HyperDimension Neptunia Ascension

(Time Unknown – Slepnir Ravine – April XX, XX18)

Wails were sounding throughout the dark depths of a cold stony room, sobs of desperation and torment rang across without attentive ears to lean upon. Tear after thick tear fell hard against the ground as MarvelousAQL cried out in agony, trying to fight off a monstrous lizard in pure vanity. The monster was still making oral love to her, but having her arms tied above her head left her with only her legs to fight with, and that didn't do much to stop the creature other than entice it even further.

IF, the only other human in the room, glared holes towards the lizard, her knuckles white as marble from the sheer strength she displayed, gripping the wires of her cage with enough force to crush a fist sized stone to pieces. "I'm going to kill you..." she hissed at the monster, her voice laced with venom. "I swear I'm going to fucking kill you..."

The creature paid MarvelousAQL's pleas no mind and cared not for IF's meaningless threats. It continued to do as it pleased, slipping its oral muscle further into the kunoichi. The ninja's eyes closed tightly. "Stop! Fuuin, help me!"

She could feel the sharp tips of its tongue tasting the deepest recesses of her cavity, she only hoped it would dare not go even further and damage her.

"Please… stop..."

A chuckle came from the creature's mouth, she could see hints of a smile being displayed. She knew it planned not to hold back. Her eyes closed once again. IF reached out towards the pair again. The brunette eyed the monster's tail with malice, watching it as it moved occasionally from one position to another. It finally flicked within her reach, and she took a vice like grip to it, yanking it.

The monster's attention was pulled slightly, but it then continued to pay no mind to the girl's actions. IF growled loudly giving the monster's tail another strong yank. The monster then shot a piercing glare towards her, making IF wince and freeze in her spot, an aura of fear sinking over her. She could see its eye narrow menacingly at her before it slowly turned around to attend towards its sexual victim. Instantly IF was reminded of her anger, her teeth gritted, her mouth twitched in fury, she shook slightly as her shoulders buckled up and down, her grip tightened so hard her fingernails began to dig into the creature's armor like skin, but it paid her no mind. "You..."

She grabbed the tail with her other hand and lifted it up, opening her mouth wide and baring her white teeth, then she chomped down hard onto the monster's scaly skin, making it cry out loudly in pain! IF dug her teeth deeper and deeper into the monster's limb, drawing more and more blood, anguish filled screams alongside it. The lizard attempted to pull its tail from her grasp, but it only served to dig her teeth deeper into the wound. The girl's eyes were filled to the brim with utter disdain. A roar left the monster's mouth as it released its hold upon MarvelousAQL and stomped towards the cage.

It reached into the cage and tightly wrapped its fingers around IF's head, digging the tips of its claws into her scalp. The girl winced and released her hold on the monster's tail, and then it gave a strong pull, slamming her head into the wires of the cage. IF let forth a loud cry, and it smiled at her widely. It dug more of its talon like claws into her skin and slammed her once again into the cage, making the girl cry louder in pain. It then repeated again and then again, harder and with more force every time until it finally slammed her head hard into the cement like floor like it was a bowling ball.

IF then began to wail out in pain, tears having been drawn from her. Blood began to drip out of her nostril as the monster released its grip on her. A teethy smile was cast down upon her injured form before it turned back to Marvelous, licking its lips with lustful hunger as it began its approach, holding up its dangerous hands. Marvelous shook in place, burying her head into her raised bicep and clenching her eyes shut in desperation.

Suddenly, the door opened, causing the lizard to look at the rather quick and panic entrance its apparent partner had made. The other monster caught the attention of the two girls, seeing it bolt the door shut with a thick wooden 3x4 and backing away from the door, almost tripping over itself. It held its head, it seemed to be attempting to soothe some sort of injury it had received. Marvelous watched with tear stained and puffy red eyes as it haphazardly made its way past her and snatched open a drawer, looking for some form of alleviation.

The other monster approached its injured companion, speaking in a foreign language before the other one began to yell. Something injured him out there, and whatever it was, he sought to hide from it. IF couldn't help but let a smirk come over her.

The injured creature grabbed a bottle of half empty medicine, probably looted from some poor traveler and it began to dab drips of it onto itself. MarvelousAQL watched closely, it looked like half of the monster's face had been burnt away rather severely, whoever did this meant to kill it with that attack, not merely injure it, and discerning from the monster's state of panic, this person was hunting him. As it finished, he hunched over, breathing in heavily before slowly turning an eye of fury at her. The ninja swallowed deeply in response.

The creature slammed down the now empty bottle of medicine and stood to face her fully. She could see not only half of its head was burnt, but the injury extended all the way down towards the peak of its shoulder, burning right through its leather armor. It growled at her before turning to his comrade and beginning to speak in a rather harsh tone. It pointed off somewhere as it appeared to scold the other lizard before it walked off, grabbing weapons off of the wall. The berated lizard looked down with muffles and it trudged off behind a doorway Marvelous had not even known was present in the far off side of the dark kitchen.

The eerie sound of a sharpening blade began to ring through the kitchen, IF and MarvelousAQL watched as it used a large cleaver to sharpen a larger blade that appeared similar to one desert raiders used in the fictional world of India. The lizard turned an eye towards MarvelousAQL before squinting and turning back to its work. The ninja's mouth began to quiver as she looked down.

It's no use… Fuuin… he's dead… She recalled the terrible memory of him falling; the feeling of his hand releasing its hold to her own. She felt so cold, so empty. To think I thought we could have a future together, even briefly… But he was always so scared… Memories of how the boy would stress and push onward came upon her mind. He'd even stress his will to protect me, me of all people, after everything that happened… Slimy red tentacles came to her mind, how they polluted and wrecked her body, staining her and even taking away that which she considered precious… No person is going to love or even want damaged goods like me… Not a decent soul anyway… She began to consider handing herself over to the 90% of the male population filled with nasty perverts or bad guys, they were the only people who would look upon her with any hint of wanting, even if they knew the truth about what happened to her. With Fuuin gone, I have no one now… Sure there is Neppy and Iffy, Compa and Nepgear… but they're just friends… I can't find love in that… I'm all alone now…

She sat alone, looking towards the dark tiling of the stony floor in despair.

Everyone I'm with only dies…

IF watched Marvelous' form slouch in defeat before she too cast her eyes down in mental agony. She had no idea the suffering the ninja was going through, but they were still stuck in this prison. To be killed… and eaten by monsters… She closed her eyes tight. Yokoshima, I'm sorry… If only I had gotten there sooner… Things might have been different… I wonder… if you were still alive, would you come? Would you save me too, even after all that I accused you of being? She looked up. Men were funny creatures. She could not understand their way of thinking, but she knew most males were selective and quick to choose, and they would gladly put one they have a form resentment towards to suffering, she's seen it too many times to count or try to doubt.

;-;-;

The loud steps of shoes coming rapidly against the ground sounded throughout the silent temple. The purple-eyed blond sprinted with his arms by his sides, running down the stone corridor with a look of absolute resolve. He dashed quickly past a corner and ran into an open suspended hall. He looked up towards the balcony path he saw the monster from earlier emerge from. A smirk came over his face, looking forward as he then began to weave and expertly dodge flying darts firing from holes in the walls. He'd jump back and then forward before taking to the high air, flipping and landing neatly on his feet. With a spin, he took to running at full speed.

A small group of monsters were now in front of him, becoming agitated and arming themselves to fight the youth. He increased his speed towards them with a wide eye. A roar sounded from a large wolf with thick fur and large paws, taking charge in leading the assault towards the human. A floating orb-like angel and a derpy looking octopus took into the charge. The boy leaped into the air, dodging a slash from the feral beast and unleashing a torrent of flame upon the monsters. The two lesser monsters were engulfed instantly, but the large wolf retracted away with a loud roar before snarling at the boy, then pouncing over the fire with extended claws.

A large leap backwards was taken by the boy and he landed, bending down to his knees with open palms at his sides before he took a dash towards his opponent. The wolf took his challenge and charged him, slamming its paws strongly and audibly against the ground, kicking up dust with every step forth. The two finally came within distance of attack, the beast sent forth a powerful slash with a roar, and the boy leaped towards it with a flaming palm forth and a white light blinded the entire arena.

The two opponents finally landed far apart on opposite sides of their sprint, backs towards one another. They stood still, seeming completely unfazed before the large wolf finally collapsed with a final gasp, falling onto its side dead. The boy stood up with fists at his sides and he then turned around, continuing on his path forward.

He swayed and dodged various large obstacles, making his way across large gaps and ascending higher and higher to the fortress like dungeon. Monster after monster was in his path, but they did little to slow him down. One by one, they were extinguished by his sapphire flames and he came upon a large vertical room. Looking up, the way towards the other door held no clear ways of climbing up. No vines were present, no switches, it was barren. The boy smirked to himself before taking a couple of steps back, hopping onto his toes multiple times, bouncing himself little by little before he kicked off into a strong sprint and then leaping off into the air.

He came upon the wall, planting his feet hard against it with a loud kick before he jumped towards the opposite wall, landing upon it. He took to jumping again and repeating this action again and again, wall jumping towards the highest point of the room before he finally landed upon the solid ground hosting a door. It was sealed shut before him, but he turned around and lifted a hand forward, pointing to a clear crystal switch sitting on a lone platform floating outside of the tower-like room. A blue flame spawned in his hand and he propelled it, hitting the switch and causing the door to free itself from its holds.

He walked into the room, seeing he was now finally level with the apparent home of that monster that attacked him. "No way am I letting that bastard get away with attacking me. It's time I settle the score and give him a piece of his own medicine." He lifted a fist towards himself, traces of a blue ember floating from his enclosed palm before a smirk came over his face.

He lifted his purple eye forward before he heard another footstep sound behind him. His eye widened, then narrowed as he slowly turned towards the source.

"Oh… what do we have here..."

He turned around to find not the monster he was expecting, but a boy. His eye squinted curiously.

"What the?"

Before the blond youth stood a boy looking awfully disheveled. His dark purple hair was in a mess, his clothes appeared damp, wearing a sort of large open over-coat and pants that reached down to his mid-shins. His blue eyes were narrowed in a sense of anger, the aura given off of him was a distressing aura that called to the teen's attention. He was glaring at the boy, but his hands were unclenched, open in an almost threatening way. The blond looked back up to his blue eyes. The color of them reminded him of eyes similar to someone he saw before, someone important.

"Who the fuck are you?" the elite asked.

The boy didn't shift in any response, he did not even blink. The blond's eye narrowed slightly.

"Well?"

There was still no response. Had he gone through some form of trauma that he had lost his voice. Maybe. Then he noticed something strange. In the boy's right hand, there was a red cloth, a large red cloth, it looked awfully familiar. He looked back towards the glaring individual. He seemed to have caught on he recognized the ribbon. He began to lift it up. "Did you do this?"

The blond's eye brow perked up. He remained silent as he stared, he had to ascertain the intentions of this questionable child. He could be dangerous. "Depends..." he finally said. "What is that to you?"

"This..." His head looked towards it before his eyes narrowed in longing, "is something a dear friend of mine had upon her person… She was wearing it before she… disappeared."

The blond closed his eye. "No… You are the first human being I've seen in this twisted place since I arrived here. There was a bag in one of the large rooms far back, I'm going to assume you were alongside the person who brought it."

"She… is a dear friend of mine, and I'm looking for her."

He reopened his eye. "Well, I'm not your enemy. Chances are your friend may have been attacked by a rather skilled monster."

The purple haired youth's eyes widened, anger very apparent in their shine. "What?"

"It's true. On the way here, I found signs of attack, blood was on some of the columns in a room, after that, there was nothing. I fought a giant lizard not too long ago, and it got away after I injured him." He then turned away towards the direction of the home. "I'm tracking him down so he doesn't cause me any further problems…"

"I see… I must find my friend, I can't just leave her here."

"That's good and all, but why are you here in the first place? Are you some kind of treasure hunter or maybe a seeker?"

The boy's eyes widened briefly before narrowing again. "That's… none of your business. Why are you here, you're from Lastation, I can tell."

A chuckle. "What, did my insignia give it off?" He turned towards him with a smirk. "It's none of your business why I'm here, I just am. Besides, even if you didn't want me here, you couldn't do a thing about it, not a kid like you anyway."

"Hey, this kid is just the same age as you… pal..." Venom was in his tone.

"Except I'm different." The blond's smirk vanished. "Besides, I'm not your enemy here. As long as you don't get in my way, I won't get in yours. You're just looking for your friend, right? I'm guessing you no longer want the treasure holed up here?"

"Treasure?" The purple haired youth turned away. "No… I don't want no treasure. I just want to get my friend and get out."

"Hmph. Good. Then we'll get along… for now." He turned to face him fully. "Behind me over there," he cocked his head to his right, motioning the walkway far behind him on the lone side of a squarish section of the wall, "that monster ran off there, that could be its hiding place. If it abducted your friend, you're best tagging along with me, I'm headed over there to rid myself of that rodent."

The boy's eyes closed in contemplation. "I see no reason not to tag along. If MarvelousAQL is over there, and if it has hurt her..." he reopened his eyes, his teeth gritted as he recalled the faint image he received upon taking hold of the crystal. "I swear I'll kill it myself."

"Hmph..." The blond looked forward as he gave the purple haired youth his back. "Come on, my patience is running thin." He took off, with the purple haired boy narrowing his own eyes and casually walking forward. "By the way, what's your name? If we're going to be working together, we should..." he turned around, but found the boy was nowhere in his sight. "get acquainted… The hell did he go?"

"My name?"

The blond's gaze shot to his side almost surprised. The boy then turned his blue eyes towards the blond.

"My name is Fuuin Yokoshima… What's yours?"

A smirk slowly came over the blond's features. "My name? Is Yuuna Mathers."

"Yuuna Mathers?" Fuuin's eyebrows raised slightly before he turned his full gaze forward. "Well, I suppose we'll be allies for a short while."

"Yeah… I reckon so." Yuuna's gaze narrowed as Fuuin began to walk forward, arms swaying by his side. His smirk widened to himself before he took notice to an unusual vibration in his pouch. He looked down to it to see the pouch containing the Share Shard was shaking stronger than he had felt possible, a tiny ray of its bright light peering out from the fold of the pouch's opening. His eye widened as he slowly lifted his gaze towards the purple haired youth walking ahead of him.

Author's Note:

Well, it is that time again, another milestone, Chapter two, "O". Twenty in other words. How many of you guys are still sticking around, not sure, but favorites and stuff keep coming so I'm sure I'm not wasting my time. You guys are the best for supporting me in writing this. As far as Neptunia fanfics go, I haven't read most, but mine takes a very serious turn in terms of plot, but as I'm sure you can tell, I am trying to keep characters IN character for the most part (Neptune is still a silly goose, but she can get heavy when needed (at the rarest of times though before she completely blows the mood).

This dungeon, huh? Damn I hate it. Being confined to a single setting for so long is just driving me crazy, I'm glad it is all finally coming to an end and I can get to the fun stuff involving most of the other characters of the franchise, as well as a few special guest appearances I have planned (do you recognize the name Markiplier?) in some later chapters. Don't worry guys, I have big plans and I hope you guys will like them.

Onto other news, Yuuna, am I right? A bad ass character, an OC offered to me from someone else for Lastation. An elite for Noire, super serious, strong, amazing, right? I wonder what the interactions between these two will be (I'm going to aim for some comedic kind of relationship given Noire's personality and all). I plan to have a special OC for every nation. As you can tell, Planeptune has Fuuin, Lastation has Yuuna, so Leanbox and Lowee are still up for a grab. I do my best to give characters important roles and make sure every character makes some appearances.

I must apologize though, exposition, there is a lot, right? Yeah, unfortunately, in this universe, I really have no way to really push the story along and properly develop character relationships without it since I'm not the type of guy to slap two characters together and call it that.

About the Share Crystal Shard, I'm positive you guys are starting to get confused about what it is actually called. Its proper name is the "Sharite (shard/crystal (when complete)", but obviously the humans and residents of Gamindustri don't know better. Still, Share Crystal is not a bad name either, but those that had something to do with the previous god 10,000 years ago are aware of what they are properly addressed by. So if I mention Share Crystal Shard or similar and then call it the Sharite Shard by use of another character's dialogue, please don't be confused as they are addressing the same thing.

Another topic, I was thinking of making an EVENT scene consisting of when Fuuin meets with that strange character last chapter and has the "fateful talk" and all. I wonder if you guys would be up for it. I can't make voices, though I can probably get a couple of online people to maybe chip in hopefully for free, otherwise it'll just have to be text. We'll see about it I guess.

Onto reviews, I must say a big thanks to all of those that chipped in. Like last milestone, I'll address each individually.

EBI – thanks for your thoughts. It wasn't until I got to this point I had realized that I neglected the characters most of us want to read about in the first place, which is Neptune or Noire or the vanilla characters pretty much. I'm going to make an effort to try to give them screentime (if you can call it that), I've just been too focused on pushing the plot so I don't extend the story needlessly. But yes, I do need more of the vanilla characters, but as you can tell, I'm not good at functioning with an all female cast. For some reason, I have a need to balance that out with nice male OC's and what not. One or two is usually enough, I don't need to give myself too much to keep track of, xD.

Some Random Dude – Thanks for the vocal support, helps more than you know. I'm glad you're enjoying the story.

Bulldan – Ah, my good compadre. You'll come to see IF is just hasty, she's just looking out for her friends. Given her history with trouble and such, she just wants to make sure no one gets hurt. She gets much better.

Erickharver – I like that name Blood Brawler, quite nice, though he's more a pyrokenetic. XD I'm glad you find the OC rather not "Mary Sue" as I've done my best to make him a character with very apparent flaws and weaknesses, and something I love to do is build up relationships. The main reason I have not just thrown him in with Neptune and the main cast is that I want to build up to it, I keep in mind that the people of their nations see them as goddesses, and for me, that term just kind of demands some form of respect, even if the games are all fun about it which is not really a problem. To be honest, it was your review that kind of inspired how I should treat the relationship between the Lastation Elite and Noire. As of now, there is nothing romantic planned for the two of them, but it will be more than just an employment type of relationship, that should be a given.

MAGES and other Makers characters will be making an appearance. So have no worries there.

Guest Person – You are a genius, you had me laughing. Thanks, bro. Now if only we could something about that monster name… Hmm… Also, about the "uncomfort" term, thanks, I can't tell you how long that just plagued my mind. There was something off about the word, but for the life of me, I just couldn't place it and decided to run with it. :/

Mario the world champion – I hope so too. After all of this crap, what with the cave and then this damn dungeon, they deserve it.

Kusori ZULU – thanks for your long review. That was an amazing read. Glad to see you like the story. Foreshadowing is a tool I love to use when it comes to writing, I feel it is good at setting up for future events, especially super important ones. And yes, that "MarvelousAQL" down inside that cavern was a rather unsettling individual, something rather supernatural if you ask me. I was a little nervous about it myself when writing about it, I couldn't picture myself down in some dank cave in the middle of deep earth and finding a glowing girl just staring at me from across the room. Ugh…

S.C.O.R.P.I.O.N. Mal – So you feel the same as me, huh? Yeah, this dungeon, damn I hate it. Ready to move on, it's getting boring to me. When I first started it, I didn't think it'd go on as long as it has, lo and behold, seven more chapters in and we're still here!

AIYF Productions – Thanks for your encouragement, I'm glad you like what you've seen. To become emotionally involved about that also inspires me to keep going forward.

And to all of you future readers, I plan for things to really get kicking off after this chapter. Be prepared to make major headway! Don't be afraid to review or post your thoughts. Questions are also welcome as well as suggestions, plus there are still two nations in need of an OC or two. Just remember how they are used is up to me, and not everyone's will get in. Remember, to have a chance, you must have been reviewing. You can always start now? Oh, by the way, don't be surprised if I do respond to your reviews in PM's, though I'll refrain from giving spoilers.

Otherwise, I hope you all have a marvelous day. This addressing was far longer than the other one, but being the second, I feel it may have been appropriate. Thanks to all of you guys, you're the best in supporting me thus far (that includes all of you guys hitting that favorite and/or follow button).