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

Urgh, didn't mean to take so long with this chapter, sorry everyone.

Chapter 66

"Shouldn't you be with Neptune?" Nepgear asked as she worked on fixing a robot in her lab.

"I could ask you the same question, Ge Ge." Compa said softly as she smiled at Nepgear. "Why aren't you with her?"

Nepgear sighed softly as she put down her screwdriver. "Well, for one, I don't like seeing Neptune so weak and helpless." She looked at Compa with sad eyes. "Neptune needs to rest anyway and I'm worried that if I'm there, I'll do something stupid and..." She shook her head. "Everyone else went off with others, so I thought I'd like a little alone time."

Compa smiled at her. "I understand, but Histoire's worried you might try to finish that fusion cannon of yours."

"Oh, I finished that five months ago."

Compa gulped softly. "The dimensional drive?"

"I finished that a year ago."

"...Ge Ge, when did you..?" Compa trailed off as she saw a Nepgya, wearing a maid outfit, walk up to Nepgear and hand her a drink. "...Did you program the Nepgyas to be as good at programming as you are?"

Nepgear just smiled nervously and sweat-dropped while taking a quick drink. "...Well, with everyone watching me like a hawk to keep me from doing something crazy, I needed someone to help finish my projects."

"Don't worry, dood." Pudding said as he walked into the lab. "Master Neptune's really tough. And I bet that she'll be up in a couple of days, even if it's just so she can go to the bathroom and eat a gallon of pudding!" Both Compa and Nepgear sweat-dropped, but nodded, that sounded like her. "When she first exploded, she was really injured and over-exerted herself really badly. It sounds like she did the explosion on purpose this time."

Both Compa and Nepgear sweat-dropped, both at the fact that Neptune had blown herself up in the past before and at the fact that her getting up in a couple of days to gorge on pudding did sound like her.

"Besides," Pudding shrugged at Nepgear, "if you're worried about Master Neptune, you can always tell her that Artina is here, dood." Both Compa and Nepgear looked confused and Pudding elaborated. "Artina's the stupid Angel that all the CPUs hate. They get along better with most Demons than with Celestian Angels."

"The one that collects what they owe Celestia, huh?" Nepgear asked and Pudding nodded. "But if they owe Celestia money, shouldn't they have to pay it? I mean, I get them being upset about the back payments when they were brainwashed..." Nepgear trailed off as Pudding shook his head. "What do you mean?"

"Miss Artina isn't a bad person, even if she's blinded by money, dood." Pudding told Nepgear. "But Artina came right after everyone was screwed up, after Master Neptune had to seal Ouya and Stadia away, when she took away Plutia and Peashy's HDD, when she forced herself to stay away from her family and the fallout from that time."

"It was bad?" Compa asked and Pudding nodded. "I see..."

Pudding sighed softly as he stood there, seemingly bouncing slightly. "Master Neptune and the others might not hate her if she had just put off collecting for a year or two..." He trailed off as his mind traveled back over two centuries in time.

*Flash*

Neptune glowered at the papers as she sat at her desk. "What do you want, Vulcanus?" She asked without looking up from her desk as she felt the Angel appear behind her.

"Aww, I had hoped to sneak up on you this time. I guess that's what makes you a Goddess, huh?" Artina smiled from behind Neptune. "And what's with the cold voice? Aren't you someone who laughs at everything?"

Neptune slowly turned around and Artina was taken aback by the smoldering look in her eyes. "What. Do. You. Want?"

"Sheesh, so cold." Artina shook her head. "I'm here for my payment."

"Of course, payment." Neptune's voice was dripping with so much sarcasm and anger that Pudding, who was in the corner quietly observing, wished he was anywhere but there, especially as Neptune transformed into Purple Heart. "How could I possibly think of anything else but payment at this point in time?" There was a look of sheer hatred in her eyes that was out of place from what Artina and Pudding both knew of Purple Heart. "Maybe you should try a different time?"

"Well, I can always come back later..." Artina smiled, grateful to see the anger and hatred in Purple Heart's eyes dim. "But each month I delay on collecting, there's a penalty of thirty percent, compounded, of course."

Purple Heart twitched. "Of course, why would I ever expect someone like you to care about anything!"

"Hey!" Artina frowned at Purple Heart, who grabbed a tablet. "I'll have you know that I care for..."

"Shut it." Purple Heart snapped as she tapped the screen a few times. "There! Your freaking money and Shares." She threw the tablet at Artina, who had to duck, only for the tablet to hit the wall behind her and bounce back, hitting Artina in the head. "Get out of here."

"You weren't always such a bitch, you know?" Artina scoffed as she rubbed her head. "Sheesh, I thought you CPUs don't have that time of the month. Makes it easy to have lots of kids, I bet." Artina bent down and picked up the tablet. "Then again, you don't even care enough about your children to YIKES!" Artina gasped as she found herself surrounded by swords. "...Touched a nerve, huh?"

There was a raging inferno of hatred in Purple Heart's eyes as she held two copies of the Yoshitsuna in her hands. "Do not speak of things that you know nothing about, Angel." Her voice was soft, but powerful as the swords crackled with power.

Artina narrowed her eyes. "Listen, bitch, if you don't stop trying to threaten me, I'll make sure that Gamindustri suffers from a lack of trade from everywhere. I'm sure that your intergalactic trade partners would love to know how you treat those you owe money to." She smirked at Purple Heart. "I'm sure that Mister Vampire would love to give you a stern talking to if you do anything to me." She saw a surge of anger in Purple Heart's eyes and chuckled. "Or perhaps I should tell those two clones of yours about what you're really up..."

There was a crack and the next thing Artina knew, she was slammed against the wall with Purple Heart's hand around her neck. "One, they are my daughters! And two, you will NEVER tell them anything!"

Artina grimaced but still smirked at Purple Heart. "Fine, I won't tell those two anything, but if you don't let me go, your dirty little secret will get exposed to all of Gamindustri, I'm sure that your people would love to know what their Immortal Goddess did to them all those centuries ago."

Purple Heart merely glared silently before dismissing all the swords and letting go of Artina's neck. "Leave, and just know that you and the rest of Celestia are no longer welcome in Gamindustri."

"As if you can stop me from collecting what you owe me." Artina coughed.

"I can't, but other than that, no one from Celestia will ever be allowed to visit this world for any reason. Do not contact us, do not stay any longer than you need to for the purposes of collection."

Artina narrowed her eyes as she rubbed her neck. "Fine, whatever, I've already collected from the other nations. Kind of surprised to see the new hairstyle on the Southern Goddess."

"Leave!" Purple Heart snapped at Artina.

"Not even a please?" Artina shook her head. "Fine, whatever. But until you apologize to me, you'll have to pay the maximum amount each time I come to collect." As she started to fade away, Artina smirked. "Let me guess, your so-called daughters found out what kind of slut you are, huh? I bet it sucks for them to know that their supposed mother slacks off on her duties and abandons them to be with her rapist, huh?"

Purple Heart said nothing as Artina disappeared. "...Pudding..."

"Yes, Master Neptune?" The Prinny asked.

"Watch my office, I need to do something."

The Prinny nodded as Purple Heart walked to the window and jumped out, flying off into the distance. "...That wasn't so bad... I'm surprised Master Neptune didn't kill that bitch, dood."

A few seconds later, a massive explosion shook Planeptune to its core as several mountains disappeared in a flash of red light.

When Histoire found out that Neptune had done it and why she had done it, the book fairy merely shook her head in dismay.

*End Flashback*

"That... Doesn't sound TOO bad..." Compa muttered in confusion. "Why was Nep Nep so mad?"

"Because of what Pudding said before." Nepgear said softly, getting a nod from the Prinny, "that it was right after Neptune had to seal her daughters away and after she took away Plutia and Peashy's HDD."

"That's right, dood. Don't forget that Master Noire lost her right eye and left arm because she was so screwed up over everything." Pudding said with a raised flipper. "Everyone was hurting and that Angel didn't care about how much they were hurting. After that happened, even Master Histoire was completely fed up with Artina, dood."

"Didn't you say you were working in Celestia before ending up in Leanbox?" Nepgear asked and Pudding nodded. "Why?"

"Emergency Prinny need." Pudding sighed and shook his head. "I couldn't refuse even if I wanted to, dood. When Celestia or the Netherworld needs all Prinnies on deck, they have to go no matter what." Pudding shrugged. "This is only the second time it's ever been used in nearly a thousand years, so it doesn't happen that often and usually because there's a big mess to clean up."

Compa had a confused look on her face. "I thought Angels and Goddesses were on the same side?"

"Yeah, that's confusing me as well." Nepgear muttered. "You wouldn't happen to have a copy of that agreement that my sister signed, would you?"

Pudding spun around a couple of times, his flippers above his head before he reached into his knapsack and pulled out some slightly crumpled and aged papers, but they were still relatively fresh. "Here you go, dood. This is that special paper that doesn't go bad unless drown in the ocean or lit on fire."

"I wasn't concerned about that." Nepgear said as she took the papers and started to read through them. It didn't take her long before her eyes started to swirl while reading over it. "W-What is this legal jargon?! Pursuant to the forbearance loan of a Great Flonzor..?! The heck is a Great Flonzor?"

"Celestia's giant robot, dood!"

There was a crack in the air and Nepgear sat up straight as she looked at Pudding. "Wait, it cost THAT much for the robot?!" Nepgear gawked at the cost. "What kind of scatterbrained moronic foolish power system does it use?!"

"I don't know, dood, but it was only used for a couple of days."

Nepgear stared at Pudding and then at the contract and closed her eyes while taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out. "If it costs that much, then..." She opened her eyes and tapped open a window in mid-air to get her notes out. "Lesse, to power a robot that size, you need, yes, and then the cost per gigawatt, no, wait, for something that big, you'd have to go into terrawatts if it costs so much, but..."

Both Pudding and Compa stared as Nepgear vigorously typed information down and shook her head as she saw the formulas popping up. "Ge Ge? What are you...?"

"ARE THEY USING A FREAKING GAS GENERATOR?!" Nepgear screamed in frustration, causing both Pudding and Compa to jump. "It shouldn't cost ANYWHERE near this much to run a giant robot! I should know! I build them for fun! I turned the freaking Basilicoms into a giant robot that could tear apart dimensions!" Nepgear gripped her head. "ARRRGH! This frustrates me to no end! What kind of moron builds a giant robot without making sure that it has appropriate energy conversion so that it can run for days on end without needing to refuel?!"

Pudding scratched his head. "It almost sounds like you'd help them make a better robot, Master Nepgear dood."

Nepgear didn't look up as she continued to make notes. "If you were good at something and you saw someone doing something similar but horrible, your everything would be screaming at you to help them fix it."

Both Pudding and Compa sweat-dropped as Nepgear went back to figuring out whatever she was able to figure out. "Is Master Nepgear going to be okay, dood?"

"I think so, but when it comes to tech, Ge Ge's a real basket-case." Compa said, nodding, which would have had anyone who knew Compa face-faulting if they heard her call someone a basket-case.

Still, the two stayed with Nepgear, both out of curiosity about what she was going to do and because they were worried that she might try something crazy.

At least the Nepgya maid was nice enough to get them when it was time to eat.

You know when Compa calls you a basket-case, it's pretty bad.

But no wonder the CPUs hate Artina. She has some real bad timing.