First new chapter I've done in a bit. I know I said the next one would come out in a week or 2, but I just really wanted to get this out since I managed to write most of this in one sitting. Anyway, here is chapter 9 of Hero of Neptunia!
"An asset or enemy?" Noire seemingly asked herself as she took a look at the boy before her. She gave him an analytical eye; searching for anything on him that could be a threat. She also looked at his face to see if there was any animosity or aggression with him. Granted, a negative attitude could've just been chalked down as him being upset for being detained, and not because he wanted to cause some chaos.
However, what she did see after her check over him, was that he didn't have anything on him besides a quest tablet and a nearly empty healing drink. As for his face... well... he certainly didn't look comfortable.
"Ooooh Noire, you scandalous woman," Neptune said from behind them, getting the attention and confusion of some of them, "He's way too young for you. Why, do anymore inspecting, and I just might have to call the police."
That comment caused Noire to sputter a little bit and completely lose her train of thought, all the while Neptune was laughing like crazy. 'Why that purple haired idiot...'
Just then, she gained a confident smirk, as she realized how she could get back at Neptune, "Kei, call Histoire and tell her to come pick up Neptune."
The purple goddess immediately shut up and went pale a little bit, as Kei nodded and left to get to a phone.
"Gah! Wait! Kei, don't do this!" Neptune all but begged as she followed after the oracle in hopes of stopping her.
Once the lazy goddess was gone, Noire let out a small sigh before she turned back to Uni and the green haired boy. Said boy had a confused look on his face; probably wondering what just happened.
"Right, with that out of the way!" the goddess of Lastation clapped her hands together, bringing everyone back to the matter at had, "Uni, why do you say he's a threat? Did he say or do something?"
The candidate cleared her throat a little before replying, "While he didn't say anything, the amount of power he has is certainly something to note. At the cost of his arm being broken, he managed to deal a serious blow to an ancient dragon I was fighting."
That definitely caught Noire's attention. Ancient dragons were pretty serious threats and couldn't be taken lightly. The fact that this boy managed to deal a good blow to one was definitely noteworthy. However, she realized something as she processed the report her sister gave her.
"Wait, you said at the cost of his arm, correct?" The nod from Uni prompted Noire to continue, "What exactly do you mean by that? Did he use some sort of armor or device and it didn't hold up?" When the little sister shook her head, this got a confused look from Noire. 'If he didn't have some sort of armor, then why did his arm break? Wait, don't tell me he punched the monster and did that much damage...'
As if sensing her sister's confusion, Uni decided to clarify. "What he did was yell out 'Detroit Smash' and slammed his fist against the monster's head. Next thing I was was that it was hurt pretty badly."
Now Noire knew her sister wouldn't lie to her, but that just sounded ridiculous. There was no way someone like this could damage an ancient dragon with a punch. Sure he was more muscular than the average teen, but that still didn't excuse the amount of power needed to hurt the monster to that degree.
"Are you sure all he did was punch it? No offense Uni, bit this sounds very unbelieva-"
"I can show you..."
Both goddesses of the room turned towards the greenette, who had been silent until now.
Noire thought about the boy's proposition for a few moments before she nodded her head. This did sound like a good idea. She could see exactly how the boy did his attack, and if he did somehow produce a lot of power, she could see just how powerful he was and go from there.
"Alright then. Uni, let's take him to one of the training areas."
While they were walking to the training room, Izuku found some time to go over what had happened when he entered that room with Uni and Kei. He hadn't truly expected the look over, but he figured it was fair since in her eyes Uni may have missed something. He was still bothered and a little uncomfortable with the fact she was eyeing him with such intensity.
And the there was the purple girl. She said all of 3 sentences before she would have had him floored if not for the situation he was in. She seemed like a kid, but she seemed to know the main goddess of Lastation well enough to joke with her. Maybe she was simply babysitting her or something until her parents came to pick her up.
Besides that, though, he could tell that the main CPU was rather serious. Her voice held an authoritative and no-nonsense air to it, which he understood. Running a while nation must've meant no time to play.
In all honesty, even though he was seemingly in trouble for doing nothing, he could respect both the CPU and her candidate. They seemed to really know what they were doing, which probably was the reason why Mr. Everglade called Lastation the most hardworking and productive nation.
Izuku thought a little bit more on the other 2 girls he was accompanying before they made it to a spacious tiled room that had various burn and slash marks along the walls, floor, and even the ceiling.
"This is our training room," Noire said to the boy as she gestured to the space around them, "Here, we'll see just how powerful one of your punches are."
Izuku honestly didn't know if the amount of healing liquid he had in his pocket could heal his arm again, and he really didn't want to walk around with a broken arm, so he figured he'd ask if he could do something else, "Instead of throwing a punch... c-could I use a flick instead?"
This time he got a response from the candidate, "No you idiot. We need to see how powerful you are, so you can't be holding back by using a flick!"
He nodded his head softly as he looked at his right hand. He really felt he was in no position to ask anything more, but like he said before, walking around with a broken arm wouldn't be fun, "Then c-could I at least have m-more healing afterwards..?"
Noire nodded her head at that, "Yes yes, you can. I assume walking around with a broken arm wouldn't feel good." The goddess then moved over to the back wall of the room and pressed a button that was on one of the panels. As soon as she did that, one of the tiles on the floor opened up, and out of it came a target.
"Okay now," the CPU of Lastation said as she made her way back to them, "I need you to hit that target with one of your Detroit Smashes. Be sure to go all out with it."
The wielder of One for All nodded his head before he approached the target. He looked at it for a few moments before he took a breath in and out and reeled his arm back. He called upon the quirk, not worrying about the percentage, "Detroit..." As he made contact with the target he yelled out, "Smash!"
It was safe to say that the punch decimated the target; turning it into nothing but bits and pieces, but the force of the punch carried on to the wall, where it left a decent indent in the wall. Izuku winced a bit as the feeling of a broken arm overtook him.
To say that Noire wasn't surprised by the damage the boy did would definitely be an understatement. She didn't expect the boy to be that strong. Why, if he wanted to, he could probably level an entire building with that amount of strength. She was just lucky the walls in the training room were made of strong materials, or else there would surely be a big hole in her tower.
"Right..." Noire said after a few moments of looking at the attack. "I definitely see why Uni called you a possible threat... Uni, do you think you can heal him up?"
As Uni went over to heal him, this allowed Noire to process and assess the situation. So far, she knew the boy had incredible power and didn't seem to be violent or aggressive (in fact she'd call him meek if anything). This left her with 2 options. Since he was pretty quiet and compliant, she could have him easily locked up since he'd probably go without a fight. Another option would be to just keep an eye on him to make sure he didn't do anything stupid, while also seeing if she could trust him.
It didn't really take long for the CPU of Lastation to make her decision.
"Izuku Midoriya, was it?" When she saw the boy with a newly healed arm nod, she continued, "What would you say to joining Uni on a quest tomorrow?"
As soon as she said that, both the candidate and wielder of One for All turned to her with shocked looks on their faces. Not so strangely, they were thinking the same thing, 'Wait what!?'
"Noire wait-" Uni tried to get out, but the senior goddess interrupted her.
"This is the best action, Uni. This way, you can keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't do anything." She then smiled a bit at the 2, "Besides, he can help you with quests so that they get done quicker. I don't see a problem with this."
Although Uni still held some reservations about this plan, she had to admit her sister had a point. So with a sigh, she nodded her head, "Okay, we'll work together on quests tomorrow."
Izuku didn't really feel like he had a say in the matter, but he still nodded his head to agree with her.
"Great," the CPU of Lastation said as she clapped her hands, signifying the end of that particular conversation. "Why don't you show him out so he can finish his quest?"
"Yeah, okay," the candidate begrudgingly said as she made her way towards the exit of the training room. Once he saw her leaving, the boy followed right after her.
As they made their way down the tower, there was an awkward air between the 2. The greenette wasn't sure if the black sister cared about it all that much, but he knew he did at least a little bit.
"Look," the candidate said after a few moments of silence in the elevator, "I don't trust you at all. Sure, you helped me today, but I could handle myself just fine in that fight, and I am still a bit skeptical about your motives."
The boy figured that was fair. He did seem a bit suspicious earlier when he ran away from her. Maybe he could explain himself tomorrow on their quest?
"But..." she continued, "My sister decided to give you a chance so I guess I'll give you one too. Just know I won't hesitate to attack if you turn on me."
"Got it," he replied as he nodded his head. He'd make it one of his goals to try and gain her trust, mostly so that he wouldn't have to worry about her trying to shoot him later.
"Good." The elevator binged before the doors opened up and they were met with the organized mess that was the first floor. "Be at the guild at 7 am tomorrow. We can get started with a quest and then go from there. Don't be late."
"Don't worry... I-I'll be there," He said a little bit nervously as he stepped out of the elevator. The doors closed behind him, and Uni went back to the upper floors. It didn't take long for the greenette to navigate his way through the multitudes of people and exit the Basilicom. He pulled out his quest tablet and looked at it again. Apparently he still had a few hours to complete the quest he picked, so he figured he'd go over to the forest again and spend his time there so he could finish it and get the credits he needed.
As he was making his way there, he thought about how tomorrow would go. Working with a goddess just like he did today... would certainly be a bit interesting. And while he was thinking about that, he realized something.
He was going to be spending most of the day with a girl.
And he was pretty bad when it came to girls.
Yeah... tomorrow may be an issue for him.
As it turned out, the ending was a little bit difficult for me to come up with, however I think this is the best one out of all the endings I came up with. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'll have another chapter in the same amount of time I stated before (a week or two). If yo have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Anyway, I hope you all have a good day, and see you next time!