Getting out of the Basilacom was interesting to stay at the least. At first we just tried walking and the response was slow and sluggish. So Blanc thought it would be a great idea to pick me up and use me as a battering ram after I made a comment on how this crowd is moving at the same speed as Blanc is growing.
"That's for making a joke like that" She almost growled in my ear when we got outside.
"Yeah I guessed that" I retorted rubbing the top of my head, more than once we made contact with someone's stomach to their dismay.
"Well now that we are out of there shall we go?" Vert asked, laying a hand on Blanc's shoulder to stop a possibly violent retort from her. I don't back down easily woman.
"Fiine" I responded before leaning over so I was her height "This is not over short stuff"
"Anytime cloud head" She retorted. Childish I know but small arguments will always crop up between people.
Walking down the street I could clearly see another thing that stood out between me and like everyone else here. I am pretty sure I am the only person with darkish skin. Now don't get me wrong and start screaming that I or the author are racist for bringing that up but it is pretty obvious. Also I am not like my mother who is Jamaican so she is really dark skinned, my dad is English so I'm a nice mix. In other words I'm brown.
"So what kind of clothing do you like?" Noir asked, its funny as everyone beside Vert has to walk just a bit quicker to keep up with my walking speed, I have long legs and they are just fabulous.
"Dark clothing, not too edgy not to bright." I responded, attempting to slow down to allow the girls to keep up easily. "Bit like Aiden Pierce from Watch dogs"
"Watch dogs?" Noire asked
"Er crap it is a game from my world" I responded "He wears a dark brown trench coat with a gray jumper under it"
"So you would wear the exact same as him?" I heard Vert speak up from my left
"No I would make keep the top clothing he wears the same, the same mask and hat but I would change the trousers to black cargo trousers" I responded "Why are we all following me? I have no idea where we are going?"
This made the group stop and look at each other confused.
"Were you all following me just because I was in front of the group?" I could not help but face palm at this
"Well yeah you move so fast so it is hard to not follow behind you" Neptune spoke up "Look at poor Plutia!"
True enough Plutia looked completely knackered compared to everyone else, I guess she is not used to moving around too quickly when not transformed.
"Need a hand there?" I asked her, crouching down slightly. I felt guilty alright?
"Yeah carry me again?" Plutia looked up hopefully holding her arms out.
"Sure climb on Plutia" Doing the same as before she climbed onto my shoulders and suddenly brightened up
"She was so faking that wasn't she?" I hung my head slightly feeling like I had been tripped.
"Oh yeah" Blanc snickered behind her hand when Rom and Ram both grabbed her
"That is not fair carry us too!" Ram almost shouted in protest
"Carry us too" Rom whined.
"I can't carry both of you" Blanc tried but they still attempted to climb onto her when Vert came to her assistance.
"Rom how about I carry you and your Blanc carries your sister?" I heard her ask but I was busy trying to stop Plutia rubbing my head.
"But it feels nice! Like Velcro!" She whined still rubbing my head
"Yeah but you are giving me a migraine!" I retorted
"Well back onto the subject of clothing" Noire coughed to gain everyone's attention "We do have a clothing shop in Lastation that allows you to request specific clothing like you asked"
"Noire are you trying to get alone time with Tom?" Neptune asked her bluntly which resulted in everyone laughing at both of our expense
"N No! I'm just saying that my city can help us!" She whined and tried to look away like she wasn't interested but her tsundere side was bleeding through again.
"Well I still need to get some weapons while I wait for my rifle and after" I commented in my attempt to save Noire from more embarrassment "So we can all go to Lastation tomorrow or something"
"Do you mean next chapter?" Neptune spoke up again
"Shush you" Flicking Neptune's nose.
"Well I know the way to the closest weapon shop around here" Neptune stated after rubbing her nose slightly "Lets go!"
She started off in an attempt to lead the group but I grabbed the edge of her jacket.
"Hold up I have no money so I can't buy anything" I said which made her freeze and everyone face palm
"Well maybe I can work out a sweet deal where-" Neptune started before I cut in
"Don't even finish that idea Neptune, anyway I'm sure something will pop up where I can get enough money to buy some weapons" I sighed "So until then lets keep walking, the Author needs to come up with ideas anyway"
Suddenly a figure broke through the window of a shop and started running down the street hefting what looked like a cash register under her arms, a floating mouse following behind her.
"Well would you look at that the Author can think of ideas to breach plot holes quickly" I commented before letting Plutia down "I'll chase after those two you girls should check on the shop, who knows what damage they have done to a candy shop"
Just as they started to protest I started sprinting after the two, sure they were fast but running was my element and it did not take long until I caught up with the two of them. Oh look it is Underling and Warechu. Who would of guessed?
"Stop criminal! You have violated the law of this place" I shouted, by now I had put my helmet so as they turned they froze up for a second.
"W we are not afraid of you chu!" The rat... mouse... thing squeaked, flapping its little wings indignantly,
"Y Yeah you are not going to stop us runt" Underling shouted but she already looked defeated.
"Girl I am taller than you!" I retorted getting into a fighting stance "Lets go then"
"You'll regret that" She spat pulling out a iron pipe while her partner in crime just continued floating there.
"Make me" I could not help but get the last word in. Call it protagonist rights.
With a roar she ran at me swinging her pipe in frenzied patterns making it difficult to get a hit in myself, I did not want to risk blocking one of her swings as even if this cosplay armour is tough I did not want to risk breaking it.
"Ha! What are you too weak to fight back?" She cawed as her partner started darting around trying to hit me too.
"Nope" I replied, popping the 'p' "I was just stretching my legs"
As she started another swing I moved forward stopping her from swinging. Moving my hand behind her head I used both my weight, power and a kick to her shins to flip her over onto her back.
As her partner came flying down for another dive bomb I just slapped the bitch out of him, causing him to go flying into a wall, a red palm imprinted on his face. Grabbing his tail I held him up to my face so he got a good look at the visor.
"W what are you chu!?" He almost shrieked
"What am I? Now that is mean, I'm a person" I calmly replied before stretching his tail like a slingshot "A normal person with a sadistic personality"
Letting go of his tail I watched him go flying away with a squeak when I looked down at Underling.
"You should probably run Linda, Plutia will be here soon and you don't want to meet Iris Heart again do ya?" I said calmly, walking towards the till and picking it up I started walking out of the alley way when I heard her scrambling to her feet and running after her partner.
-One long walk later-
"Thanks for the time skip Author" I said aloud, must of looked crazy to some people but I did not care.
'No problem' He replied before disappearing again
"Thomas you're back!" Neptune shouted gaining everyone's attention
They all crowded around me as we entered the shop
"How did you beat both of them? You have no magic!" Neptune asked
"It was a two on one battle so you were at a disadvantage, I am curious how you beat them too" Blanc spoke up
"Well" I paused as I put the till back onto the desk "I have had some lessons in CQC in my world, that and I play a lot of fighting games cuz combat is just in my blood"
"You beat them with martial arts?" Vert looked surprised.
"No not martial arts" I replied, leaning against the desk "CQC, hand to hand combat. I just flipped Linda and slapped Warechu"
"You flipped someone" Neptune's eyes were sparkling at the thought of it. In her head I think she's imagining me doing some professional wrestling moves or something
"Who is Linda?" Noire asked confused,
"That is Underling's name" I replied which gained a shocked gasp from Neptune
"She has a name!" She exclaimed
There was an audible Slap! as I face palmed. God dammit Neptune.
"Well I think you should accept the reward money from stopping the crime" Vert pointed out a small window that had popped up that I missed.
"Oh crap yeah I should" Pressing the green tick a small pile of green notes materialized in my hands "Well this is a lot"
"If you have not noticed this is a pretty high end shop" Noire waved her hand around pointing out all the suits and dresses. I probably should of noticed them when I got in but I was busy getting pestered by the girls.
"Well whatever" I shrugged gently pouring the cash into my bag "Shall we go to that weapon shop now?"
"Yeah lets, especially if we want to get to Lastation before nightfall and get enough sleep in preparation for tomorrow" Uni spoke up, so far she had been rather silent, probably because she is like her sister. Shy and tsundere.
"Well as we have come to a group decision lets go" I responded but instead of leading the way I let the girls go first and show me where to go. I have eventually gotten a hold on slowing myself down so others can keep up and lead.
-10 minutes of boring walking and talking later-
"We are here!" Neptune almost shouted flinging her arms to the side to indicate towards the shop we needed.
"Eventually, it even took a time skip from the Author" I muttered, following the girls into the shop "So why are you girls in here?"
"When we are not transformed we use weapons like everyone else" Blanc spoke up from the hammer section "So we make sure to buy new weapons when we can"
"Oh fair enough" I replied going up to the guy behind the till. "Hey man do you have small sharp blades?"
"Of course sir just down that aisle" He replied pointing to a aisle closer to the back of the shop.
"Thanks" Walking down the aisle I was stuck. So many knives to choose from... If you could not guess I really like knives, daggers and anything of the sort.
"Why are you down here?" Noire asked poking her head around the corner "You are wearing armour like that shouldn't pick a heavy weapon like Blanc?"
"With CQC? Hell no, heavy weapons like that are too slow and clumsy to use with how I fight" I replied, taking a small knife of the wall and testing it before putting it back. "Too light like this and I might throw it without meaning too"
"So what is this CQC fighting style you have?" Noire asked trying not to sound too interested but it was pretty obvious that she was.
"It involves fast strikes and grapples; I also throw in, pun intended, a few exotic fighting styles to catch people unaware" Reaching up I picked out a kunai and was struck with an idea. Checking the price quickly I grabbed another one before hurrying towards the desk to pay for them.
"What's the hurry?" Noire asked following behind me.
"I have just had an idea for something awesome and useful at the same time" I replied, paying for the Kunai and holsters to go with them. "Hey Neptune?"
"Yeah?" Neptune's purple head poked around the corner of a aisle of swords of various lengths. No get you head out of the gutter.
"Do you know where I can buy a chain?" I asked, almost hopping from foot to foot in excitement.
There was a sudden flash from outside and I felt a hand on my shoulder, my blood grew cold as I recognized the gloves.
"Chains hmm? Follow me and I'll help you with that" A now transformed Iris Heart slowly pulled me away from the shop.
"Neptune help? Please?" I managed to call. But no one came as no one wanted to get between Iris Heart and what she wants.
"Just me and you now~" Iris whispered in my ear as she continued to drag me towards her goal
"This better not turn into a M rated scene, this story is rated T for a reason!" I tried to escape but it was pointless, her grip was like iron.
"You'll be fine" She chuckled as she span me around for to see the shop she wanted to show me.
It was... not a BDSM shop actually. There were various bits and pieces of building equipment along with chains ranging from crane sized to the sizes I needed.
"Oh I'm actually shocked" I tried to walk forward but Iris still had not let go of me.
"Now I must claim my reward for helping you" She whispered before I felt my helmet get pulled off, in hindsight I should not have showed everyone how to undo my helmet, and I felt something wet on my cheek.
To say my blood froze up while my brain did flip flops would be accurate.
"Keep being cute like that and I'll have to do it again" She whispered before pushing me into the shop "Now go get those chains you wanted"
Trying not to blush too much I picked up the appropriate chain and went to the till.
"I would like to buy this ma'am" I mumbled looking at the floor with great interest.
"Of course" She thankfully kept her voice neutral as she obviously saw what happened just then and who brought me.
Taking the chain I walked outside only to be greeted by Plutia, not Iris Heart.
"Ready to go back?" She smiled sweetly, a cute face hiding a scary secret.
"Yeah lets go" I replied.
'You are not going to question why I started calling the transformed versions of the CPU's by their actual names?' The Author asked confused.
"I assume it's something to do with you finally deciding to do that?" I thought replied him, didn't want to sound too crazy now right?
"Well when you first saw them you called them by their original names and so I stayed with that til now. Now they are going back to their normal names when they are transformed e.g. Iris Heart" He replied.
"Well that clears up some of the confusion" I thought replied.
Arriving back with the group I got a few odd looks from the groups, probably due to that I still had my sanity and wasn't being pulled along by the chain I wanted to buy.
"Well we should probably head home now" Noire pointed out to break the awkward silence.
"Yeah especially if we all want to get back before nightfall" Uni pointed out.
"Sounds good" I commented, hefting the chain over my shoulder, it was not too heavy but I might need both hands. "Looks like you were wrong about the next chapter being about buying clothing Neptune"
Neptune just grumbles something and looks away.
"Safe travels!" Nepgear calls out as me, Noire and Uni start leaving the shopping centre.
"Talk to you soon" Plutia called out waving slowly.
"So how did you survive Iris?" Noire asked
"I'll tell you when we are out of the city, I don't want to risk her hearing us" I replied.