All rights are reserved to their respective owners. I own nothing in this piece of fiction except my OCs and the story itself.
Abandoned Subway, Planeptune...
"So you're the ones that Histoire told us about." A woman dressed in official clothes of the Civic Division with some shades looked between IF, Nebula, Gris, and AL. She appeared to be the officer responsible for the investigation on the subway that was currently underway.
Many of her subordinates were working around the group by moving any rocks that obstructed the path to the subway, keeping onlookers a safe distance away from the scene, and talking to the press who asked questions about the situation.
"Yep." The Guild Agent nodded. "Special orders from the Oracle herself." She nodded with her trademark nonchalance.
"Alright. I know about you, miss Intelligence Division." The lady spoke, familiar with the organization known as the Guild and its notable members, which included IF.
"But what the hell is with these guys? 'Divine intervention'? You don't look like CPUs, but the notice we received says you're on the same level." She looked between Nebula and Gris.
"Didn't you say that we were supposed to be transformed?" Gris glared at the blue GPU, still in his human state.
"Yeah, but on second thought, I like the spectacle of jaw-dropping." Nebula snorted, looking at his dark comrade.
"I'm not going to blindly trust legal documentation unless I see some evidence of you two being what this paper says you are." The officer gave the two a suspicious look behind her glasses.
Breathing in, the blue GPU concentrated. He closed his eyes as he focused on the sensation of his shares which currently sat dormant within his body.
...
GLOW!
The edges of his bangs and tips gained the radiating cyan highlights once found in Celestia, with the length of his hair growing to his shoulders.
"...?" The officer's eyebrows sprouted up into her forehead, with IF blinking at the transformation she hadn't been privy to witnessing until that moment.
Opening his eyes, yellow irises with glowing white power signals stared in the shaded woman's direction.
"How 'bout now? Still doubtful?" Nebula raised a confident brow, his personality starting to resemble Brave Heart's more than his human state.
"What kind of transformation is that? I've only seen HDD, but not that!" The brunette Guild Agent guffawed at the state that Nebula had ascended to.
"Oh, this? Demigod Drive Divinity. I decided against transforming outright with all these civilians here, so this should be enough proof I'm not just talking out of my ass or wasting government resources." Nebula explained not only his transformation's name but his motive for doing so.
"I-I didn't think it'd actually be true...!" The shaded Guild Agent stuttered, sweat beading on her temples.
"You live in a place where glowing women fly around and defeat evil, and games control the economy of each country but that's incredulous?" Gris' tone rose, alongside his brow.
"That's beside the point! Don't tell me you can do that too, right?" Her hand shakily pointed a finger, as the assassin faced her.
"I believe you have your rendition of the form, Gris?" Side-eyeing the edge lord to the officer's terrified gasp, the assassin creaked his neck before taking a deep breath.
...
DARKEN..!
The hitman's tips dimmed to a raven black whilst slowing floating from dark matter's influence, with his silvery irises dropping in tint all the way to their signature onyx hue.
White glowing power signals peered into the woman's shaded eyes, which at this point might be swirling from the unbelievable sights she witnessed from the two males.
"Has the naysayer been silenced? Or are you going to rationalize what can only be described as Histoire coined it... 'Divine intervention.'..." Gris smiled at the lady with a charming grin that had some cheeky undertones.
The officer didn't know whether to scream, faint, or flee at the sight of not one, but TWO male CPU-like beings.
She stood helplessly in their presence, slightly shivering at random intervals as her brain desperately tried to rationalize what she saw before her very eyes.
Taking off her sunglasses showed her constricted pupils vibrating in shock, the words she wanted to say failing to exit her mouth, only dying in her throat as her brain kept hot-swapping sentences for the supposedly unreal phenomenon.
"I think you two broke her." AL interrupted the officer's babbles, before IF chimed in.
"I knew that male CPUs- I mean, GPUs would startle anyone but this is certainly something." The brunette admitted.
"All the more reason to keep this under wraps. If the general populace knew about something like this, especially in the midst of ASIC's uprising, the societal psyche would start to unwind slowly but surely." Nebula explained to the Wind Walker of Gamindustri.
"Not to mention completely unbalancing the shares with our existence. We can't afford to confuse citizens with this until we deal with ASIC and regulate the VPUs." Gris continued,
"U-Uh..." The officer managed to regain enough composure to communicate. "T-The entrance to the subway is down there. I-I'll just stay up here and try to digest what I just saw you two did..." The officer put back on her glasses, still shaking slightly, and went to the nearest coffee shop.
"You heard the lady, letsa go!" Nebula pointed to the entrance.
"Oi." AL interrupted. "Don't you remember what happened last time you did something that got Windendo's attention?" He warned, the blue-shelled menace that had to be solved by Kars' intervention flashing across the minds of the males.
"R-Right." Sweatdropping, the blue deity alongside the rest of his small party entered into the wrecked terminal.
They travel down the destroyed subway, the light of the surface quickly fading away until only slivers of the sub's rays persist at the base of the staircase.
"Damn. It's darker than Gris' backstory in here." The fiery martial artist quipped, his voice echoing through the desolate space.
"Ha-ha." The edge lord dryly laughed. "It's just about as empty as that brain of yours, as well." Rolling his eyes, the assassin poked back at the fire user.
"Ouch." Nebula meeped, as IF silently cringed at the swift counter.
"Hey!" AL indignantly cried. "That's technically not true because we're down here at the moment, but it's still just as dark as if we weren't." A salient point escaped the dark-skinned warrior's lips.
"He's got you there." IF admitted.
"Moving on,"
SHINE!...
Gris took his phone before putting on the flashlight.
"We should actually start investigating instead of wondering why we can't see AL anymore." The hitman snorted.
"I'm not THAT black!"
"Woah, where did AL go?" Nebula looked around with a dim look on his features.
FLASH!
Turning on his flashlight in front of his best bud, the unimpressed face of AL squinted from the sudden light. "There he is!" Nebula enthusiastically spoke.
"Ha-ha." The martial artist let out a dry laugh.
"How does it feel, AL? To be darker than my backstory?" Gris taking heed to the switch of the joke's subject, commented accordingly.
"Shut up."
BRIGHTEN!...
AL droned, before turning on his own phone to illuminate the path with its flashlight function.
"If we've made enough jokes, then let's proceed."
FLASH!
IF used one of her phones for a flashlight before walking down the path with the males.
Traversing the terminal was rather uneventful, for the most part. Their echoing footsteps and rustling of accessories were the only noises that bounced around the inactive halls of the underground building.
Aside from the fact that it gave the quartet some vibes reminiscent of Resident Vile or Quiet Hill.
That was until Aluben spoke up within the meme lord's mindscape.
'I sense fear energy.' Aluben spoke out.
'What! Where?' Nebula's eyes started shifting about, his light moving more sporadically than the others.
'Deeper within the subway. The signal is weak, so that leads me to assume either the person is trying to hide their presence or is weakened. I'll bet on the former.' The alter ego elaborated.
'Shit. I knew Vergo wouldn't crash out for no reason, but this isn't good at all. Didn't expect to say this, but thanks for the heads up, Aluben.' Nebula gained a couple of beads worth of sweat on his forehead.
Silence dominated his mindscape once more, with the lack of a response.
"There's fear energy down here." The blue GPU abruptly mentioned.
"What?!" AL, Gris, and IF unanimously shouted in shock.
"How are you so sure?" The Guild Agent asked Nebula, appearing shaken up by the mere mention of the medium.
"Just trust me, IF. I'm not going to joke or lie about anything concerning them." Nebula stressed before running ahead of the group, the others speeding up to match his pace.
"The presence of fear energy here is concerning, since that would mean that a VPU or an associate of them might have been lurking about in Planeptune. And especially in a state where it is vulnerable after the effects of ASIC would mean bad news." IF spoke with worry.
"In other words, they're in your walls." Gris paraphrased.
"OUR walls. This is probably an international phenomenon. I wouldn't put it past them to pull this shit in other countries, so check Noire's subway terminals after this." Nebula advised.
"Why couldn't it be the heroes in a half-shell trying to eat dynamite pizza instead of these assholes?" AL sighed.
"Because reality is often disappointing. That, and this imbecile would spurt out some nonsense along the lines of 'I like turtles-'." Gris mocked his divine blue colleague.
"I wouldn't put it past him." IF rolled her eyes with a knowing smile.
"Haha. For your information, it could be any meme about turtles." Nebula specified.
"How's this for a meme; we found D*natell*'s goon cave." AL pointed to a place of artificial light down the hall.
"You WHAT-" IF gawked before looking at Nebula who struggled to keep his laughter in control, Gris who curled his lips to conceal his, and AL who grinned madly on the verge of cackling.
She suddenly realized that she had been duped, before shaking her head.
"I can't believe I fell for that." She facepalmed with mild embarrassment, before chuckling alongside the boys' laughter.
"But what is that light? Isn't this place supposed to be abandoned?" She continued, as the four moved closer.
"Could be a homeless guy's goon cave." The blue GPU shrugged.
"What homeless person do you know that can afford enough technology for us to see from down the hall?" The black GPU deadpanned.
"Er..." Nebula was at a loss for a response.
"Thought so." Gris laid the point to rest.
"Either way, we're gonna find out just whose down here." IF took charge, before the group of four found themselves before the source of the light.
The light radiated from a bunch of monitors, all showcasing different locations that were within Planeptune.
Street corners, local establishments, office buildings, public parks, tourist attractions, famous landmarks, whoever had set up the monitors had also set up a plethora of cameras for some sort of documentation.
All the monitors meant that they were bound to be wires, and the snake pile of rubber tubes was anything but absent.
The heaps of electrical wiring were almost too numerous for an individual to move about without stepping on something, yet facilitated the dozens of screens present.
But what the four soon came to realize, was that there was someone in the room, sitting on what appeared to be a sweet gaming chair as they observed the happenings on the screen.
"That blonde brat might have almost gotten me, but he's too slow! We'll have all the information we need from this dimension, one way or the other..." She typed away at an RGB keyboard while configuring some commands on-screen.
Aluben points out that the person is thr origin of thr fear energy they sensed earlier, prompting Nebula to act.
"HEY! NO HORNY ON MAIN!" Nebula roared.
"Are you still going with that joke?" Gris gave a side-eye.
"Turn around! You're under arrest!" IF demanded.
"Freeze, bitch!" AL shouted aggressively.
"But shes not moving, though." Nebula pointed out.
"Just let me have this, ok? I've always wanted to say that." He complained.
"You're too late!" The voice turned around, revealing herself as VPN. "I've already used incognito mode to cover my tracks!" She cackled.
"It's you! I fought you at 5pb.'s concert!" The Guild Agent recognized the girl before her.
"Well if it isn't IF. Fancy seeing you here." The mole smiled. "How do you like my goon cave?" She twirled around in her gaming chair.
"We all want a teenage mutant ninja turtle but which one can turn you into Squ*rtle?~" The Negadimensional denizen sang.
"Move your tongue into a circle, the right spot is universal!~" She continued to sing, AL starting to bob his head in the background.
"Don't bite or you'll get verbal, not to mention D*natell* purple!~" Nebula comedically headbanged, as Gris and IF both gained sweat drops at the memetic deity's antics.
"...W-What?" The brunette did NOT expect that turn.
"You fiend! You're no ordinary coomer! How much of this room has been covered in girl cum?!" He pointed a finger at the suspicious woman after realizing the lyrics of the song.
"The real question is how many rule 34 pictures of 'big booty busty blonde babes' have you searched up in the last 24 hours!"
"Ayo?" AL rose a thick brow to that.
"What did she saaaaaay?" Gris obnoxiously asked, rarely referencing a meme.
"I never took you for the type to be into those kinds of things..." IF took on a slightly shocked expression, her mouth hidden by a hand.
"I-I'm a changed man! I don't practice the dark arts anymore." A comedic halo floated above Nebula's head, as faux fried chicken wings flapped behind him.
'Um, ackshually, I sifted through the lewd folder in your brain and wanted to find the sauces. So I used your phone to look up some spicy pics while you were sleeping.' Aluben admitted dastardly.
'DAMNIT, ALUBEN!' Nebula internally seethed.
The alter ego didn't welcome him for this specific reason, most likely.
"Mommy milkies. Do it clap. Do it jiggle. Humongous hungolomghononoloughongous. Big booty bitches-" VPN read off of a card.
IF patted her flat chest before sighing, looking at Nebula, and giving him a dirty look.
"Dude, IF's gonna revoke your itty bitty titty committee membership at this rate." AL snickered, with Gris snorting in the background.
"Look, tits and butts of all sizes are lovable, but bigger is better 60% of the time, and the other 40% is about shape, where my aerodynamic ladies can excel with their lovely figures," Nebula stated his opinion on the matter.
"Look, Noobula. I see where you're coming from but we can make fun of the fact that IF can pull off the Kei look after we kick this NEET's ass." He clenched his fist whilst shifting his body to the mole.
VPN laughs at their comments before continuing. "Then it's too bad I managed to distract you four long enough to upload all of my data onto a flash drive!" She took the USB device before pocketing it.
"And this is where we cut ties." An irritating smile made its way across her lips.
¿?¿?¿?¿?¿?¿?...
The VPU-affiliate planned to make her escape, before opening a fear portal beneath her feet.
DESCEND-
HALT!
But before she can descend, her body stops moving.
Nebula's hand was outstretched, her frame caught in a bind of gravity that kept her stagnant.
"You come in MY dimension, expose MY browser history and leave without MY foot in your ass? Heresy."
"Uh... I'm just a girl?" VPN tries to invoke sympathy in her most cutesy voice.
"Woman detected. Opinion rejected." Gris droned, before pulling out his combat knife.
"Good thing you didn't say that on Chirper." IF whistled.
"Bold of you to assume I browse brain rot. But we're digressing when we should be dissecting this blue bitch." The dark-clad GPU twirled his knife menacingly.
"W-Wait, can't we just t-talk this out?" VPN stammered left completely vulnerable to her environment.
"You're in this mess because you couldn't keep your trap shut. Do you really think talking is gonna save you?" AL folded his arms before menacingly starting at the mole.
"Girl-power?" She shifted her gaze to IF?
"No bueno. Cold-hearted and flat-chested, remember?" IF equipped her Qatars.
"... Can I load my save?" She put on some googly-eyes, her final attempt at subverting her fate.
"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Her screech was heard from above ground, confusing and spooking any nearby civilians and alerting the authorities.
...
...
...
"Stupid teamers..." The mole muttered, sniffling through her bloodied nose.
After some time passed, VPN found herself in handcuffs enchanted with share energy from both Nebula and Gris which neutralized any fear energy she could muster to escape, let alone resist.
Not to mention the fact she was brutalized to the point that her face more closely resembled a heap of flesh with bruises, cuts, and scratches everywhere, yet no fatal damage was endured.
She had been reduced to a punching bag by the time authorities found her, with Nebula twirling her body whilst Gris and IF attempted to wood carve her body with their blades as AL put a fire under her to keep the interdimensional terrorist filled with terror.
"So this is what she used to keep tabs on us." Histoire, who had brought the other Oracles alongside the CPU Candidates, observed the technology within the room.
"It's a security room that's been repurposed and modified to survey the majority of Planeptune. Nothing good can come of something of this magnitude of surveillance, especially from someone that grabbed the attention of the CPUs." The chief officer surmised.
"All of those cameras... " Nepgear felt uncomfortable.
"Why is there one in the bathroom?" Uni gawked, raising the attention of the more excitable characters.
"W-What?!" Nepgear paled, before looking at the screen that the Lastationite CPU Candidate spotted.
"Creepy," Rom commented.
"They're totally in your walls," Ram told the lilac goddess.
"Made that joke already, Ram." Nebula had a smug look plastered on his face.
"Darn it!" Ram huffed, before puffing her cheeks with annoyance.
"First, Vergo's disappearance, and now this. I highly doubt he was behind this, but there must be a coincidence." Kei attempted to bridge a connection between the two events.
"She did mention him in passing. But he was more another target than having anything to do with her scheme." IF recalled, summarizing what VPN had mentioned.
"As much as it would give me an excuse to hate him, that guy wouldn't side with people like that," Chika admitted, a begrudging look on her features.
"Besides, Vergo hates anything VPU-related. You might as well say that Neptune loves eggplants." Nebula defended his blonde future student.
"On top of the fact we dont know how long this operation has been functioning, there's no telling how much information they have on Planeptune. Mina spoke her concern.
"All that will have to be extracted via interrogation. We can't let this situation develop any further whilst ASIC is still at large with the CPUs out of the picture." Gris spoke.
"So what do we do?" Nepgear turned to the Lastationite GPU.
"Gris and IF will interrogate this VPN individual. The rest of you prepare for tomorrow's CPU retrieval while we continue to work on the Sharicite." Histoire told the party.
"Got it." Everyone nodded before the group left the transit station.
It was nighttime in Planeptune, with Nebula and AL, and Domio playing on the CPU's console within the Basilicom.
"This was your idea of preparation?" AL asked his buddy as they played some Memetic Kombat.
"If we train now, we might get too OP for the plot." Nebula puffed his chest. "So why take out the fun of a grueling fight?" He looked to his best friend.
"I dont think we can afford to have a mindset like that, Neb." Domio told his adoptive father.
"Vergo's gone and Gris is interrogating someone from Negadimension. Not to mention we have to save the CPUs tomorrow... Everything is just getting more and more tense." The Loweean looked at the pixelated screen, trying to ease his juvenile mind.
"Cheer up, squirt. We saved Leanbox, so what's saving the CPUs? Trust me, whatever ASIC has up its sleeve is about as dangerous as a stuffed lion." Nebula consoled his son whilst button-mashing inputs.
"Didn't CFW Magic almost kill you, and I had to drag your bleeding-out ass to gramps?" A suspicious brow rose from the martial artist.
"Okay, so they have one or two things. But we're totally prepared, lil' dude. This isn't a series where major character death happens very often." Some meta-knowledge escaped the blue-haired god's lips.
'But your brain cells die every day.' Aluben snickered.
Ignoring the alternate version of himself, Nebula silently played until someone entered the room.
Kallen, in a comfy pajama set of what appeared to be a yellow bunny with sharp teeth and weird-looking eyes approached the trio.
"Sorry for intruding, but do any of you know where the fridge is? I'm still not very familiar with this modern technology." She politely asked, unafraid to admit her ignorance.
"Wait, you're not?" Nebula tilted his head.
"Where I hail, not even light bulbs exist," Kallen told the group.
"So your people live like cavemen?" Domio blankly asked, fascinated by her archaic living standards.
"My home isn't that ancient!" She shouted, her eyes turning into comical saucers. "And besides, I only want a glass of water."
"Fridge's down in the back by the sink."
"The what?"
Nebula and AL paused their game to look at the nun, dumbfounded.
"Uh... Kallen, can your people read and write?" AL furrowed his brows, confused.
"Of course they can!" She sputtered, incredulous at the face of the question.
"Yeah, because they probably wrote the Bibble." Nebula snidely remarked.
"No, they didn't! And it's the Bib-"
"Kallen, did you see the Big Bang?" Domio innocently asked, unwittingly fanning the flames.
"Domio, do not follow in their footsteps. Their frivolous answers will not get me down." She shook her head, before raising her chin with pride.
"Does your family practice inbreeding still?" Nebula gave a sussy eyebrow raise to the nun.
"You take that back!" The usual tone of Kallen deepened in shade to a flustered red from that comment.
'You probably should. You have the mental capacity of an inbred child, anyway.' A mocking laugh was heard from within the GPU's mind.
'If I'm inbred, that means you're inbred.' nebula retorted.
'...I hate it when you're correct.' Aluben grumbled.
"What do you think, Dom? Is she a result of genetic recycling?" AL squinted his eyes and looked at the nun.
Domio was now put between a rock and a hard place, siding with his father or with common decency.
Kallen also gave the boy an expectant look, almost anticipating his denial.
Nebula simply looked to the side innocently, as if he had nothing to do with the memetic mess he concocted.
So Domio decided to solve the dilemma in his own manner.
"Actually, I think you two look similar," Domio spoke his mind.
Nebula and Kallen owlishly blinked at the boy while AL switched his gaze between the two.
"If that's the case, I retract my former statement." Nebula awkwardly coughed.
"Hah! How does it feel to be inbred, Nebula!" Laughing, she flipped his insult back on the meme lord.
"I said I took it back! Look, just walk down and take a right and you'll be right in front of the fridge." The GPU awkwardly pointed with his thumb.
"Thank you." She walked to her desired location, before taking out a glass of water.
'You're not going to like what I have to say about that statement.' Aluben told the meme lord.
'What does that mean?' Nebula furrowed his brows at that sentence.
'When you have free time, check your mother's maiden name.' The alter ego alluded, to the GPU's unease.
'I do not like those implications.' Nebula gave a very bleak response to that side quest.
Aluben laughed menacingly, refusing to elaborate.
Before the two could continue their game in an attempt to mitigate the atmosphere, the blue GPU's cell phone rang.
"Neb, it's IF." The Guild Agent identified herself.
"Hey, Iffy. How's the interrogation going?" The adventurer inquired.
"Gris and I managed to get some intel on the VPUs from her flash drive, but she keeps raving about the Gamindustri Graveyard during interrogation." The brunette explained.
"The Gamindustri Graveyard? What is her business there? Or did she keep that from you?" Nebula became suspicious.
"She told us that there would be something big happening there, but when I try to pressure her into divulging, she zips it." Gris' voice was heard.
"Have you tried giving her the Batman treatment?" AL joined the conversation.
"I slammed her head on the table, and threw her across the room, before reverting her injuries and threatening to do it again but it's as if she's been trained to handle these situations in the most roundabout way possible." The edge lord remarked.
"Did you fix the table?" Domio asked.
"Yes, Domio. I fixed the table." The eye-rolling of Gris could be felt from the phone.
"More importantly, something big's going to be happening with the VPUs in the same place we're rescuing the CPUs..." Nebula mulled over the implications.
"I really hope it isn't what I think it is, but fate can be cruel sometimes." AL voiced his thoughts.
"We can't be for certain without solid proof that they could appear. But we can't rule it out either." IF told the group. "As long as VPN sticks true to her name, she'll never give us a straight answer." The Guild Agent grumbled.
"Even so, we still have to take the worst-case scenario with these bastards. Especially when it's to our inconvenience. She's been watching us for hours, so she knows what we're doing in terms of our CPU extraction." Gris reminded the opposite side of the call.
"So they're really gonna show themselves tomorrow. Who could it be?" Domio shivered in fright.
"Our group has only encountered four VPUs so far, but there's no way that's all of them. We really should expect anything from those psychos." AL narrowed his eyes.
"Everything's speculation until VPN loosens those lips. You can punch out, IF. She'll try to whittle you down with sleep deprivation and making fun of your chest." The hitman told her.
"What about you? Won't you get tired and have to deal with her alone?" IF inquired through the phone.
"I have my ways. It's not like I can just slow the effect of fatigue to nigh-standstill with my powers or anything." The sarcasm dripped from the dark GPU's voice. "You need to be well rested for tomorrow, in any case." The GPU told the Guild Agent.
"I guess you're right. Open the door for me when I get to the Basilicom, you got that Neb?" IF reminded the blue-haired adventurer.
"Got'cha." Nebula responded before hanging up the phone.
"Well, scratch the part where I said I didn't want to be too OP." A long sigh escaped the adventurer's lips.
"You can never be too busted against them. Did you forget what Citadel did to us?" The Loweean reminded his father of their encounter.
"That's right. We were beaten into the ground after dealing with Vhestora. I doubt we'd even be able to phase him at full power back then." AL paled at the mention of the composed anomaly of a VPU.
"Fretting about it isn't going to help us. If we manage to get some sleep, that'll at least clear our minds for what we have to face tomorrow." Nebula told his friend and adoptive son.
"Okay. Good night, Neb." Domio nodded.
SLIDE!...
The warlock got up and stretched, before sliding his way to his guest room.
"I'll kick it on the couch. Got some things to mull over before I go to sleep." The martial artist homie turned off the console before kicking his feet up on the couch.
"Don't fall asleep on there, you'll wake up with an ink mustache." The meme lord warned.
"You wish." The afro buddy laughed.
"Have a good rest, you two," Kallen told the males as she walked to her room.
"See ya tomorrow." Nebula waved.
"G'night." AL told the nun.
Silently nodding to his friend, the blue GPU made his way to his room.
FOOSH!...
Upon the automated sliding doors parting, the guest room he managed to personalize within the six months he spent in Planeptune welcomed him as he passed through the doorway.
Sitting on his bed, he looked out to the window.
Planeptune's skyline was gorgeous in the evening hours, with the glowing city's luminescence shining brightly from on high in the Planeptower. The blue land yellow lights that glimmered from below painted a beautiful wallpaper for a PC in his opinion.
He didn't take much time to admire the nation's architecture, but the occasional sights reminded Nebula to fly above the city whenever he got the chance.
Changing into his sleepwear, the GPU made himself comfortable under his covers before closing his eyes, waiting for his consciousness to leave his mind.
...
..
.
"That reminds me..." Aluben's voice pierced through the room, using his mouth for communication.
"Are you fucking serious right now." Nebula opened his eyes with a deadpan expression, his sleep being interrupted by his alternate ego.
"No rest for the wicked, as they say." The alter ego's voice quoted. "And no sleep for you." He continued, making up the second saying in a bout of what Nebula could only discern as spite.
"Please tell me you have a reason for keeping me from counting sheep." A delayed blink accompanied the question that the GPU asked.
"Or else what?" Aluben taunted, under the guise of a question.
"..." Nebula couldn't think of an effective countermeasure at the moment.
"That's what I thought."
"So you don't think?" A childish smile spread on the deity's face.
"Not after ya open that mouth of yours. It's a lethal injection to any grey matter in your brain." The aspect was insulted.
"Are you going to tell me the reason or is this some cruel and unusual torture you came up with?" Grumbled the meme lord.
"I wish I could torment ya so, but this is somethin' rather necessitous." Aluben admitted in an uncharacteristically genuine manner.
"Then spit it out. I don't have all night."
"Yes you do, ya bum." The alter ego jabbed. "I overheard your conversation with IF about the VPUs and your dumb ass not doing ANYTHING to get stronger, so I figured doing you a solid might further my own interests while showing yer sorry ass just how far you gotta go." The alternate variation told the GPU.
"Go on." Nebula encouraged.
"Do you remember the spear ya picked up while you were in that one dimension?" He inquired.
"You talking about that purple-haired girl who was a notch more immature than Ram?" The GPU recalled.
"Bingo. I gotta way for ya to use that thing, but you gotta listen to me down to the wire." Alluben told him. "Fuck up and you'll succumb to space cancer." He nonchalantly forewarned, as if it were trivial.
"What the fuck-"
"Stop thinking about it, you don't do that well. Just get the spear." Aluben prevented the god from contemplating the risks of whatever the alternative personality had in store.
Digging into his inventory, the blue adventurer took out the weapon.
He referred to the object as a spear, yet it bore a closer resemblance to a lance with its double-sided appearance, and coned points with black and white ends respectively.
The core of the weapon had an ethereal orange glow of energy completely foreign to what Nebula had felt before that point, that one dimension remaining the only place he felt anything of the sort.
"When I inspect it, this spear feels remarkably enigmatic." Nebula held the weapon with his gravity, letting it levitate in front of him.
"Now kill yourself." Aluben ordered.
"What?!"Nebula's eyebrows touched his hairline, with his eyeballs threatening to comically pop out.
"I meant stab yourself." The alter ego corrected.
"Like that's any better!" The GPU rolled his eyes
"Look, I'll explain after. The daft aren't privy to details." He told the meme lord.
"I don't trust you at all. How isn't this just some low-effort assassination attempt?"
"If I wanted you dead, your heart would stop beating or I'd sever the neural pathway in your brain. You really think I'd go through the trouble of convincing you to disembowel yourself?" The blue deity could feel the alternate variation roll his eyes.
"... When you put it that way, not really." The adventurer contemplated the circumstances of an Aluben who didn't want him in the world of the living.
"So stop being a pussy and stab yourself. AL can do it with an arrow from Celestia-knows-where, so why not you?..." Aluben returned with his own question.
Nebula gazed at the spear once more before letting go of a deep breath.
"Since I know that you aren't trying to kill me, will this spear do the job for you?" An eyebrow raise of suspicion came from the deity.
"Perhaps."
"ALUBEN-" Nebula angrily bleated.
"Fine, no it won't. Now shut up and commit self-harm already!" He shouted.
Gripping the weapon, he raised it above his thigh.
Without any further thought, he plunged the spear.
STAB!
Blood spurted from the wound, the exotic spear digging into his flesh with wicked efficiency.
Sweat covered his entire body, the shock from the sudden injury wracking his nerves in ways that he never thought he could experience.
If he were still in a stable mindset, he would've chalked it up to the foreign energy he just let enter his biological structure, more specifically his bloodstream.
"G-Guh...!" Nebula felt this energy spread across his body rapidly, with his lungs being put under enormous strain to even function properly with every breath he took.
"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU MAKE ME DO!" Tumbling off his bed, the GPU quickly got to his feet before feeling the effects of the mysterious radiation encroach upon his skin.
Stripes of bluish-to-purplish shades sprouted from his injury before covering the majority of his body, his exposed arms and neck displaying said alien-like markings.
Aluben fell silent as the blue pseudo-protagonist was left alone to deal with the consequences.
"That motherfucker!" A coarse swear escaped the deity before feeling his strength fade from him, his body beginning to falter under the sudden fatigue.
The spread of whatever Aluben told to stab himself with was hastening, a stumbling Nebula reaching the mirror to see that his face started to showcase such markings.
"Space AIDS is a bitch!" Growled the meme lord before using his barokinesis on his bloodstream to slow the erythrocytes flow in his arteries and veins.
Hopefully, the maneuver would also work to somewhat reel the infectious nature in and give the GPU more time to come up with a solution.
The spear glowed a soft white, orange light radiating from its frame before dissolving into the god's wound.
Coating his hand in gravity, he pressed his wound before sealing the injury, simultaneously applying pressure and preventing any more foreign bodies from entering.
"Now would be a good time to do something, you white-haired asshole!" The GPU beckoned to no avail.
Running out of time, the pseudo-protagonist attempted to concentrate share energy to revert the spread of the infection that marked his body.
...
...
...
Yet what he would have expected in the form of a warm glow...
"Why isn't it working?!" The meme lord choked fearfully.
Was nowhere to be found.
"My shares... I can't...?!" Looking down at his hands, his skin started to become pale with his iris slowly shifting to an unnatural yellowish-orange.
His hair started to slowly lighten in tone to an unnatural white, devoid of any melanin whatsoever with the hands of the GPU becoming a bright pink in complexion where the lines stemmed from.
An eerie glow started to radiate from the GPU, his body having contained so much of the energy that it started glowing with unstable fluctuations to the adventurer's horror.
It felt as if the energy had stopped attempting to corrupt him, and moved onto a more destructive directive by the intense pain that started to fester within the deity's body.
Digging into his inventory, he took out and consumed several Healing Pods, in an attempt to preserve whatever life force he had remaining, his vision beginning to blur and sharpen repeatedly with each item consumed.
Dozens of Healing Pods were consumed, the adventurer had never eaten so many health items in such a short period of time before, yet whatever Aluben had convinced him to do was the equivalent of contracting a deadly disease for the hell of it.
"Even my vision's getting hazy... That spear probably gave me ligma, sugma, sugondese, and bofa." Gargling through the liquid of the healing pods, he dragged his feet to the window.
Reaching it, he moved on to the other support-type item he had, SP Chargers were chugged faster than a depressed drunk at a lonely bar.
"Gah! I really- REALLY should not have stabbed myself unsupervised." Learning to regret trusting the alter ego, he felt some of his former energy returning.
His fatigue and failing health were only temporarily dealt with, yet he soon felt the draining effects of whatever his body harbored starting to strip his newfound stability, dragging him back into a crippling state slowly but surely.
SLURP!...
"I gotta get some fresh air...! "
JUMP!-
Scrambling back into his inventory, he emptied a can of Nep Bull into his system before opening and leaping out of the window, figuring that leaving what became a congested coffin of a bedroom.
Plunging off the side of Planeptower was most likely suicidal for the vast majority of individuals in Gamindustri.
Yet for Nebula, he'd fallen further in the midst of a fight than in many manmade structures.
But alas, this fight in particular was one within his own body.
L-LEVITATE...!
He still had access to his gravity, although it felt wonky at best as if someone had reversed the controls of his ability with the nightwear GPU shakily flying in the air akin to an injured bird.
"I have to get away... From civilization... Whatever I stabbed myself with... Is definitely contagious." Nebula huffed between words, rummaging within his inventory once more.
Taking out his Chaos Dorito, he shouted the words.
"C-Chaos...!"
...FALL!
Undoing his gravitational flight, his body began to plummet. his clothes flapping as his body rapidly approached terminal velocity, the concrete went from a far thought to an impending reality.
"CONTROL!"
The GPU shouted the words as his body almost closed the gap between himself and the sidewalk.
His face stared down his own shadow as the deity was mere inches from the ground, his perception slowing down to witness whether he'd turn into a human-shaped pancake.
TELEPORT!
Yet the chaotic energy within the snack-shaped gem saved him from a fate that meant he'd change his occupation from deity to doormat.
...
...
...
TELEPORT!
Moving from Planeptune completely, the chaotic artifact had teleported him somewhere completely different from most likely Gamindustri itself.
At the very least, it gave the deity enough altitude in the air to comprehend he had changed his position in space, rather than in life.
BOOM!...
Managing to stick the superhero landing despite his failing condition, Nebula stood up, using his gravity to pull up his frame with strength that his body would soon lack.
Breathing heavily, he inspected his surroundings.
Cubes... Lots and lots of cubes.
Their colors were either a pasty white, a faded grey, or a dark obsidian. Seemingly suspended in space, they had the appearance of building blocks of a sandbox engine, albeit rather cosmic for such a mundane purpose.
The atmosphere made the sky a dark hue of grey that lightened the closer to what would've been the horizon. Instead of a more natural skyline, the Cubes had assimilated to form a valley, of varying heights almost simulating a mountain range.
What he was standing on might be one big cube, yet countless cubes of varying sizes permeated the environment, the ground littered with geometric objects.
It seemed as if nothing existed apart from the edged euclidean entities.
"This isn't Planeptune... Nor is it Gamindustri. This isn't even Hyperdimension." He panted, before slightly widening his stance.
"Which means I can pull out all the stops." His features darkened upon finishing his sentence, before being illuminated by the purplish markings that had made their way to his eyes.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
BURST!
His clothes and hair flapped wildly with the KI within his body skyrocketing in response to his scream.
...STEAM!
Undoing the decelerated state of his blood flow, the increased pressure caused the rise of his body temperature which in turn caused his skin to expunge the excess heat via the ejection of evaporated sweat.
"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
SPIKE!
The enigmatical condition sent a pulse of pain across the GPU's entire body, what was once a boastful shout converting into a shrill scream.
SCATTER!...
BOOM!-
It caused his KI to fluctuate wildly, sending nearby cubes tumbling with such speed that upon contact with another cubic object or the ground, they promptly exploded from the sheer magnitude of impact.
"NEBULA!" Aluben's voice suddenly made itself known, before Nebula suddenly vomited.
"BLEARGH!" The crimson substance launched from his mouth before the GPU registered what he had just done, and red trails were still present on the corners of his lips.
"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU MAKE ME DO!" Nebula screamed in a mix of agony and rage. "I can't feel my fucking shares! I can't even use my KI properly! I can't see or stand properly! Weird purple markings on my skin!" The adventurer rattled off the abnormalities occurring within and on the surface of his body.
"CALM DOWN! OR DO YOU WANT YOUR ORGANS TO START FAILING?!" The alternate ego snapping back.
"MY WHAT TO START WHAT?!" Stumbling, even with his gravity holding him up, was only natural upon hearing the grim fate that could potentially fall upon him.
"I've been silent because I'm trying to keep your liver and lungs from quitting their job! it's a miracle your dumb ass managed to survive this long!" Aluben shouted, sounding stressed.
"This wouldn't even be happening if you didn't tell me to stab myself with that wonky-ass spear!" Reflex tears started to well up in the eyes of the deity, his body unconsciously weeping from the torment it had to endure from the foreign energy, whilst his voice croaked.
"We needed to take that risk! Would you rather go into that graveyard unprepared?!" An incredulous tone came from the alternate variation.
"I might go into this graveyard right now if I don't make it!"Nebula responded, with some semblance of fear starting to seep into his heart.
"Look, I just need more time. I'm almost finished, you just need to survive a little bit longer." The mental aspect told him.
"I-I'll see what I can do." Taking a shaky deep breath, the GPU relinquished his gravitational crutch.
"Tch!" Landing on his knees with a grunt, he breathed.
In...
And out.
In...
And out.
"...So this is what it feels like... To get the late-stage disease in Pl*gue Inc..." Through deep breaths, the god still had time to make a joke.
The pain that was plaguing his system had started to dull but still persisted. Lurching over, the deity was now on all fours, with the radiation from whatever finally starting to take him over.
"N-No... I can't..." He muttered, his might leaving him with the infection weaning out in the battle for his body.
The deity's fingers started to look remarkably like purple gummy worms with the ground resembling a big cube of sugar...
'W-What?!' The blue GPU jolted in shock.
Shaking his head, Nebula's perception returned to normal, managing to resist a slight hallucination in the process.
His vision soon started to darken, eyelids tired of straining to keep themselves open after the arduous conditions they were forced to endure.
"..." His eyes started to reflect themselves in a glassy manner, his arms shaking to keep him upright despite it all.
The blood dripped from his mouth, the drops splattering on the ground with a lonely echo.
FLOAT...!
The cubes that were nearby were beginning to be drawn to him.
CLUMP!
CLUMP!
CLUMP!
Being pulled to him, under a gravitational force that stemmed from the wayward condition of the meme lord, the blocks soon cluttered around his body.
His gravitational barrier had been affected by the condition, inverting it into a gravitational field that pulled any object near it and onto his form.
"A-A𝓃𝓎.. 𝒯𝒾𝓂𝑒... 𝒩̷̙͕͖͕͎̩̙̿̒-̷̼͇̫͖̓̒̃̈̇͂͠Ņ̴̨̨͇͍̟̖͇̽͐̌̚𝑜̸̝͈̼͍͇̜̥̗̿̚̚͝𝓌̵̡̺̝͓̮̱̙̼̅͂̇..." A faint whisper from within the cluster of cubes that formed around him was heard.
Nebula's voice deteriorated to a corrupted state, likely from the infection reaching its late stages within his body, bringing a foreboding tone to the time that was yet to pass for the GPU.
CLUMP!...
A disorganized pile of cubes buried the GPU, their gravitational binding still active long after his body was buried.
CLUMP!...
The hill continued to accumulate more and more, forming a sizeable heap of cubes that pulled hundreds upon hundreds of blocky objects, entombing the deity within the lifeless dimension.
CLUMP!...
...
..
.
After all available cubes had been clustered, the geometric realm knew silence once more.
"Oi!" Aluben shouted.
In the midsts of the cosmic mindscape of the GPU, the counterpart attempted to establish contact with the meme lord.
The realm which had many celestial objects had been reduced to nothing more than red dwarves and iron stars, and sparse meteorites and comets.
The aspect heard no response, prompting him to try harder.
"Nebula? Nebula!?... NEBULAAAAAAAAAA!"
...RUMBLE!
His shout caused the mental realm to shake from his volume, yet he received no answer for his troubles.
"He... He's not conscious anymore." Aluben realized, before looking down at his hands, observing the same purplish markings on his hands and shoulders.
Looking over to a drifting comet, the reflective surface showcased the markings that covered not only his neck but also his jaw, cheeks, and eyes. even his forehead sported the same alien patterns with his eyes adopting the greyish shade upon his sclera.
His hair shifted to the plain aegean blue most noticeable on Nebula and perhaps a shade or two duller than Nisa's. His skin looked healthier as well, most likely reflecting the pallor that Nebula was inflicted with.
"The infection is worse than I thought. I knew that males would naturally have a lower tolerance, too. His GPU status most likely saved him from a quick death, but gave him a lengthy expiration instead." He looked away from the comet before drifting in a different direction.
"I'll have to finish this myself, Nebula's too weak to hold out any longer." He accelerated his velocity, the alternate version of the meme lord moving past the few celestial bodies that remained.
Until he found himself before a portal, which radiated the same foreign energy as what had infected Nebula earlier.
GLOW...!
It appeared analogous to a crack in space itself, with a purplish-pinkish aura bleeding from the edges of the tears within the mental fabric.
If anything, Aluben would've guessed that even Nebula's mental vessel had been dragged within its gateway, leading him to assume that it was responsible in its entirety or his unresponsive nature.
Without hesitation, he drifted into the portal, before the background shifted to the color of the inside of the portal, that being darkness.
Not very unnerving, since he existed in mental outer space for a while anyway.
Yet the realm shifted to pure white, something that was the equivalent of turning your browser to light mode.
"AHHHHH! FUCK! I GOT FLASHBANGED BY A FUCKING PORTAL!" Aluben cursed, shielding his eyes from the bright new space he found himself in.
"𝒴𝑒𝓈. 𝐼 𝓈𝓊𝓅𝓅𝑜𝓈𝑒 𝓊𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓁𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝓂𝑜𝒹𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝓅𝑒𝓇 𝑜𝓅𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒹𝒾𝓈𝑜𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓃𝓉𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃." A new voice spoke to the dark aspect of Nebula, causing him to lower his arm and stare down who spoke at him.
"Nebula?... No, it's you. Get out of there, you mind parasite." Aluben narrowed his eyes, mistaking the GPU for his mind self being possessed by the infectious energy.
The figure possessed the clothes of Nebula, yet retained the white hair and pale skin of the corrupted GPU.
The purplish markings spread across all of his exposed skin, with darkened areas near the end of his appendages such as his arms and neck.
His fingers had transformed into dark mutated claws with scales running up the sides of his arms into his shirt sleeve, with some more jutting through his shoulders out of his shirt entirely.
Some of them were even visible through the hole of his pant leg, with a small growth where his coccyx would most likely be located between his shirt and pants; the beginnings of a reptilian-like tail.
Nebula's neck and nape also gained hardened scales with a strange growth on his head, vaguely resembling a horn of sorts poking through his hair.
His sclera was now dark grey, yet the most distinguishing feature of his face was how his eyes were warped.
Neon pink irises with white four-pointed stars for pupils. Their gaze was as eerie as it was anomalous to the mental aspect.
"𝐵𝓊𝓉 𝐼 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝑒𝓃𝓁𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉𝑒𝓃𝑒𝒹, 𝒜𝓁𝓊𝒷𝑒𝓃. 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒲𝐼𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑀𝑜𝓈𝓉 𝐻𝒾𝑔𝒽 𝓂𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝒷𝑒 𝒻𝓊𝒻𝒾𝓁𝓁𝑒𝒹, 𝓇𝑒𝑔𝒶𝓇𝒹𝓁𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝒶𝒸𝓇𝒾𝒻𝒾𝒸𝑒." ''Nebula'' told him through fanged teeth, no doubt a result of the energetic mutation.
His voice was rather refined with a highborn aura surrounding it. No doubt, another influence of the foreign infection.
"𝒜𝒻𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒶𝓁𝓁, 𝒶𝓇𝑒𝓃'𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓅𝓊𝓇𝓈𝓊𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝒶𝓂𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝒶𝓁 𝒶𝓈 𝐼? 𝒯𝑜 𝒸𝑜𝓃𝓉𝓇𝑜𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓋𝑒𝓈𝓈𝑒𝓁?" ''Nebula'' folded its arms.
Aluben clenched his fists, silent in his stance.
"So you've talked to it. Unfortunately, whatever that 'will' told you will mean nothing in a matter of moments." The mental shadow pointed at the corrupted GPU before putting his nad in his pocket.
"𝒞𝑜𝓃𝒻𝒾𝒹𝑒𝓃𝓉, 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓌𝑒?"
ZOOM!
''Nebula'' rushed forward through the pure white space, raising a claw with animalistic intensity to slash away at the mental aspect's throat with manic glee.
Aluben simply remained neutral in his expression before an equally deranged expression flashed across the albino variation of Nebula.
"𝑀𝒶𝒾𝓃𝓉𝒶𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒷𝓇𝒶𝓋𝒶𝒹𝑜 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝐼-"
DARKEN!
The white space immediately drowned itself in darkness.
"𝒲-𝒲𝒽𝒶𝓉? 𝒲𝒽𝓎 𝒸𝒶𝓃'𝓉 𝐼 𝒻𝑒𝑒𝓁 𝐻𝒾𝓈 𝓅𝓇𝑒𝓈𝑒𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝓎𝓂𝑜𝓇𝑒?!" Fear overtook the once maniacal expression written on the GPU's face.
"𝒟𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓂𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝒽𝒾𝓃𝒹, 𝓅𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒!" Fear gripped his very soul, the corrupted deity hyperventilating at the thought of being separated.
"HAHAHAHAHA!" Aluben's laugh echoed through the void. "Where is your god now?!"
BURST!
A sinister yet familiar power coursed through Aluben's body, black and orange energy coursing around his body.
"𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓉'𝓈...!" Despite ''Nebula'' not being himself, he still knew intrinsically what Aluben possessed.
"You fear it, don't you? Good." Aluben sniggered, concentrating his energy into his hand before aiming it at the GPU.
POINT!
"Because this is exactly what you think it is! BEGONE!" The fearsome aspect prepared to destroy the corrupted deity.
His pupils shifted from dots to power signals, the only difference being instead of the glowing white; it emanated a devious black shade.
"𝒮𝒜𝒱𝐸 𝑀𝐸, 𝒴𝒪𝒰𝑅 𝑀𝒜𝒥𝐸𝒮𝒯𝒴-"
BLAST!
THOOM!
The pile of cubes that had practically created the most polygonal mausoleum in its entire history the meme lord found himself buried under scattered with violent velocity.
PULL!-
Yet the numerous cubes suddenly found themselves sucked back into the epicenter of what it was buried under almost instantaneously.
-REJECT!
VOOM!
Before being obliterated by the sudden gravitational spike, it sent cubes to the sky to be never seen again, across the horizon over yonder, or to the floor to become molten scrap.
As pandemonium was reckoning, a lone figure stood in the very middle of it all.
His body was glowing, pure white in complexion with energy radiating off of him from every direction.
The light that he illuminated with could be seen from quite a distance away, a testament to the amount of power he had within.
His body began to dim, idiosyncrasies became more distinct.
"𝐹̵̨̫̺͚̣͕̻͒̃̀͒̑̐ͅ𝒾̷̬̂̋́̒͒̉͑͝𝓃̵̨̟̘̾̔͛̃ͅͅ𝒶̸̢̹̬̹̈̎̌̋̚𝓁̴͈̔̌͗̈̉͜𝓁̴̠̃̔̂͐𝓎̶̲̘̟̟̑ͅ..." His voice escaped his lips.
Patting his chest upon hearing the still alien-like voice from his throat, he retried speaking.
"𝐼𝓉'𝓈... Over." A relaxed smile stretched across his mouth, the meme lord feeling much better than how he was doing a little while ago.
Power was not only hard to come by but also hard to handle in most cases. This was no exception, at least concerning the second part.
"Aluben, you there?" Nebula called out. "I've got some choice words for you, jackass." He grumbled.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry you can't thug out space syphilis." The apology was about as genuine as a faraway prince asking for money in an email.
"I had to lock in with all my abilities so that I wouldn't get logged out of life, you prick!" The GPU felt insulted by his aspcet's response.
"Although, I'm as responsible for almost killing you as I am for saving you. If not for me, you'd be meatriding some will that would gaslight you into exterminating humanity." Aluben surprisingly took responsibility for Nebula's peril only to take that same responsibility for his salvation.
"Oh really? What did you do that was so important besides manipulating me into self-harm?" The blue deity grew suspicious.
"I managed ta cleanse the infection from your mind and stabilize its physical properties to keep it regulated within ya motral coil. Matter of fact, you should have resistance now." The mental aspect told him.
"Sure." Rolling his eyes, he looked down to inspect his hands.
"What?" The markings had receded completely, no trace left of their existence on the top of his skin. "The markings are gone!"
"Duh. Or else you'd be a zombified version of yourself right now. I think we should head back so I can cleanse your room before somebody walks in it wondering why you were having an aneurysm." Aluben suggested.
"You're right." The meme lord nodded before taking out the radioactive dorito.
"Chaos Control!"
TELEPORT!
...
...
...
TELEPORT!
Back in his room, Nebula immediately felt the traces of the strange radiation that coursed from his body moments before he left.
"Whoa... That's an off feeling..." Nebula leaned to the side before regaining his balance.
The room contained an orange glow, the same one that was left when he jumped out the window prior to teleporting out of the dimension entirely.
"You'd do well to absorb it before somebody walks in here." The alter ego reminded him.
"I know."
SEAL!
Activating barokinesis, the GPU used his share energy to isolate the room, preventing anything from leaving with the utilization of repulsive gravity spread across all walls of the room.
ABSORB!...
Then with an attractive force, the radiation seeped into his body, with the room's color returning to its previous state.
He felt his muscles slightly inflate before returning to their former size, blinking at the sudden anatomical reaction.
"I tweaked your body to specifically let you absorb any more of that weird energy. Apparently it's like a supernatural performance-enhancing drug with no drawbacks since you experienced most of them the first time you stabbed yourself." Aluben concluded.
"Hm. Almost overdosing on tren is off my bucket list now, I guess." Walking to the mirror, Nebula inspected how he looked now compared to while he was still fighting for his life against space cancer.
His skin returned to its healthy complexion, with no visible markings to be seen.
Yet his hair retained a streak of white amid its blue hue. He ran his fingers through it, only for the streak to maintain its place within his hairstyle.
"A mallen streak? Yare yare da..." A sigh escaped his lips. "How am I ever gonna explain this?" The member walked to the window.
"Just tell the others you put a fork in a socket or something. Not like they wouldn't believe it considering your personality." Aluben laughed.
"It's bad that what you said is an actual excuse with a real chance of working." Closing his window, the Joestar looked at the night sky before moving away.
"Yet I still have questions about what that energy was. Did it have anything to do with my mother's maiden name or something?..." The blue GPU trailed off.
Silence ensued, as Nebula's question was left unanswered.
"Should've known-"
"Long ago, in a place where trees were imaginary and seas were quantum, existed a force known as the Quack-eye."
"... Are you fucking serious right now?" The right eye of the sleep-deprived deity twitched.
"Yes, you just suffered from the Quack-eye Infection and if I didn't save your sorry ass you'd turn into a zombie that browses n621!" Aluben overdramatically foreboded with asinine subjects.
"... Do you actually think I'm retarded-" A tick mark popped into existence on Nebula's forehead.
"If it weren't for your legendary Lasagna heritage on your mother's side, you'd be absolutely finished! Praise be to G*rfield!"
"... Are you done?" Shaking, the GPU barely had it in him to listen to the alternate variation's shitposting of lore.
"One more; You got a new tattoo on your shoulder. It's a little ways from your Joestar birthmark to be precise. A stick martyr or something, means you're chosen by Quack-eye Jebus to ultrakill mankind."
Something that can only be described as a rambling pile of scuffed nonsense made the blue god give up on staying conscious.
"Man, I was pooped before but after that steaming pile of dogshit exposition, I think I'm completely done with the world of the living." His anger heel-face turning into exhaustion, the GPU moved over to his bedside before belly-flopping on his mattress.
"Good night. Also, you might meet someone in those dreams of yours." Aluben told the GPU.
"Whatever..." Drifting to sleep, the meme lord slowly crept into unconsciousness.
...
...
...
Within his dream, Nebula was enjoying himself without the tribulations of Aluben's doing, sitting peacefully on a rock staring off at the horizon at the peak of a lone mountain.
His mind was at ease, after all he went through.
"Hey, I heard you beat that space cancer guy, you must be pretty strong." A guy with orange gi and blue undershirt, a blue belt with matching wristbands and boots with spiky black hair cheerily asked from behind the meme lord.
"ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS-"
A/N:
Chapter complete!
Hope you all had a good time reading this chapter and continue to enjoy this story.
Read and Review!
Arrivederci.