Chapter 37: Here's Huge Heat

Robots are a very esoteric type of folk. They always have some agenda going on and no matter what you do, they will never change their minds about some things.

I want to go home already.

"Do you ever notice how all of us don't wear hunky armor but we still can take a good beating?" Jerry asked randomly. We were all hanging out in a dingy old cell, stripped of our weapons. We were surrounded by rusty metal walls topped off with a fortified door as the entrance. The only light we had was a light bulb which was surprisingly bright. I could see just how much they neglected this room.

Pinky was sent to a different cell. I don't know why.

"Jerry, I don't want to think about how our world works right now," Dan replied. "In the world we live in we can pull weapons out of our ass. I think we all know our world is pretty weird."

"We need to get out," Wesley said. "Those damn robots trapped us in the Banala factory. I have no idea what they want with us."

"I overheard them talking about getting someone to talk to us later. I hope it's not too long," I said. I pray that I do not have to encounter another crazy or quirky character. I have to deal with three of those already.

"Ah hell! Like I would meet their demented robo-leader!" Dan said as he darted his eyes back and forth, looking at the walls. I am not sure what he sees in them. "W-What about George? Is he near here?"

"How would any of us know?" Wesley asked. "You act like dogoos got some weird telepathic sense or something," he said as he shook his head.

"Hey, at least I'm trying!" Dan pointed out.

"Are you sure you're trying?" Wesley asked with a raised brow.

George was hopping ahead, past the snow-covered bushes and into an area best described as undeveloped. Trailing closely behind was Blanc and the sisters. As they knew time wasn't generous today, they went at a brisk pace.

"Be careful, these hunks of junk could have set up traps," George warned as he intensely looked around his surroundings as he hopped forward.

"I still can not believe you can talk," Blanc commented.

"A lot of dogoos can talk, it's just you people kill them before they can speak. But... I digress," the dogoo bitterly said.

"So Blanc, have you ever heard of the Banala Factory before?" Nepgear asked.

"Banala? Last I recall, it used to be a place where the nation manufactured some odds and ends. We had to shut it down a long time ago since it was outdated but I wouldn't think robots would populate there," Blanc explained.

"All the more reason to hurry up," George suggested. "I don't think it's that much farth—"

CLICK

"Huh?"

BOOM

"OH SHIT!"

As the dogoo stopped immediately, he noticed that the ground, just in front of him, was smashed into a small crater. It's safe to say that the small explosion put everyone on hyper-alert status.

"What the hell was that?!" Blanc asked.

"I think it could be one of those motion sensor mines," Nepgear pointed out. "If they mined the area, we have to be more careful."

"Oh great, now the ground is out to get us," Neptune said as she looked at the spot she was standing on. "How are we ever going to avoid these things?"

"I have an idea," the dogoo said as he appeared to have a very long stick.

"What are you going to do with a stick?" Blanc asked. In response to that question, George waved the long stick around his area where seemingly nothing happened. Everyone else looked with confusion.

The dogoo took a hop forward, and then proceeded to wave the stick again.

CLICK

BOOM

"Voila!" The dogoo has a prideful smile.

"Ah! The faithful stick," Neptune remarked.

KABOOM

The party heard a faint explosion in the distance.

"HI-YAH!" Wesley yelled out before slamming his slime body onto a robot guard, completely demolishing it in the process.

"Do you have to be this loud? You know we are in a narrow hallway," Dan questioned as he brushed himself off.

"I could ask you the same thing when you blew up that door," he responded.

How does an unarmed dogoo blow up a door? You would expect me to know but I can't really describe it. I heard a lot of squishy sounds though. Very squishy.

"Mates, quit the bickering and get going before those metal blokes catch up to us!" Jerry yelled with urgency. It wasn't long before all of us ran down the hallway, turning and running in any direction that seemed like it led to the way out.

"Huh, for an evil factory there seems to be a lack of evil guards," I observed while panting more and more. This body was not made for running.

After about two or so minutes, our group of dogoos stopped to take a quick breather. It was a very calm breather—no alarms, no incoming guards, no nothing. It was like they ignored our breakout.

"Okay, what is going on here?" Dan asked as he cautiously peered at his surroundings. "These robots aren't that stupid aren't they?"

"All the more reason to take advantage of this situation—we just need to actually know where we're going and we should be outta here," I said as I found myself becoming less alert. It's nice to not be in danger every once in a while.

"Let me go! I will never tell!" Pinky yelled out as he struggled from the robot's clutches.

"Never tell? That is not a valid answer," a robotic voice that was distant responded.

"Well it is my answer. Take it or shut up! I don't even know why you chose to interrogate me first—is it cause I'm pink?"

"No. Nonetheless, your persistent insolence has earned you the role of being a spectator."

CLICK

Suddenly, the wall in front of Pinky opened up to reveal a TV. It was surveillance footage where there were some recently familiar faces. Three dogoos and a boy were standing idle in a hallway.

"Is that-"

"Yes it is. Your comrades have deluded themselves that they have escaped that pitiful cell, but there was always something strange about this section of Banala," the voice rambled.

"I think there's something strange about you and it's not the good kind of strange either," the slime replied.

CLICK

"Why are the bloody walls moving?" Jerry questioned as the party saw small sections of the wall disappearing.

It wasn't long before they knew why.

"Wall turrets!" Wesley yelled out causing everyone to flee on a dime.

BANG BANG BANG

Omake 23: Hardmode

It's no surprise that Mikey was out in a very fortunate position in the main story. He happens to get knocked out in a place where Compa easily spots him which ends up barreling the story through a calamity of CPUs and dogoos.

He was very lucky, some might say it was beginner's luck. Some might say he was playing on easy difficulty. How would he fare against something much more difficult from the beginning? Something much more akin to reality.

There might be an exploit though.

DAY 0

"Huh?" the boy whimpered as he got up from the pavement. Apparently he was passed out on the sidewalk where passing folks paid him no attention. "Where the hell am I..."

All he saw were bustling streets and bustling people. Equipped with only a white shirt and some black sweatpants, he was at a loss right from the start. The only thing he could understand was an ad with the wording "only in Planeptune." The name seemed very familiar to him.

Checking his pockets, he found nothing but lint. Why couldn't it be nothing but cash? Regardless, it appears he's broke and homeless, an ideal start for any new character.

"This ain't fair..." he remarked as he observed some guild members walk into a building across the street from him. They were all moderately equipped with swords and other weapons, things Mikey can't really get as of the moment.

"This sucks! I can't do anything!" he thought to himself.

SLAP

"What the?!"

Suddenly a flyer flew into his face. Taking it and reading it, he discovered it was an open job offer for a local library. Some bookkeeping job with low pay.

It wasn't much, but it was a start.

DAY 10

Being a homeless worker has been a so-far great experience for someone like me. You don't have to make the bed, don't have to sweep nothing, and you don't even have to worry about burning your house down.

Don't even have a house to burn down but nonetheless, I have been living off of public pool showers, laundromats, and fast food for a little more than a week or so. It's going smoothly.

Still, living in a big cardboard box isn't really the best way to live. And I'm by myself, which I kind of feel is the worst part about all this. I'm surviving but I'm just not living. It sucks.

Day 20

Mikey wanted to take a break from the cycle of work and sleep in a big cardboard box, so he decided to use the weekend to explore the Virtua Forest. Armed with a purchased combat knife, he won't be totally defenseless.

"I don't even know why I'm walking here. I'm just bored. This is like back home," he rambled on as he glanced at the trees he was passing by. "At least it's a nice day. Just me and the trees."

However, the beauty of nature could only do so much to quell his growing melancholy for this world. Where practically nobody knew him and where he had basically nothing but a knife, there's only so much you can do.

"I don't know what to do..." he admitted to himself as he continued to walk down the trail. "I want to go home..."

RUSTLE

"Hm?" Mikey turned to look behind him as he heard a bush rustling. As the bush remained still, a dogoo suddenly jumped out in front of him.

"Ah! It's one of you bastards!" he shouted out before drawing his knife.

"Worf worf!" replied the dogoo.

"What you say about my mom?!" Mikey exclaimed before attacking the dogoo with a fast cut. It wasn't long before the dogoo was more goo than dog. To the boy's disappointment, the defeated enemy left nothing but heaps of XP. Kind of strange for an enemy to be worth that much.

"Oh damn, I didn't know I could do that with just a knife," he thought to himself. "Maybe my saltiness gives me strength."

As he thought those thoughts, more bushes started to rustle.

"Uh oh."

Day 50

It's very lonely here. Despite all these people walking around and my employers and coworkers, I still feel a sort of disconnect. I wonder if I can bare anymore of this. I tried to reach out before but people are simply not interested in me. Sometimes I would return to where I started in order to come up with new ideas on what to do.

I suppose a good substitute for people is money. Still homeless but less as I have found a bigger and cleaner cardboard box. Excellent insulation.

Also, I have gotten pretty good with my knife since that first encounter in the forest. Every evening or so I would take a stroll to the forest to do a bit of grinding to get that XP. Doesn't hurt to occupy your time with training.

I'm not sure what level I am though.

I have also met a stray dogoo when I was returning to my cardboard box. It had no tail but it was particularly friendly. I called it Boomer because it was a good boy. Boomer was a loyal companion. I'm happy.

Day 100

I think I have been grinding too much enemies with my knife. So much so that I had to buy a new one to continue grinding. I don't know why but I'm content with grinding while keeping the same job I have for these three months or so. Maybe it's cause I have a dogoo now, who knows?

I still wonder what level I am though. I could go to the guild to get that checked but I don't want to be embarrassed in front of all those members. What if it's still level one?

Maybe I'll use my hard-earned credits to get an assault rifle and get good with that.

Day 110

"Have you seen that boy across the street?" one guild member asked another.

"Yea, he's been to that same space idling for the past 3 months or so. I wonder what he's up to," remarked the other member. "I just hope he isn't some deranged maniac."

Day 200

BOOM

A building quickly crumbles down into rubble, causing a mass panic in that area of the city. It was like an incredible force acted on the structure but no one saw anything huge. The only thing that was seen near the building was a boy and his dogoo.

"No one saw me touch that wall right..." the boy nervously asked as he saw everyone looking at him like he did it. It wasn't long before the scene caught the attention of IF.

"What the hell is going on?" she asked when she ran to the guild.

"I'm not sure. The building across the street just randomly got destroyed," one member answered.

"Randomly destroyed? That's impossible. Could it be some sort of foundation failure or some pipeline flaw?" she asked as she noticed a boy across the street.

"The reports say that the utilities are still intact so it couldn't lie in the pipes. Also that building has been there for years."

All of a sudden, the girl noticed the boy taking off. Through her instincts, she decided to run after him.

Just a preview :) but really it's just an Omake.

Author's Notes:

Apologies for the late late updates but a lot has come up, school + family, so it was kinda hard to get back on it lol

right now I'm trynna ease back into it and it feels gr8 to come back to this community

dogoo dogoo dogoo poopoo

have a beautiful time !

i owe two omakes:

One for CH36 maybe i will push this to CH38

One for CH37 is done

:)))))