Hyperdimension Neptunia is owned by Sega, Compile Heart and Idea Factory and everyone else who worked on it.
Chapter 20
Between Nepgear and Vert, it didn't take them long to set up an inter-dimensional call between both Hyper and Ultradimension.
"Hello, Vert, Neptune, Nepgear..." Ultra Noire, who was in her office with Uni on a desk behind her doing some paperwork. The CPU Candidate looked up and was surprised as the screen showed not only those three, but also the other Noire, Blanc, White Heart, Plutia and the other Vert on the screen along with Uzume and someone that she didn't know. "Is there something you need?"
"Neptuna!" Peashy yelled as she jumped up beside Plutia and cheered.
Neptune smiled and pulled both Histoires into front of her. "Hey guys! It looks like we got this to work finally."
"Is there a reason for this call?" White Heart growled as she flew around. "I've got an emergency in Lowee here with people getting sick all of a sudden. Even Ram got sick."
"Is she okay?" Blanc, naturally, was worried about her little sister, even if that little sister was from another dimension and wasn't directly related to her.
White Heart sighed softly. "She'll be fine, I'm making her rest for the day to make sure that she isn't... Hmm?"
"What is it?" Ultra Vert asked as White Heart popped off the screen for a moment. "Blanc?"
A few moments later and everyone was starting to get more worried when White Heart appeared back on the screen. "Sorry about that, there was a kid who climbed a tree to get his pet cat and couldn't get back down." She ignored the looks she was getting, which were just her friends either heckling her lightly or smiling at her. "Anyway, I dunno what's going on, but everyone's getting sick after drinking the water. I naturally told everyone to stop drinking the water." The others nodded at her. "I don't know what's going on, I'm just trying to see if there's anything out of the ordinary." There was a beeping sound and White Heart stopped and pressed the button. "White Heart here."
"Lady White Heart, we just got an update from the hospital."
"It better be good." White Heart grumbled and pressed a button to make it easier for the others to hear. "So what is it?"
"It looks like a water-based bacteria is causing the problems. We're able to take care of it, but it will take time to clean up."
White Heart grimaced at hearing that. "Alright." She didn't want to think about what kind of disease it could be, but it seemed like a disease that was easy enough to cure, but it still had to be pretty bad if even Ram had gotten sick by it. "Thank you."
"Right, we're already gathering supplies and should have enough in a couple of hours. But unless we know where it's coming from..."
"Fair enough." White Heart told the doctor and looked at the communication panel. "You heard all of that, right?"
"Do you think it's the same group?" Hyper Noire asked, getting nods from Hyper Vert and Neptune.
"What group?" Ultra Vert asked, concern in her voice.
"Um, i-it seems that some people are trying to do what I did in the past." Rei stuttered and fidgeted. "T-trust me, I don't know who's in charge, I m-mostly worked alone when I was causing problems."
"Yeah, I was shot in the leg." Hyper Noire said, grimacing at the memory. Seeing the look of concern on the faces of Plutia, her other self and the other Uni, she shook her head. "No, I'm fine, my leg's tender, but I'm otherwise fine. I have Filyn and some other people looking into where the weapon came from. I didn't catch the person's name, but it was a blond-haired man wearing a black suit, black gloves and a red tie. Even though Filyn and I were both hidden, he knew where we were instantly."
"The person was working with others," Uni continued for Noire. "Apparently he said he was representing a group..."
"Yeah," Nepgear nodded, a distressed look on her face as she spoke up next, "Cave, the one that came back with Neptune, and myself went to find the Rei of this world." The others nodded as they listened, "and when we met her, there were a couple more people of this group there and we got into a fight. Cave..." She sniffled and rubbed her eyes, "Cave was killed in the fight."
Most of the people on screen gasped, though Plutia was looking troubled by what she was hearing.
"Um, Blanc... Is MAGES. available?" Nepgear asked White Heart.
"Not right now, do you want me to tell her?" White Heart asked and Nepgear shook her head.
"No... I should tell her. They were really close friends." Nepgear wasn't looking forward to it, she could only imagine how bad MAGES. would take it, since the girl was random and unpredictable in most cases. Which, interestingly enough, allowed her and Neptune to quickly bond and become friends. "It's because of me that Cave is dead, it would be best if I delivered the message myself."
"Well..." Ultra Noire pursed her lips. "So we have a mysterious organization with a blond man, a couple of people who fought and killed a friend of yours... ...As much as I hate to do it, I'll have to contact a certain someone."
Hyper Noire suddenly stiffened and looked at her counterpart, shivering. "...Are you talking about who I think you're talking about?"
"Yes." Ultra Noire groaned in dismay. "If anyone can find anything out in our world it's him."
"Are you talking about Anny?" Neptune asked the two Noires. "The one from Gamworld was... Oh." She stopped when she saw the look of disgust on Uni's face. "Sorry."
"It's fine." The CPU Candidate from Gamworld muttered and sighed. "It's not like you meant any harm." When Ultra Noire looked back at her, she nodded to her. "I... Don't worry, I'm fine."
"Fine," Ultra Noire nodded and looked back at the screen. "Yeah, him..." She sighed. "As much as I hate to admit it, I have his contact information." She ignored the giggle that some of her friends had upon hearing this information. "He's been useful for information, nothing more!" She yelled, her face turning slightly red.
"You know..." Neptune spoke up and Ultra Noire was preparing for a teasing comment from her friend. "Just because someone has the hots for you doesn't mean you feel the same way."
Ultra Noire gave Neptune a grateful smile while a few others on the screen looked shocked, though Plutia had a look of longing on her face that was gone almost as soon as it appeared.
"There's more," Hyper Vert spoke up, "it's likely that this group had another operative active in Leanbox. I got a call about Peashy fighting with someone in city limits and when I got to where she was, she was on a rooftop, damage all around her and she was out cold and hurting."
"Oh no!" Ultra Vert gasped, her eyes wide while the others looked on in shock. "Is she okay?"
"She's alive, she'll recover, but she's hurting and out cold right now." The tone of voice coming from Hyper Vert sent a chill down most everyone's spine. "If I find out who did this to her, I swear..."
"Why was she on the rooftop?" Hyper Noire asked, curious about that little tidbit.
"P-Ko spent a good chunk of her life after being born trapped in a dungeon and chained up," Neptune explained to everyone, getting a few gasps from the others. "So she likes to be up high where she can see lots of space and move freely if she can."
"So it's possible that this group that shot Noire, killed Cave and beat up Peashy is causing problems in my nation?" White Heart growled and looked around. "Dammit, I can't see anything that looks out of place from here!"
"How about checking behind your Basilicom?" Ultra Vert suggested and White Heart gave her a sharp look. "Back before I announced myself as Green Heart, I took a tour of Lowee, it was quite lovely, but I remember that there was a well that was behind the Basilicom. It was so out of place that I couldn't help but remember it."
White Heart's eyes suddenly glowed as an absolutely furious look crossed her face, causing everyone to stiffen. "I swear, if those fuckers did anything to that..." She suddenly bolted, flying so fast that everything was a blur to anyone looking on. Upon landing near a well, White Heart opened up a communication screen. "Hey! This is White Heart! Lock onto my location and send someone to test the water in this well!"
"Um, Blanny..." Plutia spoke up, concern in her voice. "What's wrong?"
After confirming that people were on the way, White Heart sighed. "I almost wish that I had turned off the communication screen." She wasn't even looking at the screen at that point anymore, she was looking at the well. "...Before I became the CPU of Lowee, I was just a normal girl. This well was made by my parents when they were still alive and it's one of the few things I still have of them."
"Oh yeah," Neptune spoke up, "you're a few centuries old, aren't you?"
"More than that." White Heart said and walked over to the well, running her hand over the well-worn stones. "This thing's survived practically everything that Lowee's gone through." She sighed and shook her head. "Enough of that, if those bastards used this well to poison my people..." She growled, her eyes glowing in anger.
"I assume that it was placed where it is because it's at the source of Lowee's water supply?" Blanc asked and White Heart nodded. "Fascinating. I'll have to look into your nation's history more fully later."
"I should have figured that they'd poison this area." White Heart grumbled and looked as some people came into the area. Recognizing them as people who worked at the hospitals, she waved them over. "I have to go." The others nodded and she turned off her screen.
Histoire cleared her throat. "Now then... CPUs of Hyper and Ultra, listen to me." She looked at the screen and saw everyone, including Rei and Uzume, looking at her seriously. "All of you have survived dimension-destructive threats before. I do not know if this threat is the same level or if this group is simply a threat to all of you. I merely ask that we keep in contact and share information."
"Of course," Hyper Noire told her.
Ultra Noire sighed heavily. "I'll have to get my phone call over with soon enough. Thanks for the information, I'll make sure to keep an eye out for anything unusual." The others nodded as the screen turned off.
Neptune waved to the others as they each turned their screens off. "Well, this has been a day, huh?"
"Neptune..." Vert spoke up and Neptune looked at her. "I want to thank you again, for coming so fast to check on Peashy."
Neptune rubbed the back of her head and laughed nervously. "She's P-Ko, I'd have to be unable to get here to not check on her."
"Excuse me." Nepgear said and transformed. "I think I'll head to Plutia's world and see MAGES. personally. She needs to know what happened to her friend because of me."
"Nepgear!" Both Neptune and Vert said at the same time. Purple Sister looked at them in confusion.
"You aren't to blame for what happened." Vert smiled at her. "I know you would never allow someone to die if you could have stopped it." Purple Sister nodded slowly. "Please, Nepgear, I promise you, no one blames you for what happened."
"...My other self does." Purple Sister said and flew off.
Neptune sighed as Vert looked at her. "Nepgear never had to watch someone die that wasn't a bad guy before, Vert."
"I know." Vert said softly. "...Neptune," Neptune looked at her, "will you stay with me and Peashy for the rest of the day?"
Seeing Vert still upset, Neptune nodded. "Sure." She was worried about Peashy anyway. But that wasn't the only thing she was worried about.
The biggest question she had was...
"Just how many of these bad guys are there?"
Neither Vert nor either version of Histoire could answer that question. And all of them knew that the worst part of this was that there could be more that they didn't know about running around.
To be continued...
Well, now everyone knows what's going on.
If you're curious, the disease in the water in Ultra Lowee is similar to Colorea. And yes, it's transmitted via water and vomiting is a common symptom.