...Okay, after some looking around, an attempt from Gertrud to beat it back into me (I say "attempt" not so much because she went through with it but rather because she was more concerned with why she was suddenly in the author notes after a while [We chatted with her some more after that beating]), and some thinking, I think Lio's got something to fix this.

Yeah. We took a while to make sure by checking the data.

And?

Well, we need to just let Blanc beat you back into shape.

...Back...into...ARE YOU F***-

Yes, we're serious about this. Think about it: what other person could you name that could do the job apart from Gertrud?

Neptune! Noire! Hell, find Plutia and have her transform, boom! Problem solved!

Neptune wouldn't just do it unless there's a gag involved, we'd like to see you try getting a tsundere to punch your lights out (and we refer to your attempt, not the odds of said tsundere actually doing it), and we, along with the readers, would like to have the author still in one piece mentally. And possibly physically.

...I'm going to go into a corner and cry for a bit...

Shouldn't you deal with the readers still reading this first and then go in a corner and cry? Besides, we'll keep looking into it, but for now...

...Crap! I forgot! Forget everything you read, just...

*clears throat* Hello, and welcome to the main event in the series, Witches of Gamindustri: Rise of Neuroi!

Now, I usually don't do this given I try to move on from previous stories review-wise once I finish them (they're still nice to read, but I usually consider the previous story as donein a responding-to-reviews fashion), but I feel that, as I got done with the trailers a while back and as they were trailers more than actual chapters (to me, at least), I'd reply to the reviews from Leo's trailer in Witches of Gamindustri: Dawn of Witches:

Ekuro268: Thanks...as you could already see, Lio's working on getting what might bring it back. Can't believe I have to endure another round of Whack-An-Author...

kineke13: Given the time differences, a lot. Also, thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy the story.

Guest (Guest): I will need to consider adding them. I am well aware that the characters introduced as DLC back in Victory (won't name them just in case) make appearances in the Re;Birth storyline (and that Nisa's and Gust's roles are given to other characters in RB2), but...I am also aware that there are probably people who wanted to see them reappear in the remakes (I personally would have liked to have actually used them while playing RB1 to get a feel for what they were like). I will point out, however, that I would be needing to do a lot of research into them to replace actually playing the first two games in the whole series (fortunately, I read a manga that had them, so I feel it's a good start). Which brings us to the matter: like I've been doing with my other series, I will extend this offer to you.

If anyone (no matter who) ever feels like I could improve a character that I depict in the story (I am going to be as close to their original personality as I can get given the nature of this story, but I'm not perfect), feel like a plot point could have more justice done with it, or just have an idea for the story, then I invite you to let me know either via PM or a review. I read your reviews and, though I won't reply to them until a later update, I do take notes on what people say. In the case of ideas, even if I don't use them it's not because I hate them. It's just that I write because I have a story I want to tell, and if I feel that it can't work with the direction I want to go in then I can't use it. Ultimately, I want to be able to tell it but at the same time make sure that you, the readers, still enjoy reading it even if it's not my best update.

...Man, that went a little towards serious, didn't it? Not that it's bad or anything! Besides all that, thanks for reading.

Anyways, that's it for the reviews. Let's just get right into this with the "prologue" of the story...but first, a disclaimer!

Disclaimer: The author does not own any part of the Hyperdimension Neptunia or Strike Witches series...well, he does own the three Re;Birth games, but that's it. All characters except for his OCs (four of who are featured in the trailers) belong to their respective owners. Also, any references within the story belong to their original owners (apparently, he decided to make us say this).

Oh, and before I forget: if you've been keeping up with the news, I am involved with something called the "FanFicCollective" and we now have a forum and community for it right here on the site! If you're interested in a few other fandoms, particularly Strike Witches or Ace Combat at the moment, please stop by and check them out (just search for "fanficcollective" or head to my profile for a link to the forum and community).

Now on to the "prologue"!

XXXXXXXXXXX

Chapter 0: Team Neptune

Some people might say that being a Dogoo was a bit...interesting. Despite being slimy, they do give off a cute appearance thanks to their dog features.

At least, I found myself thinking that.

"Dogoo!" one of them said as I watched them from behind a bush.

As I looked at them, I went over the details of why we were looking for them in my head: it was part of an extermination quest, and as we had learned fairly recently thanks to our nurse-in-training teammate the things at least came back to life after a while. Not in the same exact area, like right where they used to be, but maybe a half-mile away or something like that.

I have no idea, I'm still wrapping my head around some of the newer concepts around here.

Anyways, I looked out towards another bush that seemed to be wriggling around a fair bit. I was dressed in what most people would consider not being "battle attire", being some sort of uniform consisting of a green plaited skirt, a black vest over a white T-shirt, black socks going up to my mid-thighs, and white sneakers. Inside my hair was a little hairclip designed to look like a green Dogoo. Resting on my left wrist was a special watch my father had given me, and around my right wrist was a bracelet with a small green gem that had been embedded in it.

Who's wiggling in that bush over there? That's going cause attention; if we're not careful, we'll lose our prey!

...My God(dess), it's her, isn't it?

Sighing internally, I gripped the black hilt of the jian sword I had strapped to my back, being made of copper (I wasn't a blacksmith, so I was unsure of the problems with it, if any), with my right hand as I rested my left hand on the energy blaster (located on the left side of my hips) I had been given with the sword, having copper plating over it. Bouncing against my right side was a strange red disc hanging by a clip, held by a sort of holster that poked through the middle of the disc and held it in place via some small ridges.

"They really co-ordinate weapons to look similar to each other, don't they?" you might be wondering.

Anyways, I slipped the blaster out of its holster and got ready to move when I watched as a lilac-haired girl barreled out of the bush across from me.

"Time to roll out!" the girl shouted as she made a katana appear in her hands while running.

...

"Dammit, Neptune..." I told myself as I stepped out of cover and, aiming my blaster and pointing it at one of the Dogoo, which had all stopped their business to watch "Neptune" running towards them, fired a bolt of green that managed to hit one of them for some damage. I then watched as a few elements appeared across my HUD, telling me who was in my party of three as well as their partners. Also, it served to track our health and SP bars.

"Hiyah!" Neptune called out as she reached them and started attacking the Dogoo I had shot. "Keep up, Ro-Ro!"

Keep up? What is this, a competition? "Why'd you rush them?" I started to run towards the group.

"I was getting bored! Besides, I wanna get this done as soon as possible!"

"That doesn't constitute you charging in madly and striking." I unsheathed the jian sword and felt its weight in my hand. Its blade stretched out for about thirty inches from pommel to tip. I aimed the blaster again and fired once more, hitting another Dogoo. "Where's our other partner?"

"Right here!" a third voice called out as a syringe swung past my view before being bonked on Neptune's Dogoo's head. "Sorry, but Nep-Nep went too fast for me..." I watched as the syringe was pulled back towards our nurse-in-training, named Compa.

"It's fine. Just annoyed that someone initiated combat too early..."

"Don't have a fuss over it!" Neptune called out as she kicked her target away from her before she got ready to use one of her skills. "Cross Combo!" She then rushed up to the Dogoo and swung her katana into it about five times, sending it up into the air on the fifth swing that had been made as a sort of uppercut before she jumped and (with a slam of her weapon) sent it back down to earth. This caused the Dogoo to disappear in a flash of light.

I targeted one of the surviving enemies and swung my sword into it a bit, scoring a hit before I quickly pointed my blaster at it and fired two point-blank shots into the Dogoo. I then called out, "Hikari!" as I swung my sword up and launched the slimy monster into the air.

"Ro-Ro, behind you!" Compa called out suddenly.

"Huh?" I asked as I turned around quickly and watched as a Dogoo did a flying tackle into me, sending me into the ground back first.

...For being made of slime, these things sure pack a punch.

Slightly dazed, I lifted my head to watch as the Dogoo that had attacked me jumped into the air, ready to drop onto me.

Thinking quickly, I raised my blaster before I watched as a energy-charged bullet slid past the Dogoo. It didn't knock it off course, but it was enough to angle its body awkwardly, and I took my chance as I fired a round of my own that sent it flying and slamming into its partner. I took the time to get back onto my feet and had a quick look at my health bar, seeing that I had taken about three percent damage.

"Thanks, Hikari," I said as the Dogoo landed on their heads. Taking their now-dazed appearances, I started to give off a green aura and let some animal features appear (a pair of gray wolf ears on my head and a wolf's tail poking out from around my tailbone) before I charged at them. "Rush Combo!" I then caught one of them in my slash, and I felt my aura follow along as I slashed at it by delivering a second blow right after each one (and I did about the same amount as Neptune, even knocking it into the air, but only on the sixth strike). This caused the Dogoo to vanish from the world as I watched my SP gauge drop a bit to show my expended amount.

"Nice going, Ro-Ro!" Compa called out happily. "That's another one."

We then looked at the final one, which seemed a little too out of it to do anything damaging.

"Should I put it out of its misery?" I asked my teammates as I raised my blaster.

"I dunno," Neptune said. "I'd probably want to see how long it takes to snap out of it."

"And this idea is coming from the girl who rushed the plan?"

Neptune blinked as she made some sort of face. "At least I managed to get results, right?"

I chose to ignore her comment for now. "Compa?"

"Well, Mister Monster looks a little vulnerable," Compa reasoned. "It'd be a good idea to finish him off, but..."

"But?"

"Well, maybe we should give him a chance before we do it, just to see what else it does."

...We've faced a load of these things, Compa. Back when it was just the three of us and before our other two teammates joined our team. Why are you now choosing to "see what else it does"? "IF, what do you..."

"Demon Flame," a new voice ordered as we watched the Dogoo go up in a pillar of flames. I then blinked as Compa's battle information was replaced with our final teammate's, IF.

Speaking of, the brunette who had finished off our last target was walking up to us.

"Hey, Iffy!" Neptune complained. "No fair! You took the last kill!"

"You three were taking too long," IF told her as Hikari came over to join us. "Besides, we're all getting the same experience." She then looked at me. "Well, except for you, but that's only because Hikari's paired up with you."

Fair point. I learned that Hikari and I had some passive abilities when partnered. Hers was a boost in experience points gained, which is a resource around here for getting stronger skills and stats, and an increase in her partner's MENTALITY stat (which, according to my guide, represented one's magical defense) when the partner rank was a certain level.

Mine? I had the same MENTALITY boost Hikari had, but I gave a decrease in the amount of SP used for skills.

"Sorry..." Hikari said cautiously, holding her Sniping Peashooter in her hands. She seemed to prefer saying as little as possible when speaking unless she felt comfortable.

"I'm not scolding you or anything, Hikari," IF replied quickly. "I know you're more comfortable around her, and I can't really say anything against it: at least you're getting more comfortable around the rest of us as well."

"That's true." Hikari strapped it onto her back via a sort of strap that was made to resemble a blade of grass. "Sorry either way." She then gave off a meek smile.

Neptune then looked at us and said in a cheerful tone, "Alright, now that we got that quota done, why don't we get some lunch?"

XXXXXXXXXX

About an hour later, and we were seated at a booth in a diner, waiting for our lunch to arrive.

"So, I've been wondering for a while now..." IF began as she sat cross from me, Compa to her left. Hikari took a seat to my left as Neptune was to my right, myself being in the middle. "Well, Hikari and I met you three back in that cave, but how did you girls even come together?"

"Huh?" I asked. "Didn't we tell you?"

"No." IF shook her head. "Normally, I'm not wanting to pry into someone's personal life, but given what happened in that cave yesterday I can't just ignore it much longer."

"That's fair, I guess."

"Ooh!" Neptune suddenly said excitedly. "Are we going to be telling a story? Because I've got an awesome one!"

"...Yes, Nep," IF deadpanned. "I want to hear all about how you saved Gamindustri from the menace of a horde of pudding cups."

"No, I'm serious! I've got a good one!"

The brunette sighed. "Alright, let's hear it."

Neptune gave some thought before shaking her head. "...I've got nothing, actually."

"...why did I expect the amnesiac to say that?"

"Hey, I'm still missing some memories over here," I told IF. I then got a little nervous. "I mean, I've got some back, but..."

"You have Hikari to help out there, though."

"I'd like to hear more." Hikari added. "If you could please...tell us how you three met?"

"You sure?" I asked.

"We could help out!" Neptune offered. "We have our own views on what happened."

"Yeah," Compa added. "Ro-Ro, I can start by telling them how I first met you."

"...How did you?" I chose to ask. I only remembered waking up, not really what happened to bring me here.

"How did you and Rosalina meet?" IF asked as well.

"Ah," Compa said as she gave it some thought. "Let's see now..."

XXXXXXXXXX

Compa's POV

I finished a batch of pudding that I had decided to make so that I could have a snack and decided to go into my room to get ready to head off to bed.

Well, that was until I started hearing some weird noises.

"Hmm?" I asked myself as I paused from getting undressed and listened closely. There wasn't anything new when I stopped, so I resumed my task and grabbed my white nightgown when the noise returned. "The noise came back..." Slipping my sleepwear on, I looked around my room but found nothing.

Suddenly, a red portal just...well, the best word I could use to describe it was "opened" in front of my bed, and a girl was spat out of it before it closed. The whole time it was making a noise that hurt my ears, forcing me to cover them quickly.

Uncovering my ears, I looked at the girl who had just appeared out of "thin air". She seemed to be my age, but she was dressed rather oddly: she wore a black tank top with white slippers over her feet. Her black hair looked to be in a ponytail, and on top of her head were a pair of wolf ears. Sticking out from her tailbone area was a bushy wolf's tail, which seemed to be covering...

Um...what is it she's wearing below her hips? She seemed to be wearing a pair of black panties.

I stood there as I tried figuring out what I should be doing. Do I see if she's alright or run and get someone who can make better sense of this? I mean, unless she was a cosplayer or something, the girl had no reason to be without a skirt at the very least.

Though...is that tail real? What about her animal ears?

I knelt down and reached out to touch her tail when it disappeared in a smooth rush of white light along with her animal ears.

That was weird...were they just illusions?

I shook my head. I need to make sure she's okay before she wakes up and tries to move.

I checked her legs first as they were already uncovered and saw that they looked fine. Next were her arms, and I just realized that she had a strange watch on her left wrist, so I added that to what I could see about her appearnace. When I was satisfied that she wasn't hurt a lot on her limbs, I grabbed the bottom of her tank top and lifted it up a bit to see if she was cut underneath. I didn't see anything wrong there either, so with a sigh I scooped her up and laid her on my bed.

XXXXXXXXXX

Alright, there goes the first chapter in this new series. Well, prologue...not sure what to actually call this...so for now consider this "Chapter 0" or something.

Anyways, let's see here…

Okay, for starters, if you're reading this first entry, then I have finished Project Himebana (if you've read that) and will be working on this one as well as Project Global (part of my other series). If you're interested in seeing what the latter involves, please check out my profile.

And I'll be helping Dilnos here with his bold problem.

...Lio?

We swear, we didn't let him in! We didn't even know he got here!

...Why do I feel like you're lying? Anyways, hello.

Well hello to you too, good sir (╭ರ_•́).

Okay...I was hoping for a better introduction next chapter, but let's see...since you're here, please introduce yourself to the readers.

Sure thing. Hello, my name is Ekuro268. As you can see in the author notes up at the top, I've been commenting, as well as helping Dilnos here with the beta reading and feeding information about weapons.

Thanks for that, by the way.

Hold on a second! Why is he also bold and italics?! Also, you're going to replace us? You're replacing us, aren't you?

...You're not getting replaced, Lio. It's just that...erm, why are you here?

Because I've found a breakthrough for how you can get your bolding ability back!

...You did?

He did?

Well yes, but...it does need a 'sacrifice'…*Looks at Lio*

Oh no! We're not going to be sacrificed! We already survived a Neuroi Explosion a long time ago, we're not going through that crap again!

*Sigh* I don't really mean killing someone off, I mean someone giving up their bold text.

*Sigh* Thank...something. We were thinking we were going to be out of a job…

Glad to see your priorities are straight, Lio...

So...who's giving it up?

...Well, I can't for starters. I don't even have them right now.

We rather like our bolding abilities. Besides, we were first with it!

Well aren't you such a good employee, Lio...Whatever, I'll be the one to give it up.

Hang on, wouldn't that leak into your other works? I mean, I've had it happen already, but...

Meh, doesn't really matter. Didn't really like the bold text to begin with.

...So why use it?

Because I can?

...That's it? We can keep our bolding for that same reason!

Okay, that's enough, Lio. Is there anything we need for this...ritual? Sacrifice? ...Hokey-pokey dance?

Hokey-pok- well, nevermind, it's more of a 'Bold transfusion' as I call it. It might be a painful process, though...give or take.

...Really? That's a terrible pun, and we quoted something from a movie before!

That pun was unintentional…

And you shall be severely pun-

Okay! Don't need too many bold-italics crowding the screen at some point! Anyways, we'll cover the...whatever it is between chapters...which the next one is in a bit, to be honest.

Other than that, please read and respond and let me know what you thought of the first entry.

Thanks, and I will see you in the next chapter...which is in a bit.

And I'll put your payment on your tab.

Wait, what?