"Okay, you're gonna do great, this is gonna be great!"
This was the mantra I was repeating over and over and over again silently in my head, as I got ready for today. I had my shower, brushed my teeth, finally got around to shaving, and was now deciding what to wear today, as I stood in the center of my room, the bath towel from my earlier shower hanging around my waist.
I lifted up a grey t-shirt, the words 'I may look calm, but the voices in my head have already killed you 3 times' were printed on the front. It was the shirt I had arrived in Gamindustri wearing.
I slid it over top of my bare chest as I grabbed a pair of jeans from my closet as I got dressed.
"Okay, calm down, you got this." I said, nodding to myself as I grabbed my phone, flipping it in the air before catching it, as I walked out.
As soon I walked out of the room, I immediately stopped in place.
"I can't do this, I can't do this, I CAN'T do this!" I spouted out, turning around on the spot, as I started walking back to my room.
"Getting cold feet?" Asked IF, as I turned around to see her leaning against the wall.
"Yes- I mean No, but yes, but also no- I'm freakin' out!" I said, in a hushed yell.
"That much, is obvious." Said IF, as she sighed, walking up to me. "Calm down, you're gonna do fine."
"Oh yeah, and Linda is a freaking saint." I said, deadpanning.
IF shook her head, as she grabbed me by the back of my shirt, as she dragged me off. "Come on, let's get going."
"H-hey! Where are you dragging me!? I HAVE RIGHTS DAMMIT!"
I sighed, as I followed IF to Compa's house.
"So explain to me how going to COMPA is going to help me out in this situation." I said, as I was finally let go as IF turned to look at me.
"Look, Compa knows Nep about as good as anyone, if not more. She's probably the most qualified out of all of us to give advice on how to make your date go perfectly." Said IF, as she rang the doorbell. "Besides, it's 10:30 AM, you need to kill time somehow that doesn't involve freaking out."
I begrudgingly agreed, as I walked up to the door as the door opened.
"Iffy! Bry-Bry!" Compa said, as she invited us in. "You ready for today?"
"Would you believe me if I said yes?" I asked.
IF turned to me. "I already filled her in on our way, so let's get down to business."
'To defeat, THE HANS!' I thought mentally, as I let out a sigh, feeling my spirits raised a tad. "Alright, what do you got for me?"
"I've known Nep-Nep for a while now, and I haven't ever seen her as down as she is now." Said Compa. "Just the act of asking her out has probably helped out."
"Okay, so that's one thing, but what do I actually do there?" I asked. "I mean, what is there to do at a mall anyway?"
"When I said you'd find something to do, I MEANT it. I'm rather certain you visited Planeptune Mall, but you WILL find SOMETHING to do there." Said IF. "I mean, there's Mini Golf, a Karaoke place, an arena for Lazer Tag, not to mention the abundance of shops and restaurants there."
"My choice, go take her to a pudding place if either of you get hungry, and if you want to get her a gift, the game store isn't a bad place either, but I think you may find other things around that could entertain you." Said Compa.
"Karaoke is a generally good idea." Said IF, nodding along to Compa. "I don't know how well you sing, so that might not be the best idea."
"I can hold a note, just not too high or my voice cracks." I said, putting a hand to my chin. "I think if I can find something then I shouldn't have many problems."
'Then again, I doubt that this world has ANY of the songs from mine... Let's keep Karaoke off the To-Do list...' I thought to myself.
"Well, there's also Lazer Tag, something I think Nep won't have any complaints about." Said IF. "Though I think today's gamemode is Free For All…"
"Which leads truces out of the question…" I said to myself.
"Well, I don't think we got any more time left, the mall opens at 11, and it's about 10:40 right now." Said IF, as she stood up. "Come on, I'll get you there ASAP."
"No offense, but I think I prefer my web swinging to riding your bike with you behind the wheel…" I said, as we came to a stop at the mall. "...You got this… you got this… maximum effort…"
"You gonna be fine?" Asked IF.
"Oh yeah… it's just… I'll be fine." I said.
"You better be, because she's right there." Said IF, as she pointed behind me to Neptune, who was standing alone looking around. "You sure you're good?"
"Yeah…" I said, swallowing, as I turned back to IF and Compa. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm just a boy, about to stand in front of a girl and tell her... what the f*ck am I gonna tell her?"
"I don't know, but you better get going." Said IF, turning me around before pushing me forward, as I stumbled before catching myself, looking up to see Neptune looking at me, wearing what I would call a sundress version of her normal outfit.
"...Hey…!" I said, standing up straight, as I walked over to her, looking at her outfit. "You look… nice."
Nice was an understatement, just for the record. Her hair had been styled so it's wasn't like she had constant bed-head, as her hair had been combed down, and her d-pad clips had been swapped out for a single clip, sporting a power button on it. Her outfit as said before, was a sundress version of her normal outfit, plus what seemed to be a plain purple hoodie that had the front zipped open.
All in all, this was probably what someone would imagine Nepgear to look like if she was younger and had shorter hair. Though the look worked for Neptune.
Neptune tilted her head and looked to the right of me. "...Did you… Trip on thin air?"
"...Yes." I said, as I turned to look a the mall. "...Well, shall we?"
"Sure. Start the date event!" Neptune said, pointing to the sky like something was supposed to happen. "...Huh, thought something would have happened."
"When was the last time you heard a date start like that?" I asked her, before shaking my head. "Nevermind, let's get going."
We entered the front door's as I looked around what could essentially be classified as a food court. Emphasis on the word Court.
"Holy shit!" I muttered, looking at the large area for JUST foods.
Neptune seemed to be proud, as she stuck her chest out as she smirked. "Planeptune Mall, the biggest mall in all of Gamindustri! None have topped it, and it's known as one of the biggest places to show off new hardware, especially during the beginning of 3E."
"...Why do I feel like that was something Histoire had written down for you."
"What!? Do you have that little faith in me that you don't think I know anything substantial about the nation I rule?" Asked Neptune, pouting playfully.
"...I mean, you're not wrong…?" I said, unsure. "Then again, considering your game habits, I can assume that the E3 thing was primarily from your own knowledge."
"E3?" Asked Neptune.
"Oh, right." I said, chuckling. "It's an electronics expo where a lot of game devs and publishers show off their new games coming out, or the new hardware they're putting to sale soon. So it's called 3E here then? Good to know."
"Side note, we're technically incognito here, so let's try to keep it this way, I don't need the paparazzi on our ass all day." I said, sighing.
"Got it." Said Neptune, nodding, as she quickly pulled out a pair of familiar red glasses, before putting them on, she then took off her D-pad hair clips as her hair went a bit more straight. "This should work!"
"...You have a pair for me?" I asked, before a pair of purple sunglasses was shoved into my hands. "This works."
"Anyways, what do you want to do first?" Neptune asked, as I slid the sunglasses onto my face.
"...I heard there was a Lazer Tag place here?" I said, raising an eyebrow. "Want to have a go?"
"Hmm… Sure! Just don't pass out on me as soon as you pick up the lazer gun." Said Neptune, winking.
I snorted as we laughed on our way to the arena.
"Okay, so the current game mode is FFA…" I muttered, as I looked at the terminal at the arena. "Next game starts in 15, so we should have time to get our load out set up."
I turned to Neptune, who was busy looking over the selection of weapons. "Shall we go select our loadout?" I asked, as I walked over to her.
"I'm gonna wreck all of them…" Neptune said, picking up what I assumed to be a lazer tag variation of the Spartan Laser.
"...Part of me feels they won't let you use that." I said, sweat dropping, as I put a hand to my chin.
"Fooey!" Neptune grumbled, as she dropped the gun back down in a box labeled 'For OverKill Thursdays', that had a wide variety of different weapons and such.
"...I think we should just grab the basics." I said, grabbing a simple laser gun, along with what I assumed were this place's version of 'grenades'.
"And maybe one power weapon…" I said, grabbing a scoped DMR of sorts. "Okay, I'm ready."
As we strapped on the target vest, we walked in with a rather large group of people.
"I take it Free For All is popular?" I asked Neptune, leaning in her direction.
"Not overtly so, but it has it's fans." Said Neptune. "Especially now with the battle royal craze going on."
"Oh yeah, that." I said, rolling my eyes.
"You all have 20 minutes in there, if you get hit, your weapons won't turn back on for 10 seconds, then you're back to shooting. Eliminate the most people to win, good luck, and have fun." Said the attendant, as the door opened to an arena that was covered in darkness, before the sound of lights turning on lit up the arena, as what I could only assume to be black light lit up the arena. The neon lights from the glow in the dark paint on the walls grabbed a lot of the players' attention, while I scanned the arena.
"You have 30 seconds to get away from each other before your guns turn on. Have a good game everyone." Said the attendant as the doors closed behind us.
"Well, you heard the man, let's go!" I said, as everyone split up. I turned to Neptune, a smirk on my face. "Good luck."
"May the best gamer win." She said, as she ran ahead.
I looked around, before pulling my sleeve down, and firing a web line at one of the higher structures, and after tugging to see the strength, I zipped myself over to the perch point.
"Now…" I said, grabbing my DMLR (Designated Marksman Lazer Rifle), as I looked down the scope as I waited for the lights of the other players to turn on.
The sudden buzz of the lazer gun in my hands kicked on, as a fast moving flash of blue ran down a corridor below.
"Gotcha…" I muttered, lining up the shot, before pulling the trigger, as the once blue lights changed to a flashing red.
I fired off another web line as I zipped to a spot on the ground, as I slung my DMLR in favor of the more close quarters base lazer gun, as I kept close to the wall, engaging a tactical sweep like one I had practiced many times playing Rainbow Six Siege.
I reached a corridor with two cubes about 3 feet high and wide on either side of the arena, as the sound of feet behind me caused me to turn around, before the guy charging me suddenly had his lights flash red, causing me to duck.
"Shoot! I missed!" Said a feminine voice as I peeked over the cube to see a tuft of lilac purple hair duck behind the second cube.
"You're not a good shot Neptune, you should know this!" I said, smiling. "Thanks for the help though!"
I grabbed one of the lazer grenades as I pressed a button on this side, as I underhanded the grenade, as it rolled next to the other cube, as a bright flash sounded off, as I ran over to the cube.
"That the best you got?" I asked, running to Neptune.
"I shall have revenge!" She declared, as I broke into a sprint as the lights of her vest swapped back to blue suddenly.
"Or not, that's a good choice!" I said, vaulting through an open window as I aimed my gun forward, pulling the trigger twice, as I snagged two eliminations. "Got em!"
My vest suddenly started flashing red, as I turned around to see Neptune smirking, her lazer gun pointed at me, before she sprinted off.
"Oh this isn't over…" I said, zipping back up to the perch point from earlier, as I pulled my DMLR. "Now where are you?"
"We got… two minutes left…" I muttered, as I dropped from my perch point, as I slung the DMLR over my shoulder. "Now then, to find Neptune…"
I quickly pointed my lazer gun to the right, as the heavy stomps of feet alerted me to the player that was about to turn the corner, as I pulled the trigger, tagging the player as he rounded the corner.
"No hard feelings, right?" I asked, running forward, as I pulled out another grenade, as I tossed it into the air towards a window on a higher floor, the blue lights shining in the room telling me there were players there. A bright flash later, and I kept running.
I soon arrived back in the corridor I found Neptune the first time, as I crouched behind the square, as I waited for someone to walk through the doorway.
To my delight, Neptune walked through humming what I assumed was the mission impossible theme, as I tightened the grip on my gun, as I peeked over cover and aimed at her.
I pulled the trigger, only for Neptune to roll behind the other cube, as I ducked back down.
"So… you sure you're ready for a repeat of earlier?" I asked, peering over as I pulled the trigger a few times.
Her response was to throw one of her own grenades at me, as it hit the wall behind me and rolled up to my feet.
"Sh*t!" I shouted, vaulting over my cover, avoiding the grenade.
"Aha!" Neptune exclaimed, aiming over her cover as she fired at me, since I was now without cover, the vest flashing red once more, before both of our vests shifted to a consistent red colour.
"...Uh… what just happened?" I asked.
"Attention players, your 20 minutes are up, please regroup at the door so we can announce the winner." Said the attendant over the intercom.
"...Oh, that." I said, standing up, as I walked over to Neptune. "Damn that was a good move."
Neptune let out a smirk. "I'm a genius, I know…"
"Yeah, and you're egotistical, apparently." I rolled my eyes, as we walked back to the door.
"Now that we're all here, allow me to announce the victor." Said the attendant, as the monitor near him suddenly lit up with information. "In third place, NPC #1392, with 23 eliminations."
"In second place, Bryce, with 29 eliminations."
"Not bad, all things considering." I said, a hand on my chin.
"And in first place, Neptune with 30 eliminations." Said the attendant. "Congratulations to our top three, and we hope to see you again."
"So congrats, you won bragging rights that you beat my by one kill." I said, jokingly. "Now then, what's next on our list? I think it's about… 11:40 right now?"
Neptune nodded, as we walked over to a map of the mall. I peered at the layout of the massive labyrinth we were inside as I sighed. "I'm not terribly hungry right now… So let's go explore a bit before we move on." I said, as I started walking in some random direction.
"Ooh! Bryce, look! Look look look look LOOK!" Neptune suddenly said, as she jumped up and down as she grabbed my arm. "That GameBreak is having an event! Ooh, I wonder what it is? Some knew game event, or maybe some special time offer!"
"...Or it could be that." I said, pointing to the VR headset that looked similar to the 'Nerve Gear' from SAO, only purple, as it was placed over a NPC's head. "...I don't know about you, but trying out VR that was probably YEARS, maybe even a DECADE more advanced than my worlds, I would be crazy to not try it!"
"Then let's go!" Neptune said, dragging me along as we got inside.
"Hi, you guys want to try out the new VR headset from Planeptune RND?" Asked the spokesman.
"That was the plan, yes." I said, nodding.
The spokesman smiled, as he motioned to a spare headset on the side. "That there is the new 'Nepulus Rift'!" Said the man, as I deadpanned at Neptune's direction, as she scratched the back of her head and laughed awkwardly. "It's the first real FULL-DIVE VR Headset! We're currently having a demo test to show off the hardware."
"So we've heard." I said, as I looked down at the table in front of us, a sheet of paper and a pen with it. "So we need to sign anything?"
"Nope! Just put your first name on the list and once your turn is here, have fun!" Said the spokesperson, as I picked up the pen and handed it to Neptune.
"Ladies first?" I asked.
"Damn straight!" Neptune said, taking the pen and scribbling 'Neptune' lazily on the sheet. I followed suit, only less messy and probably more legible.
"So we just sit to the side and wait?" I asked, as I looked up from writing my name.
"Yep, we'll let you know when it's your turn." Said the man, as I walked into the store to look at all the games they had on their shelves.
"So, I've been meaning to ask…" Neptune said, as I looked over at her as she looked through a selection of Lastations games that were on the shelf. "That application on your USB with my face on it, what exactly was that? I don't think we've talked about it at all since… you know…"
I rubbed the back of my neck. "You already know it was a video game, and this lead to the realization I was a… Player?"
"Yep!" Neptune said.
"Remind me, what exactly did that title entail? Because I don't think we EVER established that kind of thing." I said, picking up a copy of what looked to be that game Neptune had at the basilicom, the one she had started playing around the time that Peashy… Oh…
I shook my head, as Neptune looked over at me. "Well, I'm not really sure what changes when you're here, but when you're… there, you primarily help strategize how we go about our fights, and if we go down in a fight, like, all of us, we normally jump right back up and start over. That's the kind of power you had out there…"
"But in here…" I began.
"In here, everything has changed, at least, that's what Histy had said." Said Neptune.
"Well, this IS the timeline the anime was following…" I muttered to myself. "Think it's our turn yet?"
"Eh, even if it isn't, we can still bug the hell out of them until it is." Said Neptune.
I smirked. "True…"
"Neptune? It's your turn!" I heard the guy up near the booth yell out.
"Well well well, speak of the devil." I said, as we walked up to the booth.
"Now, sit down in this chair. Since this is your first time allow me to explain." Said the clerk. "See, when you enter VR, the headset disables the motor functionalities of your body so that you're not moving in the real world, while you are in there."
"So basically, sit in the chair if you don't want to be a heap on the floor, got it." I said, as Neptune sat down, and had the headset placed on her.
I looked at the TV facing parallel from her, as the screen suddenly lit up, showing Neptune in a third person perspective as a menu popped up in front of her.
"Ooh… this'll be interesting… What to pick…?" Said Neptune, her voice echoing through the TV, as she looked at her choices.
"Can she hear us in there?" I asked.
"While there IS a way for her to hear us, she normally won't be able to hear us." Said the Clerk.
"I see…" I said, looking at the screen, as Neptune pressed on the floating choice box in front of her.
"Let's see… 4GO VR experience, Armageddon VFR, Workplace Simulator… Ooh, they even got The Lastation Heist! I think you'll do great at that one Bryce!" Neptune said in game, as I placed a hand on my face.
"God dammit Nep…" I muttered.
Neptune scrolled through a few other choices, before she selected the 4GO VR experience.
"Let's go with this!" Said Neptune, as the screen flashes white. "Oh wait, no! I'm too young to die!"
I let out a chuckle as I watched this occur. The screen suddenly changed into a grassy field, as Neptune's clothing changed to look like something akin to what a paladin would wear if skirts were something they wore. It looked vaguely similar to the screenshots of the Cyberdimension Neptunia game I had saw at home before i had ended up here.
Looking back, I just realized I'm never getting my copy of the Limited Edition I had spent over a hundred on.
Damn, I really wanted that special USB…
"Nep-ko has logged on!" Neptune said, as she pulled what I assumed to be a longsword out from the ground, as a number of monsters spawned. "It's showtime people!"
And like that, Neptune's time ended right in the middle of facing the boss of the experience.
"Oh come on! Really! Time out at a time like that!?" Neptune's voice wasn't coming out of the TV now, so I assumed she was done.
"Come on, get up, it's my turn now." I said, sitting down as I was handed the headset. I plopped it onto my head, as I got comfortable in the chair.
"Sending you in." Said the clerk, as I my vision blur and my body lose feeling, as everything seemed to rubber band forwards, before snapping at the same place I had seen Neptune at earlier.
"...Alright, what to pick…?" I asked myself, as I scrolled through the menus. Neptune wasn't kidding when she made it seem like there were a lot of choices, there was. 4GO VR experience, Armageddon VFR, Workplace Simulator, The Lastation Heist, Goose Hunt, and a few others were there.
"...you tempted me Neptune, I said, selecting The Lastation Heist, as the area around me flashed white, before I found myself standing in front of a cardboard box, a red exclamation mark on the side of it. A single USB sat on top of the box, as I picked it up, before putting it away.
"Oh… well, this'll be interesting." I muttered, looking over my person, finding I was in an outfit similar to what I had worn during the ACTUAL Lastation Heist, except without the ASIC logos on the outfit.
I dropped the box over my head, as I was quickly brought into the warehouse. I looked around, before I was placed over on the side with a bunch of other boxes.
I took a second to wait for the coast to be clear, before throwing the box off of me, as I surveyed the area around me. There seemed to have been enough protrusions on the wall to make for an easy climb up, so I backed up before making a running start as I began to climb, finding myself soon up near the ceiling.
I walked along those beam things that you would normally find at the top of a warehouse, as I walked closer and closer to the place I was looking for.
Hypersomniac Games
I dropped down, going into a roll as I snuck my way into the Mocap studio, grabbing a pair of familiar web shooters from a nearby table.
"There we go…" I muttered, firing a strand into the air, as I zipped back up to the ceiling.
I walked back over to the middle of the warehouse, before looking down to find what I remembered to be the main computer room, with the added addition of two guards in front of the doorway.
I aimed my right wrist at the one on the left, before flicking my wrist, as a small device shot out of the webshooter and stuck to the guard's left arm, as he looked down at it, before a webline shot out at the guard parallel to him, pulling them both together before the device exploded in a burst of webbing, sticking both of them to the floor.
A single guards ran out to check on them, as I jumped forwards, firing two strands of webbing on the ground on either side of him, before I pulled myself towards him, slamming my feet into his face.
"Stay down." I muttered, walking into the computer room, as I took out the USB and inserted it into the computer. A progress bar started to fill up, as I stood there, humming to myself. "Doo Doo Do Do Do… Doo Do Do Do… Doo Doo Do Do Do, Do Do Do, Do Do Do, Do Do Danana Nana!"
I pulled the USB out as the bar filled up fully. I started to walk out, when a bunch of guards appeared and started to charge at me.
"Of course…" I muttered, stepping to the side, as I dodged one of the punches thrown at me. I returned the punch in kind, before sweeping his legs out from under him, as I fired a web grenade into the crowd of approaching guards. The sudden boom followed by the onslaught of webbing caught them off guards as they stuck to the nearby floor and walls.
"Now to get out…" I muttered, running over to what I assumed to be an elevator, as I pressed a button, waiting for the elevator to come down.
Eventually it did, as the door opened up, a single guard with an assault rifle in the elevator, as he suddenly jumped backwards, raising his gun.
"Nope!" I shouted, firing a webline at the barrel of the rifle, as I pulled it to the side, kicking the guard in the knee, before I pressed the top button on the elevator, as I proceeded to punch the guard in the jugular, as he flopped to the ground.
I picked up the Assault Rifle, pulling the webbing off the barrel, as the elevator ascended, some calming elevator music playing, before it suddenly made a stop as I looked at the doors to find them opening, on the other side was a bunch of guards with rifles in their hands. I ducked to the side as a torrent of bullets ripped through the air. I peered out, pulling the trigger as I gunned down most of the guards, the elevator door soon closing after.
I sighed, as I dropped the rifle, looking to find the elevator door opening once more, only this time at the top level.
I booked it out of the elevator, almost crashing into Noire on my way out. Oh, I'm at the top of the Basilicom now…
Wait, Noire?
The sound of a familiar transformation filled my ears, as I pushed further ahead, jumping off the building as I went into a freefall…
Only for everything to suddenly stop, as I felt myself rubber band back to the select screen, the words 'Time Out' displayed above me.
I felt the headset get pulled off of me, as I returned to the land of the… semi-real? It's weird because I was in a game/anime universe but it was rea- I'm just making my head hurt now.
"Well… that was surprisingly awesome." I said, standing up, as I rolled my shoulders. "Should we go eat now?"
"Thought you wouldn't ask." Said Neptune, holding what I assumed to be goody bags for participating in the event. Most likely a pin, a pen, and a sticker or something.
We walked out of the GameBreak, as I turned to Neptune.
"Now this is going to sound stupid, but what do we have to eat here?"
Neptune placed her hands behind her back. "Let's see… there's this good pudding place nearby… There's your obligatory fast food places… There's a few restaurants here and there… and there's this good pudding place nearby-"
"You just said 'There's this good pudding place' nearby like, twice… You want pudding don't you?"
"Yep!"
I shook my head, a smile on my face. "Alright fine, let's go get some pudding."
"Yahoo!"
"It's seriously called 'The Pudding Place'?" I stated, as I looked up at the sign.
"Sponsored by Purple Heart~" Said Neptune, as she pointed to a photo of Purple Heart having a spoonful of Pudding. It reminded me of a CG from Cyberdimension… dammit, I'll never get the chance to play that…
"Right, so… pudding?" I asked.
"Let's go!" Said Neptune, grabbing my hand as she dragged me inside.
"Hello, and welcome to The Pudding Place! What can I get for you?" Asked an NPC in what I assumed where Pudding coloured clothes.
"I'll have one of your Neptunia Specials." Said Neptune, as I looked through the menu above my head. Plain, Chocolate, Mint… this place is like an ice cream store for pudding.
"...I'll have what she's having." I said, shrugging.
Neptune immediately handed the girl some amount of money, before grabbing a sign with a number on it as she pulled me to a nearby table.
I looked to my left, seeing a bunch of NPC's in what looked like Neptune Merch, eating at a table. "I assume that's some of your fans?"
"The Pudding Place is a regular meetup for fans of Moi." Said Neptune, smiling. "It's why I normally come here incognito."
"Ever gotten confused for being Neptune with your 'Disguise?'" I asked, pointing to her glasses.
"Nope." Said Neptune.
"It's honestly surprising that something so minuscule could hide literally everything else." I said. "Seriously, where did you CPUs go to learn this, the superman school of disguises?"
"Your food." Said an NPC, as she placed two plates with what looked like Caramel Pudding on top of them in front of us. "Enjoy."
"Thanks!" Me and Neptune said, as I picked up a spoon.
"Can I level with you? I've never had pudding before I got here." I said.
"You had some back at the tower at the uh…" Neptune paused as she looked to the side.
"That was my first time having it. I actually hadn't had any before that." I said. "I'm a picky eater, don't like new things, though you've already had dinner with me before, so that isn't knew news."
"Mhm!" Said Neptune, already having a spoon in her mouth.
"Right, I should keep up." I said, scooping a bit from the side, as I took a bite. "...Not bad…"
We continued our talk, going from conversation to conversation, making relative small talk as we progressed on our 'snack' break.
I finished the last spoonful of my pudding, before I looked at Neptune. "I know that you consider pudding as a straight up meal, but it really isn't for me."
"Yeah yeah, we'll grab some actual grub later, now let's go! There should be some other things to do around here!" Neptune said, dragging me off.
"No. No way in hell am I being dragged into this." I said, crossing my arms as I forced my feet to glue themselves to the floor, as Neptune tried to shove me closer, putting all of her weight into it, as I tried to keep myself from going to the next 'stop' on our date, not caring I was causing a scene.
"Oh come on, Bryce! It's only Karaoke!"
"No. No way in hell am I being forced to sing. No, I'm not doing it!"
As you can tell, I have my priorities in order.
"It'll be fun!" Neptune said, stopping her desperate shoving.
I scoffed. "Yeah, I'll have fun trying to sing any number of songs that I have NO idea how to sing… No thanks."
Neptune pouted, as she walked over to a kiosk nearby with a list of all the karaoke songs on it. I sighed, and against my better judgement, walked over to take a look at the list.
"Ooh, they got the new 5pb song here…" Neptune muttered.
I sighed, moving over to the kiosk next to Neptune's, as I started to scroll down the list.
"...No... No… Oh god no… Wait, they made a song about that?... That's just wrong… No… Not happening…"
Neptune turned to look at me, deadpanning as I scrolled down with a bored look on my face. "Come on, what's one song?"
"One to many." I said, sighing. "...I'm not getting out of this am I?"
Neptune smiled smugly. "Nope!"
I sighed, as I suddenly felt my phone's ringtone go off, and 8-bit rendition of 'Excite' by Diachi Miura started playing.
"One second." I said, picking up my phone. "Yello?"
"Bryce? It's Histoire. I need you and Neptune to get back to the Basilicom immediately." Histoire said over the phone.
"What's going on?" I asked, a serious look on my face, as I put my left hand in my pocket and leaned on the nearby wall.
"A new nation has been formed."
"...Oh… we'll be right there." I said, hanging up.
"What was that about?" Asked Neptune.
"...We're gonna have to cut this short." I said, kicking off the wall, walking towards an exit. "We need to get back to the Basilicom ASAP."
"Why? What's going on?"
I flicked my wrists, my web shooters unfolding from their collapsed bracelet form, as I turned back to Neptune.
"A new nation has been formed." I said, as I ran towards the doors to the mall, running out as I fired a web line at a nearby building as I pulled myself into the air, before repeating the process three more times, as I started swinging towards the basilicom, a now transformed Purple Heart flying closely behind me.
"The world can never let me have nice things, can it?" I asked myself.