Part 16: Episode 16: Leanbox

Episode 16: Leanbox

Goodness, today’s a very special episode because-
Yeah, yeah, I’m here, don’t get so excited. Last time on Neptune you were doing something in Lowee, not that I was watching. Now, on Neptune…



It’s your fault for failing, chump. Be thankful you haven’t been fired.
I can deal. No biggie. What really grinds my gears is how I get partnered with you all the time.
I feel the same way. I hate working with the graceless, unglamorous Underling, chump.
You of all peons don’t get to call me that! Who’s graceless and unglamorous!? You’re a freakin’ rat, dammit.
Shut up, chump. Underling is an underling. I call ‘em like I see ‘em.
You freak of a rodent! I’m gonna Rube Goldberg your ass!
Chu? I hear a familiar serenade, coming from outside. I-It’s my sweet angel, Compa!

So you guys were going to Leanbox through Lastation, I guess. And didn’t even consider dropping in on me. N-Not that I wanted to see you.



W-Wait, I can’t run that fast with my syringe and medical textbooks.
Gust hates…physical exertion.
Don’t be such girly wimps, ladies. If we miss the shuttle, we’re stuck here until tomorrow.
Hang in there, Compa and Gust.
Oh. It left without us. Justice fail.
Aw, shucks. Why did we run so hard?
Ugh. We’ve no choice but to wait until tomorrow. I hope this delay won’t bite us in the ass later.
Hahahaha! Dorks! How stupid can they be? They missed the shuttle! Dumb broads!
Compa, hurry and get on board. We’ll enjoy a romantic cruise together!
Miss Underling and Mister Mouse?
They’re heading to Leanbox?
I’m gonna raise hell in Leanbox until you dumbasses get there! Serves you right, bookworms!
Compa, come and visit me as soon as you can, chump. I’ll wait with bated breath!
Shoot, they’re gonna beat us there. Let’s hurry up and chase them!
But no more ships are sailing today…
Yep, it’s already biting us in the ass.

Well, I’m sorry, but you weren’t even in when we got there.
I-I knew that! Jeez!



I’m very sleep. Early bird does not get worm.
Are you okay? I could inject you with some caffeine, but I think my teacher would scold me.
Just drink coffee. I like mind black as midnight on a moonless night. C’mon. let’s check departure times.
What? What do you mean all shuttles are canceled until further notice!?
Dock Worker: The last ship to dock in Leanbox last night had an accident and was destroyed. No idea when services will be restored.
Those two villains must be behind it! I’m going to wring their necks in the name of righteousness!
Is there any way we can help? We need to get to Leanbox as soon as possible.
Dock Worker: You and me both, missy. If you don’t mind though, we could use a hand.
Left or right?
Dock Worker: Huh? Well, we’ve got an unresponsive ship at this terminal. We want to use that line until the main one is fixed.
Thing is, we’re missing some parts.
If we do your fetch quest, can we travel free of charge?
Dock Worker: Well, sure. We’d owe you at least that much.
Quest accepted. We go to gather parts!
Jeez, now you’re deciding on our quests without asking us… I guess there’s no other choice.
Dock Worker: We need an anchor, a sail, and a cool, perhaps sexy, figurehead. Please bring them to the dock.

Feinne’s Notes:
So, now we’re on a fetch quest that’s a little bit different. See, the Sail, Anchor, and Figurehead are rewards from Quests. We actually could have already done the Sail and Anchor quests, but we don’t get the Figurehead one until just now:



Once you’ve gotten all three items, an Event will appear at Lastation. Oh, and since we’re going to a new land, I believe I promised you a horrible mishmash of processor parts.



This’ll actually get worse too, because I sub in some better leg parts that don’t match anything I get later in the update. Anyway now back to our show.

You do so many of these stupid fetch quests, how can you stand it?



Dock Worker: Oh yeah, this’ll help us men keep our morale up for sure. Wait a few minutes. We’ll fix up the ship right now.
Thanks for waiting. We can depart anytime.
Perfect. Let’s go right now.
Yeah. I hope we don’t find even more nuisances waiting in Leanbox.

Well, that’s just the sort of thing we do. I never really thought about it.



Nothing…seems out of place.
Nope, although I must admit this area makes me want to hold my purse tight.
With no CPU or CPU Candidate, faith is almost nonexistent.
What do we do? Should we find Underling?
No, we have to meet with the Oracle before anything else. She wants to see Nepgear for some reason, right?
Besides, Underling is doing basically the same thing as we are. We’ll run into her even if we don’t want to.

Also, I really have to ask this. How stupid are you guys?
What do you mean?

Video- “We Are Idiots”

Watch

…
Lady…Chika? That’s you, isn’t it?
The hell? Wh-I mean… Y-Yes. I am whoever you just said.
You…are Nepgear, right?
Wow, I’m surprised you knew!
Ack! No, no. It’s actually, y’know, because you’re…uh…
Ge-Ge, she had something important to discuss. Of course she knows you.
Hehehe. Yeah, I guess you’re right.
Important?
Yes, you wanted an immediate audience with me to discuss something urgent. Histoire told me about it.

I mean, that’s clearly Underling.
No, it looks nothing like her. Don’t be silly, Uni.



Why not tell us why you summoned Gear all the way to Leanbox?
W-Well…that’s because… A monster. Yeah, I want her to beat up a really dangerous monster!
You dragged us all the way here for cleanup duty?
Ugh, w-well yeah, I mean, there’s no CPU here…y’know? We struggle to beat up dogoos!
I want Nepgear, the bookwormy and veteran CPU Candidate, to help!
Oh goodness, a veteran? Please, I’m still green.
How humble of you. Whatever. Go beat up the thing living on the grass field in the city’s suburbs.
It’s not a dangerous species. You can beat it easily.
All right, please count on us.
Gear, we’ve got business with her, too.
Oh, I nearly forgot. We’re here to ask for help from Leanbox’s mascot character.
So we were thinking, if you happen to know its whereabouts, maybe…
Hehe, yeah whatever. No problem. Once you get back, I’ll totally give you explicit directions.
I’m amazed she’s so forthcoming.
Miss Hackysacky is very cooperative.
Thank you so very much! Oh, but if take your mascot like that, won’t Leanbox be in danger?
Meh, who cares about th-I mean, don’t worry about that. It’s just a mascot. Kidnap it or whatever. I don’t mind.
…
Wow, I’m so glad you’re being helpful. Okay then, we’ll go defeat that monster.
Yeah, try not to get killed out there.

I mean for one, she talks like Underling. For two, she doesn’t act like an Oracle. For three, she’s just sent you into an obvious trap. And it was a trap, wasn’t it?



It might not have been a trap!



Hmm? What do you mean?
Chika. I doubt any Oracle would give foreigners info on the mascot so easily, let alone allow them to take it away.
Her personality was awkwardly familiar.
Do you really think so? Iffy, it’s bad bedside manner to doubt your patients.
Gust smelled nothing fishy from her, but something did smell off.
She’s an Oracle. They’re on the side of justice.
Maybe you’re thinking too much, IF.
Just be alert. Until we’re absolutely certain she’s legit, don’t even put your weapons away.

Feinne’s Notes:
More quests, this time for Leanbox. We can’t actually do all of them right now, because we don’t have the dungeon we need open yet.









There are some funny new monsters in the dungeon we just opened up, like Boxbirds.



It might not have been, but it was. Right?

Video- “CAVE”

Watch

Huh… Wait. That one seems formidable.
I don’t know about that. Remember? Lady Chika said it was easy.
Okay, wait for me here, everyone. I’ll take care of this one myself!
Whoa, hey! I said to be alert!
Hello, I’ll be your opponent today. Please prepare to die. Hiyaaa!
Monster: Grr?
Wh-What? This is kind of strange… All right, for real this time. Hiyaaaa!
What the goodness!? You’re kidding me. My attacks aren’t working at all?
Monster: Grrr! Grrrrrrr!
Whoa, whoa, whoa! P-P-Please, wait just a moment!
???: Watch out.

Well, I’ll admit it seems as though it might have been a trap.



Stand back. I shall rid us of this beast.
Amazing. Just one blow…
Overestimating your abilities and facing an arbitrary opponent will land you at death’s door. Remember that.
Y-Yes, ma’am.
Are you okay, Ge-Ge!?
Jeez, the hell was that bravado?
I-I’m sorry. Still, she saved me when I was in danger.
We know. We watched the whole sad thing. I’m sorry she bothered you.
Your apology is unwarranted. This is my job, in a manner of speaking.
Why do you traverse such a dangerous grass field?
Orders from the Oracle. There’s an easy monster to beat up, so she asked us to take care of it.

But, I mean, it all turned out okay. That’s what’s important, right?



Gust can’t help but think so. She sounded awkward. Her manners were strange, too.
I see. What has happened to her, I wonder.
Hey, if you don’t mind, can you tell us what’s going on in Leanbox? We’re new, so we don’t know the particulars.
I will oblige. We have yet to become formally acquainted, have we not? I am Cave, a Leanbox native.
Oh, hello. My name is Nepgear. It’s a pleasure to meet you.
Nepgear? This makes you the CPU Candidate of Planeptune, no?
Y-Yes, you’re right.
Looks like you’ve done your homework.
The information you require is not about me, rather this nation, correct?
As you may be aware, our nation has been devoid of any goddess for three years.
Ever since then, the criminal syndicate has grown bold and their followers increase daily. The power of Leanbox is plunging.
Ever since you lost Vert…

No, it’s… Ugh. Forget it.



What happened back then?
Policies restricting ASIC’s powers were rescinded by Chika. Now all have the freedom to worship Arfoire.
Oh, no! Why would the Oracle do that?
Were I to posit an optimistic scenario, perhaps she wished to raise the nation’s morale…at the cost of morals.
By engaging in acts of piracy, at least Leanbox can survive another day.
What about the other scenario, then?
The best explanation is the loss of her sanity, I would say. I honestly cannot fathom what has come over her recently.
The fact that this happened a few days ago sticks in my mind, like it’s a clue.
That is all I can divulge at this time. I am not fond of hypothesizing.
Thanks for the tips. They’re a big help.
Very well then, I shall take my leave. Perhaps our paths will cross again in the coming days.
Oracle seems more and more suspicious. Very dubious, indeed.
I think so, too. After hearing Miss Cave’s story, I don’t think we can trust anything the Oracle says…
I still don’t want to believe the Oracle is a bad person.
And if she really is evil? Do we get to kick the villainy out of her?
If beating her to a pulp would solve all of our problems, it’d be too easy. We need to get some more information.

Anyway, I’m telling you it’s not the real Chika. Even a kid could see it.
I’m sure that’s not the case. Next Time on Hyperdimension Neptunia: Chika’s Secret! What could it be? Also, a rock concert? Am I reading this right?