HyperDimension Neptunia Ascension

(Mid Morning – Neputunu's House – May 2nd, XX18)

"So it's the second of May, huh?" The purple haired boy lifted a spoon of oats into his mouth, milk dripping from the edges of the consuming tool. Next to him, the blue clad form of IF nodded, her right elbow resting next to her on the table.

"Yes. After we eat, we're headed straight to the Planeptune Basillicom, an armored transport is on its way over here to get you there, but you must understand that you will be placed under arrest when this happens. It's only procedure, I'm sorry."

Fuuin let his spoon rest upon the side of the bowl. "I don't mind, as long as Cultrizer doesn't get their hands on me, I'd don't care."

IF nodded. "We also have guild members keeping an eye on Mr. Leon and his activities, discretely of course." She turned away. "I don't think anyone wants to let a guy like him know we're on to him..."

The long-lavender haired girl in a black parka, Neputunu, looked towards the two. "You don't even have any proof that what this boy has said is the truth. Mr. Leon is a high rolling councilman and as such, is a representative of this nation. Wouldn't that spell bad things for Planeptune if he were to be caught scandalizing with Cultrizer?"

"Does it matter?" MarvelousAQL voiced. "He was the one that threatened Fuuin to risk his life over that thing." She pointed towards the glowing shard inside of Fuuin's traveler pouch, at which he directed his gaze to before back to her. "I can't just sit by and watch one of my friends have their life threatened, not again."

"Look, it's going to be fine." IF said with a tone of assurance. "Cultrizer has no idea where we are, they can't touch us anyway, we're in the middle of the capital of Planeptune, it's too heavily populated an area to really do anything. Right outside these windows are the main streets, we just have to wait for the transport to get here, and then we are golden. It'll be a one-way shot to the Basillicom, and once we're there, we're home free."

Fuuin looked down. You may be, but not me. I've still got to answer to all of my crimes. His eyes gazed towards the orange haired female in the room. At the least, these three will be safe from harm, they don't deserve this… They're good people, Marvy, IF, Neputunu… A sigh escaped his lips. But me, what's going to happen to me once I get to the Basillicom?

The four teens finished their breakfast and sat inside the living room awaiting for when the truck would arrive. IF was pacing slowly back and forth near the door, becoming increasingly impatient for such a high priority transport. The Basillicom is not that far away, they should have been here before we finished eating… The long haired brunette looked towards the windows. Something's gone wrong.

Marvelous set down a pillow next to Fuuin and scooted against him. "Are you nervous about meeting the goddess, buddy?"

Fuuin's eyes narrowed. "Believe it or not, I've met her before, but not under these kinds of circumstances. She saved my life."

Marvelous' eyebrows perked up in surprise. "Really, you met Neptune? What'd you think of her?" She smiled brightly.

"Well, she was everything I expected her to be. Majestic, amazing, incredible to the eyes, full of determination and will. In short, she was just that, incredible."

"Majestic, huh?" Marvelous couldn't help but stifle a giggle. "You must have met Purple Heart then, Neptune is another story."

"I also heard you say that name last night. Who is this Neptune you keep mentioning?"

Neputunu looked at him. "Oh, you don't know? Neptune is the goddess of Planeptune."

"What!?" Fuuin stood up. "But that can't be, I thought that was Lady Purple Heart!"

"No, no..." Marvelous clarified. "Neptune and Purple Heart are the same person. Purple Heart is Neptune's true form, but her name is Neptune. She stays as a human because being Purple Heart takes up too much of her energy. As a human, she's not the majestic and endowed woman you met. She's still amazing, but she has… quirks..."

Fuuin looked down. "Really? The goddess of Planeptune can transform?" He remembered hearing tale about the goddesses being able to transform, but he thought it was along the lines of becoming Super CPUs or something, like gaining incredible strength and stamina and glowing golden or something along those lines, not becoming what he saw that day from a mere human being like himself. Fuuin's head lifted towards IF who was beginning to appear worried. "IF, when is that truck getting here."

"Honestly, it should have been here by now."

Neputunu turned to her. "You don't think something happened, do you?"

IF's eyes narrowed. "Actually, I think something did."

Damn. Fuuin looked downwards. So looks like we'll have to go by foot. Fuuin stood up and brushed his legs off. "Alright, well, I guess we need to move then."

IF's foot tapped, considering the option. "It seems we have no choice. Let's go." IF turned towards the window, and her eyes widened. "Get down now!"

Upon hearing her yell, the four teens dived down where they were, laying on their stomachs and covering their heads using their hands. As if on cue, the windows and walls exploded all at once, an endless barrage of bullets ripping through wood and metal. Debris flew everywhere as bullet after bullet sprayed in every direction. Marvelous let out a loud scream as IF crawled against the floor.

"Everyone, get behind the couch!"

Cowering in fear for their lives, the children nodded towards the guild member and scurried for the couch. Marvelous was the first lay her back against it, panting hard. "What's going!?"

Fuuin growled as he ducked his head down, now reaching the area. "It's Cultrizer! I told you they would come!"

"My home, my beautiful home!" Neputunu cried out. She yelped as a bullet flew through the recliner and shot past her head with an audible whoosh. Instantly, she ducked down onto her knees. "I wanna get out of here!"

IF gritted her teeth as she lied against the floor. "We're completely pinned down! We can't do anything like this!" She looked towards her three companions. "Does anyone have a plan?!" All three shook their heads side to side meekly. Hastily, IF grabbed one of her phones. "I'm going to call the guild for help!"

Unfortunately, a bullet came through the lining of the couch and popped the phone she took into her hand apart in less than a second. Her jaded eyes widened before she ducked down. She held her hand, wincing.

Fuuin crawled over to her before ducking down again. "Are you okay, IF?!"

"Yeah, my hand just hurts is all!"

Marvelous looked up in despair, seeing furniture stuffing, cloth, wood, and debris flying everywhere. IF carefully examined her hand to find she was luckily not missing any fingers, but it was red. She flicked it in the air before taking hold of it once again.

Outside, a large regiment consisting of twenty or more skull masked soldiers shot fire arms upon the house, spraying in every crack. They covered side rooms and main rooms in relentless fire. Citizens were running in pure fear of the demonstration, others hiding and recording the event with phones where they could, cowering down. One man after another reloaded their weapons and returned to blowing bullets upon the house. Otherwise, ten or more men were looking around for any authorities who would come onto the scene to stop them. Two men were armed with dangerous explosive weaponry consisting of an RPG and the other a lock on shoulder mounted energy cannon.

Inside the house, Fuuin gritted his teeth. "If this keeps up, they're going to eventually hit us!"

"So what do you propose we do?" IF yelled out. "None of exactly have long ranged weaponry!"

A loud cock was heard sounding eerily similar to that of a handgun. Turning, IF, Fuuin, and Marvelous saw the black parka dressed girl pulling out a strange handgun with blue neon etchings. She flicked the safety off the device and poked her head out to the side, aiming quickly and firing.

A bullet flew past one of the soldiers, who took a step back in surprise. "They're still alive, shoot them!"

"I can't see them, man!"

Neputune gritted her teeth. "These bastards are going to pay for what they did to my home. I finally finished paying off the two assholes who let me buy it!" IF turned towards MarvelousAQL.

"She's pissed." Marvelous could only nod in response.

Neputune got to a knee and aimed over the couch, firing at the men. She shot one shot after another, hitting their armored vehicles, but every shot seemed to miss. She ducked down just in time before bullets flew over her head.

"Hey!" Fuuin snatched a hard hold of her bicep, yanking her. "Don't do that again, you could have been killed, understand!?"

"Well what am I supposed to do, huh? Sit here and wait until they decided to come in!?"

"They won't come in! Not as long as I have this!" Fuuin pulled out the Share Crystal Shard inside of his pouch. "They're too scared. Cultrizer knows first hand the power this thing is capable of!"

"Then use it!" IF yelled out. "Get us out of this mess, now!"

Fuuin directed a panicked gaze towards her. "I don't know how to!"

Neputunu yanked her arm out of the boy's grasp. "Then leave me alone, you useless child!" Neputunu took to the offense again, giving off several loud shots. She shot three times, and finally clipped a soldier. She ducked down before seeing the damage she may have inflicted. "That's one down."

"I'm serious, Neputunu..." Fuuin begged. "You can only get so lucky-"

"Shut up!" She glared daggers at him. "If it weren't for you, my life wouldn't even be in danger! Do you know how long and hard I had to work and labor to get this place paid off! Those two assholes are not going to cover this, they don't own it anymore! I'm homeless now!"

Fuuin took a hard hold of her shoulders, shaking her. "IF YOU DO THAT AGAIN, YOU'RE GOING TO BE LIFELESS!"

The lavender haired girl only furrowed her brows. "Someone has to fight back or we'll all die." She leaned past the side of the couch and aimed once more, shooting towards the men, then she fell onto her side with a loud cry.

"Neputunu!" Marvelous yelled out desperately. The addressed was wincing loudly in pain, clenching her right shoulder, blood beginning to stain through her clothing. Fuuin hastily grabbed hold her lower legs and pulled her behind the couch and into cover. "Neputunu, are you alright!"

"She's not dead!" Fuuin yelled towards her. "Here, take her!" The boy hastily took hold of the gun. Wow, it's heavier than I thought it would be… He held it in his open hand. It was the first time he really held a handgun on his own, the first time… His eyes narrowed at the memory. He looked at the hand gun as bullets continued to spray all around them. He looked towards the girls, seeing Marvelous try to treat Neputunu's wound and IF holding her hand. It won't be long before we suffer a casualty… He looked up. There's no other way. He wrapped his grip around the handle of the pistol and peered from beside the couch. It was too hard to see, with all the smoke and debris everywhere, he couldn't see anything or anyone in front of him.

He began to growl.

"Damnit!" He took aim at a random location and began to fire, praying it would hit one of their oppressors.

"Hey, don't just fire blindly!" Neputunu chastised. "You'll run out of ammo!"

"Fuck!" Fuuin dropped the gun and buried his face in his hands. "We're done! We're dead, we're dead!"

IF looked down. "Shit, I can't believe this has happened. Even if Neptune were to come here, I don't think she could do anything. She may be a goddess, even transformed, she still can't just soak up bullets. That many men and she'd be killed easily."

Fuuin turned towards the girls. "If that's the case, then I won't allow that to happen. Marvy, you need to get them out of here, alright, I'll do what I can to cover you-"

"It's impossible!" Neputunu yelled. "If we could have escaped, then we wouldn't be in this situation! Their guns are too strong, my house is completely ruined, we can't get out of here!"

"So now what!?" IF yelled.

Outside, masked men continued to fire upon the now wasted residence. One man in particular was standing with his hands behind his back, a helmet over his face rather than a mask. He lifted a hand up. "Cease fire! Cease fire!"

One by one, the hazardous firing quickly came to halt.

"Alright move in, secure the bodies."

Man after armed man began to advance upon the ruins of the house. Behind the lone decrepit furniture, the four teens sat. "Shit." Fuuin whispered. "They're coming."

Neputunu shook in Marvelous' hold. "I thought you said… they wouldn't."

"I was wrong." Fuuin took a hold of the handgun once again, putting his finger on the trigger. He poked up and took aim at a soldier. Seeing his immediate movement, the man pointed his gun, many others doing the same, and a loud bang resounded.

Fuuin ducked down panting audibly, beads of sweat climbing down the side of his head, his hand gripping the gun so hard his knuckles were white. The soldiers all took cover behind what they could, few taking an advance as one soldier lied on the ground dead.

"I got one of those assholes." Fuuin smirked to himself. "I actually shot Cultrizer back." he began to chuckle.

"Hey." IF said. "Keep your focus, they're moving in."

An eerie sliding of sharp metal came through the air. Neputunu and IF looked to see Marvelous slowly pulling out one of her katanas, gripping it hard. "They want to come get some, then let them."

Fuuin nodded. IF couldn't help but sigh. "I guess we have no choice, huh?" She too balled her hands into fists and gave her arms a hard fling, causing two sharp silver qatars to extend forth. "Let's do this."

The soldiers could hear the teens arming themselves. "Shit, they're armed!"

"Yeah, well no shit! Look at Mercer man, he's fucking dead!" another soldier yelled out.

"Keep your cool, gentlemen." the leader ordered. "Don't underestimate the youth!" He himself pulled out a large long single barreled handgun with yellow lining. He gave it a firm cocking and pointed at the couch. "So that's where they were." He pulled the trigger and an intense sound rang through the air.

Fuuin yelled out loudly, blood exploding from the middle of his lower side!

"Fuuin!" Marvelous yelled out, reaching to take hold of him. The boy lied against the floor, twitching and holding his new infliction.

"Oh no..." IF said. "Shit!"

The soldiers began to encircle and enter the household, guns pointed towards the furniture. The four teens looked around, seeing man after man begin to step into view. Slowly, IF and Marvelous began to drop their arms and slowly hold up their hands. Fuuin's eyes narrowed in despair, clenching onto his wound, bleeding. Heavy bootsteps began to sound forth, and from around the corner of their sight, a single man with a heavy build stood, a squarish face at which all but his chin was covered by some kind of helmet visor. He gave the large handgun in his hold a twirl before placing it into a holster on his hip.

"Well, you gave my men quite the show, kids." He chuckled sinisterly. "Oh well." He stepped towards the teens and the kunoichi hastily took hold of her blade.

"Don't come any closer!"

An audible cock of a weapon was heard. Marvelous turned her head before a shade of blue came over her face, seeing the barrel aimed between her eyes.

"Ah ah ah..." the man said, waving a finger side to side. He smirked and looked towards the boy lying on the ground. "Ah… Fuuin Yokoshima..." He knelt down soundly against the ground, still being a good bit over the dying lad as he lied against the ground. "Tsk tsk tsk… The bosses had hope for you yet, you know..." He reached towards the pouch. "Oh well, not like that matters now. Here's to hoping you have a better life in Hell, huh?" He began to laugh loudly. Fuuin's fading eyes widened briefly, shaking in despair.

A loud crash suddenly sounded from outside, taking the ears of many of the men and the three women. The leader looked towards the outside to see their vehicles had been flipped over onto their sides, and whatever men were standing along with them were either crushed or against the ground wincing.

"What the hell?" the man called out. He began to take steps towards the door. Placing a hand upon its falling frame, he took a step out and onto the yard and towards the road, then he looked to his right to see a lone figure standing at the end of the street. "Ugh..." His jaw began to drop. "Uh!? L-Lady… Purple Heart?"

(Trapped)

A woman's teeth were gritting, her hand clenched tightly onto a handle of her large purple and black blade. Long bright purple hair blew barely in the wind, fashioned in two long thin braided tails that extended down to her knees. She wore a tight black and purple body suit with blue glowing neon lines, the skin of her upper thighs and legs were exposed, as well as her upper cleavage. Her shining blue eyes were narrowed in rage, a bright white console power symbol glowing as their pupils.

Other soldiers began to swallow deeply. "The goddess herself is here?"

The leader growled. "Damn…" He looked towards his men. "Get that shard and kill them!"

"Yes sir!"

Marvelous gasped loudly upon hearing it, and grabbed her blade, lunging forth. A sick sound rattled through the air as her blade plunged through a soldier's body, blood flying across the room. She winced audibly as she pulled it out and went straight for another man. He screamed as he began to fire haphazardly at her. Marvelous weaved past every shot and rapidly closed in on him, jumping and slashing cleanly through him. The man fell to the ground with a final gasp, blood exploding from his body. Marvelous grit her teeth in agony.

IF yelled out as she ran for another man, who took aim at her and fired. She barely managed to avoid the bullets, several scratches inflicting upon her and she slashed at him, felling him in an instant.

As soon as the leader gave the word to execute them, Neputunu lunged for the pistol across the boy and quickly shot down the other three men standing over them.

Meanwhile, the rest of the soldiers all arranged themselves outside and took aim at the goddess. "Fire!" the leader yelled.

Instantly, all ten soldiers let loose a barrage of bullets upon her. A vivid blue shield of hexagons formed around the goddess, causing every bullet to hit her barrier to bounce off and away. She narrowed her eyes and growled. "You people have the gall to kill my citizens in broad day light?" Her free hand clenched into a fist hard. With a battle cry, she ran towards them, sword at her ready. She dashed, leaping from the ground and flew quickly towards the men. Quickly, she began to disable them, cutting off the ends of their weapons before giving them firm blows from her legs, knocking each assailant out of the realm of consciousness.

Another soldier whipped out a metal extending stick, yelling towards her and running at her. Purple Heart watched as he came at her quickly, but she easily dodged his strike. More began to follow his example, pulling out their own weapons and jumping into the fray. The goddess of Planeptune merely dodged and parried their attacks before delivering her own punishment, bunting them with the blunt end of her blade or using her superior strength to knock them clean out of the fight.

The leader growled. "God damn you, woman." He cocked his large pistol and pointed at her.

Purple Heart heard the noise and darted a look at him. She held her blade up flatly between the gun and herself and a loud bang sounded. Purple Heart took several steps back, feeling the strong impact the bullet left. She could feel her barrier had been shattered. She took to a quick retreat, the soldiers now firing upon her.

A battle cry was heard from next to them. A soldier looked to see the ninja girl from before jump at him. She landed on his shoulders, engulfing his masked head between her legs before knocking the roof his head hard with the bottom of her sword handle, knocking him clean out. Another man pointed at her and began to unleash bullets at her. The ninja quickly leaped off of him and high into the air. She landed behind him and swung.

Another man hit the girl with his rifle like a bat, knocking her clean to the ground with a hard thud. "Damn you, chick!" He took aim at her, putting his finger to the trigger. A resounding ring came through air, causing him to look upwards to see a blade flipping, coming quickly at him before landing squarely between in neck and head, making him look upwards to the side awkwardly. Blood squirted hard from his wound as he fell against the ground flatly.

IF winced at the impact, raising her shoulders. "Ooh… that was not what I was aiming for..." Bullets suddenly began to spray upon her, clipping her in her right shin and her left bicep twice. She screamed and fell to the ground another shot getting her in her right shoulder.

Instantly, Purple Heart flew towards the distracted men and advanced upon the man firing upon her friend. "Iffy, hang on!" she cried out. She quickly cut the end of the gun off and batted the man with the flat of her blade, sending him flying several meters into the air before falling. The remaining seven men fired at her, causing the goddess to dash rapidly to the side, narrowly avoiding all of their strikes. The helmetted man watched her carefully, cocking his large pistol once before carefully taking aim.

"I've had enough of this." He pointed towards the shaking injured brunette. This did not go unnoticed by the purple haired goddess.

"Iffy, no!" She quickly dashed towards the man, blowing through all the fire by sheer luck.

The man smiled sinisterly and quickly took aim at the fastly approaching woman. Purple Heart's eyes widened upon seeing the barrel of the large handgun aimed at her, and her body shook as a loud bang sounded. She flew backwards a meter before falling flat on her back, eyes wide in shock and pain. Her chest hurt.

Instantly, Fuuin's body twitched with a loud gasp, taking Neputunu's attention quickly. "Huh?"

Fuuin stretched out, his eyes wide like saucers. He gave a yelp, feeling a strange pulse going through his body. The boy began to twitch stronger, his body jumping up from the ground like a hot potato.

"Fuuin!?"

His teeth began to grit. Purple Heart! Something… something happened to Purple Heart!? Why do I know this!? His fingers extended as best they could, stretching out as he began to growl in pain through his teeth. My Purple Heart… MY PURPLE HEART!

Neputunu began to scoot back, seeing the boy begin to become increasingly angry. She watched as his eyes began to glow, his brows furrowing in rage, his hair beginning to part like an enraged wolf. "Fuuin!?"

No… what is this?! I don't know what it is!? His hand clenched into hard fists, his growling became more apparent.

Purple Heart winced, clenching the wound upon her chest, blood beginning to pool. "Well well well..." said the man as he advanced on her. "The mighty goddess of Planeptune. I didn't think your friends would be your greatest weakness! How feeble can you get!?"

Fuuin's teeth gritted hard, he appeared to be enraged. Neputunu crawled back as his pouch shined brighter and brighter, the shard inside making its way out. "Fuuin?" The sound of his voice began to catch the ears of MarvelousAQL, who lifted her head up towards the commotion, and several soldiers.

The leather bag snapped open. Quickly, the Share Crystal Shard rolled neatly from its folds and onto the boy's body. It climbed up his uncontrolled spasm and onto his bare chest, coming against the center of his body. Fuuin began to let out a loud scream, his eyes wide and small. A brilliant light began to take over his being.

The leader took hold of the noise and slowly looked towards the house. Purple Heart winced, lifting a shaking hand towards her wound and looking towards the yelling.

"What the hell?" the man said. Standing inside the house was the purple haired child from earlier. A bright white flaming aura was over him. He scowled at the man standing over Purple Heart, glaring at him with angry blue eyes. Resting upon his body, almost as if it had embedded itself into his chest, was the very object he had come to this place for. "Is that the… Share Crystal Shard."

He looked towards the boy, looking into his eyes. Resting in place of his pupil was a bright rainbow changing diamond.

"What the hell are you?"