F3: Welcome to chapte 4 of the Neptunia story. We left off where IF helped a village from the dragon attack and became friends with them also Neptune found who might know where Rei Ryghts could be. Neptunia is property of Idea Factory and Compile Heart. With that said Let's Get Started.
Chapter 4: Looking For Clues.
It was late when IF got back home to Lowee as she pulled her motorbike into the garage as it hummed to a stop. She turned the bike off and got off it before heading inside the home making sure to be careful incase her father was home. She opened the door from the garage to that connected to the living room and stepped inside the house. First thing that she did was to make her way upstairs to her bedroom but she was just a few steps up the stairs when the lights suddenly came on as she flinched from the light.
"You're home late." Kaito said getting her attention.
"Sorry dad. I ran into trouble coming home." IF replied as she let out a yawn.
"Late quest?" Kaito asked.
"Yeah. It took a little longer than expected. Plus I was handling dragon that attacked a village." IF mentioned.
This did make Kaito worry as he walked over to her almost like checking for injuries.
"You're not hurt are you?" He asked again.
"I took a few good hits but the villagers healed me up pretty good and even threw me a small feast as a thank you. Pretty nice huh." IF said.
"I guess so. They must've been pretty nice." Kaito replied.
"Yeah well I'm off to bed. Gotta get some sleep for tomorrow." IF said.
"Alright. Goodnight sweety." Kaito said giving her a night hug. Afterward IF headed upstairs toward her bedroom as her dad turned off the lights as he too headed for bed.
Once IF was in her room she still wondered what had happened today as she knows that she couldn't have learned any new skills. At least not to her knowledge. She shook her head as she figured she'll check the guild when she got their in the morning.
She got herself changed and fell asleep on her bed and waited for morning to come.
Meanwhile outside Croire was overlooking the cameras and she was quite happy with what she was seeing and the progress IF was doing. Now all that she needed was to help her increase her share energy and truly unleash her fullest potiental.
=HDN=
Morning came Lastation was a buzz but in the basilicom Noire was getting ready to head out and so was Uni but for some reason Noire had them wear different disguises which was consisted of a black shirt that showed a little bit of cleavage with small pink bows near the bottom along with a black bow with a pink outlines near her chest. The top also has white frills on the collar, the sleeves and bottom of the shirt. She also wears black short shorts with a small pink belt with a phone holder on it. In her hair she also wears black and pink bows in her pigtails. Finally she wears simply black shoes.
Though she was rather embarassed by wearing this.
"Noire could you hurry up. Why do I have to wear this?" Uni asked as Noire had finished changing.
Now she had her pigtails down wearing black and red ribbons in her hair. She wears a black rider jacker with a white shirt underneath with a black choker. She wears some blue skinny jeans along with gold chain that hangs from her hip.
"It's a disguise. We don't want anyone to know where we are going or know who we are." Noire replied.
"Though where are we going? This is embarassing to wear." Uni added.
"To visit a friend of mine. She can help us find this Rei Ryghts we're looking." Noire said as the two of them headed out of the basilicom as Uni followed her sister making sure to stay close.
It took them about thirty minutes and they were in lower Lastation which where shady things happen down their but they still try to make a living their.
Uni carefully overlooked their surroundings and was rather worried about where they were but Noire seemed rather confident but still looked around and kept Uni close just incase anyone jumped at them.
That's when a building came into view that looked like a something for adults but they went in anyway.
"Uni. I want you to stay close to me. This place can get a little roudy so don't wonder off okay." Noire stated.
"Got it." Uni said though rather nervous.
The two of them went inside and was immediately assaulted by some rather loud music that made Uni clasp her hands on her ears but it didn't seem to bother Noire much. Inside the establishment their was an oval like stage with a silver pole in the middle of it with and their were several stages throughout the building with a woman pole dancing on them and showing too much skin for Uni's taste.
"Who are we here to see!?" Uni called out from the noise.
"She's over here!" Noire called out as she guided Uni through the crowd toward a rather large round table. Sitting there was a young girl that's around twenty four years old. She is wearing a black, revealing body suit with the zipper worn just below her chest showing off a blue bra underneath and considerable cleavage. She wears a grey colored jacket above her body suit along with the same colored short shorts. The woman wears grey colored boots with dark purple lining.
The woman has long dark blue hair with red colored eyes along with a gold pendant around her neck. Next to her is a long cane with a blade at the top shaped into a 'S'. She was currently busy counting the amount of bills on the table.
"Still counting money huh Punk." Noire replied which made the woman stop and looked up to see a familiar face as she grinned.
"Well slice me up and call me breakfast. Noire. Been awhile hasn't huh." The girl said before getting up and embraced Noire as so did she which kinda confused Uni for a moment. However the woman noticed her immediately as she went stiff.
"So who's this? I don't think we've met?" The woman asked.
"Oh this is my sister Uni. She's a CPU Canidate and not to mention she knows her way around weapons, mostly guns and rifles." Noire introduced her.
"N-Nice to meet you." Uni said nervously which didn't go unnoticed by the woman.
"Hey just relax a little. Don't worry no one's going to bother you when you're with me. Names Sonya Punk. In this place nothing happens unless I say so." Sonya replied.
"Um okay... thanks." Uni said feeling a little relaxed before Sonya snapped her fingers toward the bar.
"Hey bar keep! Two margaritas and a strawberry shake!" She shouted as the bar keeper gave a thumbs up.
"So what brings you two down here? Not just to visit I assume?" Sonya asked.
"You assume right. Remember that favor I owe you from two years ago?" Noire asked.
"You mean me saving your ass from getting eaten by a basilic. Yeah I remember." Sonya said.
Noire sighed as she continued "Well... I'm here to cash in that favor." She stated simply.
"About time. I was wondering when you would. So whatcha need and I can do it." Sonya said confidently as their drinks were delievered with Noire and Sonya taking the margaritas and Uni the strawberry shake.
"Actually their's someone that I want you to find." Noire said before bring out a picture of Rei Ryghts and placed it in front of her.
"Her names Rei Ryghts." Noire said.
"Okay and what did this woman do anyway?" Sonya asked.
"She, along with some other scientists are involved of creating a life. Actually creating a human baby for their own purposes that we don't know. Something about Project Liberator." Noire mentioned.
Sonya examined the photo as she hummed to herself before she came to a decision with a firm nod.
"Alright I'll help you. Though you know my price Noire." Sonya mentioned and right then and their Noire pulled out a stack of cash from her purse and placed it in front of her.
"This is five thousand up front. An extra ten grand if you can find an definate location." Noire stated as Uni looked at her sister like she was crazy.
"That's fifteen grand! Sis are you sure that's okay?" Uni asked.
"Trust me. I know her rates. This is only but a drop in the bucket in my account." Noire stated.
"Consider it done. I'll have Fuuki run a sweep through the network and if anyone is acting suspicious. One way or another we'll find her." Sonya replied.
"Thanks." Noire thanked though Uni still looked around the place but mainly the pole dancers which made her think otherwise.
"So what is this place exactly? Looks like a strip club." Uni asked.
"Well... it is but everything here is under strict rules and gets followed to the letter. Anyone that comes in here and disobeys that get's thrown out and banned from here. Keeps out all the creeps and rapists." Sonya replied.
"So... everything here is... consensual." Uni said as Sonya nodded.
"Yep. Everything is with consent. If the guys here want to have a good time with the girls that work here they sign a form before doing any funny business if you catch my drift." Sonya stated making Uni blush.
"Okay I think I get it. Could you not say anymore. Please." Uni pleaded.
"Alright alright. Like I said I'll find this girl for you." Sonya said.
"Thank you. We'll be taking our leave now." Noire said as she and Uni were about to leave.
"Already. Why don't you stay a while? Take in the scenory a little. Who knows might find someone you like." Sonya teased.
Noire seemed to thought it over a moment before shaking her head.
"As much as that is a tempting offer. I'll have to pass this time but if I change my mind I'll know where to find you." Noire replied.
"You got it. I'll message you when we've found Rei." Sonya said as Uni and Noire left the establishment.
When the two of them left Uni looked at her sister rather strangely which Noire caught.
"Everything okay Uni?" Noire asked.
"Um... what did you mean by that? That you'll change your mind about coming back to that place." Uni said.
"Well. It's a place to unwind after a long and stressful day. Though I haven't gone back their in a while." Noire replied back as the two made the long way back to the basilicom.
=HDN=
Meanwhile IF was already out and gone from her home and she immediately headed toward the guild to try and figure out about her sudden new power. She arrived at the guild as the guild lady noticed her.
"Oh IF. Back again I see. What quest would you like this time?" She asked.
"Actually it's something else I need to check on. Could you run a scan of me?" IF asked back which confused her.
"This is sudden but very well." The guild lady agreed as she brought out a small device and began to scan IF right in front of her as it brought up all of IF stats and abilities.
"Now let's see what we... hm this is new." She said which got IF's attention.
"What is it?" IF questioned.
"It appears that you've obtained a new ability IF. An ability known as Soul Copy." The lady said which confused IF.
"Soul Copy? What is that anyway?" IF questioned.
"Whenever you defeat a powerful monster you gain a new skill from that monster to add to your other skills. And it seems you've also aquired two brand new skills too. A poison skill and a defensive skill." The lady said with a smile.
IF wide eyed a moment "Hold on. Another skill?" She questioned.
"Yeah. The poison skill is called 'Serpent Death' and inflicts deadly poison on someone or a monster. The other is 'Dragon Skin' which dramatically boosts your defense. Quite impressive." The lady replied.
"But... how did I even acquire this ability?" IF asked again.
"Hm... the only explaination I can give that you must've had it locked away and something must've triggered it to unlocking itself." The lady theorized.
"But I don't recall anything that could've..." IF started but then recalled the quest she was on with Uni and the share crystal they've encountered.
"Could it of been the share crystal that did this?" She thought.
"Is there anything else you need IF?" The lady asked as IF shook her head.
"Nah. I think I'll take on some low level quests. Heard of a family needs help with their fields so I'll go and give them a hand." IF replied.
"Safe travels then." The lady stated as IF left the guild and headed toward the quest location.
Meanwhile in Leanbox Vert was in her room but instead of playing her MMO games she was chatting with people on a chat site as she was wearing a headset on her head.
"Thank you all for joining me today. There is something I want to discuss with everyone." Vert replied.
"Of course. What is that you need?" A female questioned.
"Their's someone that myself and the other goddess are looking for. One by the name of Rei Ryghts. Now before you all think this is the same one that attacked Gamindustri it's not. This one is from this dimension." Vert replied.
"Hm... don't think I've seen anyone like that." A male replied.
"Yeah me neither." The female said.
"Actually I might have something that might be interesting." Another female replied.
"Oh. Care to share." Vert said.
"While I was in the market I noticed a person that look like that underling girl roaming around buying foods in large quanities. After that she left." The female replied.
"Hm... I do believe I know who you are speaking about. That underling that was apart of ASIC sometime ago. Did she go anywhere that you might know of?" Vert asked.
"Well I heard from a friend that she was heading here to Leanbox." She stated.
"That makes things very simple. Thank you." Vert replied as she left the chat before setting her headphones down and walked out of her bedroom.
"Chika! Where are you?!" Vert called out and almost immediately she heard footsteps. What came at her was a young girl with long light green hair with a black and green ribbon tying a portion of it into a ponytail in the back. She has red eyes and dresses in a stylish black mini dress that fits her curves and her bust with black bows on both sides and long frills draping off both sides with bright green coloring under them. Her socks are black and thigh high and are accompanied by matching black heels with purple bows in the center.
This is Chika Hakozaki. Leanbox's oracle.
"Yes Lady Vert. How can I help you?" Chika replied.
"I have a mission that I'll need your assistance with. We are to track down a certain individual that worked for ASIC. She might be able to tell us where to look for Rei." Vert replied.
"Are you sure that this girl is here in Leanbox?" Chika asked.
"My sources are never wrong. A reliable source informed me that she was returning to Leanbox with large quanities of food. Plus there are very few places to hide in Leanbox so it should be easy to track her down." Vert replied.
"I'll be happy to assist you." Chika stated as the two of them headed into the city.
They began their search in the main branch of town this is considered old Leanbox where farmers would come and sell their crops and other assortments that they have to sell. They went around and told each farmer of who they were looking for. However they had no such luck as none of them have seen her in the markets or anywhere else. They tried asking any of the other people that were there and had no such luck either.
After they've struck out at the markets they head toward the main town of Leanbox where all of technology lay as their were game stores, books stores, and many other stores that were spread throughout.
"Well that certainly didn't work out great. They either haven't seen her or not even heard of her." Chika said as they were both currently sitting down at a nearby coffee shop with Chika rubbing her sore feet.
"Any longer and my feet are going to give out." Chika said.
"True. However I've noticed something everytime we've visited the vendors that they were trying very hard to hide their money that they've earned and they were surprisingly low on their stock." Vert replied.
"Maybe they had a bad harvest this year." Chika added.
Vert shook her head "No. I don't think they had a bad harvest. My bet was that Linda came through and bought a lot of their stock before leaving only leaving them enough to for other customers to buy. Though the question is why would she need all of that food?" Vert replied.
"Yeah I don't think she could eat that all by herself. So what else do you think?" Chika asked.
"Well... this is completely a theory but I have a suspicion that Linda could be hiding Rei Ryghts from us which makes this rather more difficult to locate her." Vert theorized.
"So if we can locate her then we find Rei. Just where could she be?" Chika replied as she looked out toward the crowd of people but something caught her eye as a green hair girl with pointy ears was walking about the crowd not even knowing that both of them were their.
"Lady Vert. There she is. That Underling girl." Chika whispered as she pointed her out. Vert looked to where Chika was pointing at and saw Linda walking with several bags with food in her grip.
"Well it seems that we've found her. Now all we have to do is follow her and we might know where to find Rei Ryghts." Vert added as they decided to follow her as they crept slowly behind.
As they followed her they noticed just how far they were going outside of the main capital and into a nearby forest that seemed that the monsters have been cleared out already. The two of the continued following her. It was about thirty minutes later as they came to a cave that Linda walked into while the two of them were nearby in some bushes.
"Now why did she go in their?" Chika questioned.
"Probably that's where she's hiding out. If she's their than no doubt that Rei should be their too." Vert answered as the two came out from the bushes and walked toward the cave entrance.
"Alright then let's go." Chika replied as she brought out her own spear.
"Now hold on Chika. We want to settle this diplomatically. Their is no need for violence." Vert stated.
"Well alright but if she starts to fight back then I'll stop her." Chika said as they both headed inside the cave Chikas spear posed to strike at anything that moves. When they were inside there were some torches that were lit already as they followed the path. After ten minutes of walking they came to a split in the path with two different directions.
"Well... this is a problem. Two different paths and only two of us." Chika said.
"Perhaps we could split up and explore each path. Though we should be careful we don't know what is down each path." Vert warned as she went left while Chika went right.
Chika follow the torches for a little while hoping she can find this Underling girl and Rei at the same time which would not only make Vert happy but whateve they need Rei for will make this rather easy. She came to a medium sized opened area that wasn't anything special but she still kept her eyes peeled for anything to happen. However what she didn't know that once she stepped forward another step was the she stepped on a hidden panel that activated something.
Suddenly several panels opened up above her as thick rubber wires shot out and wrapped around her legs as she was pulled into the air hanging upside down.
"Hey! What the heck!? Let me go!" Chika shouted trying to free herself losing her grip on her weapon as it clatter to the ground before disappearing into pixels. More panels opened up and more rubber wires came out wrapping around her body, arms and bust as she was completely restrained.
"Okay. This isn't funny anymore! Put me down!" She expressed trying to fight against the retraints. Then something else popped out of the floor and close to her face, it appeared to be some kind of can but before she could speak the can sprayed some kind of mist in her face.
Chika coughed up some of the mist "O-Okay that was... rather... rude..." Chika said but she started to feel drowzy, her eyes felt heavy and before she knew she was completely asleep snoring soundly.
Meanwhile with Vert she went down the other path and noticed that not a single monster was on the path with her. While it was rather lucky for that but it aslo put her on edge a little as a monster could pop out at any moment to strike at her when her back was turned.
Vert approached a corner in the cave as she pressed her back to the wall and carefully looked around the corner. There was a metal door a few feet in front of her and judging the small light coming from underneath the door, someone was home. Vert approached the door with caution as she grasped hold of the door knob and opened the door.
Vert expected Linda to be their but at first it there was a lot of stuff their. Two beds, a bathroom, and a small kitchen set up.
"Well this is very anti-climatic." Vert said folding her arms in disappointment.
"Nah just enough to distract you." Linda suddenly said but before Vert could even turn she felt a hard object hit the back of her head knocking her out completely. Linda came out from her hiding spot and stood above the CPU.
"Well... that was rather easy." Linda said smirking to herself.
"You sure that was wise. I mean I wouldn't want to make her mad." Another voice said. It was the human Rei Ryghts. She wears a short black one piece dress that compliments her huge bust. She also wears blue skinny jeans. She has long blue hair and blue-green eyes. On the side of her head is form of a white and blue horn that curves outward.
"Oh don't worry. With this she'll forget where she found us. No problem." Linda said with confidence.
"Not to mention her orcales been knocked out by that knockout gas. They both will forget where to find this place and then we'll be perfectly save." Linda added before walking voer to the down CPU.
"Help me carry her out will yah." Linda said grabbing hold of Verts legs while Rei got the arms as Vert was carried off more than likely back to the entrance of Leanbox's capital.
It was nothing but blackness for Vert as she was the first to wake up as she leaned up and noticed that they were just outside the Leanbox capital.
"Oh... my head... what just happened?" Vert asked herself but as she went to pick herself up her left hand suddenly touched something rather squishy and soft. She turned to the left only to find that Chika was also very much asleep from the sound of her snoring but it was where her hand was touching that made Vert slightly blush. Her left hand was accidently groping Chikas right breast.
Vert flinched at this and immediately removed her hand from Chikas chest before the girl woke up.
"Ow... okay... what was that?" Chika said trying to get her bearings together before noticing where they were.
"Huh? We're back in the capital but I thought we were following Linda." Chika said.
"We were but now... I can't exactly remember where said place was." Vert replied trying to avoid Chikas gaze.
Chika tried to recall where they had followed Linda but for some reason she too was coming up blank.
"Argh! I can't remember either. Guess we better head back to the basilicom and figure this out." Chika said and walked ahead of Vert. Vert however couldn't get the feeling of accidently groping her own oracles breast off her mind before she muttered something under her breath.
"Hm... she's definately an E that's for sure." Vert muttered.
"Lady Vert! You coming!" Chika called back getting Verts mind out of the gutter.
"Oh yes! Wait for me!" Vert called out before running after her oracle.
Meanwhile with IF she was currently in a small section of Lowee where their wasn't any snow and was helping an older woman tend to her garden while the older woman looked after the children. With a hoe in hand she began by making small trenchs in the soil for the seeds to be planted in. Afterwards she took the seeds that the older woman gave her and started planting them in the trenchs before covering them up and watering them as well.
Finally to make sure no unwanted animals got to the growing seeds she built fence around the garden along with wiring to go on the fence so no animals could get through it. To add for extra insurance she made a functioning scarecrow to ward away any birds that might peck at the ground. In total it took IF nearly five and a half hours to finish but she didn't mind the work as long as she wasn't killing any monsters.
"Thank you very much young lady. These old bones of mine just haven't what they used to be and the children are still rather young to be doing this kind of work." The older woman replied.
"No problem ma'am. Just happy I could help out." IF replied.
"It must be exhausting doing what you do. Why don't you come in and rest a moment. You must be tired." The older women said.
"Thank you very much." IF said accepting her offer as she followed the older woman inside with the child following after her.
"Though is there anything else you need?" IF asked.
"Oh you've done plenty for me already dearie. Please sit a moment." She said as IF sat down on the couch as so did the woman.
"It must not be easy being a member of a guild is it." She asked as IF nodded.
"Yeah. It's hard work and can be a little jarring at times. But the reward is you get to go all over Gamindustri to do all sorts of jobs. I mean first your in Lowee doing a job and the next thing you know your in Planeptune doing another. Honestly it never gets old for me." IF replied.
The older woman laughed joyfully "Well as long as you are enjoying the thing you love most. Myself is my gardening. This house of mine has been in my family for generations and we've always had a big turnout with the garden. It would be a great shame I couldn't deliver anything to the market." The older woman said.
"You do this everytime. Doesn't take a toll on you though. Lowee capital is quite a ways from here." IF mentioned.
"Oh I know that dearie but I actually don't sell anything." The woman which surprised IF.
"Then what do you do with the vegetables you grow?" She asked.
"Some of them I keep and the others I donate to the marketers around Lowee who truly need it. Knowing I've done a good job is all the reward I need." The woman replied with a happy smile on her face.
This brought a small frown to IF's face as she looked out the garden outside as she knows in a months time the garden would produce some of the finest vegetables that Lowee has never seen. So with a stern nod she turned back to the woman.
"Ma'am. When those vegetables are done growing you let me know and I'll personally help transport them to Lowee." She declared.
"Are you certain?" The woman asked.
"My bike has a trailer hook on it so I can transport a heavy trailer. You send a message out to the guild when they are ready and I'll personally come and get them. No fee included." IF replied.
"Oh bless you child. I thank you." She said very grateful to IF. Suddenly IF felt a small surge of energy course through her body.
"What was that? Odd. It felt like I got a little stronger or something." IF thought.
"Well I better get going. My dad get's worried if I'm out late." She added.
"Very well. Do take care of yourself young lady." The older woman said.
"Bye!" The children replied as IF got on her bike and headed back toward town but she still wondered what that sudden energy surge came from or it was probably nothing that she didn't need to worry about.
F3: That ends chapter 4 of my Neptunia. Vert and Chika might have found Linda only to forget and Noire and Uni are trying to find Linda themselves. This could only end so well. Please leave behind a comment and don't forget to follow and/or favorite this story as well. With that said this is Fireuser3 and I'm Out.