Chapter 3: Dimension Tripper
'No Signal' read from Blanc's communicator as she set down the headset. "So, it begins." Blanc then looked over to her twin sisters, Rom and Ram, who were playing on a dual handheld/TV Console known as the Lowee Swap. "Rom, Ram. We're going on a mission. I'm going to need your help with it, so go wake Plutia and get ready."
The twins nodded, but then proceeded to hide behind a wall, eavesdropping as Blanc made an emergency call out to Noire, Vert, and Neptune's phones. "Whoa! It's not usually like you to use the emergency call, Blanc. What's up?" Nep asked.
"Yes, did Marvy find something?" Noire added.
"Yes. Marvy has made contact. Please, bring your sisters and any of the Makers you can and meet me at Donkong Ruins as fast as possible. The Seven Sages and ASIC have not only returned but joined forces. We'll need all the help we can get."
The stones of Donkong ruins left a cold and desolate feeling that dripped down Tamsoft's back, as she saw a barely conscious Marvy to her side, both of them chair bound. "Look, we have already been through this, Oracles! Call off your goddesses or your friends continue to get hurt!" Magic said to an electronic screen. On the other side was Histoire, Kei and Ganache, Mina and Financier, and Chika and Yvoire.
"You do realize that this stuff takes time, Miss Magic." Mina replied. "Histoire is sending out the message as we speak."
"You said that about 5 minutes ago!" Magic pointed to Judge and Copypaste who respectively punched Marvy in the stomach and pulled Tamsoft's arms and hair back hard.
Financier cried out to them, Ganache adjusted his glasses, trying to remain calm. "You seem like a reasonable woman, Miss Magic. Perhaps we can come to an agreement. The more harm comes to your hostages, the slower we can be in calling off the CPUs."
"Yeah, you keep on harming them and we WILL raid your hideout, you hideous ho!" Chika exclaimed, Kei facepalming.
"Get real!" Magic declared, "We'll be the ones making the demands. And if any those CPU bitches show their faces here, these two die!" Copypaste then held a blade to their necks.
Kei turned to the others. "This is getting bad. We can't stall any longer, Histoire. We have to call them off."
"I am of a mind with the Lastation Oracle." Yvoire said. "Magic is not someone you want to cross."
"To think, Tamsoft was thought dead for so long, only for both her and Marvelous to end up in death's grasp once more. Is there truly no other way!?" Financier shook, holding her hands to her chest.
"I hate to agree in this situation, but we cannot risk their lives." Histy spoke, turning back to the screen. "I believe we almost have a connection with them. Another minute or so, please!"
"You have two minutes!" Magic shouted.
Anonydeath stared CFW Magic down, "You said we weren't going to hurt them! Not like this!"
"We do what we need to. If it bothers you, feel free to walk away or would you rather join their session?" Magic's threatening tone, silenced Anonydeath, who frustratedly left the scene along with Abnes and Mr. Badd.
Tamsoft looked over towards Marvy, who softly whimpered as tears squeezed from her eyes. "It's going to be alright, Marvy."
"No… no it's not." Marvy whimpered. "I took… a vow… the day I lost you and Cri… to honor your last wish… and keep on smiling. But now. I can't." Marvy's lips quivered, barely able to move from the paralysis.
"You dolt!" Tamsoft exclaimed before letting out a sigh, "Oh, Marvelous. I didn't mean that literally! I… didn't suspect it'd impact you so. This is all my fault, Marvy."
"Time's up, Oracles." Magic declared.
"N-no wait! They haven't picked up! We'll try again!" Kei's voice shook.
"Your time is up. Maybe one of their spilt blood will help you connect faster the next time." Magic pointed to Copypaste, who extended his sharpened claws.
"No, please! Surely we can come to some kind of agreement!?" Mina pleaded.
"We already tried that; you lost your chance!" Magic shouted, raising her arm, signaling to Copypaste.
"Wait!" with closed eyes, Marvy struggled to arch her neck as she shouted, "Do what you want with me, but let Tammy go!"
"On the contrary. You started this little spy mission, what better way to end it than to break you in both body and spirit?" Magic replied. Marvy began bawling in protest when Copypaste yelped as something shot him in the face. Tammy's eyes shot up, darting around the ruins as much as her restrained body would let her.
"What's is going on!? Show yourself!" Magic demanded. Marvy then saw the CPUs and their sisters in HDD form along with several makers. Uni holding her at rifle at Copypaste's head.
"Uh? The… CPUs? Took your time here, didn't ya?" Tamsoft groaned.
"Hey Tammy. You know we gotta fulfill the 'heroes get saved at the last-minute cliché'" Purple Heart grinned lightly.
Blanc, the goddess White Heart, uttered a soft, but surprised tone. "Tamsoft? But we thought you were dead."
"Oh Blanny Blanny Bii. What are extra lives for?" Purple Heart smiled.
"Video games, Neptune. Video games." White Heart sighed before pointing at the enemy. "And you! You're under arrest for kidnapping, torture, intrusion on Lowee grounds, and suspicious activity." White Heart floated forward. By now, the other members of the Sages Syndicate Alliance had gathered.
"Breaking, entering, and being vague with your arrest. Might wanna rethink that logic, your brain age is showing, hon." Anonydeath wagged his finger at them.
"I don't understand! We should have heard fighting! What did you do to CFW Brave?!" Magic demanded.
"He's down for a nap. I made sure of that." Uni replied.
"Hmph. How pitiful. I thought I had reprogrammed him, but I guess power of friendship plot devices trump all. The fool probably tried to play it fair." Magic complained, "But any of you so much as move a muscle and these two die, got it?"
"We figured as much." Noire, also known as Black Heart, replied before looking Blanc's direction. "White Heart. As we discussed." Blanc nodded, motioning for Rom and Ram to come forward.
"Oh, Mr. Trick." Rom called out.
"Hellooo! Did you miss us?" Ram said.
"OOOOOHHH! There're my little cutie pies! Come here to papa!" Trick tried squeezing through the rest of his allies, squishing them as he shoved.
"Hey! Mind where ya shove that thing, Tricko." Anonydeath exclaimed. But as Trick caused a domino effect among his allies, Noire and Blanc quickly dashed over, grabbing the chairs holding Marvy and Tamsoft.
"Horraaayyy. We successfully rescued." Plutia replied, who was still in her human form.
"Quick! She needs Paralaxin or something!" Tamsoft grunted, nodding towards a barely conscious Marvy. White Heart quickly gave Marvy an Anti-Paralysis health potion and Tamsoft, a healing pod, while IF, one of Neptune's oldest friends cut them loose.
Purple Heart turned to the SSA, who was scolding trick, "You! This doesn't follow the canon. You shouldn't even know each other and some of you should be dead! What? When? How? Why?"
"Does this look like a round of 20 questions?!" Mr. Badd growled.
"Wait! I've got the perfect solution!" Abnes shouted, squeezing her way to the front of the group with a crew of cameramen.
"Not that meanie again." Plutia whined.
"Shut it! Now reel!" Abnes then turned towards the main camera, pointing towards the CPUs "This just in, The CPUs of Gamindustri have shown their true colors, harassing innocent and unarmed civilians after they refused to answer their questions, they beat these poor girls half to death!" She dramatically pointed at Marvy and Tamsoft.
"Don't listen to them, people of Gamindustri!" Tamsoft said, now healthy.
"What the-… How did you!? Er, now the goddesses resort to such cruel tactics as brainwashing! Oh, the humanity!" steam practically rose from Abnes' head.
"What!? How dare you try to spin this the other way around!" White Heart growled.
"If you don't keep quiet... I'm gonna get angry." Plutie folded her arms, eyes and lips scrunching in irritation.
"Ah ha! You see!? Their anger only proves that they are guilty!" Abnes cried.
"Objection!" Purple Heart shouted, pointing dramatically.
"Seriously, Neptune? You're playing right into her trap!" Black Heart complained.
"I couldn't resist, Noire. The opportunity was gold." A sigh of affirmation left Purple Heart's mouth.
"And you too, Blanc. Plutia." Black Heart turned to the others "If you keep this up, you're going to make us look bad-… uh?" Noire's eyes popped and Abnes stopped as she looked down to see Broccoli tugging at her dress.
"Aaaaawwww, you poor, precious thing. Do you want to be saved from those mean goddesses? Don't worry, Abnes is here." Abnes leaned down, only to get her hand smacked away.
"You're not very popular, nyu. Your video stream is barely making 200k views, nyu." Broccoli's unamused face only proved to fluster Abnes even further, but Broccoli continued. "I should also mention that about ¾ of those views are just people downvoting and leaving derogatory comments, nyu. Your ratings are in the toilet, so your broadcast means nothing, nyu."
"You… you… you, you…"Abnes then broke into tears.
Anonydeath proceeded to hug her. "There there honey, I know. It's very impolite to expose people like that."
"Wow, Puchiko is brutal as ever." Green Heart mentioned.
"Indeed. Miss Pu-ko's tongue slices sharper than my blades." Cave, a Leanbox maker and old friend of Vert, remarked.
"IT'S BROCCOLI, NOT PUCHIKO, NYU!" Anger and cuteness was a strange blend that Broccoli was a master of.
"Enough of this! Let us just destroy them and be DONE WITH IT!" Judge boomed.
"I'm with Judge! I need somethin' to thrash!" Copypaste added.
"You really think you wanna face me after I've beaten multiple of you before?" Magic smirked.
"Poor plot development and lack of shares will not help you this time, Magic." Purple Heart replied. "It's time for a super smash bash!"
"So… I can transform now, right?" Plutie grinned and before anyone could answer, Plutia transformed, her figure taking on that of the dark blue, long-haired sadist. "Hehehe. Double the baddies means double the spankings."
"Oh, not her again!" Mr. Badd and Warechu simultaneously screamed, chills running up their spines.
"Wow, she's so cool!" Tekken, one of the makers, bit her lip, a shiver going up her spine.
"Um… are you alright, Tek?" Cyberconnect2, another maker, sweatdropped. "The rest of us are chilled to the bone but you look… turned on."
"Huh?! O-oh, it's nothing! Really!" Tekken gulped.
"Cut the chatter already! Let's get em!" White Heart shouted. The battle erupted with the goddesses and makers on one side and the Sages Syndicate on the other.
After getting knocked about by Iris Heart, a mouse named Warechu snuck around the battle, deeper into the cave. Climbing up on a machine that was built into the side of the cave, he overlooked a pit with an iron door on it that read 'Danger. Open at your own risk.' Warechu then began pushing buttons on the machine, which brought over a cage holding golems and another with Deus Old Men. Warechu gulped, opening the panel to a lever surrounded by black and yellow caution tape.
"What are ya doin, Rat?!" came the voice of Linda, a pointy-eared, grey-skinned underling with short green hair and a grey hoodie. "The boss said we're not to touch that without CFW Magic's permission!"
"We're getting our asses handed to us out there, chu! Or does your underling status prevent you from seeing the obvious?" Warechu snapped back.
"Hey! Enough of that underling crap! I have a name, you know." Linda barked.
"And so do I, chu! And clearly Magic can't hold them all back forever!"
"Ha! We still got the big guys out there!" Linda smiled, until Copypaste's creaming voice could be heard, followed by a crash, to which Linda gave a nervous smile.
"Ya see! Now we clearly can't wait for Magic!" Warechu reached for the lever, when Marvy and Tamsoft appeared.
"Alright criminals, hand over the Maker Sphere!" Marvy pointed aggressively.
"Hand over?! What the hell are you broads talkin' about?" Linda's furrowed brow made her confusion obvious. "Even if we had something you wanted, why would we hand it over?!"
"I don't care what their demands are, chu! I am not gonna spend my entire life in jail or die trying!" Warechu pushed a button and then yanked the giant lever, the iron door slowly opening.
"NO!" Linda jumped Warechu but it was too late. Marvy and Tamsoft watched as the cages of monsters lowered into the pit, where a chilling roar could be heard.
"Quick! The Maker Sphere has to be around here somewhere! Help me look, Tammy!" Marvy exclaimed, quickly darting around the cave room.
"Marvy, that's not important now!" Tamsoft pointed, the cage of monsters rising. The golems, giving off an eerie red glow from their blackened crystals while the Deus old men, revealing sharp teeth and burning open eyes with a devilish looking new UFO around their waste.
"A ninja never forgets her mission!" Marvy called back when the monsters broke free from the cage. All chaos erupted, the monsters proceeding to attack not only Marvelous and Tamsoft, but also Warechu and Linda. Holding Tamsoft's hand, Marvy pushed her legs to the limit as she felt the chills of the looming monsters.
The four ran into a retreating SSA. "What did you do!?" cried Mr. Badd from his mech.
A battered CFW Magic looked back, as a roar of the monsters neared. "WHAT!? She told you fools not to touch that until I gave orders to!" the Monsters flooded in, sending Abnes and Anonydeath flying and knocking Falcom, Cave, and Cyberconnect2 back.
"I'm going to kill the idiots who released those! Cutie pies or not, I am not sticking around to be torn apart by those freaks! OUT OF MY WAY!" Trick cried, pushing his way through. With the rest of the SSA retreating deeper into the ruins, the monsters turned their attention to the girls.
"Stay behind us!" Purple heart held out her arms in protection at the Makers. "These things have clearly achieved something beyond Viral."
"Dammit! Marvy and Tamsoft took off after SSA!" IF pointed in the direction of SSA.
"Then go after them, my dear Iffy. Us CPUs will take it from here!" Iris Heart said.
"That… doesn't sound as endearing coming from you, but right! No time to waste! Let's go, girls!" Iffy shouted, rallying the makers.
"Right! Gotta save our Ninja Wifeys!" Red chimed in, following after the rest of the makers while the CPUs and their sisters turned towards the dark, powered-up monsters.
As the SSA retreated, Linda caught up to Magic, asking "Miss Magic. One of those broads was demanding to 'hand over' some kinda maker sphere or something. What was she talking about?"
Silence followed as Magic's face scrunched up a little bit before responding, "Just keep moving and fast!" the Sages Syndicate moved further until a barrage of exploding ninja stars landed just ahead of them. Marvy ran up, her blades shone as they were drawn from their sheathes.
"Give back the Sphere! I know you took it!" Marvy cried.
"Why do you want it so bad? What does that thing even do?" Abnes put her hands on her hips.
"Magic, hon. Is there something you're hiding from us?" Anonydeath and several other turned towards CFW Magic.
"Abnes? What is she hiding?! Why didn't YOU tell us sooner?!" Copypaste looked down threateningly
"I don't know! I was just told to retrieve that shit for her! I wanted to ask about it myself, but just maaayybe... I forgot all about it with the whole GODDESS INVASION!" Abnes steamed.
Magic grunted, ignoring her comrades before turning to Marvy "Doesn't matter. You can't have it!"
"Then if words won't get to you, we'll let our blades do the talking!" Tamsoft said, pointing her sword their direction.
"Two against Nine? You really think you can take on us all?" Judge scoffed.
"Maybe not. But what about 12 of us!?" Iffy called out.
"Damn it! The Makers! Can't we catch a break, chu?!" Warechu complained.
"Go, Tamsoft; Marvelous. To your final battle and embrace thy destiny. We shall hold the other felons off!" MAGES. said dramatically.
"I'd hope it's not my final battle, but thanks anyways." Marvy sweatdropped before Tamsoft and she engaged Magic. Between their numbers and the worn out SSA, the makers were quite evenly matched against their opponents. Red and Cyberconnect2 were able to trip Judge who gave them some trouble as MAGES. and 5pb put on a rather obnoxious but effective display of magic sound waves, damaging Mr. Badd's mech. Broccoli sent laser beams down on Trick while scolding him for his pervy antics.
At one point, Anonydeath and Linda sent Iffy to the ground. "Oh, now you've done it! FLAME AWAKENING!" IF exclaimed, a burst of flaring light suddenly emitting from her body. As a flame-texture adorned her leggings her eyes turned red and her hair became a flaming blonde. "Alright you bastards, you're goin' STRAIGHT TO HELL!"
"Whoa, Iffy's lost literally lost her cool! I hope she doesn't burn up." Compa's eyes widened in fright, but it soon turned to curiosity.
"But… if she did, would she drop a special weapon that allows other people to use that power?" Cybercon wondered.
"Quit talkin' like Neptune!" IF yelled, to which Compa and Cyberconnect2 simultaneously responded with a 'yipes'.
Marvy and Tamsoft continued to battle against CFW Magic. Once Magic managed to disarm her, Marvy sent a headbutt straight into Magic's stomach. Knocking her down, Magic dropped a strange, circular metal sphere that housed 4 oranges gems parallel to each other, an engraved letter M on top and bottom and a peculiar glowing light inside which glimmered in Marvy's eyes. It bounced a few times, before rolling to a stop.
"The Sphere!" Marvy and Magic shouted at the same time. While Marvy and Magic leapt for it at the same time, IF performed a bashing tackle, knocking Magic out of the way, Iffy's hands touching the sphere at the same time as Marvy. The light from the Maker Sphere grew exponentially, drowning all in a bright flash.