HN is Real: Chapter 9: Head for the Source

"Here we are," announced IF as the party entered the door to their motel room. While it at least did have four beds with green bar headers and footers, windows with green frames, four hanging lights that didn't look the slightest bit eco-friendly, a stove, a caged fan hanging from the ceiling and a middle-sized TV on the other side of the room, there was an air duct on the wall that made a continuous faint noise. This might have been slightly tolerable if it weren't for the huge metal generator placed near one of the beds. It was slightly shorter than Compa and the pipe extruding from the top branched out left and right at the edge of the ceiling. The room was ugly and noisy.

"Home sweet home," said Jacob.

Compa looked around quizzically. "I don't think it's that nice. It looks kind of dirty, the generator and air duct are-"

"I was being sarcastic," Jacob said quickly.

"… Oh."

"Well," began Jacob, "someone has to take the bed next to the generator. Not it."

"Not it," said Neptune.

"Not it," said IF.

"Huh?" Compa was confused until she realised what was going on. "O-Oh… I have to take the generator bed…" Compa took a deep breath. "Okay… That's fine."

"Oh, God…" Jacob rubbed his face. "Fine, then."

IF raised an eyebrow. "Jacob, that's a bit charitable of you."

"No, it's a bit charitable of you. You're taking the generator bed."

"What?" IF was taken aback. "Why?"

"You travel around a lot. I presume you've had worse living conditions than this?"

"Well, yeah, b-"

"Then you can cope with this."

IF frowned and glared at Jacob before she walked over to her bed. "Why do I always get the crappy bed?" she grumbled to herself as she lied down.

Jacob looked around the room. "These accommodations are absolutely dreadful, and we picked the middle-priced room."

"Hey," Neptune tugged on Jacob's jacket sleeve to get his attention. "We don't have time to sit around doing nothing like NPCs. We need to figure out what to do now."

"Good point." IF sat up. "So far, we've established that tutorial dungeons don't necessarily hold Key Fragments." She crossed her arms. "What else did Planeptune's tutorial dungeon have that might separate it from other dungeons?"

"Bugger all, apparently," answered Jacob. "Planeptune's tutorial dungeon and Lastation's were pretty much the same. The only key difference, no pun intended, was that Planeptune's had a Guard Vermin as a boss while Lastation's had that red dog."

IF looked like she had an epiphany. "That's it."

"What's it? Me? When did we start playing tag?" Neptune asked.

"Maybe it's the Guard Vermin. I've never seen one before but you three saw it in a tutorial dungeon. I don't think that's a coincidence."

Jacob nodded in comprehension. "So what you're saying is, we find a dungeon with a Guard Vermin boss and we find a Key Fragment?"

"Not necessarily," responded IF. "The tutorial dungeon theory didn't work and there's no guarantee that this will."

"Still better than nothing," said Jacob. "Any lead's better than running around blind."

"But where will we find a dungeon with a Guard Vermin in it?" asked Compa. "DungleMaps doesn't say what monsters are in a dungeon, only its recommended level and name."

"Guess we'll have to go to the Basilicom, then," said Jacob. "I imagine they'd have an extensive library on dungeons and the monsters within?"

IF smiled. "Absolutely." She stood up from the bed. "Well, it looks like we're going to the Basilicom. Everyone ready?"

No one had any objections.

"Oi! I'm the leader so I'm the one who says 'Everyone ready?' or 'Get to the chopper!'" Well, except for Neptune.

"Since when did we have a leadership?" asked Jacob. "I thought we all just followed the opinion that was the most popular."

"Yeah but I'm the main character, which means I'm the one who calls the shots and looks cool."

Jacob sighed. "Neptune, you don't favour strategy and your plans are, for all intents and purposes, go on and see if something relevant falls from the sky. You're not leadership material."

Neptune gasped. Compa grimaced while IF looked at Jacob with an expression that said 'You shouldn't have said that'.

Neptune's eyes began to tear up. "Y-You think I'm a st-stupid head…"

Jacob groaned and held the bridge of his nose. "Oh, lord…"

"WAAAH!" Neptune cried. Very, very loudly. "You're a meanie heeead!"

"Neptune, I'm sorry," Jacob tried to apologise. "You're an okay leader-"

"WAAAH!" Apparently, 'okay' was the wrong word.

Jacob walked up to her and flicked her on the forehead. All three girls present were surprised by this. "Neptune, pull yourself together," he said sternly. "Does a leader cry when her own troops insult her? No; she holds her ground and makes sure that they know she's the boss. Neptune, your tactical inabilities aside, you're steadfast, determined to reach the goal and a good source of morale. You don't cry; that's Compa's schtick."

"Aw…" whined you-know-who.

The tears in Neptune's eyes receded and she sniffled. "Yeah… Yeah, you're right!" Now she was back to being her chipper self. "I'm a big, badass leader! Cryin' is for sissies!"

"Not necessarily." Jacob's comment was ignored.

"Well, gang," she turned to IF and Compa, "we're going to the Basilicom and we are going to find the heck out of this gosh dang Guard Vermin! All in favour say 'aye'!"

"Aye!" said Compa cheerfully.

"Aye," said IF more loudly than last time.

"Aye," said Jacob normally.

"Then we're off! Into the wilds we go to the Basilicom!" Neptune opened the door.

"Neptune?" Jacob began. "Do you want a hug?"

This question caused the girls to look at him like he just spoke three sentences at once in four different languages. "What?" responded Neptune without her usual perkiness.

Jacob spread out his arms. "After that little crying fest, I wondered if you wanted a hug."

"Jake…" began Compa, treating her sentence like she was walking on a tightrope, "do you… like… like Neptune?"

"Oh for crying out loud…" Jacob face-palmed. "Why is it that everything I do is some sort of proclamation of love? I hug a lot of people, all in platonic ways, and this is no different."

"Oh…" said Neptune, not visibly disappointed. "Well… sure, let's huggle."

Neptune walked forward and wrapped her arms around Jacob as he wrapped his around her. They stayed like that for a few seconds. "You're so warm, Jacob," said Neptune as she rested her head on Jacob's torso like it was a pillow. "Mm… I can feel your heartbeat."

"… This just stopped being platonic, didn't it?" Jacob asked.

"Ba-dum-pa, ba-dum-pa…" murmured Neptune.

"Like a crashing train," said IF.

For some reason, Compa was shaking ever so slightly.

"Alright Neptune, that's enough," he said firmly as he pushed her away and headed for the door. "Let's get moving."

The girls followed him. "Thankies, Jacob," said Neptune. "I was thinking of kicking you in the knee to make you know I'm the boss, like you said, but that hug will do."

Most people would not smile at that remark in amusement like Jacob did. "That's a nice thought."

---

And so the party found themselves getting into the cable car again.

"You know," began Jacob as he ducked his head to get into the lift, "I used to be very scared of these, what with being suspended by a single cord over the yawning void of whatever's down there. Now that I've used these things quite a few times, I'm okay."

"That's good, Jake. I had the same problem when I first used it," Compa said as she sat down.

IF looked up at the roof. "It could snap at any time, couldn't it?"

"Yeah." Jacob turned to Neptune. "You should use teleporters to get between islands."

"Hm… okay then! When I become a goddess again and I can just zippity-zap-"

"Please cut those out," requested Jacob.

"- things here, there and everywhere, I'll put teleporters everywhere." Neptune seemed enthusiastic.

"Nice," said IF.

The party was quiet from there. Jacob took this moment to think. So far, he knew from Compa's… assets and Neptune's method of swinging her hammer that he was in a primarily fanservice-focused story. Given the all-female cast, he also guessed that the fanservice focused on lesbianism between very underage girls. This unnerved him a little. However, why Neptune acted so suggestively before still escaped him. Regardless, he then realised that the girls had very little character on their own and they mainly existed to make out with each other and make as many lame video game "jokes" as they could get away with.

Time to do something about that.

"Hey, girls?" Jacob got their attention. "What do you want to do for a profession?"

"What do you mean?" asked Compa.

"I mean what do you want to do for a job, to earn a living."

"Oh. Well, I want to be a nurse, to help the sick. There are so many hurting people in Gamindustri and I want to help them!" Compa's burst of enthusiasm when her desire to help people did not go unnoticed. "I also want to get married to someone nice one day…" Stars appeared in her eyes again. "I'll have a beautiful wedding dress, with a great big wedding cake… Oh! IF, you can be the maid of honour!"

"Really? That sounds interesting." IF was slightly amused.

"You just wanna be a nurse, Compa?" Jacob looked a bit confused. "You don't want to be a Chief of Medicine or something?"

"Chief of Medicine?" Now Compa looked confused.

"You know, the person running the hospital. Hell, you could be even more than that like a Minister of Medicine or something. Who knows how far your influence could spread? How many could you help from such a high position of power?"

"How… many…" Compa got stars in her eyes again and had a very vacant expression.

"Jacob, are you sure it's a good idea to fill her mind with those ideas? What if she fails and gets disappointed?" IF asked.

"Hey, I reckon she can do it. Just give her a few years of experience to start with and she'll find her way from there. Besides, you have to aim higher than your target if you want to hit it. That's what my archery teacher told me when I didn't hit the apple on top of Ben's head."

The entire car became deathly silent.

Jacob chuckled. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. IF, what do you wanna do for your future?"

"Well, I don't really have any goals. I like to travel and get around. There's a lot of interesting people to meet and I like seeing all the different sights. Not to mention monster fighting never gets boring," IF answered.

"I'm not much of a traveller, myself," commented Jacob. "I prefer to stay home all day playing video games."

IF smiled. "Trust me Jacob, you're the rule rather than the exception."

"I wanna be a hero of justice!" Neptune stood up suddenly. "I wanna make all the bad guys cry home to their mommas and help damsels in distress."

Jacob nodded. "When you get your memories as a goddess back, I'm pretty sure you'll be able to do just that."

"Hot diggity dog! Memories, here I come!"

"What do you want to do in the future, Jake?" asked Compa.

"Oh, me? Well, I wanna be a game designer."

IF was surprised. "Really? That sounds like fun."

"Yeah." Jacob leaned back a bit. "I look at the current line-up of games and I wonder to myself, 'Where is the creativity?' and 'Where is the originality?' I want to change that. I want to get into the industry and make quality games that will truly raise the bar."

"That sounds awesome." Neptune seemed to be in awe. "Any ideas so far?"

Jacob smirked. "What do you think about a person who flies around with a jetpack and cuts off the heads of giant monsters with a huge laser-edged broadsword?"

"I'm sold," said IF.

"Same here," echoed Compa.

"That sounds even more awesome!" Neptune shared their thoughts.

"You think you can do it?" IF asked.

Jacob leaned forward. "It's gonna be a long and tough road but I think I can do it." If one looked very closely, they would be able to see Jacob's face spelling out 'bring it on'. "I will make a game with brilliant gameplay and an epic story that makes every conventionally good game before it shrivel before its might like it's a cold day in the locker room."

Compa smiled. "I think you can do it, Jake. You just have to believe in yourself."

"And work hard," Jacob added on quickly. "Never forget working hard."

"Good things come to those who work hard and never give up, right?" quoted Neptune.

"Absolutely." Jacob looked back at IF. "Are we there yet?"

"Yeah, we just arrived." The car arrived at the station.

"Funny how our establishing conversations finish right before we arrive at our destination," Jacob commented as he reached for the door.

---

The first thing that occurred to Jacob when the party arrived at Lastation's Basilicom was that it looked a lot like Planeptune's. In fact, it looked exactly like Planeptune's Basilicom; it had exactly the same colours, it was in the middle of the same forest and there weren't even any black clouds. It was as if whoever made this place couldn't even be bothered to recolour it so as to differentiate it from the other Basilicoms.

"Compa, could I borrow a piece of paper and a pen, please?" Jacob asked politely.

"Oh, uh, sure." Compa pulled the items out of her disk and gave them to Jacob. "What do you need them for?"

"Taking notes. Now I just need a flat surface."

"Wait until we're inside the Basilicom," said IF as the party walked to the door. A man, presumably a guard, stood there. He seemed to be a little bit younger than the man at Planeptune's Basilicom and a bit scruffier. Of course, Jacob couldn't really tell because of the whole silhouette deal.

"Um, 'scuse me!" Neptune called as she approached him. "I wanna get some information on monsters. May I come in?"

The man looked at Neptune. "Monsters? What are you going to do with this information?" he asked in a condescending tone of voice.

"We're searching for an item called a Key Fragment. We must defeat a strong monster to get one," Compa explained.

"Actually, we don't know that for sure," said Jacob. "We need a Key Fragment but we don't know where it is. It's definitely in a dungeon somewhere guarded by a Boss but that's all we know for certain."

"Defeat monsters?" The man responded as if he just heard a bad joke. "Don't be foolish. Even the Lastation Defence Force doesn't stand a chance against them. You're nothing more than children. Go home!"

"Y-You shouldn't judge us by our appearances." Compa tried to appear strong but her feelings were definitely hurt. "We've already defeated lots and lots of monsters already. Nep-Nep here can transform and become really super strong. We'll show you!"

"Transform?" the man repeated.

"Are you doing that on purpose?" Jacob lost his patience. "Yes, Neptune can transform. Yes, she can become 'really super strong' as Compa here has said. Also, yes, we do want the information to defeat monsters. Are there any other stupid questions you'd like answered and, for the love of God, do not say 'Questions?'."

"This Basilicom is a bit arrogant," IF remarked with distaste. "Shows what kind of leader Black Heart is when you meet the people who serve her."

IF's statement struck a nerve with the man. "We're not like those that suck up to Black Heart! I don't care what others say but don't confuse us with them. You brats better scram already or I'm going to have to hurt you!"

Neptune was angered by this response. "Oh? Have you even seen our stats? We're probably way stronger than you!" She was about to draw her sword but a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Neptune." Jacob didn't need to make Neptune turn around to look at him. "Transform. Now."

Neptune's eyes widened before the biggest grin he had ever seen grew on her face. "Okey-dokey!" She turned back to the man. "Watch now and be amazed! This is a once in a life time opportunity!" She drew her sword and raised it to the sky. "By the power of Planeptune! I have the power!"

Neptune transformed again, although without the booming voice and the thunder coming down from the sky. Instead, it was the standard white flash. Taking Neptune's place was… well, still Neptune but she was now in the form of Purple Heart. She opened her eyes and noticed that the man was… well he was most likely shocked. Again, silhouettes.

"Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-What happened?" he stammered.

"That, my friend, is my other friend transforming into a stronger form." Jacob was about to say 'Purple Heart' but he quickly stopped himself. "So, you see, we were telling the truth and we can handle a few little monsters. We can also handle you, should you try to hurt us. Not that we're threatening you or anything."

"Now," Purple Heart began, "will you give us the information that we need?"

The man hesitated, obviously irritated, before giving in. "Fine. Come on in but make sure you sign the logbook."

---

Purple Heart transformed back as the party stepped inside the Basilicom. Again, it looked exactly the same as Planeptune's Basilicom. Jacob found a table and used it to write on his paper.

"So where do you keep all the monster info?" Neptune asked the man.

"Go through the door on your left," he answered as he gestured towards the door.

The party followed his directions and found themselves in a yellow room with quite a few bookshelves. It was slightly smaller than a public library in Jacob's world. "Okay, where do you keep the monster info?" Neptune asked.

"That is the monster info. All of it. This room contains dungeon info, located on the other side of the room, and monster info, which is where you are now. Miscellaneous items, like financing, architecture, common trends and all that, are kept on the door to the right of the entrance."

"That doesn't sound like good prioritising," Jacob commented.

The man just groaned in response as he left the party to their devices.

"Alrighty," Neptune started, "let's get crackin'."

---

"Lady Black Heart?" The man walked into the private chambers of Black Heart, the goddess of Lastation. The chambers didn't really seem that private, given how it was on the ground floor and covered in a glass dome with multiple frames. Apparently, security to guard one of the most politically powerful figures in the world was low on everyone's list of priorities. In addition, the floor was made of what seemed to be polished marble and, in the centre of the room surrounded by an elaborate hexagonal frame with purple curtains, was a green statue of a woman in a robe.

"What is it?" answered Black Heart from behind the curtain arrangement.

The man approached the statue and bowed. The statue seemed to be used to divide Black Heart from those that enter. "I wanted to inform you that a party of four adventurers has entered the Basilicom, asking for information about monsters."

Black Heart sighed. "Doorman, every adventurer we get wants information on monsters."

"My lady, there are no other adventurers."

"Not the point. Why is this so special?"

"I'm sorry, my lady. One of them demonstrated the particular ability to transform."

This piqued Black Heart's interest if her tone of voice was anything to go by. "Transform? Into what?"

"Well, she's just a teenage girl. However, when she transforms, she becomes a young adult. She also gains digital butterfly wings and a black and purple bodysuit and her hands become clawed. They implied threats to coerce me into allowing them into the Basilicom so I thought it would be wise to inform you about it."

Black Heart was silent for a moment. "You've made the right choice. Get out, please; I'll take care of them myself."

"As you wish, my lady."

---

Jacob sighed as he put back a book with a V on the front of it. "Okay, I have looked over these books three times and the only thing I find in them about Guard Vermins is that they're extinct, which is obviously false. How are things going on your end, IF?"

IF was at the dungeon section of the room with Compa. "I only just got started on the second book of A right now. The dungeons are listed in alphabetical order; the monsters are irrelevant. This is going to take ages."

"Have you tried looking at the index?" Jacob suggested.

IF stood still, completely unmoving for a moment. After her eye twitched a few times, she flicked to the back of the book. "Damn it."

"Happens to all of us. As for me, I'm completely lost and I haven't any idea what to do now."

"Try again. We can't leave empty-handed."

Neptune sighed as Jacob pulled down a book with a large G on the front. "This is so boring... I just wanna go out and play."

Someone at the door cleared their throat, causing the party to look in their direction.

It was girl who looked to be a bit younger than Jacob. She had black hair that, even with the black and blue ribbons holding it into two somewhat curly pigtails, reached to her waist. She also had neatly combed bangs that framed her face and she had red eyes (red irises, mind you; her sclera were a healthy white. Or opaque. Whatever). She wore a ridiculously ornate dress which was primarily black and had white breast coverings and frill skirt. Her black sleeves with accompanying frilled white bicep cuffs were detached from her dress because detached sleeves are the most useful invention since the concept of the wheel. She wore a rather large black collar with frilly white edges and a golden medal with a blue ribbon on the front.

"… Yes?" said Jacob.

The newcomer had a perfectly stoic expression as she walked towards Jacob and Neptune. She eyed Neptune warily. "Hello. Welcome to my Basilicom," she greeted. "I hear that you're looking for monster information?"

"Indeed," Jacob responded, "and who might you be?"

She placed a hand over her chest. "I am Black Heart, the goddess of Lastation."

"Wha-?" Neptune, much like Jacob, Compa and IF, was rather surprised.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry," Jacob apologised before extending his hand. "I'm Jacob. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Wha-?" Neptune was even more surprised. Black Heart in particular looked like she didn't know whether to slap him or just outright refuse.

"U-Uh, J-Jake?" Compa stammered.

"Huh- oh, right." Jacob retracted his hand. "Terribly sorry; I just wanted to shake your hand. I come from a different culture, you see, and a handshake is a form of greeting. It doesn't mean anything about brotherhood or anything intimate."

"… Oh." Black Heart had her normal expression again and extended her hand. "Then that's alright, then."

Jacob was pleasantly surprised at how Lastation's CPU was so courteous and understanding. He gave her hand a nice firm shake. "I've been through this misunderstanding about four times." IF and Compa approached.

Black Heart removed her hand. "Does that get annoying?"

"Indeed."

Black Heart placed her hand on her waist. "Why are you looking for monster information, though? What could you possibly gain from it?"

"Actually, my friend Neptune here-"

"Hi!" she cheered.

Black heart narrowed her eyes at Neptune.

"- is on a mission to retrieve four Key Fragments to release a very important person from imprisonment. Magical imprisonment, mind you, by a big bad guy."

"I see…" Black Heart kept her gaze on Neptune, who was clearly confused as to why Black Heart didn't seem to like her. "And why are you going with her on this mission?"

IF spoke up. "We actually volunteered because we thought Neptune could use the help."

"Same thing for me at first," Jacob continued, "only I'm beginning to have second thoughts after getting stabbed in the stomach with a big flipping lance-spear thing-" Black Heart's eyes widened in surprise, "- and I can't get back home so I'm going with Neptune until we find a way to get me home."

"… You're lost?" Black Heart asked.

"It's a long story." Jacob didn't want to tell Black Heart that she was actually a video game character. Compa was proof enough that such revelations could have consequences and he really didn't want to test how other kinds of people would react. Plus, it was a bit unbelievable.

Black Heart sighed. "Well, okay then. What information are you looking for in particular?"

"We're trying to find out where we might find Guard Vermins," Compa answered. "They may be guarding the Key Fragments."

"Don't be stupid," Black Heart answered. "Guard Vermins are extinct."

"No they're not," Compa responded. "We met one in a Planeptune tutorial dungeon and it was guarding a Key Fragment."

"A tutorial dungeon?" Black Heart just couldn't catch a break from surprises today, it seemed. "Then have you gone to one here in Lastation? Maybe there's a pattern."

"Actually, we already tried that," responded IF. "Didn't work."

"Ah. Unfortunately, the Basilicom can't help you, then. We don't have any information on Guard Vermins apart from what old records and legends tell us. If you want to find them, you'll have to search around. Very thoroughly, mind you."

"Aw, crackers," Neptune grumbled. "I was hoping this'd be a cinch. Ah well; guess we'll have to just wander around and do random jobs for people."

"Thanks for your help," said Jacob.

"Not a problem. So what do you plan on doing now?"

Jacob, Neptune and Compa looked at IF. "Well, we'll probably just wander around, taking odd jobs until we find out where to go next," IF explained.

"I see. Well then, have a good day." Black Heart turned and walked out the door. The party then exited the Basilicom.

---

Back on the streets of Lastation, the party wandered around without aim.

"With the way that guy crossed the line talking about their CPU like that, I was kind of assuming that she'd be arrogant and snobby. I didn't think she'd be that pleasant," commented IF.

"She didn't seem to like Nep-Nep very much, though," Compa brought up. "I wonder why?"

"May have something to do with her having pushed Neptune off of Celestia before she lost her memories," Jacob said. "Just a guess, mind you."

"Crackers!" Neptune yelled suddenly, surprising everyone.

"What's wrong, Nep-Nep?" Compa asked.

"I forgot to ask her why she pushed me off Celestia! I'm so stupid, like a goldfish!"

Jacob facepalmed. "Damn it, I forgot as well. Sorry."

"Hey, don't worry," said IF, trying to calm them down. "We'll meet her again and we can ask her what happened then."

Jacob sighed. "Alright then."

"What should we do now?" asked Compa with worry. "We didn't find any information on Guard Vermins or any dungeons that might have them."

"Eh, let's just do some jobs like Iffy suggested," said Neptune.

Compa nodded. "Good idea. It may take longer but we just got here and we don't know much about Lastation. This is just the beginning. Let's take our time, explore and learn!"

Jacob shrugged. "Not like we have any other options. Let's get cracking on finding odd jobs. Hopefully the railroad plot will lead somewhere."

---

It didn't take long for the party to take a monster killing job. A small factory going by the name of Passe was suffering from monster attacks and it needed adventurers to take them down. The party was asked by the company president to meet in the main street.

"Is that her? The person who wants us to fight monsters?" asked Compa.

"Huh?" Neptune looked over to where Compa was looking. "She's kinda small, isn't she? I was expecting like a… big burly man as president." Neptune was right in that the woman was rather small, which wasn't helped by her having a thin figure. It was hard to tell from her silhouette (this was beginning to cheese off Jacob) but she looked like she had messy hair and wore a long-sleeve coat.

"Oh, she saw us. She's waving at us…" Compa noted. "She's gotta be the right person."

"I suppose she's come to the same conclusion about us," said IF as the short woman walked up to the party.

"… So it's you four?" She leaned forward and scrutinised the party. At least, it looked like it. "You're gonna fight the monsters for me? Are you sure you'll be okay?"

"We all know not to judge books by their covers, right? Nice to meet you. I'm IF, that's Compa, that's Neptune-"

"Hi!"

"-and that's Jacob," introduced IF.

The woman nodded. "My name's Chian. I run a small factory called Passe in the central city. We need to get rid of the monsters attacking our carriages and train. You sure you can handle it?"

Neptune clenched her fists and curled her arms. "You betcha! We know how to fight so we'll totally be victorious!"

Chian chuckled and it looked like she was smiling. "I like you. That confidence makes it much easier for me to trust your words."

"So what monsters are we fighting?" asked Compa.

"Well, our trains and carriages are being attacked by Cockatrices. We'd like you to exterminate them," Chian explained.

"Hold on now," Jacob said quickly, "do you want us to take out every Cockatrice or just the ones attacking the trains and whatnot or what?"

"Uh…" Chian didn't see that question coming. "I just want you to go into a dungeon-"

"For God's sake…" Jacob held the bridge of his nose.

Chian huffed. "What's with him?"

"Please forgive him, Ms Chian," apologised Compa as she gave a slight bow. "He doesn't like dungeons at all."

"… But Gamindustri is covered in dungeons."

"Exactly," Compa sighed.

IF, as always, was eager to get on with it. "So you want us to go through one dungeon and take out the Cockatrices there? Is that it?"

"Yeah, that's it," Chian affirmed. "Follow me and I'll take you to the dungeon."

---

The party arrived at a Cave #2 area.

"Alright everyone," began IF, "we need to take out five Cockatrices for the mission. As is the case with all random encounters, just keep wandering around until we find them."

"Only five?" Jacob was surprised. "I would've figured we'd need to take out more than that."

"No, only five. We might encounter more but we only need to kill five."

"… I would comment on how that's stupid on Passe's part but, since this means less work, I don't care. Let's go."

And so the party wandered around the dungeon until they had a random encounter. This time around, they came across three humongous bees that had orange compound eyes, olive green skin, an orange abdomen and a white stinger.

Neptune sighed. "Alrighty gang, let's clean this up and-"

"Bees!" screamed Jacob before he unleashed his red death rays on the unsuspecting insects. After five seconds of this and the bees not dying, the girls decided to shoot them to death.

"What on Gamindustri was that?" asked IF.

"I. Hate. Bees," Jacob said slowly, still somewhat panicked. "They sting. It'll hurt. So much."

"Hey, hey," said Neptune as she approached Jacob and slowly patted him on the back. "It'll be okay. Those Hornets won't touch you as long as I'm here."

"They're huge. Fast. I don't wanna be stung."

"Chill out, Jacob." IF extended her daggers. "Neptune's right; we're all here, so they won't even touch us."

"…" Jacob smiled a bit. "Thanks. That's… kind of reassuring."

"Hey," called Compa from where the monsters were before they were killed. "They dropped an Earth Bullet. Now we can use Earth-elemental bullet attacks."

"Awesomesauce!" cheered Neptune. "Now we can defeat even more monsters than before!"

IF turned around. "Let's keep going. The sooner we find these Cockatrices, the sooner we get back to our room and we can play video games. Alright?"

"Okay but I want to play GiantSMALLWorld," said Jacob.

"Tough luck; we're playing CrasHburn."

"God damn it…"

---

Five minutes had passed before the group finally found a Cockatrice. It appeared alongside a Hornet and it was only about one and a half Hornets tall. It looked like a large white skinny chicken with a huge red crown that…

"What is that?" asked Jacob, pointing at the big dangly thing protruding from the top of the Cockatrice's crown.

"I don't know," answered Compa, "but it looks very weird."

"Doesn't matter." IF got into a fighting stance. "We have a job to do. Worry about the dangly thing later."

"Alright then," said Neptune as she loaded an Earth bullet into her revolver. "Let's do this nice and quick."

"Right!" Compa opened fire on the Hornet.

Jacob and Neptune took advantage of Compa pinning down the Hornet to take on the Cockatrice. Neptune engaged the bird in close quarters combat while Jacob kept firing energy balls and lasers at it whenever Neptune was out of the way. The Cockatrice didn't fight back at first but it lashed out at Neptune with its beak when it realised that its opponents weren't fighting fair. As Neptune and Jacob eventually killed the thing and made it burst into data with minimal damage taken, one could argue that this revelation didn't help the Cockatrice in the slightest.

"Good work," congratulated IF as she and Compa walked towards Jacob and Neptune.

"Thanks," said Jacob. "Can we go now?"

"I'm sorry Jake," apologised Compa, "but we still need to take out four more Cockatrices."

"Aw, come on…" Jacob groaned. "It took us, like, five minutes to find one. We'll be dead before we find five."

Neptune also looked impatient. "I agree; I'm cold and hungry and tired. Can't we do this any quicker?"

"Well…" Compa reached into her disc and pulled out her bell. "Maybe I can use this to call the monsters?"

"Do it," said IF. "I'm also tired and I want to finish this up."

"Okay." With that, Compa rang the bell a few times. After that, some malevolent balls of dark gas swarmed towards Compa and made their way inside her body by going to where her heart was.

"… What was that?" asked Jacob.

"Um, guys?" Neptune tugged on Jacob's jacket sleeve to make him turn around. He wished she didn't, because behind them stood a small army of Hornets and a few Cockatrices. His reaction was instinctive.

"Bees!" Again, he blasted the multitude of enemies with a giant red laser. However, as the laser was only six feet wide, quite a few Hornets were unscratched and started flying towards him very quickly.

"AH!"

"Get away from him!" In the blink of an eye, the Hornets that were flying towards Jacob were divided in two by Purple Heart's blade. "Jacob, are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah… Thanks."

"Don't worry." She didn't stop cutting down the Hornets that were flying around. "I will protect you. I will protect everyone."

Jacob took a deep breath. "Thank you, Neptune." A Hornet went flying towards him but Jacob quickly turned to take it out with a few energy balls. "Sorry for all the spazzing. Bees scare me."

"Happens to all of us!" called IF as she danced around the enemies advancing on her and cutting them down whenever an opening presented itself. One of the Cockatrices fell this way. "Except for me, mind you! I haven't really got an animal I'm scared of!"

"Compa!" Jacob fired more energy balls at the enemies advancing on Compa, who didn't have the agility or the agile weapon required to fend off such small fast-moving targets. Another Cockatrice fell because of this. Some Hornets tried to get behind Compa but a Cockatrice thrown by Purple Heart took care of that.

"That's all of them… I think…" Jacob panted.

"The monsters are numerous here," Purple Heart commented. "Makes things that much more entertaining…!"

Compa was in awe of Purple Heart, no doubt because of her Cockatrice throwing that spared Compa from a stinging. "Nep-Nep, you act so tough in that form. Why do you think there are so many monsters here?"

"Don't ask me, but how could this be caused by the diminishing power of the CPUs? Do their powers even weaken?"

"Well, their power comes from the faith of humanity," IF explained. "If the monsters keep attacking people, their faith will be shaken. Meaning less protection, more monster attacks, less people, less faith… It's a downward spiral."

Purple Heart exhaled softly. "That's succinct. So, as more time passes, more monsters will appear."

"I-I didn't think of it that way, but it makes sense. What do we do?" Compa asked, a bit worried.

"Don't worry. I'm here. Someone told me… I'm the only one who can save the world." Purple Heart clenched her fist. "I can save it. I'll prove it right now!"

IF looked annoyed. Compa, however, still viewed Purple Heart with awe. "She has the same sense of justice but this Nep-Nep's more reliable. I feel comfortable trusting her!"

"I agree she's an improvement over her casual, laid-back attitude… but am I the only one who can't stand her either way?" asked IF.

"Yes," answered Jacob. "Compa and I can put up with her fine. Don't worry; if you need a sensible ear to talk to, my door is always open."

"… Thanks, I guess."

"So is that it?" asked Jacob.

"There were only three Cockatrices in that horde," stated Purple Heart. "We need to kill one more."

Jacob sighed. "Okay, let's walk around a bit more."

"A lot more," corrected IF.

Jacob looked at her. "Come again?"

IF sighed. "Compa's bell, after being used, repels monsters and stops random encounters. It should wear off after about a minute."

Jacob was still as a statue.

"I think you broke him," whispered Compa.

Jacob started shaking.

"Uh oh," exclaimed Purple Heart.

Jacob threw his arms into the air. "WHA-"

---

The party informed Chian that the job was done and received 1000 credits.

Neptune was disappointed. "I know we just started, but that's sorta dinky for a reward…"

"I'm surprised you even know the value of money, given you have amnesia," commented Jacob.

"Oh, right!"

"I heard business isn't going well because a major company called Avenir is monopolizing their industry," explained Compa.

IF nodded. "I heard smaller businesses are closing down due to Avenir but I don't think that's the only reason."

Neptune was excited by this news. "Monopolising is bad, right? Then, like, that company is an evil conglomerate!"

"… Are you going to assault them if I agree with you? We can't just assume a company's bad because they're successful," IF reasoned.

"Thank God!" Jacob gestured to IF as if he was demonstrating a miracle. "Neptune, Compa, this is rational sense personified! Listen to her because she will not guide us forever!"

IF sniggered a bit. "Thanks, Jacob."

Neptune, however, was more resolute. "But I can't ignore the fact that people are suffering 'cause of them! If I take down that company, a lotta people would be happy!"

"Neptune," Jacob started as he walked up to her, "you do know that people work at Avenir, right?

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, these people are pretty much the same as the business workers that don't work at Avenir. Working at Avenir or not, they need to make a profit. You say that a lot of people would be happy if Avenir was taken down but what about the people working there? They would be without jobs, Neptune. Where would they work?"

"A- I…" Neptune couldn't form a response.

"They're not evil, Neptune; they're people trying to earn a living, just like us."

"Nngh…" Neptune, after a few moments of trying to think of something to say, finally gave up. "Okay, okay. I won't take them down."

IF talked again. "Avenir aside, it'd be bad if our travelling budget ran out because of this horrible economy. Let's keep moving to other landmasses and think about what we can accomplish there."

"I don't think so," countered Jacob. "Monsters give out credits like they're infected or something. If we wind up in a tight spot, we'll just kill more monsters."

IF's eye twitched. "Fair point. However, I think we should get back to finding out where the Key Fragments are."

"IF, we have no clues and no direction. Let's just keep at this until we get somewhere."

IF facepalmed. "Fine, fine."

"Anyway, I want to go back to our room. It's been a long day and an even longer job and I want some rest."

"Me too," concurred Neptune.

"I suppose that's fair enough. Not to mention 1000 credits could probably get us some good dinner. Alright, let's call it a day."

"Yes!" Neptune high-fived Jacob as the party returned to their motel room.