Hyperdimension Neptunia is owned by Sega, Compile Heart and Idea Factory and everyone else who worked on it.

Sorry this chapter took so long. Got hooked on some mobile games. Plus I needed to recharge my batteries a bit. The last chapter really wore me out.

Chapter 15

Nepgear looked at Rei, her eyes watering. "C...Can you? I know you had the power to warp dimensions, can you..?" Her tears burst and started pouring down her face when Rei shook her head. "Bu..."

"If I had all the power of my other self when she was at her peak, I could have stopped Cave from dying." Rei told her, her face solemn as she looked at the upset CPU Candidate. "But I lack my other self's finer control over the power and I lack most of the power that I had as a Final Boss, I'm sorry." Rei grimaced at the wail of despair that escaped from Nepgear's lips. "She was a friend of yours?"

Nepgear nodded, sniffling. "Y-yes... She helped keep order in Planeptune, she helped around the Basilicom and she was someone who helped the other CPU Candidates from Gamworld adjust and get used to relaxing when we had a moment." They weren't especially close, as Cave was with her other self a lot, but when she got a chance to talk to Cave, the redhead felt like someone who was genuinely nice and kind to be around.

"Do you have your phone?" Rei asked her and Nepgear nodded and mutely handed it to her. "I'm going to call the Basilicom and have them send some people out here to collect her body."

Nepgear nodded and knelt down next to Cave and reached to the dead woman's face to close her eyes. She was no stranger to death. After all, she had slain plenty of monsters and she knew that she could die at any time due her position as a CPU Candidate. After all, just being in the graveyard for three years and feeling her life and shares being slowly drained out drove that point home. If not for Compa and IF, she would have likely died in the graveyard along with her sister and the other CPUs. But seeing a friend of hers die..

Nepgear couldn't stop the tears even if she wanted to, all she could do was screw her eyes shut while they poured down her face.

Rei took a few steps away and opened up the contacts before finding the Basilicom's number. It took several rings before someone picked up. "H-Hello? A-are you a staff member of the Basilicom? Huh? Your name is Hi-Hi-Histoire? So-so-so-sorry, Nepgear is... Not able to really talk. N-n-n-no, she's alive. My name is Rei Ryghts, I should have told you at the start, sorry. B-but... The redhead with her, Cave, she died saving N-Nepgear's life. And the town w-was b-badly damaged in our fight." Rei was silent as she listened and nodded. "Y-y-yes, I'll stay here with Nepgear and make sure that she's okay. Get her away from the body? Bu-but what if... Oh? They will be here in a few minutes? Okay." She hung up the phone and walked over to Nepgear. "We need to..." Rei trailed off as Nepgear turned and pulled her into a hug, sobbing into her chest. "N-Nepgear..."

"It's my fault..." Nepgear sobbed as she buried her face into Rei's chest. "I... She died for me. It's my fault."

Rei awkwardly hugged Nepgear back, patting her gently. For someone who wasn't used to close human, or Goddess in this case, contact, it was a little awkward for her.

(-)

Unknown location...

Throwing Ubi to the ground, Beth glared at her companion. "What the HELL were you thinking, Ubi?!" Beth yelled as the two of them got through the portal. "You know it wasn't time for that yet!"

"It was just a warning shot, that's all." Ubi shrugged at Beth as she got up. "After all, I dunno if it would work on a Goddess. Besides, aren't we going to remove them from power anyway?"

A moment later, Ubi found herself embedded in the far wall as the ground, walls, ceiling and everything around Beth was blasted into the wall by her dragon scream. "You are an idiot, then again, I shouldn't expect anything less from someone who makes up the most convoluted locks for doors ever that can't even keep thieves from getting past them even though no one else can get around them."

"Enough!" An older voice suddenly spoke up and both women paused as the hooded figure walked into the room, a black crystal ball held in front of them. "Beth, there was no need to destroy the room. And Ubi, what in the name of the RMCP were you thinking? No, don't answer that." The eyes under the hood seemed to glow a bright red and both women gulped in fear. "There is a huge difference between beating an opponent so that they want to try harder when they fight you again and killing someone who has friends and family who care about them. Imagine, for one moment, if your little stunt killed the CPU Candidate. You're from Gamworld, you saw her fight against Purple Void. Do you really think that you could withstand someone who can fill the sky with swords and rain them down before you could get into range for your teleportation trick?!"

"But boss, I..." Ubi gasped as a hand came out from her own shadow, crawled up her body and squeezed her throat in a matter of moments.

"You foolish idiot!" The boss snarled in anger at Ubi. "Even if she wasn't a CPU, the fact is that the redhead was close enough to the CPUs to be there as a bodyguard. Before they would be coming after us for the problems that Acti caused Black Heart and what our operatives are doing in the other nations, but now, thanks to you, it will be personal."

"Um, Lord Ep..." Beth cut her sentence off as she felt her boss's glare upon her. "Um, could you stop choking Ubi? She's turning blue."

The boss waited for a few moments before doing just that and letting Ubi fall to the ground, where she fell to her hands and knees, coughing and desperately gasping for air. "Very well. Why do you think I gave all of you ONE specific directive? Don't kill anyone intentionally just yet!"

Ubi grasped at her throat and nodded, panting. "Y-yes..." She coughed out violently as she said that.

"Idiot." The boss growled at her. The boss then turned and left the two women alone. As he walked down the hallway, he muttered to himself, "I just hope GBox isn't screwing up in Leanbox... And what's Erika up to?" The boss really hoped that those two nut jobs didn't screw things up worse than Ubi did.

The last thing the boss needed was another headache.

(-)

In Leanbox...

A tall, tanned and very muscular man in camouflage cargo pants, camouflage tank top reached down to his black boots and pulled out a large knife before lunging out of the tree he was in and drove his knife into the back of the head of the monster that had been looking at some random person. As the monster exploded into data and particles, the man stood up, revealing that he was wearing a white mask that covered his entire face. "Well, that's one less monster out there." He tilted his head as he saw the other person. "Hmm? Aren't you part of Leanbox's security or something?"

"Ah, not quite." The person, a very nice looking young woman with long, blue hair, who was wearing a black two piece outfit with the top being like a bikini top, she had a frilly miniskirt on over her hips and a musical note tattooed on her stomach for some reason, smiled nervously at him. "I'm 5pb., singer and idol, I was out here looking for inspiration for a new song when I saw that monster."

"Ah." The man nodded at her. "Inspiration really is a pain to come by, isn't it? And sometimes we have to do drastic things for inspiration."

5pb. gave him a confused look. "Is there a reason you wear a mask?" He shrugged at her. "Ah, sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

"It's fine, I just like to wear it, that's all." The man answered her. "I have a question for you though." 5pb. tilted her head as he cupped his chin. "Do you ever feel as though you're trapped, as though your choices were limited?"

"What?!" 5pb. gasped, her purple eyes becoming unusual in that there was now a zig-zagging line through each of them. "No! Of course not! Lady Green Heart would never force me to be what I don't want! No one else forced me to either. In fact, my cousin wanted me to become a scientist." Though, considering how MAGES. turned out, 5pb. wasn't sure that she wouldn't have ended up similar to MAGES.

"Sadly, not many are given the same choices in life." The man shook his head, sighing. "I... Well, suffice to say, I know it very well. Shortly after I got here, someone found me and showed me a new way in life."

"Got..." 5pb.'s eyes widened and she put a hand over her mouth in shock. "You're from that other world that Lady Purple Heart was at!"

The man nodded, sighing heavily. "Yes. Leanbox, to be specific." He looked around the forest he was in. "I wanted to come to this Leanbox to see what it was like."

"It's a beautiful place, isn't it?" 5pb. smiled.

"Yes, but not quite as beautiful as you are." The man looked back at 5pb., who was doing her best impression of a tomato. "Ah, that was wrong of me. But, back on topic," he waited for 5pb. to calm down before continuing, "the person who found me showed me a new life. I was shown how things could be better if we could modify our lives freely."

"That sounds nice."

The man nodded to her. "Tell me, do you think that Green... Heart, right?" 5pb. nodded at him, though she looked confused. "My apologizes, I only knew CPUs as Voids in my life." She nodded, understanding dawning on her face. "But, do you think she's doing a good job right now?"

"Of course I do!" 5pb. shot back and took a step back as he walked towards her, though she let out a small sigh of relief when his angle took him past her and out of arms reach. "This wasn't something that any of us could have prepared for."

"Perhaps." He nodded in agreement as he stood near her side. "I just wonder, miss 5pb., that you may be putting your faith into someone who just isn't suited for this role."

5pb. frowned softly. "But Lady Green Heart has always done what was best for the people of Leanbox!"

"Including bringing in a bunch of people like myself from another world into her nation and disrupting everything?" The man shot back and 5pb. jerked slightly.

She wanted to refute what he said, she wanted to argue the points he was making. Both because she knew Green Heart personally and thought of her as a friend, as well as her Goddess, but she had also seen what this massive influx of people had done to everyone who had been living in Gamindustri. Crimes were up across the board, Vert had been asking her to use her voice to soothe over the populace, and she was happy to do so, she had done it for the three years that Vert had been trapped. Though that had been more because without the CPUs, the world would have been doomed from the Deity of Sin.

"You realize it too, don't you?" The man spoke to her, his voice soft and understanding. "I fully admit, if not for the person who showed me that there was a better way, I'd be one of those people in Leanbox right now, causing problems for others, making it so that it's harder to get supplies."

5pb. couldn't even argue that point. Stores were having such a hard time keeping up with supply that there were sometimes lines for things. Thankfully the suppliers had managed to, recently start to keep up with the demand, but it had been very rough for awhile. 'And with prices increasing across Leanbox...' As much as 5pb. hated to admit it, there was just so much wrong with everything right now. 'Why did you just accept so many people, Lady Vert? You should have known that we couldn't just accept that many at once.'

5pb. knew that her CPU meant well, but she also knew that she wasn't perfect and sometimes made mistakes in judgement. Her eyes had a sorrowful look to them as she looked at the man. "Are you saying she's a bad leader?" The idol asked, her voice soft.

"Not at all." The man shook his head. "But maybe she's not the right leader that you need." He looked at 5pb. as she turned to look at him, her expression looking conflicted. "At the very least, you should meet with the leader of our glorious group and hear the leader's words of wisdom."

"You sound like the ASIC and you want to destroy Gamindustri." 5pb. shot back, though her voice didn't sound entirely sure. "I can't just stop believing in her, even if she made a bad mistake in this."

"I understand." The man told her. "It would be wrong of me to force you to change your beliefs. In fact, I can understand why you would support her. She is a beautiful, wonderful woman, isn't she?" 5pb. nodded, smiling softly. "All I ask, is that you meet with the leader and all will be made clear." A portal opened behind 5pb., who stiffened in surprise. "If you go through, you will find the answer you seek."

5pb. looked back at the portal and bit her lip softly. As much faith as she had in Green Heart, Green Sister and Cave to handle things, she had been thinking about the current situation and how things were really bad. "Maybe it wouldn't hurt to listen." After all, things were stressful and crazy. If someone had a solution, then it wouldn't hurt to listen at least. She walked to the portal and stopped before looking back at the man. "What's your name again?"

"Ah! I forgot to give it to you. My name is GBox, remember it." She nodded and walked through the portal. When she was gone and the portal closed, GBox smiled behind his mask. "All glory to the RMCP." He pulled out a small cylinder with a red button on the top. "And now... There's some rats to blow up."

To be continued...

...Uh oh.

And poor Nepgear.