Sargasso Abyss I

Okay, we're navigating the Sargasso Abyss as we speak☆ Sure is a lot of debris around here!

The ether's so all over the place here that it's impossible to actually plot our position.

This place is generally called the Sargasso Abyss...

...because trying to use autopilot here will only have you going in circles.

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Wow, really? I guess people think the same way no matter what universe they live in!

Tell me more about your universe, Fujimaru!

How do people think about romance in your world? Are there a lot of couples that have big age gaps?

It's just us four girls here, after all! We can all let our hair down and really get to know each other☆

Would you mind not flirting with Fujimaru while I'm trying to navigate a deadly asteroid belt, Jane?

Besides, I'm counting on you to take over in an hour, so I need you well-rested.

Okay... Man, you're no fun sometimes, Ishtarin.

You do realize that if we get stranded here, we're all dead, right?

Good point. I've heard rumors about this place on my own journeys.

True to its name, they say it's a bottomless abyss where stars go to die. But on the flip side, they also say it's a great place to meditate, since nobody else can contact you here.

I don't know who first came up with this, but I've heard it described as a surprisingly addictive snack bar at the ass-end of the universe.

I doubt we'll be getting any drinks or snacks here, but I guess the black holes do make it bottomless.

That said, I can at least tell where the black holes are, so we should be fine as long as we give them a wide

I heard that tummy growl, Ishtarin! Did you go on a diet without telling me?

No, I just ended up skipping lunch. Who do you think's been steering the ship while you were all taking a nap?

Fujimaru, if you've got time to hang out with Jane, then you've got time to go get me a protein bar.

There should still be a fancy strawberry one from Space Gadiva there that I've been saving.

(Uh-oh. I just polished that one off myself... What'm I gonna do now, Fujimaru?)

Oh, right. On a completely unrelated note...

If anyone, anyone at all, dares to take that special snack I've been saving...I. Will. Murder. Them.

But then, that would never happen with us, right? You'd never do that to me, would you, Jane?

(Help me, Fujimaru! You're my only hope!)

(I can see Ishtarin's hand coming off the rudder and heading to her blaster as we speak!)

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Huh? U-uh, sure, that's fine. I didn't know you could cook, Fujimaru.

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Curry!? You know how to make curry, Fujimaru!?

I-I'm impressed, Fujimaru. It's...not like curry's the most delicious thing in the universe or anything...but, I mean, I'd have seconds.

If you don't mind cooking again, I wouldn't mind having curry for dinner too.

I always thought curry only came in powder! Who knew Earth curry was so spicy and sweet!

It's easy to make, accommodates all sorts of ingredients, and has enough punch to blast away any loneliness you might feel eating it on your own...

It's the perfect food for survival camping!

Cosmic Noodles are great and all, but I'm calling it now: this marks the dawning of the Age of Curry!

Suffice to say, I'm definitely having some the next time I'm on Earth!

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Warning: Hostile entities approaching. They appear to be life-forms indigenous to the asteroid belt.

Species confirmed. They are wild space cats that have been driven berserk by an uncontrolled release of pungent spices into their ships' atmospheres.

Really!? Wait, hold up. I thought this Talkie thing was just a fancy PPS! (Planetary positioning system)

Everything it says is pre-recorded, right? Does this mean they accounted for this exact kind of situation when they were making it!?

Good point... Even if its creators were perfectionists, this seems like it would be going overboard...

Never mind that now! We have to get out there and fend off those cats! This flavor's too much for their innocent minds!

That turned out to be a good post-lunch workout, huh? That was just what I needed to work off that curry☆

You said it☆

Apparently, Servants in Fujimaru's universe never gain weight...

...but those of us in the Servantverse aren't so lucky!

Ever since those deliciously sweet replacements for normal meals were invented, well...things have never been the same...

Oh yeah, the Infinity Chocolate incident that resulted in half the Spirit Origins in the Servantverse feeling famished all the time. I remember that...

Oh well, that's got nothing to do with us! Here, Ishtarin, why don't I take over piloting for a while?

Fine by me. I'd better grab some shut-eye too.

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... (Hehe. He really is trying to help, isn't he...)

Hey, Ishtarin? Don't get carried away and do something you might regret later, all right?

I appreciate that, Fujimaru. But no, it's all right.

Between the black holes and the zones riddled with debris, there's a lot of dangerous places still to come.

Yeah, we're going slower than usual, but we're still traveling nearly at light speed, so I'm pretty sure it'd be too much for you to handle.

She has a point. By the time you can see a black hole with your own eyes, it's already too late to escape it.

Exactly. We very nearly got sucked into one ourselves before, and trust me, it's not fun.

Really? I don't remember that. When was this?

Oh, right. I forgot you were napping at the time.

WHAT!? Why would you not wake me up for that!?

Come on, Ishtarin, you know you're pretty much useless right after you wake up, right? You can barely tell your right hand from your left until you've had your space coffee, let alone make life-or-death calls.

Gnnn... (Sigh) I'd like to argue with that, but...

Right? Especially since we had to escape at full speed, so I used your gems toAh.

Yes? What did you use my gems for?

I fed them to the engine, which gave us just enough power to escape by the skin of our teeth! Aww yeah☆

You mean you've done that before!?

Hey, it's not my fault the Maanna gets so peppy when you feed it gems...

I can't believe you! How could you... You... Gaaah!

Of course, the downside is that Ishtarin gets like, well, this☆

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Ugh! How could I not notice this!?

Well, you'd just come off a string of big jobs, so you were sleeping pretty soundly.

Not that! I mean, how could I fail to notice the loss of my gems!? I count them every night!!!

Oh, that? Probably 'cause you'd just gotten a whole bunch of them, and maybe half were still in storage.

Remember how you were so thrilled about the new gems that you ended up sleeping on sacks of them?

Oh, right... Then I guess I wouldn't have had a chance to count them all yet.

Sleeping on those gems was so glorious...so, so glorious. But not the least bit comfy.

What is that? Some new kind of "no pain, no gain" health regimen?

Well, they are just rocks when you get right down to it.

Oh, right. Speaking of rocks, what do you want to do with the high-density debris zone we're coming up on?

What do you mean, what do I want to do? Can't we just go around it?

Not that. I mean there's some kind of Servant-made building in there.

A building? Way out here in the space sticks?

Hmm... I am kind of intrigued, but Fujimaru is our first priority right now...

So yeah, let's just ignore it and keep moving. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a date with a sleeping pod☆

Why don't you take a nap too, Fujimaru? It might help take the edge off.

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Got it! By the time you two wake up, I'll have us free and clear of Sargasso!

Welcome to the sleeping pod. We'll have you unconscious in three seconds or less.

You can choose from non-REM mode, where you can enjoy pure sleep uninterrupted by dreams, or REM mode, where you can enjoy all the dreams you like.

Which would you prefer?

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Very well. Now just lie back, close your eyes, and enjoy your sleep.

...rse... ...you...

...rse you...woof... ...I curse you...woof...

I have no idea when I'll be called up... That something-or-other-man guy showed up for no reason... I keep waiting and waiting for my order to hurry up and get here...

We felines have long watched over Servantkind, but now, my toe beans feel like they're about to burst.

On my fur, you will not leave here alive.

Take this! Cat Curse!

Now you will be doomed to wander the Sargasso Abyss forever and ever, woooooof!

Good morning. Your selected sleep time has elapsed and it is time to awaken.

If you wish to sleep some more, please disable the timer

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Morning, starshine! Well? Are we out of the Sargasso Abyss yet?

Umm... Not exactly...

What do you mean, not exactly? And why are we still in this debris field!? It's been two hours!

I know, but...we just keep going in circles for some reason.

No matter what we try, we always end up back at that debris.

And now, we're also running dangerously low on Altrium.

If we don't find a way out of here soon, we'll have no choice but to call triple-S.

Wha...!? Are you nuts!? Don't you know how much they charge!?

And if worse comes to worst, they could even end up taking Fujimaru as collateral!

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Do you know something, Fujimaru? If you've got a thought here, don't keep it to yourself.

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No way! A cat curse!? Well THAT explains it!

Yes, it all makes sense now. They say that cat curses last for seven generations, after all.

Even so...for a curse to be this powerful, someone would have to be casting it even as we speak.

And if I had to guess where they were, I'd bet my bottom space dollar they're in that debris field.

(Sigh) All right, I guess we'll just have to make an emergency landing there.

But listen. The moment we find whoever's messing with my ship, I'm taking them out myself.

Honestly, I still have my doubts about this whole...cat curse thing, but never mind that now.

Since this was your harebrained idea, Fujimaru, you're going to help me find out what's really going on.

All I see so far is a wasteland with a bunch of old, crumbling buildings, but that's just par for the course in the Servantverse!

Hmm... This area seems less like a debris field and more like a ruined planet to me.

In a sense, it kind of feels like we've come across an ancient shrine of sorts. Who knows? This could actually be a major discovery, Ishtarin.

Maybe... I doubt even the space nomads come out here often, or at all.

If Father was here, he'd probably be heading out to poke at these ruins with his cane as we speak.

Totally. I can't think of anything Tokiomi loved more than ancient ruins.

Especially since that's how he ended up tracking down the Primordial Goddess.

The Primordial Goddess? I don't think I've ever heard of her before.

It's an ancient legend Father used to study. Not that anyone else in his circles believed in it.

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My father was an archaeologist who specialized in the great Universe Update.

His field of study included investigating what our universe was like before its current, ether-based incarnation...

...and the Primordial Goddess is a legend he discovered in the course of his research.

Apparently, she's the oldest deity from Servantverse mythology. Like, over five billion years old.

Five billion years... No wonder nobody today's heard about her then.

I don't know much about what this goddess was like either. She's so ancient that she's barely even mentioned in most myths we know.

And since the names of gods that become too powerful take on power in their own right, her name wasn't even really passed down.

Hmm, I wonder if this is the same goddess the space nomads were talking about. They never actually said her name either.

Oh, yeah... Now that you mention it, the Primordial Goddess was supposedly incredibly fond of beautiful planets.

Yeah, Jane used to be Father's sort of unofficial assistant, so she actually knows a good bit more about this legend than I do.

He never really told me much about his research, for some reason...

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Yup! Though it was all part of my Space Scout duties, so it was mostly pathfinding and logistics and stuff.

Pretty much none of the ruins the professor wanted to investigate had been mapped out, so even getting to them in the first place was quite a challenge.

You know, I always wondered about that. If nobody had ever been to these places before, how did you guys even know there were ruins there?

Oh, that was all Tokiomi. He managed to work out the general coordinates for a search area by analyzing legends and ancient writings from all around the Servantverse.

After that, my job boiled down to finding a way to get us there. Oh, and to carry the equipment.

Um, I don't really know anything more. Deciphering ancient writing and stuff is waaay beyond me.

That said, there was always something distinctive about ruins connected to the Primordial Goddess, so I did learn to tell those apart, and these are different.

I bet. No matter how you slice it, this place is obviously just another abandoned modern-day city.

I can see why stray cats might end up living here

Right you are, my Homo Serviens friend! This area was never part of the demonic Primordial Goddess's territory!

No, this is the holy hangout spot of space cats everywhere: Great Cats Garden, woof!

I recognize that ridiculous conversational tempo! So you're the cat that put this curse on us!

Fuhaha, come on, comrade, you'll make me blush. I gotta say, us cats are very much accustomed to not getting along with people when we meet!

But that doesn't change the fact that I'm mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take it anymore! Nobody's pulling the fur over my eyes anymore, no Servantee, Bob!

You're all doomed to wander this place until you starve now! But don't you worry. I'll send your bodies back home via sub-zero mail!

Took the words right out of my mouth, Felis Naked Apronis!

We don't have time for your stupid crap, so you're gonna undo that curse now, like it or not!

What's going on!? Why the hell can't we catch her!?

Wait, hang on. This isn't one of those "she was a ghost all along" things, is it!?

It's not that! Our attacks just don't register with her! I think she's in a constant state of quantum uncertainty that prevents us from ever touching her!

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Nyahaha, now do you see what you're up against, Servantnoids!? This is what spending too long in Sargasso can do to you!

Seriously, though. This is totally vengeful cat ghost power I got from being cast away and forgotten in the crushing depths of a black hole!

Anyway, if you think the idea of wandering this place for an eternity is just too cruel for school, I could always give you a mercy flush!

Oh, and don't bother asking me why I was tossed into a black hole. That's none of your beeswax!

Dammit! There's no way we can beat someone who won't listen to violence OR reason. Let's fall back for now!

Pawfect. I knew we could get on the same page, blue girl.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I always take a catnap after using my Noble Phantasm, and I'm feeling the need...the need for sleep. Come back another time if you ever wanna die horribly!

This cat's always hungry and lonely, so I'll take anything I can eat, woof!

I can't believe she really did turn out to be some kind of ghost... What is even happening anymore...?

Guess it's death by starvation... I mean, if my bullets can't hit her, I'm pretty much out of ideas...

Now I wish I'd taken the threat of this Sargasso place more seriously. I had no idea there were strange Servants like that out here...

Detecting reduction in morale. Suggestion: perhaps a good meal would lift your spirits.

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What do you expect? She literally dodged everything we threw at her!

What about you? Are you really telling me that ghost cat didn't throw you off your game at all!? What, do you have some idea about how to fight her or something!?

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You do!?

...Hmm, that does make sense. Maybe it could do something about her weird quantum state too.

I'm totally on board with Fujimaru's plan! It sounds like a blast!

Oh, wait. How're we gonna lure that cat out in the first place when she wouldn't listen to anything we had to say?

Hmm, I might have an idea. Remember the Saber Badges those cats we fought in the asteroid belt dropped?

If they're interested enough in those badges to collect them, maybe we can use them to lure this cat out.

I get it. So you want to leave a trail of Saber Badges to lead her into the jaws of our trap, right?

Well, it's not like we have any other ideas. Let's give it a shot.

Then it's Saber Badge hunting time! We can even collect more Altrium while we're at it!

All right! Let's start collecting badges right now so we can get Operation Cat Trap underway!