Planet 15: Da&^r$ k
Orange Heart opened her eyes, but couldn't see anything. She blinked, rubbed her eyes, then noticed that she was in some sort of liquid. She felt like she was underwater, however she was able to breath and open her eyes without pain. She wiggled around a little bit and reached out her arms. She touched nothing and found nothing. Orange Heart opened and closed her eyes repeatedly but saw nothing. She swam forward, then swam around in circles but still couldn't find anything.
She eventually tired herself out and simply drifted. She began to space out and ponder to herself until suddenly she felt her head bump on a surface. The surface was smooth, but she couldn't see it. She touched it, then climbed up but her climb felt endless as she saw nothing while climbing up.
Orange Heart then felt herself drifting away from the surface. She quickly swam forward, but there was no way of grabbing the surface she felt. Eventually, she tired herself out and allowed herself to drift back away from the surface. Orange Heart began to feel sleepy and slowly closed her eyes.
Uzume opened her eyes again and found herself in her tent. She got up and walked outside to see Nepgear and Nep working with the tower while Umio was reading through sheets of papers.
"Wait, so wifi did exist around here? But Niceume told me the max amount of players she played with was like 2 or something!" Nep exclaimed.
"Maybe she's a retired gamer." Nepgear suggested.
"What a liar, who's she trying to fool hmm?"
"Oh, good morning Uzume. Uhm, if you don't mind me asking, how were the online games when the nation was… you know."
"Hmm?" Uzume asked. "Online games? Uhm, there were a few that were like, 4 players which was a lot of fun. I remember one being about mice and rockets."
"4 is fairly close to 2, are you sure she didn't say 4?" Nepgear asked.
"Hmm, I don't remember. Ah whatever, she's a weird one."
"So what do we do now?" Uzume asked.
"I'm… not sure. Maybe we should confront Kurome." Nepgear said.
"With what we have now?" Uzume asked.
"Well we got this OP sword!" Nep said happily while carrying Gehaburn. "I bet with enough damage buffing food and a lucky crit, we'd be able to one-shot anything!"
"Please- please put the sword down, it still makes me feel uneasy." Nepgear said.
Uzume sighed. She looked at Umio who looked up at her from the paper.
"Anything from your dreams?" Umio asked.
"Nothing this time." Uzume replied. "Just a dark pool thing. It was weird, I was just underwater and couldn't do anything. At least, I think it was water."
"Were you drowning? Drowning is a pretty common fear." Nepgear said.
"No, no I could breath normally. It was just dark that's all. What is going on…"
Nep pressed her finger on her cheek and Nepgear looked down at the papers on the table.
"Next course of action… Uhm, well I- I believe Neptune will come back for us." Nepgear said. "She always does, even if it doesn't always work out."
"So we're just gonna sit around and wait for Nepsy?" Uzume asked. "We can do more than that, how strong is that sword again?"
"Really really strong!" Nep stated.
"Couldn't calculate the exact stats. Sorry Uzume." Nepgear said. "I need more data."
"I kind of want to go fight the giant, but… that other me, what could she want?" Uzume asked. "Why did she just let us go? I'm sure she's a villain but… what is she doing?"
"She could just be playing mind games to discourage you from fighting." Nep said. "I say we go kill that giant then go find Niceume and ask her what's what."
"Maybe she wants us to fight the giant? Could it be a trap?" Uzume asked.
"We could go back there." Nepgear offered. "Maybe she'll talk to us or we'd beat her and we'd win."
"Nah, but she was the final boss in my dimension." Nep said. "Soooo, if we rush the final boss now we'd be way too underleveled to scratch her."
"Oh right, what happened in your dimension?" Nepgear asked.
"Well, we defeated the giant and went back to the normal dimension, then we beat up some bad guys and went back to the bad one and found Uzume again and- waaaait, should I even be talking about this? Uhm, Uzume, how do you feel about existential crises?"
"Had them every week, why?"
"Well uh, hmm, I dunno, Croire do you think I should spoil everything to her?"
"Hey, this dimension is different enough, might as well right?" Croire asked.
"Hmm, yeah what could possibly go wrong? Uzume, everything here is a dream! None of this is real, you were sealed away because of your power! You gotta beat Kurome who's trying to destroy the world or something!" Nep said.
"All fake huh? I mean… well… I guess it kind of makes sense considering everything I've been told." Uzume said.
"Phew! No mental breakdowns!" Nep exclaimed. "Well then, shall we progress the story and kill Dark Purple?"
"Wait, but our dimensions are different, so Uzume's situation might be different from, uh, your Uzume." Nepgear said. "According to Histoire, Uzume is Orange Heart's host cause Orange Heart was too powerful of a goddess."
"Hmm, I'm pretty sure Uzume and Orange Heart were the same person in my world." Nep said.
"Whatever Orange Heart is doesn't matter." Uzume said. "I wanna know what the dark version of me is."
"Ah right, well she's like the incarnation of nightmares or something. Makes sense since you're the dream queen right? She's like your anti-thesaurus or something like that. Anyway, you beat her up real good back in my dimension so it shouldn't be much different here."
"Okay… so you're saying that we should go towards the giant and kill it." Uzume said.
"Yup!"
"Uh huh… And you're not something dark me created to trick me into anything."
"Last time I checked, yep."
"And… how do I know this?"
"Weeeeeellll, how about I hand this sword to demon sister? Or you if you want it."
"I'm… well okay I guess that works."
Nep happily handed the sword to Nepgear who reluctantly gripped onto the handle. She took a deep breath and looked at Planeptune's broken skyscrapers.
"Well then, should we get going?" Nepgear asked.
"Yeah uhm, can I have a moment to talk to Umio?" Uzume asked.
"Sure sure, go ahead!" Nep said.
Uzume and Umio walked into the tent Uzume came out of. She sat down on her blanket and looked up at Umio.
"I'm here Uzume." Umio said. "Don't worry, you can talk to me."
"Yeah… I uh, I'm just… tired."
"I understand. This all must be very stressful for you as a goddess. But you remember Neptune's words correct?"
"Yeah I do, but I'm just scared that, you know, we'll fail."
"Everyone's scared of failure, especially when the stakes are high."
"Yeah, and to be brave is to do it anyway yeah… I wish things were easier."
"I do as well."
Uzume stared at the ground silently for a little bit. She sighed again and lied down on her blanket.
"Do you think Nepsy and Gearsy have to do these kinds of things all the time?" Uzume asked.
"It's unhealthy to compare yourself with others."
"I know, but like, I want to know how they manage to be so happy while doing it."
"I believe they stay happy for others. But, I think you are doing an excellent job so far. You haven't given up yet, despite all that's happened. That itself is very impressive. If you do not want to continue, I understand. But sadly, we can't have you give up and save this dimension at the same time. At least, it seems that there is much more that needs to be discovered and done. Until we know everything, I believe it would be best to go with our original plan."
"Beat up the giant, get some supplies, check on the other nations." Uzume said. "You're right Umio, I won't sit around and get depressed. We're gonna find out what's going on, and we're gonna beat the crap out of whoever's responsible!"
"Then let us proceed." Umio said with a smile.
Uzume took a deep breath and forced a smile on her face. She exited the tent and stretched her arms.
"Alright guys, let's go uh, teach that giant a lesson!" Uzume said.
"Aye, ready when you are." Nepgear replied.
"Ready, and willing!" Nep stated.
Uzume nodded and looked around the camp. She took another deep breath and pulled up her slightly torn gloves.
"Good thing the little ones aren't here." Uzume said. "So, we don't have any way of getting to Nepsy, but Big Nepsy here says that from her experience in her dimension we should fight the giant first, right?"
"That's right! I don't know any way to cheese this final boss so we're gonna have to do it the old fashion way." Nep said. "Unless, again, lucky crit but I hate Gamarket gacha systems."
"Right, then we'll do exactly that. We have no way of contacting Nepsy or repairing the portal machine, so that's our only option. Let's give 'em everything we've got."
"Let's get rollin, rollin, rollin, rollin!" Nep said.
Nep and Nepgear turned and walked towards Planeptune. Uzume turned her head and waved at Umio as she followed them. They walked past the scorched trees and stomped over piles of ashes until they reached the main dirt path where they proceeded to walk towards the main gateway.
Uzume shook her wrist and pointed her watch towards her mouth. She pressed a button on it and it turned on.
"Umio, what's the quickest, safest way to the giant?" Uzume asked.
"Straight down the middle, down the cliff, a left, then a second left." Umio said. "It appears that the monsters began to spread out in a very thin circle. However the back of Dark Purple has the least amount of monsters on guard."
"That's… odd…" Nepgear mentioned. "Usually you'd want your back watched the most right? Could it be a trap?"
"Maybe she has cameras on her back? I dunno." Nep said.
"I will keep you updated if anything changes." Umio said. "For now, be careful."
"Yeah I got it Umio." Uzume said.
The three of them walked through the gates and looked around at the buildings. They heard footsteps around every corner and the wind blew behind them pushing them forward. Uzume turned around and raised her eyebrow at the wind, then shrugged and walked forward.
"This is… really really risky." Nepgear whispered.
"Don't remind me Gearsy." Uzume whispered back. "But I don't really know what else to do. If it's a trap, well, it wouldn't matter I'm sure this Kurome girl would be able to put a trap anywhere."
"Yes… of course…"
"Why so glum girls?" Nep asked. "We have absolutely nothing to worry about! If anything happens Croire will bail us all out! Ain't that right?"
"Hey, I'm not God, but I'm willing to help as long as none of ya'll plan on giving up anytime soon." Croire said from Nep's pocket.
"That's a relief." Nepgear said with a smile.
The three of them heard the sound of a switch being flipped and looked up. On top of a building, a large mechanical box was thrown into the air. Wings were ejected out of its sides causing it to glide down to the floor as it quickly folded and transformed into a black metal, humanoid robot. It had large jet wings and two bright purple eyes on it's boxy head.
The design of the entire robot was simple and almost entirely made of boxes. Cannons stuck out of the robot's arms and it aimed four of them at the group.
"Roll, scatter!" Nepgear called out.
Uzume dashed to the left while Nep dashed to the right. Nepgear quickly jumped up right as missiles launched towards her and exploded on the ground.
"Sis, just one shot it with gay-burn or something, it's an op as hell weapon!" Nep exclaimed.
"I- I have to get close enough first!" Nepgear replied.
"Oh sh- incoming!" Uzume called out.
The group watched as the robot launched a volley of missiles. Nepgear watched as they quickly dropped from only a few feet in the air directly above the robot's surroundings. Uzume jumped through a broken window in a nearby building and Nep did the same on her side. Nepgear ran away in the opposite direction as she heard loud explosions behind her.
"They'll be safe, they got to cover in time. I know it." Nepgear whispered to herself.
The robot dashed out from the smoke and it's eyes locked onto Nepgear again. It aimed it's cannons at her again but Nepgear slashed down at it. The robot quickly boosted backwards dodging the slash and with its body in the smoke, it's eyes ejected out with long wires attached to them and they stuck out of the smoke continuing to track Nepgear.
Nepgear slashed at the eyes while stepping backwards but the eyes dodged her swing. She heard missiles being fired in the smoke and dashed to the left but still got caught from the explosion and was knocked to the wall.
"Ouch! Ugh-"
"Gearsy!" Uzume called out. "If you can hear me, stand in the middle of the road and keep your sword up!"
"Got- got it!"
Nepgear heard the sound of impact being made on metal continued with Uzume's scream.
"AAUUGGGHH! SSSHHHHHHHHHHOOT!" Uzume yelled out.
"What did you do?!" Nep asked.
Nepgear saw the robot stumbled forward a little bit out of the smoke. As it stabilized, Nepgear quickly slashed at it's neck area and chopped off the head. It fell to the ground as the robot attempted to fire at Nepgear, but Nepgear quickly chopped off the arms, then ducked under the missiles fired from it's shoulders and slashed it upwards cutting it in half. She quickly sliced the shoulder cannons off before quickly stepping backwards away from the smoke to catch her breath.
The robot pieces fell to the ground as the chest opened up revealing more missiles. Suddenly it was knocked onto the ground and Uzume stomped on it while holding onto her shoulder. Nep ran by to Nepgear coughing and groaning.
"Man, what was that all about?!" Nep asked. "Well good job anyway, we did it!"
Uzume stepped out of the smoke that began to clear up and coughed as well. She kept her eyes on the robot parts as she took a deep breath.
"Yeah, ow… nice going Gearsy." Uzume said.
"Thank- thank you, thank you for the support as well." Nepgear replied. "But uhm… did you really just shoulder bash a robot?"
"Look, it seemed like a good idea I- I uhm, took inspiration from, uh, look- okay we killed it, it's fine." Uzume said. "It worked out, nothing went wrong."
"You could have hurt yourself a lot more than you did." Nepgear said. "Here, let me heal you."
"Hey, can I have the sword back then?" Nep asked. "Sis, you're our main damage, our tank, and our healer?! What is that?! What are we, your cheerleaders or something? Come on, you can't do everything around here."
Nepgear took out her broom and proceeded to heal Uzume.
"Please, if you can use the sword, please take it." Nepgear said. "All I feel is guilt every time I swing with that thing…"
"Why, what's up Gearsy?" Uzume asked.
"I'm… I'm not sure. But- but I don't like it."
"Hmm, well okay I'll hold onto it for now." Nep said. "But what was up with that robot? It isn't turning into experience, so it's not a natural monster or something."
"It's uhm, a close range explosive combat droid." Nepgear said. "I- I think. Looks cheap considering it's range and inability to see through smoke."
"Wooooww, you're the party nerd as well?" Nep asked. "Maybe Uzume and I should just sit back and let you do everything."
"No! No no no, you two are great," Nepgear said. "It was just this specific monster you two couldn't do much to cause of it's high physical defense. Don't be mad cause you're bad…"
"HMMM?!"
"Nothing! I didn't say anything!"
"Alright I'm good Gearsy." Uzume said. "Anything changed Umio?"
"Nothing yet Uzume." Umio said through the watch. "Continue as normal."
"Got it. Hey, if it's cheap, do you think there will be anymore?"
"I- I don't know." Nepgear said. "Uhm, I- I guess we'll see."
The group watched the smoke finally clear out and they walked down the street to the cliff. They looked down, then they looked to their left to see Dark Purple marching in the distance. They stared at it for a bit, before looking down the cliff again.
"Did… did we pack share crystals?" Nepgear asked.
"Wha- oh… sssshhooooot, I forgot about those. Bah, it wouldn't have mattered anyway, the little ones are gone so no share crystal would have formed. I think, since shares are made of beliefs and stuff right?" Uzume asked.
"I think that's how it works."
The group then proceeded to slowly climb down the cliff and onto the floor. Once they reached the floor, a portal opened up above them in the sky and Neptune shot out of it.
"WAAAAAA I FORGOT IT SUCKED YOU IIINNN!" Neptune exclaimed.
"Neptune!" Nepgear called out happily.
"Yo! Nepsy!" Uzume yelled.
"It's little me, hey!"
Neptune fell down and Nepgear caught her in her arms. Bags followed her down and fell onto the floor.
"Woo, nice catch Junior!" Neptune proudly said. "Hey girls! Uzume, hi, how are ya, big me, glad to see you- waaaaaaaaait."
"Uhm, it's a long story but I'm so glad you're back." Nepgear said. "Is anyone else coming? Compa? IF? Uni? Falcom maybe?"
"Sorry Junior, none of the wives are coming to help. They got a lot of their own problems like the hospital food back at home, I got Ambi to deal with all of it. So, I'm all the help you got, but check this out!"
Neptune got out of Nepgear's arms and opened up the bags on the floor. She took out cases with bottles of green and yellow liquid along with boxes of blue candies.
"I got us experieeeence!" Neptune announced. "Let's get jacked and storm this dungeon!"
"Oh! That'll work! Wow, you must have spent a lot of credits on all of these!"
"Haha, yeah, spent, I did that, uhm, by the way who's this sexy goddess of beauty I see over here?"
"Oh, right, this is you but uhm… actually, I think it would be better if she introduces herself."
"I am you from the future!" Nep stated. "Quickly, there's no time to explain! Nah I'm kidding, but I'm dimension hopping big Neptune! I'm you from a dimension where you never became the goddess!"
"Wooowww, so that's how I would look if I retired. Not bad, I might actually do that when we get back."
"Retire? Whaaaat?"
"Uhm, in our dimension goddesses are allowed to retire during shift periods." Nepgear explained. "They lose their goddess powers and they live life as a normal human, but a new goddess is born shortly after. Either that or a candidate takes their place."
Nep nodded as Neptune smashed the bottles of liquid onto the ground.
"WHOA wait Nepsy!" Uzume called out. "Hey hey, what are you doing?! Shouldn't we be drinking those?"
"Oh, nah, these taste awful so it's much more effective to just throw them on the ground. Besides, it's AOE and it has basically the same effect as drinking so why would you even bother?"
"I guess we don't have to clean up and I do feel a bit stronger…"
After Neptune finished smashing all the bottles and the group ate all the candy, they took a deep breath and looked down a street.
"We're ready." Nepgear said confidently.
"Righty-ho! You ready big me?" Neptune asked.
"Right with ya little me!" Nep stated.
"I've… I've never been at such a high level before, hahaha, this is pretty damn great!" Uzume said.
"Right?" Neptune asked. "It's awesome, now what are we doing here again?"
"We're gonna kick Dark Purple's butt." Uzume said confidently. "Cause Big Nepsy here said that we should before moving onto Kurome, or dark me, or whatever."
"Oh, Kurome? Isn't she on our side? She's the one who brought me here after all. It would have taken me at least a week to wait for Histoire to build something for me to steal, but I found Kurome in a mirror and she gave me another grey device!"
"What? Really?" Nepgear asked.
"See I told you girls that she's a nice girl!" Nep exclaimed.
"That's… what?" Uzume asked. "Then why would she want us kidnapped in the first place? Do we have a tracking device on us? Is this a trap?"
"Wouldn't… wouldn't we be killed already if she wanted us dead?" Nepgear asked. "There's- there are multiple more effective ways of getting rid of us if that was her goal."
"Oh my gosh, we already had this conversation before!" Nep exclaimed. "Come on girls, let's just go already! Enough talk, chop chop! Let's hurry up and win so I can eat a cup of pudding!"
"*Gasp* I forgot the pudding!" Neptune screamed.
"YOU WHAT?! IMPOSTER! SHE'S NOT A REAL NEPTUNE!"
Nep grabbed Neptune and began to shake her aggressively. Uzume opened her mouth, but then quickly noticed a wolf monster growling at them from an alleyway. She stared at the monster as it slowly backed away into the dark. She looked around in other alleyways to see spiders, snakes, and ghosts doing the same thing.
"Wow, guys, it looks like the monsters are scared of us now." Uzume noted.
"I- I guess we really are that high level." Nepgear said.
"Ugh! I can't believe this dimension!" Nep said. "Whatever, let's go win already!"
"Oogh, I wonder if this is how Histy feels whenever we throw her on a paper airplane…" Neptune whispered to herself.
The group walked down the street and looked around as they did. Uzume looked down at her watch, then pointed at their left and they proceeded down. Nepgear slowed down and walked by Neptune watching Nep and Uzume in front of her.
"I- I'm glad you're back Neptune. Really, I am. But uhm, Histoire seemed pretty desperate to have you back. Are you sure this was a good idea?" Nepgear asked.
"Honestly Junior? I thought ya'll would still be like stuck in a cage or something." Neptune said. "But lucky me! "I" came in clutch and saved you already hehehe."
"I- I know but… it wouldn't really be worth much if… if Planeptune was destroyed right?"
"Well, I asked Ambi and she said it would all be fine. I trust Ambi cause I'm too lazy to find things out myself and make a decision. I don't even know what she got so worried about, but I gave her my inventory so she'll be fine. Oh yeah, I brought this!"
Neptune reached into her bag and took out a long black and neon purple katana. She smiled as she placed a small device on the sheath and attacked the katana to her side.
"If you need a weapon I gotcha, now where is-"
"Oh no, I- I have to focus on healing." Nepgear said. "We uhm, we found the legendary sword Gehaburn Histoire talked about. One of the uhm, one of Gamindustri's secret weapons I guess."
"Ooo, nice! Big damage huh? Also, where's that witch lady that threw a fireball at me? That kinda hurt, I wanna tell her what's what!"
"I… I don't know. Maybe she'll make another appearance."
"Well all the little monsters are safe and tiny Iffy and Compa are with their adult counterparts so no need to worry about them!"
"Did you happen to bring a share crystal Nepsy?" Uzume asked.
"I actually thought of that," Neptune started. "But even if I switched to a bard and seduced the guards, there would be no way for me to enter Histoire's vault. Do not turn that into an innuendo!"
"Should… we go back and look for one?" Nepgear asked.
"That might be a good idea…" Uzume said.
As the group discussed with each other, a murder of bone crows flew around above them. They swooped down and landed on debris surrounding the group.
"Hey look at that, it's the crows again!" Neptune said.
"Finally, ya'll are here." White Heart's voice said through the crow.
"Huh?!" Nepgear asked.
"Yo, Blanc! How's it been? What's good?"
"Blanc can talk through birds in this dimension?!" Nep asked. "That's awesome!"
"Uhm, hello." Uzume said.
"Neptune, we're all stuck and I can't find where we are. But I did hear from this weird dark version of that orange girl that if the giant is defeated, we'll be free and we can help you again. Here, I heard you needed this."
The crow opened its mouth and revealed a small pink crystal. Neptune took it, and felt warmth in her hands.
"It's… kinda small dontcha think? Couldn't you have gotten anything bigger?" Neptune asked.
"Fucking excuse me you little shit?!" White Heart asked. "I spent all day learning how to fly one of these damn things for your ungrateful bitch ass, KILL THAT GIANT WHORE BEFORE I BREAK OUT OF WHATEVER I'M IN AND KILL IT MYSELF!"
"Aye aye captain!" Neptune replied with a smile.
Neptune ran down the street and Nepgear quickly followed her. Nep and Uzume stared at the crows flying away for a second before following them.
"Did you have to make Blanc mad?" Nepgear asked.
"Nope, but it was funny so I'd say it was worth getting yelled at." Neptune replied.
"I'm… I'm a little glad I never met her now." Uzume commented. "She's a little scary."
"Nah don't worry she's only verbally abusive." Nep said. "She's only physically abusive when she transforms. It's really easy to not piss her off if you're trying to not piss her off so just don't and you should be okay."
"Uh, okay. I'll try to keep that in mind."
As they made their way towards the giant, Neptune tossed the share crystal to Uzume. She held it in her hands as she slowed down allowing the others to stay ahead of her.
"We're getting way too lucky…" Uzume said to herself. "First Big Nepsy saves us, then Nepsy comes out of nowhere with supplies, then another goddess magically takes control of her birds and gives us a share crystal? Should I be suspicious or should I be grateful?"
Uzume looked up at the cloudy skies. She then turned her head and looked at a broken mirror through the window of a store.
"What do you want…" Uzume asked herself. "What is your plan here? What's going on?"
"Uzume, hurry up!" Neptune exclaimed.
"Coming Nepsy!"
Uzume glanced at the broken mirror again before dashing forward to where she heard Neptune's voice. They continued down the street and as they walked, monsters would run away from them and into alleyways or down other streets. They watched as a clear path was made between them and Dark Purple's feet.
"Here we are, let's go!" Neptune said.
"Alright. HEY!" Uzume called out.
Dark Purple turned around and looked down at the group as a bright white pillar of light covered Uzume. Orange Heart threw her arm into the air and orange light came from her shield.
"Sharing field, activate!" Orange Heart announced.
Once the orange light faded, the group was standing on a floating platform in a dark blue room-like area with Dark Purple standing in the middle. The platform was raised high enough so that they were able to see Dark Purple face to face.
White light engulfed Neptune and Nepgear as well. Purple Heart and Purple Sister quickly dashed to Orange Heart's side and they all stared at Dark Purple.
"I can take this seriously Neptune, but I need time." Purple Sister said.
"Uzume, we need to make space for Nepgear." Purple Heart said. "We'll both flank around to the left while Nepgear stays here with the other me."
"Wait, I can't fly like ya'll can!" Nep exclaimed.
"Don't worry, Orange Heart will take care of it!" Orange Heart announced.
Orange Heart thrusted her arms to the side and at the edges of the platform, large drum-like bounce pads formed from pixels and particles. Lights began to light up all over Dark Purple's body and it shot out a blast from it's hand cannon. Orange Heart picked up Nep and helped her dodge.
"Nice!" Nep said.
"Teehee~. Nepsy's levels really helped Orange Heart out!" Orange Heart replied.
"Ah, speaking of, I'm high enough level to grant you a boost Nepgear." Purple Heart said.
"Yes, if it has projectiles like that it might be better for someone with more HP and Defense to protect me." Purple Sister said.
Dark Purple shot the platform from below and the group quickly separated. Nep and Orange Heart jumped to the platform on the left while Purple Heart and Purple Sister flew to the right.
"Hurry, I will protect you." Purple Heart said with her katana pointed at Dark Purple.
Purple Sister nodded, then she kneeled down and planted both of her hands on the ground as light covered her entire body similarly to her personal barrier. Dark Purple swung it's arm downwards onto Purple Heart and she turned her body to block with her katana vertically.
"Hurg!" Purple Heart grunted.
Dark Purple continued to press her arm on top of Purple Heart as orange ripples began to come from Orange Heart's body and onto her hands. She jumped into the air, then thrusted her arms at Dark Purple shooting larger orange ripples at it.
"HAAAAAA!" Orange Heart screamed.
Dark Purple turned around, then staggered backwards as it slapped Orange Heart down onto the platform.
"Come on Croire, do something!" Nep begged.
"Me?! You do something! You dragged me into this, I didn't do nothing!"
"Oh come on, can't you give me wings or something?!"
"How about I just give you that equipment you found at that girl's base thing. Armor's gotta be useful right?"
"Oh right, I bet that was super powerful indestructible armor to match the super sword! Good thinking Croire!"
Nep opened her book as Purple Heart slashed at Dark Purple's face. Dark Purple head butted at Purple Heart who attempted to fly out of the way, but was hit by the edge of Dark Purple's helmet.
"Augh, Nepgear!" Purple Heart called out.
"It's done!" Purple Sister replied.
Purple Heart dodged a laser blast to see Purple Sister flying towards her. Purple Sister wore a pure black bikini with a black head piece. Her circular bee-like wings were a slightly darker shade of pink and she dropped her weapon while flying towards Purple Heart.
"Wing me Neptune!" Purple Sister called out.
"Understood."
Purple Heart and Purple Sister glanced at each other for a second before pounding their wrists together to make a small cross. As Purple Heart ducked and weaved by Dark Purple swinging her arms, she threw her katana at Purple Sister and flew up into the air. While Purple Sister grabbed the katana and dodged a laser, neon light lines shined from Purple Heart's body as it quickly folded inside out until no skin could be seen, black metal and neon purple lines replaced it. Sheets of metal folded into place to take the shape of a sleek fighter jet.
Dark Purple attempted to swing it's arm downwards onto Orange Heart, but missiles were fired from Purple Heart and they hit Dark Purple's head. Dark Purple swung her arm at Purple Heart but she boosted upwards to dodge the swing before descending down towards Purple Sister.
Purple Heart then started to condense and fold until she became a pair of jet wings. Dark Purple aimed at Purple Heart and fired, but Purple Sister flew up and locked her wings into Purple Heart and was blasted by the laser.
Purple Sister flew back from the explosion, but stabilized herself as latches came out of Purple Heart locking the wings with Purple Sister's bikini. Purple Sister took a deep breath as she looked up and quickly flew away to dodge another laser.
"I- we took a direct blow Neptune, are you okay?" Purple Sister asked.
"I'm fine. Hurry now, we have to gain speed quickly."
Purple Sister continued to fly in circles around Dark Purple getting faster every cycle. Dark Purple attempted to fire at Orange Heart, but her wrist was slashed multiple times and knocked to the side.
"Yikes!" Nep exclaimed. "My demon sister is gonna carry again! Although I've never seen that skill in my dimension before… eh whatever, get up Uzume!"
Orange Heart stumbled down on her back again and she took a deep breath.
"Ow… Orange Heart didn't realize how much damage Dark Purple could do." Orange Heart said.
"If you're good to die, you're good to fly! Hurry up or we're boned!"
"Oh, Orange Heart doesn't have a weapon! Big Nepsy, would you pretty pretty please give Orange Heart something to use? That would be super duper!"
"Gotcha, here you go!"
Nep tossed Orange Heart Gehaburn and she smiled as she grabbed it.
"Yay! Thank you Big Nepsy! Now with the power of my friends here with me, we won't lose!" Orange Heart announced.
Orange Heart jumped up and flew towards Dark Purple, correcting her own flight along the way. Dark Purple continued to swing wildly at Purple Sister who became nothing but a blur slashing at Dark Purple and firing missiles.
Dark Purple noticed Orange Heart flying towards her, then aimed it's laser at her. While doing so, Purple Sister slashed at Dark Purple's arm but Dark Purple swung it's arm around at that moment knocking Purple Sister out of the air.
"Gah- Agh!" Purple Sister grunted.
"I gotchu sis!" Nep called out.
Nep ran around the platform in blue armor and carrying a heavy blue shield along with a blue spear. She wore a medieval visor that was only attached to a leather strap and the spear was chained to her gauntlet. A scaly cape fluttered in behind her on her back as she dropped her spear and shield to catch Purple Sister.
"No! Wait, it's a bad idea!" Purple Sister yelled.
Purple Sister crashed into Nep and they both fell down to the ground skidding across the platform.
"OW! AUGH! FRICK!" Nep exclaimed.
"Sorry! Are- are you okay Neptune?"
"I'm fine! I'm more worried about-"
"Yes Nepgear. I'm… oh."
"Well uhm… dah, whatever! Uzume!" Nepgear called out.
Orange Heart slashed at Dark Purple's head shattering it's invisible dark purple barrier instantly. Dark Purple stumbled backwards from the impact and aimed it's cannon upwards at Orange Heart. Purple Sister quickly dashed forward and leaped off the platform. Purple Heart's jet thrusters ignited and shot Purple Sister towards the cannon and she thrusted Purple Heart's katana straight through the wrist.
Dark Purple swung its arm around from the stab and roared at the air. While doing so, it saw Orange Heart staring down at her with Gehaburn over her head.
"Today is the day Orange Heart is finally the winner! This is for everyone you killed!" Orange Heart announced.
Orange Heart swung Gehaburn downwards while her wings disappeared causing her to fall down. Gehaburn sank into Dark Purple's head and it roared at the sky again. Dark Purple's cannon arms were shot by purple lightning revealing normal arms with metallic claw-gauntlets. It's wings flexed and they appeared to grow bigger as a large red power button thrusted out of the top of it's broken helmet. The center of it's chest began to glow bright orange as it flapped its wings and flew towards the sky.
"You're not getting away, not from Orange Heart, not this time!" Orange Heart announced.
Orange Heart resummoned her wings and flew after Dark Purple. As Dark Purple flew higher, the sharing field shattered like glass. Purple Sister saw the ruins of Planeptune around her again, then looked up and saw Orange Heart still flying after Dark Purple.
"Neptune, we have to go up and help her!" Purple Sister said.
"Certainly." Purple Heart replied.
Purple Heart's thrusters ignited again and Purple Sister flew off towards Dark Purple and Orange Heart. Nep stared at them from ground level and sighed.
"Man I thought I'd get to play a bigger part this time around." Nep said.
"Hah, what a loser." Croire teased.
A portal opened up behind Nep and Kurome's arm stuck out and grabbed her by the cape.
"Yoink." Kurome said.
"Wha-"
Kurome pulled Nep into the portal and the portal closed quickly. Meanwhile Purple Heart continued to fly towards Orange Heart, then squinted her eyes and saw Dark Purple glowing brighter.
"Is- is it going to self-destruct?!" Purple Sister asked.
"That… of course, why wouldn't it? I feel ashamed that I didn't think about that." Purple Heart said. "It would be logical that if anyone wanted to destroy any city, they'd place a nuke inside their giant attack machine."
"We have to go faster Neptune!" Purple Sister yelled.
"I'll go as fast as I can Nepgear, but I admit that something is bothering me. Uzume's sharing field is destroyed, how are we still transformed?"
"We'll figure that out later! We must save Uzume, we must!"
"Understood."
Purple Sister continued to fly while Orange Heart slashed at Dark Purple's face again. Dark Purple's visor shattered. Bright blue eyes with yellow power buttons in the middle glared at Orange Heart as Dark Purple raised it's arm to press the power button on it's helmet.
"Nope! Not on Orange Heart's watch!" Orange Heart said.
Orange Heart slashed Dark Purple's wrist, but the sword couldn't reach the other end of the wrist and the hand still pressed the button. The orange light in the center shone even brighter, nearly blinding her like sunlight. Orange Heart watched as Dark Purple's body began to compress, then explode knocking Orange Heart and Purple sister back.
Purple Sister struggled to stabilize herself from the winds, but she flew up to Orange Heart and caught her.
"I got you!" Purple Sister yelled. "I got you Uzume!"
"Agh, Gearsy… ow…"
Purple Sister looked at the source of the winds to see it suck in its surroundings becoming black for a moment, then thrusting everything out in a second pulse throwing Purple Sister back and causing her to spin while heading to the ground.
"No! Neptune! I can't control us!" Purple Sister exclaimed.
"Brace for impact!" Purple Heart commanded.
Purple Heart released Purple Sister and transformed back to her human form. She grabbed onto Purple Sister and Orange Heart as they fell onto the street creating a long crater.
The dust began to settle as Purple Heart coughed while pulling herself using the crater to sit up straight. She looked down at Purple Sister and Orange Heart in her lap and she sighed as she rested her back and arms.
"I… should have brought a backpack…" Purple Heart said. "Oh dear, where is the bigger me? No, priorities, Nepgear."
Purple Heart placed her fingers around Purple Sister's neck, and Orange Heart's neck. She let out a sigh of relief once she felt a pulse and she relaxed again.
"Ugh, my back… perhaps it would have been better if I was in jet mode…"
Purple Heart stared up at the sky and took a deep breath. She coughed out some more dust and waved her hand around her mouth, then looked up at the sky again. She sighed as she looked down and saw Orange Heart still unconscious, but beginning to smile.
"Ah, yes, that's right." Purple Heart said. "We finally won. All that's left now is the mystery of Kurome. I suppose Uzume is having a good dream right now."
Purple Heart slowly began to push herself up and out of the crater, but felt pain in her arms, legs, and back as she did. She grunted as she slowly rose and sat up on the edge of the crater. She carefully picked Purple Sister and Orange Heart on her shoulders, then looked around where she was.
All the buildings were in ruins and crumbled, nothing higher than a first floor building could be seen. Purple Heart walked for a bit more, then looked up at the sky and saw bright lights piercing the clouds.
"Goddesses?" Purple Heart whispered to herself.
Purple Heart squinted her eyes and saw a grey light, a dark green light, a blue light, and one comet that seemed to be absorbing the light surrounding it. Purple Heart saw the comets flying towards her location and quickly lowered Orange Heart and Purple Sister to shield them.
Loud impact was made behind Purple Heart and dust flew around her. She held Purple Sister and Orange Heart tightly, then once the dust settled again she looked behind her.
Three giants the same size and same shape as Dark Purple stood towering above her. One had dark green neon lights, one had white neon lights, and one had dark blue lights. In the middle stood a lady Purple Heart's size.
She wore a black and white bodysuit with white gauntlets and two horn-like head pieces. She had long black leggings and a large wide toothy grin with brackets and bags around her eyes. Her wings were extremely bulky and large compared to Purple Heart's with nearly no glass-like material except for the neon blue lights on them. When Purple Heart squinted her eyes, she saw that the wings were even attached to the lady.
"Oh that's rich, you three fell right for it!" The lady laughed. "Shouldn't have told your plans right at the enemy's face, idiot!"
"For crying out loud… really?" Purple Heart asked. "Well at least we can talk… could we reach some sort of agreement? I'm sure neither of us want to fight."
"On the contrary, I really really want to fight you! But go on, talk, amuse me. Waste your breath to make our fight easier for me!"
"Are you responsible for everything? What do you want?" Purple Heart asked.
"I want you goddesses gone, all of you!" The lady announced. "Simple, right? Can you understand that?"
"Is.. that it? Any other reason? If you wanted to change the law, you could have discussed with Blanc and Noire… or, actually, they don't exist in this dimension do they, who are you even? You travelled here like a goddess, are you one yourself?"
"Yeah, I hate myself too. That's why I'm gonna kill all the goddesses and then myself. No more goddesses, none of them!"
"Good luck. Even if you kill us, the shares of the people will just make a new one."
"Hahahahaha, I forgot you were left in the dark. News flash: you were replaced with a psycho and nobody trusts goddesses anymore! They're all gone, no more shares for you! Now the golden towers will rise and humans will make the rules for Gamindustri, just as intended!"
"That… sounds like nonsense. I never did much in Planeptune anyway, most of the rules were elected democratically. All I've done was fight monsters. I doubt people would lose faith in goddesses entirely. After all, we've been absent for long periods of time before."
"Tch, lies. No rules are made without the approval of goddesses!"
"Well that's true, but that's Noire's job. I just make sense out of it. And most of Noire's decisions are peer pressured by her generals anyway, the only nation that has their goddess in full control is Lowee and Blanc does everything by the law. Essentially, we are just guardians. Perhaps you're thinking of the old goddesses, would you like to see the future?"
"Keep telling yourself that, you can't lie forever! I've seen the truth, I know what you goddesses do these days behind the shadows!"
"Have you seen the truth, or have you taken a large amount of steal energy? Please, this doesn't have to end with violence."
"Bah, steal energy, share energy, share energy is nothing but goddess propaganda! Steal energy reveals the truth!"
"And yet everyone who took steal energy has the desire to hurt and kill others."
"That's right, cause violence is the only way to make your statement heard! Don't lecture me, don't act innocent! Don't ignore all the people you killed for your own personal gain!"
"I did use violence, but as a last resort. Violence means nothing without proper words and reasoning. Trust me when I tell you, killing the goddesses will do nothing but leave Gamindustri in a worse state than it is now. You'll act with violence, then the new rulers will act with violence, and more will die."
The lady smiled as she summoned a long black staff with white edges from pixels and particles. She flourished with it, spinning it around with her wrists and fingers, then pointed at Purple Heart with it.
"How about I beat you to a pulp, then drag you back and show you how wrong you are?! Maybe then you'll plead and beg and finally respect my opinion, no, my hard work and theories based on facts and research!"
"We'll see…"
Purple Heart summoned her katana and raised it above her head. She took a deep breath as she slowly stepped forward while the lady did the same. The lady smiled, then her pupils thinned as she dashed towards Purple Heart. Purple Heart swung her katana downwards as she did and the lady blocked it with her staff.
The lady then thrusted her knee at Purple Heart who stepped backwards to dodge. With her knee up, she kicked forward forcing Purple Heart to dodge backwards again. Purple Heart quickly glanced at Orange Heart and Purple Sister, still unconscious behind her.
The lady swung her staff horizontally with two arms. Purple Heart blocked it with a grunt, then grabbed onto the staff and pulled on it. The lady released her grip on the staff and Purple Heart held it in her hand, but saw it fade into pixels and particles. The staff was resummoned in the lady's hands and she smiled at Purple Heart.
"Tired? Here, have some water. SIKE IT'S POISON!" The lady exclaimed.
"I… think you have to offer me the water first." Purple Heart said while taking deep breaths.
"I- I knew that…"
The lady jabbed at Purple Heart with her staff. Purple Heart knocked it away with her katana. The lady then overhead swung her staff down at Purple Heart who had her katana on her back ready to cause the staff to slide down.
A split second later, Purple Heart remembered Purple Sister and Orange Heart on the ground behind her, so she quickly pulled her blade to face up, simply blocking the staff swing. Purple Heart saw the lady pull her staff back, then swing horizontally towards Purple Heart's right.
Purple Heart jumped over the staff and stabbed at the lady. She dodged to the left and jabbed Purple Heart with her staff.
"Guh!" Purple Heart grunted. "Ugh…"
The lady then dashed towards Purple Heart. Purple Heart swung horizontally at her, then the lady blocked the katana with her gauntlet. Purple Heart released her left hand's grip from her katana and attempted to block the staff with her arm, but the lady weaved the staff by her arm and knocked Purple Heart upward with it.
Purple Heart flew up for a bit, then the lady spun the staff around, knocking Purple Heart's feet causing her to spin around, then smacking the side of her head knocking her out cold.