HyperDimension Neptunia Ascension

(Afternoon – Triordinal Offices – May 3rd, XX18)

"Damn..." Gohan mumbled upon seeing the sheer length the stairs climbed up. Up above them, they could see various figures standing, obviously more Cultrizer guards. Gohan furrowed his gaze and vanished quickly.

"Alright, we need to move." Purple Heart said.

"Wait." Fuuin reached to her. "What about your wound?"

Purple Heart glanced to her bleeding arm and took a soft hold of it. "I'll heal since it is only a minor injury, I wouldn't be a goddess if a mere gunshot could hold me at bay, now would I?" She turned to the boy. "I know you're concerned, but don't underestimate me."

"No, I wouldn't dare." Fuuin defended, lifting arms. "I just… don't want to see you get hurt."

"The feeling is mutual, but we have a job to do."

Sighing, he gave up. "I understand."

"Good. Nepgear, Marvy, let's go." The two girls nodded to her and raced up the stairs. Fuuin looked up to see the shadows moving sporadically, he could only assume Gohan had engaged in close combat with them. Knowing him, they didn't stand a chance. He too began his climb up the steel stairwell, following after the much faster girls. Unlike them, he wasn't exactly in the greatest rush to get to Mr. Leon. He was aware of the traps Cultrizer could have made, such as sabotaging an elevator or the stairwe- "Wait!" he suddenly blurted out.

As if on cue, the metal flooring under Purple Heart's feet suddenly gave away and she plummeted down. Fuuin stood under her and caught the girl, taking the hard steel debris to his body and earning a good couple of cuts. He winced, but stood holding Purple Heart in his arms. She blinked and looked at him.

"Thank you."

He only nodded and let her down onto her feet.

"Are you okay, sis?" Nepgear called down.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Fuuin, you're bleeding." Marvelous cried. "What happened?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it." He looked to Purple Heart. "You gotta slow down, they could have bombs rigged into the wall or anything." The goddess only sighed.

"I'm ashamed..." Carrying on, she resumed her climb up the stairs. Nepgear extended her rapier and tested the stairs across the gap, but it too fell upon tension. Fuuin was startled by the loud crash of metal behind him.

"Damn it!"

"Hey!" another voice called from far above. Looking up, they could see Gohan calling down to them. "What are you guys doing down there!? There's a whole platoon of men coming this way, we don't have much time. This place can turn into a death trap if you don't hurry up!"

"Gotcha!" Marvelous replied. "Alright, we need a plan."

"We fly then." Purple Heart said. "Nepgear, grab Marvy, I'll take Fuuin."

"Alright, Neptune." The CPU candidate wrapped her arms around the busty kunoichi and took to flying through the center clearing of the well while Purple Heart wrapped her arms around the boy's chest.

"Do they hurt?" she asked as her skin tight suited arms wrapped around him, rubbing against his cuts slightly.

"They sting, but I've dealt with much worse." Dark memories came to the boy's mind as he looked forward. "Let's just go, I don't want to end up swiss cheese down here." Purple Heart only nodded and followed after her sister. Quickly, the flying duo reached the blond and Gohan pointed upwards.

"I'll buy you guys some time, this thing only goes to the seventh floor, this one is the fifth. I'll look for you guys later, but you stay safe, alright."

"Gotcha." Nepgear nodded. "Don't you guy dying on us. We need you."

"Don't worry about me." Gohan waved them off before quickly vanishing into a blue spark.

"We better move." Purple Heart turned to Nepgear and flew upwards to the final flooring, softly landing upon the grated platform and looking through a window. Nepgear landed behind her, releasing hold of MarvelousAQL.

"I don't like Gohan going off on his own."

"He's buying us time, Marvy." Nepgear said. "If he doesn't, those men will be in here to kill us any second now."

Purple Heart furrowed her gaze into the window. She saw plain white hallways akin to a kind of laboratory or research station, decorated with various doors and white tiled flooring. It was eerie, but there were no soldiers around. She reached for the knob and twisted it, but it wouldn't budge.

"Tsk, locked."

She rose her sword and stabbed it loudly into the door, plunging through it and pulling it to the side, yanking off the door like a lid on a soda can. Fuuin watched as the door hit the ground loudly inside the hallway. A scream sounded before them and rounding a corner, a single soldier rushed at them with a button in his hand, wired to an unknown device under his uniform.

"Bomber!" Fuuin yelled out.

Marvelous rushed forward with her blade and sliced quickly. The man's hand fell to the ground and he screamed out, getting to his knees as blood spurted onto the walls. He wailed until a hard kick came across his head, knocking him out instantaneously.

Marvelous panted. "Suicide bombers too?"

Fuuin nodded. "Cultrizer is crazy."

Purple Heart cautiously stepped forward, looking carefully to the walls. Echoes of numerous pairs of boots came to her ears and she readied her shield. Actively rounding a corner was a small squadron of men. They immediately opened fire upon the group. Marvelous whipped out six shuriken and expertly pitched them at the men with deadly precision, felling five of them and a sixth dodging. Nepgear extended her rapier through the shield and opened singular rounded fire upon the remaining men, who of which scattered and took cover behind the two corners of the intersection, one falling to the ground with smoke piling off of his chest.

Purple Heart narrowed her eyes. "Damn it. We can't keep getting set back like this!"

Fuuin quickly rushed forward through the shield with Marvelous easily speeding past him. The pair quickly advanced upon the group of soldiers and with quick strikes, knocked them unconsious.

"Boom!" Marvelous yelled in triumph. "I got three, what'd you get, Fuuin?"

"Um… two?" he looked to her, then back. "Yeah, two. Wait, why does it matte-"

"Alright you two." Purple Heart walked before them. "Now, which way to the elevator? We'll need a working one that goes to the ninth floor, this is only the seventh."

"The only working ones should be the ones we could have used. This place is supposed to be a large office building, not a fortress." Fuuin said.

"Put any number of armed guards around you have a fortress, Fuuin." Nepgear said. "In any case, we need to get up there."

"Why don't you just blow a hole through the roof?" Marvelous asked.

"Good idea." Purple Heart smiled and readied her blade.

"Now wait a minute. I wouldn't do that." Fuuin said. "This place is already dangerous enough as it is, you want to just announce our presence to the even more guarded complexes of this place? Further more, you might actually hurt Garland and his group."

"You're right." Purple Heart glanced forward with a stern gaze. "I forgot we're mainly here to take their attention."

"That being said, we still need to get to Mr. Leon's office." Nepgear clarified. "We have no idea what could happen to the others."

Fuuin looked down a hallway. "I guess you're right about that." Seeing all of these other rooms, he wondered just what was really going on here. Seeing inside one of the windows, he could see various lab equipment and monitors, all of which had blue screens signalling their data had been purged. "Cultrizer had research going on here, and they didn't want it found out."

"Seems most of their staff had already vacated." Purple Heart growled and slammed a fist against the side of the white walling. "Damn, to think they were doing so much right under my nose. I can't believe how incompetent I am!"

"Hey." MarvelousAQL turned to her. "You could not have known, it isn't your fault."

Nepgear and Fuuin nodded. "She's right, sis. You can't blame yourself for this." Purple Heart let her hand fall as she stared to the ground.

"Going by the building's structure, the elevators would be somewhere down this way." he pointed down the right wing. "But they are probably sabotaged, so I wouldn't trust them. I propose we yank the doors open and fly up to the ninth floor."

"Sounds good to me." The group of four began their sprint down the hall, rapidly passing by numerous rooms until a large clearing came. Before them was a sort of small lobby and two sets of shiny metal doors.

"The elevators." MarvelousAQL said to no one in particular. Nepgear propped her sword upwards to the ceiling.

"Neptune, let's get these doors open."

"Roger." Taking her blade, she jabbed it between the two doors and pulled it to the side, forcing the doors to part. With enough force, the gears holding them together snapped and the doors flew open with a shake. The two CPU's took hold of their respective partner and flew into the chasm. Looking down, there was nothing but cables and darkness far below them and looking up, they could see the pulley which moved the elevator up and down was sparking soundly.

"Fuuin was right." Purple Heart said, Nepgear nodding in agreement.

Suddenly, a phone rang, startling the group. They turned to Nepgear's hip which hosted said phone against her outer thigh. The ninja wrapped a tight hold around the slender CPU Candidate's body and Nepgear picked up the phone. Coming onto the screen was a smiling elder man with white hair. "Chairman Argus!"

"Hello there, Lady Nepgear." he bowed politely to her, with other fast paced voices of greetings coming from other councilmen in the background. "I just wanted to let you know I decided to put out a public warning about Mr. Leon and if anyone was to see him to call our Basillicom and let us know. The people of Planeptune are on your side, Lady Nepgear and Lady Neptune. Do let us know of your results."

"Hrr, yes, hrr. Do tell us, hrrm." "Quiet so..." "We look forward to positive results, Lady Neptune..."

Purple Heart and Nepgear nodded to the call. "Of course, and thank you, Chairman."

"It's my pleasure, Ladies." He tilted his head to them and hung up the call. Nepgear proceeded to holster her phone again and flew upwards. The two CPU's floated before the steel doors of the ninth floor. Gunfire could be heard behind the doors, but it shortly came to a stop.

"Garland." Nepgear assumed.

"Fuuin, grab my body." Purple Heart ordered.

"Um..." with wide eyes, he traced her figure. "Where?"

"I don't care where, just anything you can hold onto."

Fuuin gulped and slowly wrapped his arms around her hips, hanging just below her stomach. Purple Heart looked at him with slightly raised eyebrows.

"Don't do anything funny down there now, okay?"

"I promise."

Neptune came to the door and held up her blade and stabbed it through the crack of the steel parting. With a hard pull, the doors became separated and with more force, parted away. Fast aim came upon them from the other side.

"Oh." a soldier dressed in dark red, black, and white lowered his gun along with a lavender-haired girl in a black parka and a heavily clothed brunette. "It's you guys." Garland extended a hand to Purple Heart, who took it and flew in, Fuuin getting on his feet and releasing his hold around Purple Heart's waist.

"Damn." he said.

MarvelousAQL let out a loud laugh as Nepgear set her down. "What, did you enjoy that, Fuuin?" She lifted a hand to her mouth and giggled.

He blushed and looked away.

"Where's Gohan?" Garland looked around. "Wasn't he with you?"

Purple Heart brushed her legs with her hands and looked to him. "He went on his own to buy us some time. We sort of became fish in a barrel if you catch my drift."

"I hope he's okay."

More footsteps suddenly became known to them, at which Garland scoffed, readying his rifle.

"Damn, these guys just don't stop."

Neputunu readied her own pistols and took cover behind a wall. Purple Heart rose her shield up alongside Nepgear, with MarvelousAQL taking hold of some kunai blades. Another squadron of soldiers came upon them and began to fire at them in a large success.

Neputunu barely got off a shot before being forced to hide and Garland opened his own fire at them. Most of the men took cover where they could, seeing their bullets having no effect on the two goddesses in their midst. Still, gunfire rained down upon the group from the tight corridor.

Fuuin armed his Ritan and fired it through the shield. The saw blade spun loudly towards the group, but they merely cleared way for it and it flew past them and further down the hall. "Crap." A light blue laser shot forth to the projectile to connect it and shortly after did, pulling it back.

Purple Heart's eyes sharpened as the Ritan came back, and she released her shield briefly. Gunfire came upon them and she brought it back up just in time. Fuuin panted. "Seems this thing is really only good for close quarter combat and monsters."

Purple Heart nodded. "I must admit we are woefully unprepared to take on these guys."

Garland and Neputunu broke their cover barely and fired upon the soldiers, clipping three of the skull masked bastards before they slammed themselves back into cover.

"I'm sweating like mad over here!" Neputunu yelled out. "How are we supposed to beat them?"

Nepgear aimed her rapier through the barrier and fired at them, hitting two at once.

"Yes!" She cheered.

The masked men growled, and one retreated behind the wall, the other four continuing to fire upon the group.

"Why'd he leave?" Purple Heart turned to Nepgear.

"Guess he got scared." Marvelous assumed.

In short seconds, the man returned holding a large rocket launcher. The group's eyes widened in fear.

"RPG!" Garland screamed out. "You girls need to move."

The masked man's features narrowed fiercely as he pulled the trigger back before a pair of sandals collided against the back of his skull. He fell to the ground face first and the rest of the group turned and aimed at a blond boy standing behind them.

Garland, Marvelous, and Neputunu rushed out. Garland gunned down the two men on the left as Neputunu shot one on the right and two kunai stabbed into the last man. Gohan blinked and smiled at the three now approaching him.

"Guess I showed up just in time."

"Yeah, you sure did." Garland stopped before him as the rest of the group came up behind them.

"How did you know where to go?" Neputunu asked. Gohan only winked at her.

"If I can see it, I can get there as long as it isn't like a half kilometer away or something."

Purple Heart came to a stop. "Doesn't that tire you out?"

"Well, I mean, it takes stamina to teleport, but I have a lot of stamina." he grinned widely at her. "I can keep going, don't worry about me."

"Amazing." the purple goddess exclaimed lowly before they directed their gazes down the hallway. They trailed down it smoothly. "Fuuin, you've been here before, which way?"

"This way." The boy turned down a large corridor. A pair of black doors decorated by a sleek gray overhang was far before them at the other end of the hall. "That's Mr. Leon's office."

"Good, let's end this." Purple Heart rushed forward with Gohan hot on her heels.

"Hey!" Garland reached out. "Just don't rush forward like idiots! There could be traps-"

Suddenly, the wall left wall exploded shortly before Purple Heart and a startled Gohan. The pair backed up as a loud mechanical whirring sounded through the smoky explosion.

Heavy footsteps shook the floor and a large white and gray schemed mechanical robot suit slowly emerged, armed with large claws and a mounted minigun.

"A mechanical suit!?" Purple Heart exclaimed.

"And a big one too." Garland furrowed his gaze. Taking quick aim, he fired at the glassed cockpit, but only small cracks were made. "What the!?"

Whirrs could be heard from the mecha as it lifted an arm to the side and quickly swiped at the shocked Purple Heart, who yelped at the attack and slammed against the wall.

"Purple Heart!" Gohan yelled, jumping to her side. He turned to face the advancing robot and it slammed a hand down upon them. Gohan grabbed Purple Heart quickly and screamed out as its weight came upon his body.

Fuuin growled and rushed forward, jumping into the air flinging his Ritan forth like a large yoyo. Sparks flew as the laser saw cut against the thick armor the robot, but no damage was done. Fuuin's eyes widened. "Oh sh-"

The other arm of the robot quickly slapped him away like a fly.

Neputunu and IF rushed to it, Neputunu firing her pistol off at the robot's cockpit, still doing little damage. Taking out a laser sword, IF bared her qatars and the two girls jumped and slashed at its body. Sparks shown themselves at every strike, but only scratch marks and burns were made on its armor and it slashed at the pair. Quickly, they jumped back and avoided the attack.

With a burst of steam, the robot extended its arm to Garland and opened its claw. The two pronged hand shot towards the soldier.

"Fuck!" He jumped and rolled to the side, narrowly dodging the fast appendage. A laser cable was attached to the projected claw, which hastily retracted to the suit.

"That's the same technology my Ritan uses!" Fuuin claimed.

"Cultrizer probably made that weapon. Who issued it to you." Nepgear yelled.

He shrugged. "I don't remember, this was just the weapon they trained me to use in case a situation would come up where I would have to defend myself. They wasn't just going to let me go out into the wild without proper training. I may have been an expendable asset to them, but that's only when they decide to kill me off, not something else."

"That's fair, if that makes any sense." the white dressed goddess replied. With a cry, she flew forth and rose her blade, slamming it down hard against the body of the mechanoid opponent.

It stumbled back some before slapping at her with its hands. Nepgear barely dodged the attack and Purple Heart came flying in, her sword at the ready.

She slashed sharply into the body, aiming for its arm joint and effectively cutting it off.

Fuuin and MarvelousAQL rushed for its legs, the boy slinging his saw into the back of its ballpoint knee and the kunoichi jabbing a couple of kunai into its other knee. The machine began to stagger and it stood still, arming its minigun and aiming at the group. A collective scream came as they ran off, hearing the intense firing of the weapon sounding loudly.

Gohan jumped onto the mecha armor's back and climbed up until he was on top of it. Sliding down onto the green tinted glass of the suit, he smirked into it. "Hi you!" He teleported into the suit and began to beat his fist into the man's head, drawing blood through the suit until he fainted. The large armor shortly fell limp and began to slump down.

Steam hissed from around the glass and it opened up. Gohan hopped out, rubbing his shoulders and ran away as the machine began to topple forward before falling flat against the ground with a very heavy thud, shaking the floor briefly.

"Well..." Fuuin said, breaking the silence. "I guess that takes care of him."

"Oh man!" Gohan complained, rubbing his shoulders. "That was too cramped, I'm all sore now!"

Purple Heart smiled and approached the blond, resting a kind hand on his shoulder. "You did good, Gohan."

The boy smiled at her. "Thanks, miss Neptune."

"You may be suited to be my bodyguard after all."

"Heh heh." The boy rubbed his hair with an open grin.

"I don't mean to rain on your bonding..." Garland walked forward toward the set of black doors. "But we have a criminal to capture."

"Right." Purple Heart nodded and walked forward, the rest of the group following after her. They approached the doors and with a sound kick, they flung open.

Before Fuuin was the familiar office of his cruel and non-patient meaty boss, Mr. Leon. His oval desk was present, the computer he used, many of his knick-knacks and a shelf full of prestigous ornaments as well as plaques of accomplishments and accolades, but no Mr. Leon.

"He's… gone?" Purple Heart was shocked. "How is he gone!? If he's not here, then why are all of these men here!?"

Garland growled. "We were set up. Mr. Leon was never here to begin with, this was just a huge farce." He gripped a tight shaking fist. "He got away..."

"But..." Nepgear asked. "If he's not here, then… where could he be?"

Once again, the phone upon the girl's thigh rang loudly. The group turned their attention to it and she took it, pressing the green answer button. Chairman Argus' face greeted them.

"How do you do, Lady Nepgear, I am terribly sorry to bother you again, but a little birdy just pitched to us some interesting news."

"Chairman." Purple Heart stepped forward. "We got to Mr. Leon's office, but he's not here."

"I know…"

"How… do you know?" Nepgear asked in concern.

"Because I just got word that Mr. Leon boarded a plane at the international airport." the councilman smiled kindly at them. "A kind young man called and told the Basillicom that he was on his way to a Cultrizer institution somewhere in the north ends of Lastation."

"Lastation?" Purple Heart asked. The group of teens exchanged a look among themselves before turning back to the elder gentleman. "What could he be going to Lastation for?"

"Isn't that your job to handle, Lady Neptune?" He smiled kindly at her. "So, will you pursue him?"

She sighed. "I've got no choice, now do I?" She smiled into the phone. "Mr. Leon will not escape. By the way, who gave you this tip?"

"An anonymous source, but I wouldn't doubt his word. After all, I put up a cash prize for anyone who would have credible help in finding the man… I hope he isn't too far out of our reach now..."

…

Far above the clouds, a large cargo helicopter with two large spinning blades flew across the sky. Sitting inside, dark shadows were cast all around the hold and a large man in a black business suit sat. He had meaty hands covered in gold and silver rings and sitting on his lap was a laptop with a camera attached to it. Standing nearby in the shadows with arms crossed was a slender girl with medium length pale gray blonde hair with two small curls at the sides. She had dark blue eyes and was dressed in a black revealing gold rimmed vest and a red ribbon around her vest collar, the middle of her breasts exposed to the chilly air as well as her stomach and upper hips. Her bottom was covered by a black pair of thigh-high shorts. Blood red stockings covered most of her legs and similar cloth clothed the majority to her arms except her shoulders and biceps. She had a fierce gaze, despite her cute appearance.

Standing next to her was a pale-skinned boy with brown hair with blond ends and dark green eyes. The boy was dressed in a dark navy blue open military jacket with a white T-shirt underneath, torn blue loose jeans and a green scarf around his neck, hiding his chin, the end trailing off over his left side.

"I am still pleased to hear that you made it out safe and sound, Mr. Leon..." a light and gruff voice said over the console. "It is still discouraging to know that all of that wonderful research had to be wiped out on a moment's notice."

"Yeah..." Mr. Leon chuckled darkly. "It doesn't matter though, I had the important stuff backed up onto this hard-drive, so you'll still have your information, doctor."

"Well that is very good to hear." on the other side of the screen, an elder man with a white pointy beard, bald head with thick white hair around the sides, and a triangular head smiled through the camera, his smaller eyes widening in expectation. "I can't wait to get a good look at the data..."

"You'll get your data, Dr. Farr… I promise. Just make sure you get the job done."

"Don't you worry, Mr. Ringo will be pleased with your work. And when I am done, Cultrizer will finally rise to godhood, and the missy there can finally have a worthy opponent..."

Mr. Leon smiled darkly as he looked to the girl in the revealing black cast her gray eyes over to him. The male merely stuck a hand into his pocket and leaned against the wall, looking off to the shadows.

"Good doctor, I can only hope we succeed." Mr. Leon turned back to the console. "My worthless seeker finally found a Share Crystal Shard, soon enough it will be apprehended by my men. You just have to be patient."

The doctor made extraneous movements as he set to work, smiling eerily into another distant computer. "Fascinating, just fascinating! With that one, that will make five Share Crystal Shards! All I will need now is a CPU and I'll be able to complete the Share Crystal and we can finally begin!"

Mr. Leon only closed his eyes in approval, sitting back and closing the laptop. The flying transport continued to head forth into Lastation's territory, disappearing into the fog.