Chapter 3 - Virtua Forest, ladies and gentlemen!

Once Compa had left to go get some Pudding, something that Nico remembered seeing in the fridge one time, Neptune turned her head to face him, her expression of curiosity and wonder made her look… cute if he could describe it. Though Nico wasn't sure what constituted as cute for her. "Say, you look like you all wise and with the know-how, you know what a Pudding is?" she asked him.

"It's a desert meant for after a big meal," Nico answered, shifting on his position on the ground so that he was in the same position as Neptune. To be honest, it looked much cosier than standing, and something told him that formalities weren't an issue with this girl here, not like with his superiors in the WDD or some of the other Guild Agents. "Anyways, do you have amnesia by chance? Your apparent lack of understanding about Pudding makes me suspicious about that." He asked her, while mentally adding 'And a whole load of other things…'

What he meant by that was that his senses were going haywire just by being near her. It wasn't like they wanted him to end her, although he suspected that would solve the immediate issue, however, they did tell him to be extremely cautious around her. This had happened many times before when he was out in the field, where he would feel his instincts go wild as if they were a child throwing a temper tantrum. This happened only when he was faced with a superior predator, be it a strong monster or someone of high standing. Nico referred to it as his instincts going into a 'trigger event'.

If this event was happening around Neptune, then…

"Amnesia, huh? Well, I guess so… huh..." The girl mused thoughtfully before she continued after a short silence. "Well, aside from my name and some generic things I don't remember much else. It's all a blank from this noggin'o'mine. I guess it's a start, what do you think, Nicky?"

Nico was contemplative until the end of her sentence, where he gave Neptune a deadpanned expression, clearly he was not amused by the nickname she had just used on him. "… Nicky? Neptune?" he asked her with a sigh. Something told him that she was like Compa, when she gave someone a nickname, it stuck no matter how hard one tried to change it otherwise.

"Yeppers! It's cute don't you think?"

Called it.

'Something tells me ignoring my instincts will be harder than I thought…' Nico thought while lamenting the fact that he had such a nickname on him now. While he could deal with Compa's 'Ni-Ni' because she wasn't good with remembering names, having Neptune on top of that… ugh, it was a dark day for DEATHSTROKE. "And I thought I was done with Nicknames… #sigh#, whatever." He muttered under his breath, before looking up at Neptune with a weak smile. "In any case, thanks for answering my question. I'll return the favour by telling you how you got here."

But before he could, Compa returned, entering the room with a cup of pudding for each of them, much to Nico's dismay, as she explained that she thought it was fair for everyone to have some. 'Oh shit, I was so obsessed with getting information about Neptune that I forgot about the Pudding!' he screamed mentally while outside he gratefully excepted the pudding she gave him. It was put on top of one of her teacup plates due to its size with a spoon beside it. 'Alright, alright dude, chill the fuck out! Just do what you did before then wait till an opportunity to go to the Bathroom arises.'

Calming down internally, Nico switched his gaze to the impending horror in his hands, towards Neptune to see her reaction to the sight of the supposedly 'sweet desert'. He wasn't disappointed, hell Nico even chuckled at her inquisitive face as she experimented with the Pudding in her hands. "So, this yellow thing is called Pudding, hmm? Whoa! It wiggles when you touch it!" she exclaimed when she poked the side of the desert with her index finger, giggling at how it wriggled about until it settled back into its standing upright position.

"Nep-Nep… did you lose your memory of food too?" Compa asked, clearly concerned about the girl's mental health. Nico could see it in her eyes as she watched the preteen Amnesiac play with her food which she normally would have scolded her by now if she wasn't so concerned.

So, deciding to let Neptune have her fun, Nico went and filled her in on what had happened when she wasn't in the room, Neptune's amnesia and his preparation for giving her info on how she wound up in her room. Compa too expressed her concerns, showing her profession's background with her thoughts and expressions. Nico had to assure her that Neptune was doing okay and that Amnesia usually is only temporary.

"Well! Here I go! #Chomp#"

While they were discussing her amnesia the purplette had enough of waiting around and took a bite out of her pudding. This drew their attention, and Compa and Nico awaited her reaction. The instant she took a small bite, her eyes went wide open, almost forming stars as she quickly devoured the rest in a single second. Nothing remained of the pudding that was once on her plate. "The tantalising sweetness just melts on my tongue! This is the best!" she proclaimed in shock and awe, looking down at the plate as if it were the personification of a goddess.

'Well, she likes it then…' Nico thought to himself, swiftly eating his Pudding in one gulp. The second his tongue connected with it Nico had to hold himself back from throwing it up back onto his plate. 'Ugh, how revolting! It tastes like dog shit being thrown into an oil reserve!' he thought, barely holding himself back from tearing as he swallowed it all in one bite not wanting to have its taste in his mouth for very long. 'Alright, just grin and bear it, just grin and bear it till you can vomit it out later…'

"Really…?" Compa asked, completely mystified and happy that Neptune had liked the pudding she had brought her.

The purple-haired Amnesiac nodded in response, her eyes beaming with joy that hadn't been there in such quantities before. "This has to have been made by the Pudding gods themselves. There is no other plausible exception to the amount of love I give to this Pudding." Neptune proclaimed, grinning widely. It was a complete contrast compared to Nico, who instead had been disgusted when the food was still in his mouth due to his 'condition'. "Where can I get more?"

"Well, I made it myself."

'And there goes Compa's skill in cooking…' Nico thought to himself. 'It must have been a while since I last tasted her cooking and liked it, I think it was… before I had this 'condition' which was around when I…' he paused his thinking when memories came back to him, memories that he hadn't been thinking about in a long time.

Nico had been dropped off at Compa's Grandfather's house when he was 11, which was when he had lost a large portion of his memories. His time from when he was 6 up to 11 was nothing but a complete blur, and that time was likely when something had happened to his parents, because even with Nico's photographic memory whenever he tried to remember the faces of his parents his head would suddenly feel like it was tearing itself in two. The doctors couldn't find anything wrong except for partial amnesia, something he didn't expect to happen to him.

After he had been dropped off by the authorities at the request of his parents, supposedly since Nico had no way to be sure with his partial amnesia, Nico had spent a year with them, quickly bonding with the two sole people he could recall with perfect clarity. At least, those after he hit 11, beforehand someone else could be remembered, someone whom he had spent the last 4 years with.

But that was for another time it seemed, for something part of Neptune and Compa's conversation caught his interest. "Well, I wanna know what happened to me, so I'm gonna go back to where I was found," Neptune commented, several cups of pudding that were empty littering her sitting space. Nico assumed that she must have asked for more when he was busy with his internal monologue.

"Ooh! Then me and Ni-Ni will take you." Compa said happily while glancing at Nico. The male looked back at her, mentally debating what to do. On one hand, he could just let them go by themselves, but then they could get ambushed by a pack of Monsters, particularly THAT kind. And he never wanted to see something like that happen, especially to his closest friend. On the other hand, however, he could go with them and find out just what the mystery surrounding Neptune was.

In the end, his desire to both protect Compa from THEM and the desire to unravel the mystery surrounding Neptune won him over. "Alright, yeah sure we'll take you. Who knows maybe we'll have some form of surprise encounter… or something." He mused to himself, although right afterwards the male suddenly got the feeling that he had just jinxed them. Frowning mentally, Nico shook it off, though it did get recorded by his brain, so he would be on guard the whole time.

"Yippie-dippie! This is gonna be so rad you guys, our first adventure together as friends!" Neptune cheered with her arms thrown into the air. She hopped up and down and quickly ran towards the door to Compa's bedroom, throwing it open and rushing out faster than they could blink. Both Nico and the owner of the house stared at the space she was at behind the door until her head popped in from the side, her expression one of impatience. "What ya waiting for slowpokes? Chop-chop, daylight's burnin' ya know!"

And with that, Neptune ran down the stairs. They could hear her footsteps fading as the distance between them increased. Nico looked at Compa, who had done the same, for a few seconds before sighing and shrugging his shoulders. "Well, looks like the hyper girl's a calling, let's not keep her waiting." He mused with a small chuckle, walking out of the room after the excitable preteen amnesiac... after making a quick trip to the bathroom.

Compa merely giggled at the term of events as she soon went after them.

After they had caught up with Neptune and had gotten themselves ready, Nico, Compa and their new excitable companion went out of the house and made their way towards the main city. It was a rather short walk, shorter than usual with Neptune's usual antics. But it did give Nico and Compa insight into Neptune's character. It seemed that she was an excitable, dim-witted person who liked making jokes about the situations she got herself in. It was like she was this self-sufficient ball of energy that would keep on humming through the rest of time.

Compa herself seemed to hit it off with her, and not in a sexual way if any readers with perverted thoughts are reading this. She and Neptune seemed to share the same mentality, often engaging with her antics to create random scenarios. One time they were walking on their hands because Neptune said it would be a 'rush to get there' in her words. The male had to avert his eyes as gravity did its thing regarding Compa's skirt. Neptune didn't have that much of a problem since she didn't wear one, only her tight hoodie.

However, Nico still had his doubts about the girl. She seemed very open about her feelings, but was that a ruse? Was it an act to fool them into helping her along? Did she have some ulterior motive? Along with her mysterious past, it made it hard for Nico to place his trust in her. He had seen many people in his life with the Guild, some of them were exactly like this. However, they later revealed themselves to have been putting on an act to fool others into thinking they were harmless… when they were anything but.

Soon though, the three arrived deeper within Planeptune, exposing the sights to the young Amnesiac who was like a child walking through a store he/she had never seen before. Her eyes darted around in innocent wonder, sparkling with curiosity and awe. "Wow! This place is SO huge!" Neptune exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air and then arching them down as if to showcase how large the City was. She quickly turned on one heel, almost looking like she was about to fall when she perfectly balanced herself on one foot as she looked to Compa. "So Compa, what's this City called?" she asked excitedly.

"This is Planeptune, the city that Lady Purple Heart presides over," Compa replied with a hand enclosed om front of the space above her breasts.

A flicker of something appeared in Neptune's eyes the moment the word 'Planeptune' exited Compa's mouth, something that Nico caught onto. 'Oh? Does she know that name?' he wondered, still in doubt on if Neptune was faking them out. He couldn't decipher more because of two reasons: one, Nico saw that it had vanished as soon as it came.

The other? Was because Neptune Vocalised it, "Planeptune… Planeptune, Planeptune…" the girl murmured to herself, an index finger on her jaw as she closed her eyes and made a thoughtful expression. She seemed to be thinking hard to herself about something, likely the name of the city she was in. "That name sounds oddly familiar…" she mused, leaning her body from side to side.

Compa gave an eye smile after she said that. She assumed the familiarity came from something else, not her past, "it sounds a lot like your name, Nep-Nep." She remarked, and Nico had to admit to himself that she was right. Take away the 'Pla' from 'Planeptune' and you get 'Neptune'. Already Nico's suspicions were increased regarding this girl. Her name sounds like the Nation they were in. What an incredible coincidence…

"It does, huh?" Neptune nodded her head in agreement, taking a few more seconds to ponder what this meant before changing the subject as she skipped over to them and leaned forwards, giving them her big eyes and pursing her lips together thoughtfully, looking goddamn adorable with her hands behind her back. "So, where are we going? Do I need to bring something with me?" she asked them.

Before Compa could reply, Nico grabbed her shoulder and squeezed it, drawing her attention to him. "What is it, Ni-Ni?" she questioned while tilting her head in confusion. His expression right now was one that he made when he worked with rookie Guild Agents in the field, one of grimness and uncertainty. She didn't like it, not one bit, but she guessed that he had a reason to make that face. Nico never did anything without a reason, that she knew thanks to their long period of knowing each other.

"Since it's the day, Monsters have likely infested Virtua forest, so we should probably look for a weapon for the girl. She may need one to fend the monsters off." He told her. While the monsters in that Dungeon were weak as fuck, they could still be dangerous to rookies, he had seen one get eaten alive by a plant-like monster before because he arrogantly assumed they weren't able to hurt him.

It seemed that his point got through for Compa's expression gained a light of realisation, before she turned to Neptune, who was slightly caught off guard by her serious stare, "Nep-Nep, do you have any experience in fighting? Because where we're going, you may need a weapon." She asked the purplette.

Neptune hummed to herself, wondering if she did have experience fighting… for a millisecond. "Of course, I have EXP in fighting, I'm the main character of my franchise after all!" she beamed with a wide grin. Both slightly jumped at how bubbly she sounded like she didn't even have a sense of danger in her body. something then caught her eye, prompting her to go. "Just a sec!" to them before heading towards, and jumping into and rummaging through a nearby dumpster. Only her lower body, from her shoes to her butt, was visible as she kicked the air slowly while a humming tune could be heard within. Nico turned away because the angle would reveal her underwear, which he didn't want to see.

"Nep-Nep, what are you doing, rummaging through the garbage?"

That was what Compa had asked her, completely befuddled as to what the preteen's intent was. Nico himself was also puzzled, but he dared not speak lest he draw attention to himself, and he didn't want that because it would be… kinda awkward for him to explain why he wasn't looking at Neptune right now.

Fortunately for him, this didn't last long, for it seemed Neptune had found what she was looking for as apparent by the "Aha!" that came from the garbage dumpster. She then pushed herself out with her spoils in hand, shaking herself to get rid of the gruel she had accumulated in the dumpster before walking towards them with an upbeat spring in her step. "Look what I found, Compa! A sword!" she proclaimed like a happy child, smiling happily as she presented the weapon to her.

Well, it could hardly be called a weapon, considering that the sword was made of wood. But Nico wasn't surprised because of that alone, what surprised him was the fact that Neptune thought that was the standard view of what a weapon looked like. 'Seriously, what the hell's this girl thinking? All she could do with that against a monster would be either break it or give the monster blisters.'

"Well, it is made of wood, but hey it's a sword!" Neptune even unknowingly voiced some of Nico's thoughts, which made him wonder, was Neptune a psychic? Compa looked just as befuddled as Nico was it could be said she was even more confused. Her brain couldn't process what was going through the purplette's head either. Judging by her happy face and her slight leaning from side to side, Nico assumed that she wanted to be complimented for her find, sort of like an animal looking for attention from its master, or in the anime and manga industry: a 'Notice me Sempai' character.

Regardless, Compa decided to voice their thoughts on the matter in a polite way to not offend the girl, "Um… that's great Nep-Nep, but what do you plan on using it for, anyways?" she asked her, blinking several times beforehand as if to shake away the confusion she was feeling. However, it persisted much to her internal dismay.

"Um… LARPing?"

Even Neptune didn't know why. No, it was more like she just thought, ''Hey! Sword! Weapon!" that was what Nico was thinking, at least. A small, awkward silence overtook them, one where Neptune began to feel more and more uncomfortable by the second. This was evident by the fidgeting she was doing which was becoming more noticeable as time went by.

Finally, Compa broke the silence before the preteen could die of discomfort, "um, Okie-dokie Nep-Nep…" she said, bringing the male out of his thoughts as he shook his head, he probably shouldn't question much of what Neptune did to preserve his sanity. That was what he was getting from this incident here.

With that, the trio continued their journey.

Walking along to the Virtua Forest this time was QUITE different compared to the last time. The reason for that: Neptune was ogling Nico's Holomap, the item he was using to make sure they didn't have any random encounters. Since she had amnesia, Neptune likely had never seen the type of equipment Nico sported on an everyday basis, which meant that he had a lot of explaining to do about what he had, how they were the prototype versions of weapons that were made for military use. This included other equipment as well, which led to some interesting reactions from the purplette.

He didn't tell her about the Guild or much else about where he worked though, that stuff would be revealed to her soon enough anyway, if Compa had any say in the matter. Also, it was theorized that Neptune would likely attract a LOT of attention in the future given how many stares she received during the walk-out of Planeptune. He had to give them glares though to warn them not to try anything funny. Especially with Compa.

Anyone who tried to do anything funny with Compa deserved to have their balls crushed.

After a couple of hours of walking, they finally reached the same entrance to Virtua Forest as the one that Nico and Compa had travelled into to fetch Neptune's unconscious self. The said preteen looked around, taking every single sigh in while examining her surroundings. "So, this is where I was elegantly lodged into the ground, right?" she asked, turning towards the two.

"I wouldn't say 'elegant' but…"

Nico began only to notice the pouty glare that Neptune suddenly gave him for his remark. "#scoff# rude! All pure maidens have elegance in their veins, it's a natural part of our anatomy. Right, Compa?" Neptune scolded Nico for his 'arrogance' before turning to the cream-haired girl again.

Said the girl smiling weakly while sweat dropping. "Well… I'm not so sure about that…" Before this strange conversation could continue the girl decided that Neptune's question from earlier needed to be answered lest it be forgotten. "This isn't the place, it's a bit further back, but…" her eyes widened as worry took over her being. "Oh no…" she muttered, concern and worry overcoming her.

Nico quickly checked his Holomap, and when he did the male sighed deeply, "I knew it…" he muttered, face-palming before shaking his head. This was bound to happen eventually, but fortunately, they all had weapons, otherwise, this would have been a lot harder. 'All my weapons are set and ready, so I'm set. Compa has her Syringe due to her being a Medic. She'll be our healer and Neptune… Neptune is a wild card, depending on how she fights she'll either be a great help or a great hindrance to us.' He thought, plans and calculations forming in his head.

"Huh? Compa? Nicky? You both acting so weird, what's up?"

…

…

…

And again, Neptune's lack of a danger sense shone through, breaking the atmosphere the two had set up into a million pieces, never to be made whole ever again. Though perhaps that was part of her charm as a person, her lack of danger meant she had the guts to do things normal people wouldn't dare to. He could only hope that was the case.

"Remember when I explained my Holomap to you, Neptune?" Nico began, pressing a few keys on his Bracer to activate the said function. A live hologram of Virtua forest appeared over his Bracer, displaying countless red dots throughout their course that weren't there last night. He showed it to her, and Neptune oooh'ed over it like she did before. "This shows that there's been an influence of monsters, this area has been taken over. Fortunately, they're rather weak, so we should be able to handle them. But don't let your guard down, there's plenty of monsters that have some tricks hidden up their sleeves.

Neptune didn't quite get it, but her brain processed the serious looks on their faces and concluded that things were getting serious, although she didn't know why. "Monsters?" she asked while glancing about. Soon, what looked like a 'monster' hopped out of the wilderness into the middle of the path they needed to travel. "You mean that blue dog-like jelly thing over there?" she asked, pointing to the creature.

The moment Nico's eyes landed upon the creature, his eyes lit aflame with anger, his fury coursing through him and threatening to take over his instincts to make him utterly smite it off the face of the earth. "Y-Yeah… like that." He stated, trying to keep his voice level and calm, masking the venomous hatred that he felt for THAT species.

However, it must have failed because Neptune had noticed, and so did Compa as they both felt chills crawl up their spines like a dog hounding a piece of meat. "Brrr! What is with this scary bloodlust that's sending warning signals to my brain? Hey, dude? You okay? You look like you're about to throw a fit." Neptune commented, looking rather worried about the male who was still glaring at the monster ahead of them, not even motioning to let them know he had heard her question.

"N-Ni-Ni you okay? You scaring me…" Compa asked, placing a hand on his shoulder. That seemed enough to snap him out of his rage, as his eyes widened, and he gasped, quickly suppressing the emotion he felt to that species as he shook his head, holding the side of his forehead.

"Ugh, y-yeah I'm good, just don't like this species very much. I've got some bad experiences with them."

That was taking it lightly, Nico was aware of their true potential, especially when these creatures, which were called 'Dogoos' according to the Guild Bestiary, were around young girls/ he had heard all sorts of bad rumours about them, and with the few experiences he had with them, Nico was willing to believe them.

Once he had regained significant control over his emotions, Nico looked to Neptune and spoke, "These weren't here the last time we were here because back then it was night-time, so they were likely sleeping. During the day, they are most active." He explained, nodding towards Compa, "That was why I was most persistent in giving you a weapon, Neptune. you'll need one if you wanna dispatch them, even if they're weak."

"Oh? Ohhhh, right I see…" Neptune said while realising what he had meant back in the city. His words tang through her mind like a hammer smashing through the armour of a monster, "Since it's the day, Monsters have likely infested Virtua forest, so we should probably look for a weapon for the girl. She may need one to fend the monsters off." Those were the words he had told Compa before she had inquired as to her ability to fight. Now it made sense why he was so worried about her.

Turning to their resident Medic, Neptune had one last question before things would get rolling. "So, this world has monsters running over it like any RPG, right?" she asked, referring to game logic. Another point the two had discovered about her, Neptune liked making references to games, or game mechanics. It fit her personality, how she saw the world as a game meant she didn't have much fear of things like certain death.

"I guess so, the monsters have been around for as long as Gamindustri itself," Compa replied while thinking hard. It looked like she was having trouble with that due to how red she was getting, there was steam rolling off the top of her head. Any more and the other two feared she may pass out.

Nico quickly intervened placing a hand on her shoulder. "Hey lemme handle it, okay Compa?" he asked her gently. Compa looked up into his eyes, about to protest about it when she saw his intense gaze. It made her heart skip a beat as a red hue formed over her cheeks. Slowly, she looked down, so she didn't see his gaze, muttering a near-silent okay in response.

The male sighed in relief, unaware of the effect his gaze had on her. 'Geez, this one can be such a handful sometimes… I wonder who's the more mature of the two, Neptune or Compa?' he idly wondered, before dismissing such thoughts. He had a job to do, and Nico was going to do it. "Well, like Compa said we've had monsters for as long as we can remember, but lately something has happened, and their population spiked. It's led to some… difficult problems," he explained, mentally shivering. By problems, he meant large raids on settlements, people being slaughtered and eaten, intense security measures taken, and a whole load of changes had to be made so that the people of Gamindustri were safe.

"I see… in that case!"

In a single moment, Neptune's entire demeanour changed. She swiftly got in front of the two, drew her wooden sword and held it in front of her in an offensive stance. Her entire body was on alert, her eyes sharp and a confident grin formed on her face. "Let's go on and grind some easy XP while we're at it." She proclaimed boldly, her mood a surprising change to the male and female behind her.

"Nep-Nep, what's up? You seem excited…" Compa asked, not sure how to take such a change, nor was she aware of how she could change the mood so fast. Was she bipolar? 'What the heck is with this girl? I was right, she does have no danger sense. That could indicate that she has some form of reckless battle style. Still, I must be cautious until I know enough about her to judge her fighting capability' Nico thought to himself.

Glancing behind her with the turning of her head Nico and Compa saw an excited smile forming on Neptune's face as she clenched a fist in front of them. "Well, I am the heroine, right? So, I figured I gotta beat up some monsters." She explained, once again showing off her gaming logic. When in doubt relying on the logic of the game to save the day, was what she was getting at.

Compa didn't know how to reply to that, but she did her best anyway, the brave girl. "I suppose so… but can you fight?" It was understandable that she would ask that, Compa didn't have the observation skills that Nico possessed, and neither was she a fighter by nature so she couldn't identify the stance that Neptune was using, one which indicated experience in battle. She was a lover, not a fighter. Even so, even Compa was aware of how bad it was to bring a wooden sword to a monster battle it was like bringing a knife to a gunfight.

To respond to her concerns, and to show that they were unnecessary, Neptune gave her a thumbs up. "Of course! With my trusty wooden sword (wood)" she rested her wooden sword onto her shoulder in a manner that led most to believe that she wasn't on guard, though Nico wasn't fooled. "And skills with me! It'll be a piece of cake!" she boasted afterwards before turning her attention back to the Dogoo. During their conversation, the Dogoo had seen that it was outnumbered and thus had called upon reinforcements to help it, for now, 30 Dogoos were blocking their way.

'Ugh! Dogoo is like wolves, they are primarily pack-based monsters, so it makes sense that these guys are a pack…' he thought to himself while getting ready to fight. "Hey, no stealing kills, ya hear?" the male asked while jumping to Neptune's side. He pressed space on his chest, and suddenly, the male was engulfed in a white cocoon of what looked like pure data.

Both girls gasped at the sight, while the Dogoos all got on guard. They didn't know why, but their instincts just SCREAMED at them that they were in some deep shit right about now. When the cocoon vanished into individual streams of data, Nico stood there in his full armoured glory. His body was covered in black chainlink mail, from under his chin to the toes and feet of his hands. There were also brown armour plates on his body: the chest, the arm and legs. His hands were armoured gauntlets with the bracers merged into them, while his legs below the knee were armoured boots, and on his shoulders, were large shoulder guards, all these plates being orange in colour. On his face was a mask that was black on the right side and orange on the left, with a single eyehole that showed his left eye. The holsters he had before were in the same places as before, the armour had only pushed them back.

"It's annoying when someone steals another person's kill and takes all the credit."

His words were deeper and more menacing thanks to the Mask, but both girls blinked when they realised that Nico had spoken. A look of intense jealousy had formed in Neptune's eyes as she whined. "Aw, 'c'mon, the male OC of this fic has armour as cool as this? And from a Supervillain, too? No fair!" she stomped on the ground several times like a whiny kid, slightly irritating the male but it mostly amused him, though she couldn't see it thanks to the Mask.

"Hey, I earned this Armour, and my Codename alright? In this armour, I'm known as DEATHSTROKE, and don't you forget it." He told her, before turning back to the enemy and raising his arms. Both gauntlets briefly glowed a purplish white colour at the wrist joints, before several streams of light burst out, lacking any solid form for a millisecond. Afterwards, they stabilised and hardened, lengthening till they were the same length as a human forearm from the hand to the elbow joint, forming a series of 5 purple Scythe blades in the form of energy claws.

'My Plasma Claws, able to cut, burn and cauterize wounds more effectively than many weapons out there. Unfortunately, people found these to be too terrifying for use based on their appearance, so I have the only Prototype.' Nico thought as he eyed the Dogoos with a predatory gleam in his eye, his dual Plasma claws gleaming menacingly as he scraped them against each other, sparks flying off them and illuminating his Mask with their glow. A dark smirk was hidden from view, but it was there. "Now then, boys… let's show these ladies a good party, shall we?" Nico said with a sinister, almost demonic, undertone, his eye intently focusing its gaze upon the Dogoos, who were now sweating profusely. They could feel the overwhelming KI radiating from Nico, who wanted to rip into them already.

Compa watched the two fighters of the party and, feeling a sense of bravery envelop her senses, took a firm stance as well. "I'll help fight them too! A nurse's job is to protect people, you know! Just lemme get this out…" she said, trailing off as she pulled her from out of nowhere her Syringe. She held it like it was a to-handed assault rifle, ready to fight.

Both Neptune and Nico shivered at the sight, one of them only voicing their complaints in their minds. 'By gods, I ever get used to that scary Syringe… even my weapons don't have the same effect as that…' Nico thought, sweat dropping at the weirdness of Copa's weapon, although he had seen it several times before already.

Neptune however hadn't and thus… had a more verbal and physical reaction.

"Ngh! C-Compa? What is that huge Syringe?! Wait! Where the hell did it come from?!" she cried out, flailing her arms about non-stop, almost hitting Nico with her sword. "Oops, sorry-sorry, my bad Nicky!"

Unaware as usual of the reason why Neptune was so panicky, Compa gave a sweet smile, which completely contrasted with the scary image she was projecting as she held the Syringe close to her chest. "This? Well, I use it to fight. Where did it come from? That's a Compa secret." She explained to them.

'My brain knows what it is, but the 'how' and the 'why' can't be explained for some reason.' Nico thought to himself, his bloodlust momentarily forgotten. Neptune had said something like what he was thinking, judging by her befuddled expression mixed with a sense of disturbed realisation. "And you know how cliché it is carrying around a huge weapon, right?"

"That's nitty-gritty info! Let's just beat the nasties and go on."

That was a signal if he heard any. Nico and Neptune charged into battle, each taking 15 Dogoos each. While the male was worried that she would eventually suffer THAT, Neptune seemed to be telling the truth when she said she was able to fight. Her moves looked like they were all brawn but no brain, and yet she seemed to fit that kind of style. He was also very nimble, able to dodge attacks and, combined with her strength that especially drew his attention, dish out just as much pain.

His assessment over with, Nico turned his attention towards his prey. His Plasma Claws crackled with energy as he charged forth, both weapons digging through the ground with their tips. "Like Ryan Reynolds-Sempai once said…" He swung at one Dogoo, the Plasma Claw tearing through the Dogoo's face and body like warm tofu, the creature vanishing from existence a second later. He swung his other claw downwards towards another, much faster than before as more Dogoos attacked him, only to meet the same end as the first. "… MAXIMUM EFFORT!"

He spun and kicked a Dogoo that tried to hit him from behind, before jumping into the air to avoid a series of Dogoos trying to dogpile him. Spreading his arms aside, a magic circle appeared behind him, his eye gleaming with malice as he activated a Skill of his that he liked doing, "PHANTOM BLADES!" from the edges of the circle, dozens of large blades that looked almost transparent were fired like machinegun fire, impaling and destroying the Dogoos by the dozens.

Skills were a major part of Gamindustri's fighting norms, if one didn't have skills then they were fucked when fighting larger monsters. There were battle skills, support skills, and buff skills among many others. The more Skills one had the more likely they would be contracted to face some of the deadlier monsters in Gamindustri. It was also important to have a wide array of skills to suit the situation, especially if one wanted to be a Spec-Ops Agent. Since they usually got the harder assignments unlike regular Agents, they needed large and varied skill sets to come out on top.

Landing after executing his skill, Nico turned to see that they had defeated most of the Dogoos. The ground around them was covered in slime thanks to Neptune and Compa's weapons not burning and cauterising their wounds like his Phantom Claws did. In contrast, the ground around him was practically bare. This was why he liked plasma-based weapons, they dealt damage, kept the area clean, and made those who had healing factors take longer to heal thanks to the wounds being cauterized.

The remaining Dogoos were focusing on Neptune and Compa, but he could see that they were holding their own, so he decided to wait and see what happened. Neptune made a battle cry as she slashed several times, and the Dogoo vanished into particles, fading from existence. Several more tried to jump onto her shoulders but Compa provided cover fire knocking them down for Neptune to stomp with her right foot.

After several more kills, the Dogoos were exterminated.