Wow. I wasn't actually expecting this. At all. I mean, uni and all that. Anyway, questions:

Xetsura: Thank you and he won't. Jacob, in this story, is going to have to work for his fighting prowess. He does not have any demons in him, he is not going to be a Chosen One, he isn't some lost prince, he hasn't had his genes experimented on when he was a baby, he hasn't been exposed to nuclear radiation, he isn't going to have any special tricks that let him learn stuff quickly, he doesn't have some sacred jewel embedded in his body and Destiny most certainly does not have any grand plans for him. Hard work is what's going to make him strong, not some birth right.

godofmadness43: I know but I felt it would be good for character development.

Eisenfaust: Thank you, thank you, thank you, possibly, how do you think it would have gone, too true, yes and no in that order and here it is.

MegaRaziel: I figured that I should give him something with a bit of bang. I mean, he can barely hit enemies with his hands; he needed SOMETHING, otherwise the story would be boring as hell with him in it. By "feedback", I believe you mean an adverse side effect. There is but it's long term and takes a bit to settle in so don't expect it to come in in this fanfic at least. He can't keep the energy in his fist lest he wreck his gloves with the laser or reduce his hand to a fine paste with the ball. He will get stronger, don't you worry. By the way, he's a tactician and a cheater. Why be one when you can be both?

Here's the next chapter. Not much happens in it but I think it's better than just leaving it with the last chapter.

Chapter 7: Recovery Point

It took the better part of twenty minutes for the party to get to the nearest hospital. Purple Heart turned back into Neptune before entering so as to not raise a fuss. The party walked to the counter with Jacob being carried by Compa.

"Excuse me!" Compa said to the silhouette man behind the counter. "Our friend needs help! He was stabbed by a giant spear-lance thingy!"

"A giant spear-lance thingy?" the man responded. "Well, that's a nice change of pace from the Jaki clubs, the Dogoo tackles, the Imp tackles, the Killer Rabbit wounds and, lest we forget, those blasted Sand Worm victims. Was the weapon altered in any way?"

"No sir," Compa answered. "The spear was just a spear. Or a lance. It was hard to tell. Anyway, he has a massive cross-shaped wound in his stomach and he needs proper medical attention right away."

"I see. And you thought it would be a good idea to just carry him in rather than, say, call for an ambulance to pick him up when you got back from the dungeon?"

Compa didn't have a response to that. She tried to find one, but she could only stammer. Fortunately, IF was there. "No, it didn't occur to us to call you. Now, can we please get a doctor?"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Let me check our rooms…" The man looked at his computer, "… and you're in luck; 217- that's floor 2, room 17, by the way- is open and ready to accept a patient. Take him up there and I'll get Dr Askie to meet you there."

Jacob groaned something vaguely non-intelligible.

"Did he just say something?" The man asked.

"Call me crazy but I think he just said "Lame"," answered IF.

"I thought he was unconscious?" asked Neptune.

"Well, that's rude. We have a spare room and everything. The least he can do is not whine about it. Anyway, get going; his wound's not going to close on its own. Not while he's alive, anyway."

"Okay. Thank you, Mister!" Compa walked off with the party towards the stairs.

The man pressed a button on his desk and spoke into the microphone. "Will Dr Askie please go to Room 217? A patient is headed there and requires treatment."

The party ventured up the stairs to the second floor and began to look around to find their room. "207, 209, 211…" Neptune stopped counting when she saw a silhouette of a doctor three rooms ahead. "Hey! Are you Dr Askie?" she asked as the party briskly walked to Room 217.

"Yes, I am," she responded before towards to Compa. "Is that the patient you're carrying?"

"Yes, ma'am," said Compa. "He got stabbed in the stomach by a large spear-lance thing. I've managed to stop the bleeding but he needs professional help."

"I see…" Askie… well, the girls thought she looked at Compa with interest. Again, it's hard to tell. "Have you done this kind of thing before?"

"I'm an apprentice nurse. I was in school before it closed due to the monster attacks, so I have some medical knowledge."

Dr Askie thought for a bit. "Okay then, could you come in here with me? I may need your help with this."

Compa nodded before turning to IF and Neptune. "I'm sorry but you'll have to stay out of the room. Only authorised people are allowed in, sorry."

"We understand," said IF. "Neptune and I will go downstairs and talk about the fees with the guy."

Compa froze and her skin turned a bit pale. "F-fees?"

"… yeah? Health care isn't free, you know," IF explained.

"Y-yeah, it's just… it's kind of expensive in Planeptune." Compa rubbed the back of her head. It was rather clear that she would rather be anywhere else but here at that moment.

IF sighed. "How expensive is it?"

Compa gulped and whispered into IF's ear.

IF's eyes widened and she also turned a bit pale. "W-well… that… might be problematic."

"What's wrong?" asked Dr Askie. "Let me guess; his insurance doesn't cover it?"

Compa and IF didn't respond.

Askie smiled. "Well, don't worry about it. This happens a lot more often than you think; we'll find a way through."

"Um…" Compa spoke up. "He… doesn't have insurance to begin with."

"… oh." Askie rubbed her forehead. "Well, that's… gonna be a problem." She sighed. "Look, I may be able to pull some strings. Still, don't expect miracles."

"'Scuse me," Neptune interrupted. "Does Purple Heart get free healthcare?"

"Purple Heart?" Askie was confused. "Well, yeah. She's the goddess and all. Her word's basically law. Why do you-" She paused before groaning. "Let me guess; this guy's her assistant?"

Neptune decided to transform into Purple Heart. "Pretty much. By the way, can I get a checkup? I have amnesia and I'd like to have that looked at, if possible."

Askie didn't respond.

"… excuse me?"

Still no response.

"I think you stunned her silent, Nep-Nep," remarked Compa. "Um, Dr Askie?"

"H-huh?" The doctor finally snapped back to reality. "Oh- uh- sorry, I was just… caught off guard…"

"Don't worry, that's normal," said Purple Heart. "Now, about-"

"Oh, yeah, the fees." Dr Askie thought for a moment. "Well… how do I know you're really Lady Purple Heart? I mean, you could be an imposter for all I know."

"What about the part where she just transformed right in front of you?" said IF. "I'm pretty sure regular people can't do that."

"Yeah, but…" Askie sighed. "Look, I believe you. I don't think anyone else can transform like that."

"Also, I have my own hammerspace." Purple Heart reached behind her and took a sword- the one she bought at the shop- out of nowhere.

Askie clapped her hands together. "Well, I'm convinced if I wasn't before. But that's not the problem; I can't just tell my superiors that some random girl that comes out of nowhere and says that she's Lady Purple Heart and I had to give her free treatment. I mean, who's going to believe that without proof?"

"So you just need proof?" asked IF. "Well, why don't we just have Purple Heart write her signature on a letter saying "Hey, here's my charge, patch him up ASAP" and go from there?"

"That would work but you'd need Lady Purple Heart's emblem."

"Um, out of curiosity, do you mean that N thing on Nep-Nep's back?" Compa said, turning Purple Heart around with a free hand to show IF and Dr Askie the N symbol on her back.

"… yes, that's pretty much it," confirmed Askie. "In fact, I think that pretty much seals the deal being on her clothes. Never mind the letter; the guy gets free treatment."

"Yay!" cheered Compa.

"Okay," began IF as she turned to Purple Heart, "let's not waste any more time on stuff no one cares about and go "pay" the bill."

"Okay then." Purple Heart followed IF down the stairs.

"Apprentice nurse, if you will?" said Askie as she walked into the room.

"Of course." Compa carried Jacob into the room.

About half an hour later, Compa was outside the room when IF came up the stairs. To say she looked fine would be an outright lie; she was tugging on her coat, frustrated at it for some reason, her hair was dishevelled and the bow on her ponytail was barely hanging on. "IF, are you okay?" Compa asked, concerned.

"Funny you ask; it took me half an hour to get out the mob that formed as soon as Nep got downstairs as Purple Heart. We got separated ten minutes ago and I thought my best option would be to get back up here and hope she follows." IF brushed her sleeve.

Compa gasped. "Nep-Nep is down there all alone? We have to help her!"

"Don't worry, she'll be fine," reassured IF as she stopped Compa from running down the stairs. "She'll get back here, somehow. This is supposed to be funny so the worst that'll happen is that she'll have messy hair."

Compa nodded slowly. "I… I think I get it. Okay then."

Dr Askie came out of the room. "Hey, um…"

"IF."

"IF, right. Hey, I've patched up your friend... where's Purple Heart?"

"Mob downstairs. She'll be fine."

"… okay. Anyway, your friend's fine. Bleeding's stopped, stitches are in and he just needs to recover."

IF sighed. "Well, that's one thing out of the way. How long will it take him to get back on his feet?"

"Probably until tomorrow morning, if that."

"He heals that quickly?" Compa asked in surprise.

"Hell no," answered Askie. "He got stabbed in the stomach with a massive bladed weapon. Normally, he'd be there for months at least. Thank the Goddess that we have Reflex, Dextonin and Gelatin to speed things along."

"… that makes sense, I guess," said IF.

Just then, Neptune- no longer transformed, mind you- came up the stairs, heaving and panting. "If…fy…" She took a deep breath. "Why… did you… leave me…?"

"They would've flattened me otherwise. Anyway, they wanted you, not me. I was pretty safe. How'd you get out of there?"

"De… transformed… lost them… got here…" She took another deep breath. "I think we'll stick to writing the letter…"

"Good idea," said Askie. "I'm actually surprised you were mobbed like that, though. I mean, if I didn't recognise you as the Goddess, why did they?"

"They didn't," answered IF as she helped Neptune with her hair clips. "They just thought she looked hot."

"… oh. But why would the girls mob her?"

"As I said; hot."

Dr Askie paused for a moment before rubbing her head. "This is a weird world… anyway, I'm gonna monitor… what's his name again?"

"Jacob," Neptune and IF responded in unison as Compa said "Jake."

"Righto. Anyway, I'll take another look at him. Go ahead and write the letter on this," she gave them a white piece of paper from her notepad, "and I'll tell you if anything happens."

After a few minutes, Neptune kissed the piece of paper. "Mwuah! It's a masterpiece!"

"We would've finished faster if you didn't eat the first letter," IF grumbled. "It's a good thing Compa keeps paper on her at all times… for some reason."

Compa tapped her fingers together. "Sometimes, I like to draw."

"Good enough. Now, let's just give this letter to Dr Askie and she can hand it to her superiors."

Speaking of Askie, she just came out of the room again. "Jacob's conscious."

This surprised the girls. "What?"

"He's awake. You want to ta-" Before she could finish, Neptune ran into the room.

She quickly pulled up a seat beside Jacob's bed. He was wearing a violet patient gown and he looked very tired in his bed. "Jacob! How are ya?"

He groaned a bit. "Well, my stomach hurts like hell, I feel really drowsy and I'm really hungry…" He yawned. "Other than that, I feel like I'm about to die. You?"

"Don't say that!" Neptune leaned forward as IF and Compa entered the room. "I… I was so scared… I thought-"

"Neptune…" Jacob stopped her. "What's done is done. I am okay now, except for the whole stomach thing. Let's not angst over it."

"That's as good an attitude as anything else," said IF. "The doctor said you should be okay by tomorrow morning."

"Well, that's swell. Saves me the trouble of finding a new bed…" He chuckled. "I'd hate to sleep on the sofa again." Jacob noticed that Neptune wasn't looking at him. She seemed to have an avid interest in her shoes. Or the base of the hospital bed. Hard to tell when you didn't want to move your neck, lest you break a stitch or something. "Neptune, what's wrong?"

"Jacob…" she began, "are you going to be okay?"

"I think I'll leave now," Dr Askie said to Compa. "Give me the letter and I'll run it by the Chief."

"Oh, okay." Compa gave Askie the letter. Askie nodded before walking out the door.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. IF said that I'll be out of here by tomorrow morning, right? Then we can go to the next landmass and be on our way."

"Actually," IF interjected, "Lastation, the closest landmass, will be here in about five days. You've got plenty of time."

Jacob smiled. "Well, that's a relief."

"Hey, Jake?" Compa stepped forward. "How do you feel about that fight?"

"You know…" he started, "… it didn't occur to me before then that I could actually… wind up in a hospital because of this. I mean, I did okay against the Sand Worm…"

"It's only going to get harder from here," stated IF. "You think you can take it?"

Jacob exhaled through his nose. "Back where I came from, we don't go on adventures or fight. We do have some dangerous animals but we have places where humans go and where animals go. They don't cross over much. Anyway, we get through life through money and jobs that don't involve violence. It's pretty good, especially as I'm not out of school yet and I can spend most of my time playing video games and eating and… playing Connect 4 with my dad and…"

The silence was broken by Compa. "You can say it. We won't blame you."

Jacob sighed. He looked out the window and then closed his eyes. "… I want to go home."

Compa gave him a hug. "I know."

Jacob returned the hug. "Thanks."

"Don't worry, Jacob!" Neptune said with a bicep polishing gesture. "We'll do this main story quest and I'll get my memories back and I'll remember where I fell and we can take you home! It'll be easy as cake!"

Jacob chuckled. "Thanks, Neptune." He looked at IF and Compa. "And thank you two, as well. Thanks for being able to put up with us."

"Don't worry about it," said Compa. "You and Neptune are nice. Besides, this is fun."

"Same here, I guess," IF commented. "Anyway, if I leave this up to you three, the world's doomed. You need someone to keep you in line."

"Much appreciated," replied Jacob.

"Anyway," IF turned to Neptune and Compa, "I think we should leave Jacob alone for the rest of the day and find a place to rest."

"We can go to my house," said Compa. "It's not too far away."

"Sounds like a plan. Let's go. See ya tomorrow, Jacob." IF walked out the door.

"Bye!" Compa followed.

Neptune walked up to the side of Jacob's bed and gave him a hug. "Tomorrow, we're gonna have so much fun! Hope you get better."

Jacob returned the hug. "Thanks. I will."

Neptune pulled away. "See ya later, alligator!" And she left.

Jacob threw his head back. "Finally, some peace and quiet…" he said with a smile.

Neptune, Compa and IF came back to the hospital tomorrow morning. It wasn't much different but the person at the desk seemed a bit surprised by their return and kept their eyes away. The girls didn't pay it much mind, though; they proceeded upstairs to Jacob's room. They entered only to find him asleep.

"Aw!" Neptune grumbled. "I was hoping we could just pick him up and go like a party character in the middle of town."

"Neptune, he's not some robot; he needs rest," IF chastised. "Although, I would think he'd be up by now."

"He said something about body clocks when I woke him up yesterday," said Compa.

IF raised an eyebrow. "Really? Maybe we should wake him up, then, to get him settled into Gamindustri's day/night cycle." She walked over to Jacob. "Hey, Jacob! Wake up!"

He didn't respond. IF tried tugging his ear. "Wake up!"

His head fell to the other side. IF snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Jacob! Up! Now!"

He made an indistinguishable noise. "What was that?" Compa asked.

"Hell if I know. Neptune, find a plastic cup somewhere and fill it up with water."

"Okey dokey!" Neptune walked off and returned moments later with a plastic cup filled with water. "Got it. What do you want with it?"

IF took the cup from Neptune's hand-

"Hey-"

- and spilled it onto Jacob's face. Predictably, he woke up very quickly.

"What the hell was that?" he shouted.

"Sorry, but it was ten o'clock and we needed to wake you up," reasoned IF.

"Did I really have to get up that early?" Jacob groaned as he got himself upright in the bed.

"Yes," IF replied. "Compa told me that your body clock hasn't adjusted to Gamindustri yet so I'm helping to speed that along."

Jacob looked at her with an expression that indicated that he was very grouchy in addition to wanting to ask a question. "Does that even work?"

IF shrugged. "Couldn't hurt to try."

Just then, Dr Askie came in the door. "I thought I saw you three in here. Hey girls," she greeted.

"Hello Dr Askie," responded Compa in kind. "We're just here to pick up Jacob. Is he good to go?"

"His body's pretty much fully healed, so I don't see why he wouldn't be. Make sure to come downstairs and sign the discharge forms. Jacob, your clothes are in your bathroom. Make sure to get changed before leaving and please leave the gown at the front desk."

Jacob nodded as he got up from the bed. "I'll do that now. Thanks." He walked into the bathroom and shut the door.

"See you all later." Dr Askie left the room.

"Yes!" Neptune pumped her fist. "We can go and have adventures again!"

"Don't forget that Lastation is still five days away," reminded IF.

Neptune hung her head. "Aw… what are we gonna do in the mean time?"

"Well," began IF, "there are a bunch of jobs lying around that we can do. One of them's from ZECA, something about blue shadows attacking their trucks. I've already signed us up for it."

"Eh, better than nothing, I guess," said Neptune.

Jacob stepped out of the bathroom, wearing his hoodie jacket, white socks, black sneakers, grey shirt and black long shorts. His shirt had a cross-shaped stitch in the middle of it. "Hey girls, what are we doing now?"

"Seriously?" Jacob looked around at the black factory setting of this new dungeon. Green lights were infrequent and sporadic and there were these weird massive black things on the walls that functioned like support beams even though they weren't actually necessary. Said massive black things also had a purple lantern thingamajig levitating above the bottom of their slopes… describing these settings is really annoying. Anyway, Jacob called this place Weird Sci-Fi Place #1. "I mean, seriously? We went through what could vaguely be called character development after a boss fight like Arfoire and we're going to dungeons again? I know this is a JRPG and all that but they're kind of getting old."

"Could be worse," said IF while playing a game on her phone.

"How?" asked Jacob.

"We could be doing some arbitrary and time-consuming puzzle that doesn't even give you EXP."

"Fair enough, I guess. So- oh, here we go." Three Pixelvaders appeared in front of the party. Jacob blasted them with a two-handed laser blast almost immediately, leaving them tired, fatigued and hurt. "Finish 'em off."

"'Kay." IF, Neptune and Compa shot at the weakened monsters and brought them down. "You were saying, Jacob?" IF inquired.

"Righto. So, we're looking for some blue shadow or whatever?"

"Pretty much." IF shot a Dogoo that tried to sneak up on the party.

"You know, I think the monsters are getting wiser to our rule breaking," commented Compa.

"Now that you mention it," Jacob blasted an overly ambitious Pixelvader with a force orb. It wasn't a direct hit but it knocked the monster off balance, allowing Neptune to shoot it to death, "they're trying to ambush us or take us down quickly."

"Ooh, I wonder that the boss is like?" Neptune pondered. "Maybe it's hiding right above the doorway, waiting for foolish adventurers to walk in beneath it and feast on their deliciously fleshy flesh!"

"Thanks, Neptune. You have, by complete accident, warned us of a possible ambush. It wouldn't have occurred to us otherwise to look up. Thank you very much." Jacob looked up.

"I get the impression Neptune's ability to succeed in something is inversely proportional to how much she's trying to succeed at it," said IF.

"Multiplied by the square of the relevancy of what she's talking about to the topic at hand," continued Jacob.

"Hey, Jacob? Why don't you fly?" Compa asked. "It's pretty big and spacy in here; I'm sure you could get some practice here."

Jacob blinked. "That makes sense." Jacob activated his jet pack and hovered in the air. "Alright, let's see if I can learn anything new from this."

The party progressed through the dungeon. Jacob was practicing above them and he began hovering left and right, forward and back and up and down much faster. He still wasn't doing any hardcore flying, though.

"I wish I had someone to practice with, maybe an archer or someone to give me something to dodge. You know, make me actually develop."

"Maybe we'll find one in town," Compa replied.

"Shh," shhed IF. "We're at the boss chamber. I guess."

Jacob flew down to walk with the group through the door gap into the next room where the boss awaited. Without hesitation, Jacob fired a big red laser above them. This surprised Neptune and Compa to a great extent. "Jake, is there a monster?" Compa asked, trying to steady her hold on her syringe.

"No." Jacob took to the air again. "I was just making sure. Let's go."

The room was surprisingly big; the platform they were standing on branched off forward and to the sides where it then formed into a U-shape. It was the kind of arrangement you'd see where scientists would hold notepads and walk around the torso of a giant mecha. Directly ahead was a ramp leading upwards onto a small platform where the head scientist would be looking at the mecha through glasses that shined white to indicate that he or she was evil. Jacob hovered around while the girls walked up the ramp. The small platform had two large purple dome-shaped lights in it.

The lights almost went unnoticed due to the massive blue wolf directly ahead of the girls. It was huge and bulky; a fighter, not a runner. Its snout looked a bit like that of a European dragon's, its claws were absolutely massive and looked artificial and medieval and it had a very prominent spine. Its hind legs had crescent blades on the back of them for… some reason. It didn't look so much like a wolf as it did a blue quadpedal wingless dragon.

"Pelt away or attack?" Jacob asked.

"I'm impatient; let's just whack it to pieces!" Neptune ran forward with her sword and slashed at Blue Shadow's throat.

"Fine by me." Jacob unleashed a massive red laser at the wolf. Unfortunately, Neptune was engulfed as well. "Ah! Sorry!" Jacob apologised as he stopped his attack.

"Jacob!" Neptune shouted at him. "What the hell was- AH!" The Blue Shadow took advantage of Neptune's distraction and slashed at her midsection. Neptune clutched her would with her left arm. "Crackers…"

"Don't worry, Nep-Nep! I'm here!" Compa rushed to Neptune with Reflex in hand. "Miss IF!"

"You don't need to call me Miss!" IF rushed up at the beast with her katara and slashed away while dodging and parrying any attacks the beast made. While she wasn't the strongest fighter, she was definitely the most agile. "Hey, Jacob!" IF called. "Stop using that laser thing! It's too risky and it doesn't really work on single targets! Just use those energy balls!"

"I know that!" Jacob called back. "I just don't use them because the recoil makes them hard to aim!"

"Well-" IF sidestepped a downward slash and countered with a stab to the throat- "get used to it! That's your weapon now! I know you're inexperienced but that's not gonna solve itself- WHOA!" IF narrowly dodged a horizontal slash. It was quickly followed by another downward strike that IF left herself completely open to but it was interrupted by a gunshot from Neptune. "Thanks, Neptune!"

"Anytime, anyplace!" Neptune entered the fray again and attacked the Blue Shadow while Compa provided support fire.

IF looked back at Jacob. "Anyway, you're not going to get better at aiming those energy balls by not using them! By all rights, you should because that's normally what happens here but that's not important! Practice makes perfect!"

Jacob took this all in and floated silently. "Of course…" he said, smiling while covering his face with his hand. "I knew that. I just forgot." He then held his right forearm with his left hand and fired an energy ball at the wolf. It hit it dead centre but Jacob's arm moved back. Regardless, he straightened up and fired again. "Take this!"

The combined continued assault of Neptune, Compa and Jacob soon brought the monster down and reduced it to data. "Mission accomplished!" Neptune cheered. "I hope we get an S rank for this!"

"Wait; we get ranked for this?" Jacob asked upon touching ground.

"Yeah," IF answered, sheathing her kataras. "Depending on how quickly we complete the mission, we get a different rank. Normally, under ten minutes gets you an S rank."

"Oh, well, then we probably aced this," said Jacob. "What do we get?"

"More money," IF replied simply.

"… alright then." The party then walked back through Weird Sci-Fi Place #1 to go back to town. "I find that a bit weird, myself. I mean, why are they timing us? We're getting rid of their monsters so why do they feel the need to make it a challenge?"

"Just put it down to Gamindustri tradition and leave it at that," IF responded.

"... cop out. So what do we do now for the other five days?"

IF opened her phone. "We take on more jobs and just wander around and shop for a bit. When Lastation comes around, that's when we go."

Compa was optimistic. "Well, at least we can get more experience and you can get better with your gloves, Jake."

"Yeah!" Neptune certainly agreed. "We'll be able to steamroll over our enemies like no one's business! We'll finish this in no time flat!" A pause. "And I meant that pun by the way! I didn't just realise it then, no sir! I'm just that clever!"

"Sure you are." Jacob didn't look back at her. "Well, I guess the practice will be useful. I hope this won't be as boring as the hospital."

Compa raised an eyebrow. "Didn't they have TV in there?"

"Yeah, but it was just soap operas over and over… apparently, adrenaline is bad for patients or whatever. Anyway, I watched one of the things and, by God, was I bored. You see…"

Thus ended another day in Jacob's life on Gamindustri. Wait, that's wrong; it's still just noon. Well, thus ended another chapter of Jacob's life on Gamindustri. Much better.

By the by, I looked it up and Wikipedia says that IF's weapons are called "katara" (look it up). I'm still not entirely sure if this is right or not and I lack credible sources to check. Still, I'm going to go with katara rather than qatar (which is a region).

Also, uni's finally picking up speed so, truly this time, do NOT expect a new chapter for a long while.

Also, if you could tell your friends about this fanfic, that'd be great.