A.N: The following is part 3 of my (ongoing?) series of stories based off the Neptunia series, however, if you don't want to read the last two parts, they can be easily summarized here:
*Border Line*
Part 1: Blanc and Neptune, Origins:
As Nepgear grew up in an orphanage, Neptune spent her time in Lowee working various jobs to pay off Nepgear's tuition. One of these jobs included working at a retro videogame store at a mall, it was here when she would met the soon-to-become CPU of Lowee, Blanc. At this same time, multiple gangs in Lowee started to develop, one led by a woman named Vert, another led by a rich noble girl named Noire. Neptune and Blanc find themselves in the middle of a robbery in a laundromat. Blanc decided to take matters into her own hands and kills the criminal herself. This brings the attention of both gang leaders as Noire, the girl who sent the robber, and Vert, the woman who collected protection fees from the laundromat, both converge onto Blanc.
Financier an agent working for Noire, has an affair with Blanc despite publicly announcing her vows toward Noire, when Noire confronts Blanc, Financier reveals that she only had the affair to trick Blanc and make it easier for Noire to kidnap, Noire intends to use Blanc as leverage for monetary gain against the Basilicom, but Financier has other plans and reveals that she was actually working for Vert's gang. Financier kills Noire and tosses her downstream, only for her body to come in contact with an artificial CPU memory which is when Black Heart is created.
When Vert and her maid, Cave, as well as Neptune arrive to rescue Blanc with the help of Financier, the agent reveals that she was actually working for the basilicom and that she intended to take out both gang members and kidnap both the CPUs Blanc and Neptune. Cave and Vert are left to defend themselves as Vert and Cave fight off waves of Lowee military and police. The two survive and chase after financier.
In a daring road chase, Blanc is rescued by Vert, but Neptune is taken directly to the basilicom. There, Financier shows that she successfully captured Neptune, Mina, Oracle of Lowee, appears and congratulates Financier before killing her and disposing of her body. Mina tells Neptune that Planeptune demands for Neptune to return to Planeptune as a fully-fledged CPU. Mina wants to use Neptune as a hostage but as the two reach the President's office in the basilicom, they find Iris Heart sitting atop the President's corpse. The soldiers in the basilicom turn out to be Planeptune double agents and take Blanc's younger sisters, Rom and Ram as hostage. Luckily, Blanc, with Cave and Vert, break into the Basilicom and confront Iris Heart and the soldiers.
Before a single bullet could be fired, Black Heart appears, accompanied with a harrier jet which bombards the office and destroys the floor, causing everyone except for Iris Heart to fall down to the floor beneath them. Neptune is gravely wounded, Mina tells Blanc that the only way to save her is to use the healing powers of a CPU. Mina and Blanc travel down to the lowest level of the basilicom and go through the ceremony of bringing in a new CPU. During this, Iris Heart and Black Heart duel above the basilicom, the display of Black Heart's strength inspiring future followers for her. In the middle of this duel, White Heart emerges from the surface and knocks out Iris Heart in a single blow.
Black Heart, and her new army of followers leave to form the new nation of Lastation, Vert and Cave also leave to do the same. Blanc decides to court Neptune, to Mina's dismay, the two girls have a loving and healthy relationship for a good while.
Part 2: Nepu May Cry, Neo-Alpha
Neptune, now a fully independent CPU aptly named Purple Heart, explores the remains of Celestia, an ancient Island that has existed before the dawn of time before she is attacked by Green Heart, the HDD form of Vert and White Heart, who had cut ties with Neptune many years ago and wishes to forget the past. Purple Heart narrowly escapes until she is confronted by Black Heart and nearly killed, before she is kicked off the floating Island, Noire uses a scythe, infused with the soul of CPU Uranus, to steal Neptune's HDD.
Neptune is later found by Compa, a minimum-wage working Nurse at a clinic set near the outskirts of Planeptune. As Neptune recovers, the clinic is massacred by an enigmatic and demonic beast. Compa and Neptune escape as the only remaining survivors of the clinic. As the two drudge through the forest, the beast senses them and chases the duo. Just before they're caught, IF, a Planeptune Guild Agent, arrives and saves them, the two take refuge in an abandoned gas station where they meet up with Falcom, who was part of a hunter team who was sent out to kill the demonic beast.
The three devise a plan to trap the monster in the gas station and detonate it. As they lure the monster and carry out the plan, Neptune becomes trapped by the beast as it's stuck attached to a gas dispenser. IF, hesitant, takes the shot consuming the monster in a fiery inferno, Neptune survives because she is a goddess.
As the 4 girls return, they come to realize that Planeptune's oracle, Histoire, has been kidnapped by a mysterious invader. IF and Neptune go to investigate while Compa and Falcom recover in the basilicom's infirmary. IF is then ambushed by Vio, a long-time compatriot of Noire. Vio reveals that the demonic beast was her creation and that she has far more powerful monsters in the horizon, before she can kill IF, an astral projection of an enigmatic CPU appears and helps IF escape. IF reunites with Compa and teams up with Planeptune's CPU candidate Nepgear. Kei Jinguji tries to stop them but Nepgear knocks her out. The three escape to reconcile in Compa's house. Neptune reunites with Falcom and escapes to Lowee with Kei Jinguji as leverage to make amends there. After this, Iris Heart appears across all digital screens in Planeptune, announcing her dominance over Planeptune.
When Nepgear, IF and Compa arrive home. The find peace for a small amount of time until Lid, another one of Noire's allies, appears and tries to kill the trio until Compa stops her with her railgun syringe which was gifted to her by her grandfather. After the fight, Nepgear was gravely injured and the trio have to escape to Leanbox. Meanwhile, Neptune and Falcom reach Lowee only to be ambushed by Lastation soldiers tracking down Kei's position. By the skin of their teeth, the duo is saved by White Heart who imprisons Neptune.
Later, Vio arrives in Leanbox, demanding the whereabouts of Nepgear, Compa, and IF. Vert playfully dismisses her as her concerns orbit around the rising crisis of the F.N drug, a mind-altering device that can be digitally accessed by anyone using current Gamindustri technology, risking a vegetative state, or even death. One of the victims of this very device would be Compa, leaving IF and Nepgear devastated. As the duo mourns, Neptune and Blanc duel in Lowee, with Neptune putting her life on the line for Blanc's help. This fight ends up resulting in a weakened Blanc who gets her HDD stolen by Noire, who interrupts the fight, leaving the two CPUs in critical condition.
Neptune regains consciousness soon afterward and returns to Planeptune, exploring her childhood home that she had once abandoned many years ago. There she discovers powerful weapons developed by her mother, the Super Nep Blade and Excalibur. With these very blades Neptune confronts Iris Heart in Planeptune, through an explosive and monstrous battle, Neptune becomes triumphant even without her HDD, the country of Planeptune is finally put at peace but the rest of Gamindustri still lays at risk.
Nepgear and IF meet up with Vert, who invites them to her party, disregarding Vio's request. At this same time, Lid stages a coup de tat against Vert using mercenaries from the CPU Defamation League, run by Rei Ryghts. Vert, whose party is announcing the news about Leanbox's economic success in the past year, tries to bring up the issue of the F.N drug to the interest groups and major shareholders of Leanbox, all of which who seem disgusted by the mere idea of helping those afflicted by the disease. Vert begins to give up until her Cave approaches her, begging for her to change her mind. Vert, with conviction, and willing to risk everything, exits onto the stage to announce her plans to combat the F.N Drug.
But before she can even speak, Lid breaks into the party with squads of CPU:DL soldiers, killing hundreds of the patrons and guest. Vert, transforming into Green Heart, battles against the invading soldiers all the way to the Basilicom's rooftop, meeting up with Nepgear and IF. Lid and Green Heart duel, with Green Heart almost becoming victorious until Black Heart intervenes. Nepgear and IF fight against Lid while Black Heart and Green Heart become locked into a bloody fisticuffs. Nepgear is almost killed in the fight and IF is knocked out and captured. Fortunately, just before Black Heart can steal Vert's HDD, the same astral projection that saved IF in Planeptune stops Black Heart's scythe. By the skin of their teeth, Nepgear and Vert are saved by the astral projection. As they escape, Noire lays waste to Leanbox's basilicom and the rest of the country.
In a matter of a week, all that remains of Leanbox are its slums far to the north, where the survivors of Noire's genocide have fled. Vert, awakened, heavily beaten beyond recovery, finds herself weak and outgunned, Cave has been captured by Lastation in order to free some captive Leanbox citizens from Lastation. But before she can give up, Nepgear shows the complete production of her Mechanical Robot: The Nepgeardam. Seeing this, Vert is filled with that Leanbox may be able to hold one last stand.
Vio puts IF and Cave in a testing chamber, sending hordes of monsters after them, before the two are overrun, the astral projection saves them, revealing herself to be Uni. Uni helps the two escape, leaving Vio in rage.
Plutia is awoken by Rei Ryghts at the CPU:DL headquarters, the soldiers there unknowing of Plutia's true nature. Plutia comes across Peashy, realizing that she had killed her parents during her rampage as Iris Heart, knowing this, Iris Heart becomes disgusted with herself, concerning Plutia. With a growing desire to fix what she has done, as little as she could, Plutia leaves toward Leanbox to help the resistance forming there. As she leaves, Peashy sneaks onto the transport. Before Plutia can reach CPU Green Heart, she is aghast to discover that Peashy was following her, in a hurrying attempt, Plutia immediately heads back, it is then that Lid follows them back to the CPU:DL headquarters and holds Peashy hostage, Plutia easily takes her down, but Vio, who has been tracking Lid's position, teleports in and massacres the CPU:DL, kidnapping Rei, Plutia, and Peashy
Meanwhile in Lowee, an Imposter of CPU White Heart is created by Lastation from Blanc's HDD Memory in order to control Lowee, leaving Blanc and her oracle Mina to flee while her sisters Rom and Ram are left behind. When the two reach Planeptune, Blanc makes amends with Neptune and leave to take down the imposter together, but before they reach Lowee, IF and Cave, who have escaped from Lastation, reveal that Noire is planning a major assault onto Leanbox. Blanc and Neptune agree to split up, Blanc with IF and Cave to head toward Leanbox, and Neptune to head toward Lowee and fight the imposter alone. Blanc, Cave, and IF reach Leanbox, warning everyone about the dangers that await. When Blanc reveals that Neptune went to Lowee alone, Nepgear leaves to help her sister. IF, with a shard that Uni left with her, helps Compa awaken from her coma.
Kei, in Lastation, becomes disgusted by how Lastation is dominating through force and destruction. She tries to defect only to be confronted by Noire, who approves of her defecting, but asks for one more mission from her, to infiltrate Lowee and destroy imposter Blanc who is actually a biological weapon created by Vio, before she sends Kei off, she gives her Histoire. When Kei reaches Lowee, she arrives to help Rom and Ram. Histoire leads the twins under to help them destroy the basilicom and all the biological monsters inside. Kei confronts Imposter Blanc and is beaten down badly, but before she is killed, Nepgear arrives to confront the beast.
In Lastation, Vio steals Noire's HDD memory with the scythe of CPU Uranus. Normally this can't happen but Noire's fractured CPU Memory makes it vulnerable to capture. Noire can't even fight back as she is pinned to the floor by a mind-controlled Peashy. Vio reveals that she plans on using Uni's unconscious body as a power core for her dreadnought. As this is going on, Plutia is awaken by Lid who tries to torture but Plutia's immense strength helps her break free and escape with the help of Rei. As they escape, Peashy confronts them with her immense strength triumphing over Plutia. In a last ditch effort, Plutia reveals that she had killed her parents, which helps Peashy break free from Vio's mind control, but in an unfettered rage, Peashy kills Plutia. Rei, horrified, runs off with an unconscious Peashy.
Neptune breaks through the glass ceiling and helps Nepgear slay imposter Blanc. The building is close to self-destructing, but Neptune grabs the HDD memory and regains her Purple Heart form. She flies out the building with Kei and Nepgear. The two meet up with Histoire and the twins. Nepgear brings the group to Leanbox while Purple Heart flies toward Lastation alone.
Purple Heart confronts Vio and kills her, but Vio uses intense cell regeneration, thus finding the key to immortality. Vio uses the scythe to rip off Purple Heart's arm and chases her down. Meanwhile in Leanbox, Cave returns with a report that a monstrous beast is headed toward Leanbox. Blanc decides to evacuate everyone. Vert leaves with Cave, Compa, and IF, with a private jet headed toward the PC continent. Before they can leave, Lid tries to assassinate Green Heart, but with their combined forces, IF, Cave, and Compa successfully kill her.
Blanc and Nepgear pilot the Nepgeardam to fight against Vio's dreadnaught, the Nepgeardam is destroyed in the process, killing Blanc. Nepgear stares off against the dreadnaught, with a news drone recording her standing against the beast. The people of Gamindustri place their faith in her, creating Lilac Heart. With ease, Lilac Heart cut open the dreadnaught and saved Uni, the dreadnaughts corpse creating such a vast sea of blood that consumed Leanbox.
Finally in Lastation, Vio hunts down Neptune and kills her with ease, but Noire, battered and injured, carried Excalibur despite it burning her hand. In a last ditch effort, Noire plunged the sword into Neptune, unlocking her final form. Neo-Alpha. The creation of Neo-Alpha destroys the entire basilicom, leaving Vio, Noire, and Neo-Alpha in a desolate wasteland. Vio tries to battle against Neo-Alpha but Neo-Alpha grabs her by the neck and flies up into outer space, being the first CPU to ever survive exiting the atmosphere and vacuum of space and throws Vio away to suffer imploding in space for eternity.
Neo-Alpha returns, and as Neptune, she kills Noire, ending the war once and for all.
Part 3: Nepgear's Bizarre Adventure, Share Crystal Crusaders
It has been 20 years since Gamindustri nearly collapsed onto itself under the treacherous forces of Lastation controlled by Vio. Since then, the world has been reformed into the new United Planeptunian Federation, Neptune has gone back and forth between various nations to seek alliances and possible trade allies.
The federation found itself in very peaceful and tranquil times. Until one day, the basilicom realized that Neptune had been gone for an unusually long time, longer than she had on any other expedition. As panic started to rise, a simple letter from an anonymous sender appeared on the doorstep of the basilicom containing the enigmatic message:
"Neptune is at the center of the universe, where all of time and space becomes irrelevant."
At this very same time, a horrible disease, similar to the FN-Epidemic, aptly named: Violet Corona, eviscerates its victims by annihilating their immune system and cloning itself throughout the human body to mimic hundreds upon thousands of other types of diseases, killing the victim in mere hours. This virus has surged through the federation entrapping hundreds upon millions in illness and pestilence. The chaos from this new outbreak has put the Federation under martial law, those even suspected of being infected are immediately quarantined and put into stasis until a cure is found. Determined to find her sister and a possible cure for the epidemic, Neptune, with her fiancé Uni, head off from their homestead and voyage through uncharted territory in hopes to find a solution to this rising catastrophe.
Chapter 1: Greetings To a Fading Star.
Nepgear lied down on the couch in her cozy room. Horns and sounds of machinery from the freighter she was on could be faintly heard from her room. It had been 6 months since she departed from the Federation. She felt gravely homesick, but she couldn't stay behind as her sister could be in danger, and there was no way to cure or even ease the outbreak back home. She had to seek out other nations for help, anything she could to her people's pain, the same people her sister fought valiantly to protect 20 years ago against Lastation.
Suddenly, it all hit her as once. Compa, IF, Vio, Noire, Kei, Blanc, Vert, the Dreadnaught, Lilac Heart. Ambivalent memories taxed her mind no matter how hard she tried to rest. She could feel her arms trembling and her throat swell at the mere memory of the horrific events that occurred 20 years ago. In a panic, she grappled to a nearby windowsill to catch some fresh air. After catching her breath, she pulled out a cigarette and lit it with a customized lighter that Vert had given to her on her 37th birthday.
Birthdays, dates, her confession to Uni, Nepgear held on to these memories and feelings as tight as she could to help her avoid the pain her past caused her. But no matter how hard she tried, she still couldn't shake away the images of Leanbox being destroyed, Blanc's impaled body going limp and falling into a seemingly endless sea of blood. The images were too much for her, and she threw up all over the side of the deck, her stomach squeezing tightly like belt snapped around her.
After she was done regurgitating, she collapsed onto the wooden floor, nauseated and dizzy, she raggedly pushed herself up and stammered to the nearby sink to wash her face. She took a good look in the mirror, she looked the exact same as she did 20 years ago, even today she still couldn't fully grasp it. Her human friends all aged well past her, but she looked like she just graduated high-school.
She knelt down and took out a can of coffee from the fridge, her room had been supplied a minimal amount of rations as her Goddess abilities gave her vitality and endurance that could last longer than any human. Whatever rations were on the ship had to be carefully proportioned, even the spare supplies couldn't be given to the Goddesses. Nepgear cursed to herself, she couldn't blame management because the integrity of the crew was for more important, but she couldn't help but feel that refrigerated coffee and canned beans was a bitcheap.
"Looks like some still a little sick! I thought I told you to stay in bed!" Uni had barged into Nepgear's room unannounced with a massive case that banged and clanged against all the furniture. Nepgear groaned and slumped onto the cheaply made mattress in her room. As her wife went on and on about having to take care of yourself and take things easy, Nepgear pondered about the possible places where her sister could be.
"Neptune is at the center of the universe, where all of space and time become irrelevant" Such ominous and enigmatic words still haunted Nepgear for half a year. "Center of the universe?" she thought to herself, "Is she still even on this planet?" Nepgear questioned to herself, then it hit her, the fact that it took her so long to figure it out felt insulting to herself, but she figured it out, nonetheless.
"I GOT IT!" Nepgear screamed "SHE'S NOT EVEN ON THIS GOD DAMN PLANET!" The sudden outburst scared the daylights out of Uni, the scream shocked her so much that she accidentally knocked over her suitcase, the rifle inside falling out. Nepgear grabbed Uni hands, held them tight, with her eyes brighter and happier than ever, the sudden outburst of optimism shocking Uni.
"How were we this stupid, she's not on the planet! She's somewhere else, somewhere far out beyond the reaches of space!" Nepgear yelled with immense excitement before being silenced by Uni, who placed her index finger down on Nepgear's mouth.
"Okay, I know its been awhile since we've been from the federation, but Nepgear, getting drunk in the middle of a government-funded expedition is unbecoming of a CPU and a terrible example to-"
"Uni! Please!" Nepgear grabbed her wife's hands in desperation, "For so long, Neptune has been the one constantly saving me, constantly covering for my mistakes and shortcomings. For just this once, I want to prove that not only can I help her in return, but I can manage Planeptune on my own. Neptune is at the heart of this crisis! If we find her then there's a big chance - a big chance that we find a cure for the disease. Trust me on this Uni…"
Uni looked down, contemplating what she had just heard. She looked out at the window, the endless blue sea "Alright, but how the hell can we even get to space? Neo-Alpha was the only person who could break the atmosphere, no other CPU in history has even come close to doing that! And even if we could, where the hell would we go?!"
"Look… we'll figure that out when we get there, first thing is first and that we get back to Histoire, I'm sure she can figure out something-"
Just as Nepgear finished speaking, a sudden crash had erupted below the ship, the freighter stopping to a dead halt. Uni immediately picked up her rifle and pulled down the slide.
"What is that?"
"A new product that was just delivered to us from the Lastation states, it's an NTW-20 Anti-Material rifle. You could punch a hole right through an entire aircraft carrier with this!"
Another crash shook the ship, the two nodded to each other headed to the top deck, there, they saw a monster, the likes of which they have never seen before. It had a single, sphere-like head, the size of an entire mountain. On it's face were scattered millions of eyes the shape of a human head. It had a disturbing arc-shaped back with millions of tendrils protruding from it, and on it's sides were 3 curved, almost building like, arms that slammed into the side of the freighter. The mere impact launched Uni and Nepgear to opposite sides off the deck, launching them into the un-ending sea as their freighter and its crew were torn to bits.
~A full day later~
Nepgear woke up on an awfully weird beach. The sand was a deep crimson and felt more like flour instead of grain. Oddly enough, the sand had slid off her meaninglessly, as if it were water. Nepgear, still half asleep, played around in it, and rolled around spilling it all over the place before full coming awake and realizing what had just happened.
"UNI!" She screamed, she frantically kicked herself off the ground and looked around helplessly, the beach was covered with bits of shipwreck and debris, bodies of dead crew members laid barren, with no Uni in sight. The scenery wasn't much improved by the blood-red sky and vermillion water the flowed up and down.
"Freeze!"
Nepgear turned around without hesitation, coming eye to eye with her assailant. She had a white gothic Lolita dress with a green skirt. Her blonde hair was parted from the right side of her forehead, complimented with twin tails behind her. "I said Freeze dammit! Put your hands in the air!" The woman was mature, likely in her late 30's or early 40's, she had a deep, sort of growly voice/ Nepgear took notice of the large cannon that she held, at the base she could see some odd form of growth holding what she assumed was a sword and a shield. Nepgear didn't really care about the threat, she's tanked through various forms of blast and shells from enemy artillery before, she had no concern about the woman's weapon.
"Hey, do you know where the hell I am!?"
"I said Freeze dammit!" The woman grew angry and her finger was slammed and the very tip of the trigger, and mere gust of wind could have ignited the cannon.
"Hey look, my ship just got wrecked and my wife is missing! I just need-" Nepgear walked forward as she talk, in fear, the woman fired immediately and a blast of energy head straight for Nepgear's chest, but the CPU was far more agile and dexterous to be harmed but such a mere object. She grabbed the object In the palm of her hand and crushed it like an apple, the sparks and residue from the shot fell and dissolved into the red sand. The woman was aghast, as if her entire life's work had disappeared right before her eyes.
"Look, maybe we got off the wrong foot. I'm Nepgear, I'm from the Planeptunian Federation. I was traveling until my ship got destroyed by some… weird tentacle monster. Can you at least tell me your name, and where the hell I am!?"
The woman aimed down her rifle, her breathing eased. "My name is God Eater, and this island you're on is Japan. Or rather… what's left of it…"
To be continued