Well now. Bet you thought I was done, didn't you?
Sorry for the lack of updates recently, these stories as a whole kinda went on the back burner for a while since I just couldn't… do things.
Hopefully this somewhat very long chapter will make things up for my absence!
So, let's get right into it.
Chapter 5: A Glimpse of Truth
The party of four continued on into the caves.
Although the group had been walking for a while, the caves were still pretty massive. They probably had only reached the halfway mark at this point.
Regardless, the group was in pretty good spirits as they continued deeper on.
Cameron was at the back, thinking to himself a little. With all that had been going on around the group, he felt that it would be a good idea to step back and strategize.
He was so deep in thought, he didn't even realize that IF was walking next to him until he happened to glance up. The adventuring girl had been gazing at the tall man for quite some time now.
"Er, yes, IF?" Cameron asked.
IF glanced away. "Sorry, just… needed a break from Neptune. I know I agreed to join you guys and all, but… she's not what I was expecting."
Cameron sighed. "Yeah. You'll… probably get used to it. I'm not sure what I think of her myself, to be honest."
IF looked back at Cameron, curious. "Speaking of… what's a guy like you doing with these two? I can tell there's some history between the three of you, but…"
Cameron shook his head. "I don't know if you can call 'history' a matter of days. We've barely known each other. Compa found me and Neptune one day in the forest above this cave. We were, as she put it, speared into the ground, as if we had been falling from a great height. Compa nursed us back to normal, and, well… Now we're here."
IF listened to Cameron's story with keen interest. "Really? That's… well, that's different. Certainly not what I expected…"
"Yeah… it doesn't help that I can't remember anything before then, either." Cameron continued, sighing a little. "My memories are completely gone."
"Damn. That's rough." IF replied, a small smile of confused sympathy on her face.
"Yeah… oh, yeah, I guess I should probably explain what exactly we're doing here, anyway." Cameron started to explain.
However, Neptune and Compa suddenly called for the pair. They were now on a bridge of some kind, which spanned over a part of the cave the group had already been past.
"I just wanted to get you slowpokes to hurry up. This cave is actually pretty big, now that we've been in it for a while." Neptune explained.
Compa nodded. "It's amazing we didn't get lost while running around yesterday."
"So you three did come through here yesterday." IF responded. "I think Cameron was just about to, but do you mind catching me up on what you three are doing here?"
"Ooo! I'll explain! I'm good at talking!" Neptune shouted gleefully, and before anyone could stop her or tell her that might be a bad idea, she launched into her explanation…
One long, boring explanation later…
"...and that's what we're doing!" Neptune wrapped up, a proud smile on her face.
Leaving three very confused people staring at Neptune.
"Nep falls, loses memories, Historie, Key Fragments… I think I'm even more confused now. That story made no sense to me." IF recapped, blinking.
"Neptune lost me. Which is bad since I already knew what she was talking about." Cameron added, looking slightly dizzy.
Neptune giggled, rubbing the back of her head. "Well, thanks!"
"Nep-Nep, I don't think that was a compliment…" Compa corrected, patting Neptune's hand in what appeared to be pity.
Cameron shook his head and took over. He managed to summarize Neptune's entire story in about two minutes, and make it actually understandable.
"I see… alright then." IF nodded along. "That makes much more sense."
"Hey! I said all of that and more! How come HE'S the one you nod along too?!" Neptune replied indignantly.
"It's the 'and more' part that you need to work on, Neptune." Cameron responded, gently flicking the purple haired girl in the forehead (electing a short "Rude!" response).
(Seriously, why am I the only one getting flicked here?! What kind of justice is that?)
"Guys, let's keep going. We've still got a lot to explore." Compa reminded, goading the group back to action.
The four continued on the path, Cameron taking point this time. He figured he had spent enough time with his thoughts: now was time to take charge and get some work done.
A few minutes passed, and finally, the group managed to take care of the objectives the Guild had given them: thinning some of the monsters that were in abundance, trying to reduce their spread. But even then, they just kept appearing in flashes of light.
Almost like…
Cameron stopped, surprising IF, who ran right into him. Thankfully, that collision didn't send anyone tumbling to the ground.
"Wh-what? Did you see something?" IF asked, stepping back.
Cameron didn't immediately answer. Rather, instead he started pacing around, an idea playing in his mind.
"Uhhh… is that… normal, for him?" IF asked Compa.
Compa shook her head. "No… but… I don't think it's a good idea to stop him. He seems… deep in thought."
The group had reached what looked like the end of the cavern. It opened up into a wide, somewhat circular area, with a drop-off into the cavernous depths below, basically ending the explorable caves.
"These enemies…" Cameron started, glancing over at Compa. "You said that they just started 'appearing' one day, right?"
"Well, yessy, they just appeared a few years ago. It's troubling pretty much everyone, no one knows how it happens." Compa responded, surprised at Cameron's new 'piecing things together' attitude. It was like he suddenly flipped a much more critical part of his brain on.
"That's what I thought. What bothers me is that, no matter how many monsters we slay, they just keep coming. But, not like I would expect."
"What do you mean?" IF asked, confused but curious.
"Haven't you seen it? It feels more like they just… appear. Like they were just spawned into the world. Normally, I'd say that it's just the spawning mechanics at work, but this just seems a little… excessive. Like, once we leave the area after a battle, not even a few seconds after, a new baddy appears right around where we just fought." Cameron fired off. "It's too quick. Too fast. These monsters aren't just 'appearing' with chance. There's something causing it."
IF and Compa both had wide eyes at this point. Cameron was making an awful lot of sense, now that they thought about it.
(I'm not sure I followed exactly, but I'll just sum it up as saying 'monster source is bad', and move on.)
"Well… it's a good theory." IF agreed. "But then that begs the question: what's making them in the first place? Cause if that is what your argument is about, then there's clearly something making the monsters appear."
Cameron put a hand to his mouth, thinking again. "That's what I'm stuck on. I mean, I know it's a lot to ask for the answer to just conveniently fall on our laps, but if we COULD find a cause, then we'd have a foot to stand on…"
And then, out of nowhere, Neptune, who had been remarkably quiet this whole time, suddenly spoke up. "Hey, Iffy? What's this?"
The trio looked over at Neptune, who had been standing next to a wall, and was now waving in her hands… a disc?
IF took a look, with Cameron and Compa peering over her shoulders. It looked like any other standard CD-ROM disc that you'd put in a computer. If anything, it looked odd because on the edges, it had a bright red streak running around it.
"Where'd you find that, Nep?" IF asked curiously.
Neptune blinked, rather confused. "Wait wait wait, hold up… I'm only just hearing it now, but… is 'Nep' supposed to be me?"
IF shrugged. "You named me 'Iffy,' so I figured I'd give you a nickname too. Back on topic, though, where'd you find that disc?"
"Over there, hanging on the wall. Or something like that." Neptune replied, gesturing towards the far wall.
IF looked skeptical. "This disc? Hanging from the wall?" she asked.
"That's… well, that just seems silly, doesn't it?" Cameron asked, glancing towards Neptune with his own look of scepticism.
"Oh come on! Neither of you believe me?!" Neptune yelled, putting on an air of haughtiness. "You both wound me so! And after all we've been through! Was it all for naught?!"
"You're both so horrible, not believing in Nep-Nep." Compa agreed, shaking her head.
Cameron was just about to sputter out that even if Neptune did legitimately find a disc in the wall, that it still sounds super suspicious since discs aren't exactly something that grows in cave walls. However, Neptune beat him to the punch, focusing on IF, "I know your name makes you question everything, but show me some love! Humor me! At least make an EFFORT!"
"That's absolutely NOT what my name means." IF retorted. "And besides, we only met, like, twenty minutes ago, tops."
Seeing that IF wasn't really buying the angrily haughty act, Neptune instead decided to try begging. She stared at IF with eyes that Cameron would swear grew at least twice as big, and were absolutely sparkling. "Iffy…" she begged.
Apparently, IF had a soft spot. She sighed gently, her expression softening. "Alright, alright. I believe you."
Neptune appeared gleeful. "Now THAT'S the Iffy I know! Iffy has got to mean 'I Feel for You!' That's true love!"
"I think we should start calling her 'AI' now. It's Japanese for 'Love'!" Compa offered, smiling.
"In that case, let's spell it 'ai' then. All lowercase makes it much cuter!" Neptune agreed.
IF started growing increasingly confused and embarrassed. "Wh-whoa whoa whoa! Both of you, hold up! You're getting completely off track!"
"It might be easier to just give up at this point…" Cameron mumbled quietly, shaking his head and hand on his face. "They've completely derailed the entire conversation."
"That's not what I mean!" IF responded, still blushing at the idea of getting that nickname.
"Aww, Iffy, are you blushing or are you blushing?" Neptune teased, sporting an expression that Cameron could only describe as a 'Neptune Troll Face'.
But before anyone could say much else, inexplicably the disc still in Nep's hand started… shining brightly?
"Th-the disc?! It's sh-shining so brightly!" Nep yelped, dropping the disc in surprise and backing up to hide behind Cameron.
"Wh-what's going on?" Compa yelled to IF.
IF looked just as lost as everyone else. "H-how should I know?! I've never seen anything like this before!"
"There's… there's something coming FROM the disc!" Cameron yelled, seeing something vaguely coming from the disc.
The shine grew even brighter then, and then it finally subsided, leaving a group of monsters just before the party.
"Monsters?! From the disc?!" IF shouted, surprised.
(Nani?! *snicker*)
And before anyone could really say much else, the monsters charged at the fresh group before them...
One tense but swift fight later…
"*pant* *pant*" Cameron was breathing rather heavily. The fight against the monsters hadn't exactly been tough (at least not as tough as any other regular battle in this cave had been), but that still didn't mean that he or the rest of the party was ready to jump into battle.
Everyone still seemed to be in some kind of trance. Finally, Neptune was the first to break the silence.
"That was tough… a little heads up that monsters came from discs would've been nice, Iffy!" she called out, looking at IF.
"How should I have known? No one knows where the monsters come fro…" IF started to say, before the words died in her throat. Suddenly, she was starting to connect the dots in her mind.
"Iffy? What happened? You were saying something and then you stopped." Neptune asked, tilting her head curiously.
"So… so that's where monsters come from! You were right, Cameron!" IF shouted, looking stunned.
"I-I was?!" Cameron replied, looking both giddy and amazed that he somehow had pieced it together.
"Yessy, you were! This is a super discovery!" Compa agreed.
Neptune looked rather lost (nothing new there, really), but before she could try to catch up…
"Hahahahahahaha!" a new voice, this one sounding like it came from a much older lady. It was currently laughing hautly, and it immediately put the four on edge. "I came here for my Guardian, but I didn't expect to see you here, Neptune!"
"Wh-whose there? Where's that old, melodramatic laughing coming from?" Neptune called out, looking around wildly.
From the shadows came… a much older lady. Her skin was extraordinarily pale, to the point where it almost looked purple. Her hair was just about the same color, and strangely, styled very similarly to Neptune's (though not quite). A rather large amount of eye-liner lined her eyes, which were a dull, though still prominent, red color. A pair of long, elvish ears were visible just underneath a massive hat, shaped like you might imagine a witch hat to be modeled after and decorated with a very large, ugly bundle of feathers, and one wilting rose. The rest of her outfit also reminded Cameron of a witch, though he sincerely wished it left a LOT more to the imagination (her entire front was almost completely exposed, with very little keeping her modesty contained, with most of the clothing being around her waist, legs, and arms). She was currently holding an oversized spear of some kind, and was looking at Neptune angrily.
"Old?! Who are you calling old? Mocking people, as usual. You've not changed at all, Neptune." the new lady angrily said.
Compa leaned towards Neptune and asked, "Is this a friend of yours?"
"Of course not. I certainly don't want to be friends with any old lady wearing this much goth makeup." Neptune denied.
"Oh, that's good to hear. I was just about to start questioning your choice in people." Compa agreed, relieved.
Even IF looked more at ease. "If you were friends with her, I would've put in my resignation here and then." she added.
"Any old woman who thinks that that kind of clothing and that much make-up makes them look good probably doesn't have a whole lot of friends to begin with." Cameron agreed, receiving nods from the rest of the party.
The goth lady started boiling over at all of these snide comments. Neptune decided to tip the pot over, saying, "Sooo, who are you anyway, Missus…?"
"How dare you!" the goth lady growled, her hands clenching her spear even tighter. "All of you, saying what you want in front of me… I'll end you all right now!"
"Oh great, look at what you did, Nep. Now you've gone and made her mad." IF scolded, shaking her head.
"Wait, what? It's MY fault?!" Neptune asked, confused and irritated.
"Yeah, kinda is." Cameron agreed. "You started insulting her, after all."
Battle Start.
And suddenly, the group found themselves thrust right back into battle. The four drew weapons again, unaware of the beating they were about to receive.
The goth lady twirled her massive spear and charged forward, aiming at IF and thrusting with all her might. It quickly proved to be far too much for IF to take, and she collapsed to the ground with 0 HP.
The other three still standing were understandably flabbergasted. "HOLD UP! That's not cool! Who puts a boss like this THIS early in the game?!" Cameron yelled.
Him and Compa both tried to charge forward at the same time and tag-team attack the goth lady, but any attacks that they did manage to land didn't so much as scratch her. A terrible feeling started rising in the guts of the party: this was a fight that they didn't seem capable of winning.
And sure enough, the goth lady then smited Compa, then Neptune, and finally Cameron, all of them falling each in one strike, much to their dismay.
Battle Lost…
Fortunately, each of the four stirred just moments after being knocked to the ground. Thankfully alive, but only just.
"W… what was that?" Cameron asked, panting as he slowly sat back up. "That… that had to be mods, right?"
"She's way too strong to be an early game boss!" Neptune agreed, sitting up herself. "I call cheat!"
"The damage that she gave us was way too large…" Compa agreed, somehow managing to stand back up, albeit a little shaky.
IF appeared more irritated than anything. "Tch… looks like you can't judge a book by it's cover…" she murmured, leaning against the wall for support while she took a few deep breaths.
"Hm. You're all scum to me. Go ahead, cry all you want. It only proves yourself as the losers you are." the goth lady mocked, a small, dark smile playing on her lips.
Cameron fiercely got back to his feet, though he was using his sword as a makeshift cane. "The biggest loser is the one who uses hacks to get the victory they want." he savagely yelled back.
"Regardless…" the goth lady transitioned, looking at Cameron. "The Key Fragment. I'll take that!"
Cameron was about to fire off another retort, but the goth lady quickly ran forward and sucker punched him in the gut, knocking the wind out of the tall man and leaving it basically impossible for him to stop her from rifling through his bag and steal the Key Fragment.
"Hey! Me and Compa and Cameron went through a lot to get that! You'd better give that back!"
"Quiet!" the goth lady shouted, turning and quickly smacking Neptune across the face in turn.
"Augh-!" Neptune croaked, landing back on her rump.
"N-Nep-Nep!" Compa yelled out, her eyes darting between the witch and Neptune.
The witch lady stuck her hand out a still stunned Neptune, who was trying to get back to her feet but was too dazed to really do much. "Now then, the time is now. It's finally time for me to take your power, Neptune!"
From the tips of her gloved fingers, a strange swirling purple ball of energy started growing and was aimed directly at Nep's face.
"Hahahaha!" the goth lady laughed, the energy growing stronger with each second. "Finally! The first step towards my ultimate ambition is finally taking place!"
But just as the orb of energy reached its climax, Compa suddenly dashed forward and pushed Nep as hard as she could, sending the purple-haired girl rolling towards Cameron.
The energy fired off from the goth lady's fingers and slammed directly into Compa. The resident nurse-in-training shouted out in pain as the energy, not unlike that of some form of electricity, surged through her entire body.
"C-Compa!" Neptune yelled, quickly jumping to her feet.
"W-what?" the witch said in confusion.
All at once, Compa stopped shouting, and the energy seemed to subside from her. She looked dazed, but… unhurt?
"Compa, are you okay?" Neptune asked, real concern in her voice as she rushed to Compa's side, Cameron right behind her (he managed to shake off his pain from the gut punch by this point).
(Oh come on, as if I wouldn't be. You act as though I'm some heartless monster.)
"I'm… okay?" Compa asked, just as confused as the others.
"What just happened?" IF asked.
"How… how dare you get in the way of Nep-Nep!" the goth lady yelled… her voice now an absolute ringer for Compa's.
"Nep-Nep?" Cameron voiced, growing more confused himself.
"Once more! Nep-Nep's power will be mine!" the goth lady yelled (still with Compa's voice), again pointing her fingers at Neptune.
However, this time Neptune was far more wary, and with a quick yelp she dodged, causing the energy ball to hit the stone floor harmlessly.
"Hey! Don't start running around! Just stand still and get hit by the attack!" the goth lady complained, firing another shot.
"She sounds exactly like Compa! Nep, don't stop! She's trying to absorb your power!" IF yelled.
Neptune was already way ahead of her. "No problem! I'm good at shooting games! I just have to do a barrel roll!"
Try as the goth lady might, she couldn't land even a glancing shot at Neptune, who dodged every attack with ease (even to the point where she was able to pull off a few rather complicated-looking action poses in the process).
Finally, the other four were well and truly back on their feet, and this time far more ready for a fight. "Tch! It's that girls fault…!" the goth lady complained, panting from the effort.
"She's gotta be weaker now, right?" Cameron asked, holding out his blade again. "We should strike hard and fast!"
Neptune and the others seemed to agree with that sentiment. "Hey, you! We're even now!" Nep taunted.
In a flash, Neptune transformed into her super form. "This chance won't pass me by, and neither will you!" she yelled, hefting her own weapon.
Battle Start
And once more, the party was thrust back into a battle, but this time more confident that they could face their opponent.
The goth lady still moved first, and she still attacked Compa hard. But it was still livable. This they could work with.
IF and Cameron both attacked together, slashing hard with their weapons, and this time, their efforts were being rewarded. The damage they were doing wasn't enough to power miracles, but hopefully, with a little time and luck, it would be enough.
Neptune charged forward at the same time, just as IF and Cameron leaped back. She wailed on the goth lady as hard as she possibly could, racking up damage rather quickly.
However, the goth lady wasn't to go down without a fight. She swooped away from Neptune's reach and charged again, this time aimed at Cameron.
She slammed her spear as hard as she could into the tall man, who flew back a bit from the sheer force.
He growled, glaring daggers at the lady. "My turn." he snarled.
He charged the goth lady, his surroundings growing darker. Words appeared above him, that said, 'Blurring Blade'.
"Eat some of this!" he yelled, his blade shining with light.
With swift movements, he stabbed his blade forward rapidly four times, before ending it with a final, much stronger looking final stab forward.
What it lacked in overall power, it made up for by being quite fast and, in terms of SP, quite cheap, though the gothic witch seemed to take great offense to this attack.
With a yell, the goth lady charged at Cameron and swung her massive spear in a wide arc. Cameron just about managed to dodge away, but it still managed to clip him on the shoulder slightly.
Fortunately, the others were still in the fight. Compa came from out of nowhere, shouting as she jammed her syringe forward, IF threw a few rapid slashes from the side, and Neptune called out once more, unleashing another of her 'Cross Combo' special attacks.
The fight lasted another handful of minutes, but the goth lady simply couldn't keep up. Bit by bit, her HP drained, until finally she couldn't take it anymore, collapsing to the ground.
Victory!
With the angry witch unable to resist, Neptune deftly plucked the stolen Key Fragment back. "I'll be taking that."
"Urgh… Neptune…!" the goth lady grumbled. Her voice was back to normal, no longer a copy of Compa's. Even when she was clearly outnumbered and defeated, she still managed to give the party a fairly good death glare.
Neptune appeared to hesitate, but she eventually asked, "I almost hate to ask, but… do you know me?"
Apparently, this was not what the goth lady had been expecting to hear. She looked up at Neptune, her eyes slightly wide in surprise. "Of course I do! I know you like the palm of my hand."
"Really?" Neptune asked, quite curious. "Then please, who am I?"
The goth lady's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What's going on? Did you hit your head or something, or are you just playing dumb?"
"Nep-Nep and Cameron have both lost their memories." Compa fiercely explained, still wisely holding onto her oversized weapon. "If you know anything at all about either of them, you should tell us."
Rather than do that, the goth lady instead broke into a fit of near hysterical laughter. "Oh my, this is rich! You, Neptune, lose your memory? What a golden opportunity! I was concerned when I lost sight of you, but now I know I need not have worried!"
Cameron was quickly growing impatient. "Cut the riddles. Do you know who Neptune is, or not? I'd recommend speaking now, cause we don't do a whole lot of 'hold your peace' around these parts."
But suddenly, the goth lady stood back up with surprising agility, tipping her oversized hat in mock salute. "I'll allow you to keep that Key Fragment piece you have there. Ta-ta!"
"W-wait!" Neptune yelled, but it was too late. Before anyone could react, she was gone, in a brilliant flash of light.
"Sh-she's gone…?" Cameron stammered, looking around rapidly, as though trying to see if she had hidden behind one of the rock formations in the area. But she was long gone.
"I want to know who that was…" IF mumbled, turning to the others. "It looked like she was targeting you, Nep…"
"I wish I could've stopped her… if only I could talk more to Histy…" Neptune mumbled, looking rather down.
"Nep-Nep…" Compa whispered sadly.
The mood was rather dreary, until Cameron couldn't take it anymore. "Well… what's done is done. We can't change that. For now, though, I think we have a slightly more pressing issue."
"The monster discs?" Neptune replied, turning to the disc, which was near IF's foot.
"For now… yeah." IF agreed, quickly stamping on the thing and breaking it in two easily under her heel. "And as much as I hate to say it, I think we've done all we can here. We should head back up and rest for a bit."
No one else in the party seemed to have objections to this, so Neptune (after transforming back to normal) once again took point and led the group out, but it was a slightly more subdued group than it had been minutes prior...
The group was back in Compa's living room. IF was looking at one of the broken shards of the disc she had broken, examining it closely. "I still can't believe monsters were coming from these discs…"
"Yeah, but breaking the disc definitely seems to stop it from working anymore." Cameron reasoned.
"That should mean the monsters should stop spawning in that area, right?" Compa asked hopefully.
"For the most part, I'd imagine. It's hard to say how many monsters it pumped out before we broke it, though, so there's likely still to be plenty of monsters that hang out there." IF reasoned.
"Makes sense to me. Even so, that definitely makes the lives of everyone here a fair bit easier…" Cameron agreed. "Speaking off, I was just thinking, we should call it something like, 'Enemy Disc', so we all know what we're talking about."
"Enemy Disc…" Compa repeated back, thinking about it.
"A bit on the nose, but it certainly works." IF agreed. "But as long as these things exist, monsters will keep coming. Who knows how many are out there in the world right now…"
Compa seemed rather worried by this prospect, but Cameron was quick to reassure her. "Don't worry Compa. It's not like we don't know what to do. If we find a Disc, we just have to break it, and that's a step in the right direction."
At that moment, Neptune decided that she needed to interrupt the conversation by loudly setting her bowl of yet another finished pudding on the table. "Mm-hm! Nothing beats a bowl of pudding after a hard days work! Um… you got any more, Compa?"
(Pudding trumps all. You can fight me on this, and you WILL lose.)
The other three stared at Neptune: Compa with a worried smile, Cameron with disbelief, and IF with utter annoyance. No one said anything, so Neptune added in after a second or two, "Hm? What's wrong? Why so serious, guys?"
"Are you kidding?" IF asked incredulously.
"Umm, Iffy? Nep-Nep gets tired super easily after she transforms, so… do you think you can just let it go?" Compa tried to explain.
Cameron sighed, shaking his head. "All that sounds like to me is enablement, but whatever."
IF seemed to agree, shaking her head slightly. "Going back onto the topic, I'm curious about who that weird lady was. Does anyone know…?"
"My gut says she was collecting the Key Fragments." Cameron retorted. "Like, literally. I still feel where she hit me. It hurt a lot."
"Well, in that case, we'd better act fast. I mean, we can't let her get them first, right?" Neptune responded cheerily.
Nobody seemed to have any objections to that. Even IF said she would tag along, since she didn't have much of an agenda or anything. "Besides, Cameron looks like he could use the help dealing with Nep."
Cameron rolled his eyes, but did not attempt to deny such claims. Neptune, on the other hand, appeared highly affronted by the accusation.
Regardless, it was running rather late, so the four decided to work out a plan tonight and move early tomorrow to get to the next Land as quickly as possible.
"Well, that just leaves the question of where to go next." Cameron mused quietly.
"Well, let's see." IF mused. "We're currently in Planeptune, Land of Purple Heart. There's Lastation, Land of Black Heart… Lowee, Land of White Heart… and Leanbox, Land of Green Heart. If what you said Histore told you is accurate, about there being a Key Fragment in each Land, then we already have Planeptune's."
"Sounds right to me." Neptune agreed. "Do we have, like, a map or something?"
"On it." Cameron responded, once more pulling out his phone. "I think I have one… yep, right here."
He showed the others the screen. The Land they were currently at was being marked by a big red dot, and the other three lands were aways away, on floating islands in the vast sky.
"Hmm… actually, I think Lastation is supposed to be open to travelers right now." IF mused. "They're hosting some kind of event in the coming weeks, so travelers are highly encouraged to come visit to participate or whatever."
"Any objections?" Cameron asked. No one spoke. "Then I guess we have a plan."
"It's all coming together now! We're on a roll!" Neptune cheered. "This calls for pudding!"
"Coming right up! Just a minute!" Compa agreed, wheeling away to the kitchenette.
Cameron and IF shared a look, but ultimately let it go with an eye roll.
A few minutes later, the four had gone and split up across the apartment. Compa and Neptune were in the kitchen, with Compa providing Neptune with more pudding. IF had stepped into the guest bedroom, saying she needed to make a call. Cameron was left in the living room, sorting through his backpack once more.
For reasons he wasn't quite sure about, he kept pulling out all of his old stuff, the things he had in the backpack that weren't a monster drop or something. His books and his old tech, to be specific.
Despite the fact he knew the laptop wouldn't run, he couldn't bring himself to not take it with him. There was something… familiar about it, and familiar is a hard feeling to shake when you don't have your memory.
The books, too, were hard to let go of. They were very random books: one was a novel about some demigod child fighting against evil or something, another was a textbook that claimed to help people put together an amazing science project. Yet another was a video game guide book (though even at a glance it looked pretty out of date), and there was even one that was simply a dictionary. None of the books really lined up with each other in any 'practical' fashion.
(Books were never my 'thing', though I can understand not wanting to give up something that was once a big part of you.)
Cameron had just finished sorting through his books when Compa came into the living room, holding a drink of some kind in her hands. "Whatcha doing, Cameron?"
"Oh, hey Compa. Isn't Neptune still on a pudding high right now?" Cameron asked, looking back. No Nep in sight.
"Oh, Nep-Nep accidentally spilled some pudding on her, so she's taking a shower. Works out well for me. I… may be running out of pudding in the fridge and need to buy some more soon."
Cameron rolled his eyes. "Thank cod Neptune didn't hear that, or she'd either break into a tantrum or burst into tears. Or both."
Compa was thumbing through the science project book of Cameron's. "So, what are you doing? Didn't you already go through most of your stuff yesterday…?"
"I did, but… I don't know, I figured I'd look through again to see if I missed something." Cameron mused, quietly taking another look at his broken laptop.
Compa looked at it for a moment before shaking her head again. "There it is again: more technology I don't recognize. It doesn't look like any model laptop I've ever seen before."
Cameron stayed silent again. Every time he looked at that hole in the laptop, something stirred gently within him.
Feelings of… worry? Dread? He wasn't even sure what it was, the feelings were a little too thin. But they were definitely there.
Compa had to shake Cameron's shoulder a little bit to get him to respond. "Cameron? Hello?"
"A-ah, sorry, I got… lost in thought again." Cameron stammered, shaking his head and stuffing his laptop away.
Compa watched Cameron with slightly sad eyes. She really wanted to help, but… how can you help someone who doesn't know who they are?
Unsure of what to say, Compa instead decided to ask, "Hey, Cameron, I actually wanted to ask… do you want to come with me? I figure I should go ahead and buy some supplies for our trip tomorrow."
"Might as well." Cameron agreed, thinking that this could be a good distraction.
After quickly packing everything away, Compa and Cameron left, telling IF they would be back soon enough.
Cameron kept rather close to Compa, still not very familiar with the area. However, the crowds of people were rather thick as the people rushed about to get their shopping done, and it was getting harder and harder to stick together.
Quickly, Compa realized things were getting a little tight, so she grabbed Cameron's arm and pulled them off to the side, near a relatively quieter building with only a few people nearby.
"Damn, there's a lot of people out right now…" Cameron murmured, just loud enough for Compa to hear.
"I always forget… the shops are always busiest at this point. It might be easier to just… wait it out for a while." Compa apologized.
Cameron looked around, and spotted some kind of public building that looked relatively empty. "Let's go over there, it looks empty."
Compa grew a little nervous. "That's all the way across the street. Won't we get split up if we do that…?"
"Easy fix." Cameron responded, quickly grabbing Compa's hand and beginning to shove through the crowd.
Compa was surprised to suddenly be holding Cameron's hand. For some reason, it felt… odd. His hand was surprisingly warm. It was much bigger than hers, but it felt… nice.
(Oh…~?)
Cameron, oblivious to this, continued to push through the crowd, making sure to keep a tight hold on Compa's hand so they didn't get separated.
Finally, they reached the building, and quickly ducked inside, grateful for both the end of the crowds and a much quieter setting.
"Well, that was… interesting." Cameron mused, wiping his forehead with his free hand. "Let's hope that clears up quickly enough, so we can get back to what we were doing…"
"Y… yessy." Compa agreed, still blushing.
Cameron, now that he was away from the hustle and bustle of the crowds outside, took a look around. He initially pegged the building as some kind of library from the outside, but on closer inspection it appeared to be a shop of some kind. Shelves lined the walls and a bored looking employee didn't so much as glance up from the magazine they were engrossed in. The store seemed to be pretty much empty other than that.
Cameron almost was tempted to look around, but he suddenly realized that Compa had grown rather quiet lately, something that seemed a bit off character.
"Compa? You alright?" he asked.
Compa was blushing, not really saying anything.
It was at that moment that Cameron realized: he was still (rather firmly) holding onto Compa's hand. At the time, he hadn't even thought about it, but now that they were past it…
(Oh…~~?)
He blushed a bit, and gently let his hand go limp, allowing Compa's to fall out of her own. "R-right, anyway… shall we, er, take a look around?"
Compa nodded, her blush fading a little.
The pair looked around, not really sure of what they were looking for exactly but interested in the wares. Although this wasn't the shop they had intended for and definitely didn't carry the supplies they needed, the wares were more than interesting enough to keep them here. Besides, outside they faced nothing but a busy street, so they figured they had better chances here for a while.
"Oh, hey, Compa, check this out." Cameron called out.
Compa, having more or less recovered from her embarrassment earlier, came over to Cameron looking at a glass case that was somewhat tucked away. Inside was a curious item: a mechanical band that appeared to be worn around the wrist. It looked interesting on it's own, but the main thing that drew Cameron's eye to it was the text about the item
"'Energy Blaster - This experimental weapon extends around the user's hand to fire energy and magic-based projectiles. Different hand gestures produce different types of blaster fire, and requires no ammo. It has become a popular item among collectors and adventurous folk, though developments in this line of tech have been slow. Price on request.'" Compa read on the placard.
"That… I'm not 100% sure of everything that that said, but… it looks cool, no?" Cameron asked, looking at the item from the side.
"I'm not sure, it's not the kind of thing I would be familiar with…" Compa replied, watching as Cameron inspected the item.
'He really seems interested in it, doesn't he…?' Compa thought to herself, as Cameron read over the placard again.
"Ehh… I'm not really sure I want to know how much it is…" Cameron murmured, sounding a bit disappointed. "Don't wanna blow all the cash we earned today, if I can even afford it with that."
Compa nodded. Cameron then told the nurse that he was gonna go look for a restroom real quick, and that he'd be right back. He headed where the employee was (who apparently already anticipated the question and pointed towards a door in the back), and was promptly gone.
Compa couldn't help but think about what had happened int he cave earlier today, with Cameron risking his own life against that massive monster just to save Compa.
She then looked back at the blaster weapon. Price on request, huh…
"Excuse me? How much for this?" Compa asked the employee.
It took a minute, but Compa was more than happy to get it. The price was much lower than she had thought it would be, so she happily bought it and was fiddling with it a little when Cameron returned.
"Oh, did you get something?" he asked.
"Mh-hm!" Compa agreed, proudly holding out the collapsed arm cannon she had just bought to him. "Here you are, for you."
Cameron blinked in surprise, looking at the fancy weapon now being presented. "Wha-?"
"I thought… well, I thought since you wanted it, I'd get it for you." Compa explained, blushing with a silly smile on her face. "Plus, it… well, I mean, you did save my life earlier today, so…"
Cameron looked rather… pleased, actually. "I-I mean, I didn't do that so you would buy me a new toy."
"Of course, but I wanted to. Take it!" Compa insisted, pressing the metal band into Cameron's hands.
Cameron didn't argue much. He eagerly slipped the band onto his left hand. It fit comfortably around his wrist, and he experimentally tapped the button on the top.
With a quick noise, the device expanded outward until his entire left hand was now encased in a large blaster cannon. Carefully (since he really didn't want to accidentally set the thing off and destroy the whole store, not like the employee seemed to care much), he fiddled around with it, before collapsing the device back to it's inactive state.
He smiled brightly at Compa, a bit confused as to why she would drop money on him so readily for something like this, but pleased all the same.
The two soon left, heading back outside to the much calmer streets.
Before Cameron could properly recollect his bearings, though…
He felt Compa's hand gently slip into his own.
Surprised, he looked over at the nurse, who wasn't making eye contact at all. "J-just… just in case. Th-there's still a lot of people around, so…" she stammered.
(Oooooh~. Methinks someone has a crush~.)
Cameron felt his cheeks warming a little himself, but found the idea… a bit cute. So he squeezed her hand and agreed, "Sure. Now, where's the item store we wanted again…?"
The rest of the afternoon was spent with the pair slowly working to the main item store they wanted, and putting together a large amount of travel supplies as well as extra rations of battle items and pudding (to keep Nep placated). They spent quite a bit more time than they had intended, especially since Compa wanted to look around a bit more for any new accessories.
By the time tehy were done, the sky was getting very red, and was close to nighttime. The foot traffic had cleared up substantially, but even so, Compa still took Cameron's hand. Just in case.
While they were heading back home, Cameron took another look at Compa out of the corner of his eyes. She was very pretty. Very, very pretty. Cameron couldn't remember much at the moment, but he was fairly sure he hadn't ever interacted with such a lovely young woman so… openly before.
Add in her lovely personality and her very nice body, and Compa quite the charmer. Cameron wondered to himself about how such a kind, sweet girl hadn't found herself a boyfriend at this point.
Suddenly, Compa gasped and tapped Cameron's shoulder. "Cameron, look!"
Startled from his thoughts, eh quickly responded with, "Uh, nothing!"
Compa looked a bit confused. "What? No, I said to look over there."
"O-oh…" Cameron murmured, looking to where Compa was pointing.
She was pointing at the sky, and while it was mostly clear, there was one odd thing in the sky that was very noticeable: a very oddly shaped cloud in the sky, the only cloud that was even visible in fact.
It was very oddly shaped. Cameron immediately had the impression that it was some kind of animal, kinda like a dog. If that was all that it was, then it wouldn't be much to note, but the fact was that it was like it was LITERALLY a dog made of cloud, almost a perfect match for an actual animal just floating in the sky.
"Well. That's not something you see everyday, is it?" Cameron asked, turning to look at it.
"Yessy! Though… I can't help but feel as though I've seen it before…?" Compa replied, sounding a bit unsure.
"... you do?" Cameron asked, suddenly realizing that he was feeling the same thing. He HAD seen that cloud before somewhere… he was sure of it. Though he couldn't remember such a cloud in any of the day he had been with the others traveling around or anything…
"Yeah, like… I dunno, it's just too perfect. I wish I could remember…" Compa mumbled.
Cameron stared at the cloud a little more. The cloud hadn't moved much at all, so it still looked like a perfect little dog floating through the sky. The more he looked at it, the more his memory was tickled… but why…?
And suddenly, it clicked.
"Wait a second… wait a second!" Cameron suddenly shouted, pulling his hand away from Compa and grabbing for his phone.
Compa looked up just in time to see Cameron tapping away on his phone, pulling up his photo album and looking at one picture.
"What? What is it?!" Compa asked.
Cameron started shaking. "N-no. T-there's no way that could be…"
"What?!" Compa asked again, getting even more lost.
Cameron tilted the phone down so Compa could see.
It was one of the photos in his album. The one of the cloud.
And it was a DEAD ringer for the cloud currently above them. Down to the orange sky and even some of the tall buildings around it.
Compa was shocked. But then, Cameron looked at the photo again, and then back up at the cloud.
His brain was straining to remember something…
And all of a sudden, it hit him.
He gasped, and suddenly, everything went white.
It was a long time ago.
I had just arrived in the city.
I looked up as I was looking around to see… that cloud.
It was so perfect, I couldn't believe it.
A dog, so perfectly rendered in the clouds. None of the other cloud shapes had ever come close to such a shape.
I had to take a picture, cause no one around me seemed to be noticing it.
By the time I took the picture and lowered my phone, the cloud was suddenly moving behind one of the buildings.
I watched for a moment, but it just slowly kept moving behind the building.
Eventually, I realized I had more important matters to be thinking about, and I continued back on my path.
The buildings around me slowly grew less impressive and more weathered.
I looked around each of them, trying to find one that worked.
None of these seemed right… until I finally found it.
A rather old, seedy building that seemed to have a vacancy.
I nervously looked around, unsure of the location, but knowing I had no better options. I only needed it for the month anyway. It was better than nothing.
I hastily ducked inside.
Into what would become my new home…
…
…
…
I think that's a good place to leave it for now.
(WHAT? Oh come on! You can't just drop that kind of lore nugget and leave us with nothing else!)
Yes I can, and yes I will. I'm the author and I say I am. So I am. Besides, this chapter is long enough as it is. Delaying it anymore would be… a bit rude, don't you think?
(Well at least it IS long. I think that's the least your readers deserve after waiting so long.)
Yes, well… that's fair.
And, uh, to you readers, I do apologize for taking so long. I've… well, I've said it before and many times, but I have been busy. Fan-Fiction kinda had to take a backseat for a very long time since I just wasn't in a very good headspace to be writing.
I will say I have been getting a lot of inspiration across almost all of my stories at this point, so that MAY be a good sign. I am not sure.
But in any event, I do hope this chapter was worth the wait. I can't promise anything anytime soon, but I will say I have been re-freshing my knowledge of the series as a whole recently, so I should be able to write with a bit more certain understanding of how the story flows and where I could more easily insert these little nuggets of my own lore and story. After all, that was the entire point of this re-write in the first place, no? To make the old better?
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. Nep, any final words to our readers?
(If you all give me pudding, I will make sure this bum gets the next chapter out in a month! Harrass him on his Discord! My orders!)
Neptune! I thought we talked about that!
(I do what I want, because I'm the Great Nep-Nep. Deal with it!)
*sigh*
Whatever.
Anyway, in any case, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. This is ButterHunter signing off for the night, and until next time dear readers…
Stay awesome! =D
(Stay awesome! Nep-Nep OUT! - Nep)