Chapter 14 - Nico Flips out
After retrieving Neptune once he had searched the city, gotten into a near accident with a beautiful lady, Nico brought her back to where IF and Compa were waiting. They had some choice words of their own to say, when they learned that Neptune had vanished from their sights when she had smelled something good and went off to investigate, losing interest in their primary goal. Once that was over with, and by god it took about a couple hours along with bonking's on the head and threats of getting shots from Compa's Syringe, IF had explained that they had met someone named Falcom, who had told them where to go to get to the Basilicom.
Falcom, was a name Nico recognised from his adventures in Lastation. She was a travelling Adventurer who liked helping people and was genuinely a good person. He'd met her a few times as well, and while she was pretty decent with a blade, Falcom had nothing on the one who trained him. Plus, it didn't exactly help tat she tried to stay out of the Abnormal's way whenever they were reported on the Guild Website, something she frequently visited to plan her next journey. If she had the confidence to fight them, then things for her would get a whole lot easier. It wasn't that she had no confidence in er abilities, it was just that there was a big difference in strength and prowess between normal Gamindustri Monsters and Abnormal Monsters. She knew this because she had almost died when fighting an Abnormal that ambushed her, and she would have had Nico not been nearby hunting the Beast down. Thus, they met.
Since she told them about where to find the Basilicom, Nico had no complaints about talking to strangers, so off they went.
When they were at the Basilicom, Neptune, now sporting a red ear curtsey of Nico who still looked mildly irritated at her, made to kick the door down like she did the last time. However, she felt chills roll up her spine and KI from behind her so she didn't. She didn't want to have her other ear suffer the same fat, gosh Neppit! Instead she strolled up and opened the door wide like a semi-normal person. It was the best that they could get from someone like Neptune who could be considered a 'rebel' in multiple forms.
Inside it looked much like the Planeptune Basilicom, only the golden colours were replaced with silverfish grey, and there was black everywhere else. It gave off a very… different vibe. While the Planeptune Basilicom gave off a sense of friendliness and comfort, this one had the complete opposite. The Lastation Basilicom felt cold, stiff and formal, a lack of friendliness about it. it was more like a military camp than a place of worship.
'Okay… something is SERIOUSLY wrong, here…' Nico thought, instantly on alert. His instincts were screaming at him in the form of an Event Trigger, telling him that this was not a good place to be. 'Basilicoms can be stiff and formal at times, especially when I was briefed with my fellow agents, but this… this is almost suffocating. It's more like there's no sign of human life at all, like these staff members…' he glanced to the Basilicom Staff people he could see scattered, though there weren't as many as in the Planeptune Basilicom, how they moved and how they acted. '… It's like they're drones or something.'
"Um, 'scuse me! I came to meet Lady Black Heart, but is she around?" Neptune, bless her oblivious soul, called out to get someone, anyone's attention. Perhaps it was because she got such a positive reaction the last time, although that guy was a closest lolicon in Nico's eyes. But nonetheless, this time he had a hunch that Neptune would get a completely different reaction to her presence.
His hunch was proven to be true, when one of them walked on over from one of his colleagues, who looked equally as pissed as he did, as he waved his arm around like it was fly repellent. "Who are you kids? This isn't a playground. Scram!" he yelled in fury.
The girls were all taken aback by the instant hostility, but none more so than Neptune herself. Hot rage flowed through Nico's veins as he gritted his teeth when he saw the hurt look in her eyes. Her hurt look then melted away, and was replaced by anger as she puffed her cheeks out while placing her hands on her hips. "Hey! that's no way to treat your guests!" she shouted back just as hotly.
While the man's face was starting to redden with his anger, while Compa tried to play peacemaker to stem potential conflict. "We really need to meet the CPU. We're trying to get Nep-Nep's memory back." She explained, calm and smiling like an angel. Only a true asshole would dare ignore this and treat her bad.
As she pouted and grumbled at the man, Neptune, who was wondering what the heck was wrong with the meanie staff in this Basilicom suddenly had a burst of inspiration. A light bulb switched on in her head as she raised a hand, formed a fist, and fisted her palm. "Oh, I know! This must be an event flag where I have to name myself first." She said, thinking that game logic will be able to solve this matter.
'I'm sure that'll fail epically, Neptune…'
She walked up to the man, Nico watching her every move like a hawk. She then raised a hand as she went and 'triggered the event flag'. "My name is Neptune!" she introduced herself, before going behind Compa, IF, then Nico, placing her hands on their shoulders and peering out from behind them. "This is Compa, and Iffy and Nicky!"
"Stop Rambling! I don't care who or what you are. Now, get out of here!" The man roared, his face now red with rage that quickly crushed the preteen's spirits with zero mercy.
'Called it.' Nico thought, though he wasn't happy about it. his instincts were screaming and roaring in anger, demanding him to soak his hands in this man's blood. His eyes widened however, when he realised what he was thinking. 'What? When did I… I've never been so vicious before. True my fighting style may be brutal, but with the thoughts running through my mind… if this hunch is right I'm in deep shit.' He thought as an idea formed inside his head.
Finally, IF couldn't stand to remain quiet any longer. Her hands were in her pockets as she levelled a stern glare at the Basilicom Staff member. Recalling the Planeptune and Lastation variants, she felt like she would prefer the former despite his little loli fetish. "Wow, so much for civility from the Basilicom…" she remarked snidely, pissed off just as much as the girls were. A small smirk then formed on her lips as she decided to give the man a taste of his own medicine. "They say the clothes make the man, bit I guess the CPU isn't all that great."
'OOF! Sick burn!' Nico thought while trying to hide his gleeful grin. He liked the snarky attitude the Guild Agent possessed, it made for some interesting conversations. He checked to see if the Man looked any more insulted, hoping to get an amusing reaction for the words she said to him.
However, he was sorely mistaken as the man's anger disintegrated and became one of dismissal. "Say what you want." He said with a callous wave of his hand like swatting fly, much to the surprise of the others at how carelessly he just dismissed the insult, to his own CPU no less! That should be grounds for heresy according to the ways of the fanatical, but when they looked to the others they didn't even bat an eyelash. It was safe to assume they felt the same way as this guy, which begged the question: why did the CPU bother keeping them around? "I could care less what Black Heart is being called."
…
…
…
…
Silence. IF could not even speak right now as she stared with a gobsmacked expression on her face. She did NOT expect her words to have so little an impact on this guy, weren't Basilicom Staff members supposed to act, you know, pissed when someone insults their CPU? Something was off here and she didn't like it.
Meanwhile, Neptune pouted at the man, not liking how callously he was treating his supposed 'Goddess'. She just had to speak up against this, thoughts she didn't know why it ticked her off so much. "Hey! You've got a group of cute girls here pleading. C'mon, let us meet her!"
However, her words had no effect on the man as he glared at her, and then it spiralled even further downhill when he raised a hand to smack her across the face. Neptune's eyes widened when she saw it coming, but before she could react a certain someone grabbed the offending arm by its wrist, holding it steady in place.
"Now that…" the one who acted began, and when they looked the girls saw that it was Nico, and boy did he look pissed. "is not a way to treat a girl." He said with a scowl, clenching the man's wrist in a progressively tighter grip. The Basilicom Staff member gritted his teeth as his struggled to break free, yelling at him to let go. However, Nico didn't even make any notion that he'd heard him as he swiftly pulled the man close before grasping his neck and hoisting him up into the air.
His feet dangled above the ground while the man swayed himself in the air like a fish caught on a hook. "You tried to hurt someone I consider a comrade, you raised your hand to someone who was considered an honoured Guest in your Basilicom…" Nico recounted, looking away from the man for a moment. His free hand flexed its fingers into a shape that resembled claws as he slowly lifted it up. The man's eyes widened with horror at the rising KI, he realised what the guy was planning to do next. But what made it worse was the boy's eyes. They were no longer the eyes he held before, no these eyes were… almost inhuman. the coldness in his ice was worse than any snowstorm, and the KI made him feel like he was staring death in the face as Nico readied himself to 'discipline' this man for the first, and last, time. "That alone warrants some punishment, don't you think? Only… you'll never walk from this again."
"Nico, stop!"
The sound of IF's voice snapped him out of his glare and his eyes lost their intensity. Glancing behind him, he saw that the brunette had her hand on his shoulder, the one that had the hand clutched into the claw formation. Her eyes bore directly into his own as her grip on his shoulder remained rigid. It was a stern stare she gave him, one that while he did return, there was something briefly in her eyes like a flash, that he saw. Fear. She had panicked.
Glancing behind her, Nico almost winced. The two girls behind her, Neptune and Compa, looked absolutely mortified right now. And when their eyes landed on him, they both flinched, looking away from him. That hurt like a stab to the heart for the male, as he realised that they were afraid of him, afraid of someone who they had called comrade.
"You don't have to go that far." IF's voice made his attention snap back to her. He could see her sternness still, but the more he considered her eyes, the more Nico could tell that she was nervous. The hand on his shoulder shook slightly, and no matter how much she tried it refused to stop. "He's not worth it, let's just go and find some other way."
The two stared each other down for a moment, and for the duration of that time the atmosphere was thick with tension, to the point where you could cut it with a knife. IF gulped slightly, but didn't break her gaze from him. What she just saw right now, was something she had never seen from Nico before, a side of him that took her by surprise. Though, she wouldn't say she wasn't a little bit scared because that would be lying. She was glad her knees weren't shaking as bad as her body wanted them to. The Guild Agent could only imagine what kind of emotions were flowing through the two girls behind them though.
Finally, the male's eyes looked away from her in a sign of defeat, his muscles relaxing as he calmed himself down. With one last glare to the Basilicom Staff Member into one of the pillars, before he turned his head back to her and nodded. "Alright… I'll not…" he relented, much to the Guild Agent's relief.
Afterwards, the three left the Basilicom, but not before giving the shaken worker one least death glare.
Deep within a forest, far from the main city, there were sounds of combat filling the air. "This is the end!" a loud, womanly voice full of confidence yelled out. The sounds of metal meeting flesh and the cries of agony from a monster signalled the end of the battle. The womanly voice then huffed, and if one could see the owner, they would tell that she was smirking cockily. "Well, that was easy. What a fool to have faced me." As the monster that was locked in a deadly battle fell to the ground and vanished into particles, a bright flash took over the area, and when it died down it was revealed to be the same girl that Nico had nearly fallen onto.
She looked to have been fighting for a short amount of time, with her clothes having wrinkles in multiple areas, and light scratches adorned her body. they weren't anything major, certainly nothing that she couldn't handle. She exhaled a sigh of relief as she saw the last of the monster disappear. "Whew… I didn't expect so many monsters to be spawning in the land."
It hadn't been long, but the girl had easily noticed that the populations for monsters have been spiking dangerously, to the point where settlements would get fearful of attacks. The cause was still unknown however, which only made it worse, so the only option she had was to go and take the monsters down herself.
Not like anyone else would do this.
This attack, was said to be one of the nastier ones, a horde of monsters commanded by what the Guild said was an 'Abnormal' was actively ambushing caravans and attacking the minor villages dotted around Lastation's Landmass. Abnormal Monsters were new, so the Lastation Guild had little solid information on them due to how unpredictable and varied their behaviours, mannerisms and actions were, so they had designated them as Abnormals. This kind of behaviour hadn't been observed before by the Guild until a couple years ago, so it was only natural that they would panic. So, the girl decided to go out and take care of it herself, as the Guild's Spec Ops Agents, a matter she had discovered that the humans had designed themselves while the CPUs were in Celestia, were out on other missions to keep the monsters at bay.
Unfortunately she hadn't much time on her hands, what with recent issues and al, to look into the Spec Ops Agents further. As days passed, more and more Monsters were seen trying to gather others under their control to attack settlements. The first few days there were one or 2 packs to deal with, then 3, then 6, then 9... yeah, the problem was clear. However, the Lastation military could do little to hold them off completely, their only secure defence being the Spec Ops Agents. While she had little on them that was concrete, the girl had formed an opinion of them from what little rumours she had heard. To her, Spec Ops Agents were a double edged sword, they fought for their own beliefs, and not towards that of another Goddess, which practically undermined the entire society they lived in. It was a wonder why nobody charged them with heresy yet, though they were under the Guild's jurisdiction, so they could believe whatever they wished to believe. After all, the Guild was filled with people who may live in one Nation, but worship the CPU of another.
"Well," the girl started before flicking a hand through one of her long pigtails. "The area is cleansed. This was the last pack of the day, so I better head back to the Basilicom." The girl mused, her smug smirk on full blast. However, it fell once the word Basilicom registered in her mind, or rather, the situation that revolved around it, becoming a solemn, reluctant frown. "Basilicom…. #Sigh# I really don't want to go back there." She grumbled with reluctance. It was especially sad that someone like her, who held pride over progress and that of her own Nation home, to not wish to return to it. However, she had no other option if she wished to keep up her attempts at retaining the peace.
And so, with that the girl begrudgingly began her trek back to the Basilicom in the Capital, each step feeling heavier than the last.
With the main Party, they had relocated to a deserted park area that was close to a hotel. Alter Nico had used his Bracers to look up the cheapest hotels with still decent service, they had stopped at a park area which happened to be near their hotel choice. Although this didn't help the atmosphere around them. Not only did it seem thick and heavy, but the cause of it was walking behind them, refusing to look at anyone's gaze. They weren't sure they would want him to, though, especially with what they've just saw.
Right now, they were sitting in the Park, along several benches. Nico had opted to take a separate bench so the girls didn't have to risk being near him, while the girls huddled up on one bench to discuss what had happened. "Well… that was eventful…" Compa started off awkwardly as she held her elbow with her hand, memories of what transpired in the Basilicom filling her mind, even the parts that scared her. Worse still was that those parts consisted of her friend Nico in them. No, he was the centre of them.
"You can say that again…" IF agreed with a nod, her expression troubled. She, along with likely the rest of the party, had never seen Nico act like that. True he would scold Neptune whenever she did something wrong, her leaving them for food being a prime example, but what happened back in the Basilicom was way more than just irritation. It was straight up murderous bloodlust. Such killing intent, the ferocity he had in his eyes even when she tried to stop him… she had never seen something like that from him before, and to be frank, she was more than a little bit shaken from the experience.
Heck, even Neptune, the normally funny, joking type of person who tried to make comedy to lessen the atmosphere no matter if it was appropriate or not, was silent as she tried to recover from the Killing Intend that Nico radiated. If someone like her was rattled to the levels she was by something, then that something must be dealt with. IF did not like the subdued look on her face right now, it just… didn't fit the girl that she had come to know as a pudding addicted idiot.
To get to the bottom of this, IF then turned her gaze to the source of the problem, who looked as depressed as hell. His hair hung over his head, shadowing his eyes and keeping them from sight. His hands hung over his kneecaps by the wrists and he had a defeated aura around him. Slowly, she stood up and walked over to him, careful not to make a move that would only startle him and make things worse.
Standing opposite him, IF frowned as she placed her hands on her hips. "Alright Nico, spill it. what the heck was wrong with you back there? You normally conduct yourself better than that. I mean, you practically would have killed that guy, not that he didn't deserve it," she had to admit that to herself, before she continued. "If it were a thug or something like that I wouldn't care much, but what you did potentially made things impossible for us to get to-"
"I know, I screwed up, okay!" Nico finally couldn't take it anymore and lashed out, causing IF to jump and shut her mouth as he looked up at her. "I get it, okay, IF? But still, you have every right to be mad at me. I… I just couldn't handle what that man was going to do to a comrade of mine. It rubbed me the wrong way when he was about to hit her for just being cordial despite his treatment." He spat, fury laced within his words although it wasn't as bad as before. "Still though," he then did a bitter, empty chuckle as his eyes showed no mirth at all. "I bet you 10 puddings that he didn't even have a wife or something."
While that prospect did succeed in making IF twitch her brows, it was still a heavy atmosphere. Nico sighed as he looked down at his right Bracer. "I sent a message to the Guild back in Planeptune about a hunch I had on why I was acting that way, and just a couple minutes ago when we entered the park, I got an answer." He explained, and this time both Neptune and Compa gave him their attention, despite their earlier fears.
"Remember my armour? When I said that it was an important part pf my arsenal, turns out it was a gross understatement. The piece that is usually on my chest, you know, the armour module?" he asked, patting his chest for empathises as he turned to them. At the nods of confirmation from the girls, he continued. "Well, turns out that it was also acting as a suppressor. It constantly injected me with self-replenishing drugs designed to suppress and control my instincts. Apparently, my instincts are more powerful than the average person, and twice as impactful on my emotions. Thus, I feel things like anger, bloodlust etc more easily. Therefore, they had the armour designed to act as a suppressor… it would be more accurate to say a limiter. And now that the limiter is gone… the beast was unleashed in the worse way possible."
Comprehension lit up in IF's eyes as she out the pieces together in her mind. "And when you lost that limiter, you began feeling your instincts in their entirety?" she asked, getting a firm nod from the male. The brunette looked down, eyes wide with disbelief as she held her forehead with her hand. she remembered what he was like just before they left for Lastation, how he growled like an animal. She should have guessed it right then and there that something wasn't right with him. She groaned to herself while palming her forehead and shaking her head with a hand on her hip. "Jesus, this is serious, Nico. Why did the Guild not do something while they were making the armour, like give you drugs or something? It's pretty irresponsible to leave someone like that to their own devices, literally anything could be enough to set them onto a murderous blood rage."
The male nodded his head in agreement with the brunette, he too was displeased with the lack of conduct from the Guild there. "You'd be right on the money, IF. However, they couldn't for one reason: the drugs that are used to help me with my instincts are difficult to maintain, not to mention with how the monsters have been attacking supply routes, makes it even worse. The soonest they can send me some replacement drugs, which are said to last a day at most, will be in a couple days, time. Until then, I'll be on my own." he explained.
"And why did they neglect to tell you of this?" she questioned again. This was an important matter, to leave someone alone to deal with their instincts like tat was NOT something the Guild should have done. they should have at least found a way to make it easier on him, but that wasn't the only thing that IF was pissed at. She was also pissed tat they didn't bother to tell him about something so crucial. If she hadn't been around, that guy would have lost his life to Nico at that moment, and while she wouldn't mind personally, it would make their quest for the Key Fragments IMMENSELY more complicated.
For a moment, he didn't answer. Soon though, that changed when understanding shone from his eyes as Nico motioned the same as she did, minus the hand on hip part. "Because the Drugs work better when I'm not aware of them. The Drugs would work if I was, but my body would show signs of rejecting them if that happened. Thus, they were placed without my knowledge, altered so that they cloaked' from my body's senses so they could work properly. My body is host to some powerful antibodies, forged from adapting to extreme conditions. It would take the strongest of poisons to affect someone like me, but that also applies to drugs." Nico explained.
What he didn't say was that it was because of his condition that drugs and poisons wouldn't normally work on him, as normally they would be purged before they could affect him.
"I see…"
Now that the girls were aware of the situation from Nico's perspective, they felt a stab of guilt enter their beings. They knew he was telling the truth as Nico always held his word in high regard, he always kept his promises which made him trustworthy. But it didn't help them feel any less guilty for fearing him. It wasn't his fault that his instincts were powerful, and heck, thinking back on it they had already seen glimpses of their power and influence before whenever Nico fought. Even suppressed, they were still strong enough to warn him of any danger, and usually were correct in deductions. They also enhanced his reaction times, making him a difficult opponent on the battlefield.
"Anyways, I'm… I'm sorry I scared you all. It was not my intention, and if you would like I will leave the party and act on my own. you wouldn't have to worry about someone as unstable, as fucked up a piece of shit, as me being around you. I bet the demographic for this franchise would be accepting of that sort of thing anyways…" he began, making to leave the Park and find somewhere else to stay for the time being. It would be for the best if they didn't spend too much time about him, that was what he was thinking right now. He had to find a way to keep a lid on his instincts, otherwise he... wasn't sure what he might end up showing them. For the first time in a long while, Nico felt depression hang over him like a cloak of darkness. He could feel that voice in his dreams laughing maniacally as skeletal hands clawed away at his mental defences, trying to reach him, to pull him into the madness...
However, the feeling of arms wrapping around him by the waist from behind stopped him in his tracks just after he had taken 4 steps. His eyes widened and Nico swerved his head around so he could see who it was that hugged him, to find that it was both Compa and Neptune. their heads were buried into his back, so he couldn't see their faces, but Nico didn't have to, for their grips were enough to show him their response to his suggestion. "No, don't go Nicky…" Neptune began as she looked up at him, his eyes shrinking to the size of dots when he saw tears brimming in the corners of her eyes. "We don't want you to leave like that."
"Nep-Nep's right." Compa added, nodding in agreement. She too was in a state akin to Neptune's, which shocked him more. Weren't those two girls fearing him earlier? Why the sudden change of opinion? Surely, they didn't value him that much, did they? "It's not Ni-Ni's fault, you weren't aware of how much you needed the armour. That meanie in the Basilicom is also at fault, he shouldn't have acted the way he did."
His awestruck expression was on full power as he regarded the two girls before him, then he looked up at IF, wondering what her impression was going to be. At first, he expected her to be like he had assumed, all hateful and wanting of him to leave the party and never to go near them again, however he was proven wrong when his eyes laid upon the compassionate smile on her lips and the kindness in her gaze. "Yeah well, I can't argue with them there. While I'm not saying we aren't completely over it yet, we're not going to blame you for it. We'll just have to work around this problem, like a real party should." She said, showing her decreasing fear by grasping her shoulder. He could feel the lack of tension on her hand, which showed him that her words were more than just empty promises and compliments, that she meant them.
Hearing their words and feeling their grip, Nico felt helpless to resist them. He didn't even want to resist, why would he? The people who he had assumed didn't want him around showed him the compassion so few showed others these days, and for a Spec Ops Agent like him, who had seen so much shit in his career that led to him becoming jaded in the ways of the world, that meant more to him than even all the credits in the world, or a harem of the most gorgeous girls ever brought into this existence.
Slowly, the male's arms shakily rose, heading towards their backs. They were only slow because he feared they would still be scared enough to tense, but they never did. Finally, his body just went 'fuck it' and embraced the three tightly, though not enough to be uncomfortable. "You three…. You're freaking angels, you know that?" he whispered under his breath, but the gratitude he was trying to express could be felt as clear as crystal. In fact, he didn't think gratitude was enough of an adjective to showcase the joy flooding him right now.
The three girls blushed, IF not so much as the other two, whereas Compa was bright red the same as Neptune. They felt their hearts skip a beat not only at the embrace, which gave them a good feel of his developed yet slim six-pack body, but also the pure honesty in his compliments. Girls liked to be complimented, sure enough, but they liked it even better when they are truthful and sincere.
And those words were very much so.
"Aww geez!" Neptune exclaimed as they all broke the hug. She wrapped her arms around herself while wiggling her hips to stem the growing flustered emotions within her. "You're bold Nicky, trying to increase the points with us to get our routes unlocked." She told him in a teasing manner. Meanwhile Nico tilted his head in confusion, wondered what the heck he was talking about.
Turning to Compa. Nico would have asked her what the heck Neptune was talking about when his questions were silenced by what he saw. Apparently, Compa was in a similar state to Neptune with her eyes darting around and a blush on her face, never meeting his gaze. "N-Nep-Nep's right, Ni-Ni, that was bold of you…and very sweet… so, I wouldn't mind it…if you complimented us more…" she stammered, getting redder and redder.
IF put a hand on her hip, thankfully not as flustered as the others though a small smirk was present on her features. "Man dude, you have got to be some ladies' man with flattery like that. You say that to any girls you meet, or what?" she teased him, amused and more than a little flattered by his words.
The male flushed slightly in embarrassment and looked to the side, trying to keep his cool but failing miserably. "N-No, I don't do that. And what do you mean ladies' man, I'm one of the l-l-lesser known Spec Ops Agents in the force." He stuttered, trying to deny her claims of him being a lady's man, which resulted in the girls chuckling at him in amusement. It was bad enough that he'd seen how a lot of males treated women as objects for sexual pleasure, but the few that he'd seen form harems…. Don't exactly treat them with the respect they deserve. They only think of the pleasurable side of the arrangement while not giving a damn about the emotional aspect.
Men can be stupid. Period.
After chuckling at the embarrassed Nico's expense, the party began to move on to other matters. Or rather, they moved on to the matter of the Basilicom and its staff members. "Well I never!" Neptune exclaimed, fists shaking as she held them to her chest. She looked really pissed off when she remembered the rest of that incident now that she wasn't scared as much from Nico's behaviours. "Nicky flipping out is one thing, the Basilicom is another, but Iffy, you're the hat trick! Why'd we leave?!"
"Aside from Mr rage quitter over here, didn't you notice? He didn't show any respect at all towards their CPU." IF replied, while glancing at the male when she mentioned the first part. The said teen blushed while scratching his jaw. Now that they knew about his instincts, Nico would need to be careful. When he said they suppressed and controlled his instincts, it wasn't a lie, but he didn't tell them everything just yet. These instincts were all part of a package he had been burdened with, a package he wouldn't want anyone to have. Though, if they kept proving themselves like this then he'd tell them once he got his memories back.
The moment he heard the CPU part however his face morphed into one of heavy suspicion.
"On that we can agree, plus trying to hurt your guests when they just want to meet the CPU? Now that's a low blow. Such acts in Planeptune would be considered heresy and the offender would be kicked out the Basilicom forever. Yet the others didn't even bat an eye." He said, expanding the point further than the brunette did. Looking down, Nico kicked a small pebble away from his foot as he tried to think of ways that could explain this.
"Ni-Ni's right, they didn't treat the Goddess' name with respect. That's weird…" Compa added in support, a stern glare on her face when she thought about how callously he degraded the name of his own CPU. Being raised around people who loved their CPU, she couldn't fathom the idea of someone like him who would do that.
Hearing Compa's words, Neptune's anger dissolved and a confused expression took its place on her face. "What's so weird? Maybe they're all like buddy-buddy and talk super casual." She suggested while stretching her arms behind her. They were feeling a bit stiff from their lack of use.
Rolling his eyes, Nico destroyed Neptune's suggestion almost immediately. "Well, by buddy-buddy you mean nearly hitting guests, insulting the CPU when she's not even around, not following the standard rules for a Basilicom, then maybe they are." He remarked with heavy sarcasm. It was like a drug, and he had taken an overdose of it.
"Well, while Nico does have a point," IF began before Neptune could refute his logic. The Guild Agent did admit to herself that Neptune's idea was certainly stupid, especially after what they just experienced. She was thinking that Neptune was likely a scatterbrain when she fell out of the sky. "There's no way people in the Land would call their CPU by name. remember the person at the Planeptune Basilicom?"
'Oh yeah, that closet lolicon who regarded Neptune a little too much to be professional…' Nico thought to himself, sitting on the ground as everyone else had done the same after him nearly leaving the Party. IF and Compa were on the Bench with Neptune sitting on the dirt. So, he had sat opposite her. "That guy and this guy… if I were to choose between the two I'd go with the former." He remarked while cupping his chin in thought. In his eyes, the former was the lesser of 2 evils, otherwise he'd go with neither.
IF nodded her head at Nico's words, knowing that they were true and knowing that the other two idiots wouldn't have any idea of what he meant. "He was weird, but he still respected the CPU by addressing her properly." She explained. Nico had to admit, that was true. Despite his closet lolicon fetish, and the fact that he seemed to not like Nico for some reason, he still was a better man than the one in Lastation's Basilicom. At least he didn't insult the CPU and treated the guests with kindness… maybe a little too much.
"But here," IF's brows furrowed and her eyes darkened. "They're just treating the CPU with scorn. That isn't normal." On that the male and her could agree, again. Usually people revered the CPUs, almost to the point of being fanatics. There was hardly anyone who had something negative to say about them even with them fighting a war for hundreds of years. So, to see people who were supposed to worship a CPU act in such a blatant disrespectful manner, contributed to the behavioural term as 'not normal.'
Compa frowned before an idea came to her, one that revolved around the Guild Agent when she remembered what the brunette did for a living. "Iffy, you were travelling all over the world, right? Do you know something?" she asked. Compa had the right idea, for someone who supposedly travelled around a lot, they would know more than others about the situations in different lands.
Unfortunately, that seemed to not be the case when IF shook her head no. "Sorry, Compa." She apologised with a guilty smile, saddening the Nurse-In-Training. "I've mostly stayed in Planeptune, so I don't have any info now." she explained further. Though it didn't seem to elevate Compa's mood upwards, to her dismay.
'Ouch, IF. Looks like you haven't travelled as much as I thought…' Nico mused to himself, though he didn't say anything since he didn't want to offend her. After all, she had done well in other areas like helping him endure these girls' antics.
Though his efforts were soon turned into vain ones in the next few moments. Just when things couldn't get any more embarrassing for the brunette, Neptune saw a prime time to make it worse. With a grin only a Cheshire cat could have, the girl commented on what they just heard. "So much for the "adventuring" character, eh Iffy? But don't worry, we won't kick you out just because you faked your resume! Even if your level is low, we'll still be together, even in the next story sequel."
The other three gave Neptune deadpanned stares for her comment, though she didn't seem affected by it. IF gave her a growl though as she crossed her arms and retorted with her usual snarky comments. "Kind of ironic coming from someone who lost their memory, eh?" she shot back. She then huffed while sternly glaring at her.
This made the preteen laugh nervously realising that her attempt at teasing had backfired when she finally noticed everyone's reactions. "Ahahahaha, sorry." She apologised while trying to stem the tension growing throughout the vicinity.
While she did want to hammer the one who had teased her like that some more, IF knew that had bigger fish to fry like the Basilicom and the mystery behind it. So, with a sigh she calmed herself down and became the signal for the rest to do the same. "Anyways, back on subject. I propose we do some quests, but how about it?" she suggested.
Neptune raised a brow at this, finding it confusing that they would have to do quests so soon. "We have money, right?" she asked, getting nods from everyone else. "Why do we need to do quests now?" her eyes widened with shock when her brain processed an 'idea' as to why they would have to quest so early. "Oh wait!" she raised her right arm and quickly pointed it accusingly at the brunette. "did you use up all our funds for your own pleasures?!"
'Where did she get that from? IF isn't the type of person who would do that.' Nico thought with confusion, but didn't say anything as he was opting to see what IF's reaction would be. Said woman frowned at the accusation, but something in her eye sparked, which caught Nico's attention as did everyone else's. "No. we have plenty of pudding. It's not like I sneak out to buy pudding like you, Nep."
Now THIS caught the male's attention hook line and sinker as he quickly checked their, founds on his Bracer, before levelling a strong glare at the preteen. "So, not only do you sneak off for food, but you steal money from us, too?! Prepare for a BIG scolding when we get to the hotel, young missy!"
Nevertheless, Neptune didn't hear him as she was too busy caught up in the fact that IF had found out about her little 'secret' and had called her out on it. she stepped back and moved her arms as if she was trying to protect herself like in those classic horror movies. "Wha-? Y-y-y-you knew?! Nepu!"
The Brunette nodded with a glare at her, or rather an incredulous stare at the preteen, disbelieving over the fact that she didn't realise that she had been onto her little escapades. "Dead Obvious. You make loud footsteps in the night which I 'think' are your attempts at being quiet. You thought I didn't notice?" she remarked, making the culprit squirm under her gaze.
"Um… yup?"
"… Anyway, remember the Key Fragment that was with that Disk in Planeptune?" IF changed the topic, mindful of the fact that if she kept this up then she would have eventually tried to wring Neptune's annoying neck. She flushed her anger away and continued. "Don't you think it'll be the same in Lastation, too?"
Nico shook his head as he finally interjected into the conversation. "Not exactly." He spoke, getting everyone's attention as they looked at him. "For one, we're on a different Landmass, which means a different geography, different Dungeons, different monsters, and back in Planeptune there wasn't a heretical Basilicom that'll likely try to hound us every step of the way. I'd guess that we'll have a LOT more trouble with the Key Fragment here than we did in Planeptune. Hell, we weren't actively looking for it there, so now that we are looking for one, it'll likely be harder to find. Things usually are."
Neptune beamed at the two opinions of the 'smarter' members of the party. "You two are geniuses, Nicky, Iffy!" she cheered, getting the two to look at her. She then jumped onto Nico before he could react, wrapping her arms around his neck and hanging off his side. "You're definitely the brains to my brawn, Nicky. Though your bite is as vicious as your bark." She said, referring to Nico's instincts. The male blushed at this, and the close contact he had with this girl, a rare occurrence in his life.
Fortunately, this didn't last long as she let go of him, dropping to the ground before jumping onto IF faster than she could blink. The brunette tried to get her off, but in the end Neptune succeeded in glomping her, hanging onto her from behind. "And I'm sorry for thinking you were useless earlier, Iffy!" she said, rubbing her cheek against hers.
While IF struggled to get the girl off her even more intensely than before, Compa aimed a concerned look towards the preteen as she spoke awkwardly with a sweat drop, for the first time during this topic. "Um, Nep-Nep, I don't think you needed to bring up that last part…"
Nico watched this interaction with mild amusement. While he was still going to scold her for what she had done before, Nico couldn't help but smile at how close Neptune was becoming with the Guild Agent, though if it was returned was yet to be seen. She was just that kind of girl, showering her friends with affection. Though in his mind, he did think that calling IF useless wasn't very nice. 'She's going to have that added to the 'naughty list' of crimes she has to pay for when we get to the Hotel…' the male thought while hiding his frown behind a smirk. One could tell when they considered his eyes that he planned to have his own 'vengeance' against Neptune in a way that she would come to fear.
Special Event - Solid Nep.
It was time.
The mission was to begin.
Nothing would stop her from achieving her goal, not Compa, not Nicky, not even Iffy or that scary wool monster hat hides in cute girls bedroom closet.
Clad in her professional black eyepatch, covered by the badassery known as the cardboard box, Solid Nep crawled along the corridor of their hotel, intending to sneak out in the middle of the night to get some more of her pudding fix. Without the others knowing of course.
They could never understand, pudding was love,
Pudding was life,
pudding was... JUSTICE!
Solid Nep noticed that some stairs were blocking her way, making her hiss in irritation. "Shoot! Enemy obstacle, one flight of stairs. Exercise evasive manoeuvre codename: tip toe!"
Getting on her tip toes, Solid Nep lightly tapped each stair as she tried to make as little noise as possible. She tested the first one, and thank Goddesses that they didn't make much of a creaking sound. She didn't want anyone getting any ideas and try to impede her for getting her Pudding Goodness.
She made it down the first stairway with little issues, but she couldn't celebrate just yet for she heard footsteps from patrolling hotel staff guarding the building from thieves echoing from the corridor's right. Solid Nep quickly shifted to the closest wall and lowered herself, pretending to play dead as a hotel guard walked by. He took one look at the box beside the stairs, scratched his head curiously while muttering something about 'who leaves a box by the stairs?' before continuing on. Not like anyone would trip on it, since it was out of the way, he thought.
Once he was gone, Solid Nep let a low sigh of relief escape her lips. "Threat averted, continuing mission."
Making her way down the floors once more, Solid Nep didn't encounter many more guards, having made sure that things were quiet before making her move. Nothing would stop her from getting her dosage of heaven known as Pudding. Especially that one strawberry flavoured one she wanted to try at that store before that meanie Nicky took her away by force.
Finally, her hard work paid off as she now found herself at the registration room. The room's lights were on, but there was nobody in sight. She paid extra attention to her hearing so she could hear the breaths of any others in the room. Fortunately, she heard nobody's aside from hers, making her believe that she was the only one in the room.
Yes, finally, she could go get some pudding!
That shop should be open still, she could still get a chance!
Now, tip-toe, tip-toe, tip-toe...
ZZZZZT!
"...Eh?"
Solid Nep didn't know why, but suddenly her vision was bombarded with light, making her sole eye go wide as she fell into the fatal position. "Argh! My eye, my eye! s this a flash bomb? Enemy ambush?! But how? The Cardboard box should have been enough!"
Standing above her, looking down at Solid Nep while shaking her head in disappointment, one annoyed, tired, and irritated IF held Solid Nep's Cardboard box above her head. "... You're not pulling that one on me, Nep. Me and Nico heard your mad scrambling out of the room as clear as day." she told Solid Nep, whose eye shot open wide with shock when she realised who it was.
"... Servant Iffy? What are you...?"
BONK!
Unconscious land greeted Solid Nep as IF bonked her on the head, a tick mark on her forehead for the 'servant' comment. "I'm nobody's servant, you idiot." she scowled. Normally she would have kept her col with her antics, but right now IF had had it up to hear with the brat. Thus, after apologising to the receptionist who had been there the whole time, just kept her breathing utterly quiet in a fit of panic, IF dragged the unconscious Solid Nep back to their room. She'd even discarded the carboard box.
MISSION FAILED!
WE'LL GEET EM NEXT TIME!
