It was a about an hour past midday, the only noise piercing the quiet basilicom was Histoire yelling at Neptune for not getting anything done. After about forty-five minutes of lecture later, Neptune was barely awake. Desmond walked up and patted Histoire on the head with his index finger saying that he had an idea. "Hey, Neptune!" the yell brought her attention toward him "Let's play a game and if I win you have to work." He said with his arms crossed.
She jumped up "You're on mister. What happens if I win?" she exclaimed with a finger pointed at the man.
He pondered for a few seconds with his finger on his chin "I'll do one thing of your choosing."
"Oooo, now things are getting interesting. I'll have to think about what I want you to do later let's go!" she shouted while running toward the living room.
About half an hour later the game was over and Neptune was laying on the ground grieving over her defeat. "Come on Neptune, let's get a move on." Desmond stated while pulling her out the door.
"NOOOOO! You cheated I know you did. I want a rematch, there's no way you could have beaten me. Nu uh, no way no how." She cried out trying to deny everything that just transpired.
"Too bad, no rematches and of course I didn't cheat, you use the same moves over and over. It's easy to figure out your attacks." He deadpanned as Neptune finally started to leave the room out of her own will. He quickly flashed a thumbs up to Histoire who was watching the match, she let out a small smile as the two left.
After the two got several quests from the guild they set out for the dungeon fields. "Sooo, what do we got first?" Neptune asked as they walked.
"Well, I'd rather get the tougher quest done first, so let's take out the giant dogoos and the tank." He responded while looking through the quests.
"Okay, let's gooooo!" Neptune yelled as she sprinted away.
"H-hey, wait for me." Desmond said following her.
After a couple hours of searching and fighting they had completed the giant dogoo quest, and a couple small ones along the way. Now they were looking for the tank and after some time they found it.
"Ok, I'll draw its attention with my gun while you flank and strike it from its side. Then I'll come in for close range combat with you. Got it?" Desmond asks looking at Neptune.
"Yep, crystal." She replied and then ran off to get in position.
Desmond materialized his gun and blade. He then started to shoot at the tank drawing it's agro to him. Neptune rushed toward it and slashed it with multiple attacks before jumping back as the tank turned its attention toward her. Desmond brought out his other sword and bolted toward the tank attacking and slicing off one of the cannons on top of it. The tank released a barrage of attacks toward Desmond, a few hit near him knocking him back. He quickly stood back up to see Neptune taking a few swipes at the tank, after she backed away from it he brought a surge of energy forward and shot it at the tank electrocuting it. Both Desmond and Neptune rushed the paralyzed tank and defeated it.
Neptune ran over to Desmond "Hey, you ok?" she asked with slight concern in her voice.
"Ya, I good." He responded while rotating is right arm.
"Ok, good. Any way it looks like you're getting better with your zappy ability." She said in a cheerful tone.
"Ya, I am. But zappy ability is not a good name for it. It's more of a electrokinesis type of power, using my mind to manipulate the electrical potential energy within the air and my body to..." he started
"Pfffft." Neptune blew a raspberry into her hand stopping Desmond "Hey! Too much complicated talk for me, no more mister." She quickly got out.
"Oh, ya, sorry. I kind of got carried away there, talking about how my powers work would probably suit Nepgear better." He said wile scratching the back of his head.
"Now that we're done with that, are there any quests for us left?" she asked
"No, we're done. Good thing too, it looks like it's getting late." He responded while looking at the list.
The two went back to turn in the quests, then walked around the streets of the city until they walked in front of pudding shop. After they got some pudding they walked to a nearby park and sat on a bench, or at least Desmond was while Neptune was jumping around on multiple objects.
"Hey, you need to stop before you fall and spill your pudding and I won't give you any of mine." Desmond called out.
"See, that's where your wrong. I have max agility points, so I won't fall no matter what." Neptune retorted with a thumb pointed toward her and a smile on her face. A few seconds later, a loud crashing noise was heard.
Desmond let out a heavy sigh "See, told ya." He deadpanned.
"Noooooooooo, my pudding!" She cried out, then turned to the man "Can I have yours? Please?"
"No"
"Please." She got a little closer to him while giving him the puppy dog eye look.
About a few minutes later he cursed internally "Fine." He handed the pudding to her "Sometimes you can be too cute for your own good you know." He crossed his arms as she sat next to him.
"Thanks, I try." She said with a chuckle. She then brought the spoon near Desmond's face "Here, I feel kinda bad for more or less taking your pudding, so let's share the rest."
"All right." He took the spoon. The two ate the pudding and were watching the sunset.
"Hey, whatcha thinking about? You've had a thoughtful look on your face for a while now." Neptune asked breaking the silence that had been present for the last several minutes.
He looked toward the ground "I-I've been thinking about me and this world. Should I be here in a different plane of space and time. Clearly this place hasn't rejected me, but instead it gave me powers. I'm glad that I've gotten to know you all, back in my world everything seems like it's all in black, white, and grey." He looked at her "But since I got here, things seem in full bloom. Full of color, colors I haven't seen in a while. I want to know you all more, but… but I'm scared to get to close to anyone. I feel like the closer I get, the faster people disappear from my life. My family moved a lot, so, what felt like every time I would become good friends with someone we'd leave and… I'd never see them again." He let out a sigh as he finished.
Neptune stood up, stepped in front of him and look directly into his eyes "Hey, we're not going anywhere, ok. We'll all be friends until the end of time, so don't worry about anything. It's obvious that you're supposed to be here because of this crazy power that you have, you know only the main cast and villains get the cool powers. And sense you're not evil that means your part of the main cast of characters." She finished her sentence proudly with a big smile.
Desmond laid down on the bench, put his arms behind his head and looked up at the sky "I hope your right." He stated in a hushed tone.
"Of course, I'm right. I'm the main protagonist." She exclaimed pointing a thumb at herself.
"And there goes the serious vibe we had going on. Can't stand it for very long can you?" Desmond asked while staring at the night sky.
"You know it." She responded and then sat above his head on the bench. "So, whatcha lookin at?"
"The stars. There beautiful here just like back home. How many do you think are up there?" He asked.
Neptune pondered for a moment "I don't know, a lot. Maybe a few hundred thousand, not sure though. What about you?"
"A million maybe. I guess we'll never know but it's fun to guess sometimes." He sat up and looked at Neptune "You need to work harder." He stated with a serious look.
"W-what?! Where did that come from?" Neptune rebutted.
"As your friend, I want you to do the best you can, so you can shine among the million stars in the sky. So, that your legacy would be etched in history for all of eternity." He responded while smile to her.
Neptune chuckled a little "You say some weird thing sometimes Dez."
"Hey, come on it wasn't that weird." He stated with a little laugh. "Let's head back Nepgear will get worried if we don't get back soon." He got up and started to walk out of the park followed by Neptune.
A few days later Desmond walked into the guild about to turn in a few quests and accept some more when someone was causing a scene. He looked to see what the fuss was all about to see a man about 6' 3" all muscled out yelling at one of the quest givers. He turned to a person next to him and asked "Who is this guy and what's his problem?"
The man turned to him "You don't know him? Oh ya, your still kinda new here aren't ya. He's Edgar Schmidt, one of the strongest guild members and his family are high up, so he tends to get what he wants most of the time due to his parents and a lot of people fearing him. It seems like his mad about not getting some kind of quest that he supposedly asked for her to hold."
"But you can't do that, even I know that. It's first come first serve." Desmond replied "Someone needs to teach him a thing or two." He stated as he began walking toward Edgar.
"WELL, IF I CAN'T HAVE IT, THEN TELL ME WHO TOOK IT!" Edgar yelled at the lady behind the counter.
"I can't do that it's the privacy policy." She responded while partially cowering back.
"Ya, she's right. So, stop being a douche about it. Man up and move on. There's no reason to yell at a lady. But if you really want to know I did." Desmond called out while crossing his arms.
"Hmmm, I haven't seen you before little man. I guess you don't know who I am with the way you're talking." Edgar half-way snarled out seeing the young man.
"No, I found out who you are. I just frankly don't care. It's not an excuse for your outburst of stupidity." Desmond rebutted
The words were starting to annoy Edgar "Look here brat! You don't come in here and start yappin your mouth and expect to get away with it!"
"Oh, but you do, seems like you don't have to many brain cells left. What did ya do, knock em all out while bashing your head on a tree, or have you always been that moronic and arrogant. It's rather pathetic. And why should it matter what I say, because it your feelings? Because things aren't going your way? Well I guess with mommy and daddy doing everything for you, you think you own the place now." Desmond wasn't pulling any punches and saw the reaction he was trying to get out.
Edgar had enough, he materialized his broad sword and started to bring it down toward Desmond, until he heard a clap. Desmond clapped his hands together and stated "Tsk, tsk, tsk, you should know you can't do that here, but if you want to fight that badly we can go to the colosseum."
Edgar reluctantly put his sword away "Fine… Just know I'm gonna squash you little bug. Be there in one hour." That was the last thing he said before walking out of the building.
Desmond finally walked out onto the colosseum floor, looking at the crowd cheering for the two contestants.
"Wow, I didn't think you'd actually show up." Edgar called out.
"Oh, my. It's like I'm not a coward who hides behind bull threats and fake strength." Desmond added filled with sarcasm.
"You're just asking for it punk." Edgar said as he brought out his sword. The timer for the match started counting down.
"All I hear is talk from you, no balls." Desmond pulled out one of his swords.
The timer hit zero and the bell rang aloud. Edgar ran toward Desmond and started throwing several slashing attacks his way. Desmond dodged all of them with ease, after a minute of that Desmond spoke up "Is that all you got, really. So, it looks like I was right just a bunch of talk. It's pretty hard to squash something you can't even hit." Desmond chuckled a bit after saying that.
"Don't get cocky kid!" Edgar blurted out and started his assault again. This time Desmond just batted his opponent's sword away as if it was but a fly. After some more attacks and parries later Desmond jumped back and stated "Now it's time for my fun." A malicious grin grew across his face as he dashed toward Edgar, feigned a sword attack and kicked him in the gut instead. Desmond then started a barrage of attacks. Edgar blocked a few attacks but most of them connected leaving cuts in multiple places. Desmond kicked Edgar causing him to fall to the ground, Desmond stopped for a moment before pulling out his second sword. He then went back on the attack, this time even faster than before. Edgar at time couldn't even see Desmond's swords as they moved. "Are you done yet? Just give up… you're finished." Desmond deadpanned while looking at Edgar's body on the ground.
"N… not… just yet." Edgar said while standing back up.
"Wow, so it looks like your balls are finally dropping. Standing up after taking so much pain, congrats, you've earned a cookie. But I'll humor you, I'd like to try something new anyway." Desmond stated and put his swords away. Edgar saw this and started to move toward Desmond. Desmond put his left hand over his right and concentrated, his hand started to spark slowly and then busted out into a blade of lightning, replacing his hand. "Now that looks awesome." He said quietly to himself, then he started to run toward the other man. Once the two were a few feet away the both swung their blades and after one strike Edgar's sword or at least most of it fell to the ground. It was sliced cleanly just above the hand guard, the only thing left after that was the red metal at where the cut occurred. "Ya, now that was fun." Desmond said as he looked at his blade hand, which he reverted to normal. "It looks like I win." He stated as he walked away.
"Don't be too sure of yourself. I still have a trick up my sleeve." Edgar said as he materialized a spear and threw it at Desmond. Desmond was about 15 feet away, so he saw it and tried something out. And that something worked, the spear was suspended in midair leaving everyone flabbergasted. "H-h-how. How did you do that?" Edgar questioned through the shock of what just happened.
"Simple really, if you didn't notice I have an ability to control electricity. So, I used that to create a magnetic field strong enough to the metal from the spear in place. But I don't think that's all I can do with it, so let's find out shall we." He stated and then he spun the spear around and with a single motion of his hand sent the spear right back to its sender almost hitting Edgar.
"Well I think I'm done with my fun. So, I'll end this battle now." Desmond said as he pulled out his swords again and sped his way toward Edgar. Desmond then proceeded to hit a few times before he was on his back. Desmond to this time to impale his swords to the left and right of Edgar's head just leaving a few inches in between the weapons and his ears. Desmond then proceeded to bring out his pistol, aiming it at Edgar's face. "I hope you're at peace with yourself. Goodbye." Desmond harshly said.
Edgar just looked for a couple of seconds wide eyed, then spoke up "N-no, no. Don't do this! I'll forfeit the match, I'll apologize, just don't kill me!" he spoke desperately and hastily as he closed his eyes waiting for what was to happen.
"Sorry… too late. But your fate has already been sealed." Desmond spoke coldly.
The next sound was of a gunshot and then utter silence, even from the crowd. A few seconds passed and Edgar's eyes slowly opened, he then looked around to see Desmond a few feet away and his swords gone. "I-I thought you were going to kill me." He said while still sitting on the ground.
"I told you your fate was sealed, I had no intention to kill you from the start. Only to make you fear me, like you have many other people. You see, I don't like bullies. So, you better not make yourself one anymore, understand. I don't like teaching lessons twice." Desmond spoke adding a little malice into the last sentence.
"Y-yes sir." Was all that Edgar could say.
"Good. I hope to hear better things next time. But for now, I shall take my leave." He said with a little more chipper sound in his voice, as he walked out of the colosseum.
A few days after the fight Desmond had finished a quest near the border of Lastation and decided to pay Noire a visit. After he got to the city, he got himself some water and started walking to the basilicom until he noticed someone walking out of a shop. "Hey, how are you doing Noire?"
Noire was startled and almost dropped the bags she had, she turned around holding her bags behind her "H-hey there Desmond, I didn't expect to see you here. W-what are you doing here?" she asked clearly a bit nervous.
"Well, I was finishing up a quest near the border and thought I would give you a visit. So I was about to make my way to your basilicom, just to find you here. So, you were out shopping?" he asked and she just nodded "Ok, and from the looks of the store you just came out of, it was for thread. So, do you make things?"
"Y-yes." She responded meekly
"What do you make?" he asked.
"Clothes." She answered.
"What kind?"
"I just make… w-wait, why I'm I talking to you about this. What I do in my private time is not your business." She said with her head looking to the side.
"Let's see here, I'm going to take a guess. I don't think you would make yourself any towels, wash cloths, etc. I don't think you would make any dresses when you could get famous name brands. So, hmm, what could it be. What. Could. It. be." He said with a finger on his chin "Oh, I know. Cosplay." He proclaimed with a smile, while Noire on the other hand was panicking.
"W-w-what, cosplay. Nooo, no, no, why would I be into that." She stuttered with a slightly flustered face.
"With that reaction, I would say I was correct. Just to let you know Neptune tipped me off. So, what kind of cosplay do you do?" he questioned.
"Wait, you don't think it's weird, or don't you think that someone who runs a nation shouldn't be doing this?" she asked.
"No, in my world people cosplay all the time so I don't think it's weird. As for the whole running a nation thing and liking cosplay. Who cares, everyone needs a hobby to take their minds off something else. If you want we can talk about this stuff later, but for now I have a question." Desmond said.
"Y-ya, what is it?" Noire asked
"Do you mind if I spar with you?" He asked.
"O-ok, if you want to. But can I ask why?" Noire said.
"I just want to test my skills against someone or something that has any skill. Also, I heard that you fight with a fencing style of swordplay in your human form and I took fencing in school." He answered
"Don't you fight tough enemies already, like dragons, tanks, etc. right?" she asked
"Well ya, but they can't fight back like people can. You know actually hold a weapon and make it a challenge." He responded.
"Ok, I know a place that we can spar, it's a little bit out of town so it'll be a little walk." She told him as she started walking off.
A short time later, on the outskirts of Lastation. The two were looking at each other, swords drawn.
"Ok, ready?" He asked.
"Yes." She called back.
The two ran toward each other and commenced the fight. About ten minutes later the battle was finished and all that the two received was a few scratches. Both were also quite tired afterwards.
"Ok, ok. You win, just get that away from my face." Desmond stated while partially laying on the ground and Noire's sword a few inches from his face.
Noire pulled her sword back "Of course I won, why would you expect anything different." She said all haughtily.
Desmond stood back up and did a few stretches "Ok, now that was fun. Let's go again, but this time I'm going to do something a little different."
"Ok, but it's not like it's going to help you win." She told him as she began to take her stance again.
"Ready… Go." Desmond yelled.
As the ran toward each other their blades clashed, after a few exchanges they jumped back just like they had done before. This time though Desmond changed his stance a bit, then they both went back to attacking. Desmond adding flips and aerial attacks as he started pushing Noire back. After a little bit Noire finally got a hit in and started her barrage. Until Desmond hit her sword upward as he switched his sword to his left hand and punched her in the gut. He then proceeded to grab her right wrist to disarm her and did a hip toss. As she landed on the ground he threw a punch and stopped it a few inches from her face. He then flicked her forehead while giving her a large smile.
"I win." He announced.
"W-whatever, can you get off me." She said as his hand still held her wrist while he hovered above her. After standing back up she looked at him "How did you get so good at fighting?"
"Well, like most people through a lot of training and hard work. Also, I like to observe an opponent's attack patterns. Even if it's only a few moments, if I can see how someone fights I can usually find a way to beat them. Now with you if we fought with just using fencing like moves, you would most likely beat me time and time again. But after the first fight I noticed a few moments that you left yourself wide open, so I exploited the error and won." He answered.
"I see… are you still hell bent on staying in Planeptune? I know you would be great in our military." She asked
"Yes, they were the ones who opened up their home to me even though I was but a stranger to them. I cannot betray their trust nor their kindness. Anyway, do you want to grab a bite to eat? It's almost dinner time and I can't let the lovely lady pay for the man so I'm buying." He told her as he picked up her weapon from the ground and handed it to her.
"O-okay." She responded with a slight blush from being called lovely, she grabbed her weapon and the two headed back to the main city.
The two got back, ate, and talked for a while before Desmond looked at the time. "Oh, it's getting late I better get going." He started to stand up but stopped when Noire grabbed his wrist.
"W-w-why don't you s-stay at my basilicom for the night." She nervously spoke out while looking at the table.
"Sorry, maybe if it was way later, but I do need to get back. The Nep sisters tend to worry a little, but I'm a bit more worried about Neptune. When I've been late in the past she's tackled me and started hitting me. Then she'd force me to play games for a few hours afterward. So, if I stayed, she'd probably chase after me for an hour and then force me to do stuff for her all day for staying and for not taking her with me. I might try to come over some other time though." He told her with a smile.
She let go of his arm, looked back at him and nodded her head "Ok, just get back safely. N-not that I care about what happens to you."
"Of course, you don't." he said sarcastically "All well, see ya." He waved his hand as he walked out of the restaurant.
After sometime Desmond arrived back to the planeptune basilicom. As he opened the door the first thing he saw was a Nep with a foreign object, well more specifically a wooden sword. "Hey! Do you know how late it is?!" she yelled while pointing her free hand at him.
"Yaaaaa… it's a little past midnight right. Ugh… well I've been out most of the day doing quests. Then I went over to Lastation, met up with Noire, did some sparing. We ate dinner and we talked for a while then I started to head back here and now here we are. So please don't hit me." He responded while slowly walking forward.
"Hmmm… no I think I'm still gonna smack you." She said and proceeded to chase him "Hey! Get back here!"
"No thanks, I'd rather wake up in the morning without bruises." He said while trying to get away from her.
Nepgear walked in after she started to hear the noise. "What's going on? Oh, hey Desmond, when did you get, woah!" Nepgear shouted a little due to Desmond almost running into her and Neptune's sword missing her by a few hairs. Desmond's near miss caused him to fall, which Neptune took delight in jumping on top of him with a few cracks of the sword, she then started to poke his cheek with a smile.
"Hey, so you met up with little ol' Nowa huh. Whatcha guys talk about?" Neptune asked still sitting on him.
Desmond started to face Neptune as he rubbed his head "That's gonna leave a mark, man that hurt. You ok Nepgear?" he looked at her and she shook her head "Ok good, now for your question we just had small talk nothing important."
"Ok, that's kinda boring, but whateves. Let's go play games, go, go, go." Neptune started to lift the man to his feet and push him towards the t.v. "Were going to play all night tonight." She threw a fist in the air. A couple of hours later Nepgear was in bed, Neptune had passed onto Desmond's lap while playing and Desmond had just finished a mission he was on.
He looked at her then yawned, he started to think 'Even if your loud and annoying as all could be. Your still one of the most fun beings that I've known…' he put his hand on her head, she started to smile 'and of course cute. You do know how to cheer someone up don't ya, you could probably pull someone out of the deepest and darkest part of their internal self. Heck you basically did that to me… Oh! Hey! Stop drooling on me!' he quickly moved her to a position that she wouldn't be putting spit on him 'All well, time for bed.' He smiled, picked her up and carried her to her bed and went to his room to sleep.
The next day Desmond woke up, took a shower, got dressed, ate breakfast and chilled in the living room portion of the basilicom watching t.v. until Neptune started playing games on it. After a while he got up and started walking around the place, until he heard a noise from down the hall. When he reached the door, he found Nepgear working on something "Hey, what's up Gear?" he asked as he stood by the door.
She turned to look at the voice she heard "Oh, hey. Not doing much, just some tinkering." She smiled his way "Come in."
Desmond walked up next to her and saw she was working on her beam saber. He gestured toward the sword "Whatcha doing with it?" he asked.
"I'm just trying to increase the power of it." She replied.
He looked at the weapon and pondered for a moment "I suggest to move the power coupling positions, and change the battery type. You'll get a thinner blade but it also will be denser and cause more damage." He stated.
"O-oh, now I see. How do you know so much about this?" she questioned.
"I have my own beam sabers, remember? Or did you not know? All well it doesn't matter, point is that I've done some work with them. Too bad they won't be as powerful as this." He said before raising his right hand and turned it into a lightning blade.
"W-what the goodness?!" Nepgear exclaimed while staring at it.
"Ya I know right, I just figured out I could do this a few days ago, and it's awesome. But also, quite dangerous. Sooo, I'll put this away now." He said as he turned his hand back to normal. "Ok, after your done with that do you want to help me create something?" he asked.
"Sure, I'm almost done here. What did you have in mind?" she responded.
"I've had the idea for a little while now to make a railgun." He told her
"A railgun?" she questioned.
"Ya, you know a device that fires a projectile faster than the speed of sound through storing enough electricity within a compartment that is then used as the propellant for the projectile." He explained. "I've drawn some blueprints for it, but it would be nice to have an extra hand with this so I thought that it would be right up your alley."
"Ok, that sounds fun." She said. After about 45 minutes later Nepgear was done with her weapon, and the two were working on the railgun which was mostly finished. "Hey Desmond, can you come over her and see if this is right? It looks a little off." She asked.
"Ok" he walked over to her, partially leaning on her shoulder as he looked at the piece she was working on. "Hmmm, ahh. You just accidently mixed the wires up, I've done that a handful of times myself, it's easy to happen." He looked over at her and saw some red on her face "You ok?"
"Y-y-yes, y-you're just a-a little close." She stuttered out with a blush still on her face.
He then finally noticed and moved back and rubbed the back of his head "Sorry about that. Anyway, I just need to finish one more thing then we can assemble the railgun." After the railgun was made he looked at Nepgear with a smile "Great, now we can test it. Of course, though I'm just going to use it at a low setting so it doesn't destroy the room." He set up a sheet of metal one inch thick as a target and placed a 6-mm steel ball inside of the weapon. He charged the weapon with his electricity and set the weapon on low. But before he fired the gun he put up a strong magnetic field both behind the metal and in front of the two of them just in case of any ricochets. Desmond looked at Nepgear one more time and signaled her to put on her headphones. He turned back and started the countdown "5… 4… 3… 2… 1… fire!" he shouted.
Right before the shot occurred a curious Neptune had heard a lot of racket and was going to see what all the hub bub was about. So, she made her way to the door and opened it, bad timing "Hey, what's with all the noise you t…" and in that moment the gun went off causing a strong sound wave to hit Neptune's ears also causing her to cry out in pain while rolling on the floor.
The target was hit and a small hole was put into it, a good thing he set up a field behind it to stop any further damage. He looked at Nepgear and performed a fist pump as he smiled and she responded with a smile as well. Then it hit him, he could hear a faint noise, but what was it? He turned to see Neptune on the ground and then took off his headphones. "Nepppppuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu! What was that about!?" Neptune yelled as she jumped back up.
"Oh, hey Neptune…" He said while rubbing the back of his head "looks like you didn't have any ear protection. Sorry about that, I guess we should have told you what we were doing so you wouldn't barge in like you did."
"Sorry sis." Nepgear apologized as she did a little bow.
"It's ok I guess, the hearing is starting to come back to me. But for payment you'll have to treat me to pudding later got it buster." Neptune stated as she pointed to Desmond.
"Ok, Ok. I guess that's fair. But first let Gear and I clean up first." He stated as he pointed to the mess in the room.
"Fine. Just be fast." Neptune demanded as she ran back to the living room.
"Well, let's get to work. Then we can all go out and get some pudding, sound good?" Desmond asked Nepgear.
She shook her head "Yes, that sounds great." The rest of the day was rather uneventful.
A couple of days later, during the afternoon Desmond was gathering a few things before walking out the door. Until a voice called out for him and of course it was Neptune "Hey, Dez, where you goin?"
"I'm heading off to Leanbox, I told Vert that I would let her teach me how to play that game she spends so much time on. So, I'll probably be gone for at least tonight, maybe tomorrow depending on how long we stay up playing." Desmond responded.
"Just make sure she doesn't keep you for over there, you're staying with us got it." She emphasized as she poked his chest.
He shook his head "I know." Then he gave her a smile and a wave "Bye." with that he left.
After some time, he arrived at the Lenbox basilicom and was reluctantly let in by Chika. He knocked on the door to Vert's room "Hey, I'm here." Desmond called out.
"Come in." Vert responded. He opened the door and saw Vert messing with some wires "I have just finished your set up so we can get started now."
He walked over to the components that Vert had set up for him. He sat in the chair and looked at the dual monitor setup to see the desktop and an icon on it. Desmond moved the mouse and hovered the cursor over the icon, after a couple of seconds the title "4GO" popped up. "This is the game, right? 4 Goddesses Online, isn't that what you called it?"
"Yes, that is the game I love to spend countless hours on. Go ahead and start it up and I will teach you the basics." Vert answered while standing behind him.
For the next hour or so, Vert taught Desmond the ropes of the game. Vert also joined up with him in game and helped him with quest so he could level up.
Before either one knew it was three in the morning. "Wow, I didn't realize it was this late. Are you tired?" Desmond asked Vert with his eyes still on the screens.
"Of course, not someone of my stature can go several days without sleep to game." Vert responded with a little pride in her tone.
"Well, let's keep going then." Desmond stated.
A few days later Desmond had not returned to Planeptune so, Nepgear went to Leanbox to check up on him. When she arrived, she walked up to Vert's door and heard some noise. She opened it to see both Desmond and Vert in front of the tv, the sound coming from the game was all she heard. The other thing see saw though was Vert lying on top of Desmond's chest both asleep, Desmond still had a controller in his left hand. "What the goodness!" Nepgear shouted out.
The other two stirred as they awoke from the noise. "Hey, Gear, could you please not be so loud." That was all that Desmond said before falling back down and sleeping once again.
Vert sat up wiped the sleepiness from her eyes and beamed a smile at Nepgear "My, my, what has brought you here my dear Nepgear?"
"I came here to see how Desmond was doing and I find you… s-sleeping on him. What was that about?" Nepgear nervously spat out.
"Oh, well, we were playing games since he arrived almost no stop so at some point within the last few hours we both passed out." Vert answered and that seemed to have calmed Nepgear down.
"Ok, well I should probably be getting back with him. Neptune's been worried." Nepgear stated.
"If you shall. But not until after he wakes up, like I said we've been up for a while and he needs his sleep. So, let's have some tea for now." Vert said as she clapped her hands together.
A couple of days later Desmond decided to take a vist to Lowee. He needed some quiet time, or at least as quiet it would be with the twins there. He got up early, grabbed a bit to eat and left the basilicom.
After sometime he arrived in front of the Lowee basilicom. He had stopped at a candy store on the way, to try to keep Rom and Ram occupied and quiet for a little bit. He opened the door "I'm here." He called out. He then herd noises around the corner in the hallway, to reveal the twins as they raced over to him
"Hey!" Ram yelled as she skidded to a stop.
"Good morning." Rom quietly said as she stepped out from behind Ram.
"Good morning you two. I have something for the two of you." He stated as he pulled a bag out from behind his back "I have some candy for, but you can only have it if you promise to keep quiet while I'm here reading with Blanc."
"Ya, sure, whatever, just give it here!" Ram exclaimed with her hands out. "Are you gonna play some games with us?"
"Sure, we can do something after I finish reading." He responded.
He handed the two the candy and they cheerfully ran off. Desmond then walked to Blanc's room and knocked on the door, he waited for a response. Then the door opened to reveal the brown-haired girl "Hi, how are you? Come in." Blanc asked with her an expressionless look on her face and walked back to her chair.
"I'm good, how about you?" He responded as he walked behind her. He then grabbed a book from a shelf and sat in a chair.
"Good, busy but good." She told him with her eyes in her book.
"Well, that is expected of a CPU's life to be busy. It's nice to get some peace and quiet every now and then, thanks for that." Desmond said while opening his own book.
"Your welcome." Blanc looked up from her book at the boy "I forgot to ask you, how do you know how to read our books? I would think that our written languages would be different, you coming from a different world." She asked
"Well, during the first few days after I arrived, histoire brought a paper with the alphabet on it so that I would be able to read your world's language. Also with the fact that our spoken language is basically the same, also that several letters look close to the same between the two, it made it easy to learn." He responded, the two then quietly read their books.
A few hours later Desmond had finished his book, he then stood up, stretched and walked to the door "Thanks for having me here." He stated while looking at her "If you need me I'll be hanging with Rom and Ram before I leave. See ya."
"Ok, be careful. Make sure they don't roughhouse too much." She replied just before the door closed.
Desmond looked up at the ceiling as he laid in his bed, as he was laying he started to think 'Wow, I can't believe is already been around a month since arriving here. It's been so fun here, it doesn't feel possible that so much time has passed.' He then stood up and got ready for the day.
He walked out of his room and toward the kitchen and made breakfast for the other residents of the basilicom and for Compa and IF, as he expected for them to be in soon. After they ate Neptune and Nepgear went to the living room to play games, If and Compa went along to watch. Desmond stayed and cleaned up the kitchen as Historie helped. "Today's the day isn't?" Desmond asked her as she handed him a plate.
"Yes, the CPU's will leave later and put an end to ASIC. They all will gather here before they leave." She responded
"Ok, when will they leave?" He asked.
"During the afternoon, the other CPUs should be heading over here soon." She told him.
At about midday the other CPUs arrived and Compa made lunch for everyone, after everyone ate the CPUs and candidate gathered together so they could leave for the Gameindustri Graveyard. Histoire was about to set up the portal, so everyone was saying their quick byes.
"Dezzz!" Neptune yelled as she tackled him from behind with a hug "Don't think you'll get away from me!"
"Just because you forced me to play tag with you doesn't mean you can tackle me, so can you get off." He said as she started to stand up. He rubbed the back of his head as he stood "Well since your about to leave, I'll be seeing you tomorrow, then right?"
"Ya, we should be back by then. Those baddies won't know what hit them, so it'll be a piece of cake." She formed her fingers in the v formation as she spoke.
"Ok," he hugged her, pulled away and placed his hand on her head "take care of yourself and don't have too much without me got it." He told her with a little laugh. "I wish Histoire and IF would let me go along with you guys."
"You know we can't let you do that, there's too much to do around here." IF spoke out as she neared them.
"Ya, ya, anyway I'll see the others off, I think Gear was still in her room." Desmond stated as he walked off. "Hey everyone, I'm just saying a quick bye before everything starts up. Also, Blanc I was going to hang out with you and the twins after you got back if that's fine with you."
"Yes, that'll be fine. It's been a while since the last time you visited hasn't it." Blanc responded in monotone.
Before anyone else could say anything, Neptune came rushing in with Nepgear "Let's get this started! I want to get this done so I can get back and sleep. Also, because the longer I'm fighting those guys, the less time I'll be in the fic." Neptune announced in her fourth wall break fashion.
Histoire opened the portal to the Gameindustri Graveyard and everyone pilled in and left. With Desmond, IF, Compa, and Histoire seeing them off.
The next day, Desmond had done a few quests through the early morning and then sat around the basilicom to wait for the CPUs to arrive with IF and Compa, until.
"Desmond! IF! Compa! Come here quick!" Histoire cried out.
"What's going on?" the three ask.
"I interrupted a transmission and…" Histoire said before pointing at the screen.
They saw the CPUs… tied up and beat down. Around them were four others that Desmond did not recognize. One of them spoke up "Gameindustri, see that your leaders have lost. Turn away from your so-called leaders and follow us. Our lady will be revived soon and our dreams accomplished." That was all she said before she turned, walked away and the feed cut off.
Desmond balled up his fist and barged over to the door. "Hey! Where are you going?" IF called out.
"I'm going to find a way to get them back." He deadpanned 'Damn it Neptune' he thought as he continued to walk out.
Hey everyone, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. My longest chapter yet, so there's probably some mistakes here and there, but I wanted to get it out. Thanks for the support from both the follows/favs and the at the moment two reviews but they are encouraging. Review and tell me how I'm doing, and as always have a good day.
