Chapter 1: Enter JUSTICE! The Double A Duo!
Rain poured down hard upon the streets of Planeptune. The only things that could be seen were the lights and the shadows they created. A lonely figure could be seen, sitting at the steps of the guild entrance. The young IF had finally returned from her first big quest- a simple extermination request within a newly discovered spectral tower. Though she succeeded, the reward was slim and she barely generated any shares from it at all. Eyes glued to the floor, IF was just about ready to throw in her wet towel. Where did she go wrong? Maybe she should've removed the seal in her arm and allowed herself to go beserk…
"HELLO THERE, CITIZEN OF THIS FAIR AND JUST LAND!", a voice boomed out, startling IF. After juggling her phone, she looked up to see a girl who looked like she was trying to look like a penguin or something.
"Who in the hell are you?!" was all IF could blurt out.
"I'm Nisa! Gamindustri's very own Keeper of Justice!"
"What.", IF responded with a stoic expression.
"I'M NISA, GAMIN-"
"I heard you the first time! What do you want?!", the brunette barked. Nisa brought one of her legs up to rest one of her feet on a higher step and placed her hands on her hips. She puffed out her… chest(?), posing heroically while facing IF. "I sensed someone in dire need of some saving (that's you), so I'm here to help!" IF raised an eyebrow, unamused by this girl whose caps lock button was stuck. "Cut the crap, I don't need your pity. I'm doing just fine!", she responded sternly.
"Pity? No! Whenever somebody is feeling down, it is because Justice is not being done and…" As Nisa rambled on, IF wondered what this girl's deal was. It was true- she did need help. As a novice, the best she could do right now was low level guild requests, which didn't reward much. All of the best rewards get claimed by the more experienced adventurers who take on the more tedious and risky tasks. Maybe letting Nisa here help her isn't such a bad idea…
"...and that is why I simply can not allow such injustice to stand!", Nisa (finally) finished. IF rose her head up and looked Nisa in the eyes. "Eh, might as well. The name's IF, nice to meet you." Nisa's eyes shined even brighter than the game's brightness allowed it to be when she heard this. "So you'll join me? Great! A heroine of Justice like myself could use a sidekick! A pupil to pass my will of Justice onto!" Nisa began to fantasize about all of the Justiceness the two would dispense together.
"I thought YOU were going to help ME.", IF interrupted. Nisa gave her a wink. "All the same to the scales of Justice!". There was an awkward silence between the two of them for a moment as Nisa completely deflected IF's comment. "Oh, don't be upset! With my guidance, you'll become an exemplary hero of Justice, like me! I won't leave you alone until I'm positive that you'll be able to handle yourself! I swear it on my pride as Gamindustri's Keeper of Justice!", Nisa declared. Oh boy, she was serious. "I-I can handle myself just fine!", IF stammered. Nisa scratched her chin and tilted her head from side to side, inspecting IF. "Are you sure? You look like you've been kidnapped at least twice already!". IF sighed and rose to her feet.
The rain had finally stopped, leaving nothing but the night sky and the wet lights of Planeptune illuminating the city. IF pulled out her phone to check the time. She had lost track of how long she was sitting there. "So, when do we start?", IF finally spoke up. Nisa spun around a few times, and stopped to point at the Guild's main entrance. "Right NOW!" IF didn't bother turning around to answer Nisa. "It's closed."
"Oh, right…", Nisa responded in a lower tone, then rebounding with a pose, "How does first thing in the morning sound? We'll accept a really good request before anyone else can get to it first!" Nisa announced.
IF nodded. "Say, that's a pretty good idea. It's a date, then!"
Nisa didn't expect that response. "Ehehe, sorry, but I'm already in a healthy relationship with Justice!".
IF's face burned as red as her Demon Flames. "W-w-w-whaaaaaaat?! No no, that's not what I meant at all!" she stuttered. Nisa winked at IF to tease her one last time before leaping off of the steps, only to land on a puddle and slip, falling flat on her face. IF looked around to see if anyone was watching, then quickly walked away as if she didn't see anything…
Clear, sunny skies and fresh, gentle breeze. The perfect weather for things to get ruined. Even monsters have their preferences. Dogoos could get lost in puddles and Horsebirds don't like getting their feathers and manes wet. It also made it easier for IF to cruise down the streets on her motorbike without a worry in the world. The last time she tried riding around in the rain, she got hurt and had to endure being Compa's guinea pig until she was healed. Not that she had any complaints, though…
After parking her bike, IF headed to the entrance of the guild, only to find Nisa laying in the exact same spot she fell last night. IF wondered if she was dead, but then figured that her head was too thick to die this way. She knelt down and shook Nisa gently, only to be startled when she jolted back to life and suddenly jumped to her feet.
"Iffy! I had the craziest dream! There was this complete loser who became a superhero and had an epic battle with a dark, evil man!".
IF placed her hand (or rather, oversized sleeve) on her hip. "Good grief, I can't believe you slept like that the whole night… Well, now that we're both rested up, let's go take some requests.", she said, before walking through the guild's sliding doors. Nisa followed her into the spacious lobby, following IF to a kiosk. Not many members were here yet- they were pretty early.
IF approached one of the terminals and opened up the requests tab, then scrolled all the way to the bottom. "Whoa, hold on Iffy! There's no way you're going to find anything good down there. We're here early, so there must be something with a bigger reward for our heroic duties." Nisa scrolled up and they found a new request marked as "urgent".
"Nisa, check that one. Urgent requests are probably a good way to get things moving for us," IF pointed out. Nisa nodded and selected the request. It specified that someone's daughter had gone missing after leaving last night to do her evening exercises. The reward was-
"O-one hundred thousand credits?! This has to be a mistake!", IF reloaded the request a few times to see if the number would change. Yet, the amount was as unchanging as her bust size. One hundred thousand credits for a simple rescue mission.
"Can't you see, Iffy? This girl's father is willing to pay any price for his precious little girl! We can't just sit around here while there's a damsel in distress who needs to be saved! Let's take this one!", Nisa beamed with excitement. IF nodded in agreement and they set off.
The pair arrived at the location specified by the request: a park at the edge of Planeptune, which greeted people entering the nation with gorgeous cherry blossoms. IF checked her phone. "According to the request, the girl we're looking for usually comes here to do some training. Apparently, she's a star athlete at her school. Says here her name is… Elsa", she looked up from her phone and looked around for any signs of her.
"An athlete! I like that! Truly the making of a heroine!", Nisa replied with her hands on her hips.
"You're not planning on dragging her along with you too, right?", IF sighed. Nisa chuckled nervously before they both agreed to head in and look around. They would bump into the occasional monster running around and promptly took care of them. The pair kept walking throughout the park until something caught IF's attention.
"Hey Nisa, take a look at this.", IF walked over towards a dented railing with some blue goo and a thin tire mark on it.
"Good eye, Iffy! Your vision is truly worthy of a heroine.", Nisa complimented her as IF climbed over the fence to follow the trail left behind. There was a clear path left behind that led away from the main path and into the trees. IF took note to pull out her daggers as she slowly crept further and further into the trees followed closely by Nisa, until they reached a clearing. Hiding behind a tree, she poked her head out to check for any enemies.
In the clearing, was a girl in a school training uniform surrounded by dogoos. There was, most notably, one bigger dogoo who the girl was facing. "That must be Elsa. Was she here the whole night?" IF whispered.
"That would explain why she hasn't come back. But why did she come all the way out here? This is pretty far away from the road. Perhaps she sensed evil here and sought to cleanse it from this world.", Nisa pulled her head back.
"I doubt that…", Iffy replied.
"There's no use talking about this now! We have to go in and save her!", Nisa nodded, starting to get fired up.
"Okay, what's the pla-", before IF could finish, Nisa was already running into the fray and performed a devastating flying kick onto the largest dogoo. IF looked on in shock, briefly unsure what to do. She ended up following suit by attacking some of the smaller dogoos at the edge of the group. Nisa jumped towards the center of the pack, where the surrounded girl was.
"You're Miss Elsa, right? Fear not, we're here to save you!", she reassured the startled girl. Elsa was already covered in goo at this point. "T-thank you…", she said tiredly. The energetic pair of AA's had arrived just in time. Had they not arrived sooner, this could have escalated to the point where this story's rating would have to be changed.
Nisa stayed close to Elsa and beat down any dogoo that would get close to them while IF would whittle them down from the edge of the pack, trying to kill as many as she could."Iffy! This isn't a kill quest! We found the target, now it's time to make our heroic retreat!", Nisa shouted out towards IF. She had gotten a little carried away, trying to kill as many of those gooey little beasts as she could. Their smug aura was just begging to be sliced in half. IF jumped back and unleashed her Demon Flames upon a group of dogoo between herself and the two girls at the center, creating a brief window for them to escape. Nisa grabbed Elsa's hand and started to make a run for it.
"No, wait! My bike! They have my bike!", Elsa blurted out. Nisa kept dragging her along.
"Sorry, but we can't risk your safety over a bike!", IF shouted as they reached her. They all began running away from the clearing through the trees until they could see the main path."There it is! We're almost home free! Just hold on, Miss!", IF tried calming down the girl. They were just a few feet away, until suddenly, a giant dogoo with a slick gooey pompadour dropped down and blocked their way.
"Ha! A lone dogoo is no match for the likes of us!", IF said with a smirk.
"B-behind us!", Elsa whimpered, crouching down and covering her head. The dogoos that had been chasing them had caught up, and now they found themselves in what could turn into a very slimey situation. IF had absolutely no intention of taking part in an 18+ event, and was prepared to send the rest of these dogoos straight to hell. Or, she would be, if she hadn't used up all her energy using her Demon Flames earlier.
"IF, clear them out with your magic!", Nisa called out. IF tried to muster up the energy to use such an attack, but she simply couldn't.
"I… already used up all of my energy back there!", she replied, with a hint of embarrassment in her voice. If she hadn't gotten carried away, she would probably be able to easily clear out these monsters. Nisa stood silent as the dogoos approached the three of them.
"N-noooo! I'm too rich to die here…", Elsa sobbed.
"All we need to do is get through this big one, right?", Nisa said, while staring the giant dogoo in the eyes, "IF, when you see the opening, take Elsa and run."
IF backed up while keeping her eyes on the approaching dogoo. "Huh? What kind of stunt are you going to do now?", she asked while turning towards her. Nisa punched her palm. "What a heroine must do! IF, I entrust Gamindustri to you!", Nisa said before dashing up towards the large dogoo. The alpha pompagoo accepted Nisa's challenge and bounced towards her. Nisa was enveloped with the fiery aura of Justice itself as she drew nearer to the awfully styled dogoo and she began to spin forward in mid air before stopping to align her body for her attack. "Justice… KICK!", she shouted as she collided with the gooey adversary.
There was a completely unnecessary explosion which caused IF and Elsa to briefly cover their eyes. When they opened them to see the aftermath, they found that the giant dogoo had simply opened its mouth and Nisa flew in. "N-no way!", IF said, beginning to panic. She was out of energy, and couldn't do much other than slash the dogoos with her daggers. Completely outnumbering them, the dogoos approached IF and Elsa to commence the gooey fanservice scene. IF held Elsa, who was paralyzed in fear, behind her and braced herself to fight off the upcoming bad ending…
"Dog...oo?", the big pompagoo suddenly halted its advance. It began to rumble unnaturally, only to explode, sending goo flying everywhere. IF wiped goo out of her eyes to try to get a look at what happened. Out of the pile of goo where the alpha goo once stood, climbed Nisa.
"Like a sun breaking through the dawn, I have pierced through the darkness!", Nisa exclaimed while raising her fist triumphantly. With the path now clear, IF took Elsa by the hand and ran up to Nisa.
"Nisa, can you walk?", she asked quickly. Nisa jolted up and pointing towards the railing.
"I'm fine! Come on, it's right there! Let's make our retreat!", she announced with her booming voice. With one final sprint, they finally reached the railing and promptly leapt over it. The dogoos chased them all the way up to the rails, but did not go any further.
"W-why aren't they chasing us any further?", the high schooler asked frantically.
"Monsters are very territorial. They'll only go as far as to chase you away from their turf.", IF responded.
They all took a few moments to catch their breath and wipe off the goo from their their clothes. "Ugh, it got in my jacket… Now I'm going to have to send it to the cleaners.", IF complained.
"Oh! That reminds me!", Nisa spoke up, " I've been meaning to ask this for a while now… why're you wearing such an oversized jacket? The sleeves are way too big!". She took her goggles off and began to wipe the goo off of them.
"Looks pretty cool, huh? I can recommend a pretty decent tailor if you want to get one for yourself.", IF said with a proud smile. Such a coat showed the worth of a seasoned adventurer like herself, and such large sleeves would make it difficult to tell what she's hiding underneath them. She nodded at the thought of how clever the idea was.
"No thanks, I'll stick to wearing a scarf…", Nisa forced a smile, not wanting to make IF feel bad. IF sighed and turned to look at Elsa.
"Sorry you had to go through all that, Miss. We'll be taking you back home, now."
Elsa stomped her feet on the ground."You two owe me a new bike!", she complained. IF and Nisa looked at each other in silence for a moment.
"Wait a minute. Your bike was already gone when we got here. That wasn't our fault at all!", IF rebutted. She crossed her arms and couldn't help but get a bad feeling about this girl.
"That was a limited edition sports bike from Lowee! The materials they used to make the bike are so rare that only ten were ever made! It could survive through a nuclear explosion!", Elsa cried frantically. The three of them stood around awkwardly for a few moments, the silence broken only by the ambient sounds of birds chirping and wind blowing. Finally, IF spoke up.
"I seriously doubt that." That was the last straw. Suddenly, Elsa stomped her foot down and clenched her fists.
"Fine! I'll just charge you for it, then!"
IF's face showed an expression of both surprise and disgust. "Sure, it is only fair for us heroines to pay for the damages we caused! How much do we owe you?", Nisa spoke up. Elsa stood up straight and scratched her chin. She pulled out a calculator and poked at the keys for a few moments, then looked back up at Nisa.
"The bike costs fifty thousand credits", she announced. IF sighed internally. That was half of what the reward of this request was. She hesitated to give a response and looked to Nisa, giving a slow nod.
"Sure, no problem. We'll give you the credits once we get you back safely!", Nisa answered, as Elsa continued to tap the keys of her calculator.
"...Before additional fees. The total price is five hundred thousand credits.", she added.
Nisa's eyes widened with shock. "I...I see... ".
IF fought back. "How the hell did you calculate five hundred thousand credits from fees?!", she barked.
Elsa put her calculator away and crossed her arms, avoiding eye contact. "If it's a problem, then maybe we could agree on a payment plan… with interest, of course.", she muttered.
"It is a hero's duty to responsibly pay their debts. However, I can not turn a blind eye to such underhanded tactics!", Nisa responded, swiping across horizontally to add some dramatic effect to her words.
"Well maybe you should've tried saving my bike!", Elsa coughed out. The three of them began to argue until they were interrupted by someone calling out to them.
"Excuse me, does this belong to any of you?". A person wearing some sort of space armor approached them, while pushing a bright blue and silver futuristic looking bike. Well whaddya know. Nisa and IF quickly turned around to look at Elsa, just as she started running past them towards the bike.
"Yes! My bike! THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!", she cried out. Kneeling down, she hugged the seat of the bike closely as if she were reuniting with her long lost dog. Her hands wandered throughout the frame of the bike, caressing every last inch of it that she could. This led her to get her hand stuck between the thin bars of the front wheel.
"Watch those wrists. One bad move and you could lose your hand!", the armored stranger said while helping Elsa's hand get free.
"And who might you be, fellow hero?", Nisa called out. The stranger looked up towards IF and Nisa and removed her helmet, revealing shoulder length brown hair.
"Hello there! Just a mercenary passing by. I found this bike all covered in goo back there... I already have a jetpack, so I don't need it", the armored woman replied. They chatted idly for a little bit as Elsa continued to inspect the bike. Finally, she stood up and faced the chatting trio.
"Okay, I'm ready to go back now!", she said cheerfully, "Thank you, miss! You're certainly getting rewarded for this!"
"I can't believe she gave her half of our reward.", IF sighed heavily as she looked down at the transaction on her phone.
Nisa stood in front of IF on the steps in front of the guild entrance. "A good deed is it's own reward, Iffy! Once you learn this, you'll be a true heroine!", she explained.
"That's great and all, but I have to pay rent.", IF responded while shrugging. Nisa nodded and struck a pose.
"Well said! A heroine must never neglect their basic responsibilities! We'll just need to work harder and overcome any challenge that comes our way! Then you'll be able to earn all the credits you need!". That sounded easy enough. The problem was finding such requests. Gamindustri was in an era of relative peace, after all. IF's mind began to wander once more. She thought about staying at Compa's apartment for the night so she could have dinner. Since she wasn't earning much money, she needed to use it sparingly. The spare futon in her apartment wasn't so bad… she wouldn't mind falling asleep right now...
The sound of Nisa's booming voice woke her up like an alarm clock ringing for the fifth time. "Come on, Iffy! You need to do something about your performance today if you want to compete with everyone else!" IF rubbed her eyes, confused.
"What's wrong with my performance? I'd say I sent all those dogoos directly to hell back there. No sweat!", she said smirking.
Nisa put her hands on her hips, a hint of disapproval on her face. "You were reckless! You tired yourself out right away, and couldn't attack when you actually had to! If Justice weren't on my side, then that could have ended really bad!" IF averted her eyes in shame. It was true. Even now, she still felt exhausted from using her magic in rapid succession. Darn SP costs.
"Yeesh, who said anything about competitions, anyway? I'd rather just focus on improving myself at my own pace.", IF muttered. Nisa scratched the back of her ear. Hard to argue against that. Suddenly, the grand light bulb of Justice lit up above her and she ran up the steps and into the guild. IF sighed as she was left behind, sitting alone at the staircase. She got a few unfriendly looks from other guild members who had to walk around her. After realizing she was a fire hazard, she stood up and started walking up the stairs to follow Nisa inside. She stepped up while keeping her eyes down on the steps so she wouldn't trip. When she finally looked up after reaching the top, she was met with a flyer floating mere inches from her face. Of course, it wasn't actually floating; Nisa was holding it in front of her.
"Oh sorry, too close?", Nisa smiled brilliantly as she pulled the flyer away from IF's face. Now that she could see it properly, IF read the flyer.
THE GAMINDUSTRI ANNUAL E3 GRAND PRIX!
SIGN UP TODAY!
1ST PRIZE: 1,000,000 CREDITS
AND A CHANCE TO MEET AND WORK WITH ONE OF THE FOUR GODDESSES!
The only reaction IF could find was to just keep staring at the flyer. She was pretty fatigued and the message hadn't quite set in for her yet. "So? What do you think? Pretty good reason to hurry up and get stronger, huh?", Nisa pulled the flyer away and put it away into her certified pocket dimension that everyone obviously has for their loot. Don't ask where that is. IF crossed her arms and gave Nisa an iffy look.
"Isn't it a bit too early for a tournament arc in this story?", she asked. Nisa's eyes widened and at that moment it felt like the entirety of Planeptune had stopped moving to stare at IF. Nisa put her arm around IF and giggled awkwardly.
"What she MEANT to say was that we needed to train some more to prepare for the preliminary round! Hahaha…", she pulled IF in close and tried to play off the unexpected attack on the 4th wall. She lowered her voice and whispered. "Listen, stuff like that is a pretty touchy subject right now. You can't just go around saying that sort of thing.", she warned. IF slowly nodded as Nisa pulled her arm away from her.
"Anyway, we still have one month to prepare, right? Do you think that will be enough time?", IF asked. Nisa nodded and jumped up onto the railing to strike a pose.
"That's the spirit! We'll meet up again here again tomorrow to begin our training! For now, get some rest! Nisa, out!", the blue haired boombox announced, before jumping off into the city streets and running off as the sounds of cars violently honking at her echoed through town.
IF watched her leave and sighed. What had she gotten herself into? A tournament? One month to prepare? And that's ignoring the fact that she's partnered up with that girl, Nisa. She did seem reliable, though. And that prize was very attractive… if she could work directly with the Goddesses, it would be the best kind of job security for her. And with that many credits, all her money problems would vanish faster than Compa's cooking. She would be able to meet all kinds of fellow adventurers like herself and finally prove her strength to all of Gamindustri. Her unmatched demonic powers that she had gained while venturing through the depths of the abyss and the raging infernos of hell along with the fury and judgment of the high heavens bestowed upon her by ancient demigods from another dimension would certainly leave an impression upon all those who manage to survive such a raw display of pure skill and magic in every single art form known to man, woman, and machine across all the lands. She would become known as-
IF's train of thought was derailed by her ringtone.
"Oh, hey Compa! ...Yeah, I'm not busy. Sure, lets meet up over at the mall… I'll tell you about it when I see you. See you there!", after hanging up, she couldn't help but smile. Hearing the voice of her dear childhood friend made her feel better. Maybe she was just overthinking things. IF walked over to her bike and hopped on. Taking a deep breath, she rode off into the lively streets of Planeptune. Everything was going to be just fine.
CHAPTER 1… ENTER JUSTICE! THE DOUBLE A DUO!... END.