Finally got back to this story arc...

ON WITH THE SHOW!

The Misadventures of Hyperdimension Peashy

Episode 81

by Derald Snyder

*The next day...*

"Armored Rangers reporting for duty!" Adrian saluted as he, Peach, A-Mac and Nisa walked into Vert's room, Chika standing with the CPU.

"At ease," Vert gently ordered. "Unfortunately, the police have failed to find any information as to MarvelousAQL's whereabouts... which means it is quite likely that she was indeed subdued and kidnapped by Etna's forces."

"Which portends that we may have a potential homage situation on our hands," Chika added. "And I highly doubt, after the debacle caused by MAGES.'s escape, that they will take any chances with this prisoner of war..."

"So is that Archangel here yet?" Peach queried.

"Archangel?!" A-Mac turned to his half-sister in surprise.

"Unfortunately, it seems Planeptune's food didn't agree with Archangel Flonne's stomach," Vert lamented. "Without going into detail, their departure has been delayed... but Neptune said they should be here sometime today."

"Wait, did you say Flonne?!" Nisa gasped.

"You know her?" A-Mac looked over to his girlfriend.

"One of Sicily's fellow angels, right?" Adrian spoke up.

"Right," Nicole nodded. "She was a Fallen Angel like Rayna for awhile, except she managed to redeem herself... Honestly, it was no surprise, she always went on and on about love until even I wanted to strangle her just to shut her up... still, she made those first few years in the netherworld bearable."

"...Well, if she's coming to help us, maybe she can stop Etna for good," A-Mac said after a moment.

"Like I said yesterday, she's probably gonna have to smack some sense into her first," Adrian stated. "And if she was the one responsible for Marvelous's disappearance, we might have a potential hostage situation on our hands..." Just then, an alarm sounded. "Speak of the devil..."

Vert quickly checked her mobile device before ordering, "Chika, turn on the TV!"

"Yes, Lady Vert!" the Oracle complied the holo-screen appearing, showing static at first before an image of Etna herself popped up.

"Okay, is it working now?" Etna grumbled, getting an 'Aye aye, dood!' from an offscreen Prinny. "Great! Okay then..." Stepping back a little, she began, "Hi everyone! This is Beauty Queen Etna, your future ruler and master! It's a beautiful winter day here at the stadium! Oh, and hello to my old friend Nisa, and I hope that slutty goddess Green Heart is watching too!"

"S-slutty?!" Vert grunted. "The nerve! She's as bad as Blanc...!"

"Anyway, I've got someone to introduce you to, someone you probably already know..." She moved the camera, revealing a familiar busty redhead, bound and gagged...

"Marvy!" Everyone cried.

"That's right, this is your ally, Marvelous... A-Q-L? Is that right?"

"Hmmp mhh!" the ninja mumbled through her gag.

"I'll take that as a yes. And I've got a few more familiar faces to introduce!" Etna said with a flourish, Rayna walking on screen in her battle attire. "This is my Cleric, Rayna... and this is Marvy's kitty!" The fallen angel promptly held up Blacktail by her... er, tail, the cat wailing in distress. "...Not! She's actually MY kitty! Though some of you may have already met her... Show them."

"You got it, meow!" Blacktail spoke as Rayna gently lowered her to the ground. Once she had righted herself, the cat was enveloped in a bright glow, which soon faded to reveal a familiar form. "Recognize me now, Rangers?"

"Bastemon!" the Rangers cried in unison.

"Dammit, I knew it!" Peach growled.

"Oh no..." Nisa lamented. "I failed to realize Marvy's cat was a demon... I'm a failure as a Hero of Justice!" A-Mac silently put a sympathetic hand on her shoulder.

As if to mock her, Etna then said, "Betcha didn't see that one coming, huh Nisa? But that's why she was the perfect spy! Ah-hahahaha!"

"We're here too, caww!" a Tenga photobombed the camera, Etna promptly shoving the bird-man aside with a miffed expression.

"Do that again, Tenga, and I slice you into chicken salad myself!" Bastemon growled.

"S-sorry, Lady Bastemon!"

"*Ahem* Anyway... if you ever want to see your friend again, well, you heroes know what to do. Clock's ticking!" Etna winked and waved, before the picture cut to static.

"...Yeah, even I can see that this has 'trap' written all over it," A-Mac commented.

"But what else can we do?" Chika fretted. "If we ignore their invitation, MarvelousAQL will die!"

"Wait, I have an idea," Vert spoke up. "Get MAGES. in here..." Cuing up the footage again, the CPU started typing furiously at her computer, a 3D holographic map of the stadium materializing. "If we analyze the footage and compare it to this map of the stadium, we might be able to figure out exactly where they're located... In other words, we'll accept their invite, but on our terms."

"You mean, like, warp right on top of them?!" A-Mac gasped in comprehension.

"That's brilliant, Lady Vert!" Adrian exclaimed. "That way, we would catch them off-guard and save Marvelous without them having a chance to spring their trap!"

"I'll go get MAGES.!" Chika assented, dashing off...

*A short while later, at the stadium...*

"So, how long are we gonna give them?" Rayna asked somewhat impatiently.

"Probably a couple of hours," Etna replied nonchalantly. "But they'll be here... heroes always arrive to save the day, after all..."

"They better," the fallen angel grunted, "or else I'll have to take my frustrations out on a punching bag!" She gave the evil eye to their captive, who's eyes went wide with fear...

"You'll do no such thing," Bastemon insisted, placing one claw in front of Marvy as if to protect her. "She treated me vey kindly, so we should respect said kindness... with a swift and relatively painless dea- OOF!" She was cut off as a white suit of armor suddenly fell on top of her!

(Music- 'Yellow Heart Theme'- Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory)

"Surprise!" White Gorilla cried as she launched herself at Rayna, hitting the Cleric dead-on and sending her flying out of the stands!

"What the hell?!" Etna cried as she summoned her Elder Spear, only to be surprised as Green Heart appeared in a flash of light, attacking with a Rainy Ratnapura, forcing the demon to block!

"It's an ambush, dood!" one of the Prinnies realized, as Red Grizzly appeared and opened fire on the Prinnies and Tenga with his assault rifle! Blue Falcon appeared soon after, firing her Prinny Gun into the gathered minions! Black Raven and Yellow Tiger showed up last, the former using her spear to cut MarvelousAQL's bonds, freeing the ninja!

"Wow, sweet ambush, you guys!" Marvy complimented. "I couldn't have done any better myself!"

"Dammit! Everyone get down to the field!" Etna yelled, spreading her wings and flying away from Green Heart's aggressive pursuit!

"Arthur! Get MarvelousAQL out of here, we'll handle the enemy!" Red Grizzly ordered as he dropped his empty rifle and equipped his laser blade.

"Roger that! Come on, Marvy, we're outta here!" Yellow Tiger said as he and the redhead retreated in a crouching sprint together.

"Don't get jealous, Nisa..." Nicole growled to herself, trying to remain focused on the now-retreating Tenga and Prinnies, several of the latter being carried by the former...

*Down on the football field...*

"Dammit to hell!" Etna growled as her spear clashed against Green Heart's a few yards above ground. "This wasn't how things were supposed to go!"

"You think this is the first hostage situation we've encountered?!" the CPU shot back. "Clearly you failed to realize just how precise MAGES.' teleportation system is, height glitch notwithstanding!"

"Argh! I knew I should've killed that witch when I had the chance!" the redhead said as she broke away. "Spear Storm!"

"Inbetween Spear!" the posted green projectiles easily neutralized the fiery spears raining from the sky. But then Green Heart spotted Etna herself trying to hide among said spears, flying in to skewer the goddess, only to be denied as Vert easily dodged aside! The CPU then tried to follow up with a double-footed kick, only for Etna to swoop upward, Green Heart following cautiously, blocking as the demon brought her spear down in an overhead swing! "You're too predictable, Etna! That is why you will fail!"

"Oh yeah?! Try this! Magic Comet Slash!" Flying higher into the sky, Etna summoned several fiery spears again, only this time they merged into one giant spear-

"Sylhet Spear!" -only for Green Heart to easily destroy it with her own giant spear! "No matter what you do, I have an answer for it! You should just give up before you are humiliated further!"

Meanwhile, on the ground, Rayna was engaged with Black Raven in another spear duel, appearing evenly matched, while Red Grizzly and Blue Falcon were fighting with Bastemon, managing to hold their own. But then Rayna took to the air, hurling her energy lances at Chika from above, the hapless Oracle only able to roll and dodge desperately! "Hahahahaha! Is that all you can do, puny mortal?!" But then, the fallen angel felt a familiar arm around her neck! "Not agaaaain!" she screamed as Peach slammed her back to the earth!

"Get off her!" Bastemon yelled as she broke away from Adrian and Nisa, tackling Peashy off Rayna, rolling a few times before the white Ranger managed to throw her off! The two quickly righted themselves, Batemon attacking with a few claw slashes, White Gorilla putting her arms up to defend, before managing to kick the Digimon in the gut, causing her to roll backwards to get some distance! "Not bad, but I think it's time you saw my true power!" She was suddenly enveloped in a white glow...

"What is she doing...? Everyone, regroup!" Red Grizzly called, the other Rangers doing as ordered.

"Bastemon Digivolve to... Lilithmon!" In a flash, the cat-woman was gone, replaced with a busty geisha succubus with a golden claw on her right arm! "Behold the Demon Lord of Lust!"

"Geez, I'll say!" Peach grunted in disgust. "Cut that corset any lower and we'd be in X-rated territory!"

"That's one thing we can agree on, Peach!" Nisa nodded.

"You're just jealous, dear Nisa," Lilithmon winked suggestively. "How about you, Red Grizzly? Interested?"

"Not on your life, slut!" Adrian shot back. "Peach might be busty, but at least she's modest enough to NOT hang it all out!"

"Unlike your goddess, right?!" Rayna snarked. At that moment, something abruptly smashed into the ground between the two sides, leaving a sizable dust cloud! As said dust cleared, the figure revealed itself to be Etna, using her Elder Spear as a support as she pulled herself back up to a standing position.

"Is everyone all right?" Green Heart asked as she floated down next to the group.

"We're fine!" Adrian assured her. "How about you, Lady Vert?"

"She's a tough opponent, but her moves are quite predictable," the CPU critiqued. "But this new form of Bastemon's concerns me greatly..."

"Heh, you should be!" Etna grinned sinisterly. "Lilith-mon here is a Mega-level Digimon, the absolute highest level! She can wipe out a group of high-defense Galactic Demons like they're nothing!"

"That's not good," Nicole grunted, sweating a little under her helmet...

"Alright, show them what you can do! Attack!"

"As you wish," Lilithmon chuckled, her claw taking on a sickly purple glow. "Nazar Nail!" Etna screamed as she felt a stabbing pain in her back, looking down and seeing fingers of said claw piercing out her torso! "Oops, did I do that?"

(Music- 'Disgaea Rhapsody'- Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories)

"Aaaahh!" Adrian, Peach and Chika cried in shock.

"You... idiot!" Etna gasped as she collapsed to the ground. "Rayna, help!" She reached out to the Cleric...

...only for said fallen angel to smile evilly at her. "Sorry, Etna... but I'm afraid I've found a new master." With that, she sauntered up to Lilithmon, the busty demon suddenly pulling her into a deep passionate kiss, causing Etna to go white with shock.

"Oh. My. Goddess." Peashy gaped in disbelief.

"Okay, who saw that coming?!" Adrian spoke for the group.

"I could have," Nisa deadpanned. "Typical demon double-cross. Happens all the time..."

"Now, Tenga, dispose of her Prinnies!" Lilithmon ordered, the penguin-dolls freaking out as they realized why the Tenga had been carrying them, said bird-men promptly hurling the Prinnies at Etna, the redhead screaming as they detonated all at once, the shockwave knocking the Armored Rangers off their feet!

"Good riddance to bad rubbish," Rayna chuckled. "That's what those Prinnies get for laughing at me when Etna tortured me!"

"Indeed. And now, let us destroy the Rangers and their goddess once and for all, and take this world for ourselves!" Lilithmon declared, letting loose with a haughty, evil laugh!

*To be continued...*

Holy crap, Etna got usurped! Who saw that coming?! Will Vert and the Rangers be able to withstand the power of Lilithmon?! Will the new Demon Lord succeed where Etna failed? Will I complete the next episode in a far faster time than this one? =P Review!