"This totally has to be what he is! There is like no other possible explanation!" the human form of a certain goddess said as she read what was on the screen of her laptop. She had been on the internet using the popular search engine known as 'Dungle' to research the many different kinds of robots since early in the morning. It turned out her first thought was correct.
"What who is…?" a familiar voice said behind her, making her jump out of the chair and fall on the ground due to the sudden surprise. She looked up from the floor only to see Casshern standing over her. "Neptune, are you okay?" he asked, concerned. Neptune jumped up immediately and nodded her head. "I'm OOOOOKAY!" She assured the male, putting a big goofy grin on her face.
Casshern, feeling relieved that she was just fine, nodded his head. "You seem rather excited. Did you find out something?" he asked with a curious look. "Yup, yup! I totally know what you are! " she exclaimed, an animated ray of sunshine appearing behind her. The man in white blinked and tilted his head, interested in hearing further from her. "What… I am?" he said in a questioning voice.
Neptune nodded her head back and forth excitedly. She spun around a few times before coming to sudden stop and pointing at him with a bright smile. "You're a…wait for it….wait for it…. A CYBORG!" she said finally. The male blinked at this and stared at her. "A Cyborg? How can you be so sure?" he asked the girl with the short lilac locks.
"It's all Easy-peasy. Cyborgs are like HALF DUDE and HALF ROBOT. Robots are all blank and stuff all the time and can't feel nothin', but you're different, Cashy! You have a sense of touch and can like cry and feel emotions and 'n stuff! You have to be part human! There can't be any other logical explanation!" she explained to him, feeling rather confident in her explanation.
"Half…human…" he said to himself, looking down at his hand. While he didn't quite completely understand what she had said to him, he had somewhat gotten the gist of it. "Maybe…" he said. She could have been right. He has no recollection of who he was and the certainty of her tone also made him believe it may have been true. Then again, she was always that way….
"Ummm..Cashy? I've been kinda thinkin' and…." The girl slowly began to speak in different way than usual. The unusual tone of the girl's voice caused him to look up, wondering what it was she had to say. "I think…you should go back to your own world." She finished saying. Her saying this made him feel worried as he suddenly blurted out "Are you trying to abandon me?" to the girl.
Her eyes blinked in surprise at his question as she immediately shook her head in denial. "No! I'm not tryin' to abandon you!" she responded, trying to assure him. "Then why do you want me to go back?" he said in an almost rushed way. "'C-Cause, you would have a totally better chance of finding the stuff you wanna know there!" she said to him. Why was he acting so scared? It was almost as if he didn't even want to go back.
"…" the cybernetic man stayed quiet for a moment, his head down as Neptune shimmied her way over and poked him on his cheek. "I would never abandon you, Cashy~ what kinda friend would I be if I did that, huh? If you go back, I'm coming with you!" she told him, one of her usual smiles fixed on her face.
Casshern looked down at the smiling preteen before slowly looking away from her. "I…I don't want you to come…it's dangerous there." He said in a soft voice, closing his eyes as he bawled his hand into a fist. "Pshaw! I can totally defend myself. You don't have to worry about me! I'm totally handicapable and all that!" she assured her friend, patting him on the shoulder playfully.
"You don't understand. People are always coming after me. I don't want to risk you getting hurt somehow because you wanted to travel with me…" he said, trying to change her mind. Neptune shook her head defiantly. "Nothin' you can say or do will keep me away from you! I'm going and that's that! " she declared, folding her arms and looking away with her arms closed to show that nothing would be able to change her mind.
Defeated, the man in white simply sighed and nodded his head. Even though he didn't want her to come along with him, he couldn't help but feel somewhat happy that she was. For some reason, he was always happy when he was around her. It was probably because he enjoyed seeing her be happy all the time which always lifted his spirits even when though he failed to show it most of the time. "Thank you….Neptune…" he finally managed to say before being hugged by the girl with no warning at all. "Don't thank me! I'm just being a good buddy!" she said cheerfully.
The green eyed male placed his hand on the girls head and gently petted her, a small smile appearing on his face for a brief second before he suddenly remembered what he would be going back to. This thought instantly made him spiral back into the same depression from the other day which of course captured the young girl's attention.
"Cashy…what's wrong?" She asked him, her smile now gone due to her friend's change in demeanor. Casshern did no more than sigh as he looked away from the girl, a flurry of negative thoughts coursing through his mind like a hurricane. Neptune, unsure of what to do sighed as well and released him from her grasp. "You need a place to think by yourself?" she asked.
He nodded his head. Time alone was probably exactly what he needed. He needed time to think things over in his head that he had tried to suppress his entire stay and to organize his feelings about certain things. Neptune gave him a small nod back and grabbed his hand, walking out of the bedroom and to the Basilicom observatory which offered a magnificent view of the city. "You can do all your thinking here! I'm going out to go get stuff, so stay put until I come back. Kay?" she said, getting a simple head nod in response.
Neptune quickly ran off and exited out the Basilicom to start her run to get supplies before sunset. The first place she headed was a store for medical supplies. Upon entering she could hear the voice of a familiar ditzy nurse. "I wonder if I got all the booboo treating supplies I need for the month." She heard the voice say, peering her head around the corner only to see one of her best friends in the world. "Compa?" she said, looking at the girl purchasing her supplies at the counter.
The teenage girl known as Compa, turned around at the sound of the familiar sounding voice, immediately seeing Neptune and growing sparkly eyed. "Nep-Nep!" she squealed, running over to the goddess and hugging her tightly while burying the poor girls face in her melons.
"Com…pa…..can't…breathe…..losing…oxygen…." Neptune struggled to say, her words mainly being muffled due to where her head was located. "I missed you too, Nep-Nep!" said the young nurse, unaware of the fact that she was suffocating her friend. "Dying…" was all Neptune said before suddenly going limp. "Nep-Nep?" the nurse said, pulling away as she held Neptune by the shoulders.
The young goddess was completely motionless causing the ditzy nurse to panic and begin slapping away at Neptune's face. "WAKE UP! NEP-NEP! YOU CANNOT DIE ON ME!" She yelled, smacking her face from side to side in the hopes that she would wake up. At that same moment, a girl with long brown hair walked in on her cell phone, her facial expression seemed rather impatient as she approached the two, not yet noticing Neptune. "You've been in here for a long time. Compa, are you….." the new girl took notice of Neptune being smacked around like a rag doll by Compa. "What the hell are you doing to Nep?!" she exclaimed, with a look of shock.
"Nep-Nep passed out from my hug and now I'm trying to wake her up!" The ditzy nurse explained, now shaking little Neptune's body ever so violently as tears began to develop in her eyes. "And you thought HITTING her would help?! What kind of nurse BEATS people as a remedy?!" she yelled, grabbing the still limp body of the goddess away from Compa.
At this point, Compa busted out into tears and fell to her knees. "I killed Nep-Nep! WAAHHH! I'm so sorry Iffy! What is Ge-Ge gonna do when she finds out I murdered her sister!?" She cried as the brown-haired girl known as IF simply shook her head, an anime sweat drop appearing on the side. "Nep's not dead. Stop crying like a baby." IF said as her attention turned to still unconscious Neptune. "Looks like Nep's all passed out. Too bad, I had this pudding cup to gi-" Neptune's eyes shot open mid-sentence as she looked around the store frantically. "Pudding?! Where?! Where?!" she exclaimed with excitement.
When it came to this form of Neptune, food was the solution to everything and IF knew this fact all to well. Compa suddenly tackled Neptune to the ground, still crying her eyes out and she started to hug her once more. "ACK!" Neptune yelped in surprised. "I thought you had died, Nep-Nep!" Compa said, snuggling her friend as IF facepalmed at their silly behavior.
"I told you she was fine. Anyway, what are you doing here, Nep? It's unusual to see you in a place like this. Normally you would be going around goofing off somewhere or sleeping." IF said, folding her arms as Neptune patted Compa on the back. "Well, I made a new friend recently who's an amnesiac. I promised to help them out so I was out buyin' supplies for the adventure 'n stuff!" she explained as Compa continued to be…Compa.
"A friend, huh? How long have you known them?" IF asked, knowing Neptune all to well to know she was her far too trusting of random people a lot of the time. "Um..'bout three days and some change." She said, nonchalantly. "So you're leaving with someone you've only known for three days? Neptune, listen to you. This person is practically a complete stranger and you're going to journey with them?" IF said, knowing this was going to end up being the case.
Compa sniffled a bit and looked over at the girl she was still clinging onto. "Nep-Nep's leaving? Why Nep-Nep?! Take us with you!" the ditz begged her friend. Neptune, IF, and Compa had always been close friends and did almost everything together, so the fact that Compa wished to come along was of no surprise.
"My friend is a really good person and kinda emo. They need hugs and support 'n stuff. Trust me! I know everything will be fine! And as much as I would like for you two to come with me I have to say no. If we ALL leave then Nep jr. will be all by herself and she needs you guys here to support her if she needs it. I don't know how long I'm gonna be gone… I need to have someone here that I can trust to watch over the little tatter tot while I'm away." Neptune said, looking at both of them with an unusually serious expression on her face to show just how strongly she felt about the situation.
IF was silent for a moment and then sighed. She knew that look. It would be impossible to change Neptune's mind at this point so why even bother trying? The girl with the brown hair nodded her head in understanding. "Fine, Fine, okay. I get it. I trust your judgment just this once. Don't be gone too long, you hear? You'll end up having Gear, us, and everyone else worried about you. Don't worry. We'll take care of Gear and Planeptune while you're away." IF said, as a small smile appeared on her face.
Compa looked down; her expression filled with sadness but also with understanding as she pulled away from the girl finally and wiped her eyes. "I…I understand Nep-Nep. Please just…be careful. I'm not going to try to stop you but at least promise to try and keep in contact with everyone while you're away. Keep all foreign objects out of your mouth, bathe daily, eat a good bre-" Neptune started to flail her arms slightly. "Okay! I get it! I will totally do all of that! Don't worry!" she assured the young nurse, standing up and dusting her dress off.
"Promise me you will!" Compa demanded in her non-threatening high-pitched voice. Neptune smiled nervously waving her hands in front of her. "I PROMISE!" She said to assure her friend. Compa smiled brightly. "Good. Since we aren't coming with you this time, let us at least help you pick out everything you'll need!" Compa offered. Neptune nodded her head immediately at this offering. "Yes! That would be awesome!"
Roughly three hours had passed and Neptune had finally finished getting everything together in her N-Gear for the big trip ahead of her. She waved goodbye to her two close friends and quickly set off for the Basilicom to check up on Casshern.
Night had already reached the city as Casshern came to the realization that Neptune had been gone for a very long time. "How long has it been? She still isn't back…." He said to himself, looking down at the brightly lit city. "Maybe…she abandoned me…." He thought, starting to truly think that was the reason she hadn't returned yet. This thought led to his helmet and mask appearing over his face and jumping off of the Basilicom observatory and to the ground.
Neptune had finally made her way back to the outside of the Basilicom, humming a happy tune as she made her way to the door. Her peripheral vision caught a small glimpse of Casshern jumping to the ground. "Cashy?" she said as she watched him jump over towards a nearby building immediately after.
"Cashy?! Where are you going?!" she yelled after him but much to her disappointment he hadn't heard single word and continued to move further and further away. Knowing she would lose him if she didn't act quickly, Neptune activated HDD and entered her goddess form. Her back processor, which was a pair of wings, appeared and she quickly took off after him as fast as she possible could.
Casshern continued to jump from building to building, having no idea about where he was headed as he flipped his body around ever so gracefully, catching the attention of the people in the city. Neptune had finally caught sight of him and flew right in front of the cyborg during the middle of one his flips. "Casshern!" she yelled.
The suddenness of her appearance had completely caught the cybernetic being off guard and so he crashed into her. The cyborg and the patron goddess spiraled down towards the city and violently hit the ground, Neptune on top of him once more except this time passed out.
Her back processor had disappeared a she laid on top of him motionless. A small crowd formed around the two as Casshern slowly opened his eyes and noticed the purple haired woman passed out on him. "N-Neptune?!" He said, wasting no time in removing his helmet and mask, holding her up in his arms. "Neptune…are you okay?" his voice was filled complete concern as he examined the woman's face, trying to find any signs of her coming to.
The goddess with the purple hair slowly opened her eyes, revealing her electric blue irises once more. She slowly turned her head in his direction, looking up at the now relieved but still upset cyborg. "Casshern…." She said softly, placing her hand on his cheek as she stared into his eyes. "Why were you running?" she asked.
Casshern turned his head away and looked down. "I...thought you left me…" he quietly admitted which only made the woman sigh heavily. "I thought I had made it clear that I was never going to abandon you." She stated, trying to move but finding it slightly painful to do so. "N-Ngh… that fall actually did a fair number on me." Casshern looked over ay her from the corner of his eye before closing his eyes all together, feeling guilty. "You're in pain and it's my entire fault. This is why I…" Neptune cut him off before he could finish, already knowing what he intended to say next. "Don't want me to come with you?" she finished for him.
Casshern simply nodded his head which led to Neptune giving him a warm smile. "Well, I'm still coming along regardless." She said, closing her eyes with the smile still on her face. This caused Casshern to look at her with a serious yet curious expression. "You barely know who I am….yet you refuse you leave my side….why is that?" he asked. "Because…" she started to say, opening her eyes back up and staring into his pure green irises with her own blue ones. "I want to help you. I made a vow to myself to help you at any means necessary…and I'm not going back on it."
The green-eyed male's face softened as he stared at the goddess in his arms for a long time, unsure of what to say in response. "Neptune…" was all he could manage to say before suddenly bringing her into a gentle embrace, closing his eyes. "Thank you…for everything." He whispered. The patron goddess slowly closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around him as well to return his hug. "There is no need to thank me….Casshern…." she said back to him, smiling happily.
The crowd of people all started to clap their hands. "This is so sweet! It's just like those movies!" A girl said, crying a bit as another girl joined in saying "I want the affection they share! I'm so jealous." An old man nodded his head at the scene. "Young love….." he said. The crowd continued to clap, whistle and talk which immediately led to Neptune opening her eyes and looking at the crowed that she had completely forgotten was even there.
"Casshern…." She said softly. "Yes, Neptune?" the male asked as he pulled away to look at her. "Let's head back before this gets even stranger…" she said watching people take pictures with their phones. Casshern nodded and picked her up bridal style, jumping up to a nearby building and making his way back to the Basilicom the same way he came.
The crowd of people watched in awe as the man in white and woman in black disappeared from view as Neptune shook her head at them. "People these days…" was her one and only comment.