The Misadventures of Hyperdimension Peashy

Episode 69

by Derald Snyder

*Overlord's Castle*

"Etna-*ahem* Master Etna, you haven't seriously agreed to Sicily's request to stop your conquest of Gamindustri, have you?" Rayna asked as she and the demon lord walked through the halls of the castle.

"What I told her was that I'd lay off them for a while," Etna replied. "But I think a week's long enough, don't you? Long enough to lure Nisa and the others into a false sense of security..."

"Oh, I see now," the Cleric smirked sinisterly. "So what's the plan of attack? ...my master."

"Well, the Prince just gave me an assignment to take care of a pack of Nekomata that's running wild," Etna explained. "So I figure, after we round them up, we'll unleash that litter of oversized kitties on Leanbox, let THEM deal with 'em!"

"Oooh, I like that..." Rayna grinned sinisterly...

*Leanbox Basilicom*

"Armored Rangers reporting for duty!" Adrian walked up and saluted, Peach, A-Mac, and Nisa with him.

"Hello, everyone," Vert acknowledged with a small smile. "Thank you for coming today. I believe you know MAGES. here, correct?"

"Greetings, Rangers," MAGES. spoke. "I've finally recovered from my ordeal in the netherworld, so now I wish to offer my assistance in your struggle against Demon Lord Etna and her menacing minions..."

"Yeah, well..." A-Mac put a hand behind his head. "We actually haven't encountered any demons lately... at best, we assisted in a minor drug deal bust..."

"It's only been a week," Adrian countered. "It could be that Etna is simply reevaluating her strategy. Only when a month or so has passed will I believe that she's given up..."

"It could be that Sicily tried to tell her to stop with the conquest, and that Etna decided to humor her for a while," Nicole mused.

"Ah! That voice!" MAGES. gasped. "Nisa? Is that truly you?!"

"Yeah, it's me," the Hero of Justice removed her helmet. "I'm sorry, MAGES... I should've told you that I was back..."

"Nnngghh... so my attempt to retrieve you was for naught after all," the Mad Magician lamented. "If only I'd known..."

"I don't think anyone here blames you for what happened, Nisa," Vert spoke up. "And MAGES., there's no need to beat yourself up over this. We need to focus on the here and now..."

"At least say you forgive me, Nicole Sardini..." MAGES. said with the brim of her hat hiding her eyes.

"I do," Nisa nodded. "I mean, it's not like you intended to send me to the bowels of hell..."

"Great," Peach jumped in, "it's all settled, so can you go back to 'happy-mad-scientist' mode now?"

"The term is 'chunnibyou', Peach," Chika sighed.

"I dunno what that means," A-Mac shrugged.

"My Japanese is a bit rusty," Adrian added.

"Does that really matter?!" Peashy yelled. "Can we get back to business, here?!"

"Calm yourself, Peach, please," Vert said in a soothing tone. "But yes, let us re-focus on the matter at hand. MAGES. wishes to use her knowledge to assist your team in any way she can, so if you have any suggestions..."

"Before I take suggestions, let me say that I already have something in the works that could help you out," MAGES. stated. "I've been working on a mid-range intradimensional teleporter. With it, you would be able to respond instantly to any attacks by Etna's forces, at least within this city. Still one or two kinks to work out, however... Also, I have placed dimensional anchors at strategic points in the Basilicom to ensure we don't receive anymore netherworld surprises, like with that angel I sent here..."

"At least you admit it," Adrian muttered under his breath.

"I got a suggestion," A-Mac raised his hand. "This armor we wear kinda takes a while to put on and take off... think you could make something that has it appear on us el quicko?"

"Hmmm... I could try," the bluenette nodded. "But I would need one of your armor suits to test on..."

"I can get you a spare," Adrian affirmed. "And a mannequin if you need it..."

Just then, Vert's phone rang. "Who could that be...? Ah! It's MarvelousAQL!" She quickly answered it.

"Oh, I remember her," Peach muttered, "she scared the crap out of me at my apartment when Lady Vert and I first met..."

"Oh dear. Marvy, I'm going to put you on speaker," Vert said, doing so and holding up the phone so everyone could hear. "Go ahead."

"Hello everyone!" the kunoichi's voice was heard. "I'm at Kancole's right now, there's a bunch of furry cat-women tearing the place apart!"

"Kancole's?! That's MY favorite clothing store!" Chika cried out, scandalized.

"They can't be monsters from Leanbox," Adrian pointed out, "the army would've made sure they never got that far. It's gotta be a netherworld attack! MarvelousAQL, we're on our way! Rangers, move out!"

"Right!"

"They'll pay for destroying one of my favorite places to shop!" Chika promised as the team ran out the door.

(~Go, Go, Armored Rangers! Go, Go, Armored Rangers! Go, Go, Armored Rangers, You Mighty Mecha Armored Rangers!~)

Soon, the team was on the road, Peach, Adrian, and Chika in the Jeep, A-Mac and Nisa on the motorcycle. In less than twenty minutes, they had arrived at the scene, Marvy standing outside, keeping civilians at bay.

"Hey guys!" the redhead greeted as the five of them stopped and dismounted their vehicles. "I've got most of the people evacuated, but they've got the store manager hostage in there! Apparently they're looking for yarn, from what I was able to overhear!"

"You wouldn't happen to have a picture of these cat-women, would you?" Nicole requested. The windows of the store were tinted, making it hard to see inside.

"Yeah, right here!" Marvy took out her phone and accessed the picture, holding it up to Nisa.

"...yep, those are netherworld Nekomatas, no doubt about it," the bluenette confirmed. "They may look like fluffy cats, but they're skilled martial artists, and the stronger ones can even fire energy blasts from their palms!"

"So if we wanna take 'em down, we'll have to take 'em by surprise," Peashy mused. "Marvelous, is there a back entrance?"

"Sure is!" the kunoichi nodded. "Completely unguarded, too!"

"Alright, lead the way," Adrian said, he and the other Rangers following MarvelousAQL...

*At the back entrance...*

The Armored Rangers slowly crept inside, Adrian leading the way with his assault rifle at the ready, moving through the delivery area without issue. However, they soon heard female voices coming from a nearby door...

"I'm telling you, we don't have any yarn!" a panicked voice cried out.

"That's the store manager!" Chika hissed.

"You're a clothing store, nya! How can you not have yarn? Don't you make clothes here-nya?"

"We don't make them, we buy them from suppliers!" the manager explained. "There might be a yarn-knitted sweater, but that's it!"

"I see two Nekomata with her," Nisa whispered. "What do we do?"

"Stun 'em with a flash bang, then take 'em down," Adrian replied as took out a flash-bang grenade. "Peach, you tackle one down, Chika, you run the other one through."

"Understood," the Oracle nodded, equipping her spear. She and Peach watched as Adrian crept up to the door, rolling the grenade inside...

*BLAM!* The cat-women screamed from the flash-bang, Peashy quickly taking off and through the door, hitting one Nekomata with a full body tackle, slamming her into the wall! Before her companion could react, Chika came in and thrust her spear through her chest, the Nekomata crying out and going limp, turning into white light and dissipating.

"Nice work, you two," Adrian nodded. "Are you all right, ma'am?"

"Th-Thank you!" the bespectacled NPC gasped as Chika cut her loose with her spear. "But who are you? The army...?"

"Not quite," Nisa shook her head. "We're the Mighty Mecha Armored Rangers!"

"You should know me," Chika said as she briefly removed her helmet.

"O-Oracle?!" the manager gasped. "...haha, guess I shouldn't be surprised to see you here," she chuckled.

"Arthur, you go and make sure this civilian evacuates safely," Adrian ordered. "We'll interrogate this cat about her friends."

"Roger that, Red Grizzly," A-Mac acknowledged. "C'mon ma'am, let's go..." The NPC nodded as she let herself be escorted out.

Waiting until they were gone, Adrian turned back to the the others. "OK, Peach, you restrain our remaining furry friend. Nicole, you question her, Chika, you poke her with your spear if she won't talk."

"Right." When the Nekomata woke up, they group managed to get out of her that there were about 15 of her kin in the store itself, tearing the place apart looking for yarn. Yes, Etna sent them, but they weren't exactly there by choice, having been defeated by her and her Cleric beforehand... Questioning finished, the cat-demon was granted a swift death by Peach snapping her neck.

Unfortunately, A-Mac returned just in time to see the Nekomata fade into light. "Y-you killed her?!"

"Couldn't take the chance she'd make a distress cry to the rest of her litter," Nisa explained. "You gotta remember, Arthur, these are demons we're dealing with here. And when it comes to combat, you can't give 'em any quarter..."

"But I don't have any quarters," the young man said in confusion.

"I think she meant no mercy, A-Mac," Peach sighed. "Look, you don't have to kill them, just knock 'em out, and we'll handle the 'clean-up' so to speak. Sound good?"

"...yeah, I'm good with that."

"Alright, then, let's move out!" Adrian ordered...

*Soon, in the main shopping area...*

Several Nekomata were trashing the place, throwing designer clothes about, knocking over mannequins and opening shoeboxes... A couple of them had indeed found a red yarn-knitted sweater, one holding it up while the other was trying unsuccessfully to unravel it...

"So how do we do this?" A-Mac asked as the Rangers watched from behind the 'Employees Only' door. "Throw a grenade in, then rush 'em?"

"Sounds good to me," Peashy nodded.

"Alright," Adrian assented as he got a grenade ready. "Peach, you charge in first, Arthur, Nicole, you follow after, Chika and I'll bring up the rear."

"Okay," Nisa nodded.

"Understood," Chika held her spear at the ready.

"Alright, on the count of three..." Red Grizzly counted '1, 2, 3' on his fingers, then pulled the pin and threw the grenade, landing next to the Nekomata trying to unravel the sweater...

*KA-BOOM!* Said cat-demon was insta-gibbed by the explosion, her partner getting knocked over. Peashy promptly burst out of the door, jumping over a counter and nailing a Nekomata with a massive divekick! Arthur and Nicole came out next, flipping over the counter and taking their stances.

(Music- 'Combat (Instrumental)'- Power Rangers Redux)

"It's an ambush! GET THEM!" Two Nekomata charged at Blue Falcon and Yellow Tiger, the former simply pulling her Prinny gun and shooting the cat-woman in the face, killing her instantly. But the latter reflexively ducked, causing the Nekomata to sail over his head, falling over the counter and onto the floor, Adrian finishing her with a headshot. Then Black Raven charged another Nekomata, her spear at the ready... only to suddenly pole-vault and nail the cat with a double-footed kick instead, knocking her into several others!

Meanwhile, White Gorilla was getting piled on by several cat-demons... "GET OFF ME!" she roared as she easily threw them all off with her superior strength!

"That white one's not human-nya!" one of the Nekomata cried, deciding to go after the cowering yellow-armored man instead... only for said man to nail her with an uppercut, followed by a few jabs to the nose, then a kick to the solar plexus, knocking her head over heels! Nisa then finished her with her Prinny Gun.

"That's four down!" Adrian shouted, ducking as a Nekomata swung at him, retaliating with a shot to the stomach, then dropping his rifle and breaking the cat's neck with his bare hands! "Make that five!"

Black Raven used her spear to easily fend off a Nekomata's martial art strike, before sweeping her off her feet with her spear, then impaling the cat-demon through the neck! "Six!"

"Seven!" White Gorilla added as she broke another Nekomata's spine.

"We're getting slaughtered-nya! Everyone regroup!" The eight remaining cat-women promptly clustered into a tight group.

(Sitting ducks,) Nisa thought. "A-Mac, give me a boost!"

"You got it!" Yellow Tiger nodded, getting down on one knee and holding out his hands as a platform for Nisa to step on, her boyfriend shoving upward and launching her into the air!

"Take this!" Blue Falcon cried as she fired explosive destruction on the demons below, causing them to fall apart and scatter! Adrian followed up with automatic fire from his assault rifle, downing three more! "Five left!"

"We gotta get serious-nya!" A Nekomata cried. "Cat Blast!" She shot a paw shaped energy beam from her right paw, Peach and Adrian just barely rolling out of the way-

Only for another Nekomata to hit Peach with several kicks, raising her into her air before a final dropkick sent her to the ground! "How do you like that-nya?!"

However, the white-clad Ranger simply picked herself up and dusted herself off. "That all you got?" She then retaliated with a single punch, sending the furry into the opposite wall! "Train harder!"

"Is she level 1000 or something?!" another Nekomata gasped in dismay.

"85, last I checked," Adrian muttered under his breath as he shot the unconscious Nekomata dead.

"85?! Seriously?!" A-Mac said, unable to believe his ears... but a Nekomata took advantage of his distraction to nail him in the chest with another Cat Blast, sending him tumbling into a clothing display! The cat-demon then lunged at her prey, too fast for the others to react...

"RYOWR!" But suddenly, a normal-sized black cat leapt onto the Nekomata's face, clawing away!

"MEYOWCH! Get it off get it off!" The cat-woman yelled as she tried to pull her fellow feline off, only to get a tanto (short sword) thrust through her heart from behind, courtesy of MarvelousAQL!

"Don't leave us out of the fun!" the redheaded ninja exclaimed as she extracted her blade, the demon fading into light. "And now for the grand finale! Nisa, pin 'em down!"

"No problem!" Blue Falcon assented, using her Prinny Gun's explosive ammo to force two Nekomata together, while Chika tripped the third with her spear, causing her to stumble into the group! "Now, Marvy! For JUSTICE!"

"HYAH!" Marvy cried as she drew her katana, slicing faster than the eye could see, then sheathing both her swords on the other side of the demons, blood suddenly spurting out of multiple wounds on their bodies as they collapsed, fading into light! "And that's a wrap!"

"Nicely done," Black Raven nodded as she pulled A-Mac into a sitting position. "Yellow Tiger, are you all right?"

"Yeah," the young man nodded, his chest armor showing a significant-sized black splotch. "Phew, who said armor was useless? That blast would've gutted my heart otherwise!"

"Yeah, looks like you need to get that replaced," Adrian nodded. "Thanks for the cleanup, Marvelous..."

"Just Marvy is fine!" the kunoichi winked, before getting distracted by a meow. "Oh, there you are, Blacktail! Are you OK, kitty?" She promptly picked up Blacktail in her arms, who mewed happily.

"You have a pet cat?" Chika asked curiously.

"Well, it saved my bacon, that's for sure!" Arthur stated.

"But hold on, that's a black cat," Peashy pointed out. "Not that I'm superstitious or anything, but how do we know that cat's not one of Etna's covert agents?"

"Nicole?" Adrian turned to Blue Falcon, who promptly walked up to Marvy to examine the cat closely.

"...Negative," she shook her head. "I haven't seen a cat like this in any netherworld I've been to..."

"So it likely is just a normal cat," Black Raven mused, before looking around at the trashed shopping area. "Goddess, I hope the manager has insurance for all this..."

"Hey, look on the bright side, Chika," Marvy began, "at least no shoppers or employees got seriously hurt! That's a win in my book!"

"Yeah, mission accomplished!" Yellow Tiger agreed. "High fives, everyone!" The gathered six promptly traded high fives in victory, failing to notice a certain brunette watching from the main entrance, who soon turned and left...

*Back at the Overlord's Castle...*

"Master Etna, I bring good news," Rayna said as she exited the portal, dressed in her 'human' disguise. "The infiltration was successful, your cat is now in the possession of a red-headed ninja named Marvelous something-or-other. Even better, Nisa is completely clueless."

"Great! I knew could count on my kitty!" Etna grinned. "So what happened to the other cats?"

"All of them killed, by that ninja and a group of five armored warriors," the Cleric reported. "Nisa is one of them, and I recognized the white one, she's Green Heart's guardian dame that I ran through. Apparently she's level 85, from what I overheard..."

"85, huh? Not bad for a human," the flat-chested demon mused. "No wonder those Nekomata didn't stand a chance, they didn't even touch level 50..."

"And yet still nothing compared to you," Rayna appended. "So, what's our next move, master?"

"Hmmm..." Etna pondered... "Well, if Nisa's organized a five-man team, and all are highly trained, unlike the Prism Rangers... Rayna, go find that Majin prison guard and patch him up. Then see if you can't round up some martial artists... we need to see just how good these guys really are..."

"It will be done, Master Etna," Rayna bowed, reverting to her Cleric attire as she took her leave...

*To be continued...*