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

I wanted to get this chapter out yesterday, but I was too tired to do so. So here you go.


Chapter 36

"Man, you're still just as strong as ever." C-Sha chuckled as she finished her mock fight against Rom and Ram. "Well, how'd I do?"

The twins looked at each other and smiled, giving C-Sha a thumbs up. "You pass!" They cheered at the same time.

"Thanks." C-Sha smiled at them. "To be honest, even with what's left my Gold Crystal, I'm nowhere near as strong as I was when I fought the CPUs back in the arena."

They nodded in understanding. "It's fine." Rom smiled at C-Sha. "You're still plenty strong."

"We need to get back to Planeptune." Ram told C-Sha. "I'm sure that Nepgear got S-Sha and Uni got K-Sha to join up."

"Heh, who would have thought that we'd be saving the CPUs?" C-Sha chuckled as she followed after Rom and Ram out of the city and to the light roads that would lead to Planeptune in a short period of time.

(-)

After returning to the Basilicom and exchanging greetings, Histoire nodded to Nepgear. "Alright, this is the console that you used to get trapped in the Zero Dimension in the first place, correct?" She gestured to the white console with orange swirl mark on it.

Nepgear nodded. "Yes. If I'm right, it should take us close to where I was last time." Histoire nodded and when everyone indicated that they were ready, she turned on the console and watched as the CPU Candidates, Gold Third, IF and Compa were sucked inside. After the portal closed, she turned it off and sighed.

"You seem upset, Master Histoire, dood." Pudding said as he looked at the book fairy.

Histoire gave Pudding a sad smile. "I'm just remembering when I sent the CPUs and Nepgear to the Gamindustri Graveyard, they ended up being defeated and sealed away for over three years."

"Only three years, dood?" Pudding asked and tilted his head. "Master Neptune's dealt with worse."

"I..." Histoire trailed off and felt her shoulders slump. "It's my job to help assist the CPUs when I can, but I feel like I fail at my job when things are most important."

Pudding bounced there a little bit before tilting his head. "But Master Neptune spoke very highly of you." Histoire gave him a confused look. "She always calls the Histoire of the other world "Mini-Histy" and you "Histy" and she always said that she wished that Histy was around when things got difficult, dood."

"...Neptune did?" Histoire asked softly and Pudding nodded.

"That's right, dood!" Pudding nodded. "But, what should we do with this console? Didn't the bad guys want this console for something?"

"Indeed." Histoire said and looked at it for three seconds before looking at Pudding. "I need you to do something for me."

When Histoire explained her plan, Pudding saluted her. "Leave it to me, Master Histoire, dood!" He then turned and walked off, leaving Histoire alone.

"...Even after a thousand years Neptune thought that highly of me?" Histoire asked herself, smiling.

(-)

Elsewhere...

"So this is Zero Dimension, huh?" C-Sha asked as the group, sans Nepgear, got their first look at the new dimension.

"Scary." Rom shivered as she saw distant cracks in the sky, which was green for some reason. Plus she couldn't feel much life around her, it felt like an empty world.

"It looks like a war happened here." K-Sha pointed out as she looked around. Buildings were crumbling, the roads were a mess and everything looked so weird.

"Blame the Dark CPUs for that." Nepgear said and looked around. "Okay, I think Uzume's base was in that direction there." She pointed to the South and East.

"Well," Uni shrugged, "it's not like we have any other leads. Let's go."

"Right!" The others nodded and the ten left the area behind.

A moment later a fish floated out from behind a tree. "Was that... Gearsy?" The fish asked in confusion. "I must let Uzume know." He turned and floated off. He might not have known why Nepgear was in Zero Dimension again, but he was sure that Uzume would be happy to see her.

(-)

When the group got to Uzume's base, they started to look around, with Nepgear and Uni trying to find Uzume, but the rest...

"Woah!" Ram's eyes sparkled as she looked around. "This is so cool!" She opened a drawer and was disappointed all she saw was a couple of screwdrivers and screws.

"It's like a secret base!" B-Sha declared, her eyes sparkling. "Man! If Uzume was a super hero, this would be her secret headquarters, wouldn't it?"

Nepgear laughed nervously. "That sounds like her. If she thought it would be cool, she'd do it." It was how she had talked Uzume into embracing her inner nudist and take an outdoor bath in the open air not once but twice after all.

Memories of when Uzume had gotten excited over things that Nepgear had thought were cool flooded her mind and she sighed. 'Uzume, why did you..?'

"Are you okay, Ge Ge?" Compa asked, looking at Nepgear with concern. "You suddenly got pale for some reason."

"I'm fine, Compa." Nepgear answered, smiling softly. "Just remembering the first time I met Uzume, that's all." She looked up as IF, C-Sha and Uni came in from the roof. "Nothing?"

"Nothing." IF shook her head.

"Alright then," Nepgear nodded, "let's try her other place out. She might be there. It's to the North."

"Hey, Nepgear..." Uni began as the others left. "How will you handle seeing Uzume again? I know you got close to her."

Nepgear sighed softly. "...I don't know. She... She seemed like such a good person too." She gave Uni a desperate look. "...If I start to break down like a crybaby like I used to..."

Uni nodded at her. "Don't worry, if you start to break down, I'll help keep you focused."

"Thanks, Uni." Nepgear smiled at her friend. "I feel better now."

"No problem. And don't worry." Uni gave Nepgear a grin. "I'll smack you upside the head if I have to."

"Um..." Nepgear sweat-dropped. "Please go easy on me." She fidgeted and poked her fingers together. "I know that I wasn't easy to deal with when I had my mental breakdown."

Uni gave her a flat stare. "Not easy to deal with, she says... Girl, you tried to turn your Basilicom into a giant robot that would combine with the other Basilicoms in an attempt to rip open the fabric of space and time to get Neptune back." Nepgear blushed as she remembered doing that.

"I think that was the only time Histoire didn't need three of anything to make an emergency call for you all to come and stop me." Nepgear giggled nervously while Uni gave her a flat stare. "I'm good though. Thanks, Uni." She smiled and left after the others.

(-)

After leaving Uzume's base, the group looked around the crumbling remains of the city that the base was located in when a voice suddenly called out to Nepgear. "HEEEEY!" Nepgear gasped as she looked to her right and saw someone running up to them while waving. "Gearsy! It's been awhile." Uzume said while smiling.

As soon as Uzume got within a few feet, Uni stepped forward. "Freeze bitch!" Uni growled while pointing her gun at the redhead, who gasped and stopped, staring at the gun in shock.

"Ah, huh?" Uzume skidded to a stop. "Uh... What's going on?"

"Don't act so stupid." Uni growled while putting her finger on the trigger. "I won't hestitate to shoot and I'll only say this once, return our sisters to us now."

Seeing Uzume still looking confused, Nepgear spoke up. "Please, Uzume. I don't know why you did it, but please, return Neptune and the others." She gave the redhead a desperate, pleading look. "Please, how could you do that to them?"

"Do what?" Uzume asked, genuinely confused. What made it worse was the fact that everyone with Nepgear was giving her hostile looks that only grew by the moment. "I haven't seen Nepsy since the battle against that Dark CPU."

"That's a lie." Uni growled as she squeezed the grip of her gun. "Nepgear and I saw you use the Dark CPU to carry our sisters off."

"Wait, what?" Uzume gasped in surprise.

"I thought you were my friend." Nepgear pleaded with Uzume. "Please, return our sisters to us." She couldn't help the desperation that was in her voice.

"Yeah! That's right!" Ram demanded.

"Give them back!" Rom demanded as well.

"What are you all talking about? A Dark CPU?" Uzume didn't know what was going on, but those words at least made sense to her.

"Don't make me shoot you." Uni growled at Uzume.

"Fine! Shoot me! I don't care!" Uzume told her. "But tell me about the Dark CPU! Which way did it go?"

"Fine!" Uni squeezed down on the trigger, but just before she fired, Nepgear grabbed the gun and pointed it into the sky. "Nepgear?!"

"Hold on, Uni." Nepgear gave her a look and Uni sighed, easing her finger off the trigger. "This is more like the Uzume I know, not the one we saw."

Uzume just looked more confused than ever. "Would someone PLEASE EXPLAIN WHAT'S GOING ON ALREADY?!" Everyone else winced and Uzume blushed and pressed her fingers against each other in embarrassment. "Sorry, Gearsy, I didn't mean to shout that loud."

"It's alright." Nepgear told her.

*Five minutes later...*

"I see..." Uzume muttered as the group had went back to her temporary base and explained the situation to her. "Well then, I guess the rumors I heard were true then."

"Rumors?" Nepgear asked.

"Yeah." Uzume nodded to her. "One of the babybugs said that there was a Dark CPU that went flying around last night, but I couldn't believe him. Still, Umio and I went around scouting to make sure that there was no Dark CPU."

"Speaking of whom... Where is he?" Nepgear asked as she looked around.

"He should be here soon." Uzume told her. "So, while we wait..." She trailed off as Compa raised a hand. "Uh... Compsy?" Uzume asked, trying to remember who the fluffy-looking girl was.

"Yep yep!" Compa smiled. "I was wondering. How did you and Ge Ge meet?"

"...Didn't I tell you?" Nepgear asked in confusion.

"Well, you only said you met her when you got here, but I wanna know what happened in more detail." Compa answered.

"Well, if you want to know..." Uzume trailed off and looked at Nepgear, who nodded that it was okay. "Okay, so it happened like this..."

*Flash*

Nepgear gasped as the strange redheaded girl suddenly jumped at her and used a megaphone of all things to attack her. "What did I do?!" She asked and ignited her beam saber to block the attack.

The two clashed for a few more moments before Nepgear was able to kick the redhead away and pant. "Please! Wait!" Nepgear cried out. "I don't even know where I am! Or what's going on or anything!"

The redhead gave Nepgear a look for a few moments before becoming more relaxed. "You really don't know?" Nepgear shook her head. "Ah, shoot!" The redhead smiled nervously. "I'm sorry. My name's Uzume Tennouboushi and I really screwed up, huh?"

"My name's Nepgear." She smiled at Uzume.

"Nepgear, huh?" Uzume muttered as she mused upon the name. "Kind of a mouthful..." She snapped her fingers. "Alright! Your new name is Nepsy!" When she saw Nepgear flinch and look away with a sad look on her face, Uzume gave her a look of concern. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"It's just..." Nepgear sighed. "Nep was always my big sister's thing. I haven't seen her in so long."

"What happened?" Uzume asked as she wondered if she walked onto a bad landmine. When Nepgear looked unsure, Uzume smiled at her. "Hey, Gearsy, if you're feeling down about something, it's always best to get it off your chest. And don't worry, as the CPU of this land, I won't tell anyone anything you tell me."

"You're a CPU?" Nepgear asked and Uzume nodded at her. When Uzume smiled, Nepgear felt herself smiling a little bit as well. "Well..." She sighed and thought back. "It started about... I think six or seven years ago now. Shortly after I gained the ability to transform, a group called ASIC lead by the Deity of Sin appeared and..." Nepgear trailed off as Uzume's face went pale and her pupils shrank before she staggered back and gripped her head. "Uzume?"

"I..." Uzume grimaced. 'That name...' For some reason she was seeing images of a pale-skinned witch and a giant four-armed red bug. "Sorry, just a sudden headache. You can continue."

Nepgear looked at her in confusion, but nodded. "Okay, well... My sister and I, as well as the other CPUs of our world went to the Gamindustri Graveyard to face down someone named CFW Magic." She blushed and looked down. "We lost horribly and we all ended up being tied up with tentacle cables for three years."

"EWW!" Uzume's eyes went white and blank. "Like tentacles are super icky and gross! Uzume doesn't want to think of what naughty things happened to Gearsy and the others! It must have been bad." Nepgear stared at Uzume in shock before Uzume coughed a few times and took a deep breath. "Y-Yeah, that must have been really bad."

Nepgear was confused but decided to not comment on it. "Well, three years later, I was freed from the graveyard and gathered the other CPU Candidates."

"Wait, there were other CPU Candidates?" Uzume asked and Nepgear nodded. "Why didn't they go with you the first time?"

"They couldn't transform yet." Nepgear answered, remembering her sister asking Noire and Blanc why their little sisters hadn't come with. "After getting them to agree to help me, we rescued our sisters and dealt with ASIC. But then..." Nepgear sighed and her shoulders slumped. "Three years ago, Neptune and I were dealing with some people who weren't too happy with how Neptune was ruling the nation and when she was alone..." Nepgear's eyes started to water up. "She was sent to another dimension and..."

When Nepgear started to cry, Uzume instantly went to her and gave her a hug. "It's okay, Gearsy, I understand, shhh..." She rocked back and forth while Nepgear hugged her and cried into her chest. "It still hurts, huh?" She asked after Nepgear stopped crying.

Nepgear nodded and let go of the hug. "I'm sorry. Even with my friends help, I still sometimes..."

"Hey, it's okay." Uzume gave Nepgear a thumb's up. "I'm sure that you'll see your sister again."

"Thanks." Nepgear smiled at Uzume.

*End Flashback*

Uni sighed and gave Nepgear a dirty look. "Seriously, Nepgear, you're so frustrating."

"Yeah!" Ram nodded while Nepgear blushed. "This is why Uni is a switch-hitter!"

"That's right, I'm..." Uni's eyes went wide and her face turned pale. "HEY!" She spun and yelled at Ram. "Knock it off with that or people will think weird things about me!"

"If it makes you feel better, Unisy," Uzume smiled at the CPU Candidate, who gave her a confused look, "that was the only time Gearsy broke down crying while she was here."

Uni sighed and huffed in annoyance. "I guess that's a little better."

Nepgear just smiled nervously. "Well..."

A moment later, a fish with a human face floated into the room. "Ah, Uzume, Gearsy, it's good to see you're both here."

"Whaaa?!" Rom and Ram gasped at the same time.

"C-C-Creepy..." Uni gasped in shock while C-Sha muttered something about cooking the fish.

"Umio." Uzume looked at her friend. "What's going on?"

"It's as we feared." Umio told her. "A Dark CPU was flying through here last night, but it's weird."

"Weird?" Uzume asked him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"It went North-East."

"But there's nothing there." Uzume said in confusion. "So why..?"

"I have no clue." Umio shook his head. "But the fact remains..." He trailed off as Uzume nodded.

"Yeah." She looked at the others. "Sorry, but this needs to be dealt with."

"We're coming with you." IF told Uzume. "It's likely that the Dark CPU, where Nep is and the fake Uzume are all connected and we'll find the answers in that direction."

"Speaking of fakes..." S-Sha said as she looked at Uzume. "Do you know of any fake CPUs?"

Uzume shook her head. "No, I have no clue, I never met anyone who wasn't a sentient monster until I met Gearsy." She looked at Umio. "No offense."

"None taken." Umio smiled and winked at her.

"Then perhaps what we have is someone who wants to get revenge on Nep and saw Uzume and copied her mannerisms?" IF suggested. When everyone gave her confused looks, she sighed. "It was something my guild instructor told me. That in life you make enemies and the longer you live the more enemies you make."

"And Neptune's been alive for almost eleven hundred years." Nepgear muttered. "And Ouya and Stadia both came from the other world."

"As did Peashy." Rom answered.

"And Plutia." Uni said as she remembered what Neptune had told them.

"So we have at least four people from another dimension working with someone who impersonated me?" Uzume frowned. "Well, I owe Nepsy for her help in dealing with that Dark CPU, so if we can find her there, let's go and save her."

"YEAH!" Everyone, except S-Sha, who let out a much softer "yeah" sound, cheered at once.

After gathering up supplies, the group left.

(-)

Unknown location...

Plutia looked at where Neptune and the other CPUs were trapped in stasis pods and frowned. "What are you doing, Uzume?" Not that she expected an answer, with Uzume disappearing. "Neppy..." She walked over to the pod and frowned before pulling out a baseball bat. "Hang on!" She held the bat up and swung it as hard as she could, only for her bat to shatter upon hitting the container.

Plutia threw the broken bat away and pulled out another one. "Work!" She smashed her bat against the capsule again before pulling out another one, this one metal. "Come on!" She smashed that bat against the capsule at least three times before her bat broke. "Please!" Plutia cried out as she pulled out another bat, tears in her eyes. "Neppy! I can't..." She smashed the bat against the capsule several times before her bat broke.

The capsule had no damage to it.

Plutia slumped to her knees and she started to sob. "I... I want you back, Neppy." She put her forehead on the capsule and tears rolled down her face as she cried while she saw dark energy flooding Neptune and the other CPUs. "Don't leave me alone... Please?"

She had lost everything else in her life already. The thought of losing Neptune as well was too much for her to bear.


Happy New Years everyone. Let's hope 2021 is better than 2020.