Guess who's back
Back again.
Merc is back
Say again?
WHOO! Alright, feelin' good. I tried to be as good as I possibly could manage with this one.
So, as always, R&R for me! Or I will send Blanc to crush you.
Compa stared at the figure in a mixture of shock, awe, and wonder.
The figure was about Chris's original height- once he stood, of course- but... he didn't carry himself like the teen did. No... This stance held power. Confidence. An air of a huge threat, should he be provoked... and she didn't even know what could provoke him. How he was dressed really made her jaw hit the floor. Well... ALMOST hit the floor
His body suit was similar in make to... Neptune's?... own, though it was more suited to his own body. Of course, it was tight on him, so it put detail on the body below it. Though she saw it before (and admired it, but he didn't need to know that), the way it hugged his crevices and amplified each small detail was...
COMPA! Stop thinking like that, silly. You know this is supposed to be rated T at least!
She moved her attention towards the rest of the outfit, attempting to clean her mind out of what she had pictured earlier... dammit, she thought about it again. She shook her head once to clear it for the moment, and silently took in his... armor?
Was that armor? It looked like more baggy... kinda pants, with plenty of pockets for whatever it is he cared enough to keep in there. Above that was merely a vest, hanging unzipped and loose on the teen... thing? Above that... Compa couldn't help but feel a sting of fear in her chest.
The lower part of his face was covered by a re-breather-type mask, ventilation more resembling fangs that even seemed to intimidate the Guard Vermin that stood in front of the man. It wrapped around the lower part of his head, snaking down into his vest while the upper half of it bent back to add a small amount of highlight to his flaming, yet dark red hair that spiked back in deadly shots. The entire get up was a shining black and deep blue mix, the occasional veins in the body suit- and parts of his vest and cargo pants, respectively- punctuated with silver. As if to add to that, there were two small discs on the wrists of his suit.
What really got her were his eyes. They were an electric light blue, and she couldn't read a thing off of him from those orbs. They let nothing show, nothing was betrayed... and it really scared her. Where was the innocent, shy teen that stood next to Neptune minutes earlier?
Just what happened?
The shock was broken by the Guard Vermin, which had apparently gathered its courage enough to bring its blade back for a deadly down stroke...
CLANG!
A note similar to a gong reverberated through the empty room, the large blade never having even met the floor for a moment. Instead, it met the figure's arm- or, more specifically, the enlarged disc-like object on its wrist, acting as a shield in front of the new Neptune. The monster appeared to struggle to break this defense, but to no avail; the opposing force wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.
In fact, it wasn't going to let it near Neptune. Step by step, the figure pushed back the monster's weapon without much effort. He moved slowly, taking each step patiently and with measure. He was... mocking it. He didn't need a lot of effort to best it in just strength alone... which angered the vermin heavily. It pushed harder against this teen-man-thing, its efforts proving futile as... again... the figure didn't back up an inch. The figure's eyes seemed to light up in a smile as the disk on his other hand expanded in a similar fashion to the first.
Compa's eyes widened as she saw a number of blades- long, pointed, and deadly- slide out with a sickening shiick. Even the new Neptune's eyebrows raised slightly as they began to spin. Slowly, at first, but picking up a lot of speed in a very short amount of time. The two girls watched- one in awe, the other in a slight indifference- as he brought the weapon up above his head, and down on the vermin's large sword.
Metal screamed out in absolute terror as it was sliced, similar to how a wire goes right through rice paper, from the figure's circular saw-type weapon. The large part of the blade, now useless scrap metal, fell to the ground with a large crash and a screen of airborne debris. The figure seemed to use this as an advantage, dashing into it as the cloud covered both human... thing, and monster.
The meeting of fists and boots meeting a monster's flesh met their ears in harmony as the figure jumped out from the top of the smoke, preparing more blades on its dominant weapon. A quick slash sent them down into the cloud, causing a scream of anger, pain, and something else resound through the room. The figure landed next to a poised Neptune, who was watching the smoke intently as it cleared out...
Revealing a pinned Guard Vermin, its legs stuck into the ground by the figure's projectiles. It was helpless, in agony, and just waiting.
With a smile, Neptune dashed forward and jumped, slicing once as she reached the vermin's head and landing on the other side. Blood poured from it as its head fell off- but only for a few moments; it dispersed into stores of data before anything horrid could be seen. As if content, the figure's dominant disk reverted to its normal size. The second- the one acting as the shield- revealed itself as another saw; however, the blades were curved, and had slid out to form the large shield. They slid back in as the disk retracted to normal size. Neptune joined the two a few moments later, looking rather content with the handiwork before closing her eyes slowly.
In a brilliant flash of light, she stood before them as the normal, hyperactive girl Compa knew. She looked rather confused- one, at Compa's odd look, and two, at the figure that had replaced Glit- er, Chris- minutes earlier.
She didn't know if it was from all the confusion, or just the nature of the situation, but Compa fainted right then and there.
"... What ARE you?" Neptune finally asked aloud, almost ignoring the poor nurse-in-training's predicament to stare at the teen in confusion. "You're, like, some dude from... Spec Ops or something!"
'Actually, Neptune... He's more than just Special Operations. Much, much more."
"Histy!" Neptune called out happily, greeting the voice almost as if it were her own mother. The teen tilted his head as he, too, heard the tome's voice in his own skull. "So you know what he is? Ooh! Maybe he's, like... a spy! I don't know, but he's awesome!"
'That would be your reaction... No, he's not a spy. He could be one, if you so wished that of him.'
"... Wait, wha? I need an explanation, Histy!"
'Oh, fine, Neptune... When the original goddess asked me to create the four, she had a feeling they would get sick of each other fast-'
"Wait, wait wait. So, like... she thought they'd be really pissed at each other? I mean, you explained the whole... the whole...'
'Hard Drive Divinity.'
"Right. So what did she ask you to do?"
'She asked me to create companions for the four goddesses. So I did. I made them male- which wasn't actually that hard, since the original goddess asked- and made them compliments of the goddesses. Each one reflected the goddess's preferences in an equal, so that they were more easily accepted by them.'
"Oh, wow! That's so cool! So, you like... made them lovers, or something?"
'Well, I wouldn't really put it that way, but I did notice that one or two of them held special attachments to their companions. As such, they went together rather well- each one, I mean, not just the two- so I had to decide what to call them.'
"Really? What'd ya call 'em?"
'I thought, since the goddesses were called 'Hearts,' it would fit to call their companions 'Souls.'
Neptune blinked as she took in the information, then her eyes shined as a smile made its way across her face. "That... is freaking awesome! So I'm looking at one of the goddess's souls right now? AWESOME! Which one is he? Which one? I wanna know!"
'… I really don't know, Neptune. I'm trying to scan through his memories, but... They stop before I can even see something from Celestia. Maybe, over time and searching, we'll find his respective heart. For now... Talk with him. I imagine he's Black Heart's soul. He is rather business-like when in these kinds of situations. He must be rather playful when they're over.'
With another smile and a nod, Neptune skipped over to the Soul with a small giggle. "That was awesome! Whatever you just did. So, I'-"
"Lady Purple Heart." The Soul interjected randomly, dropping to one knee as though the girl in front of him was royalty. "I already know."
"... Purple Heart?" The girl's head tilted to the side, a finger on her lips delicately as she thought over what he just said. "... Wait, wait wait wait. So-"
"I assume Histoire didn't say anything." The Soul rose to his full height. "... I know, this will seem very, very sudden, but you are the goddess of this landmass. You are the goddess Purple Heart, ruler of the landmass of Planeptune. As such, as a Soul, I am-"
"... Stop right there." Neptune held a finger in front of her to stop him, to which he obediently fell silent. "... You're saying I- Neptune, some innocent girl with amnesia- is the freaking goddess of this landmass? For realzies?" In response, the Soul tilted his head and... looked like he was smiling under the re-breather.
"Well, you fell from the sky to start this odd story off, and you just did achieved a form of power- Hard Drive Divinity. Only goddesses can do such things."
"But I'm just an innoce-"
"You're really questioning the fact that you're a goddess?"
"... Good point." Neptune giggled a little at his reasoning. "Hey, could you remove that mask thing?" Within seconds, it wasn't obscuring his features at all.
"... Hey! You're Chris! Wait, wait, so... YOU are the soul? Your other person is a shy and innocent kid, and you turn into this?" To that, the Soul merely nodded and smiled.
"My name, however, is not Chris. You, Lady Purple Heart, may call me Azur." Azur bowed low in respect for the girl, blinking his shining blue eyes with the same smile. The girl nodded and smiled back, getting a little giddy at her next question.
"So, now we know some important story shit, so now... which soul are you? Like, are you my soul?" Azur tilted his head in thought before shaking his head slowly.
"I do not believe so. I don't quite understand this fully myself. I would suggest, however, that we kindly escort the fainted nurse to a safe location and allow her to rouse in a hotel room. There, we can listen and explain."
"... Oh, well. Didn't notice her. Hm... Azur~?"
"Yes, Lady Pur-"
"Neptune, not that while I'm like this. Can you please~ carry her so I don't have to do the lifting?" She barely got done with her sentence before the nurse in training was cradled in his arms. "Aww, you're so sweet!"
"Flattery isn't needed, Neptune..."
Compa nodded slowly as the two- Azur and Neptune- had finished explaining the earlier situation to her. She had came to in the Soul's arms- embarrassing, since she found it comforting and had clung to him before she was aware- and they were now in a hotel room for the night. She had just barely recovered from the shock of finding out that Neptune WAS indeed the landmass's goddess, but with a few words from Azure, she was calm enough to ask a few questions.
"Okay, so... You're... Azur. The mysterious... uh..."
"Soul."
"Yeah. And you don't know who you are the soul... for... right?"
A nod from the Soul. "Yes, that's correct."
"... It must be rather sad. You know your purpose. It was explained by... by... this Histy person I can't hear. She can only speak with you two."
"Right! She's so awesome, she explained abo-"
"Neptune, let Compa ask the questions she has left." Azur quickly held a hand out to silence her, which she grudgingly followed. He turned back to Compa with a warm and radiant smile. "So, you have... one question left?"
"... Uh, yes." The nurse nodded slowly, looking down at her lap as she prepared herself for this question- and hopefully his answer. "... Uhm... W-well, I wanted to-"
"WAIT!" The two jumped a little in shock and looked over at Neptune, who was on her feet with her eyes wide. "WAIT WAIT WAIT! HOLD IT RIGHT THERE! DO NOT MOVE!" She dashed off, out of the room with a fervor. They barely had time to blink before she had returned, holding professional photography equipment.
"... Nep-Nep, what is-"
"No time, we need to capture this moment!" Neptune burst out, pulling Compa up into a standing position, despite her yelp of protest. She did the same with Azur, finally pushing the Soul and poor, confused girl together in a sudden embrace.
Compa's face lit up like a Christmas tree on the historic day, it being pressed into the Soul/teen's chest, and her own right below his. For some reason, time seemed to slow down to a lethargic crawl. All she knew was the moment, the two in conta-
Where'd the chest go? She blinked in confusion again as she held her stance, Azur having backed up a step and was currently chiding Neptune for making false assumptions. As the young goddess responded in much a childish manner, Compa sunk down onto the bed with her head- as crimson as it was- in the clouds.
For some reason, she wanted to do that again...
'… Azur?'
'Histoire? A pleasure, but why so late at night?'
'My apologies, Azur. Why did you reveal the information to Neptune? She didn't need to-'
'You said it yourself, Histoire. My... what'd you call it?'
'Guardian Protocol.'
'Right. That can't be triggered unless a goddess hits HDD. Obviously, it was triggered, so I felt I had to tell her.'
'But so early? Why?'
'Best have things said sooner than later.'
'… Fair enough. Also... are you blushing?'
'Perhaps. Why do you ask?'
'I saw that little thing Neptune did with you and Compa. She was a rather odd shade of crimson...'
'I noticed, but it's not every day that happens to you. She must've been surprised.'
'Mmh... Go back to Glitch in the morning, okay? I think they'll be rather surprised. Well...'
'Compa will be. Ha ha.'
'Right. Sleep well, soul...'
LE GASP! Glitch certainly is something... Chris, the assumed name. Glitch, his title in Little Resistance. Azur, his real one...
Well, at least he has some sort of admirer now? ^^; Who knows...
Anyway, cheers! R&R, or I swear I will send Blanc to crush you.