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

Well, this chapter was something I wanted to do since the VERY beginning!


Chapter 46

"Are we all ready then?" Neptune asked as she walked into the room.

"Gee, what took you so long to come back?" Noire asked with a slightly annoyed look on her face. "It's been almost three hours since you left with your sister."

Neptune was about to answer when she saw an annoyed look on Nepgear's face and mentally sighed before shaking her head. "I had a lot to think about."

"You fell asleep, didn't you?" IF asked and Neptune gave her a shocked expression. "Well?"

"...For only twenty minutes." Neptune admitted and rubbed her eyes and everyone but Peashy and Plutia face-faulted. "...I'm good, I was just a little tired."

"Uh huh," Peashy nodded, "Neptuna sometimes falls asleep at her desk."

Plutia giggled as a memory surfaced. "Uh huuuuh..." A smile came to her face as she kept giggling softly. "One time she slept aaaaaaallll day and I doodled on her face."

"...That was permanent marker though!" Neptune protested. "It took me days to clean that off."

Plutia just gave her a smug smile. "And you deserved it every time I did it."

"...I didn't fall asleep that often at my desk." Neptune muttered at the amused looks she was getting from the other CPUs.

"I remember someone teasing me because I sometimes fell asleep at my desk when working for days straight." Noire smirked at Neptune, who stuck her tongue out in response. "Anyway, if we're all good to go then..."

Uzume nodded and walked over to the button that her other self had left them. "Well, here we go." She pushed it and suddenly there was a rumbling sound that had everyone staggering around as the ground shook. When the shaking was over, the wall that had been looking out towards the Share Crystal was no longer there and instead a large stone pathway extended from the room to the ruins of a city that most of them had never seen before.

Both Nepgear and Uzume recognized the city ruins as the one they first met in, though it looked different from what they remembered it being.

"So that's the final showdown huh?" Blanc asked as the group got on the stone steps and started to walk towards the new city. "...It looks somewhat familiar to me."

"Yes," Vert nodded as she looked at the building, "I'm reminded of Planeptune for some reason."

"NGH!" Uzume grimaced and grabbed her head as she sank to a knee. "This is..." She looked up and looked at the city, but what she saw wasn't the decaying ruins of a city, but a city that was pristine and standing tall, when she blinked, she saw the same buildings as before, but now deteriorated. "...I think I understand." She stood up and nodded at the bigger Neptune in thanks. "These ruins... They... They're based on Planeptune City."

"From your time?" Nepgear asked and Uzume nodded. "That makes sense why they seemed familiar to me but were different for some reason."

"Maybe there will be pretzels." Neptune suddenly joked as they continued to make their way into the city.

"...Pretzels?" Several people asked, though Noire was giving Neptune a weird look for some reason.

"Yeah, there was this food cart that was set up near the Basilicom." Neptune said while smiling. "Had these really yummy pretzels too. I got a bit of a stomach ache after eating so many. Too bad it was only there for one day." She blinked as there was a loud thump and she turned to look at Noire, who had fallen over. "What's wrong?"

"N...Nothing." Noire shook her head, her face red as she tried to ignore everyone's confused looks, but after seeing how Noire wasn't going to answer any questions, they continued into the city. 'I can't believe she remembered that food cart that I used to try and kill her with.' She was glad that the poison she had used had ended up being useless against Goddesses, as Neptune ended up being a good person, but she couldn't believe that it was a good memory for Neptune.

Uni gave her sister a confused look, but otherwise went into the city with the others.

(-)

Meanwhile in Hyper Dimension...

Histoire sighed and nodded at Steamax as he and the Gold Third dropped her off at the Basilicom. "I..." She trailed off as she noticed the console in Steamax's hands. "What's going on?"

"What?" Steamax asked and looked at the console and to his and everyone else's surprise, the light that indicated the console was on was flashing on and off. "...Do you think it's broken?"

"No." Histoire shook her head. "I do, however, think that something bad is going to happen soon."

"You made no effort to rescue me from being sealed away! If not for Gearsy finding my console by accident, you would have been happy to live your life and have me be a forgotten memory."

Histoire frowned softly as she thought about what Kurome had told her. '...If I truly did stand by and let the people hurt her...' She found herself gripping her head in pain. "NGH! What is..?"

*Flash*

"KILL HER!" Someone from the crowd yelled and Histoire could only stare in horror at the crowd that had formed in front of the Basilicom.

"She's a witch! She turned me into a newt!" One person yelled, causing everyone to stop and look at the person in question.

"...A newt?" Histoire asked, utterly confused.

The person nodded. "I got better, but that's besides the point!" The person pointed at Histoire. "You're protecting a dangerous person! Get her out here so we can get rid of her!"

"Please!" Histoire shook her head and held her arms out wide. "I'm sure that Uzume meant no real harm. It was an accident and..."

"NO!" The crowd yelled and Histoire flinched.

"How..?" Histoire asked herself softly as she looked at them. "How can you hate her? She wants nothing more than for all of you to be happy."

"Make her go away!" The crowd yelled and Histoire flinched, a look of betrayal and hurt on her face.

"Please, you've known her for years. Did not her heroics against the Deity of Sin matter?" She saw some children in the crowd, all of whom looked sad and upset. "Please! Think of your..."

"We are!" The crowd yelled.

For a moment, Histoire thought she saw someone in a dark hood chuckle and walk off, but she shook it off as she tried to calm the crowd down. Before she could say anything more, a hand was on her shoulder.

"It's okay, Histy." Orange Heart said sadly. "Uzume will go away. Please," she bowed to the crowd, "give Uzume three hours and Uzume will be gone forever, okay?" There was a pained expression on her face and tear-tracks down her face as she bowed to everyone. "Please, don't hurt Histy. Uzume will go away."

Those words seemed to placate the crowd as they dispersed and Histoire went into the Basilicom with Orange Heart. "Uzume, you can't..."

"Look after Planeptune, Histy." Orange Heart said softly, tears falling from her eyes. "Uzume will... Uzume will give up everything for the people. They don't want her or her console anyway." She sighed and opened up her console.

As she stood there looking at her console sadly, memories of Histoire in her old outfit, floated through her mind. "...Uzume's scared, Histy. Uzume just wanted to be the best CPU for everyone. Is that so wrong?"

"Uzume..." Histoire whispered softly and floated over to her friend, hugging the sad CPU. Memories of when she had first seen Orange Heart, both in human and HDD form crossed her mind. "Uzume, I promise, I'll find some way to help you."

Orange Heart nodded and let go of the hug, sniffling. "Uzume will seal herself away now. Histy, make sure to watch over Planeptune, okay?" She smiled as the very air started to waver even as tears fell from her eyes. "Uzume's going now. Goodbye." A moment later she was sucked into the console, which then clattered onto the ground.

Histoire blinked and looked around. "...What was I doing again?"

The only sign that Uzume had been there a moment ago were the tear-drops that fell onto the console.

*End Flashback*

"I..." Histoire gasped as her memories came back to her. Her face went pale as she realized that Uzume was right, that she hadn't done enough to save her. "...Uzume, what did I..."

"Lady Histoire?" B-Sha asked and gasped as she saw tears falling from Histoire's face. "What's wrong?"

"...I should have done more. I should have done more to help Uzume out." Histoire said softly as she looked down with tears streaming down her face while B-Sha tried to console her. "I'm so sorry, Uzume. I failed you."

(-)

Back in Heart Dimension...

As they made their way through the damaged streets while smashing up every monster that came along their way, Neptune looked at Uzume and then looked up at the Share Crystal that filled the sky. "Man, when you're inside someone's soul, those things are pretty big, huh?"

"Uh huh..." Peashy nodded. "Pea hasn't seen one this big since yours, Neptuna."

"Huh?" Uni asked, though everyone, even Uzume looked at Peashy and Neptune in confusion. "What do you mean by that?"

"Ah." Neptune laughed softly. "It's not a big deal. Once in awhile I head to the Netherworld to do some training and work on my skills. There's a Dimensional Gatekeeper there who can send you into someone's soul for various reasons."

"Yep yep!" Peashy nodded. "Pea's seen Neptuna's crystal before, but it was more solid, this is in chunks."

"...Why would you go into someone's soul?" Noire asked and Neptune laughed softly.

"Finding lost memories, getting rid of evil spirits that possessed people, meeting alternate personalities and facing things you don't want to deal with," Neptune said as she ticked off a finger for each one. "Once I met a Prinny's past life."

Neptune didn't like thinking about that one, the poor soul had lost everything in a house fire and he couldn't stand the pain he was suffering through before he killed himself. Even if it was understandable, suicide was considered the ultimate sin, even for Demons, and anyone who did that, no matter the reasons, even if it was to save someone else's life, became a Prinny.

"Huh, that's pretty neat." Uzume said as they walked down the main road, past a park. Pausing for a moment, Uzume looked at it and for a moment, she could have sworn she was seeing herself playing with young children of all ages in both her human and HDD state.

"Come on, Uzume!" One little boy yelled as an image of her pushing him on the swing came to her.

"More!" An image of two little girls on a standing seesaw on one end while Uzume was on the other end and using her weight to make the seesaw go up on her side when she jumped up, and down when she landed on it.

"You're so silly!" A young boy cried out as a mental image of Uzume hanging upside down in the trees appeared in her mind while the Uzume hanging upside down and the children all started to laugh.

"Uzume..." Nepgear gave Uzume a gentle shake, causing her to shake her head in confusion. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just some memories came up is all." Uzume smiled at Nepgear.

"Sheesh, between Nep and now Uzume, we're going to need to keep some buckets of water on hand."

"Don't worry." Ram grinned. "If they get too stupid, Rom and I will get them good." Next to her, Rom nodded causing both Uzume and Neptune to sweat-drop heavily.

Vert smiled at the group before looking ahead and her smile slowly faded from her face. "It looks like Kurome is waiting for us."

"Yeah." Uzume nodded and the group made their way down the street to the large open area. "...Did Planeptune always have a large town square?"

"Nah," Kurome told her as she turned to face them. "I just wanted to be dramatic." She smiled and raised her left hand up. "Plus I wanted to give them all some room." She snapped her fingers and the four Dark CPUs appeared behind Kurome.

"HA!" Blanc smirked at Kurome. "We've beaten all of them already. Even if they were to team up, between our power and Uzume's Sharing Field, we got nothing to worry about."

Kurome gave Blanc a curious look as she tilted her head before grinning. "Why, Blancsy! That's a brilliant idea! I was going to have them fight like this, but what if I have them work as one?"

Everyone gave Blanc a dirty look as she looked sheepish. "Sorry, forgot about that trope."

"In fact." Kurome spun around dramatically and pointed upwards. "Dark CPUs! COMBINE!"

"Darn it! She likes giant robot anime too?!" Nepgear and Neptune said at the same time, both expressing shock on their faces.

Dark Purple flew up into the air as Dark Green, Dark Black and Dark White flew up to meet her.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Kurome laughed as the Dark CPUs were engulfed in a black light. When the light faded, the newly fused Dark CPU, which was larger, had four arms, one with a spear, one with an axe and its two other hands each had a sword in its hand. "How do you like that?! A fusion of all the Dark CPUs! Dark Orange!"

"That explains the gaudy design." Vert muttered before smirking at Kurome. "But if it's just one enemy, no matter how large, we can just use Uzume's Sharing Field to weaken it."

"That's right." Uzume, who transformed into Orange Heart, smirked at her other self. "Uzume will stop the Dark CPU so Nepsy and everyone can go home."

"Just try it." Kurome chuckled as Orange Heart's shield opened up.

"Sharing field, activa..." Orange Heart's eyes went wide as a pulse of energy erupted from Dark Orange, forcing her to her knees. "What the heck? Uzume feels weak."

Kurome threw her head back and laughed. "What an idiot! I created the anti-Share Crystals that Arfoire used on you in Zero Dimension and I even gave one to Affimojas when he fought against you." She grinned at Orange Heart. "No matter what you try, other me, it's useless. You can't get nearly enough Shares to do anything to Dark Orange." Her grin widened as she snapped her fingers. "In fact, I wonder... Hey, Nepsy," she held her right index finger up, "your daughters have been wanting to meet you for some time now."

Two capsules appeared in the sky, one with Ouya and one with Stadia in them.

"MOM!" Both of them yelled as they saw Neptune staring at them in horror. "HELP US!"

"STOP IT!" Neptune yelled and looked at Kurome. "Please!"

Kurome shook her head. "Nepsy, I'm sorry, but..." A dark aura surrounded her that had everyone gasping as they recogized it. "I haven't fully adapted to this power yet, so while I do that, why do you two fight with your mother and her friends?"

"NO!" Both Ouya and Stadia screamed as they glowed while their capsules were sent into the Dark CPU.

"NOOOOOO!" Dark Orange, its voice a combination of Uzume, Stadia and Ouya's voices, cried out in dismay.

"You..." Plutia stared in horror, before growling and transforming. "YOU UTTER BITCH!" Iris Heart screamed as she rushed at Kurome, who merely smirked and flicked a finger at Iris Heart, sending a wave of energy out that slammed into Iris Heart, causing her to fly backwards.

"Is that all you have?" Kurome asked and looked at the bigger Neptune, who was giving her a hurt look. "What? I'm going to get my revenge on Gamindustri one way or the other."

Neptune looked at Dark Orange and trembled. "...I promised them the happy ending... I promised..."

"OOOOH!" Orange Heart stomped her foot down. "Uzume is so mad! Fine! If Other Uzume is going to be a big meanie, then Uzume will use drastic measures!"

"Huh?" Kurome raised an eyebrow. "Just what are you going to do? There's not enough Share Energy in those Share Crystals to nullify the power of this Dark CPU."

"Nah uh..." Orange Heart shook her head and pointed up, causing Kurome to look up. It took her a moment to realize what Orange Heart was pointing at before she turned to look at her other self in horror. "Uzume figures if Uzume drains her Share Crystal of all its shares, then other me will be too weak to stop Uzume and then we can save Ouysy and Stadsy."

"Uzume..." Neptune whispered as she looked at Orange Heart. "You don't need to..."

"Nah uh, Nepsy, Uzume's decided." Orange Heart smiled at Neptune. "Besides, Uzume knows that Nepsy understands, sometimes a CPU must sacrifice herself for others."

Noire looked upset, but with the looming threat of a Dark CPU and the fact that it was fused with Neptune's daughters, she couldn't see any other option.

"Are you insane?!" Kurome stared in shock and anger. "You fool! You'll kill us both!"

"Heh heh..." Orange Heart rubbed her index finger under her nose. "Uzume's fine with it."

"Uzume..." Neptune tried to speak up again. "You know you don't..."

"Stop it, Nepsy." Orange Heart smiled sadly. "Uzume knows that this is goodbye and..."

"P-Ko, hammer time."

Peashy nodded and ran at Orange Heart. "Uzume no baka!" She pulled out a large, over-sized hammer and dropped it on Uzume's head...

...Where it let out a loud squeaky noise.

"What the?" Everyone asked in confusion as Neptune gave Orange Heart a wry smirk.

"I'm not one to say no to a heroic sacrifice, in fact, I'd probably be a pretty big hypocryte if I did..."

"You mean hypocrite." IF said and let out a long suffering sigh while Compa giggled.

"Yeah, that." Neptune rubbed the back of her head. "But you said that you need lots of Shares, right?" Orange Heart nodded while Peashy gave Neptune a sharp look. "Then you can use mine."

"ARE YOU INSANE?!" Iris Heart yelled as she stood up. "The last time that you did this, you blew yourself up and were laid up for almost an entire year before you recovered!"

"I know." Neptune nodded and smiled. "It'll be fine. I'm sure I won't blow up." Her smile slowly faded. "I hope."

"Neppy, you have a LOT more shares this time than the last time you did this." Iris Heart warned Neptune before sighing and hanging her head. "Just get on with it, you damn idiot hero."

Neptune just smiled at her. "Thanks, Plutie." She looked at Dark Orange, Kurome and Orange Heart and her smile got wider as an idea came to her. "...I've been wanting to do this for AGES now!" She giggled and fought the urge to jump around. "But I lacked another form to do it. So, first up, this is my human form." A white light engulfed her and she transformed into Purple Heart. "And this is my HDD state, or rather, Purple Heart."

"Yeah, we know all of this..." Noire said. "What do you have planned?"

A flash of light and Purple Heart transformed again. "And this is what happens when my HDD state gains an HDD state, or we can call this the Next Form..."

"Can you get to the point?!" More than one person yelled at the same time and Next Purple chuckled.

"My apologies..." She pointed at Dark Orange. "Ouya! Stadia! Pay close attention to your mother now, because this is the only time I'll be able to do this." She looked over her shoulder at her friends and smiled. "Did you three ever wonder why I knew about enhanced HDD states when that was the first time I had the Next Form?"

"...You have another HDD state!?" Vert gasped in surprise as she put the pieces together in an instant.

"That's right. You're going to love this." Next Purple smiled as she held her hands out to the sides with her left hand gathering up dark energy and her right hand was gathering up light energy. "And THIS..." Her Share Crystal popped out of her chest before she slammed her hands together, the energies colliding against the Share Crystal. "IS TO GO EVEN FURTHER BEYOND!"

An explosion of energy erupted from Next Purple, forcing everyone to take a step back in shock.

Next Purple was seen grinning through the energy as it engulfed her. "Light and Darkness, come together... Hyper Fusion Crystal, ACTIVATE!"

The last thing any of them saw of Next Purple was a blinding flash of pure white light.


Yes, you may play the Super Saiyan 3 Ascension by Bruce Faulconer here.