A/N: Been a while since I did one of those, but there's been nothing much to talk about. I could talk about how I watched Food Wars and enjoyed the hell out of it, or the fact that I'm basically writing this by ear now that I have no glasses, but you're not interested in that shite.
Well, I have bits and pieces lined up already, it's just getting word to paper... Or Google Doc in my case.
Well... Back to it I guess. No mail, no A/N antics, just a guy wishing you well in these hard times.
Please enjoy this next chapter.
As the elevator of the Basilicom dinged, the Planeptune Special Forces worriedly walked out of the elevator.
"Histoire, we're home!" Despite the heavy atmosphere, Uzume remained chipper and carefree. Noticing the odd looks she was getting she shrugged. "Well, if Koei's going to be The Serious OneTM now, I might as well step up to the plate. I missed having fun, after all."
Koei sighed, "I suppose I have been too serious, but now's not the time."
Before Uzume could point out the irony, Nepgear appeared, a tired look on her face. "Oh, I thought I heard you three." She said quietly, exhaustion clearly audible. "I've been tending to Neptune and helping Compa with blood tests since yesterday… Neither of us have slept, it's all too stressful. But we've finally found out why Neptune and the others are still comatose."
"And that is?" IF simply asked, knowing that Nepgear would appreciate getting to the point as fast as possible so she could rest.
"Well, as Compa texted you already, there was an additional chemical agent in the knockout gas, which also had the side-effect of turning the gas into a blood-red colour, correct?"
The assembled party nodded, Koei in particular vividly having that memory in particular.
"Well, it seems that whoever ASIC is, they had access to Anti-Share Crystals, a mysterious and highly illegal gem that cancels out Share energy." She explained, sweat forming on her brow. "Simply being near one causes Share Energy to massively drop for the affected party, so breathing it in… Needless to say Neptune and the others… They might not make it."
A stunned silence filled the room as the atmosphere got even heavier. "That… That can't be right." Koe finally said. "They can't just die, right?"
"Everyone dies, Koei." Uzume said simply. "Uranus and the other Planeptune CPUs before me all served their tenure before retiring and passing on. It's just the nature of a CPU… A CPU's death while they're still serving is untold of, though."
"Indeed." Nepgear nodded. "The possibility is very slim, almost theoretically low… But if I lost Neptune-"
"You won't." Koei stopped her right there. "As the Saviour of Planeptune, I'd rather take my own life than see you lose Neptune. Is there anything we can do to save them?"
Seeing the resolve in Koei's eyes, Nepgear smiled for the first time since the attack. "There is. You can keep fighting for Planeptune's… No, all of Gamindustri's sake. Inspire Faith in the populace and maybe, just maybe we can save the CPUs."
…
"I really meant on a more specific basis, but I appreciate the passionate speech." Koei noted with the ghost of a smile, causing the Candidate to giggle, some happiness filling her soul and the hope for her sister to return giving her peace.
"Well, I've heard of a stream on the border of Planeptune that has water that can purify the blood of anything: The Shining Spring." Nepgear recalled with a tired smile. "I'd go myself, but I haven't slept since yesterday and I've done nothing but work since then so-"
Without another word, Nepgear passed out, the thud being followed by adorable snoring, as Uzume picked up her successor and placed her gently on a nearby sofa. "Poor lamb." She muttered, feeling Nepgear's forehead in order to gauge her forehead. "Nothing seems to be wrong, probably just overheated and overworked, but I'll leave that to Compsy."
"A CPU? Overheated? Say it ain't so." Koei remarked sarcastically, his usual attitude leaking back into his otherwise serious tone. "Regardless, this Shining Spring sounds way too convenient, as such we must follow this baseless rumor in order to have something to do," Koei surmised eloquently.
The other two members of the Planeptune Special Forces looked on as Koei wandered to the elevator and patiently waited for his comrades to catch up. "Today?"
"Oh!" They both said simultaneously snapped out of their stupor before following suit.
"So… How do we find this spring?" IF asked, to which the other two members of the Planeptune Special Forces shrugged.
"Split up and look for flowing spring water?" IF suggested helpfully.
"Good idea." Uzume nodded. "There are three springs in Planeptune, so if we split up…"
"We can each take one. Surprised this is still lost, considering there's only three of them…"
"Easy pickings!" Koei shot a thumbs up, to which Uzume sighed.
"The problem being that in order to prevent the water being used for malicious intent, she left a part of her soul there to guard the lake. If you don't pass the heart test of heart… Well, it depends on the legend. Some say she simply disappears along with the stream, going somewhere else in Planeptune… And some say she outright drowns them. Needless to say the second part isn't told in fairy tales."
"Why not, sounds cool as hell." Koei ignored the implication of being murdered to death with great pride. "Grimm's Fairy Tales scarred me as a wee Koei, why not the same here?"
As the elevator door dinged open and Koei merrily jogged out, realization set in for both IF and Uzume. "Wow. No wonder he's the way he is." They simultaneously thought as they walked out calmly, before splitting up.
Southern Planeptune
Ruins of Aquarius
IF arrived at the scene of a sunken set of ruins, looking around the mossy stone pillars for any sort of flowing water to get to the source of it, but only finding mechanized crustaceans which were quickly dispatched with a few slashes of her katars.
"Nothing so far." She thought to herself simply, punting a cybernetic snail in frustration. "You'd think a place with literal aquatic ruins would have a spring somewhere."
Sure, being a high-ranking Guild member meant she knew most of Planeptune like the back of her hand when it came to exploring, but the outskirts were dangerous, even for someone of her skillset.
Well, it was mostly due to the less than stellar signal to the Guild, meaning any injury would be much harder to overcome without the ability to send a distress signal.
Scarcely dodging a metallic piranha's steel teeth, sweat started to drip down her forehead, which she wiped with her purple sleeve. "Who's even making all these robots?"
Hopping across a rotting wooden bridge while deftly dodging death defiantly, IF continued to scan the area for a sparkling spring, taking time to avoid any particularly shaky looking ruins.
"Jeez." She thought to herself once again, slicing a robot with a drill nose in half as she barely dodged an arrow from the mouth of a statue. "What the actual hell did these people think when making these?"
Her inner monologue was interrupted by the ground beneath her rumbling and a shadow casting over her. Turning around, a large serpent-like robot greeted her, mouth dripping green liquid as its teeth glinted menacingly, a hungry look in its eye,
"Son of a bitch." IF sighed to herself as a rush of strength and a flash of light alerted her that she had transformed into her Flame Awakened form. "That's… New." She was slightly concerned, but had no time to think as green liquid was spewed at her.
Noticing the liquid quickly corroding where she was stood, IF only had further questions, but opted to leave them be for the time being to focus on the acid-spitting serpent, which had now wrapped itself around a particularly large pillar, a cybernetic screech indicating that it was prepared to strike again.
Fire emanated from IF's katars as she started to launch flames at the hulking beast, charring the plates but not doing much more as more acid was sprayed at her, forcing IF to duck behind a nearby wall to recompose herself.
"This thing's strong." She panted, the hiss of acid filling her ears. "I could just retreat, but I already came so far, I can't just abandon my mission…"
"Photon Blade!" A familiar, older voice yelled as metal clashed against metal and a screech of pain came from the serpent.
Poking her head out from the rapidly dissolving wall, she spotted Falcom, sword currently in the now bleeding snake, which was now flailing wildly. "Hey, IF!" She waved, keeping a solid grip while she did so. "Wanna help me take down this cyborg abomination?"
"That thing isn't a robot?" IF started to summon swords of light in order to hit the creature between its plates. Due to the sheer quantity, several actually managed to hit their target, causing the beast to flail more intensely and throwing Falcom off.
With a thud, Falcom dusted herself off before getting back up, noting that her sword still tightly jammed within the snake's flesh. "Another happy landing." She chuckled.
Seeing the chance to finish the fight, IF hopped up onto a nearby pillar and steeled her resolve. She was going to have one chance at this. Breathing deeply to calm her nerves, she quickly and quietly leapt off, using the momentum to line up her blade just right and-
*slice*
*crash*
In an instant, IF had decapitated the snake, causing the now lifeless body to spasm and crash to the ground, green blood leaking all over the grass… Including some splatters on IF's exposed leg.
"Gross." She wiped at the liquid, which did a good job of getting it off of her at least. "Do hope my skin doesn't start melting off."
"Nah, that stuff's dark green. The more acidic stuff is lighter, at least that's what my handler warned me about." She waved IF's concern off as she pointed to the currently blonde brunette. "But this! This is the shocking part! I heard you had achieved some form of awakened form but this was nothing like I expected!"
"Eh." IF shrugged as she felt her strength go back to normal. "Just happens sometimes."
"'Just happens'? You sliced through solid steel like it was butter!" Falcom pointed to the recently decapitated snake, very clearly burned from where the blade had made contact, steel slowly melting and mixing with the flesh.
"Gross." IF noted with a deadpan stare. "Look, Falcom, appreciate the help but do you know where I could find the Shining Spring?"
The veteran adventurer shook her head. "Wouldn't be here. Riverbed dried up a few years ago. You'd think a deity of water would stop that sort of thing from happening, but what do I know about divine intervention?" She chuckled weakly to herself. "But yeah, won't find that here. I just happened to be here to take care of.. That big snake thing. It had a name, but I forgot it, heh."
With a curt nod, IF sighed. "So basically, I wasted an hour of my life and nearly got melted." She put her hands on her hips with a smile. "Good use of my time, then!"
Falcom was finally able to free her blade as she hefted it over her shoulder with a satisfied smile. "That's the spirit. Hopefully Dr. Cybernetic will stop giving already deadly creatures "enhancements" after this latest incident."
"You think we should just leave this as is, though?" IF pointed to the still leaking corpse, stepping back a bit in order to avoid being covered in the green blood again.
"Wouldn't worry about it." Falcom kicked at a fleshier part of the body to ensure it was truly dead. "All this is Cybernetic's own land, a testing ground if you will. Far away from human contact, unassuming exterior and nobody will hear the screams of his victims!" She got one glance of IF's horrified look and laughed to herself. "I'm kidding on that last one, he's a nice guy, just a bit eccentric… I hope."
IF chose to wisely walk away, leaving Falcom with a mechanical snake head and a conundrum.
"Wonder if I could add this to my mantle…"
Northern Planeptune
Gal Da Val Lake
"Ah, so scenic." Uzume muttered to herself, losing herself to the pristine natural beauty that shone before her eyes, forgetting for a moment she was currently coated in monster blood.
This was until said blood dripped onto her crossed arms snapping her back to reality. "Oh, right. Looking for the Shining Spring." She shook her head before picking up her axe with a sigh. "Going out on my own like this, just like the old days. Have objective, travel to destination, murderise everything that even looks at me funny... "
She chuckled to herself, finally alone for the first time in a while and able to enjoy the silence of her home Nation, without Koei's irreverence or IF's chiding distracting her from the natural beauty before her.
It was serene, nostalgic even. The only things that had changed since those days in that moment were her appearance and choice of weapon, also currently dripping with monster blood.
"Still, musing can wait." Uzume snapped herself out of her own thoughts, as the sound of rushing water came from her left. "If I'm hearing rushing water, that means there might be that Spring nearby."
Heading towards the source of the noise, she kept a wary eye out for anything else that might be attracted to the smell, considering at the very least washing herself off to get rid of the blood, even if it meant drenching herself further.
"Wouldn't that put me in bad standing with the Spring's guardian?" She debated internally. "I mean, this is meant to be connected to a holy site, something tells me that using it for something like washing monster blood off because I got a little too axe happy on that Fenrir." She chuckled darkly. "Never knew such violence could be so… Cathartic."
She blinked at her own thoughts, "Oh. Oh." She put a hand to her forehead, suddenly breaking out into a sweat. That was a pretty 'evil' thought to have and it just came out like it was nothing." She looked down at her blood covered hands, as her mind flashed back to…
"Oh. Goddesses. NO."
Uzume looked up to find the smoking ruin of Planeptune, various bodies of citizens scattered around. Her citizens. "I thought I was past all of this." She finally said, voice barely audible as she lived every feeling at once on that day.
"You think acting sorry will make all of this go away?" A familiar voice almost forced her to turn around. "Remember, we fused in a last ditch effort to defeat Koei?"
Silence.
"I do." Uzume finally stated, no emotion in her voice as she averted her gaze from her former other half. "Why is this happening, anyway? All this bloodshed, I would never-"
"Stop acting like a goddessdamned goody-two shoes!" The blue Uzume slammed her fist into some nearby concrete to knock some sense into her counterpart. "This is the first time you finally have some time to yourself, so you're finally realizing what the hell you did!"
Uzume bit her lip, finally looking at "herself" in the eyes. "Why are you acting so… Not trying to murder me?"
"Partially because you're hallucinating, partially because my soul is no longer being tainted by Negative Share Energy and partially because I'm still a part of you." She reasoned in that calm, villainous tone she hated. "The point is, we now have a second chance when before there seemed to be no hope."
Uzume nodded at her hallucination's wise words. "You're right. Maybe it's wrong to trust a figment of my imagination, but I was never a perfect CPU… My fall to darkness could have easily been prevented had I just not been as desperate."
"See?" The blue Uzume leaned back with a satisfied smile. "All you have to do now is learn from your mistakes, save the world and may just forgive yourself along the way." As she walked past Uzume, she patted her counterpart on the back. "You're killing it so far… Just make sure that doesn't become literal." She chuckled in a way only a villainess could before the world faded back to the serene lake.
"Well then." Uzume thought to herself as she got back up, the smell of dying blood filling her nose. "Guess I won't go some axe-happy on the next Fenrir I meet just in case I relapse, heh."
A twinge of fear shot through her.
If I start showing signs of falling back into darkness, you have my permission to kill me right then and there.
Words spoken too soon as they echoed in her mind, as she felt at any moment the only thing she'd be feeling was a sword through the torso.
Tense moments passed on the tranquil lakeside…
But that's all that they were. Moments.
Uzume let out a sigh of relief, thankful that her hallucination had been a solo affair. If Koei was around…
She shook those thoughts out of her mind and marched off without a second thought, renewed determination to not let past events repeat, lest her heartfelt desire come true...
Eastern Planeptune
Neo-Geo Zone
"Goddesses above this place really does emphasize the 'Geo part', huh?" Koei noted to himself with some disdain as sweat poured from his brow, trudging through the volcanic plains and barely able to keep cool without resorting to using Serenity's magic.
Looking around, Koei could spot hermit crabs with miniature volcanos on their backs that spat smoke and fresh magma, golems made from rubies and volcanic rocks of many varieties and… Orange Dogoos that were on fire.
"They can't all be winners, I suppose." He sighed as he heard the noise of battle ahead of him. Relishing the chance to pump himself up, he charged into the fray to see Arthur tussling with one of the inhabitants of the cave, drop-kicking the ruby out of its core before ducking through the collapsing body and finishing up with a hearty stomp to shatter the gem, rendering its body fully inert.
"Haha!" She cheered in triumph, wiping her forehead with a gauntlet clad arm, the heat clearly starting to exhaust her as she spotted the Artifact wielding Hero and suddenly shot up. "Sir Koei! Did you not see me vanquish that foe with the grace of a knight?"
He nodded with a relieved sigh. "Yeah, but what are you doing here of all places? I'm having trouble staying cool and yet here you are standing fully clad in armor!"
Arthur averted her eyes, close to overheating but still determined to stay straight-faced. "A-A true knight never gives in! If I overheat now, how will I withstand the blazing flames of a dragon's breath?"
Koei raised an eyebrow, but he was here because of rumors from a nearby hamlet of there being a hot spring blessed by a goddess, so it wasn't like he had an excuse. "Fair enough. Party up?"
With a curt nod, Koei headed further into the molten cavern. "You know, it's surprising they let people in here, considering this is what it is."
Arthur chuckled to herself. "It is, but anyone who does come in here should know what they're doing. The main problem is heat management, not really the docile populace of creatures here."
"You drop-kicked a golem."
"I… Used an ice spell to cool myself down and attracted aggro from it." She admitted with a shameful blush. "W-Why are you here anyway?"
"Looking for the Shining Spring. Heard rumors it was around here in Hell." Koei noted with some exasperation and bitterness, the heat getting to him.
"Like an oasis in a desert, eh?" She noted with a wink. "The rumors more have to do with what the spring has than it's existence, if that's what you're worried about."
Koei nodded, a new wave of determination coming over him as he marched ever inwards alongside the lesbian knight, noticing a particular vein of lava flowing faster than the rest.
"That's… a pretty fast flow." He pointed out, to which Arthur put a armor clad hand to her chin.
"Indeed. It flows almost like a river, almost artificially." She noted with some suspicion, walking closer to the flow and looking to her right to see some clearly carved stairs in the rock, along with a corresponding handrail. "And there's clearly been some tampering with this cavern."
"Ah, hello, hello!" A young girl's voice alerted the two, as a short young looking girl with a bunny eared hat waddled up. "Gust apologises, but this resort isn't open to the public yet, if you'd like to know when the Shining Spring will be available to the public, would you like to sign up to Gust's newsletter?"
Koei's blood froze despite the boiling temperatures around him. This girl…
"That'll be 2500 Credits please."
"If you wanted a map and compass, you could have just asked Gust and she would have provided them for you for 250 Credits."
"Thank you for your patronage."
"S-Sir… Are you quite alright? Gust can get you a wet towel if you need one." She asked worriedly, genuine concern in her voice.
Koei shook his head. "N-nothing. Just a heat flash. But if the Shining Spring is here, I'm going to need to see it."
"B-but Gust just said-"
Koei sighed before pulling out his ID out of his pocket. "Look, I'm with the Planeptune Special Forces and I need some water from the Shining Spring. Please, it's for the good of all of Gamindustri."
Gust took the card with one gloved hand and stared at it incredulously before handing it back with a nod. "Come with Gust, Mr. Koei."
The pair followed suit, looking at the ever flowing lava as they entered a specially carved "room" in the cavern, complete with carved furniture.
"Miss Knight, would you mind waiting here?" Gust asked kindly. "This is a private matter between Gust and Mr. Koei here."
Million Arthur simply nodded, sitting in one of the surprisingly comfortable chairs as Koei and Gust want into another, less polished room, the main highlight being the massive pool of water, shining despite looking untouched.
"This is what Gust believes you were on about, correct?"
Staring at the water,perfectly still and yet had an unearthly shine to it, Koei was enthralled. "Is this?"
Gust nodded. "Gust traded this for an island resort she was not allowed to enter, despite downing. Gust thinks it was a good deal."
Koei put a hand to his chin. "Does this happen to have any sort of healing or purifying properties? Asking for a friend."
The girl sighed, before lifting herself up to look at herself in the water. "Gust knows what you want, traveller." She pulled a glass jar out of her pouch, gently filling it as not to disturb the water before screwing the lid on and handing it to Koei. "Gust knows that the CPUs are in dire need of her healing water, so she won't charge."
Koei smiled at the kindness of the girl. "Thanks, Gust." He put the jar in his inventory before anything could happen to it. "Though this might be overstepping, is this spring truly enchanted by a passing deity?"
Gust giggled. "Of course. She just happened to be a demigoddess who's enchantment did nothing to the water in terms of purity, so Gust just adds some of her Healing Drink to help ensure the spring heals and purifies."
Koei nodded. "Thanks for being understanding. I'm sure that the goddesses will be able to recover fully with this batch."
He turned to leave before the sound of a clearing throat caused Koei to turn back around to see Gust's perfectly innocent face. "Oh, that jar is one dosage for one person only. If you need others, I'm willing to provide… For a price."
"How much?" Koei sighed, thinking this was going to be easy.
"5000 credits each. Gust does three for two!" Gust had literal Credits in her eyes as Koei pulled up his inventory with a sigh. "Oh, and if you're buying, Gust will be revoking that free one."
Koei stopped with an icy glare as he pulled out Serenity. "I'm willing to buy three and keep the one you gave me as good faith, because it seems you are trying to exploit a desperate situation for your own benefit, are you not?"
Gust realized that she had pushed her potential client too far and quickly backpedalled. "G-Gust apologizes, she forgot she was dealing with someone with such pedigree, please forgive her!"
Putting away Serenity, Koei pulled 12,500 Credits out of his own personal account anyway and handed them over. "10,000 for the sale and 2,500 for the discount you offered me sound good?"
Having regained her usual poker face, Gust smiled. "Of course, a pleasure doing business! Please come back when Shining Spring officially opens!"
As the spellblade left, Gust wiped her forehead. "To think, he saw through Gust's ruse and called me out without saying a word. Has he bartered with Gust before?"
She shook her head, bunny ears flapping wildly. "Perhaps Gust just went too far on this one, if he was going to go help the CPUs himself."
Outside, Koei sighed before motioning for the bored knight to follow him. "Did anything happen?" She asked with some concern at the scowl on his face.
"Nothing, nothing." Koei dismissed. "Just the heat getting to me, so let's just focus on getting a move on, yeah?"
A short walk later and relieved sighs escaped the duo as fresh, cool air hit their overheated bodies. "That hits the spot." Koei finally stated, content at that very moment.
"Indeed." Million Arthur replied with a smile. "I was able to train under extreme conditions and even got to discover a future relaxation spot. A day well spent, my comrade in arms!"
A simple nod was all that was needed, before Koei opened up his UI Gloves and started a call, to which IF answered. "Yo." She stated simply.
Koei pulled out one of the recently acquired jars. "Found the Shining Spring, got some water mixed with Gust's herbs… Maybe blew my entire budget for the week and then some." He hesitated on that last one, but couldn't exactly lie when the inevitable bar bill would have to be paid on IF's Credits.
IF started to giggle at the mention of Gust, but kept her composure. "I-I see. Well, I'll see you at the Basilicom but I don't know where Uzume is because you know… We forgot to get her phone number."
Hand met face. "Does she even have a ph- Why are you covered in green?" Koei finally noticed the dried green snake blood splotches on various parts of IF's outfit.
"Don't worry about it." She waved off his concern. "Ran into a cybernetic snake, decapitated it without issue. You on the other hand, look like you ran a marathon. Twice."
Koei rolled his eyes with a sigh. "Goddesses above, it was just a volcanic cave Iffy, not like I was in any real danger."
IF's eyes turned deadpan. "Sure. Anyway, I'll stop off at the apartment and get a change of clothes for the both of us, so I might be late."
Koei smiled in response. "Aw, that's my iffy. See you at the Basilicom!"
The line cut out as he noticed the knight still standing there, a blushing smile on her face. "You and Lady IF get on quite well, Sir Koei."
He rubbed the back of his head. "Well, one of us has to keep their head on their shoulders, I suppose. Even as a Hero, Iffy's still my safety net."
Million Arthur smiled in response. "Sounds like you two have a lovely relationship. To have the same sort of bond to someone… Lady Vert was so nice."
Koei tilted his head. "Vert?"
She shook her head with a wry smile. "Nothing, nevermind."
Koei stared with a confused expression, but eventually shrugged mentally and started to walk in a seemingly random direction, the Planeptune Basilicom shining brightly in the distance, akin to a beacon.
The Basilicom elevator dinged as Koei walked out with a content sigh, knowing his job was almost over. "Yo, NepG!" He called, not wanting to take more steps than necessary. "I got your damn Shining Spring water!"
In a flash, Nepgear got up from her slumber and rushed over to Koei. "G-Goodness! Really?"
With a dramatic eye roll, he pulled out one of the unlabelled jars and handed it to the Candidate. "Out of my own pocket, too. You're welcome."
Koei didn't expect his spine to be crushed very suddenly as Nepgear took his gesture very kindly. "Thank you Koei, thank you from the bottom of my heart!"
"Please stop collapsing my lungs." He stated simply in response, as Nepgear gasped in horror.
"G-Goodness, I'm so sorry!" She lurched back in horror as Koei desperately breathed air into his nigh-collapsed lungs.
"I… I think I need a check-up from Compa after that." He wheezed. "I think my lung's been pierced by a rib."
"Serves you right for hugging other girls." IF walked out of the elevator with a pile of freshly cleaned clothes and a wry grin.
"S-shut up…" Koei continued to groan in pain. "Do you have any idea where Uzume is, at least?"
The elevator dinged again as Uzume trudged out, covered head to toe in blood. "Heeeeey gaaaang." She waved, axe cleanly attached to her back as she walked in a seemingly random direction. "I'mma just go take a shower, if I'm not out in an hour, please throw my corpse off the Basilicom…"
With that she shuffled into a seemingly random room and locked the door behind her, leaving the two dumbstruck.
"That wasn't her blood, right?"
The Oracle of Lastation, one Kei Jinguji was sorting through paperwork as a knock came from her office's door, to which she simply sighed in a neutral manner and put the paper to one side.
"Come in."
The door opened to reveal K-Sha, ambling in with nary a care in the world. "Here you go, Kei, as you requested." She handed several pieces of paper to the busy looking Oracle.
"Very good, Yukiko." She responded flatly, grabbing the papers and placing them on her desk. "I do hope your 'retirement' from espionage work is going well. I do miss having you around full time."
"It's K-Sha now."
"Regardless, did you manage to find any information on the forces occupying Leanbox?" She asked with all the passion of a dead stone. "As per the treaty, Lastation is obligated to try to help the best we can without directly interfering, as well as Leanbox being the main source of export income."
"Always business with you. "K-Sha shook her . "Just once I'd like to sit down and talk to you like any other human."
"I'm busy ensuring that Lastation doesn't fall into economic ruin, so you'll have to forgive me for denying that request." She started to look over the report. "Hmm, so your superior didn't even show up to the attack? You'd think they'd be there for moral support, at least."
K-Sha shrugged. "I'm just happy to have gotten out of there before the entire place got shut down. Would have been pretty hard otherwise."
The two stared at each other for a few moments. "I see." Was Kei's only response.
Knowing the conversation was over, K-Sha turned to leave before she hesitated. "Kei… That girl tending to Miss Noire… Who is she?"
"If you're referring to CPU Candidate Uni, she was born long after Project Raiden was cancelled." She replied with absolute truth. "I understand that you have… certain feelings towards Lady Noire as a side effect of Project Raiden, but I assure you that Lady Uni isn't a threat to your 'conquest.'"
"Very well." K-Sha left without another word, satisfied at Kei's response and happy to have helped her former mentor.
After she left and the sound of footsteps faded, Kei let out a sigh of relief she didn't know she had. "That Yuk- K-Sha… The only survivor of that short-sighted scheme of mine. It's little wonder that she would grow so much in so little time."
Kei uncharacteristically leaned back in her office chair with the faintest smile on her face. "Hopefully Gold THird will keep her in check. Goddesses knows I couldn't."
Koei and IF sat, waiting for an update on Neptune's condition with cups of tea in hand and grim expressions on their faces.
"So… It's been an hour, right?" Koei asked no one in particular, impatiently sipping his tea.
"Well, Compa's out for the count and Gear's probably way too damn jumpy to set up the IV for Nep, so I assume she's just waiting for Compa." IF reasoned.
"I was talking about Uzume."
As if on cue, the door Uzume had entered swang open and the former CPU strode out… In nothing but a towel wrapped around her to stay decent. "Ahh, a good shower hits the spot! Nothin' beats washin' monster blood off your body. Hope Histy doesn't mind if I use the washing machine while I'm here…" Uzume muttered to herself, seemingly unaware of her friends sitting on the sofa. "Ah, just like old times, back when it was just me and Histy…"
She finally spotted Koei and IF looking on with a combination of horror and slight arousal from the former. "Ah. Guess I didn't think you two would be here." She stated with no emotion in her voice. "So… Nepsy doing alright?"
"Uzume, for goddesses sake, put some clothes on before Koei has to go for a cold shower himself." IF pointed to the tomato red Hero, furiously trying to avert his eyes as his base instincts kicked into overdrive. "As for you." IF suddenly slammed Koei's head into the coffee table. "You shouldn't be peeping on any woman, much less the one who tried to kill you."
"Or at the very least, save that look for my naked body…" She thought to herself as Koei took care of his now bleeding nose by rubbing it.
"You don't have to slam my head into a table every time I do something like that…"
"Negative reinforcement, my dear Koei." IF smiled, grabbing a Potion from her jacket and handing it to the bleeding hero.
"Why are we even a couple?" Koei sighed as footsteps alerted the pair.
"Your Protagonist of Protagonists returns!" Neptune announced full of energy with a beaming grin on her face. "Did you miss me?!"
Despite his bleeding nose, Koei managed a deadpan stare. "... I preferred you when you were comatose."
Neptune pouted adorably in response. "That's not how you speak to your boss! I wanted a warm welcome back after five chapters!"
"You were in the story two chapters ago!"
"I didn't have any dialogue!"
"Ladies, ladies, you're both pretty." IF interrupted the banter with a tired, but relieved sigh at Neptune's quick recovery. "You doin' okay, Nep? No odd side-effects from that gas?"
Neptune puffed out her chest. "Of course not!~ What kind of goddess would I be if I wasn't?"
"A useless one?" Koei deftly dodged IF's palm before he could have his head break through the coffee table.
"Lucky dodge." IF rolled her eyes before turning back to the matter at hand. "I assume Gear caught you up with the current situation?"
Neptune's face fell. "Yeah… Sounds rough for everyone involved. I hope Vert's doing okay in particular." She stated solemnly, genuine concern in her tone. "For everyone's sake, I hope things go well."
Koei smiled, their similar personalities finally leading to a faint, but very real trust in each other. "Same." Koei finally said after a brief pause.
With a silent nod, Koei headed to the elevator, saluting before the doors closed, leaving Neptune alone with her thoughts.
"That look in his eyes, the determination in his tone…" Neptune gained a grin. "I knew my gut feeling was right about him. A true Hero, just as I expected. Good luck, Koei."