HyperDimension Neptunia Ascension

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

Two male teens walked down a long and narrow hallway, their destination being a sort of makeshift house in the side of the large floating dungeon. The blond youth, Yuuna, was eying his temporary ally, Fuuin Yokoshima with malcontent. Every step they made only told him what he was suspecting. That boy has the Share Crystal Shard… The aura emanating from him was something to behold however; looking at him, one would easily underestimate him, even he himself was having a hard time piecing together the puzzle of this child. Unlike others who merely wielded the shards, he seemed to have gained some adverse effect from it. He wondered what that could have entailed. Either way, this boy had gotten a hold of his number one priority, he would need to apprehend it eventually.

Yuuna brought a slow fist upwards before clenching his fist shut, blue embers faintly rising from the gaps in his finger lines before letting it down.

Yes, how enthralling, I must say… This is a first I have been nervous about a mere human being for a long time. The only person who has managed to scare me, a Lastation Elite, was Lady Black Heart herself… And yet, I feel the same energy from him that I might from a CPU's human state of self. His teeth began to grit in anger. What could I be up against this time?

Up ahead, Fuuin could feel the other boy's gaze onto his back. For some reason, he was measuring him, did he plan to steal from him, did he plan to kill him to get a hold of MarvelousAQL. Fuuin's eyes furrowed. No one is going to land any further hands upon her… He looked forward, increasing his pacing slightly so. Yuuna caught onto his speed change and increased his own, moving fast enough to come in front of the boy so he was in the lead. Fuuin just let him be. Maybe he is the type that likes to feel in power or leadership. Still, I should be wary of him. I've heard Lastation's people can be quite hostile if agitated.

Yuuna came to a stop as he looked beyond an open archway leading somewhere off the temple's pathing. "This is our stop, Yokoshima..."

"You think so?"

"Think?" he scoffed arrogantly. "I know. I'm an elite, I know what I'm doing. I'm trained for this kind of shit. How about you?"

"I'm rather skilled in combat, believe it or not. No human being can just waltz across the fields without some form of training."

"Well, I hope it is sufficient enough." Yuuna turned forward, propping a leg up using the mantle of the columns. "Come on."

He stepped over and took a leap across a wide gap, landing onto a wooden bridge that angled around a corner. He turned to Fuuin, smirking at him. Fuuin looked upon the wide opening with resentment before taking a swallow, probably drinking down his saliva.

Fuuin's gaze furrowed in determination before he took off into a sprint and leaped, flying fast through the air and landing on the wooden protrusion against the walls. He had a hand to the wood to further keep himself up before he stood up with a slight gasp.

Yuuna's gaze furrowed. Maybe he's not all I thought he was. He's only an untrained teenager after all. Yuuna turned his eyes up ahead. "Come on, we need to get going. Just around here." The blond casually stuck his hands into his pockets and walked ahead, coming alongside the walling like it was just another stroll through the park. Fuuin furrowed his eyes suspiciously at him before following along. The two teens soon came up to a door that was inside the stone composed foundation. "Seems this is it." The boy took a second to look over the wood and surroundings before a content filled nod came. "Yeah, this is it."

"So now what?"

"Well, we can't just break in. They probably have the door trap-locked or something, after all, that one lizard I attacked was runnin' off scared for its life. I'll just bust the door down."

Fuuin's eyes widened. "But you just said it could be trapped!"

The blond shrugged his shoulders. "So, I don't want to stand here all day." He promptly lifted a foot up and then gave the wooden door a good hard stomp. But it did little to no damage, the door barely even budged. "Ooh, yeah, they got it locked alright. Barricaded it seems." A satisfied puff of air resounded from his lips.

"Well, what do we do? There are no windows we can crawl though."

Yuuna turned towards the purple haired boy. "Would you really want to climb through a window into an armed monster's home? Man, you're stupider than I thought." Fuuin cast his head sideways, sneering at that remark.

"That was unnecessary..."

"Shut up..." Yuuna retorted. "Besides, you think I wouldn't come here without a plan? I wanted to come here to just kill this motherfucker. I'm gonna do it, was going to do it whether you were here or not." The blond lifted his palm towards the top of the door. Fuuin watched as a sapphire flame spawned just before his hand, making the boy's eyes widen in amazement, then it fired forth and into the door. A loud cackling was heard as the wood that made the strong door began to burn away into ashes little by little, but at a faster rate than Fuuin would have expected. Yuuna glared forth into the dark doorway making itself present before him and he stepped inside.

Looking around, he could see messy flooring and corners, and the place reeked. It smelt almost like feces and piss. Yuuna walked further ahead, preparing himself for battle.

Fuuin carefully stepped in after him, taking care to avoid the sapphire flames still burning the wooden door.

"Aw… you gotta be kidding me..."

Fuuin's attention was deftly caught. "What, what is it?" He eagerly stepped towards him and turned towards the darkness, but all that was before them were messy and sprawled out counters, a smoking pile of wood under a very hot cauldron of steaming water, remnants of simple ingredients.

"They took off! Shit, they knew I was coming."

Fuuin stepped further in, seeing multiple empty cages all along side a sort of shaft in the walling. Two of them were rather large when compared to many of the others and were left open. Fuuin's eyes squinted. He walked to a counter and noticed a change in smell. It was vastly different than before, it was a different type of dirty, but it was oddly pleasant. Pheromones… His eyes widened. Marvy! He turned more towards the right end of the room to see a small hallway that lead to a door into the leftward walling. "Mathers, there's a door this direction."

"Oh good, maybe we can still catch up to them." Yuuna hastily took off ahead, dashing into the doorway.

"Hey!" Fuuin yelled after him with an outstretched hand. "You can't just take off like that. Oh, Neptune..." Fuuin too took off to follow him. The two teens ran through a dark and uneven tunnel system that seemed to span for long lengths of travel.

Fuuin grimaced to himself, just the thought of being surrounded by even more rock made him think unpleasant thoughts.

"Come on, it shouldn't be much further. If I'm right, they have your girlfriend, they can't move as fast as we can if they're busy hauling her."

Fuuin looked at him, panting all the while. "I have a question. How do you know there is more than one of these things?"

"Well, most monsters or beings that have even little sentience are social creatures. They naturally partner up when in small numbers, such as what we have here. There must be two, he displayed quite a feeling of alphatism or dominance if you will, well, if he is doing that, he must have a little bitch to do all the chores for him, right? So there you have it, two for two. Alpha idiot and little lizard bitch. A and B, brah."

"Augh… whatever… I guess it's safe to just prepare the worst outcome..."

"There is no need for this alpha to prepare." He faced fully forward and increased his speed before he saw a pebble fall from around a corner. Yuuna's own pupil shrank, and came to an instant knee slide, bending backwards and low enough to barely avoid a large cleaver being swung in his direction.

"Whoa!" Fuuin screamed as he came to a stop.

A lizard in bare-bones leather armor wielding a large knife stepped forward with a hiss, his sharp tongue seething at them. It took one intimidating step forward. Fuuin looked upon it, somehow recognizing the monster.

Yuuna stood up and smiled at the creature with his teeth, popping his knuckles. "Yep, you're little lizard bitch. How are you doing, lizard bitch?"

The monster responded by hissing further at him, pointing the cleaver his direction.

"Ooh, I'm so scared." Yuuna laughed slightly. "You think that is going to scare me, look around you, stupid. You're in a hole, you have no where to run, I'm gonna fry you..."

"Wait." Fuuin said, extending a hand towards Yuuna.

"What the fuck? You gonna tell me what to do, kid?"

"Somehow, something about this creature gives a rather personal impact towards me." Fuuin stepped forward, making the monster seethe at him. "Let me kill him."

"Fine. But I swear to god I'm killing the other one."

"That's fine by me."

The lizard hissed even more at the purple haired boy, making him rear back in slight reprise. "What, are you scared?" Yuuna commented with a tone.

"Not really..." Fuuin reached into his satchel as he sidestepped, semi-circling the menace. He pulled out a black device that soon erected neon green energy blades. Looking at it, it looked like a high tech boomerang.

The monster screeched at him before turning tail and running off. Yuuna's gaze opened in wide discontent. "Hey! You're not supposed to run away, after him!"

Fuuin took off ahead of him. "Don't tell me what to do, you're not in charge of me."

"Boy, I'm gonna..." Yuuna sprinted after him.

Fuuin ran as fast as his feet could carry him inside the small tunnelling, following quickly after the large lizard that scurried further and further away from them before it darted out of a kind of hole. Fuuin crouched down until he was at knee height and approached the hole. He peered out, seeing a rather open room, but it was darker than he'd welcome. He dropped out after checking to see whether or not ground was below him and Yuuna soon followed suit. The two looked around until an arrow whooshed past their heads. The two bolted upright and turned towards the direction the projectile came from to see the lizard that ran from them roaring their direction and pulling back another arrow.

It released the projectile, Yuuna and Fuuin jumped in opposite directions and rolled against the ground, stopping onto their knees and looking towards the beast.

Footsteps rapidly closed in on Fuuin's position, making his head perk up and turning towards it. A set of red gleaming eyes shone from the darkness as the shine of a razor-sharp blade came upon him. Fuuin screamed and he darted away, barely avoiding a slash from the other lizard. Fuuin came to a stop and looked at it to see it had sustained some form of flame-inflicted injury. "Hey, Yuuna, is this your guy?"

Yuuna turned towards him and instantly recognized his inflictions. A smile came across his face. "Oh yeah… that's my alpha, bitch." He stood up and began to close the distance between the two of them. This monster took notice to him immediately before screeching at him and taking steps back, tossing the large sword into its other hand.

Fuuin ducked as another arrow flew over his head. He turned towards the lizard further back as it reached behind himself and pulled out another projectile. Quickly, Fuuin kicked off from the ground and sprinted towards the monster, the Ritan at his ready when need be.

Yuuna threw forth multiple fire balls in fancy fashion, tossing one after the other, his movements become more extravagant with each consecutive shot; a regular toss, then another, a spin follows before a jump and a backflip complete with a 360 spin. The sword wielding foe quickly dodged every fireball and closed in on to him eagerly, lifting his blade high with full intention to cut him apart. Yuuna easily dodged one slice after another, making it seem like a dance as he just smirked at the beast with a cocky eye. The monster hissed at him in anger, lunging even faster than before after the youth.

Fuuin let the weapon hanging over his forearm begin to spin like a saw, and he swung his arm at the lizard, the Ritan coming forward off its base only a short ways before going back like some kind of yo-yo. The monster had managed to dodge it, pulling out the cleaver it wielded inside the tunnels. With a spin, it ran towards Fuuin and began to haphazardly hack at him. Fuuin sidestepped every strike with wide eyes, boring a hole into the monster. A horizontal slice came, but Fuuin took to the air and back flipped before landing further away from the monster. It seethed at him, showing the boy his sharp teeth.

Another slice was dodged, and the blond teen smirked at the beast that continuously missed him. "Come on, surely you have more than that, right? Or was I wrong to expect a challenge from you?"

The monster hissed at him before reaching into its belt and pulling out a number of small daggers. One by one, it expertly pitched them at Yuuna with laser precision, but the boy dodged each shot.

"You can't hit me, you idiot."

The monster held up one last dagger and then tossed it a completely different direction. Yuuna watched as it sped like a bullet.

"Hey, Fuuin! Watch out!"

Fuuin looked towards his comrade with wide eyes. "What-" A sharp pain instantly filled his body. He screamed as he grasped his left bicep, feeling a blade lodged into the muscles of his arm. He winced loudly as he looked upon the infliction. His opponent quickly sprinted at him, cleaver raised and ready to swipe him down. The purple haired youth took notice and rose the Ritan up in response, timely parrying the strike. The monster continued to swipe at him, taking advances upon the boy's position, forcing him further back and back.

Yuuna turned towards his opponent. "You don't have to worry about him, I'm your problem." Sapphire flames were born into both of his open palms and he rushed for the monster. A hiss was made and the monster took several steps back, swiping his sword at every fireball pitched at him, turning them into harmless wisps of wind. Yuuna's rate of fire began to increase with every projectile, becoming more and more weaker. The monster roared and dashed towards him. Yuuna's eyes widened as he took a jump back, narrowly avoiding the slash of the monster's sword. The lizard hissed and jumped forward, ramming his burnt shoulder hard into the blond boy.

Yuuna fell backwards and against the ground hard with an audible gasp, sliding far until he collided against a concrete pillar with a very audible crack. He closed his eye and then opened it up, narrowing it at the beast as he grimaced upon the ground.

Fuuin took step back after step back, blood dripping upon the ground from his injured arm. His teeth were gritted. "Damn it!" He took a longer step back than before, almost losing his balance and the blade from the lizard slashed down to his open chest. He could feel a scratch come upon his skin and his clothes cut little ways. Fuuin planted his other foot to the ground and took a jump backwards to increase his distance.

He landed far enough to look at his opponent as it smiled sickly at him with its teeth bared. He panted with wide eyes, raising a hand to the new injury upon his person. He looked down to his chest to make out the bare signs of a nice long diagonal line reaching from his right breast down to his left pelvic muscle. He furrowed his eyes and turned towards the beast. His teeth clenched.

Yuuna rose an arm against the column and pushed himself up as the monster quickly ran at him, sword ready to kill. It slashed down at him and Yuuna took to a jumping roll, dodging the attack and raising two hands towards the monster before screaming out with a wide angry eye. A torrent of sapphire flames consumed the entirety of the monster, making it cry out in complete agony as it tried to feign off the fire. It stepped further and further back before falling over a cliff, plummeting towards a dark and black abyss. Yuuna stood up and walked towards the ledge, taking a look down before a loud splat was heard, making the boy's eye twitch.

Fuuin took another step back as the lizard pulled forth another arrow and fired at him. He leaned back to let the arrow fly past him. That's the monster that I saw… It roared as another arrow was unleashed from its bow. I see why I recognize it. Fuuin began to walk forward, grabbing hold of the knife in his arm. He was doing those things to MarvelousAQL… The lizard hissed loudly at him, switching back to its large cleaver. He was raping my Marvy! Fuuin began to scream as he ran towards the beast with malice filled eyes. He sprinted towards it as the monster too closed in to his form, blade pointed forward.

The two closed distance and Fuuin took to a quick slide. The monster was shocked by this move, seeing the human slide onto his rear and back, then a loud sick sound was heard, making the monster's eyes widen in absolute pain. Fuuin's right arm was extended upwards, the Ritan spinning soundly with its energy blades extended.

The monster stood still, staring at nothing but darkness before blood exploded from its groin, reaching up as high as its stomach before it collapsed, lying, dying in a heap of its own blood and falling organs. Fuuin panted silently, staring towards the darkness angrily as he sat down. Yuuna cast a look at him, then smirked slightly. He began to walk towards the boy.

Fuuin heard his footsteps coming, and he looked towards the blond as he approached. He blinked before a hand was extended to him. Fuuin only looked at it before he lifted his hand up and accepted the offer.

"You owe me… You know that?"

Fuuin barely nodded his head before catching himself. "I don't think so…" The boy turned away and looked further down the darkness to a corridor. His eyes narrowed and he walked towards it, Yuuna shaking his head and following suit.

"Whoever this person is, boy, I hope she's worth it."

"To me..." Fuuin's eyes opened slightly. "She's worth everything."

;-;-;

Blood slowly gathered onto the floor, dripping from tied arms. Two girls sat looking extremely exhausted, their arms bounded by wire behind their backs and interlocked together. The wire dug deep, but not deep enough to draw blood, but enough so if they struggled, it would cut a wide open gash. The orange-haired girl's orange eyes were almost empty, her head hunched and leaning over; the other girl with long brown hair blinked slowly with jade empty eyes, a clean trail of blood going down her forehead and over her nose and chin before another drop of it fell to the rags below them. They sat surrounded by razor wire all around them. It was too dark to see, and they heard no noises.

"Marvy..." IF barely managed to say. MarvelousAQL, the addressed, let out a small moan, being the most she could muster. "I'm… sorry… about everything." She closed her eyes. "I didn't want any of this to happen, I don't know why it did."

"It's… okay, Iffy..." Marvelous' eyes closed slowly as her head lowered with a shake. "You… didn't do… anything..."

IF just blinked towards the dark ground beneath her, seeing the small reflection of light in her ever-so-slowly pooling of crimson blood. "I… know… But… can you… still say you forgive me… for not… doing… enough?.."

MarvelousAQL's head twitched up slightly before going even further down. She breathed in slightly before another pause took place. "Yeah..." She barely reopened her eyes. "That's easy… You're… my friend… IF..."

"Heh..." A small hopeless smile formed on IF's face briefly. "Thanks… Marvy..." It quickly faded as she turned back to the ground. "I… hope you aren't… hurt… anymore..." She closed her eyes. "I'm… sor… ry..."

A strange noise was heard, the jingling of wires could be made out. An audible snap was heard. Marvelous' eyes opened slowly. "IF..." she whispered softly. "Pray… that it doesn't… hurt..."

"Marvelous!"

The girl's eyes widened upon hearing a familiar voice.

The two girls shakingly looked up, seeing two figures standing over the wire surrounding them shrouded by darkness. Who is that? IF thought. I heard one of them speak, and it sounded like… It sounded like…

The two shadows moved slightly around, carefully taking hold of the wire above them and pulling it apart to create a hole with caution. MarvelousAQL looked up with empty eyes, trying to put the pieces together in her mind. There were two people there. I thought I heard his voice… I am just going crazy… "Heh..." I'm losing it… "Fuuin… I hope… you're okay..."

IF shook slightly awaiting the talons of the monsters to take hold of her again. The sounds were becoming more and more sporadic until a snap was heard. Then hands quickly wrapped around both of the girls forms, but they were not hard nor extended with sharp claws. The two looked up and finally looked up their faces.

A purple haired boy covered in dirt lifted IF from her position inside of the prison as a blond, half of his face being covered by dirty bandages lifted MarvelousAQL out. Marvelous stared at the purple haired youth with wide eyes, showered in disbelief. Before the two stood Fuuin Yokoshima and a mysterious male they had not seen before. IF's eyes shook as she felt her feet get placed softly upon the ground. MarvelousAQL could feel her feet come upon the ground before tears began to well up quickly in her eyes.

Her mouth contorted deeply before she wailed out and ran forth into Fuuin's arms. "FUUIN!"

The boy smiled as he was tackled to the ground, wincing upon the impact, but appearing content with what had happened. MarvelousAQL buried her head into his form, rubbing her cheek against his chest. Fuuin smiled at her warmly before embracing her, closing his eyes.

Yuuna looked upon the three citizens of Planeptune. IF hugged herself, shaking with a deep sorrowful frown, looking at the two of them, particularly at Fuuin. A loud sniffle came forth.

Fuuin turned to her. "It's you… What… are you doing here?" His eyes widened. "Wait, yes, I remember, I saw you..."

"You're alive..." IF said, holding back sobs and looking completely broken. "H-how..." she shook. "You… y-you came for us..."

Fuuin smiled at her. "Of course I would… How could I not, but I didn't know you had gotten caught up." He reached a hand out to her and rested it softly upon her own, making her shake. "Are you okay?"

IF shook before tears of her own began to come out as sobs became apparent. She began to wail and fell towards the ground, crawling up to him. Fuuin watched in shock as IF hugged his arm. "Thank you!.. Thank you!"

The two girls continued to cry out, filled with sobs as Fuuin observed their injured forms. Yuuna looked upon the three with indifference before he made a sharp turn, grabbing Fuuin's attention. "Come on..." the blond said. "We need to leave this place..."

"Uh… yeah..." Fuuin shook his arm to get IF's attention and tapped Marvelous' head. "Hey, come on, we need to get out of this place, now. Before anything worse happens. Let's go."

With effort, the boys were able to get the two girls to stand and they supported them all the way. The blond showed them the way back, through all the dangerous rooms and the triggered mechanisms of this ancient hell. They came upon a column-walled intersection and soon upon a long corridor. Eventually the four came a drop and crossed bridges until they were finally in a room where a lone bag sat. Fuuin slowly released his hold around MarvelousAQL. She stood up holding herself as Fuuin picked up the bag and with much effort, slung it over his shoulder and began to carry it.

The group all waded and limped over a long narrow bridge towards a tall rocky wall that seemed to extend endlessly, making their way slowly towards a lone tunnel entrance on the other side of the bridge. The four teens slowly walked up the spiraling rocky tunnel system until they were in the Slepnir Ravine, and the bright green grass revealed itself beautifully to them. A smile of relief came upon Fuuin's face the closer they edged the outside.

The four exited the Ravine and walked towards the open fields of Planeptune.

Yuuna looked towards the sky as IF let out a long happy sigh of relief. Fuuin smiled to the sky, and MarvelousAQL looked upon him with certain glee, feeling so at ease to know the boy was alive. She let a pleasant sigh come from her and she rested her head against the boy, making him smile at her.

"Thank you, Yokoshima..." IF said, voice full of genuine gratitude. "I thought you were some bad person, but… you're not so bad after all… I pegged you wrong." She slowly turned to him. "Thank you."

"Ah..." Fuuin smiled at her, looking just as worn and torn as she and Marvelous did. "I knew something must have happened to Marvelous when I saw her bandana left at a place with a blood stain. But really, if it wasn't for this guy here, none of us would have made it out." He motioned towards the blond youth standing a short ways from the brunette.

"Really?" MarvelousAQL asked. "Did he save you?"

"No, actually… I really don't know what happened, but I know I didn't die."

"Well..." IF closed her eyes contently before extending a hand towards him with a generous smile. "Thank you..."

Yuuna uncrossed his arms and looked at the girl. "Don't mention it." He approached the girl. "I only did what was natural of any human being..."

"Well, still, it must have taken a lot of-"

IF's eyes shrank as the boy's fist burrowed deeply into her gut. Fuuin and Marvelous watched as he pulled away, IF reaching towards herself before collapsing towards the ground, spitting up saliva.

"Hey, what gives!?" Fuuin yelled.

Yuuna quickly came upon them and sent a long high kick into Marvelous' side, sending both Fuuin and Marvelous tumbling down a hill. Yuuna let his hands fall to his sides as he stared their falling forms down with narrowed eyes.

Fuuin winced loudly as MarvelousAQL let out a loud painfilled moan. Fuuin growled as he struggled to push himself up. He rose his head and stared at the boy standing atop the hill, glaring down at them. "What was that for, I thought we were allies!?"

"Only temporarily… You have something I want, Fuuin Yokoshima." The boy began to make his way further down the hill. He came to a stop as the two stood at eye level, facing one another down. Yuuna's eye widened. "So, will you hand over the Share Crystal Shard, or will I have to take it from you by force?"

Fuuin's eyes widened. "What?.." He stared at the purple eyed youth, completely shocked. "You can't be telling me that's why you helped me..." A smirk slowly came over the other boy's face.