This story arc starts with "Chapter 6: Bravery".
Chapter 8: A Tricky Situation
Neptune and Uzume were running through the forest, trying to track whatever kidnapped the little Nepgear. The sun has set, and it was now dark, and in the middle of the shadowed forest, it wouldn't have been possible to easily find your way around (on top of being rather creepy)... had the outdoorsy Neptune not already been prepared and taken out a pocket flashlight. And with that light, they could see some rather large tracks that the kidnapper left.
"Geez, how the h*** does this guy move?" Uzume exclaimed, looking that the basically miniature craters they were following. "By hopping off his butt?"
"I don't know, but he's definitely really big," Neptune replied. "And not exactly stealthy..."
As they continued following the tracks, Uzume started getting nervous. "M-man, the woods sure are creepy at night..." Her voice shifted into her girly voice as she said, "U-Uzume k-kind of feels like some tall, scary monster man will come out and spook us!"
Neptune decided to "alleviate" the tension... by shouting "BOO!" at her friend.
"KYAH!" Uzume screamed, falling to her butt. She glared at Neptune, tears in her eyes, angrily shouting, "N-not cool! Uzume got scared half to death!"
"But you were so tense," Neptune replied. "I just wanted to help you relieve some of that stress."
"W-well it was..." Uzume stopped for a moment to get her voice back to normal, "that was still really mean, Nepsy."
"Aw, okay, I'm sorry." Neptune raised her flashlight, and saw something up ahead. "Hey, look!"
The two ran up, and found an old abandoned factory. The tracks led inside, through a large, broken-in garage door on the side.
"This must be where he took Nepgear," Neptune said.
"Let's check it out," Uzume replied. With a nod from Neptune, the two ran inside.
Once they got in, they began sneaking around, hoping to catch the bad guy off guard. And as they delved in deeper, they began to hear the whimpers of a little girl, ...and some weird, joyful sounds that really began to disturb the duo. Eventually, they peaked around a corner... and had to take a moment to process what they were seeing.
In the middle of a large room, sat... they weren't sure if it was a robot or not. It had a massive, rotund, armored yellow body, with tiny arms, stubby legs, and a lizard's tail. His head was also lizard-like, with tiny green eyes, a red nose, a pair of horns, and short red hair on the back of it. On his back was a large disk sitting on an open-case cover with a head-like box on top, which also had horns.
He also had a big, very long tongue... which was wrapped around a little girl with purple hair and wearing a black dress, who a crying and squirming to get out.
"Nepgear..." Neptune responded, seeing her poor sister stuck like that.
"Gross..." Uzume said in her valley-girl voice.
"...Yeah, no kidding. And that guy looks tough, too. We got to get Nepgear away from him before we fight him for real."
"Does Uzume have to..." Uzume cleared her throat, and went back to her normal voice, "I've got to touch that tongue, don't I?"
Neptune thought for a moment. "Let's make that Plan B, I have an idea. But I'm going to need to borrow your megaphone."
"Why...?"
Neptune explained her plan to Uzume, and when she was handed Uzume's weapon, she snuck around and behind the freakish robot.
Then she raised the megaphone up, and shouted, "BOO!"
"GYAH!" the robot screamed as he leaped away 10 feet in surprise from the enhanced shout, while spinning around to see who it was who shouted.
The yellow, licking robot glared at the one who scared him. "How dare you! You scared me half to death!" he complained with a wheezy voice, though still surprisingly well, considering his tongue was still hanging out, and unfortunately, still holding Nepgear.
"Dang it, I was hoping you'd drop my sister," Neptune responded.
"What? As if I could let such a cutie pie like this," the robot shook Nepgear a bit, as if to motion to her, "be taken by such a filthy creature like you!"
"Hey! Sure, I forgot to shower this morning, ...and yesterday too, but so what! Just because I smell a little bad, doesn't mean I'm filthy!" Neptune complained. "Just who do you think you are, anyway? Trying to take my little sister for yourself!"
"Me? Oh, well I am CFW Trick! A gentleman who cares for little cutie pies everywhere!"
"Yeah, some gentleman..." Neptune said in exasperation. "Release my sister now, you creep!"
"Oh, and why should I do that?"
Neptune growled. "Uzume! Plan B!"
Suddenly, there was a bright flash coming from behind Trick. He barely had time to look behind when Orange Heart flew over him, and performed a dropkick on his tongue, near where Nepgear was being held.
...Unfortunately, Uzume just bounced off the tongue, spinning off him and into the ground next to Neptune. And the tongue remained unaffected, Nepgear still as stuck as before.
"Owie..." Orange Heart cried.
"A goddess, huh?" Trick exclaimed. "Did you really think you could harm my tongue? It's the toughest part of my body!"
"It looks like this is going to be harder than we thought," Neptune said.
"Yeah..." Orange Heart replied.
Neptune tossed Orange Heart her megaphone, which immediately changed into its HDD form once she caught it, while the purplette then summoned her twin swords.
Orange Heart raised her microphone to attack, but then stopped. "Uh, Nepsy?"
"Yeah?" Neptune replied.
"Uzume can't use her megaphone!"
"D-did I break it or something!?"
"No! The soundwaves have a wide area of effect, and they might hit Lil's Gearsy!"
"O-oh, right..." Neptune replied. "And Nepgear hates loud sounds as well... You can use your fists, right?"
"Eh..." Orange Heart didn't like the idea of getting close and getting hit by the tongue again, but she didn't same to have much of a choice. "Uzume can do that..." she said as she dematerialized her weapon.
"Kyuh, kyuh, kyuh, kyuh! I appreciate you not wanting to harm the little maiden, but if you think I'm going let you have my cutie pie, then you're sorely mistaken!" Trick replied. Then suddenly, his tongue lashed out extending towards the girls, and somehow sliding around Nepgear well enough that she remained in the same position, though she did cry out in discomfort from the weird feeling.
The girls jumped away from each other to dodge the tongue-tip smashing into the ground.
Orange Heart immediately flew in for a counter, striking at Trick's mouth and the base of his tongue (while screaming inside), hoping to make his grip on Nepgear loosen. Unfortunately, Trick's armor was tough, even for Orange Heart's immense strength, so that didn't happen, and Trick swung to the side, knocking Orange Heart away with his tongue.
While he was distracted, Neptune decided to go for a more direct approach. "Raging Rush!" She rushed in with several slashes from her swords, all striking the base Trick's tongue again, followed by a strong finishing slash. Neptune looked up to that while she did some damage, it was nowhere near to close the results she was hoping for. And of course, Trick spun around to knock her off, too.
"Big sis!" Nepgear cried.
"Now, now, why ask for that ugly thing, when you could be with a gentleman like me?" Trick responded.
"No! Let me go!"
Neptune looked at this scene in a mixture of despair and conviction. She was going to free Nepgear from this creep's clutches, no matter what!
"She should just go away!" Trick announced. "Lickey, lickey, lickey!" His tongue shot out, and caught Neptune, slamming her against a wall.
"Big mistake..." Trick said intensely. However, since his focus was firmly on Neptune now, he failed to notice that Orange Heart had come back, and was once again flew above him for another strike to the tongue, and this time, she was GETTING results!
"Dream Smash Fist!" And she dove in with her spiraling drill punch, right onto Trick's tongue.
"Gah!" Trick couldn't resist the powerful force behind her attack this time, and his tongue was pushed up, away from the impact, causing Neptune to be launched up. While Orange Heart did ultimately bounce off after the attack, Neptune landed on the tongue, slid down the slippery surface, and grabbed onto Nepgear.
Neptune hooked her hands under her little sister's arms, and began to pull. "Come on," she grunted, while the little Nepgear looked up to her big sister.
Unfortunately, Trick got out of this daze, and he shook Neptune off of him. Orange Heart managed to catch Neptune before she hit the ground.
"Ugh, this guy is too tough!" Orange Heart complained.
Neptune simply stared at Nepgear, who was flailing her arms before trying to push herself out the rest of the way. "Her arms..." she finally noted, "I freed Nepgear's arms!"
"Okay... so we made a little progress, but how does that help us?" the orange goddess replied.
Neptune was running her mind, trying to come up with something. "I'm going to ask Nepgear to cover her ears."
"Why?"
"So you can use your megaphone."
Orange Heart was taken aback by this statement. "It's still very loud. Covering Lil' Gearsy's little ears won't help much."
"You only need to do it once. You've got that icy shout move, right?"
"...You want Uzume to freeze Lil' Gearsy?"
"No! Trick's tongue, it's slimy and moist, right?"
"That even sounds gross!" Orange Heart complained. "Don't say that again!"
"Uzume, that means it's wet. So... with your ice assist..."
Orange Heart finally got the idea. "So, use my combo finisher, freeze Tricky's tongue, and he'll be weakened!"
"Yeah!"
Orange Heart rematerialized her megaphone. "On your mark!"
Neptune turned to Nepgear. "Little sis! Cover your ears!"
Nepgear stopped to stare at her sister, then cover her tiny ears.
Trick looked at the girls in confusion. "Why did she..."
Orange Heart quickly rushed up to the creepy robot, aimed her megaphone at the base of his tongue, and shouted "Dark Ice Waves!" The soundwaves released from the HDD megaphone created ice crystals, which completely froze Trick's drooling mouth over.
The ice spread down Trick's long, and around Nepgear. "C-cold..." she replied as the ice spread onto her saliva-soaked clothes.
"Now!" Neptune called out, and the pair lunged at Trick, Neptune with a kick, and Orange Heart with a punch. The combined impact shattered the ice, and finally force the tongue to unravel, freeing Nepgear.
Neptune wasted no time as she landed, and dashed to her sister, and picked her up.
"B-big s-s-sis!" Nepgear cried out, both in tears, and still freezing from the ice attack.
"I'm here! I'm here!" Neptune replied in calming town. "I'll keep you close. You're safe now!"
"W-warm p-pillows," Nepgear replied, burying her face into her sister's chest, trying to warm up.
Neptune could feel the shivering girl in her drenched clothing, so she held her closer to her, trying to help warm her up.
"Nepsy!" Orange Heart suddenly shouted. Spinning around, Neptune could see Trick recovering.
"Fr-freezing!" the creep glared at Neptune. "How... dare you... freeze my tongue! And steal my little maiden!"
Trick swung his tongue at the older purplette. Neptune quickly backflipped over the attack, high into the air, and while she didn't have the time to announce it, she performed her Ariel Shot maneuver, holding Nepgear in one arm, and pulling out her pistol in her other hand, firing down onto the fleshy appendage, before flipping around and landing perfectly on her feet.
"GAH!" Trick cried out, the defenses on his tongue weakened thanks to the ice from before.
"LOUD!" Nepgear complained upon hearing the up-close gunshots.
"S-sorry sis!" Neptune replied.
"RUN!" Orange Heart shouted at Neptune. "PROTECT GEARSY!"
Neptune didn't need to be told twice, as she immediately ran off, Nepgear in her arms.
"YOU...!" Trick shouted in rage, attempting another attack on the older purplette, and hoping to reclaim his "cutie pie", but Orange Heart struck first.
"Dream Roar!" The goddess performed a dive kick on Trick, knocking him back, and then leaping off him and unleashed an earth-shattering shout.
"AH! My ears!" Trick complained.
Orange Heart looked back to see if the purple sisters got away. And just in time, as Neptune jumped onto, slid across and behind some debris. Turning back to Trick, she said, "Uzume will not let you harm Nepsy or violate Lil' Gearsy anymore! Uzume will make sure the sisters will stay together!"
Trick gave out a low hum. "...Just because you sound like a compact cutie, doesn't change the fact that you're an old hag!"
Now between Trick and Orange Heart, the phrase "old hag" meant completely different things to them, and neither fully understood what it meant to the other. But for Orange Heart, or rather Uzume, she never really thought about, nor did anyone ever bring it up. But she knew it was true: She WAS old!
Her reign as the CPU of Planeptune had ended long ago. Uranus took her place, followed by the Neptune of her world. She was Purple Heart's predecessor by TWO generations of CPUs! Nearly eighty years have passed since her reign ended. She once encountered a little boy... the next time she saw him, he was an old man.
Uzume was never really bothered by this... but only because she never thought about it. But now that it was brought to her attention in the form of an insult, it stung. It stung deep, an emotional wound that hurt so much.
Orange Heart's face scowled in a way that didn't belong on such a cute face, as she shouted, "Uzume is still very young and pretty! And if anyone is an old creep, it's YOU!" That last word was drawn out, as she shouted it into her megaphone, and released the most intense sound blast she ever released. It even shattered the remaining intact glass in the building.
"AH HAHAH!" Trick cried out in pain as he was pushed back by the soundwave piercing his ears.
Once the attack ended, Neptune, now peaking over the debris with her sister, sweat-dropped. "I... didn't know... she was sensitive about that..."
"But Uzie is so pretty like this, though," Nepgear replied, gripping onto her sister's warm body.
Orange wasn't done, as her megaphone disappeared as she shouted "Dream Combo!" with a lot of intensity.
She cracked her knuckles and then dashed in, delivering rapid punches at blinding speeds, before winding back, and finishing off with one powerful punch that sent Trick flying into a wall.
And Orange Heart still hadn't finished, as she pointed forward, shouting, "Umio Heaven!" Then five duplicates of Umio that appeared from nowhere flew in from outside. They sped above Trick, and materialized multiple explosive payloads that dropped onto the yellow creep, before they turned back around and flew right into him and made a kamikaze explosion that completely engulfed Trick.
"No! The Umio Rays!" the poor, innocent Nepgear exclaimed.
"Th-they weren't the real Umio, sis," Neptune explained, knowing full well that the skill Orange Heart used was just a part of her dream powers.
"But mister fishy..."
"We'll go see him after this, 'kay sis. He's fine, I'm sure of it!"
"...Okay." the little girl resigned.
Orange Heart, meanwhile, was simply staring at the flames caused by her last Skill, catching her breath. She was sure it was over now. She was about to go check on Neptune and Nepgear, when suddenly, the flames shifted.
Emerging from the flames was an enraged Trick, his eyes glowing a fierce red as he glared at the orange goddess.
Orange Heart growled. "Why won't you go down!? Does Uzume have to use her EXE Skill!?"
Trick simply gave a low, intense laugh, before shouting "Lickey!" and his tongue lashed out at Orange Heart. She didn't get the chance to react as the tongue wrapped around her. Then Trick raised her up, and slammed her down onto the ground, HARD!
The bastard did several more times, even once slamming her into the ceiling, tossing her away into a wall a great distance away from him, past the purple sisters, with such force, once Orange Heart smacked into said wall, that she reverted back into her human form of Uzume and slumped to the ground.
"UZUME!" Neptune cried out.
Trick began to slide forward at a slow pace, still glaring at the fallen goddess. "You stupid goddess. I was just having fun with my precious cutie pie, then you and that filthy woman had to come and ruin everything... As a gentleman and a pervert, I will not stand for this!"
"A gentleman AND pervert, you say?" a voice from the dark said. It was a feminine voice, speaking a sultry tone, and for some reason, it sent shivers down Neptune's spine. Nepgear covered her eyes in fear from hearing this voice, and hid behind her big sister. "Then perhaps... you'd like to give me a little fun?"
Trick turned to the source of the voice, and flatly said, "no thanks, you're not my type. You're too old."
"Oh... you misunderstand..." The owner of the voice walked out from the shadows, along with another woman. And Neptune realized they were both goddesses, from their outfits and the fact the CPU's symbol shown in their eyes.
The owner of the voice that spoke was tall and busty, similar to the HDD of Neptune's other self in the Hyperdimension, maybe a bit bigger. However, she was scantily clad, compared to other goddesses, her black and magenta outfit revealing her cleavage, midriff, and Neptune was pretty sure the bottom part was a thong, all of which, along with a choker was connected together by straps. She also had thigh-high boots with heels, also strapped to the main outfit, and long gloves stopping just below her armpit and shoulder. She had long, loose, iris-blue colored hair, dark magenta eyes, and a lustful, sadistic expression.
The goddess behind her had blond hair grown past her shoulders with a metallic band hold up some of it in a sort of tree ponytail, peach-colored eyes, and a very joyful, child-like expression. She wore a more common goddess outfit, a white swimsuit-like one-piece with black sections, and that showed off her massive cleavage. And massive it was, it was probably the biggest bust Neptune had ever seen. She had thigh-high boots and long gloves cut off at the biceps, both of which had the same color scheme as the main suit. She also had equipped as weapons, a set of large yellow claws.
The first goddess, the one with the iris hair, stepped forward, and summoned her weapon, a long, black, jagged blade with magenta edges, and then she smiled mercilessly at Trick.
"...I don't take no for an answer," Iris Heart stated.
Author's Note: This next chapter after this... is going to be very cathartic! No, seriously, think about it. The child-licking pervert that everyone hates... versus the sadistic dominatrix that is Iris Heart. The next chapter is going to be so fun to write!
Now, when I hinted at Trick last chapter, and claimed that "you are going to be SO mad", I failed to realize the everyone would instead look at the Ultradimension robots that were once villians, like Anonydeath, or even Copypaste. One person guessed Trick, but only as a second guess.
My question is... why Anonydeath or Copypaste. Yes, they were involved in kidnappings as a part of the Seven Sages, but aren't they reformed now? Copypaste doesn't even seem like the type to do this, and while Anonydeath is still an active criminal, didn't he restore the kids-turned-monsters back into their human forms? Why would either of them be involved in this?
And to that point, I want to put out a defense for Iris Heart, too, since lots of you seemed worried about what she might do to little Nepgear, considering how she traumatized little IF. Now, I'm not saying that scaring IF was okay, it was pretty terrible, but it was an ACCIDENT! You could tell that Plutia was apologetic afterward, and also, IF was KIDNAPPED. Sure, Iris Heart's reaction was... extreme, but lashing out at her kidnapper is a reasonable reaction, I have to say.
Also, can I point out that Iris Heart wasn't the only goddess present? Sure, they probably couldn't stop her, but maybe they could've... I don't know, TAKEN IF AWAY FROM THE SCENE! That, or at least cover her eyes and ears. Seriously, when Purple Heart said "she will live with this trauma her entire life", I was like "yeah, no thanks to YOU!" Also, Plutia seems to genuinely like children (and compared to Trick, in the right way), so I doubt she'll let herself make that mistake again, at least willingly.
Sorry, I just don't like it when, yes, a character screwed everything, badly, but all people ever do is put the blame on them for it, without seeming to look at the greater picture (I feel the same way for Starlord in Infinity War, if that gives you a better idea. Two words: Doctor Strange).
But, I digress. Trick made a lot of sense to me as a villain for a Hyperdimension story focusing on a little girl, since he is the most reprehensible villain in that regard, more than ANY Ultradimension character. I don't like his character, but I knew it would at least be fun to write, and well, I guess I felt mean.
And in case you're wondering, "How is Trick even here? Is it the original, Hyperdimension Trick, or a new, Ultradimension Trick? If it's the original, how was he revived, and why is he in the Ultradimension?" When I came up with this plot, I thought of these questions... and chose not to answer them. Why? Well, one, I couldn't be bothered (maybe in the future, but not now), and two, why would the characters in the story be asking these questions? None of the present characters know he is, because they were never present when he was an active villain. To them, he's just another random bad guy, nothing more.
Now, as for the fight, boy, was it tough. Having to try to free little Nepgear while fighting Trick at the same time? Not easy. Don't blame them for nearly freezing her, they were running out of options.
But, I like how I managed to write in unique ways to use their Skills, like using Dark Ice Waves to freeze Trick's tongue, and Neptune using Ariel
Shot as a evade and counter, rather than a straight attack.
Also, that tongue sliding scene Neptune did, I thought that was cool. But originally, I was going to have Neptune shoot at Trick while she did that, but then I realized that... Nepgear was right there, possibly in the way. I probably would've written that the shots didn't hit her, but anyone who was paying close attention would've noticed this, and considered Neptune far too reckless and irresponsible, so I decided against it.
But if anything, Nepgear wanted to watch her sister and friend fight, and she got really close to the action, right? I mean, she got closer than she probably would've wanted, but still.
The Uzume scene after Nepgear was freed, oh man, I felt bad writing that. I just simply realized, Trick calls anyone who isn't a child, an old hag, but Uzume actually is an old goddess, relatively speaking. And then I just had to run with it.
The final thing I want to mention about this chapter is Yellow Heart. Now, she was always planned to fight alongside Iris Heart against Trick, but I wanted her to jump in partway into the fight. But I realized that, one, if I didn't write well, it would be too easy for it to become jarring, and two, it was already noted that Peashy was with Plutia, and it's not about why they would've separated in the first place, it was more than... I think you guys went through enough with Nepgear being violated by Trick, so, just to ease your spirits, Peashy is here right away, and in HDD, so Trick won't consider going after her. You're welcome.
Also, this is that I'm not sure if I want to do this, but I am considering it for next chapter... have you seen the new episode of the Super Mario Bros. Z Reboot? The one with the Yoshi vs. Metalix fight? Think about that, and consider how strong Peashy is. Now that would be cathartic (well, for Trick in the next chapter, not Yoshi in SMBZ. That actually made me wince on first viewing).
So, last chapter, I was asking for ideas for future ideas. Now, I'm not completely out, there's a short list from when my ex-co-writer was still helping that I got, but I will say... a lot of the ideas I got were simple, and I even PMed someone in saying that's what I'm was wanting... I think that undersold what I really wanted, and that's partially on me, but on my DevianArt upload of that chapter, someone gave an idea that is closer to what I'm looking for.
Basically, it was that little Nepgear would find and manage to fix and raygun that would turn people into catgirls, and hijinks would ensue. I said "I like it. It's the kind of wacky thing you'd expect from Hyperdimension, and this story doesn't have enough of that!". So if that gives you a better idea of what to give me, then there you go. (And maybe I'll repurpose some ideas for my other slice-of-life story "Sapphire the Hedgehog. I also need ideas for that... and no one reviews that story.)
And one more thing, a story I do plan on writing, right after this story arc is finished next chapter, is that Uzume has been saying she wanted to have a sparring match with Plutia (which, if anyone has seen the side game "Blanc + Neptune vs. Zombies, she'll probably regret saying that), and I want to write that fight. I just don't know who I want to win.
It's not about who I like more, because I like both equally, and I think that would be an unfair metric to base the victor on. So tell me, who do you think would win? (And please don't use Share Energy in your example. I know that differing amounts of Shares would have an effect on how strong they are, especially since they'll be in HDD, but that's superfluous, so I'm not going to going to bother considering that.)