07-30-2016, 08:54 PM
Walking was really the only reasonable way to handle this. Compa started complaining about being tired not too long ago, so she managed to wheedle her way into getting a piggyback ride on Adam’s shoulders. A simple welcome to the ‘I have somebody riding on me’ club was all I’d really mentioned of it.
“...So basically, an Ancient Dragon is--” I start, only to hear myself interrupted. “...Why did you wait, like, ten minutes to explain? We’re already on our way, and I’m just about POSITIVE you’d drag me if I didn’t agree to come. So basically, you don’t even have to explain. The scary deadly potentially old-breathing thing will.”
I blink. I don’t think I have any way to really come back from that. So luckily, Histy does the job for me. “Knowing is half the battle,” she responds. “Informing yourself on your combatant can make what might be the most difficult battles become--”
“--Yeah, yeah, fine. Go on, if only to prove me wrong on the ‘breathing concentrated old’ part,” Adam says, finally caving.
Histy’s eyes seem to glow with delight at the invitation to exposition-dump us. “Gladly,” she starts. “Ancient Dragons are a species of dragonkind which are native to Celestia, where the Goddesses of our world used to wage war against one another. However, the Ancient Dragons which moved from the land above to mortal realms like Planeptune seemed to atrophy with time.” I feel her adjust on my head as she waits for the incoming onslaught of questions I know are going to come from our non-canonical friend.
“So what you’re telling me is there are things strong enough to live in a place where LITERAL DEITIES fight each other, and we’re gonna go pick a fight with one,” he chimes in somewhat frustratedly, but with an odd sense of resignation. I’m… pretty sure he’s just gonna go with it.
...Mostly, at this point, I’m just interested in that ‘horrible instrument of murder’ he mentioned earlier. Looks like something Neppy Jr. would think up.
“Not quite,” Histy clarifies. “The two of you - Neptune and yourself - are going to fight it. I have not a doubt in my mind that your powers combined can handle a descendant of one.”
Adam narrows his eyes. “Okay, great, whatever. But what makes you so sure?”
Histy pulls up her tome in front of her. I can just barely see a little bit of the bottom of it. “By comparing the strength of a Dogoo Neptune fought some time ago to the strength of an Ancient Dragon in the Hyperdimension - our home, along with the relative power of Neptune herself, I can gauge the approximate strength of an Ancient Dragon here.” Histy’s tome floats in front of the group, showing off a line graph - a purple line, tipped with a ball that has my face on it, lies just above a brown line tipped with an Ancient Dragon’s face. Beneath that by a longshot lies a bluish line tipped with a Dogoo’s visage. “Wooooow,” Compa breathes. “I don’t know how you do it, Histy…”
Adam looks crooked at the graph in front of him. “So where am I on that?”
In response, Histy adds a little icon of Adam’s face - frowning, actually kind of fittingly - next to mine. “I haven’t seen a proper demonstration of strength on your part, and therefore I can only assume - as a Prime - that your position on this graph is somewhere near Neptune’s.” She closes her tome and calls it back to her, letting it lie between me and her.
I turn my attention to the road again. We’re just leaving town right now. I’d go HDD and carry us all there, but I feel weirdly tuckered out. I quickly eye my SP bar - it hasn’t drained a bit - still at 3/3 - but I still feel tired. Weird.
“So the long and short of it is,” Adam concludes, “this thing’s scary, but we’re scarier?” His hand rests on the horrible instrument of murder mentioned earlier, and I STILL WANT TO KNOW WHAT IT IS. I resist the urge to ask loudly and inhumanly quickly, interrupting Histy in the process.
“In a way, perhaps,” she responds somewhat nervously. “Scary is not exactly how I would define the power level of either of you. In fact, you would need to be about three times as powerful as you currently are to be as strong as Neptune once was, and even that isn’t what would be defined as scary in the Hyperdimension.”
Adam’s eyes widen. “Shit. Then what is?”
Histy holds out her tome again and clears her throat. Pictured-- hey, I know them! From left to right, there’s Noire, me, Blanc and Vert. Over our shoulders I can see Uni, Neppy Jr., Rom and Ram. I can even see Peashy and Plutia in the back, waving. Seeing them again makes me feel all warm and fuzzy, but… I can’t help but wish they were here. “Imagine Neptune times ten,” she explains, “but infinitely more manageable. That is what would be considered ‘scary’ levels of power in the Hyperdimension.”
A long walk began then and there. I remember this walk, I realize as we walk down the bath. I remember whining as Noire dragged me along on a “how to be a better CPU” lesson, as arranged by Histy. As we walk past the cutesy little medieval-style town in a particularly large field-like clearing, I recall me, Neppy Jr., Compa and Iffy fighting off a swarm of Dogoos that was causing trouble.
And, as we approach the mouth of a pretty menacing-looking cave, I remember following Noire here and saving her butt from an Ancient Dragon. “Sooo, you’re sure this is where you saw it?” I ask Histy, and she nods in response. “If there are any preparations you must make before we enter, make them now.”
I dust off my palms and hold my hands out. A heavily-pixelated black line appears before me, which quickly changes to a normal-looking katana with a little purplish bow on its hilt. I grasp at it and thrust it into the air while unsheathing it in one slick motion, causing Adam to jump back and yelp. “LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE!” I cheer.
“Adam, what are you gonna use?” Compa asks curiously. “Ohhh, wait! You have the metal sticky-thingy! You’re gonna have to get really close with it, though. It’s kinda short,” she comments.
In response he produces the ‘metal sticky-thingy’, holding it out in front of him. “Not when I do this,” Adam shoots back, and a red beam appears from the end fortunately not facing him.
The red beam of light reflects off of Compa’s peachy-orange eyes as she marvels at the weapon. “Ohhh… it’s like Ge-Ge’s sword, Nep-Nep!” she observes gleefully. “You two fighting together is gonna be like if Ge-Ge got a little shorter, cut her hair short and dyed her hair black!”
Adam just blinks. “I have no idea how to respond to that.”
My eyes widen. “He kinda does look like Neppy Jr., if you squint at ‘em and turn your head a little…” I add, following my own instructions beforehand. “Soooorta.”
Histy, meanwhile, is just observing quietly, though she decides to mention, “I will remind you to bring Nepgear here when we return to the Neptower.” She then adds, “are we all ready? Getting through this cave may be… quite a walk.”
Adam responds, “if it is, we can just summon stuff when we need it.” He adds under his breath, “goddammit, why’s it gotta be a cave… why can’t it just be out in the field or something?” He pipes up. “Why is a DRAGON in a CAVE? It has wings. It can FLY. YOU CAN’T FLY IN A CAVE.”
He throws his hands up, beam-sword-thing included. “I give up.”
At that we step into the mouth of the cave.
“...So basically, an Ancient Dragon is--” I start, only to hear myself interrupted. “...Why did you wait, like, ten minutes to explain? We’re already on our way, and I’m just about POSITIVE you’d drag me if I didn’t agree to come. So basically, you don’t even have to explain. The scary deadly potentially old-breathing thing will.”
I blink. I don’t think I have any way to really come back from that. So luckily, Histy does the job for me. “Knowing is half the battle,” she responds. “Informing yourself on your combatant can make what might be the most difficult battles become--”
“--Yeah, yeah, fine. Go on, if only to prove me wrong on the ‘breathing concentrated old’ part,” Adam says, finally caving.
Histy’s eyes seem to glow with delight at the invitation to exposition-dump us. “Gladly,” she starts. “Ancient Dragons are a species of dragonkind which are native to Celestia, where the Goddesses of our world used to wage war against one another. However, the Ancient Dragons which moved from the land above to mortal realms like Planeptune seemed to atrophy with time.” I feel her adjust on my head as she waits for the incoming onslaught of questions I know are going to come from our non-canonical friend.
“So what you’re telling me is there are things strong enough to live in a place where LITERAL DEITIES fight each other, and we’re gonna go pick a fight with one,” he chimes in somewhat frustratedly, but with an odd sense of resignation. I’m… pretty sure he’s just gonna go with it.
...Mostly, at this point, I’m just interested in that ‘horrible instrument of murder’ he mentioned earlier. Looks like something Neppy Jr. would think up.
“Not quite,” Histy clarifies. “The two of you - Neptune and yourself - are going to fight it. I have not a doubt in my mind that your powers combined can handle a descendant of one.”
Adam narrows his eyes. “Okay, great, whatever. But what makes you so sure?”
Histy pulls up her tome in front of her. I can just barely see a little bit of the bottom of it. “By comparing the strength of a Dogoo Neptune fought some time ago to the strength of an Ancient Dragon in the Hyperdimension - our home, along with the relative power of Neptune herself, I can gauge the approximate strength of an Ancient Dragon here.” Histy’s tome floats in front of the group, showing off a line graph - a purple line, tipped with a ball that has my face on it, lies just above a brown line tipped with an Ancient Dragon’s face. Beneath that by a longshot lies a bluish line tipped with a Dogoo’s visage. “Wooooow,” Compa breathes. “I don’t know how you do it, Histy…”
Adam looks crooked at the graph in front of him. “So where am I on that?”
In response, Histy adds a little icon of Adam’s face - frowning, actually kind of fittingly - next to mine. “I haven’t seen a proper demonstration of strength on your part, and therefore I can only assume - as a Prime - that your position on this graph is somewhere near Neptune’s.” She closes her tome and calls it back to her, letting it lie between me and her.
I turn my attention to the road again. We’re just leaving town right now. I’d go HDD and carry us all there, but I feel weirdly tuckered out. I quickly eye my SP bar - it hasn’t drained a bit - still at 3/3 - but I still feel tired. Weird.
“So the long and short of it is,” Adam concludes, “this thing’s scary, but we’re scarier?” His hand rests on the horrible instrument of murder mentioned earlier, and I STILL WANT TO KNOW WHAT IT IS. I resist the urge to ask loudly and inhumanly quickly, interrupting Histy in the process.
“In a way, perhaps,” she responds somewhat nervously. “Scary is not exactly how I would define the power level of either of you. In fact, you would need to be about three times as powerful as you currently are to be as strong as Neptune once was, and even that isn’t what would be defined as scary in the Hyperdimension.”
Adam’s eyes widen. “Shit. Then what is?”
Histy holds out her tome again and clears her throat. Pictured-- hey, I know them! From left to right, there’s Noire, me, Blanc and Vert. Over our shoulders I can see Uni, Neppy Jr., Rom and Ram. I can even see Peashy and Plutia in the back, waving. Seeing them again makes me feel all warm and fuzzy, but… I can’t help but wish they were here. “Imagine Neptune times ten,” she explains, “but infinitely more manageable. That is what would be considered ‘scary’ levels of power in the Hyperdimension.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A long walk began then and there. I remember this walk, I realize as we walk down the bath. I remember whining as Noire dragged me along on a “how to be a better CPU” lesson, as arranged by Histy. As we walk past the cutesy little medieval-style town in a particularly large field-like clearing, I recall me, Neppy Jr., Compa and Iffy fighting off a swarm of Dogoos that was causing trouble.
And, as we approach the mouth of a pretty menacing-looking cave, I remember following Noire here and saving her butt from an Ancient Dragon. “Sooo, you’re sure this is where you saw it?” I ask Histy, and she nods in response. “If there are any preparations you must make before we enter, make them now.”
I dust off my palms and hold my hands out. A heavily-pixelated black line appears before me, which quickly changes to a normal-looking katana with a little purplish bow on its hilt. I grasp at it and thrust it into the air while unsheathing it in one slick motion, causing Adam to jump back and yelp. “LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE!” I cheer.
“Adam, what are you gonna use?” Compa asks curiously. “Ohhh, wait! You have the metal sticky-thingy! You’re gonna have to get really close with it, though. It’s kinda short,” she comments.
In response he produces the ‘metal sticky-thingy’, holding it out in front of him. “Not when I do this,” Adam shoots back, and a red beam appears from the end fortunately not facing him.
The red beam of light reflects off of Compa’s peachy-orange eyes as she marvels at the weapon. “Ohhh… it’s like Ge-Ge’s sword, Nep-Nep!” she observes gleefully. “You two fighting together is gonna be like if Ge-Ge got a little shorter, cut her hair short and dyed her hair black!”
Adam just blinks. “I have no idea how to respond to that.”
My eyes widen. “He kinda does look like Neppy Jr., if you squint at ‘em and turn your head a little…” I add, following my own instructions beforehand. “Soooorta.”
Histy, meanwhile, is just observing quietly, though she decides to mention, “I will remind you to bring Nepgear here when we return to the Neptower.” She then adds, “are we all ready? Getting through this cave may be… quite a walk.”
Adam responds, “if it is, we can just summon stuff when we need it.” He adds under his breath, “goddammit, why’s it gotta be a cave… why can’t it just be out in the field or something?” He pipes up. “Why is a DRAGON in a CAVE? It has wings. It can FLY. YOU CAN’T FLY IN A CAVE.”
He throws his hands up, beam-sword-thing included. “I give up.”
At that we step into the mouth of the cave.
![[Image: KBSao70.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/KBSao70.jpg)