"Hey, wake up." A voice rang.

"Hrrng, five more minutes." Said an asleep Neptune, the CPU of Planeptune, the eater of puddings, and the cutest (or most annoying, depending on who you asked) girl you will ever meet (and the protagonist, don't you forget that!).

"The sun's been up for a while now, wake up!" The voice said, clearly irritated by Neptune, "I've waited for three hours now and you STILL haven't woken up. My patience's running' thin."

There was no response by Neptune, who has slunked back to sleep, dreaming about eating a mountain of pudding.

"If you do not wake up right now, I will kick you wide awake." The voice said. Still no response. "Ah, f*ck it. Here goes nothing." The voice then proceeded to connect their foot into Neptune's stomach at high speeds.

"NEPU!?" The blow from the kick causes Neptune to roll over for a bit before pushing herself up and wide awake. "Geez, Iffy, you don't have to—", she paused to look at her surroundings and, more importantly, the person in front of her.

Looking at the person in front of her, she noticed the person in front of her is not the serious and tiny-looking girl she expected. In fact, the person is even not a girl! Examining closely, the person seems to be a young man in his mid 20s. The first thing Neptune noticed in his appearance was his unnaturally dark skin. It's not just dark, it is pitch black. It kind of reminds her of that girl whose name escapes her that has a similarly unnatural skin color. Another thing of note is the man's clothes. He looks like some post-apocalyptic ronin! Sporting an asymmetrical leather jacket with only a left sleeve and a shirt underneath, pants that looks like one that the samurai wears, wooden sandals, a hat that seems to be made out of metal, and, of course, a katana strapped on his left side, he wouldn't look out of place in an eastern-themed wasteland. The man's face is obscured by the hat he wears.

"Finally, you're awake!" Exclaimed the man, with a voice of exasperation. This causes his face to be partly visible to Neptune.

Glowing yellow eyes was the first thing she saw. Another thing she noticed is the stark white hair he has, which very much contrasts his skin.

"Do you know how long I have to wait for you to wake up? THREE WHOLE HOURS!" The man continued, putting up three of his fingers.

"Um, who are you," Neptune asked, "and where am I?" Neptune noticed that she was not on the bed of her cozy bedroom in the Basilicom, but rather on a patch of grass in the middle of the Virtua Forest!

"Oh," the man relaxed from his outburst, "My name is Kenshi, I kidnapped you."

"Oh, hi Kenshi. My name's Neptune. Nice to meet ya'!." Neptune said.

After three seconds, Neptune's mind clicked.

"NEPUPUPU–PU!?" Neptune exclaimed, "You kidnapped me!? I guess that explains why I'm in the middle of Virtua Forest. I don't how you manage to get past the Basilicom's security. But still, what are you going to do with me?" Neptune then held her body defensively. "Ah! You are going to do M-rated things with me! Forcing yourself onto my cute little self. Well, I'm gonna stop you right there, bucko! This is a T-rated fanfic and the author intends to keep it that way. And besides, this little old me only belongs to—"

"I am NOT going to do THAT to you!" The man named Kenshi said defensively. "I kidnapped you for one reason," Kenshi said, "and that is to fight you."

"Huh?" Neptune is now confused, "you want to, fight me?"

"Yes, I heard that this continent houses deities that rule over this continent. I want to find out how strong they are." Kenshi explained, "And I heard that from all the goddesses, you are the strongest."

Neptune perked up from that. "Well, of course I am! I'm the protagonist after all."

"Protagonist? Do you honestly believe in that bull?," Kenshi put his right hand onto his katana, "but if you're really strong, then I want you to prove it." He then unsheathed his blade. "Draw your weapon."

"Wait wait wait, wait!— isn't this just too fast? I mean this is only the first chapter of this fic. Weren't we supposed to just, you know, introduce the cast and stuff? This kind of major fight should be reserved for later chapters!" Neptune rambled.

Kenshi looked at her confused. He is starting to think that he might have gotten the wrong person. But in annoyance, he swung his sword at Neptune.

"Woah!" Exclaimed Neptune, dodging the slash.

"If you don't want to fight, then I'm gonna force you to." Kenshi said.

Sensing that she really can't get out of this situation, Neptune materialized her own katana out of thin air. "I don't really know what is happening. But if you want a fight, then I'm gonna give it to ya'!"

The two of them were in a standoff. The two are about three meters apart. This continued for a few seconds. The two of them were trying to predict the other's move.

Then, Kenshi took the first move. He charged at Neptune then proceeded to give a downward slash.

He was fast, but Neptune still anticipated this. She held her sword defensively, successfully parrying the strike from the mysterious ronin.

"Ha! Is that what ya' got?" Neptune boasted.

"We're just warming up." Kenshi replied.

The two continued to exchange blows with none of them really gaining an advantage. This stalemate continued for some time, until Neptune realized that this fight would get nowhere if they just used their swords. She brought some distance between her and her opponent.

"Okay, this is getting nowhere," Neptune said, "it's time to nep it up, 32-bit Mega Blade!"

In the air, a huge sword proceeded to materialize!

"Now, this is getting interesting!" Kenshi said, looking at the sword that appeared in the sky.

"Go!" Neptune willed the giant sword to drop onto Kenshi. The force from such an impact caused an explosion of dust and other materials in the impact area. Kenshi's figure disappeared in the smokescreen. "How did ya' like that?"

Just as Neptune is about to declare victory (clearly underestimating her enemy), a bolt from a crossbow suddenly flew towards her head. "Nepu!?" She was clearly surprised, but she managed to dodge the bolt, only causing a small wound on her face. "Oh come on, that totally blemished my cute face!"

A figure is then seen coming out of the smokescreen. Holding a crossbow in his left hand, it was Kenshi who was unharmed from the attack. "Nice magic trick, too bad I dodged it!" He taunted, putting away his crossbow.

Neptune then realized her opponent seemed to be much stronger than she thought. "There's plenty more where that came from!" She quipped back.

The fight continued. Neither side had gotten any leg up against the other. Until Neptune found an opportunity.

"Take this, Cross Combination!" She let out a flurry of slashes against her opponent.

"Hrng!" Kenshi was overwhelmed by the combo move, causing his guard to let up after the last strike.

"I got ya' now!" Neptune proceeded to let out another strike, aiming at her opponent's sword. This attack causes Kenshi's sword to fly off his hand, disarming him in the process. "You're finished!" After seeing him disarmed, Neptune then let out her finishing strike.

Kenshi brought his left arm in defense. "But what would that do?" Neptune thought.

But instead of connecting with flesh, Neptune's sword struck something metallic. She was clearly confused. She looked at Kenshi's arm closely, finding out that his left arm is made out of metal!

Kenshi then threw her at a distance. "You're quite good. But I'm just getting started." He proceeded to crack his normal hand's fingers, then went into some kind of martial arts stance.

Neptune quickly realizes that disarming him was a mistake.

Instead of blocking her strikes, Kenshi just effortlessly dodges them and then counter-attacks with his fists. This tipped the favor to one side as Neptune started to take damage from his hits. And boy, did he hit hard! He was even more dangerous unarmed than he was with his katana.

"Hey, that isn't fair! How are you even tougher unarmed?" Neptune said, "Are you Brazilian? Can you double jump?" She quipped before barely dodging a punch to the face.

Kenshi just ignored her weird quips. He continued his onslaught, doing some moves that wouldn't look out of place in a kung-fu movie. Neptune, who is now on the defensive, has no way to counter attack.

She then got hit by a blow that sent her flying backwards, rolling after hitting the ground a few meters away.

"Is this just what you got?" Kenshi said, "I thought you CPUs are a lot stronger than this. But, I gotta say, I'm impressed that you can survive my punches. You're tougher than you look."

After some moment, Neptune, who clearly has enough of this, stood up. "I didn't think that I would need to use this." She said, looking at Kenshi with a more serious eyes. "I think its time to nep it even further beyond. HDD form, activate!" Her body starts to glow, the brightness causes Kenshi to shield his eyes. After a few seconds, gone is the little girl. In her place, a much older and mature looking woman appears. This is the HDD form of Planeptune's CPU, Purple Heart.

"Huh, that's new." Kenshi said, intrigued at the transformation. "You can change forms, huh? Well, I hope that you're stronger in that form."

Purple Heart, who has a more serious demeanor compared to her human form, ignored him.

"I am the Purple Heart, the CPU of Planeptune!" She exclaimed, the voice more mature than her human form's.

"Before we continue fighting, I have to ask you. Why do you want to fight me? Do you just want to get stronger?" Purple Heart said.

Kenshi, who was now picking up his sword that was stuck in the ground, replied, "You're right. I just want to get stronger." He sheathed his sword and it proceeded to dematerialize "And for that," in its place, he materialized an even bigger sword. He then pointed it at the CPU. "I have to fight strong opponents." And with that, he charged at Purple Heart. He went for an overhead strike.

Their blades connected. Whilst Kenshi's blade is so heavy that any normal person would have a hard time blocking strikes from such a sword, Purple Heart is no normal person. With her enhanced strength, she easily swatted away Kenshi's blade.

Purple Heart then began her counter-attack. Every strike from her felt like a hit from an elder beast for Kenshi. Before long, his guard started to wane from exhaustion, opening himself up for damage.

"Take this!" Purple Heart said, who then performed an upward slash.

In defense, Kenshi put his sword up in front of him. This prevented the goddess's blade from hitting his body. But the blade did, however, hit the tip of his hat, causing it to fly up in the air.

He put some distance between them as he realized that he wouldn't be able to retaliate against the goddess's strikes.

"Urgh!" Kenshi grunted, grasping a wound on his right arm, "So that form ain't just for show, huh?"

"My HDD form greatly enhances my physical abilities as well as changing my personality to one more… 'befitting' of my standing." Purple Heart said.

"Well, then I just have to fight harder!" Kenshi said. Replacing his sword with a crossbow, he started to take potshots at the goddess, running back before she could close the distance. This seems to work as several bolts have hit home. The bolts did not badly hurt her but it did weaken her a little bit.

This small change in strength is all what Kenshi needed, and he seized the moment.

Changing back to his sword, he charged at Purple Heart, clashing swords again. This time, however, the weaker defense of Purple Heart courtesy of his potshots made the fight to be equally matched again.

This will not last long, however…

"Urgh!" Purple Heart grunted, taking a hit courtesy of her opponent. "I admit, you are a lot stronger than I thought. But this ends here!"

With that, the goddess flew upwards, way up in the sky.

"I'll show you my true power!" Purple Heart's body began to glow, changing her form once more. This time, however, instead of a humanoid form, she transformed into an aircraft! Purple Heart, in jet form, began to fly around the arena.

"Did she just turn into a machine?" Kenshi asked to himself, looking at the transformed goddess. "I have a bad feeling about this." Kenshi had a feeling that he wouldn't like what would happen next. And so, he went into a full sprint, hoping to avoid whatever attack the flying jet would make.

"That wouldn't save you," Purple Heart said, who can clearly see Kenshi thanks to the various sensors on her jet form. "Take this!" The jet launched two missiles. Midway, the missiles split into a dozen smaller missiles that are burning towards the swordsman's location.

A particular part of the forest lit up in an explosion. The shockwave of which is felt all over the forest, surprising every creature in the area.

Neptune, who was now back on the ground and in her human form, slumped in exhaustion.

"Whew, I'm burnt out! I guess that's what happens when you just laze around. I should really start exercising… Nah, that's too much work." Neptune said as she lied down on the ground. "Hrrng! I'm limp as a flaccid pudding. I do hope I won't get attacked by monsters."

Just then, a motorcycle engine can be heard from a distance.

"Nep, it's that?!" Neptune said.

"Neptune, where are you!" Shouted a voice.

"Nep-Nep, please, answer us if you're here!" Shouted another voice.

Hey! Guys, I'm right here!" Neptune replied to the voices.

Out of the bushes, came out two people. These two are Neptune's best buddies, the serious but still quirky IF and the sweet and ever-loving Compa.

"Neptune!" IF said. "What happened to you? And what is with that explosion?"

"Oh, me and that kidnapper got into a bit of a scuffle. That explosion was courtesy of little old me." Neptune replied.

"A fight? Oh no, you need medical attention!" Compa said, "Here, let me help you up. Heave-ho!" The tender nurse propped the limp goddess up and carried her into a conveniently located tree stump.

"Thanks, Compa. And thanks too, IF, for finding me. Yeah, that guy was really tough! But, fortunately, I'm the protagonist. So all's swell, ends swell— or something." Neptune said as Compa started bandaging her, lightly, and not turning her into a mummy, thankfully. Neptune reached into her inventory for some pudding.

"Well, thankfully you're not hurt too badly." IF said, "Now, we need to find that basta—"

"Ah!" Neptune shouted suddenly, looking a bit shocked.

"Whaa?! Is there something wrong, Nep-Nep? I didn't pull the bandage too tight, did I?" Compa said, who is now a bit more conscious when it comes to bandaging.

"No! That's not it, Compa." Neptune replied.

"Then what is it, Nep?" IF said.

"My pudding's gone, that guy stole it!" Exclaimed Neptune.


First Chapter and there's already a fight scene!

Here, we introduce our first OC in this fic, Kenshi!

Kenshi is based on the game with the same name. It is an Adventure/RPG game that is set on a post-post-apocalyptic world (the 'post-post-' thing is from the lore of the game). It's gameplay is very expansive, you can explore the world as a small party of adventurers or you can create a city for your own faction, going into war against other factions. I love this game because of the freedom to do things you way. It can be a bit challenging for newbies, but once you get past the learning curve, it is a lot of fun!

If you want a better written story based on the world of Kenshi, check out Glas Mirrah, it's an amazing webcomic.

Stay tuned for more chapters!