Review response time. Here we go:
Prinny Overlord: You ain't seen nothing yet. ESPECIALLY in regards to Blanc. Now, I'm a modest person but I think I've really outdone myself with what I'm going to do to her. Nothing bad, of course. I'd hate to have a foul mouthed goddess destroy me.
Wdog-999: Thank you. I try to be funny.
Crimsonheresy: Well, she doesn't really have a reason to. She might later when this story's going to take a turn from the established plot but you'll just have to wait and see. Also, good. Can't wait to read.
Red-Drive: I didn't actually remember. I only realised it when I watched Opening 2 again. What an oversight on my part. Don't worry: this won't happen again. And thank you. *sigh* I wish I was writing for these games...
godofmadness43: Of course you wonder. You're not writing this.
Saturn56: You'll find out.
TheZeroDarkness: Yeah... I believe I did at one stage. I have plenty of issues regarding the stupidity of the characters, the way Kubo keeps trying to force humour in when it's inappropriate and the way the series just won't die even after THAT event. Also, the new manga arc introduces mind-baffling levels of idiocy. Just look up the What An Idiot page for Bleach on TV Tropes.
Eisenfaust: Thank you. I aim to impress, after all. Also, remember that Noire was the narrator and it's entirely her opinion. As for mk2... well, it made me look back at the first game fondly. That's all I'm going to say about it.
Guest: Thank you very much. Oh, you never expected Hyperdimension Neptunia to be the way it was, hm? What were your expectations and how were they tripped over?
Zaralann: Thanks. You got anything else to say?
There's a bit of a shift in writing style in this chapter. I recently got into a roleplay and I'm beginning to see things a bit differently from a writing perspective. Let's see how this turns out!
Chapter 19: The Adventure Continues
Jacob's household back on his world was still gloomy. Four days had passed since John, his father, last talked with the police and the atmosphere had only gotten worse. Outwardly, Zac, Jacob's older brother, was the least affected by it. Inside, he was as confused and scared as everyone else but he'd be the first to say that something definitely went wrong when worry for Jacob turned into hostility at everyone else.
"What are you doing at that computer?" John would ask Sharon in an accusatory tone.
"I'm responding to messages," Sharon would answer defensively.
"Do any of them talk about Jacob?" John would continue.
"No, they're about work," she would respond.
"Even though we still haven't found him?"
As you can imagine, these escalated rather quickly. They were not pleasant discussions at all and, while Zac did indeed dearly wish for his brother to be home again like everyone else, he was getting rather sick of all the shouting, disagreements and finger pointing.
One rather windy weekend morning, Zac found himself with a day off from work while his parents were off… somewhere. He didn't really remember. He decided to play on the PS3 that their insurance replaced after that whole explosion fiasco… God knows how that happened. Anyway, the game that Zac decided to play was Hyperdimension Neptunia. Even though it was broken and shattered, they found out that that was the game that was in there when it blew up. It blew up when Jacob was playing it. On the very night he disappeared. Even though he didn't really believe it, the gears in Zac's head were spinning nonetheless. Was this game somehow connected to his disappearance? Even if it wasn't, he was a bit curious about Jacob's tastes.
At that moment, Jacob's little sister Hannah arrived at the second floor. "Hey Zac," she greeted.
"Hey," he responded as the game started.
Hannah sat down on a nearby beanbag. "You're playing this again?" she asked in a normal tone, being used to this recent change of behaviour.
Zac shrugged. "Got nothing else to do."
"Well, you could play a game that's actually good," Hannah suggested.
Zac sighed. As an honest person who had no reason to lie, Zac would say that the game was not very good at all. He was, however, mindful of the fact that he mostly played Western games and this could be just a difference of opinion. "Well, I wanna see how this goes."
"Fine, I'll watch," Hannah answered with a roll of her eyes as she sat down on a beanbag.
As they talked, Zac was skipping the opening credits as he didn't feel like being reminded of the seemingly five million companies that worked on the game.
"Just so you know, I'm hopping on this when you're done," said Hannah.
"Well, I'm gonna be a while," Zac answered, not taking his eyes off the screen as he loaded his save.
CRASH!
"What the hey?!" Zac shouted as he jumped up in his chair in surprise, much like how Hannah jumped in her beanbag.
Bang!
It happened again, although it was nowhere near as loud this time and it was further away from them rather than right above them. After recovering from the shock, Zac put the controller down.
"What the hell was that?" asked Hannah, still a bit surprised.
"Dunno but it hit the roof," Zac answered.
"Huh…" Hannah breathed out. "Wanna check it out?"
Going outside to the front yard, Zac found a tall steel ladder that was often used by John to climb up onto the roof whether to fix a window screen or fetch mischievous young boys who decided to push out a window screen to climb onto the roof to get a toy. Bracing it against their brick house, he climbed onto the first floor's roof to see what exactly hit their second floor's roof. There was a problem, however.
"Aw, crud," Zac cursed as he realised what it was.
"What's up?" Hannah asked from the base of the ladder.
"I can't see the top of the roof. Can't figure out what's up there," Zac answered.
"Well, that sucks. What do we do now?"
Zac turned to his left in preparation to go down the ladder. "Eh, we'll tell Mum and…" But something caught his attention and stopped his sentence where it was.
His younger sister had an idea of what happened. "See anything?"
"Yeah, something's on the garage roof. Hang on a tick, I'm gonna get it and bring it back to you."
"Okay," responded Hannah as Zac traversed the first floor roof to the roof the garage. He made sure to stay steady and not go quickly so that he wouldn't fall off the sloped tin.
It didn't take him long at all to return to Hannah. "Hey," he called to her as he reached down with an item in hand.
"What is it?" Hannah took the item from his hand to find out herself. It was actually half of a broken item but she recognised it anyway. "… It's the top of a flip phone."
Zac came down the ladder. "I've got the other part here," he said once he was safe on the ground once more. He showed Hannah the part that complemented hers. "It was on the other side of the garage. Whatever happened, it came from the side, landed on the roof and then skipped onto the garage."
Hannah took his part and put the two side by side. Even though they were completely wrecked, she could still recognise that, together, they'd make up the top of a clamshell phone. That is, if they also had the other fragments that were no doubt scattered everywhere, not to mention the screen.
"Who would just throw away a perfectly good phone?" Hannah asked.
"I'd rather know who'd send it flying onto the roof of our house."
That was three days ago. Right now, the party back on Gamindustri was enjoying themselves having lunch at a crepe shop that was very close to the motel.
"Jake, you're eating way too quickly," Compa warned the teen, ignoring her butter-sugar crepe for the moment.
"Let him be, Compa." IF, unlike the other party members (except for Compa), was enjoying her custard crepe slowly. "At the very least, he's going slower than Neptune."
Nisa swallowed a mouthful of crepe filled with spicy mince. "What about me?"
IF shrugged. "You're not eating as slowly but, at the very least, you're not Neptune."
"Actually…" Compa looked over in Neptune's direction, "… Nep-Nep isn't really herself today."
"Jeez, again?" IF also looked at Planeptune's CPU. "What's going on this time?"
Every party member was currently focused on the purple goddess. Against all the odds, she was eating her chocolate crepe at a normal pace. Well, a pace that was normal for regular humans. She wasn't paying much attention to her food, preferring to look… nowhere, really. The gears in her head were turning so noticeably that it was surprising that they weren't making any sound.
Jacob decided to provoke her. "Oi, Neptune, whatcha thinking?"
"Huh?" Neptune broke out of her trance to find Jacob asking for her attention. Upon realising this, her eyes widened and a blush developed on her face rather quickly. "Oh! Nothing! Nothing at all! Just tit for tat, this and that!" Then she made a fake laugh.
"What's really on your mind?" Jacob, as usual, pushed to the point.
"Aw!" Neptune groaned. "I can't tell you! It's too embarrassing!"
"… It's too embarrassing for you, the person who brought up monsters doing 'the thing' and making babies in dungeons," Jacob brought up.
"Wait, what?" IF almost didn't believe what she heard.
"Wait, what?" The same went for Nisa.
"Yeah…" Jacob turned to the two girls. "In the same dungeon where we met IF, Neptune thought that dungeons could be a monster breeding ground."
"… Neptune, that's disgusting and you shouldn't be thinking about that," said IF.
"Hey, it's perfectly reasonable," Neptune argued. "Nisa, help me out here."
"Well…" Nisa was on the fence. "I've kind of been stuck inside a monster's stomach once so my standards… aren't exactly just."
Before Neptune could answer back, IF's phone started ringing. The party was surprised by this and looked over IF's shoulders to see her message. Except for Jacob, that is.
"Chian?" Compa read the sender's name aloud.
IF sighed. "I know, Compa. I'm reading. Says she wants us for something right away."
"We know, Iffy. We're reading," Neptune cheekily responded with an equally cheeky grin.
IF's grip on her phone tightened somewhat.
"Okay, let's finish out lunches and then go," said Jacob before he resumed eating his chocolate crepe.
"Of course!" Nisa replied with vigour as she over-dramatically picked up her knife and fork. "My crepe will not eat itself!"
IF gave Nisa's crepe a side glance. "Given how spicy that thing is, I'm surprised about that."
"Hey Chian," called Jacob as the party entered the mostly vacant restaurant. "Funny how we most of the time arrive when no one's here."
"Oh, we're closed today," answered Chian who was standing at a nearby table. "Works for me because I need your help."
"Rest assured that you have our assistance. What troubles you?" asked Nisa.
Chian seemed to be thankful. "Ah, good. Well, just recently, I finished my test model of our showcase at the Expo."
"You're still going, even though the Parliament's running it now?" Compa asked with worry.
Chian understood the reason for her concern. "I can't back out since I've invested so much already. Not going is no longer an option. Besides, Lady Black Heart has the final say. The Parliament can't defy her."
Neptune was excited as she remembered a previously forgotten detail. "Oh yeah, Noirey's also gonna be there! This Expo's gonna be a blast!"
Even though she was a silhouette, Jacob could tell that Chian's disposition had changed. The rest of the party felt it, too. While Neptune was just confused, the rest of the party almost choked in the awkwardness that came from Chian suddenly turning to Neptune.
"… Who's Noirey?" Chian asked.
"… Oh crackers." Neptune realised she said something that she really shouldn't have said.
Chian's entire body turned towards Neptune. "You know Lady Black Heart."
"No, we just met her," Jacob quickly defended. "Sorry that we didn't tell you but please trust us that we had our reasons."
"I… believe that, don't worry." Although she tried to ease their worries, Chian's agitation still unnerved the party. "Did you at least tell her about Avenir?"
"Indeed we did!" answered Nisa. "She didn't believe us at first but she soon saw our righteousness and has set her sights on that evil company."
"That's actually a maybe," interrupted IF. "We don't know if she's actually going to help us yet but it's a definite possibility."
Chian could've sighed silently. "How'd you meet her, anyway?"
"A chance encounter," quickly responded Jacob. "Complete accident, really. She just stumbled across us in a dungeon and things kind of snowballed from there."
Jacob could still feel what most likely was Chian's suspicious gaze on him. "That's really it?"
Compa spoke up for him. "Chian, I can say that that is honestly what happened."
Chian sighed a bit more heavily than before.
"So, uh, Chian, what did you want us for?" IF asked, very eager to get away from the current topic.
It seemed to work as Chian's disposition suddenly snapped to surprise. "Oh, right. Anyway, since weaponry is the theme for the Expo, I want you four girls to work at my booth."
IF, not expecting such a request, instantly became flustered. "Wh-What?! No! Even if we could, I won't be a signpost for hormonal boys!"
The head of Passe raised her open hands. "Calm down, now. I just want you all to demonstrate the weapon's functions. But what do you mean by 'even if we could'?"
"I'm sorry Chian but we're leaving for Lowee today," answered Compa as apologetically as she could. "I don't think we'll be around for the Tech Expo."
"Aw…" Neptune hung her head. "And I was so looking forward to seeing Noirey again…"
"Hey, hey, don't worry! The Tech Expo's not even for at least a month," reassured Chian. "I wouldn't have called you here if it was right around the corner."
Jacob crossed his arms. "Then what do you need us for?"
"Wait right here. I'll get it for you." With that, Chian disappeared into the hallway.
During her absence, Nisa sneezed.
"Bless you," said Jacob, Compa and IF.
"Thank you."
And then Chian returned. In her hands, she held what seemed to be a grey grip for a two-handed sword complete with a grey circle guard.
"… What's that?" Jacob asked out of curiosity.
Chian then pressed a grey button on the side of the handle and the party could not have recoiled faster when, completely all of a sudden, a purple beam appeared completely out of nowhere and acted as the blade of the weapon. Chian spun the weapon around in her hand a few times for amusement before turning the blade off, throwing the grip into the air like a baton, catching it in a reverse grip and then turning the blade back on again.
"It's the test model for our weapon, the mech sword Armas," Chian declared proudly as she turned it off again and raised it towards the party. "I'm loaning it to you."
"Really peally?!" Neptune could not be more excited. Jacob could've sworn that Neptune took the sword from Chian with enough force to rip her arm off if she held on. "A retractable sword! And it's purple, too! Thank you so much, Chian!"
Suddenly, Neptune realised something and her excitement faded away. "Don't you need this for the Expo, though?"
Chian laughed. "You do know what a 'test model' is, right? The real deal's being made right now. What I want you to do right now is test the weapon and tell me if you find anything that needs improving, got it?"
"Oh, you want us to field test your sword?" IF reiterated as a question. "We can do that no problem."
"As for the booth work thing, don't worry about it too much. I just thought it'd be best to have experienced adventurers show off the sword," Chian explained. "Don't worry, though. I'll be fine."
"Well, we'll try and come back in time for the Expo," Jacob responded.
"Right," IF affirmed. "I'm actually interested in seeing the Expo. Until then, have fun dealing with Avenir."
"We'll try. Have fun in Lowee."
"We will. Thank you." Jacob and the party turned to go to the door.
"Wait."
At Chian's call, the party stopped and turned around out of curiosity.
Chian seemed to not want to say what she wanted to say but she did so anyway. "What are you doing here? Why are you jumping around the landmasses like this? What is with these 'top secret missions' of yours?"
The party members looked at one another as it to reach an understanding. Finally, Jacob took one step towards Chian. "The only reason they were secret is because your CPU was involved and we had no idea how you'd react to that. What we're doing is trying to save the world by gathering a Key Fragment from each landmass to release a MacGuffin person. That's pretty much all there is to it. We only engaged Black Heart because we thought she had information we could use. I swear that's it."
With no doubt, Jacob knew for a fact that Chian was looking right at him. She was analysing and gauging him to determine if he was lying or not. Jacob could feel the intensity of her stare even if he couldn't see it for himself but he still remained strong.
Finally, Chian crossed her arms and her posture was more relaxed. "Fine. That's really all I need to know."
"Chian…" said Compa.
"I'm fine," she responded before picking up a cloth and wiping a table. "Have fun on your quest."
"We'll keep in touch about your weapon," Jacob responded.
"Thanks."
The party felt very awkward but, as they had nothing else to say, all they did was leave quietly.
Jacob and the rest of the party found themselves at the Sky Harbor once again. He didn't like how detailed it was before and time had not made it any sweeter. In the distance, he could see Lowee. Much like the other landmasses from before, it was floating earth topped with green grass. Lowee's uniqueness came from its snow-capped sky blue mountains which circled the landmass and its beige buildings. Also, above the buildings, there were three stripped spherical white balloons, one striped red, one blue and the last green.
"At last, we have reached the Sky Harbor!" shouted Nisa as she punched the sky. "Onwards we go to Lowee, the land of White Serenity!"
"Let's go over the inventory one more time," advised IF. "Dogs?"
"Check," confirmed Jacob as he pulled out a random dog from the disc inside his disc cover. "All sixteen of them are in my disc. Except for ArfArf, who's with Neptune."
"Right. Food?"
"I've got it all." Compa pulled out an apple for proof and gave it to Jacob. "Here you go."
"Thank you." Jacob bit into the apple. "Another day, another dungeon," he huffed after he swallowed a piece of the apple.
"Clothes?"
"I've got them as well," replied Compa.
"And everything else?"
Jacob raised his hand slightly. "I've got it."
"Well, seems like we didn't forget anything. Let's move."
And the party stepped through the portal, turning into familiar blue data particles that drifted on like before.
The party, to the surprise of absolutely no one present, found themselves in another cave. However, this one was different; it was better lit and its crystals were yellow. Jacob christened this dungeon "Cave #3".
"You know something's wrong when you're presented with a dungeon as plain and boring as this and come out as thankful because it's not that dark," said Jacob.
"At the very least, I can see better in it," IF responded. "Not that that changes much but it's a start."
"Don't worry, my buddies. If it ever gets too dark…" Neptune pulls out Armas and dramatically extends the blade, "… I can light it up… huh?"
The party looked back at her. "What's wrong, Nep-Nep?" asked Compa.
"The sword isn't glowing. Shouldn't it be doing that?" asked Neptune as she pointed her sword at the party. As Neptune said, the energy blade wasn't giving off any light unlike most typical energy blades. It was just a conical beam, appearance wise.
"Oi, watch it," Jacob cautioned as he moved backwards. "And if it doesn't glow, all the better. That makes it all the more useful for stealth. Personally, I'm more worried about its cutting ability, considering it looks more like an icy pole than an actual blade."
IF took several steps forward and triggered a random encounter with a single Vorpal. "There you go."
"Ah, thanks. Neptune, if you please?"
At the opportunity of an experiment for her new toy, Neptune's eyes lit up. "Ooh, I've been waiting for this." Gripping Armas with both hands, Neptune rushed towards the unsuspecting monster. "I'll slice ya in two!" She removed one hand from the sword and brought it down on her cyan foe like a cleaver. It wasn't a one hit kill like her one-liner would have had some people believe but, as was always the case, that was only the beginning of her combo. She then sliced to the right, sliced upwards and then used both hands to finish off the Vorpal with a downward cleave, stepping forward with each attack.
"Yahey!" Neptune cheered as she span around on one foot and flashed her party a peace sign with her hand. "It ain't the best but it'll do!"
"Wait, what?" Jacob was confused and unimpressed at the same time. "That's it?"
Neptune was still in her victory pose but she looked at Jacob with confusion nonetheless. "… Whadaya mean 'that's it?' It sliced and diced that thingy, didn't it?"
"Yeah, but… it's an energy sword. A freaking lightsaber. It should cut much more than that," Jacob argued.
"A what?" IF asked about the word 'lightsaber'.
Jacob rolled his eyes. "Never mind. What I mean is it's a laser as a sword. It should cut much better than that. It should be able to cut down steel doors. That's typically how anime works."
Neptune got out of her pose and looked at her sword more closely. "Well, it looks like it could cut steel doors. Just not monsters."
Then Neptune touched the energy blade.
"Neptune, don't touch it!" Jacob shouted as he sprinted forward to grab Neptune's hand.
"Ow! Hey, what's going on?"
IF and the others ran up to the two. "Jacob, what are you doing?" the speedster asked, incredulous.
"It's an energy blade…" Jacob trailed off as he inspected Neptune's hand. Surprisingly, it was still as pristine and healthy as it was before touching the blade. "… It's not dangerous?" Slowly, he relinquished Neptune's hand only to, with hesitation, tap the blade with his own. When he found himself not feeling any worse, he tapped it a few more times. Feeling safe, he then rested his hand on it. "It's not even warm."
"Is it supposed to be?" inquired the nurse.
"Well, that's typically the case for energy blades." Jacob took a step back and crossed his arms as he thought about this. "It doesn't give off light or heat, it's a retractable weapon that's most likely made from unbreakable energy… This may just be the best sword of all time. Apart from the cutting issue, that is."
"But its stats aren't even that good," answered IF. "We can buy better weapons than this and this is supposed to be the prototype of the Expo winner."
"Then we'll tell Chian that its stats need work when we call her next," responded Jacob. "For now, let's get through this dungeon."
The party was rather overleveled for the dungeon so Neptune, IF and sometimes Nisa offed the monsters before they could even attack every single time they spawned. For Jacob and Compa, this made walking through the dungeon comparable to a rather noisy stroll in the park and not once was the male forced to stop eating his fruit. While Jacob still wanted to get out of the dungeon as soon as possible like normal, he was much calmer about it than usual.
Having finally exited through Lowee's portal and arrived on the landmass, he had the strangest desire to go back into that dungeon. It might have been the falling snow.
"Holy moly, it's c-c-c-c-cold!" Neptune cried as she immediately held herself to keep herself warm but her clattering teeth made it apparent to her friends that it wasn't working.
"G-Goodness!" Compa mimicked Neptune's self-holding but she controlled her teeth to not chatter. "We need to get inside, quick!"
IF, however, was only fussed enough to pull on her coat a bit more. "It's not that cold. Get over it."
Jacob looked around his environment with interest despite being cold himself, something he demonstrated by zipping up his jacket and putting on his hoodie. "You know… it never snows like this back in Australia. Well, it does on really high mountains but never close to the ground like here."
IF looked at him, intrigued. "Wait, how do you know how the snow acts here?"
"I'm going to guess that snow's pretty much on every building and on every street?"
IF blinked in surprise. She certainly didn't expect that answer. "Yeah, how'd you know?"
"Lucky guess. Anyway, let's get into a motel. It is kind of cold out here."
"Not you, too…" IF groaned. "Is my entire team full of babies?"
"Don't fret, IF. I happen to like this weather!" Nisa declared. Indeed, she seemed to be the only one who actually enjoyed the snow and the cold despite the zipper of her jumpsuit being just below her bellybutton like always.
"M-M-M-M-My sister! How can you like this cold? I think I've got the frozen status ailment!" Neptune whined.
Nisa put on a knowing smirk. "It is simple, my sister. As Gamindustri's heroine of justice, it is my duty to seek out and destroy evil at every turn. What I like about Lowee is that the cold weather means I do not build up a sweat as easily, meaning I can fight without taking a shower for much longer than normal."
"Do you even shower?" IF asked. "I don't think I've seen you clean yourself once."
"How dare you!" Nisa looked offended as she pointed dramatically at IF. "I will have you know that purifying one's own body is as important to the heroine of justice as it is to everyone else and it is a ritual I perform on a regular basis!"
"Fine, fine!" IF surrendered. "I get it."
Lowee was… eccentric when it came to its buildings. While expecting the brick housing was fair enough, it was highly unusual for them to be bloated in one area and thin in another like pears. Speaking of fruit, no one would ever have expected the houses to actually be modelled after fruit. On one street alone, there was a pineapple house, a pumpkin house and even two mushroom houses. It was like a Dr Seuss knockoff novel. Also, there was snow scattered along the light brown stone street in small piles and on top of many of the buildings.
Jacob was completely bewildered. "What is with this place?"
"The consequence of relying on magic to build, I guess," IF replied.
That caught Jacob's attention. "Magic?"
"Oh, right, you don't know. Neptune, Compa, you two listen up as well. Unlike Lastation, Planeptune and, to a degree, Leanbox, Lowee focuses on developing magic rather than technology. It's less efficient than technology but it does allow for some unique developments," IF lectured.
Neptune was absorbed completely as soon as IF said "magic". "Whoa, really? So, Lowee is like a fantasy land? Does that mean I can use magic now?"
"No. Using magic is a practice that takes time. You can't just do it," IF elaborated.
Nisa chuckled. "Ah, that brings back fond memories. I remember first coming here and learning about magic before going to take on a monster. I decided to empower my Justice Kick with the power of fire to take it out. That was when I realised I couldn't actually do such a thing and I didn't defeat the monster in one strike as I desired."
Compa laughed slightly. "You must have a lot of interesting stories."
"Indeed I do!" declared the heroine. "But, before I tell you, let us find ourselves some beds."
"Okay! Now, where do we find a motel?" asked Neptune as she looked around.
"Over here." Of course, IF was way ahead of her.
The rest of the party walked up to IF and looked at the building. It was two stories high with red tiled roofs, red window frames and a red rounded double-leaf door. Two wide pillars supported the first roof which had a sign clearly saying "Motel" in bold, white letters. Truth be told, it wasn't even as big as some of the houses in that very street, making it not seem very motel-like at all.
"Looks a bit quaint but it'll do," commented Jacob.
IF pushed the doors open and lead the party inside. The reception area was rather plain, with yellow walls with white flower decals, a fireplace, six white chairs and a single counter being watched by one female silhouette receptionist who was next to a door that presumably led to the back of the motel. To spice things up, there was a large TV on one wall that was connected to a Nintendo Wii or whatever Gamindustrians called it and there was also a Wii Balance Board.
Upon being approached, the receptionist looked rather happy. "Hello and welcome to our fine motel! Are you hoping to rent a room?"
"Yeah, for just us five," IF answered.
"Make that six. We could get another party member while we're here," Jacob advised.
"We'll get another room if that happens," IF argued before turning back towards the receptionist. "Just five people."
All of a sudden, the receptionist seemed rather tense. "Uh… Unfortunately, we cannot fulfil that request. To its fullest."
"I knew it," said Jacob with a roll of his eyes. "There's always a catch."
IF groaned. "What is it?"
The receptionist swallowed to mentally prepare herself. "This motel only has one room. In addition, it only has three beds. Don't worry, though. I think you can all fit if you share."
Looking at the faces of the party members, the receptionist wished she had never said that or ever had to say that. Neptune, Compa and Nisa looked completely bewildered while Jacob and IF were utterly dumbstruck.
"… Three beds," Jacob repeated. "This is a motel in a place that gets a lot of adventurers and you only have three beds. And you only have one room."
"I'm sorry," the receptionist responded, "but you know what JRPG parties are like. They tend to only have three people in them."
"No they don't!" Jacob shouted. "They tend to have seven or eight people in them!"
It appeared that the receptionist sighed. "I am sorry sir but we only have one room and all that room has is three beds."
"And this is a motel?" Jacob critically asked.
"Mostly, only plot-relevant adventurers use it. You've played JRPGs before, right?"
Jacob covered his face with his hands and breathed out. He could not believe this.
IF took her turn to argue in his place. "While that makes sense for a JRPG, this is real life." She knew that was a lie but the receptionist didn't. "You can't tell me you think this is a good business practice to have."
By this point, it seemed that the receptionist became impatient. "Lady, this is the only motel in all of Lowee as you'd expect from a JRPG. If you do not wish to stay here, you are more than welcome to find another place to stay at."
Jacob and IF did not have anything to say to that. They looked at each other and then the rest of the party members to know their opinions. Neptune's cheeks were puffed, Nisa's face indicated she didn't like this either but there wasn't much choice and Compa looked to be in a state of calm surrender.
Finally, Jacob sighed. "How much?"
"I still don't see why we pay when we sleep at a motel for the night," Jacob complained as he walked up the stairs. "I mean, can't we give weekly payments so that we're the only ones who can use the room? I'd hate to come back here after a hard day's work and find that our only beds are occupied."
"I'm starting to get really annoyed at this JRPG logic," IF seemed to agree as they reached the door to their room. "This room better be worth it."
And then she opened the door.
It seemed that a good reason for the motel's less than normal size was because all the funds were allocated to this one amazingly decorated room. The floor was composed of black and white tiles with a beige and pink heart in each respectively and they were arranged in a diamond formation. The walls had plain black and white tiles arranged regularly but they were only two tiles tall. The rest of the walls were wood-framed windows through which the party could see the tops of the snow-capped mountains. In fact, the entire room was supported with wood that had vines of all things coiling around them.
If that wasn't enough, there was a strawberry-shaped light hanging by a vine at each corner of the room as well as the centre. At one end of the room that was opposite the door was a more intricately detailed window but with five strawberries above it. With all that considered, it was a bit surprising that the room itself was surprisingly empty. There was a piano with a fold-out three-panel mirror on one of the walls as if it was assumed that everyone who rented this room could play the piano and, true to the receptionist's word, there were only three beds but what beds they were. Shockingly, they all looked like vanilla-topped cakes and they had strawberry cushions on them.
"Cake beds!" Neptune shouted excitedly as she dashed like a madwoman towards one of them and leapt onto it. "So comfy…" she sighed contently.
"… I am certain this is not what it looked like from the outside," remarked Jacob.
"I… agree." Even IF was confused as she looked out the window. "And I'm very sure we shouldn't be getting this view from the second floor."
"And I'm very sure that this room, with all its wood, will come down in an instant if someone even lights a stove," Jacob added, placing a hand on the wooden supports.
Compa seemed confused as well but at IF rather than the room. "IF, didn't you come here before?"
"Yeah but I never really thought about it at the time," answered the brunette. "Everything about Gamindustri just seems… stupider than I remember. It feels like I'm going through it all again from level one."
"Iffy, the beds look like cakes!" Neptune pointed out to the brunette as she bounced excitedly on one of the beds. "This is so awesome!"
Nisa lied down on one of the other beds. "And so comfortable, too! I am so looking forward to tonight!"
"Not for long. There are five of us and only three beds. We're going to have to share," reminded IF.
Neptune and Nisa stopped being relaxed immediately.
IF turned back to Jacob. "And, before you suggest it, I am not sleeping on the floor."
"Wasn't even going to," responded the male. "It's a tile floor. I'm not going to force anyone to sleep on that. Maybe we should think about this later tonight. I think we should go to the Basilicom so we can plan our next move."
"That sounds like a good idea," said Compa. "We can also explore the streets at the same time and see if there are any arcades and restaurants that we can visit later."
Neptune pushed herself up from the bed. "That sounds awesome! Let's totally do that!"
The idea turned out to be not awesome at all, at least for Neptune and Compa. After exiting the hotel, it took ten seconds for Neptune to complain that it was too cold and they had to get back inside before she developed ice powers that she really didn't consider worth being in the cold to get. IF told her to get over it and told Compa, who was also bothered by the cold although not as much, to just bear with it for a while longer. Jacob also had an aversion to the climate and brought it up a couple of times but was never as loud as Compa much less Neptune. Nisa, surprisingly, shared the same feelings as three of her compatriots, presumably because she wasn't as active and burning energy as she said she'd be doing.
With the weather in mind, the party was very relieved to find that the Basilicom was on the main landmass for once and made their way to it.
"This Basilicom looks exactly the same as Lastation's and Planeptune's," Jacob brought up once they arrived. "And why isn't there a single bit of snow to be found?"
"And why is it still cold?" Neptune carried on.
"Let's get inside!" suggested Compa.
Compa, Neptune and Nisa rushed to the Basilicom's doors. At the doors was a male silhouette that looked exactly the same as the one that was at the Basilicom of Lastation. "Oh, hello," he greeted politely even though he seemingly wasn't expecting visitors. "Can I help you with something?"
"Please let us in!" Neptune shouted.
"O-Of course," responded the Moderator as he moved out of the way. "Please, go right in."
And so the three girls did with Jacob and IF not far behind them at all. Inside, the Basilicom looked exactly the same as Planeptune's and Lastation's. None of the party really cared enough to comment, all of them being too cold to care.
"Ohhhh…" moaned Compa as the party was inside the Basilicom with the door shut behind them.
"Even my burning heart of justice could not ignore how freezing that was…" Nisa groaned.
"It felt like my soul was getting sucked away in that snow…" Neptune added.
It was at this point where another silhouette that looked just like the one from outside approached the five of them. "Are you okay?" he inquired. "You girls hardly look layered enough to travel in the snow."
"They're just whining," IF answered. "It's not even that cold."
"Says you," chipped in Jacob who had taken off his hood and unzipped his jacket. "It was a bit chilly and I'm wrapped like a cocoon."
"It's so warm and cozy in here… I don't wanna go back to the motel! I wanna sleep here!" Neptune then turned to the silhouette. "So, anyway, do you know where we can find some Guard Vermins?" she asked, switching topics quickly like a champ. "We need to find a Key Fragment from here to save the world."
The silhouette was taken off-guard. "I believe Guard Vermins are extinct…" he responded, slow and unsure.
"Well, they're not!" Neptune answered. "We fought one before and it had a Key Fragment! We need to find the others, one from each landmass!"
The Basilicom employee remained professional despite Neptune's… outstanding testimony. "If you're certain of this, why not go to the Central Basilicom, Entremets, to learn more? This is only a local Basilicom."
"Wait, hold on, what?" asked Jacob out of confusion. "There's more than one Basilicom in Lowee?"
"That's right," confirmed the silhouette. "Unlike the other landmasses that only have one Basilicom, there is a local Basilicom in each of Lowee's cities. The local Basilicoms govern the areas they're in while Entremets manages all of those Basilicoms. Our CPU also lives there."
Jacob turned towards IF and Nisa. "Why didn't you two tell us about this earlier?"
Nisa, embarrassed, casually looked away and rubbed the back of her head while IF just rolled her eyes.
Neptune wasn't that concerned about them, however. "Oh, so we can go there and chat with the goddess about monsters?"
"Possibly." Reaching behind him, the silhouette pulled out a roll of paper and handed it to Neptune. "This is the map that leads to it. Be careful, though, as the roads can be quite harsh."
"Gotcha." Taking the map thankfully, Neptune then faced the rest of her party. "Alrighty, peeps! Let's head for Enternets!"
Jacob huffed and zipped up his hoodie again.
Despite being called the "Central Basilicom", Entremets was actually on one of the floating islands surrounding Lowee, making it not central at all. As usual, the mode of transport was a gondola. This one was white with a yellowish-brown roof and a blue line running around the side, presumably to look like an idealistic small fairy tale hut. Inside, it didn't smell and the seats were cushioned so that was one heck of an improvement from Lastation's transports. Also, it was much warmer than outside. Aesthetics aside, the thing still functioned the same as the others, getting them to the dungeon like normal.
"Brrrr! I think my butt's frozen!" Neptune complained once Jacob, IF and Nisa managed to get her out of the transport when it reached its destination. "Get me a fire! And some hot chocolate! And a blanket!"
"Neptune, it's not that cold. Get over it," IF responded. "Look, if it's bothering you that much, I'll let you borrow my hot pack."
Neptune looked back at IF with shock and horror. "What?! Hot pants? Here? This is supposed to be a magical fun land, Iffy! You don't bring hot pants here!"
"I said hot pack, you moron," IF stressed as she pulled out a small black bag with "Hot pack" written in bold, purple stylised letters. "I got it and some other stuff from Planeptune before we left just in case we needed it."
"I can vouch for that, having been there at the time," Jacob spoke up.
"Now, make sure to trade it off every few minutes," IF advised the CPU as she handed over the item.
"Ah, okay. Got it." Neptune took the device from IF and held it close to her torso. "Compa, I'll give it to you next!"
"What? What about me, your dear sister?" Nisa asked in shock.
Neptune looked apologetic but she didn't regret her decision. "Sorry Nisa but Compa needs it more than you do."
"Th-Thank you so much, Nep-Nep!" Compa was very thankful.
"Can't you just warm yourself up with rigorous physical activity, anyway?" IF asked the blunette.
The heroine of justice looked the slightest bit embarrassed. "The fires of justice have to be burning first."
With his hoodie on, Jacob looked into the forest. It was all white. Everywhere. At some points, it didn't even seem like the snow's fault; he was reasonably sure that the wood of the trees and the foliage around were simply white by nature. Not that snow wasn't abundant; it seemed that getting around would be a royal pain given how high the snow had piled. There wasn't a single bit of ground to be seen underneath all of the snow.
"Well, I can't see a thing in this," said Jacob. "Also, I'm willing to bet our shoes and socks are going to be soaked after trekking through this snow. You're sure Entremets is on the other side?"
Neptune took out her map and analysed it thoroughly. "We got on car 6 and this is definitely a snowy forest and it's named 'Dis Snow Forest'… Yup, this has to be the place."
"Why would they build the Central Basilicom there?" asked Compa. "Shouldn't ordinary people have easier access to it?"
"It's the CPU's holy ground. Keeping it hard to access makes it so that idiots like Neptune can't just break in and destroy everything," IF explained.
"This is in spite of the fact that the other Basilicoms- which, by the way, have info that some people actually need- never needed to resort to such measures," countered Jacob.
IF opened her mouth to retort but, finding herself not wanting to, she closed it again. "That's a good point, actually."
"So we have a snowy forest as a dungeon for once," said Nisa. "This should prove to be a new experience for Jacob, Compa and Neptune."
Wordlessly, Jacob surprised his friends by activating his jetpack and rising above the trees.
"Jake, what are you doing?" Compa inquired.
"Figured I'd get some practice in," Jacob called back. "I'll cover you all from up here. By the way, there's a Basilicom in the forest for sure. It looks just like a regular Basilicom right down to not having even the slightest bit of snow around it so I don't know for sure if it's central or not."
"Alright then," IF returned. "Keep an eye out and tell us if anything happens."
"Got it."
Jacob stayed above the girls as they trudged through the snow. As he predicted, it was no small task for them. Their feet kept sinking into the thick white blanket of ice and they constantly had to exert great effort to lift their feet high enough to keep walking. Neptune had enough of it once she tripped.
"Ah!" she shouted before the front of her body planted itself into the precipitation. "Okay, I'm sick of this!" she yelled when she pushed herself out. "Let's head back. No Basilicom is worth this!"
"Neptune, don't worry," said Jacob. "There's a small cliff right ahead of you lot. You can just slide down and land on the path in front of it."
"Is that so?" Nisa helped up Neptune. "So there's no snow on this path?"
"Only a little bit. After this, it's smooth walking from here on out."
"Oh, thank goodies!" Neptune collapsed on Nisa when she was stood up. Thankfully, Nisa caught Neptune so that the both of them wouldn't end up in the snow again.
"You heard the man. Let's go," IF told her comrades.
True to Jacob's word, they came across an edge that they eagerly slid down in an attempt to get away from the abundant snow. The only party member not to land on their feet was Compa, who was helped to her feet by the party's CPU.
"Be careful, alright? Who's gonna heal us if our medic's too hurt to?" Neptune asked playfully as she handed the hot pack over to the nurse.
"Th-Thanks..." Compa stammered as she nervously took the heating device from Neptune's hands.
"I can't believe it! We're finally free of that snow!" Gracious for being on solid ground with nothing trapping her feet again, Nisa jumped up and down and ran on the spot, enjoying her newly found freedom.
Compa smiled at the heroine's enthusiasm but found something else that got her attention. "Whoa... It's so pretty!"
Compa and the rest of her party upon finding out what she was looking at except for IF and Jacob were quite enamored by what she saw. Unlike the sight that greeted them when they left the gondola, the sight that was laid ahead of them was rather colourful. By dungeon standards, anyway. Almost all of the snow in the area was piled on the sides, leaving the party a clear path. While there was snow on the path, it might as well have been a very long white carpet for all it'd do to the party's walking. Dead trees were also on either side of the path but there were also red-capped mushrooms around their roots and small patches of smal grass were sprinkled randomly around the dungeon floor. There were also collections of purple flowers here and there.
That was not all. Compa's standards weren't that low. It was clear that someone was maintaining this dungeon because there were electric box lamps powered by possibly White Heart-knows-what attached to the trees that provided a pleasant yellow glow. As if that wasn't enough, hanging from trees that were on each side of the path were lines that held different coloured lights. With the snowmen built here and there, this dungeon was a festive one indeed.
Jacob decided to land next to the party. "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..." he sang softly.
IF looked at him. "Get a bit cold?"
"A bit," Jacob responded as he flexed his arms before looking around the snowy forest. "Have to say, this is somewhat more colourful than I thought it'd be."
The party advanced through the forest, taking in the lights and snowmen as they went, before going through a monster encounter. The challengers this time around were three snakes with cyan scales, white underbellies, blue tattoos, a red line going down their backs, a red fin crest on the backs of their heads, beady olive eyes, red fins next to their eyes and threateningly long red barbs on the ends of their tales.
"What are they?" Jacob asked as per routine.
"Do you even care?" IF asked.
"Now that you mention it, no, not really."
"I can't be bothered with this!" Neptune shouted, her agitation prevalent as she drew Armas. "Fine! I'll take you all out with my new super secret move!"
"Wait, what?" Jacob asked Neptune, surprised.
Neptune held her energy sword in front of her, its blade pointing skyward, with her eyes closed.
"Uh, what are you doing?"
Jacob was ignored as Neptune's eyes shot open, the mech sword was raised even higher and a fiery purple aura surrounded the cutting energy beam.
What happened next was... a bit hard to describe. That was because it was impossible to follow Neptune's movements with human eyes. She seemingly flashed across her enemies, inflicting major damage as she went. She then flashed across the enemies again. And again. And again. Each time, the serpents were raised higher and higher into the air. Finally, Neptune flashed to the ground but she quickly jumped towards her enemies again and attacked with one last powerful slash. Neptune landed on the ground good as new. The serpents dissipated before they landed.
The party was speechless.
Neptune grinned. "Hey, was that cool or what?"
"Ne... Wha... Hell... Neptune, what the hell was that?!" IF inquired.
"My sister, when could you summon forth such devastating power?" Nisa asked in awe.
"When the hell did you learn to do that?" Jacob questioned, still trying to get his bearings.
"Nep-Nep, that was so cool!" Compa cheered.
Neptune performed her signature victory pose of spinning around on her heel and giving her party a peace sign with her hand. "Tada! I learned it when I levelled up last! It's called 'Neptune Break'. I've been wanting to test it out forever. And did you see how cool that was?!"
"And how powerful it was," answered Jacob. "Hell, you could clear out an entire dungeon with that attack alone!"
Even IF smiled at the awe-inspiring power Neptune now had in her possession. "Well, that lightens our load. Let's go on."
As it turns out, Neptune's Neptune Break could indeed clear out an entire dungeon alone. Every time a monster or a group of monsters spawned, Neptune cast Neptune Break and they were all dead. No one else even had the opportunity to attack. For Compa and Jacob, this was yet another pleasant stroll through the dungeon although Nisa and IF joined them in their small talk while Neptune mowed down the monsters like weeds until they reached the dungeon's exit.
"So that's the Basilicom," stated Jacob to himself as the party exited the dungeon. "Well, let's see if it's Entremets."
Approaching the Basilicom's entrance, the party was noticed by someone at the door. That someone was a female silhouette that looked exactly like the motel receptionist. Seeing them, the silhouette turned towards them and gave a respectful bow. "Hello and welcome to Entremets. I am the Chamberlain of Lady White Heart. I must say, we haven't had visitors in a while. Did you need something?"
IF looked around the Basilicom. "So it is Entremets after all. I was expecting it to look different."
"We get that a lot. Well, whenever visitors arrive, anyway. Our goddess believed that it would simply be more efficient to have all Basilicoms the same. So, is there something you need?"
"Yes, actually," answered Jacob. "We'd like to meet with Lady White Heart if that's okay with you."
The lady grimaced slightly. "I see. I will notify her of your presence immediately."
"Uh, hold on." Jacob noticed her reluctance and was curious about it. "Is something wrong?"
"Oh, it's nothing. Just..." The Chamberlain sighed. "Lady White Heart has not been in the best of moods as a result of the monster attacks. She asks for a lot of time alone and I'm afraid that you may be denied audience."
"Oh, fair enough. Well, this is kind of urgent so, if she says no, please tell her we have this to say: 'We will take back what the Overlord has taken from you'."
Once more, Jacob found himself the target of four or perhaps five surprised pairs of eyes.
"I... see," the Chamberlain answered unsurely. "I will make sure that she receives the message. In the meantime, please come in and get out of the cold."
"Yay! Thank you so much!" Neptune cheered.
The woman could have smiled at Neptune before turning to the doors and opening them, allowing them all inside.
So I go to Dis Snow Forest to figure out what the dungeon looks like, right, and what do I see but a lamp that was floating in the air. Great job there, Compile Heart. Maybe we'll see the party leader float five feet off the ground in the next game.
Anyway, the next chapter won't be coming about for a small while because my writer's muse has kind of taken a dive since my computer's gone kaput. Don't worry; I'm definitely going to upgrade it within the next few days. I found a friend to help.
By the way, if you can tell me if I did something wrong or I could improve in some area, feel free to tell me. I could use the help.
Now, keep wary for Chapter 20: Hostile Negotiations.