Chapter 9 - Mystery Encounter

Day 11

Lastation - Field

"Hey, what should we do about the job we accepted from Ms. Chian? We already have the map…"

Compa's question made the party stop in their tracks as IF addressed the issue. "Just give her some time alone. We'll do the job, then visit her later when she's calm. Depends on the circumstances. Anyway," IF pinched the bridge of her nose as an annoyed look crossed her face. "We don't have a single clue regarding either the Key Fragments or the Jewel Core Fragments. Why would you take a job about a lost child on top of everything else?-!"

"We'll never save the world if we don't save it's people! My grandpa said, 'you must lean to walk before you can run!'" Compa bit her lip in worry as she looked out to the wilderness. "The mom looked worried. There are so many nasty creatures outside of town. Her child will be eaten if we don't hurry!"

"So what? Babies get eaten all the time. It's survival of the fittest. I'll leave you all behind if you keep dilly-dallying."

"…Wow, that's harsh, even coming from you If." Soren commented as the party started walking again.

"Yeah, don't be a pooper-scooper. I'll buy everyone some lollipops later! What's this kid look like?" Neptune cooed before asking.

"The mom said her/his body is just an NPC silhouette, so she/he should be pretty easy to spot." Compa replied.

"Ah, I see."

"…Wait, what?" Soren looked skeptical at Compa's explanation. "What do you mean, 'she/he?' Are you saying the mom doesn't even know the gender of her own kid?"

"Don't get so worked up about it Ren," IF said, "It's not that big of an issue, since it's just a minor detail."

"M-Minor detail?-! But it implies the writers were lazy enough to not even choose one or the other!"

"Then why didn't the author change it for this story?"

"That's…! Uuh…ergh…!" Soren eventually gave up the argument, shoulders slumped in defeat as IF gave a smirk.

"Ooh, looks like Ren lost this one." Neptune commented.

Suddenly, Compa looked around as if spooked by something, making IF ask, "Hey Compa, what's wrong?"

"…Don't you feel like we're being watched?"

"Watched? I don't feel anything." Neptune looked around too as if she'd spot something.

"Me neither. Maybe you're just imagining things?" IF asked.

"I-I guess so…" Compa let the issue drop as the party headed to their destination, though the feeling of being watched still poked the back of her mind.

Compa's feeling was spot on, as an invisible drone was not to far from them, although it's focus was mainly on Compa. Silent, it kept on following them until the party entered the caves.

Lastation - Ghost Mine

"So, is this place supposed to be haunted? It's called the Ghost Mine after all."

"T-There's no such things as ghosts Nep-Nep. Only monsters are around here."

As the party fought through another bunch of monsters, Soren couldn't help but grin as a sudden thought crossed his mind. When the last monster fell, everyone was busy catching their breath when Soren spoke up in an eerie and childish voice from behind everyone, "Mama, why did you let me get eaten~?"

"Kyaa!"

Compa screamed and jumped into Neptune's arms in fright, who surprisingly didn't fall over from the sudden weight in her arms. Soren gave a hearty laugh until he was slapped in the back of the head by IF.

"No scaring Compa while on the job, got it?"

"Yes ma'am."

Realizing what just happened, Neptune let Compa down as the later pouted, "T-That was mean Soren!"

"Sorry! Couldn't help it! It's not like Neptune's gonna glomp on you from behind and start nibbling on your neck like a zombie or something!"

There was a glint in Neptune's eye when Compa whipped around and said, "Don't even think about it Nep-Nep!"

"Aww…"

IF gave a sigh as she shook her head. "If you three are done, can we please get a move on? Your antics attracted more monsters."

"Must've been Compa's scream then." Soren suggested as he got back into his stance.

"Ren…"

"Sorry, shutting up now."

About ten minutes later…

The party ended up in a large part of the mines, where they found the corpse of a dead monster in the middle of what looked like a recent battlefield. IF and Soren got closer to investigate the corpse, while Neptune and Compa bolted the moment they saw the dead monster.

"A monster… It's already dead, and recently from the looks of it." IF looked at the entrance they came in and called out, "What're you two doing? Hurry up and get over here!"

"Nope, no thanks! It's all up to you two, Iffy and Ren! Go ahead and take care of it. Compa and I are gonna wait here patiently." Neptune shouted back.

IF and Soren looked at each other with raised eyebrows as Compa added, "Just tell us if you don't want to find the lost child!"

"…We've beaten a ton of monsters already." IF muttered, eyes narrowed before she shouted, "Aren't you used to seeing them dead yet?"

When she got no response, IF just huffed and returned her attention to the monster corpse. "So, what do you think Ren?"

"Hmm, I'm not sure. All I can tell is that this monster was slain very recently, like in the last hour at the least. Not to mention it must've put up quite the fight."

"So someone was definitely here before us?" IF bent closer to inspect the wounds. "…A number of clean cuts and huge welts. Doesn't look like the result of weaponry from Lastation. Planeptune's advanced weaponry? No…but what…? Huh? Someone's coming!"

IF and Soren readied their weapons, preparing to fight, when a white haired girl with odd green eyes in a black and white plugsuit outfit, who the fandom know as Noire/Black Heart in HDD, showed up. The two slightly lowered their guard somewhat as Noire looked quite surprised to see them.

"Civilians? What are you two doing here?"

"R-Right back at ya! Who're you? What're you doing here?"

Soren couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as he looked at IF out of the corner of his eye. From what he heard, IF sounded a bit…nervous? 'Nah, this is If we're talking about here.'

"The kid. I came here to save a child. It's taken care of. But I don't need to be thanked." Noire replied.

"Great. Then we came all this way for nothing." Soren muttered with a frustrated sigh.

Noire couldn't help but look a bit sympathetic before she said, "Anyway, there was supposed to be a girl who accepted the same job. Her name's Neptune. You two know her?"

Both fighters grew suspicious hearing Neptune's name, and hearing her own name, Neptune walked in along with Compa. The latter was trying hard not to look at the corpse, while the former was instantly enamored with Noire's appearance, that everyone could see the sparkles in her eyes.

"Whoa, what's happening? She's so coolios! Do you know her Iffy?"

"No. She's your friend or something, right? She knows your name, at least. She…kinda looks like you after you transform."

Noire was giving Neptune a pretty hard look, while Neptune looked at Noire with puzzlement. "Huh? I don't think I've met her before. I'm sorry, have we?"

"Sure, I get it. You want to avoid fighting me in front of these outsiders." Noire replied smugly, "Pretty rational. B-But, I'm not praising you. You think I'm just here to say 'hi?'" That's when Noire materialized her sword and pointed it at Neptune shouting, "Let's settle this Nept-!"

*SQUICK*

The girls froze hearing that meatly slice and thud, turning towards the source. Suffice to say, three of them regretted looking as it was Soren who cut off the dead monster's head with Yukihira, blood squirting out of the open neck. All the girls' faces had a shade of green, though IF and Noire were a bit lighter as IF shouted, "What'd you do that for Ren!"

"Sorry, thought I saw it twitch and just reacted." Soren replied tensely.

"Hey, I'm pretty sure it was dead after I took it down," Noire interrupted, "Though it was a bitch to fight."

"So you're the one who killed it? Anyway, there are a few monsters that can fake being dead if you hurt it enough. Caught many monster hunters off guard in the past. Though I don't think it was one of them, too angry red in color… Still, doesn't hurt to be careful…"

Soren trailed off when he noticed something in the open neck. Staring at it, he tilted his head until he caught a glint of something that caught his eye.

Meanwhile, Noire tried to regain momentum as she gave a light cough. "Ahem, as I was saying, let's settle this Nep-!"

"Ren? What're doing?" Neptune weakly asked, making Noire grind her teeth as no one was paying attention to her at the moment.

Soren was flexing his fingers as he replied, "There's something in this corpse. Yukihira, right arm gauntlet please?"

[Understood. Deploying gauntlet.]

"What the…?" Noire watched with wide eyes as a gauntlet covered Soren's entire right forearm in a flash of light. Giving the mechanical fingers a flex, Soren pulled his arm back and IF's eyes widened, realizing what he was going to do.

"Wait Ren! You're not gonna-!"

*SQUICK*

All the girls turned a deeper shade of green as Soren stuck his armored hand in the monster's neck. "Shoot, I think it went in a bit deeper…"

The arm sunk deeper into the corpse, accompanied by all the squishy sounds and blood squirts that made IF very ill, but managed to keep herself together, even though she cringed at each sound. As for Compa, Neptune, and Noire…

*THUD*

*BLEAH*

*BLEAH*

Yeah…Compa pretty much fainted, while Neptune and Noire ran towards rocks and started puking behind them. That lasted until both of them could only dry heave, complete with groans. It's a bit sad that their timing was so bad, that the moment they looked back, they were treated to the sight of Soren yanking his arm out of the monster corpse, gore and all, making them dry heave again.

During that time, IF looked away before Soren pulled his arm out as she took the time to steel herself. Looking up, she saw Soren shaking off the excess flesh from his armored arm and cringed. "Ren, by the four goddesses, what possessed you to do…do that?-!"

"Ugh, sorry about that." Soren opened his mechanical hand and gave a weak grin. "But it looks like our trip here wasn't in vain. But first, shouldn't you wake Compa? 'Cause I don't think Neptune's in any shape to help at the moment.'

Seeing that Neptune still had a healthy shade of green and was staring into nothingness, IF went over to Compa and took out some smelling salts. A whiff later Compa woke up with a start.

"Wha? Iffy? What happened? Last thing I remember was Soren sticking his hand inside a monster, but he wouldn't do that, right?"

There was a moment of silence when Soren walked up to the two, arm still bloodied along with parts of his shirt. "Compa awake now?"

Seeing all the blood and stuff nearly made Compa faint until IF slapped her lightly. "Don't you dare faint on me Compa!"

That's when Noire cleared her throat rather loudly, catching everyone's attention. They saw that she still looked a bit green and sick as she pointed a shaky finger at Neptune, who had snapped out of it. "I wanted to settle things with Neptune, but now's not the best time…" Noire gave Soren a dirty look, nearly gagging in the process. "I'll crush you next time Neptune!" She then muttered to herself, "Make sure there are no monster corpses around either…"

Noire retreated, and IF looked at Neptune in disbelief. "From what I can tell, that girl was going to go after you Nep. What did you do to her? It sounded like you knew her from before you lost your memory."

I-I didn't do nothin'! I hope! I can't remember…but…I'm sure we weren't that close!" Neptune replied in a panic.

"Erg, whatever. So Ren, what was so important that you had to go and do…that?"

"This little bad boy." Soren took what he was holding in his mechanical hand before the gauntlet vanished, holding up what looked like a piece of a black crystal. "I don't know for sure, but I'm going to take a wild guess and say this is a Lastation Jewel Core Fragment."

That took the girls by surprise before Neptune pumped a fist. "Oh yea, we finally found one. I knew there was a good reason for accepting this job!"

"Yeah, but I need a new shirt…" Soren muttered to himself as he pulled on the parts of his shirt that was stained with monster blood. The vest was blood-proof and the pants wouldn't show bloodstains, which only left the shirt. All of a sudden, a glint appeared in Soren's eye as he looked at Neptune. "Hey Neptune, how about I give you a hug for a job well done?"

"Sure thin-, wait a minute. There's no way I'm coming near you covered in monster blood!"

"Aww, don't let such a small detail bother you, come here." Soren stepped closer to Neptune, arms wide, with a grin on his face to match.

"Stay back! I'm warning you, I've got a sword!"

"Threatening your allies? Tsk, tsk, but if you cut me, even more blood will come out!"

"Aw crap. No, stay away!" Neptune ran for it, with Soren chasing after her, the two running in circles around IF and Compa.

"Haa…something like this always seems to happen…" IF sighed as she helped Compa up. "Well, at least we're closer to finding the other fragments."

"Squirt!"

"Nooo!"

Lastation - Inn

IF was sitting at a desk, examining the Planeptune Jewel Core and the Lastation Jewel Core Fragment. "Hmm, just what are these things for? They seem to emit power somehow… Hey Compa, did Ren ever tell you or Nep what these crystals are for?"

"…I don't think so, though I think I heard Soren tell us something about them a while back. Do you know Nep-Nep?"

"You betcha! Histy told Ren to gather them up, like she told me to gather the Key Fragments to free her. But, I don't know why she wants them gathered exactly…"

"Again with this 'Histoire' person. That's what Ren said her name was, right? I wonder if this Histoire knows the purpose of the Jewel Cores…" IF mused.

The door opened, admitting a freshly clean and dressed Soren with a towel around his neck. "Hey everybody. Today was a productive day, wasn't it?"

Neptune promptly stood up and said, "Hey Compa, why don't we go out for a bit? I hear there's a really good bakery on Portable St."

"Sure thing Nep-Nep! I'm sure we'll find something delicious."

The two girls practically bolted out of the room and Soren mused, "Wow, they sure left quickly."

"No surprise there. Even I have half a mind to leave too after what you did back in the cave, but I'm made of tougher stuff."

Soren went over to one of the beds and sat down, rubbing the towel against his head. "So, why did you want to see the Jewel Core and Fragment again?"

"Just curious. By the way, do you know what these Jewel Cores are used for?"

"Sorry, Histoire never told me any of the details, only that they were important."

"…So you're just gonna hand them over to her the moment Neptune frees her or something?"

"No, and I don't think I'm supposed to give them to her. Besides, I'm not like Neptune. I do have some reservations about Histoire myself."

"That's nice to hear."

That's when Soren got up and went for the door. "Now if you excuse me, I need to lie down for a bit."

"Oh, what for? You don't look tired."

"Contrary to what it looked like, I didn't enjoy sticking my arm inside that monster." With a grim grin, Soren left, closing the door behind him.

IF couldn't help but smirk before returning her attention to the two crystals. "Heh, I knew he was acting all tough."

A/N: Sorry about the whole monster blood scene thing. Had to change things around, and I had that scene in my head for a while now.