Str1k3N01r here, back with your weekly updates. i know i'm a bit late due to some... unforseen circumstances, but I'm here with the (currently) second last installment for this fic. The current chapter is going to deal with our little pudding fiend as she goes around during one day in her daily life. I should stop here because I know most of the readers skip this segment anyway. Disclaimer: i only own OCs
The Misadventures of Neptune
[Planeptune – Basilicom]
"Onee-chan! You have to work!"
"But I don't wanna! Anything but work! Not today!"
"No means no, onee-chan! The faster we get this work done, the faster you can go back to slacking off."
"Okay."
"Eh?"
"I said okay. I'll do my job. I'm the older sister. I'll have to be responsible and this and that…"
That totally caught Gear off guard, just as I planned. Well, I can always take an easy job and run off, as per usual and they will be none the wiser. Saturn is here to make up for me slacking anyway, so at the start of the month, I always have one week of holidays. This time, however, Gear is rather stubborn in trying to get me to work. She's been in my room ever since my alarm clock rang a few minutes earlier and we've been playing a game of tug-of-war with my blanket ever since. I might look younger, but I'm still stronger than my little sister. Now that I've agreed to get up, maybe I should take a bath. Gear was still wearing her pyjamas when she wakes me up, so I think I'll join her in the bathroom.
After quick shower and having some waffles for breakfast, Saturn, the goddess of another Planeptune, briefs me on what I'm supposed to do today before I set off to patrol around my nation… well that's what she think I'll do. Nothing stops me from playing hookie once I leave the basilicom anyways.
"Good luck," Saturn smiles as she sees me off. The moment she turns around and returns back inside the basilicom, I look at my folded to-do list that Saturn handed me before ignoring and stuffing it in my dress pocket before promptly running in the opposite direction of where I'm supposed to go.
[Planeptune – Downtown]
This area of downtown Planeptune happens to house Planeptune's Strip Mall. I often come here whenever I am free from work, which is actually almost every day, because this is where they sell very delicious snacks. Unfortunately, my plan didn't come to fruition… because IF is here. I thought she had work today? It's abnormal for her to be spotted around this area. Not to mention, during office hours? She rarely skips work, although the clothes she wears tells me that she's not here to skip work… rather, her work for today is here.
I am unable to make heads or tails of the situation, so I blend in with the surroundings and try to get as close as I can. IF has the tendency to pick up calls from her teammates, so maybe I'll get a clue or two when she gets a phone call. Currently, though, she's doing nothing but playing games on her cell as she patrols around the building. Still… whenever I make sudden movement, she will stop sucking on her lollipop and look around. After being alert for a while, she'll stop and look on her cell again.
"Seriously… what makes her think Nep will head here anyways?"
So someone predicted my moves and hired her services? I wonder… wait a minute… who else could have done that other than Histy or Saturn. Ah well, all I need to do is to avoid getting caught by IF and everything is all good. At around that moment, IF's phone rings.
"Hello? Yeah. It's me. Neptune? Nah, I haven't seen her anywhere nearby. Don't worry. If I find her, I'll be sure to not go lax on her again. You can trust me."
She's really out to get me. I wonder if that's Histy or Saturn on the other side of the line. In the mean time, I'm here to collect my croquette from the usual store I normally go to grab a snack from. Since IF is patrolling in clockwise direction, it will be wise to stay close enough so that she's within my line of sight, but she doesn't know that I'm here either. If she does find out… I'll be in one big trouble. The last time this happened, she went easy on me and let me have my way.
IF turns around the corner and disappears when the store is within my line of sight, prompting me to dash through the crowd and make a purchase of the special croquettes that are always sold during this time of day before sitting down on the bench and eating. It tastes better today. I wonder if it's because of it is my prize today since the guild places a bounty on my head… well… sort of. I was about to leave when I bumped into Compa.
"Nep-Nep?"
Normally, meeting Compa is a huge relief because of how caring she is compared to IF. Today… is a big exception. She's carrying her syringe weapon in town, and it's loaded with her sleeping medicine. One can only guess what it is going to be used for.
"Ai-chan! Nep-Nep is here!" Compa said. She has the wireless headset from Lastation!? This is bad! IF is going to find out!
Instead of waiting, I begin to run away from Compa while dodging her bullets whenever she can get a clear shot. Transforming is not a good idea because I will only increase her chances of hitting me. Compa is not good at sports given how clumsy she is. The biggest threat right now is still IF. With her speed and Compa throwing off my running rhythm, she'll catch up to me any moment.
In order to make it difficult for them to catch up, I keep making random turns whenever I can to lose Compa and hopefully IF as well. Compa won't be able to fire anymore 'bullets' as long as I'm not within her line of sight. As for IF, I'll have to find an area where I can transform and fly off. When they run past the dead end that I accidentally turn into, I relax a little and transform to Purple Heart so that I can escape into another part of Planeptune.
Landing in another dead end to revert and go out, I proceed to go on my way accordingly for around one hour before I hear Compa apologizing to someone she accidentally bumped with. They're here already!?
"Nep-Nep! Wait!"
"Do your job and we'll stop hounding you."
This is beginning to be a chore. No matter where I fly off to, a guild member or two will start pursuing me or letting my two friends know where I am. The chase continues endlessly inside Planeptune that even I'm at my limits after a few hours of escaping that I dive into a fast food restaurant to catch a short breather and buy myself a drink. So… Histy or Saturn mobilized all of Planeptune to make sure that I'm working huh… I guess I'll see if I can wander around without meeting any of the guild agents. Times like this makes me wish I have that… eagle sense thingy from the Assassinate Creed games that Noire always plays in her free time.
I leave the fast food restaurant and blend in with the crowd to make sure that the guild agents are unable to find me. Hey, at the very least, the things I picked up from watching Noire playing that game helps! It's a little hard when the crowd isn't moving in the direction that I want to move to, but other than that, I manage to move around without…
"Found you, my lady!"
Ah crap! There is a guild agent in this group! She pins me down after catching me unaware and locks my arms so that I cannot break free.
"Now hold still and wait for IF to come here and pick you up."
Like I'm going to just let her catch me! I willed my body to transform, loosening her hold over me and repelling her backwards even though I have yet to conjure my processor units. Before she can retaliate, I soar and leave Planeptune. The cat and mouse game that the guild agents plays with me really tires me out and I could use somewhere to R and R. Not to mention that it is exactly midday now, so I have to go and find something to eat as soon as I land in Lowee.
[Lowee]
After a few minutes of flight, I finally arrive in Lowee. First things first, though. Time to grab some food. Lowee is very famous for their desserts, after all. Nothing beats something sweet after being on the run for the past few hours. I'm sure that Histy won't pursue me this far. First stop, the shopping district! I locate the crepe stand that Gear often goes whenever we're on errand in Lowee and sit on one of the chairs that the lady prepares outside of her cart.
"Heya!" I greet her. Well, given how much Gear and I are always buying her crepes whenever we go to Lowee, she knows us on a personal level. She already knows what my favourite kind of crepe is, so all I need to do is just to pay her for the food and she'll do it automatically.
"My my, what brings Neptune-sama here again today?" she asks. "I thought you were on the run or something."
"On the run?" I ask. That question makes the time spent waiting rather dreadful.
"Precisely. On the run," she replies as she places my milk chocolate and banana crepe on the plate and serving it. "Lowee's candidates were around here rather early in the morning and they pasted this on my cart."
She hands me a rolled up piece of paper… with a hand drawn poster of me and a bounty on my head. I sigh and roll back the poster before returning it to her. So… Histy even predicted that I will escape into Lowee? I finish my crepe quietly as I form scenarios of what that might happen in Lowee. So far, no guild member that bypassed me raised the alarm or something… in fact, they just look at me and the posters pasted before continuing on their way.
I thank her for the meal before I cover my head with the hood part of my jacket and wander around aimlessly. At least this should prevent me from being discovered immediately by anyone that is after the bounty on my head, even if the reward isn't that much. Ah well, whatever works for them. I'm just going to enjoy my day here… although I wish I went to Lastation first. I can use a hot pack or two because Lowee's climate is quite… harsh for this kind of clothes. It doesn't affect me while I am transformed, though.
I wonder if Blanc is working today. I could use another round of that 'Olympic Games' that we co-developed for our consoles. Now that I think about it again… going to Lowee's basilicom is a bad idea. If the twins are running around Lowee pasting wanted posters… going there will be like putting my head into the lion's mouth. I leave the mall and head into Lowee's city centre, where there are very few people right now since it is still lunch time and everyone is staying either at home, at their workplace or the mall for some warm food.
"Neptune-chan sighted!"
I quickly turn around the moment I hear that voice to see Ram and Rom. They're already transformed too. Ram points her staff at me while Rom holds hers closer to herself. Looks like they are out to get me after all.
"Neptune-san, we're sorry," Rom says before casting a high level ice spell which is aimed not at me, but at my ankles. Blanc uses that very same spell against me when we're sparring a few weeks ago, so I jump away and avoided having the icy rings to freeze my legs to the ground.
"Mabufudyne!" Ram cries out as eight ice crystals forms behind her before they are fired in pairs at me. Thankfully, they don't have any homing property whatsoever and that allows me to dodge them easily.
"Hah! You missed!" I pulled a quick raspberry on the twins, only to retract my tongue almost immediately since it's chilly out here.
"No. it is all according to plan."
That calm voice… Blanc?! Something heavy hit the back of my head and everything blacks out. I come to and find myself in a bed inside Lowee's basilicom with a note on the side of my head. After I sit up on the bed, I pick the note up and read it. It says…
'So you're really using my nation as hideout for you to skip work. Why don't we play a game then? Atlus has taken the liberty of placing you within a dungeon modelled after my basilicom. You have 30 minutes to escape after you wake up, or Atlus will give you a one way ticket back to your basilicom.'
No time to get angry over this, though. I only have a limited amount of time to get out of this… 'Dungeon' before I get sent back home for another round of 'disciplinary action' with Histy and Saturn. There are ink-like masses of imaginary monsters that are summoned to bar my path, but I continuously move forward until I reach a three-way junction.
"When in doubt… head left," I say before I take a left turn. After spending 15 minutes trapped inside, I begin to wonder if there's really a way out. I should've done this by leaving a trail of thread like the ancient heroine who heads inside the maze to kill the raging bull of destruction instead of doing it by instinct. Well, whatever. I'm sure the exit won't be too far ahead. I come to another junction, but this time, I decided that I'll be heading right.
With five minutes remaining, I make a mad dash for the exit before finally leaving the artificial dungeon… and I exited from the television and straight into the basilicom's living room. Atlus is inside, clapping softly.
"C'est Magnifique, Neptune-sama," she smiles. "None of the others manage to escape within half an hour and I have to enter overtime. On the other hand, you manage to escape a few seconds before the thirty minute mark. I guess you really are the strongest among the four."
"What do you…"
"The dungeon is designed to make it much harder for you to move and each movement will tire you out extremely fast," Atlus says as she undoes her spell on the television. "Well, you should get going. The twins will be looking for you again because they wanted the prize that someone offers them for capturing you."
"What exactly is the prize?" I ask. I'm sure that it won't be that bad. Keeping the twins company sure beats being on the run for the entire day.
"Blanc-sama would let them have their way with you."
Hearing that got me thinking again. I'm fine with Rom because she's quiet and will rather read than disturb me. Ram, on the other hand, can barely control herself when it comes to playing with me. The last time when I dropped my guard and just waltzed in Lowee's basilicom, Ram's delayed spells triggered when I walked over the invisible runes that she placed on the ground. Not to mention, somehow she had altered the spell to make sure that it only triggered if I went too close, but not anyone else.
Entering the door that Atlus conjures to make a quick getaway, I find myself in downtown Lowee once again. I head to the crepe cart as quickly as I could before buying the sweet cream one that Saturn likes the most and placing it inside my portable refrigerator. Nepgear makes one for me because of my tendency to bring a lot of snacks wherever I go. After transforming, I head towards the next destination I have in mind, Lastation.
[Lastation]
Contrary to what happens in Lowee and Planeptune, my reception in Lastation is so much quieter… no one knows that Noire and I are going out behind everyone's back. After decades of waiting, she finally gathered the courage to confess. It turns out that both of us are really on the same wavelength, except that while she's having trouble confessing, I believed that she will have no trouble confessing. Thus, it became a waiting game until I got tired of waiting and decided to just make the situation perfect for her confession.
Arc, Noire's right hand girl when it comes to military matters, raises her eyebrow slightly when she spots me landing outside the basilicom and reverting. It doesn't take her long to refocus her attention back at the soldiers that are doing some training, though.
"If you're looking for Noire-sama, she's inside her office," Arc speaks without turning around to face me. "Although… I thought you had important work to do today?"
I don't know how to respond to that, to be honest. Looks like Lastation is on high alert too huh? Just how far did Histy go in order to ensure that I do my job? Discarding that thought almost as quickly as it comes, I enter Lastation's basilicom and make a beeline for Noire's office. Noire is inside, asleep on the desk. It seems that she still has the tendency to overwork herself to exhaustion.
"Maybe I should leave," I speak to no one in particular as I look at Noire's peaceful sleeping face. Nepgear does say that whenever she stays at Noire's basilicom overnight she sometimes hear Noire sobbing in the middle of the night. She stopped doing so after she confessed and I returned her feelings, though. Thanks to her work habits, however, we barely see each other even on the weekends. I sigh before I close the door. I was looking forward to spending some time with her too.
I leave the basilicom and head downtown, although I can't shake off the feeling that I'm being constantly watched. Oh right, while I'm here, I might as well help Gear with her parts shopping. I take out the small list and begin to browse shops for them. Actually… this is in order to bribe Gear, so that it will be one less person to nag at me later for skipping work, given that Histy already knows what I'm doing right now. I happen to copy the list that she's planning to buy on her next visit to Lastation, whether voluntarily or getting dragged there by Uni for sparring partner… or as a moving target dummy.
With my shopping done, I place the goods inside my storage device and exit the store, to sense that something is awfully wrong.
"Someone's watching me," I mutter before my instincts screams for me to dodge, so I hop backwards and notice a bullet hitting the area where I was a few seconds ago. I dodge another bullet again and again as I run into the next building when I'm supposed to buy the next set of parts from.
After repeating this for quite a number of times, I notice that whoever that is targeting me stops shooting whenever I get too close to a shop or when I enter a building. I'll have to time my moves, though. Upon entering one of the shops, I encounter Noire's little sister, Uni. She's drinking a cup of cold water and is breathing heavily.
"Uni?" I ask, snapping her to attention after being lost in her thoughts.
"Neptune-san?" she asks before realizing that she's not daydreaming after she rubs her eyes. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be working?"
"Err…"
"Skipping work again…"she eyes me suspiciously. I raise my hands up in defeat. "In any case, someone told me to send you home if I were to see you in Lastation."
"Geh…"
"Or maybe alerting my onee-chan will do," Uni says as she takes her cell phone slowly out of her pocket and begins to dial Noire's number. "She'll give you a very hard disciplinary action if she finds out that you're skipping your duties again."
"Okay, okay! I'll head back home!" I sigh. "There are snipers aiming me from the rooftop, so I can't transform safely."
Uni flipped her cell phone open again, threatening to wake Noire up in order to force me to return home.
"Actually… you don't need to worry too much," Uni smiles. "Getting hit by the bullet will only put you to sleep, so that I can either send you to onee-chan or Nepgear. Either way, it ends in a disciplinary action until you head back to Planeptune and do your work."
Just… how far did Histy go to warn everyone about this?
"At the very least, let me finish my shopping here first," I say. When she's about to protest, I tell her that it's not for me, but for Gear. She reluctantly agrees.
With my shopping done, I leave out of the building. It doesn't take too long for the bullet barrage to begin, forcing me to run in a zigzag pattern instead of running straight because I didn't want to get shot by any of those bullets. This time, it's a little harder because Uni is also taking pot shots at me from the skies while Arc, who has been following me the entire time, is pursuing me from behind, occasionally taking a different route before attempting to corner me to take an unnecessary detour.
After half an hour of playing cat and mouse, Arc tires out and leans to the wall to catch a breather. Now I just need to deal with the snipers and Uni, who's still following me from the skies. With Arc taken out of the picture, however, things get easier for me. Finally I can make a beeline for the harbour area with Uni hot on my tail. There are no snipers in the harbour and Uni decides to give up chasing after me, so I can quickly transform and fly off. Next stop, Leanbox!
[Leanbox]
Ugh… I regret coming to Leanbox. Well… kind off. While there is neither wanted poster nor order to send me back home in Leanbox, the effect of the goddess concert from a while back makes it hard for me to move around without attracting any attention whatsoever. The concert is a huge success that it causes three fan clubs to spring to existence. I mean, I'm fine with having a fan club dedicated to little Nepgear and me, but it feels very awkward when I'm around them. They're selling modified replicas of my one-piece parka to gather funds.
They do research on our hobbies too. The last time we were spotted in Leanbox, they tried to get within hugging range to cuddle me and we have to transform in order to escape the mass of rabid fans that have a lot of questions to ask to the real deal. They even sent a few of those… paparazzi people to stalk me in Planeptune. Thankfully, they stopped once I knocked some sense into them. Instead, they sent in requests that I come over to Leanbox in order to be 'interviewed' by the fan club.
Right now, however, I'm being chased by a legion of fans who noticed that I'm here because they see me when I land and revert.
"Neptune-sama!"
"Wait up, Neptune-sama!"
I keep running and making random turns just like what I did earlier today in Planeptune to make sure that I lose the horde of fans that wants to get within hugging distance. The last time that happened, everyone was all over me and it got too uncomfortable. No way I'm willing to let that happen again. After six random turns, the horde finally loses sight of me and I pull my hood up to go past them unnoticed. Since I'm not wearing my parka, they can't recognize me with my hood up and promptly let me pass.
"Neptune-san?"
I turn around to face Leanne, Vert's adopted little sister. Truth to be told, I never expected Vert to be the kind to actually raise a kid responsibly, given her gaming habits. Not to mention that Leanne grew up to be a very different person compared to Vert and Chika, who raised her ever since she's a baby. She's the idol that helps us to record the goddess-candidate duets together with 5pb. and a comrade back during ASIC days.
"Is Vert at home?"
"Yes, she is," Leanne smiles.
"Alright. I guess I'll head there."
However, it is not easy trying to reach the basilicom because the fans are still out hunting for me. Not to mention, some of them have started to recognize me and they resumed their chase. It isn't exactly easy to get rid of an entire group, especially when a few of them can split up and corner me from another direction. Seeing no other choice, I transform while running and fly off to the basilicom. The guards quickly let me pass before reactivating the gates once again, blocking the rabid horde of fans from entering.
Entering the basilicom, I meet up with Vert who is practising for her Razeblue game. Apparently she's still sore after losing to Noire a few times in a row during our last Goddess Meeting at Saturn's Retreat. She's so concentrated on her game that she didn't notice me entering the area. Only after she managed to pull off one of the difficult combos that her characters have, she finally notices that she isn't alone.
"Ara? Neptune? When did you get here?" she asks.
"When you whiffed that combo a bunch of times," I reply as I sit down next to her and pick up the second controller. "Wanna have a round or two?"
"Challenge accepted," Vert says as she ends challenge mode and enters versus mode.
All I need to do is to prevent Vert from killing my puppet and this match is as good as mine! The only thing good about Vert's character is that none of her supers require her character to stand still, which makes it difficult to block. Of course, I must not give her a chance as well. At least, fighting her character is easier than fighting Gear's character.
At the end, our little gaming session extends from being two rounds to become first to five. I won four matches before nearly defeating Vert on the last round of the last set. Unfortunately, Vert chips me to death and clinched the final set for herself.
"You're improving," Vert smiles. "Last time we played, you couldn't even win two rounds."
"Noire's a good teacher," I nod.
After chatting with Vert for a while, I leave the basilicom. Initially, I want to leave on foot, but the guards warn me of potential ambushes from the fans, so I decide to transform and just fly off to my destination. There is a small shop in Leanbox's downtown area that sells something which my sister wants: a new beam saber capacitor. I always wonder why she needs to buy them off other nations when she can easily make one on her own. In fact, all of her beam sabers are customized to fit her perfectly.
I should get some of Leanbox's famous candy apples before I go, so I head to a nearby sweets shop and buy some before enjoying the snack. Where are the fan club people, though? I'm sitting in the open doing nothing but eating candy apples and they have yet to ambush me. I think they're stalking me though. It feels as if I'm being watched. Well, I'm alright with them watching me as long as they don't try anything funny.
As soon as I finish my candy apples, I transform and fly off to return to Planeptune. It's almost dinner time and the last thing I want is to miss on Gear's home-cooked food. I'll just deal with Histy's nagging after dinner is done. Hopefully, with the goods I bring back home, I don't have to deal with Saturn and Nepgear joining Histy to nag at me. Else, this is going to be one long night.
[Planeptune]
I open the door to my basilicom quietly. I can smell Nepgear's cooking wafting from the kitchen. Everyone else should be there as well, I guess. I reach the kitchen to see Saturn and Histy chatting while Nepgear makes some rösti for dinner. Mine as a sunny side up egg and a piece of coarse pork sausage. Gear's portion is similar to mine, except that her sausage is garlic pork instead. Histy's are covered with mushroom sauce while Saturn's are given some of Atlus' favourite smoked salmon. Saturn notices me entering and gives me her mischievous smile. Anyway, I give her the crepe I bought in Lowee, which she places in the fridge. Nepgear's parts will have to be placed somewhere in the dining room. Dinner comes first.
They don't talk about me skipping work at all and instead chat about what happened during the time I'm not at the basilicom. I'm not sure if I should join in, so I keep myself quiet throughout the entire time. Before Nepgear serves dessert, however, I cannot hold it back anymore and asks.
"You guys aren't going to punish me?" I ask. I might be a goddess, but with Saturn and Nepgear doing most of the work, I actually fit the position as a candidate better. Sure my work habits have been improving and I've been trying to act like a real goddess ever since Noire and I started going out. This is one of the days where I really don't want to work.
"You did your job correctly. So why did you think you deserve some punishment?" Saturn asks back.
"Today, everything goes according to plan," Histy calmly speaks.
"And all we need to do is to count on onee-chan being onee-chan," Nepgear adds the final blow.
"E-eh?"
"Well to simply put…" Nepgear says. "Just open up the paper that Saturn-nee passed to you this morning."
I open the to-do list and what I read off it makes me feel… scammed, to say the least. Pretty much everything I did today was part of my to-do list and it even includes being chased by the Guild!
"Planeptune's new guild agents need to be trained to make decisions on the go. I suggested that you should be their target," Histy smiles. "You always try to avoid work, so I had the trainees to patrol the areas where you frequent."
"The same thing happened in Lastation, actually," Nepgear continues the explanation. "Uni and Arc wants to train their sniper team, but no target is small and fast enough for them to train their accuracy at. Histoire's plan is bound to drive onee-chan away from Planeptune. You're fast and as long as you don't transform, you'll serve as an excellent target."
"T-then, what about Lowee?" I ask.
"Oh, that was mine. Atlus has been requesting that the goddesses run a physical check by running within her maze and escaping within the time limit," Saturn still maintains her mischievous smile. "Everyone else already did theirs. You're the only one left. I asked the twins to post a wanted picture and for Blanc to ambush you because you would not be willing to do that."
Ugh… I can't believe they're actually counting on me to refuse to do my work at all to ensure that I actually do it. Talk about a reverse psychology.
"You guys didn't make any plans in Leanbox?" I ask.
"Nope, because we don't need to," Saturn stands up and stretches. "The crazed fans over there are good enough to send you leaving the nation."
"I heard that fan clubs have formed, supporting the twins or the black sisters or us," Nepgear replies. "Oh, onee-chan, thanks for the parts. The reason why I never buy the capacitor is because I'm afraid the rabid fans might recognize me. Thank you for the hard work."
Everything I bought earlier that is intended for a bribe turns out to be souvenirs instead. Aaah! I really don't want to think about this anymore. I think I'll just go take a bath and sulk. I'm sure Noire will find out about this from Uni. This is going to be a huge embarrassment for me. I think… I should stop slacking altogether… yeah. It might be a good idea. Better than them trying to pull a reverse psychology on me and resulting in more embarrassment than necessary.
Hope you have a good read. The next (and currently final) chapter will feature Noire. There's no need to even guess anymore since she's the only goddess left. Farewell till next weekend.
