~~~Candidates~~~
After Blanc had finished tearing through one of Vert's bedrooms (she had multiple for storing her collections) and Vert halfheartedly apologized, the group was led to a more spacious lounge to continue with the sleepover. In the room the space had been cleared of all furniture except for a small table that had a rod in the center and several helmets around it, one for each CPU and Candidate. The helmets were akin to those astronauts wore, a round, clear bubble with a small antenna on top. In the top four corners of the room were what appeared to be cameras.
"I planned to reveal this at the next N3, but it wouldn't hurt to show it to off to my fellow CPUs," Vert remarked. She walked over to the table and put one of the gadgets on her head, and motioned for everyone else to do the same.
"Oh, Vert, are we going to space?" Neptune asked as she checked her helmet for any cracks before putting it on.
"Sorry to disappoint Neptune, but these helmets are designed with something else in mind," Vert answered. After ensuring everyone had their helmets on, Vert flipped the switch on the rod in the table. "Behold, the new Leanbox Holobubble!" she announced, as everyone's bubbles briefly turned white, then became clear again.
"I think it's broken," Neptune said.
"Yeah, I don't notice anything different," Blanc added, looking around.
"I haven't spawned anything yet," Vert said, pulling up a menu with a gesture of her hand, and pressed on an option. In front of her appeared a Dogoo, with an audible pop that caused everyone to turn to it. Rom patted top of the virtual monster, and was surprised at how tangible it was.
"Oh my, it's not actually there right?" Rom asked, holding the Dogoo in her hands.
"Welcome to augmented reality, ladies," Vert said. "The Holobubble not only projects realistic visuals, but also uses a non-intrusive neural link to make the holograms feel, look, smell, and even taste real."
"Why not just use the neural link alter sight instead of using a bubble and holographic projectors?" Blanc retorted. Vert responded by giving Blanc a blank stare, unable to form a proper response.
"Good job, Blanc, you made Vert crash!" Neptune said to Blanc, then took a closer look at Vert. In both of the frozen CPU's eyes were three quarters of a red circle. "Somebody get me some towels," Neptune ordered. Nepgear tried to leave the room to get some towels, but a hardlight barrier blocked her from leaving.
"Could someone turn off the Holobubble? It won't let me leave," Nepgear said, tapping on the seemingly real wall made of light in front of the door. Blanc tried to reach for the switch in the table, only for her hand zapped by the rod. A message box appeared in front of her.
Parental Safety Lock is on.
Only authorized individuals may turn off the Holobubble.
For more information, read the Leanbox Holobubble User Manual.
"Parental controls? Who in the right mind would put parental controls that kept kids from turning off the console?" Blanc asked, then remembered it was Vert who made the technology currently holding them hostage inside the room. Blanc also saw this as a golden opportunity to get back at Vert, and mimicked Vert's earlier hand gesture so she could spawn a pen to draw with all over the busty CPU's helmet, chuckling all the while.
Rom and Ram were quietly spawning and despawning several monsters in the corner, testing out the technology's capabilities. Neptune was in a corner testing out the holographic food, mainly holographic pudding. As the Candidate brought the holographic spoon filled with holographic pudding closer to her mouth, the utensil started to disappear as it came in contact with the bubble around her head. This caused Neptune to cry out in disappointment and throw the spoon across the room.
Neptune's spoon hit the Ancient Dragon Rom and Ram were inspecting, causing one point of damage to the monster. Unfortunately for everyone in the room, that one point of damage caused the Holobubble to active combat mode, which disabled further spawning of objects, gave everyone a health bar to look at at the bottom of their bubbles, and activated the Artificial Intelligence of any spawned monsters.
The Ancient Dragon proceeded to roast the twin CPUs of Lowee with its fire breath. "AAAAHH!" Rom and Ram screamed as they were barbecued by the searing flames, rolling on the floor in agony.
"You'll pay for setting my friends on fire, dragon! Nep punch!" Neptune said, throwing a left hook right into the dragon's leg, causing no damage. Neptune reeled in pain from punching the rock hard scales of the monster, rolling on the floor beside the two CPUs. Nepgear ran around, dodging the dragon's swipes as she thought of a way out of this. Blanc pulled out one of her many books inside her coat and sat down in a corner to read silently.
"Vert needs to put maps in her basilicom. All the hallways look the same," Uni remarked as she walked down one of the basilicom's many corridors. A smaller, more petite Noire trailed behind her.
"How about we just go home? I'm getting sleepy," Noire suggested, yawning. As the Lastation CPU and Candidate walked and walked along the hall, Noire heard muffled noises nearby, and spotted light coming from one of the doors. She tugged on the hem of the older CPU's skirt and led her to the door. Uni opened the door and found Vert standing as still as a statue, Rom, Ram, and Neptune rolling on the floor in pain, Nepgear doing a complex form of panicked aerobics, and Blanc nonchalantly reading in the far left corner of the room. They were all wearing odd helmets, and two were on the table in the center, apparently reserved for them.
"Uni, perfect timing! Could you- oh goodness!" Nepgear said, ducking under nothing. "Could you turn off the rod in the center of the room?" she pleaded. Uni calmly walked over to the center of the table and turned the rod off. Nepgear stopped her odd dance to catch her breath. The three on the floor stopped rolling back and forth.
"Hey, the pain stopped! Thanks, Miss Uni!" Neptune exclaimed, taking her helmet off. "Could you bring me some towels? We need to reboot Miss Vert."
Author's Notes:
I've been using this place as a soapbox instead of talking about the story, so let's talk about the story. Chapter 5 feels the most out of place for me, going backing and rereading my story. It was rather dramatic and action-filled compared to all the other chapters. It also gave me writer's block for writing chapter 6 as I was temporarily at a loss for how to continue after trying to write action and feels in one chapter. Thinking back, it was just as angsty as what I had planned.
