The Misadventures of Hyperdimension Peashy

Episode 19

by Derald Snyder

"It's show time," K-Sha affirmed as she took aim. Depressing the triggers, she let loose with a rain of bullets that Iris Heart simply leapt up and flew into the air to avoid.

"Lead bullets... so predictable in their path, so easy to dodge~" the dominatrix CPU taunted.

"How about this, then?!" the brunette retorted as she fired an RPG... which was simply sliced in half by Iris Heart's sword, exploding harmlessly. She then closed the distance, lashing out with a brutal kick, which K-Sha crossed her arms to block, only being pushed back slightly.

Undeterred, Iris followed up by slashing at K-Sha in a V-shaped pattern. "Fighting Viper!" she intoned, the attack sending K-Sha into a brick wall.

The former mercenary quickly regained her feet, before summoning four virtual cards in front of her. "Try dodging this!" she declared as she selected one of the cards, summoning a pair of Twinbits. "Go!" The Twinbits promptly opened fire with several wide energy waves...

"Shit!" Iris Heart screamed as she was pelted by quite a few of the waves, unable to completely dodge such a wide-ranged attack. She then saw the two drones pull back next to K-Sha, all three of them charging an attack...

"THUNDER!" she cried, the electric discharge disabling one of the Twinbits. The brunette was undeterred, as she and the remaining drone fired massive energy beams at Iris Heart, catching her in the side as she tried to spin out of the way. "So, you *can* fight..."

"Ready to surrender?" said K-Sha.

"Not by a long shot. Heal!" A green wave of energy washed over the CPU, causing her pain to ease as she took flight again, weaving in a three-dimensional pattern to avoid K-Sha's machine gun fire. "Don't tell me that's the only trick you have..."

"Not by a long shot," K-Sha retorted mockingly, as she abruptly took flight herself. Unknown to Iris Heart, her 'eyepatch' was actually a high-tech scanner, allowing her to analyze the CPU's flight path.

(There!) thought the brunette, flying downward, stretching out her arm... and catching Iris Heart by the throat, taking the dominatrix off-guard as she was forcibly pulled down and slammed into the ground.

Remembering Adrian's device, K-Sha quickly backed off, waiting for her opponent's next move... The CPU got to her feet, cracking her neck slightly, a miffed expression on her face.

"Not bad," Iris Heart admitted, "Did Mr. Adrian teach you that?"

"Something like that," K-Sha allowed, taking a defensive stance. "That's what we were really doing- combat training!"

"Sorry, don't buy it," Iris shot back, as her sword-whip suddenly lashed out and wrapped tightly around K-Sha, before giving her a severe electric shock, the former mercenary screaming in pain... "And that's just for starters..."

"You... made a big mistake..." K-Sha grunted.

"And what mistake was that?" Iris Heart taunted. She got her answer as K-Sha's weapons apparatus rose up from behind her.

"Final Missile!" K-Sha intoned, a small door opening on the side of the apparatus, shooting off three gold-colored missiles!

"Damn it!" The HDD CPU took flight again, one missile exploding at the spot where she'd just been standing, while the other two tracked her position... she managed to kick one away, only for the last one to nail her dead on!

"Fire homing laser!" K-Sha ordered as she worked herself free of her bonds, her apparatus charging and then firing a large multi-colored laser that Iris Heart had no chance to dodge, creating a large explosion!

*Some distance away...*

"What is that?!" Green Heart gasped at seeing the mushroom cloud.

"That's K-Sha's EXE Drive!" cried Black Heart. She'd been tipped off by Uni while K-Sha and Iris Heart were fighting, and managed to meet up with Leanbox's CPU on the way over.

"We had better hurry!" said Green Heart, angling her wings to try and increase her speed...

*Back with K-Sha...*

The brunette had finally gotten free of Iris Heart's sword-whip, her eye-scanner telling her that her opponent still drew breath, though her vitals had dropped substantially...

"I can tell you're on the ropes, CPU!" she called out. "I highly suggest you surrender!"

But then, she heard two words that dashed her feeling of quiet triumph... "Hyper Heal." Sure enough, Iris Heart's vitals immediately jumped back into the green zone, as her sword pulled itself together and gravitated back toward its owner, the HDD CPU slowly rising into the air, sitting in a legs-crossed position as the sky darkened, the rumble of thunder audible. "I've taken quite a liking to you, K-Sha... so I'll show you my special attack~... THUNDER BLADE KICK!" Lightning flashed in the sky as she raised her sword high, before lightning struck the sword, Iris swinging it down, striking K-Sha with a high-voltage thunderbolt, which caused her weapons apparatus to explode!

"Agh!" The Gold Third member cried as she was thrown flat to the ground by the explosion... picking her head up, she saw Iris standing confidently a short distance away.

"Let me give you a little extra service!" said the CPU as she blew a kiss at her opponent, summoning a ring of energy which lashed out with four beams that closed in and struck with full force, breaking K-Sha's Gold Form and nearly rendering her unconscious.

"Aww, finished already?" Iris Heart chuckled as she slowly walked up... "And I was just starting to enjoy myself..." But then, two figures dropped between her and K-Sha.

"All right, Plutia, that's enough," Black Heart ordered. "You've caused enough pain and chaos for one day..."

Iris Heart frowned. "And just who are *you* to tell me what to do?" She then glanced over at Green Heart, who was holding her mobile device to her ear. Briefly locking eyes with the dominatrix, she held up a finger, signaling her to wait. "...hello? Oh, good, there you are! Yes, she's here... All right, just a moment..." She then held the phone out to Iris. "It's for you... it's Peashy."

Iris Heart blinked, before taking the phone from Green Heart... "Hello?" She immediately winced and pulled her head away. "Peashy, not so loud! You're hurting my ears!" She then put her ear back to the device. "What's that now? A mistake? Are you sure...? ...your mother? Well, yes, I suppose you'd trust *her* word... Yes. Yeah, all right, I get it! You know I could never say no to you, dear Peashy... alright, fine, I'll see you later... What? I owe Adrian an apology? Well in that case, so do you... Fine, fair enough. OK, then. Bye." She hung up and handed the device back to it's owner. "Well, Miss K-Sha, it seems today's your lucky day... you're off the hook."

"Thank goodness..." K-Sha grunted as Black Heart helped her up and supported her. "Noire, you saved me..."

"Technically, it was Vert who saved you," the CPU pointed out. "And Peashy..."

"I'm just glad we got here in time," Green Heart sighed. "By the way... where is Uni?"

K-Sha gasped in shock, looking around. "Oh no, Uni! I completely forgot about her...!"

"I'm right here, K-Sha," The CPU Candidate stated as she slowly walked up. "Why do you think Noire and Vert closed in on your location so fast?" Uni then winced as she looked her fellow gun nut over. "Ouch, you got it a lot worse than me..."

"We may as well take her back to the Basilicom to recover," said Black Heart.

"Fine by me," K-Sha agreed. "Noire's going to nurse me back to health~"

"Then Plutia and I will return to Leanbox," stated Green Heart.

"...Fine. Guess I've had my fun for today," sighed the dominatrix, before reverting to Plutia. "I'm tired, Vert... can you carry me back, please~?" Without waiting for a answer, she laid down and went to sleep.

"Th... that's her normal form?!" K-Sha exclaimed with a sweat-drop.

"Yep, that's her," Uni deadpanned. "She's like yin and yang with her HDD..." She then transformed into her own HDD again. "Anyway, let's head home, OK?"

"Yes," nodded Black Heart as they rose into the air. "And you and I need to have a talk about jumping through closed windows..."

"Aww, Noire..." Black Sister groaned as the trio flew off. "Thanks again for your help, Vert!"

"Anytime!" Green Heart called after them as she picked up the snoozing Plutia in her arms. "Feels like deja vu," she muttered as she began her own flight back to Leanbox...

*To be concluded...*