coming down with a slash that was the start of an all-out slaughter fest, laughing maniacally all the while.

"E-eeep! Why is Vent acting so scary?" Nepgear asked with a shiver as she saw him utterly decimate the Dogoos with a mix of Scythe swings and CQC skills. Part of her was impressed at the display, to the level of amazement, though it was overruled by the instinctual urge to cower and prey for her soul.

Compa giggled however, her innocence shining through as she answered Nepgear's question, "aw don't worry, it's just Ven-Ven. He just dislikes anything perverted, so when he heard about the Dogoos and their… tastes, he got really mad and destroyed a whole bunch of them in a single afternoon." She told her, summoning her Syringe before joining in on the battle by firing several rounds on Dogoos that tried to jump Vent from behind. She knew he wouldn't likely need it, but he'd like it all the same.

IF nodded in agreement, her smile just as vicious as Vent's was as she started walking forwards, "no need to be scared Gear, he's on our side. Remember, he did just solo that CFW Judge guarding the CPUs back at the Graveyard. You should have seen what he was like when he first arrived here, all eager to earn our trust that he wasn't like most guys. Anyways we have a job to do, fight first talk later." With that, IF jumped into the fray, adding the sounds of her blades slicing through Dogoo slime to the maniacal laughter of Vent as he switched his Scythe into its Gun mode and blasted Several Dogoos, kicked one in the face in a reverse back kick before slamming the bottom of the barrel on it.

Nepgear gulped, swallowing her fear as she held her arms out in a specific stance, with her right hand shaped like it was holding something cylindrical while the left was curved in front of her face and above the other hand, almost as if shielding her. In her hands, her weapon was summoned from her inventory: a bladeless hilt that appeared in her right hand before it shot an elongated energy blade outwards its light not blinding the girl thanks to her hand.

'That boy… no matter how scary he might be; he says he's here to help us… so maybe I'll put my faith in him… I wanna help my big sister… but even so, I…' her mind raced with images of her sister being defeated in her last moments in the Gamindustri Graveyard. Gulping back her anxiety, Nepgear jumped into the battle as well, slashing at the Dogoos closest to her while trying not to get to close the bloodbath that Vent was enjoying.


Their fighting was short lived as, with the combined might of IF, Compa, Nepgear and the near psychotic Vent, the number of Dogoos dwindled down to one. It was shaking like a leaf as the male slowly made his way towards it, his eyes wide with bloodlust while his Scythe dragging along behind him, the blades making a gash along the ground as he did so. 2and then there was one of them..." the male mocked with a sinister look on his face, before it morphed into a stoic, stone-cold one, with his eyes losing all traces of bloodlust and replacing it with a look of eerie calmness. Raising his Scythe, the male muttered in a blank tone, yet one could still tell that there was malice in hm based off just that. "Now die, your pathetic excuse for a being."

Just before the Dogoo could be slashed apart and ended, it gave a squeak, jumping back before turning behind it and running deeper into the Dungeon ahead. Now this pissed the male off again, as his expression partially returned to his previous one, "Oi, you get that slimy backside back here!" he yelled, shifting his Scythe into Gun mode before firing several rounds. However, the Dogoo managed to bounce out their path as it made its getaway, forcing Vent to grit his teeth and utter a "Tch!" before running off after it.

"Huh? W-wait up Vent!" Nepgear cried as she ran after him, not wanting to lose sight of their newest party member. That, and she was worried a little about his mental state right now. What would happen if he were left alone? She didn't admit it, but part of her would be concerned without end if she didn't follow him. It was her nature to be concerned about others, even when traumatised.

Compa quickly turned to IF, "Iffy, we gotta go chase them, they could get hurt by themselves." She pleaded with her, leaning forwards with her hands under her chin while her Syringe was being cradled with the joints of her elbows. She had this desperate expression on her face that just enhanced her cuteness and the effect it would have on others.

The Brunette proved to be no exception as she made to deny that statement, knowing that Vent would be okay, but then she closed her mouth again. Vent may be able to handle himself, but Nepgear was another story. She still hadn't gained back her self-confidence, and with the way Vent was acting right now she would take a while to accept it. So with a sigh, the girl gripped her Qatars and relented to Compa's request, "alright fine, we'll go. Come on Compa, before that kid gets too far ahead of us."


Chasing the Dogoo down for 10 minutes, Vent began to get frustrated along with his usual anger against this species. He felt so angry that he didn't know what would happen once he got his hands on that thing, ripping it to shreds seemed to be the least it deserved… and not in a good way. His Kagune shuddered within him, eager to be released to cut this fucker to ribbons.

Before he could contemplate any more ways of killing the Dogoo, it suddenly stopped when they reached a small clearing within the forest. It turned to face him after he slid to a stop, having been running for so long that he had momentum to drop in an instant. After he caught his breath, Vent looked up and grinned savagely, his bloodlust making itself known once again, "heh… Hehehe… that was a nice workout you gave me Mr Dogoo…" he whispered, standing tall as he flicked his free hand to the side, twirling his Scythe in the other one before stabbing several of its blades into the ground. "Now let me show you just how much I appreciated being led on a fucking goose chase, WON'T YOU?!"

Nepgear soon arrived on sight, followed by IF and Compa. "Those two… haa… have such… haa… haa… insane stamina…" Compa breathed heavily while holding her kneecaps with her hands. She may be a good runner like IF had commented back in the Gamindustri Graveyard, but even she had limits.

IF had to agree with her as she too caught her breath, "yeah… haa… well, let's just call it exercise… anyways, let's finish up here and collect our reward." She told them all as she finally found her voice. The others all were in agreement, they wanted to get this done as soon as possible, get back home to take a nice long shower.

However, things wouldn't go as planned…

"D-Dogoooooooo!"

The Dogoo before them let out a call, and in no time at all more Dogoos came out into the clearing, some from the surrounding wilderness while others solidified from melting through the ground to take their default forms. In the end, there were about 60 of them standing before them, ready to commence the next battle.

"dog-dogoooooo!"

"Dogoooooey!"

Compa gave a cry as she saw what was going on, "yikes! So many Dogoos!" she held her syringe defensively, out of instinct. When an animal was outnumbered by 10 to 1, they would usually have some form of defence mechanism to compensate, which for her was her trusty syringe.

'I see… so that was their plan from the start.' Vent frowned, shifting his bloodlust to the back of his head to examine the new situation before them, 'the ones we fought before were like a scouting party, and when they were about to be wiped out, one of them made their way to another area where they could call for backup. What we're seeing now is likely the whole hoard of them… I can see how they would pose a problem.'

The male got his Scythe ready by shifting it into Gun mode, he didn't want them getting too close otherwise they could overwhelm them with numbers. Their best bet would be to either keep them at a distance, which likely would fail early on since IF and Nepgear were close combat fighters, or group them together then blast them with IF's fire spell 'Demon Flames'.

But if he thought they were through showing off their new tricks, he would be mistaken.

"… What are they doing?" Nepgear asked with her eyes filled with confusion. The reason? The Dogoos began to seemingly dogpile on top of one another, the pile rising until it towered over the four heroes. It looked a little intimidating to her, and reminded Nepgear of the size that robot had back in the Graveyard. Their intentions were unknown to her, as well as the entire group.

But their intention soon became clear to them, when their body parts began to sink into their lime-like bodies and disappeared, the hill becoming a mass of blue which began to reshape itself, becoming more Dogoo-like in shape in which it became more rounded, swiftly forming the Dogoo features.

In seconds, they stood before a 12-foot-tall Dogoo, or rather a 'King Dogoo' stood before them. It had the same features as the smaller variants of its species, but when it yelled, "dog… Goo… Dogoo!" it was noted to have a deeper tone of voice than the smaller ones, which were high pitched.

Vent could only sweat drop at this, shortly losing his urge to kill the thing before them, "huh… that's a crappy digivolution if I've ever seen one…" he remarked casually, almost feeling disappointed. In this world, referring to games, movies and other forms of media was the norm here, and it had taken him a while to realise this and adjust to it. As of now he was a little skilled in referring, but not to the level of pros out there. It was only natural since he'd been in this world for only a week.

After years of being a vigilante in his world of fighting on the streets, disabling many criminals and secret projects by dark organisations like ASIC, stuff like this was not surprising to him. In fact, his mind's first thought was based on curiosity about the creature's capabilities now that the Dogoos had assumed a new form. His mind was on high alert as it scanned the enemy, looking for any details that might hint at what he wanted to know. 'Hmmm, it looks like a carbon copy of the original Dogoo variant that's a common sight in Gamindustri, and any other abilities are invisible to the naked eye. However, the abilities it has already shown, the Dogoo species as a whole anyways, will likely have been strengthened. Perhaps…' reaching into his Pocket, Vent fingered the ball that was his Mask in standby form, which shuddered in response to his touch. 'Perhaps utilising my Kagune will be of a use here.'

Unlike him though, the others weren't as calm and collected.

"Did they just combine?!" Nepgear cried out as she looked on in shock at the sight before her. The girl looked upon the new King Dogoo with fear, though she tried to hide it, which failed miserably.

IF herself blinked, stepping back with caution as she realised that this wouldn't be as easy as she had thought, "whoa, its massive…" she commented with shaking eyes at the size of the King Dogoo. Vent himself could only sweat drop at their reactions. While he knew that they didn't have the same experiences as he did with his Vigilante job, Vent wasn't sure this could be counted as something to worry about. 'Bit extreme reaction, don't you think IF?' he asked mentally, but didn't say it out loud.

The brunette's eyes gained a recognition in them as an idea popped into her head like a balloon, before she turned to Nepgear with her face becoming one of determination. "Oh, I know. Gear, go ahead and transform. That'll make this a snap." She said with a confidence tone of voice. HDD was a Goddess's true form after all, and its power was beyond human limitations so it would be a sure fire way to win in this situation. Even a CPU Candidate could be a force to be reckoned with when accessing HDD.

Unfortunately, though, Nepgear's mental state had been completely overlooked by the Guild Agent.

"T-Transform?"

"Yeah, HDD: Hard Drive Divinity. You haven't used it before since coming back, right? Now's your chance!"

When Vent made to revive the idea that Nepgear going HDD right now was probably a bad idea, no that wasn't right, her going HDD would be a blessing right now, but given the way she was acting that wouldn't be possible, he stopped himself. That was because Compa made her own comment before he could. "Iffy, you just really wanna see Ge-Ge in her super pretty HDD form."

'Really? Huh… I guess that would make sense, IF has been doting a bit on Nepgear since we got her out of there…' Vent thought to himself, before he glanced at Nepgear to see how she was handling this. When he saw her expression, his worry came back vigorously, as in that moment he knew that HDD would fail. No, it was more like the wielder wouldn't activate it.

His theory was unfortunately made a reality when Nepgear tried to activate HDD, even psyching herself up for it as if to try and push back the trauma. However, it appeared that the trauma had a powerful hold on her mind still and Nepgear began to form tears in the corners of her eyes, her body beginning to shake uncontrollably. "I… I can't…! I'm too scared to use it!" she exclaimed, vehemently shaking her head with her hair flailing in response to the shaking.

The male face palmed, he knew that would happen. 'Damnit, looks like that trauma's more dangerous than I thought!' he cursed in his head, clenching his fists so hard that they began to go white. This just motivated him even more to rip apart ASIC when he got the chance, for making someone innocent go through such a scarring experience. In addition, with her shy and timid personality, the effects had only been strengthened on her mind.

Compa directed a stern gaze towards IF, clearly in disapproval of how insensitive IF was just now, having forgotten about the trauma on Nepgear's mind from her experiences. "Iffy, you're being really mean to Ge-Ge right now." She scolded her, much to the brunette's surprise and confusion. She would have retorted that she wasn't doing anything bad, but decided against it. When Compa was mad at someone, it was best to just apologise and get on with their lives as she would always have that 'say you're sorry' aura about her when she was mad.

With a sigh, IF relented as she spoke, "that wasn't my intention… #sigh# alright then, we'll just have to beat it up the old fashioned way." With that comment out of the way she readied her Qatars and got into a fighting stance, with Compa doing the same with her Syringe.


As the battle began, Nepgear made to do the same as her friends did, albeit with a bit more hesitation than before, when Vent decided to make his move. "You guys hang back; I'll take care of this." He spoke to them all in a sudden, stoic voice. All his tension had left his body, leaving an eerie calmness about him that could unnerve a lot of people.

"Huh?!" all three girls yelled simultaneously, not believing what they were hearing from their male companion. They quickly got over enough of their shock to find their voices and made to voice their opinions on how stupid that was, when the male looked at them and they froze.

'WH-what? Why do I feel so tense all of a sudden…?' Nepgear could only think that as they all received a gaze from Vent at the same time. The moment they did, it was like everything stopped for them, because not only were they looking at his HUMAN eye… but also the black and red eye that was his Kakugan, with the veins spreading across the side of his face. It made for a scary image that sent shudders down their spines.

"You guys are strong, I get that, but right now one of you is too traumatised to battle right now so she should be your main focus. Meanwhile, I'll take on this ugly hump of slime over here," he said, pointing his thumb behind him at the King Dogoo, which bristled at the indirect insult to its appearance. The way he did it also irked it, as he had done it while facing the girls and away from it, like it wasn't even worth looking at for more than a few seconds.

His reasoning didn't stop Comp though, as he was sure to find out in the next few seconds, "but-but you can't fight it alone! That's dangerous, allow us to help!" she tried to reason with him, but the male shook his head. He wasn't having it right now, especially when he saw how bad Nepgear was right now. She wasn't ready yet to suddenly jump back into the fray. Maybe if the brunette hadn't told her to go HDD this wouldn't have happened, but that couldn't be helped now.

"No, your primary focus should be to get Nepgear out of here, she clearly needs more time to recover. I know what you're going to say about how we don't have the luxury of time, but forcing someone to do things while under influence of psychological impairment will only end up in tragedy for everyone." He responded evenly, not at all fazed by her words. Nepgear flinched at his response, this was happening only because she was too weak, too helpless to go HDD…

'He has a point… if I can't go HDD then I'll be dragging everyone down, but… still I…' Glancing at the King Dogoo, Nepgear frowned to herself, debating something in her head. She was still scared, lacked any confidence in herself, but… "it's-it's okay!" she called out, drawing everyone's attention. "I'll fight, even if I can't go HDD. It may be tough, but I will try for the sake of my sister." She said, trying to put on a brave face for them while also making sure to suppress her fear for now. This had to happen, not only would the monster not let them go that easy but if she took Vent's words into heart, then she had to make sure she wasn't dragging the team down.

The male looked at her for a moment. In his head, he was questioning whether to enforce the option of her returning to Planeptune and let them deal with the King Dogoo or let her fight. Looking at her now, he could see she was still scared, heck she was shaking like a leaf for lack of a better adjective. However, there was also a certain flame there, a certain desire, and that resulted in his final decision. "… Alright. If that's how you feel, then I won't stop you." He told her, but mentally he added on, 'but that doesn't mean I'll stop regarding you carefully Nepgear. Your strong, I can see that, but right now what you really need is confidence. Something that, sadly, I don't know how to give you.'

Now that it was confirmed that Nepgear would be fighting, Compa and IF stepped forwards, "if Ge-Ge's going to fight, you can't leave us out, Ven-Ven." The Nurse-in-Training spoke seriously, holding her Syringe like an assault rifle. "you can't play favourites in a party, you know, everyone has a part to play."

As IF nodded her head in agreement, Vent regarded them for a second before sighing to himself, "alright, I give, you two can fight too. Geez, such stubborn people…" he muttered the end bit while shaking his head with his hand on his forehead in amusement. He should have felt frustrated that they weren't adhering to his advice, but instead he felt proud of them. Nepgear was still able to go out of her boundaries even with her trauma, which was something he could respect in her. It made her stronger than the average human, while IF and Compa were some of the best friends one could have with how they supported her with everything they had.

"It's part of the whole party shebang. Anyways, let's get focused here, people. This guy wants to dance." Indeed, the King Dogoo grew weary of waiting and struck, lunging at them for a tackle. Vent and the others scattered, landing in separate angles around it before IF struck first, raising her hand and doing a raising motion like she was lifting something over her head, "DEMON FLAMES!" she called out, several explosions going off all around the King Dogoo before erupting into a pillar of flame. Intense heat hit the creature's skin, and began melting the slime in small areas.

Compa took this opportunity to fire at its eyes, keeping it distracted for her friend to run up and slash it several times at its side. IF then jumped into the air, her arms thrown sideways as she came done in a spinning slice. Her Qatars cut into the creature's hide clean through, before she landed before it.

The King Dogoo gave a mighty war cry, bouncing into the air while attempting to body slam her, only for IF to jump back just in the nick of time to avoid a direct hit. However, the force of the impact created a shockwave, one that caught her and sent IF flying into a tree. "Gah!" the brunette cried out as flames of pain rushed up her spine from where she was hit, before she fell to the ground with a thud. "Ugh… that smarts…" she muttered while stumbling to her feet, looking little worse for wear but otherwise okay.

'Hmmm, judging from its move set I'd conclude that it's not like the Blazewing Butterfly which had hidden tricks up its sleeve. I'll finish this quickly so we can get some relaxing done.' Vent thought to himself. That short exchange between the three was more than enough to gauge the threat level of the enemy, and like he had assumed it had its abilities strengthened from the fusion, but that was pretty much it. It was merely a one trick phony; something that would die easily against even the weakest of Ghouls.

Slowly, Vent raised his hand to his face, his hair shadowing his eyes. It was time to end this, and he knew exactly how. IF noticed he hadn't moved, and in a show of irritation, yelled out "hey dude, what are you doing?! Get moving the enemy's gunning for you!" true to her word IF was not the only one who noticed the male's lack of mobility, for the King Dogoo did also, and wanted to capitalise on the opportunity to get revenge for the insult to it earlier.

Just as it made to lunge at him, something shot out and lunged towards it first, slamming into its chin and sending it sliding across the clearing. The thing had receded into his body faster than one could blink so what it was remained a mystery, although IF and Compa had a good idea of what it was anyways. "This fucker's just a one-trick phony…" he muttered under his breath.

A thumb pressed against his index finger from above, and a resounding crack sounded throughout the area. That one crack was enough to send shivers up the spines of the others, while the King Dogoo began to sweat, and if he were a betting man Vent would have sworn he'd seen the lower part of its body go dark blue. From that single crack, Vent's Rinkaku snapped out the back of his waist, the red Tentacles with their black armour pieces slithering through the air, their red bits pulsating continuously as they pointed forwards, similar to a set of spider legs. He cracked his second finger with his thumb, throwing his head back with a grin so vicious it was reminiscent of a rabid animal, his mismatched eyes screaming with hunger and bloodlust. "It's honestly… HILARIOUS!"

2 Tentacles snapped forwards, crackling sounds coming from them as they made to impale the King Dogoo's body, for it to jump into the air like IF had done earlier. It came down on him from above, intending to squash him like it tried to do to her, but the Tentacles that didn't attack combined together, forming a single larger one that swung like a baseball bat, knocking it away. The first 2 Tentacles quickly grabbed it by its Tail and slammed it into a tree, then another, and another, before throwing it to the ground.

His offensive not done yet, Vent charged forwards, his Kagune slamming into the ground to give him a burst of speed by propelling him forth with the force of the impact. He slammed head first into the face of the King Dogoo, before twisting and slashing diagonally with his Scythe, causing it to cry out in pain.

Those cries were silenced by a series of bullets from Compa's Syringe, while IF chose to follow their lead and attack its face she did this several times, adding in a few kicks for variation before flipping back to avoid a tackle.

A Kagune to the face was its reward for its troubles as Vent rushed in again, his time repeatedly smacking its face with his Tentacles, before combining them together and raising it above the King Dogoo's head. He curled tie tip around, making a makeshift spiral with his Tentacle before slamming it down hard on the enemy, earning another exclamation of pain from it. He flipped back, splitting his Tentacle back to the 6 default ones before slamming all of them in sequence into its face.

Nepgear charged with a mighty battle cry and slashed at its back, her energy sword being much more effective than physical weapons at dealing damage since it burned and cauterised the wounds it inflicted. The King Dogoo turned, several indentations on its face to show that Vent's Kagune was doing its job, before trying to bounce onto her. Nepgear froze at the sight, before barely dodging in time by rolling to the side, crying out at the shockwave generated from the impact, though she got the distance she wanted.

While it turned, another DEMON FLAMES was activated by the Guild Agent, burning it even more than before. When the attack finished, they saw that it was indeed on its last legs. It was shaking ever so slightly, with multiple parts of its body leaking slime onto the ground. Burn marks were visible all over, and its body was steaming from the intense heat it had been subjugated to.

Nepgear decided to be the one to finish it off, surprisingly enough. Her body pulsed with power as she activated a skill of her own, "MIRAGE DANCE!" she cried out, charging forwards in a way that almost made it look like she was flying across the battlefield, closing the distance between them and begun slashing at it repeatedly. Vent narrowed his eyes, wondering what was so different about these ones compared to IF's, but quickly amended his thoughts at seeing how much damage they were doing to the monster.

Skills, they were another norm for Gamindustri Vent had discovered. Every adventurer/Guild Agent seemed to have their own set of skills that they could employ in battle, and as they grew stronger they would develop new skills that they would instinctively know how to use. Though, the experience with those skills was still necessary as otherwise they would miss and leave them vulnerable to attack.

Because he wasn't from Gamindustri specifically, Vent wouldn't be able to use Skills like they could. It would make sense that he wouldn't be able to, since his world operated differently compared to Gamindustri but as a payoff he could utilise his Kagune with deadly results, that more than compensated for his lack of firepower in that department.

By the time the last slash was made, an explosion of energy engulfed the King Dogoo, which seemed to be the last it could take. It gave a last dying 'Dogooo….' Before it vanished into light particles like the other monsters of this world. Turning to see the fruits of her labour, a huge smile spread across the CPU Candidates face, joy flooding her for the moment of her victory as she bounced happily, "yay! Did you all see me back there?!" she cried out while making a V sign with her fingers over her right eye. The others all chuckled at her.

"… well, it went better than I hoped." IF remarked as the group put their weapons away, Compa, her own, and Nepgear's vanishing into their inventory while Vent's Scythe turned to its ring form and his Kagune receded into him once again. She then looked towards her pinkette friend, her eyes flashing with concern, "are you okay Gear?"

The previous happiness born from the adrenaline coming from her victory faded away quickly, as Nepgear remembered the failure she had in not being able to transform. She lowered her head dejectedly while making a fist over her chest, tears in the corners of her eyes at her failure, "I-I'm sorry… I…" she tried to say, but her words stopped in her throat. She didn't want her friend to be mad at her for not being able to live to her expectations.

However, IF shook her head to dissuade her of those worries, "Just forget it." She said while turning on her heels and making her way back through the way they came to the Forest in the first place. "We completed the request, so let's head back to the Guild and receive our reward."


After they returned to the Guild and handed in the Quest they completed, the group gained their rewards and as a bonus, Nepgear commented on how she felt the shares of Planeptune increasing slightly. It was a sign that their work was slowly paying off, bit by bit. "There, you see?" IF began as she turned to Nepgear, a supportive smile on her lips as she regarded the CPU Candidate, "Report the results, and get paid, see? It's a simple process, right?"

Now that she had been on a Quest, Nepgear did indeed discover that was all it was, and smiled happily, clearly content with what she had to do for now, "Yes. It is. We collect work from the Guild, complete it, report it, and collect the posted reward!" she replied, happily. It felt good to get something right for a change, especially after her screw up in the Virtua Forest.

Compa had an exact replica of Nepgear's smile on her face, but compared to hers Compa's was much sunnier, almost blinding really. "Aww, you're such a smart girl, Ge-Ge!" she gushed over the pink haired CPU Candidate, "I'm one happy Compa right now." Compa was so proud of her friend for getting this far, despite their recent hiccup. When IF had first explained it to her, it had taken multiple explanations and Quests for it to sink in for her.

Meanwhile, Vent was thinking to himself while standing at a nearby pillar, leaning on it with his back. 'This'll only be the first of many Quests, clearing them will help us regain shares along with the usual rewards and items. Though judging by Nepgear's expression it's likely that the change is small, which means we have a lot of work to be doing for the next few days.' He frowned while cupping his chin with his hand, deep in thought as he began thinking up ways of speeding the process up. Though, little came to mind much to his frustration.

"… Alright," IF finished off looking at the remaining Quests before checking one of her phones for the time. It seemed that it was still late morning, approaching noon, so she figured it would be best if they would get more done today while talking small breaks in between. "Histoire likely needs more time for a proper lead to come up, so let's continue our questing for now. We can gain more shares back from ASIC that way, and it'll beef us up for the tougher ones out there." She told them, getting nods of agreement from the others, even Vent who had just snapped out of his musings.

It was Compa who followed suit, summarizing IF's reasoning for this plan, "we get to help others, and we can make Ge-Ge grow big and strong, too." She explained in simple terms, which was a positive trait in the eyes of her friends as it showed she was a simple person and required small words so she could understand everything better.

The brunette nodded her head in confirmation towards Compa, "Yeah." She smiled at her friend, before turning to Nepgear who was still looking anxious as she formed a stern expression, "and Gear, don't do what you did on the last job. While I agree with Vent in that it's all a bit of a rush for you, the plot won't move forwards if you brood around all the time." She explained, unknowingly triggering a fourth wall break.

Sometimes, Vent noticed, there were people who were avid fourth wall breakers while there were others who did it without being aware of it. With what he had observed from IF, he had deduced that she was the latter, but right now he felt that it was necessary to lighten the atmosphere and make Nepgear feel more at ease. In some ways, she's as slow as Compa was, it seemed. "O-Okay… I'll do my best!"


The rest of the day was spent either doing Quests, taking breaks to eat at local restraints or in Vent's case, training his Kagune. All the while, he would keep a close eye on Nepgear as they fought Monsters. He noticed her caution and anxiety, only fighting when needed. While it was partially her shy and timid personality at work there, Vent was no fool and he knew that her trauma was affecting her negatively.

But how could he fix that? Vent had been a vigilante for the majority of his life away from his Uncle and family, and in that time he had not once needed to console someone, and even if he had the male could only offer the exacting of revenge for the wrongfully damned. The problems he'd dealt with were much different compared to what he was facing now, and he didn't know how to deal with the issue.

What he said to Nepgear and the others had been his first attempt to fix the issue, but it seemed that his efforts had failed on that front. Nepgear had felt the weight of the situation on her shoulders, which led her to make calls more for the betterment of others than herself. In his eyes, she should have been focusing more on healing herself than helping others. How can you protect people if you can't even protect yourself? That line was said in his favourite Manga, and it definitely applied here.

That night, Vent was walking up to the elevator in the Basilicom, having just come back from a long training session, which also included finding a way to help Nepgear. He was so focused on his thoughts that he didn't notice that someone was before him till the last second. "h-huh? Oh, Histoire! Sorry, just lost in thought for a moment." He apologised, stepping back to give Histoire, who had floated over to him, some space.

The Oracle smiled at him, "it is most alright, young Vent. I received word that your work ethic has increased yet again. While happy, I do wish you could relax a little. It wouldn't do you any harm to slow down." She told him, frowning in concern at the end. It became more pronounced when she saw the conflicted look in his eyes. "Is something of a matter? You look troubled…"

'Of course, Histoire would be the one to ask me, I was able to keep it from IF and Compa but she's a whole new level when it comes to keeping secrets…' the male thought, mentally berating himself for being so careless. He'd done something he would never have wanted to do otherwise: worry someone else with his problems. It made him feel like a mix of a jerk, an asshole, and a useless wreck all at once. However, this could turn out to be good for him, maybe Histoire could share some advice on what to do here. "Well…" he began, only for the words to clump in his throat. He tried to speak, before he eventually sighed, shoulders dropping. Opening his eyes, Vent looked to the Tome with weary, concerned eyes. "Is it okay if we talk in private? I don't want to discuss this in the open like this."