"One… My name is Plutia, it's nice to meet you." Said the Other-dimensional CPU as I felt myself pushed back as far as I could in my chair, sitting across from Plutia, while everyone else just giggled and laughed. I gave a nervous laugh while following along, I was flying into the danger zone right now, I'm surprised I haven't broken down yet.
"I'd take a minute to propose a toast to Plu-Plu," Said Compa, as I felt my breath hitch as I tried to contain a snort, IF giving me a side look while I did this. "Planeptune's lovely new CPU-"
"Woah woah woah, hold up!" Neptune said, still holding up her wine glass. "You're making it sound like Plutie here stole my whole country out from under me."
"It wasn't like you weren't doing anything to really prove your title to begin with…" I said, deadpanning.
"Zip it mister!" Neptune said, pointing at me, while I just gave tilted my head upwards, my eyes widening as my mouth formed into a frown, while my whole face stood rigid. It was if my face looked like I had just been told something horrible, and my reaction was that of recoiling as far back as I could, but only my head could have moved.
"No, not like that at all, it's just that she's a planeptune CPU too." Said Compa.
"Yeah, but not THIS Planeptune, she's a CPU of a completely DIFFERENT One." Said Neptune, pointing her finger in a lazy way that somehow still held all the seriousness of a full on point. "And don't you forget it."
"I think what she's trying to say is, Plutia comes from another dimension, one with their very own Planeptune." Said Nepgear.
"I must admit, it is a bit difficult to know how to react to a casual declaration of a different dimension." Said HIstoire.
"Uh, hello? Guy from another dimension also sitting right here?" I said, waving my right hand in the air. "I mean, yeah my declaration WASN'T exactly casual, but still!"
IF just shook her head as I muttered how when I was found to be from another dimension I was thrown in jail, but this girl gets off scot free. Also something about sexism, apparently.
"So I take it you can transform to?" Asked IF, as I felt a chill go down my spine.
"Eugh…" I said, visibly shaking. "Sorry, I think I just felt hell freeze over, continue."
"Yes I can… But uh, everybody tells me I shouldn't go around doing it." Said Plutia.
"I shall now take this moment to thank the other goddesses of the ultradimension for this great feat." I muttered, subtly bringing a fist next to my face and clenching it. Sort of in a 'Yes!' kind of way.
"Not unless I have to that is."
I spoke too soon.
"Yeah, why's that?" Asked Neptune.
I bit the inside of my cheek, trying desperately not to blurt out about Sadie, I think IF may have noticed, but didn't pay any mind to.
"I wonder…" Plutia said to herself as I drowned out the sound of Neptune and Peashy getting into a fight about food, only to be drawn back in by the sound of Neptune screaming.
"Daah!" Neptune shouted, her face blue as a cooked eggplant was shoved into her face. "Get it away from me! I hate eggplants! They're super groudy!"
"Come on, I cooked today, give it a chance." Said IF. "And they're pretty tasty if I do say so myself."
I looked down on my plate, having not touched anything on it really. Let it be said that I'm a picky eater. My diet back home consisted of basically Pizza and Pasta, I think I also substituted Water with Milk and Mountain Dew, so there's that. Yeah, I wasn't the most healthy person alive.
"No way no how no thank you." Said Neptune. "Just the smell alone sucks all the strength out of my body."
I felt my attention be snapped to the window, as IF looked at me.
"...I feel a disturbance." I said, making my voice sound like one of those 'This summer…' guys, or honest trailer voice guy, yeah him. "It was like someone really stupid made an equally stupid decision right now."
"RIGHT… and I noticed you haven't touched anything Bryce." IF said, as I looked back at her.
"Sorry… Not exactly hungry right now." I said, giving an apologetic smile, going back to my normal voice.
"See, even Bryce agrees with me!" Said Neptune.
"How did this make me say I'm agreeing with you!?" I asked, looking at Neptune.
"Nep, you're wrong about him." Said IF.
"Thank you-"
"He's worse." Said IF.
"Oh come on!" I said, my arms shooting into the air as I grabbed my hair in frustration.
"Excluding Bryce for a second, Neptune you're setting a bad example to your citizens by being a picky eater- abababababababababa-"
We turned to see Histoire vibrating and stuttering uncontrollably.
"Miss Histoire! Are you okay?" Asked IF, as she stood up.
"No wait, let it go to voicemail!" I said, putting my hand in front of IF.
"Histoire isn't a telephone." IF deadpanned to me, as I shrugged.
I sat for a moment, before sighing.
"Yeah, when Histoire gets everything all thought out, let me know." I said, walking off.
I walked over to my room, opening the door to look at the interior.
It wasn't much, just a bed, a rather large one at that, a dresser, a bookshelf, and a desk. The room was a dark shade of Purple, and most of the room kept the same colour theme.
Then again, I honestly wasn't expecting much. At this point, I'm lucky I still got my hands on my phone and my headphones.
I sighed, flopping onto my bed. Really wish I at least had my laptop, then I could open up the USB and pull out the RPG I was working on.
"Well, eventually I guess." I said to myself. "Besides, not much of a reason to complete it while I'm here. It's not like anyone knows of the whole base for the thing anyways…"
"...I don't want to be this alone…" I muttered to myself, as I pulled the bedsheets over me, as I curled up into a ball, completely covered by the comforter. It was about as comforting as It normally was.
It really just made me think on how alone I really was here.
"So like she said, please report it as soon as possible." Said Histoire.
The only thing to really be noted was that both Plutia and Neptune weren't paying attention the former busy making what I would guess to be plushies, and the latter just playing more of her video game.
Where was I? Listening through the door of my room.
I was giving myself some time to think, since even though I've had an abundant amount of time for that, I still felt it was necessary.
"...I just realized something." I said to myself, as I stood up and realized something that I had forgotten about after I returned from Lastation, the impending doom of Plutia taking my focus at the moment.
"...What did Anonydeath mean by gift?" I asked myself, before the sound of someone knocking at my door brought my attention to the fact I wasn't wearing a shirt. "One second!"
I quickly threw a hoodie on, as I opened the door to see IF looking at me.
"Come on, we're going on patrol." Said IF.
"...Uh… why exactly?" I raised an eyebrow at this.
"Histoire wants us to keep an eye on anything weird or strange going on, so I volunteered for you and I to go on patrol." Said IF.
"Of course you did." I muttered to myself.
"What was that?"
"Sorry! Not a morning person!" I said, raising my hands up.
"It's 10 AM!"
"Again, not a morning person!" I repeated like it was obvious.
"Anyways, we need to drop Compa off at work, so let's get a move on." Said IF as I sighed, moving over to grab my Kimber Warrior off my night table, loading a fresh magazine just in case.
"Give me a second to get myself ready and I'll be out." I said, as IF nodded and closed the door.
I sighed, looking down at the gun in my hand, before strapping it to the holster attached to my leg.
"Let's go." I said, replacing the hoodie for a fresh purple T-shirt as I grabbed my black overcoat on my way out.
I walked up next to IF and Compa in the elevator as we descended to the garage level of the basilicom.
"Ah! Miss IF!" Said a guard as we walked over to him. "Is this one Bryce Bridged? He had a package delivered here, for some odd reason."
"Me?" I asked, as the two girls looked at me. I shrugged, not having any idea on what the guard was talking about.
"We've parked it next to Miss IF's bike." Said the guard as we looked to find the same go-kart I had stol-appropriated during my escape from Lowee.
"Isn't that?" Asked IF as she looked at me.
"Yep." I said, popping the P as I sat down in the driver seat, finding everything was still in place. "...So that's what he meant…"
"Hm?" Compa looked at me in confusion.
"Anonydeath said he sent me a 'gift' when the goddesses apprehended him." I said, running a hand along the steering wheel. "I guess this is what he was referring to."
I rubbed my left hand, as I looked over at IF.
"Well, at least there's room on your bike now." I said, as I started the go-kart. "Shall we?"
As I drove behind IF, following the guild agent while getting a hang of the controls of the kart, we kept running into areas that were 'under construction'.
We finally stopped at what I counted as the fifth.
"There's a lot of construction today for some reason." Said IF, as I slowly pulled up next to them.
"It's actually rather concerning." I said, feeling uneasy. I was forgetting something important, and I forget what IT was.
"You're not wrong." IF said, before looking at Compa apologetically. "Sorry we're running late."
"That's okay Iffy. I'm with you, so I'm having fun no matter what's going on." Said Compa.
I felt my hand grip the steering wheel a bit as we started back up again.
"Oh yeah?" IF asked as she started up again and I put my foot on the gas as I followed.
We crossed another construction detour, and it was then that I remembered why I was on edge.
"What's going on!?" IF asked as we drove into what appeared to be purple smoke.
I suddenly felt myself swerve to the right, firing a web strand behind me as I jumped out of the go-kart, barely avoiding IF as she slowed to a halt. The go-kart on the other hand, slammed into a building.
I ran up to IF and Compa, before I started feeling my strength start to fade.
"Oh great…" I muttered to myself, as I saw IF and Compa try to hold their breath as I felt the smoke enter my lungs.
I let out a cough, as I collapsed a few feet away from IF and Compa, my vision becoming blurry as I saw two people in black cloaks walk up to us, before I passed out.
"Ugh…" I groaned out as I felt my eyes flutter open, as I found myself tied to a chair, dangling over a pool of what I assumed to be water.
"Oh god dammit…" I said to myself, looking down to find that the chair was weighted, but if the rope above me was cut, I'd be drowning in seconds. "Of course THIS happens to me…"
I looked around me, only to feel the rope holding me above the water start to lower me closer.
I snapped my head up, finding that the rope was slowly breaking.
"...I'm going to die…" I said to myself, a bead of sweat running down my forehead, as a few moments later, I felt myself drop.
Only for someone to grab the rope at the last second.
"Good, I have my plan B." I looked to my right to see Arfoire holding the rope in some weird transformated state.
"Oh, it's you…" I said, displeasure clearly visible in my voice. "Glad to know my life is a god damn bargaining chip. At least it isn't the worst thing it's been."
"Shut it boy!" Arfoire shouted at me, as I felt the chair turn to face her, only to get a slap to the face.
"Ahh!" I moaned out in pain, as moved my jaw around, feeling the bones in my jaw click as I moved it around.
"What's this? More hostages? And here I thought I had already made my point to you." A female voice said as I felt a chill go up my spine.
"Get any closer and I drop him into the lake." Said Arfoire, as I felt myself spin around in my chair to see Iris Heart floating a good few meters away from Arfoire and myself.
"...Is anyone else terrified? Because I think I can safely say that 'terrified' is an understatement for me right now." I said, as I felt both relieved at the arrival of Iris Heart, and horrified at the arrival of Iris Heart.
"Bryce!" I looked to Iris Heart's right to see Purple Heart fly up next to her.
"Oh hi Neptune! Fancy seeing you here!" I said, laughing. Though to anyone else it came off as complete terror.
"Let him go." Said Purple Heart.
"Poor choice of words there!" I said, only to feel Arfoire's grip on the rope slightly slip, electing a not so manly scream out of me as I started breathing a lot harder than I was seconds earlier.
"I couldn't agree more." Said Arfoire, as she got a better grasp of the rope. "Here's how this is gonna work. You're going to let me and my hostage go, and I don't drop him into the lake to drown."
Purple Heart looked at me seriously for a second.
"Do you trust me?" She asked.
I gave a shaky nod, before I saw her rush forward, cutting the rope keeping my in the air.
Everything seemed to slow down at that moment, as I saw Iris Heart grin as she charged straight at Arfoire, said witch looking down at me with anger, before back up to Iris Heart in fear as I saw what was basically the equivalent of a sky tackle, before seeing Purple Heart dive bomb after me.
Then everything picked back up, as the high speed winds blew past my ears, as I suddenly felt myself slam into pavement, before feeling myself get covered by concrete, as I slowly drifted into the water, as my lungs which had the air knocked out of them were now getting filled up by water, only to see a hand reach out to me, as everything faded to black from the pain.
The next thing I knew, I was coughing my lungs out, as I let out large gasps of breath as I felt myself shake as I shakily stared at the solid ground that I was now kneeling over.
I felt a hand rub my back as I fell onto my side as I huddled into myself, both from a mix of freezing and in an attempt to calm myself down.
"Are you alright?" Asked Purple Heart, as I felt her arms worm around me as she sat me up, helping me warm up.
"...I thought I was going to die…" I said, as I felt tears start to form around my eyes. "...It was… worse than being stuck in the causality freeze."
"I'm here…" She said, as I felt myself just nod and tried calming down.
After a few minutes of this, I finally felt calm enough to stand up, even if it was a bit shaky.
"We should head back." Said Purple Heart, as I nodded, only to feel myself get picked up and put on her back, as she flew back to the Basilicom.
Soon, we had arrived, and found Plutia was now no longer in her CPU form, and that Histoire was talking with IF making sure she was alright.
When we entered the room, the attention turned to me and Neptune, as they looked at me in worry.
"Bryce-!" IF tried to speak, but stopped as I just stared at the floor as I walked over to my room and just closed the door behind me.
I opened the nearby bathroom door and pulled on more dry clothes as I grabbed a nearby blanket from my bed as I just curled into a ball on the top of my bed, a far off look in my eyes.
I heard the sound of people eating food and all, but something about it was off, like everyone had something else on their mind, and it was bringing everything else down with it.
I finally heard the door open as the sound of conjoint foot steps made multiple presences known.
"Bryce…?" Asked Histoire. "...Are you feeling any better?"
No, I wasn't. I was shaking.
I had experienced so many chances where I could have died in this world, and this one had been the most scarring to me.
I wasn't fine, and this many people weren't helping.
The number of people in the room slowly diminished, until there was only one left.
"...Bryce?" Neptune finally asked.
"...Why?" I asked, my voice shaking in fear as if I was going to re-experience the same thing over again in a few seconds if I let my guard down. "...Why do I have to go through all this? Why am I the one who needs to be forced to the edge?"
"...I'm here right now." Said Neptune as I felt a hand on my shoulder, which only served to make my shaking worse.
"...You said to trust you… and then the next thing I realized, I was three feet deep in a lake, and I was drowning…" I said, tears falling from my face. "...I don't know what to feel right now other than fear…"
I felt a weight press down on the bed, as Neptune wrapped her arms around my prone form..
"...Don't worry about anything. The main character is here to keep you safe now." She said, almost in a motherly manner.
I felt myself let out a sad laugh. "...What's with the OOC-ness?" I asked. "The Neptune I know is a lazy girl who's a picky eater, who has an addiction to video games and loves to tease everyone."
"What's with the OOC-ness yourself?" Asked Neptune, giggling. "The Bryce I know is a lazy guy who's an even pickier eater, who has just as much of an addiction to video games, and loves to make sarcastic comments and annoy people as much as he can."
"This fear isn't you Bryce, and Ms. Heroine isn't going to let you deal with your status ailment on your own!" Said Neptune, as I felt myself calm down as I relaxed a bit.
"...Don't go trying anything funny." Neptune said, as I let out a sad laugh, before I felt myself drift into unconsciousness.
"...Thank you Neptune… Thank you…" I said quietly, as tears dropped, as I closed my eyes and drifted to sleep.
