Hyperdimension Neptunia is owned by Sega, Compile Heart and Idea Factory and everyone else who worked on it.
Chapter 76
Purple Heart tried to walk over to where Epic was laying and found her legs giving out on her. "Ngh, so that's why we don't spam EXE moves in the games, huh?" She asked no one in particular as Chrome Heart grabbed her and kept her from falling down. "Thanks."
"Don't tell me you can't feel you feet again." Chrome Heart asked and Purple Heart shook her head. "You sure?"
"Yeah, my legs feel like pudding, nothing more." Purple Heart told Chrome Heart. "Can you take me over to him?" Chrome Heart frowned softly, but nodded and did just that. "Thank you." She said with exhaustion evident in her voice. As she made her way over to the downed Epic, she was joined by the CPU Candidates, who stayed just behind Purple Heart, who was set down near Epic's head.
Looking at Epic, no one thought he looked like the older, but imposing man that had managed to cause so much trouble for Gamindustri.
Instead, he looked like a feeble old man that was dying in a hospital bed as he struggled to gasp for air with his face full of wrinkles and his cheeks sunken in with his hair looking even more white than it had a moment before while his eyes were closed, his body, other than his shallow breaths, was completely still.
"What's going on?" DS Black asked and looked around.
"So this is what happens, huh?" Croire asked as she floated down in a cross-legged position on her book. "See, he was never meant to be a CPU. Even if he had ate a CPU Memory, he could never become a CPU." She smirked as she looked at his dying body. "Too bad you weren't born in a dimension where the CPUs were guys, you could have become a CPU there. But then again, someone who hates CPUs as much as me... Kind of odd that you'd want to become one."
Epic let out a soft cough as his lips curled up into a smirk. "Yes, it is ironic," his voice was so much older and weaker as he spoke, yet every word was easily understood, even if it was raspy, "I didn't hate CPUs though, but I didn't want this world to die." He coughed and grimaced in pain. "I remember the Deity of Sin and how the children and some adults fell down the wrong path. And during the CPU Shift Period, how the world went crazy when we all forgot who the CPUs were."
"And then you found out about the Voids and you freaked out at the thought of these girls becoming Voids?" Chrome Heart asked, getting a sound of affirmation from Epic. "If that was just your plan, what happened to cause this?"
"The idea of allowing the CPUs, who seemed to always allow the world to come to the brink of disaster, to continue running things bothered me." Epic admitted as he groaned in pain. "The four CPUs of this world liked to play games and slack off, not doing their work... And the other world's CPUs weren't that much better." His voice was becoming softer and more gravely as he spoke.
"...Yes," Purple Heart nodded and put her hand on his hand and gently lifted it up and looked at it in surprise at how withered and weak-looking it was, "I admit that I was a selfish and bad CPU for years. It took meeting the Voids and how they were worse than me to make me realize how bad I was."
Epic had a satisfied smile on his face as he sighed. "What will you do now, Lady Purple Heart?" He slowly opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling. "To know that so many people joined us because you brought so many people to these worlds."
A pulse of light caused everyone but Epic, who was too weak to move, to look at the center of the room as a pedestal with a large crystal glowed softly.
"That's..." Purple Heart looked at it in surprise.
"What I used..." Epic coughed softly. "When Croire told me about Celestia... That was the thing I saw when I got here..."
Croire rolled her eyes as DS Blue and DS Purple gave her an evil eye. "I just told him that there was a place that could allow him to get what he wanted. I have no clue how he was able to use this place to become a CPU, much less use the power of a Void and a Heart at the same time."
"The realm of the Gods wasn't meant for mortals to come to." Chrome Heart told Croire. "The fact is, we can't even choose to return to our human forms in this realm."
"To change the world..." Epic coughed as his breathing became more ragged. "I had to become something I wasn't... To become what I fought against... How pathetic of me. All... I wanted... Was to protect Gamindustri. But I..." He let out one last sigh as his eyes closed and his breathing slowed to a complete stop.
Epic, the leader of the RMCP, had passed away.
The orb pulsed and throbbed, causing Purple Heart to blink as she tilted her head in confusion. "I have an idea. Chromey, can you take me over to the orb?" Chrome Heart nodded and helped Purple Heart float over to the orb.
"What are you going to do?" Chrome Heart asked as Purple Heart put her hands on the orb.
"There's something that everyone kept saying, about Celestia being able to control Gamindustri..." Purple Heart trailed off and looked at Croire.
"Don't look at me." Croire told Purple Heart. "Even if I know what's going to happen, I won't tell you." She smirked as she put her elbows on her legs and rested her head on her hands. "I ain't got any obligation to tell you jack shit." She ignored the dirty looks she got before rolling her eyes. "It probably doesn't matter what I tell you will happen, so why don't you just do it and say that you're now the ruler of Celestia, okay?"
Purple Heart nodded with a smirk on her face. "Thanks, Crostie." She fought the urge to laugh as Croire jerked in surprise and her dusky cheeks turned slightly red. "Alright then, how about this?" She put her hands on the orb, which glowed so brightly that it engulfed her. "Listen to me, Celestia! I am Purple Heart, Goddess of Planeptune and right now, I'm the true ruler of Celestia!"
"So what are you going to do?" Chrome Heart asked.
"Well..." Purple Heart trailed off as a thought came to her. "I wonder..."
(-)
In Ultra Dimension...
Standing near the edge of Lastation, Erika pouted as she looked around. "Things are too quiet, when am I supposed to..." She trailed off as the ground started to shake and she had to spread her legs to keep her balance. "What the hell is going on?!"
When land started to raise up out of the ground, Erika gawked in surprise. "What the hell is this!?" She yelled, unable to believe what she was seeing.
Across both Hyper and Ultra Dimensions, the nations of each world increased in size with each nation more than doubling in area as land seemingly came out of the ocean, extending the nations outwards with Leanbox extending South in a wide arc while Lastation and Planeptune increased to the East and West, respectively while Lowee spread out on the sides and slightly to the North. People who were near where the land suddenly appeared watched in amazement as new mountains, rivers, lakes, forests and hills appeared as far as the eye could see.
Erika just stared, her mind still not comprehending what she was seeing. "...What is this?"
(-)
Back in Celestia...
Purple Heart smiled while panting softly as the glow died down. "There, that should fix things... I hope."
"What did you do?" DS Blue asked as she looked at the orb, which showed the new landmasses of both dimensions. "The nations are huge now!"
"Well," Purple Heart smiled nervously, "I thought one of the biggest reasons for so much tension was the sudden influx of people and the lack of access to resources, so... I kind of increased the lands so that there'd be more resources."
"But the amount of extra work..." Chrome Heart trailed off, sighing. "I wish you'd think things through a bit more before doing stuff."
"Hey, Epic was planning on killing all of us and probably eliminating a lot of innocent people." Purple Heart defended herself. "He needed us dead so the world would recognize him as a CPU, but since I'm already one..."
"Well, I guess we can..." DS Purple trailed off as Purple Heart suddenly groaned, swayed and fell over. "NEPTUNE!" She yelled in surprise as Chrome Heart caught her.
"I..." Purple Heart groaned and to the shock of everyone, suddenly glowed and returned to her human form. "Huh?"
"Well, that's weird." Chrome Heart admitted as she looked at Neptune in worry. When Neptune started to shiver and tremble, she turned to look at Croire. "...Do you have any idea what's going on?"
"Eh, not really," Croire shrugged. "Might have seen something similar to this a long time ago, but I'd have to look at my notes to know. But I think the Histoires would have a better idea of what's happening." Snapping her fingers, a portal appeared above them and two unconscious bodies, that the others recognized as Beth and Acti, flopped onto the ground. "Okay, I'll be nice and take you all back to Planeptune... But I have a couple of conditions." She ignored the look of disgust that Chrome Heart was giving her. "One, you keep that psycho bitch Iris Heart away from me and two, you don't let the idiot's little sister hurt me."
"Fine, but I make no promises about anything else." Chrome Heart said as DS Black picked up Beth and Green Sister picked up Acti before a portal opened up and the group went through it.
(-)
Back in Planeptune, Hyperdimension...
Histoire gasped in surprise as a portal opened in the main office and Rom, Ram, Nepgear, Uni, who was carrying a woman that Histoire didn't know, Green Sister, who was carrying a man she didn't know and Chrome, who was carrying Neptune. "You're back!"
"Yes." Chrome nodded to her before looking at the staff. "Those two that are being carried by Uni and Peashy are criminals who conspired with Epic to overthrow the CPUs and caused the monsters to appear in Gamindustri. Put them in lockup for now."
"Right." The staff said and took the unconscious Beth from Uni and Acti from Green Sister, who let out a sigh as she reverted to her human form.
Blind Histoire ignored that as she floated over to Chrome and Neptune. "Welcome back."
"I'm home." Neptune smiled, though she trembled as Chrome held her.
"Yeah, you are." Croire said as she came through the portal and shut it. "I'm kind of curious about something, so I'll stick around for now." She ignored the look that Histoire gave her and floated in front of Chrome. "You might want to get her checked out."
Chrome nodded at her. "Right. Histoire, get the medical team ready, Neptune needs a check up."
Histoire didn't bother asking questions, she just went to do just that while some of the remaining staff helped put Neptune into a wheelchair before carting her to the medical bay while Blind Histoire followed along, guided by Chrome.
"So..." Rom looked at the others. "Should we just stay here until we find out what's wrong with Big Sis Neptune?"
"What's going on?" The others looked as IF spoke up with Compa and Nepgear following behind her as they walked in from outside.
Maidgear had a confused look on her face. "Why did you three come from outside?"
"You were gone for most of the day." Compa said, much to the shock of the CPU Candidates who had been in Celestia. "So we were doing what we could to keep things stable."
"We were?" Maidgear asked and looked Croire, who rolled her eyes. "What's going on?"
"Nothing, you were just gone for most of the day." Croire told Maidgear. "What? You thought you were in Celestia for only an hour?" She smirked while chuckling and flying off in the direction where Chrome had taken Neptune.
"I take it you won..." Nepgear said as she walked up to her other self. "But what happened? Want to tell us?"
"Sure." Maidgear said and looked at the others. "How about we all tell her what we saw?"
The others nodded in agreement. At least talking about what happened could keep them busy until they found out more about what happened to Neptune.
(-)
An hour later...
Laying on the examination bed in just her underwear, Neptune looked at the doctor tiredly. "Well, what's the bad news?"
"Most people want the good news first." The doctor said to her. "In regards to your physical body, you're fine, you're suffering from muscle strain, you'll be fine in a couple of days if you just laze about and rest."
"Well, got lots of experience doing that." Neptune deadpanned and looked over at Histoire. "Histy..." She trailed off at the look of concern on Histoire's face. "What's wrong?"
Histoire had a sorrowful look on her face. "Neptune, you... Your Share Crystal's been damaged." Neptune gave her a blank look and she sighed. "Your very core, that allows you transform... It's badly damaged."
"So what does that mean?" Neptune asked as she forced herself onto her side, worry creeping into her. "Histy?"
"What she means, idiot," Croire spoke up from where she was leaning against the wall near Chrome and Blind Histoire, "you won't be able to transform again." Neptune gave her a look of utter fear and shock. "You shouldn't be surprised, really. I'm surprised someone who had raw Fearicite shoved into her Share Crystal, got corrupted by Fearicite and even had her Share Crystal ripped out of her could even stay in HDD after getting it back."
"B...But that means..." Neptune began as her face was whiter than a ghost. "That means..."
"...I'm sorry," Histoire sighed softly, "but I don't know how to fix this. You... You won't be able to transform again."
Neptune stared at Histoire as the words ran through her head before she suddenly fell forward and crashed onto the ground, out cold.
To be continued...
Hey, Erika, been a long time, you kind of went poof on me. No, seriously, I had forgotten about her by accident.
And no, I never make it easy for Nep.