Ho-Hum and the Alien Visitation

A Hyperdimension Neptunia Fan Fiction

by Derald Snyder

Chapter 24- Early Arrivals!

*Planeptune Guild HQ, IF's Office*

"So... Tenten Ryghts," IF began, "a clone of Rei that was created in an illegal laboratory in Leanbox. According to the file you just sent me, she was rejected for not performing to their expectations, and was forced into stealing to survive..."

"That's right," Rei nodded, the communication having been transferred to her boss's holo-screen, she and Bartholomew standing side-by-side. "But after being sentenced to prison, she promised she would try to turn over a new leaf... Argh, it makes me so mad that maggot went back on her word!"

"Calm yourself, Rei," Bartholomew rested a hand on her shoulder. "We still don't know the exact circumstances here..."

"She seemed quite on-edge when I confronted her," Nepgya spoke up. "Of course, part of that was most likely being frightened by my face..."

"...I still can't believe you're that same robot that messed with me and Peach so far back," Rei muttered.

"I don't remember anything from before, but I'm sorry if I caused you trouble," Nepgya bowed in remorse. "But getting back on-topic, the possibility exists that she was not recruited into Ho-Hum of her own will..."

"Perhaps whoever recruited her made an offer she couldn't refuse," Bartholomew mused.

"Well then... perhaps I should remind the Lynx just who her sister is," Rei gave an evil smirk. "Sometimes the best deterrent is a good, old fashioned spanking! Haaa-hahahahaha!"

"Rei, please," Bartholomew sighed, "there must be some way to vent your frustrations without reverting to final boss mode..."

"W-well, if we hear anything about Tenten stealing again, we'll let you know right away," Nepgear promised.

"Yeah, just, don't reduce her to a bloody smear on the pavement, 'kay?" Neptune snarked.

"I-I wouldn't d-do th-that!" Rei gasped, "sh-she's th-the c-closest thing I have t-to family!"

"Well, for now, how about you go and take a walk outside," Bartholomew suggested. "Maybe throw some snowballs at the wall, if you have to... But anyway, yes, Lady Neptune, please let us know if you hear anything."

"Don't worry, we will!" Uzume nodded. "Bye for now!"

*Lastation Basilicom, Noire's Office*

"Well, it's official. We've hit a dead end," Noire lamented to her colleagues. "No fingerprints, the Jeep was bought from a used car lot, and the buyer's ID card was forged. As much as I hate to say it, Game Over."

"I apologize for not being much help," Neon said with her head bowed.

"We did what we could," Haruhi shrugged. "We'll just have to wait for that 'Generic Soldier' to make his next move..." Just then, the phone rang.

"Hello?" Noire picked up. "Oh, hey, Vert, what's up?" Her eyes went wide at what her fellow CPU told her... "Someone scared Rom and Ram with a virus?! And you think it might be related to ours?!" Sistermon Ciel's head jerked up at hearing this. "OK, hold on, let me transfer your call..." A little fiddling later, and Vert and the 4GO GM appeared on a split holo-screen.

"Who's this lady?" Haruhi queried.

Vert replied, "Oh, yes, this is the Game Manager of my favorite MMORPG, 4 Goddesses Online. She's quite the competent hacker..."

"Cracker, not hacker," the GM insisted. "We've been over this before, Lady Vert..."

"R-right," Vert sweat-dropped. "Sorry... anyway, could you pull up the image of the virus that frightened Blanc's sisters?"

"Sure thing," the GM nodded, bringing up the image of the monster.

"Keramon!" Ciel gasped. "Ohh, I must have missed one after all...!"

"Missed one? What do you mean?" the GM grunted in mild confusion.

"Sister Ciel is a digital being," Noire explained, "who can enter cyberspace without any further ado. It was she who deleted most of the viruses that infected the Basilicom's servers, but a few got away..."

"I thought MAGES. helped her take care of the rest, though," John Smith said.

"A d-digital being that can materialize in reality?!" the GM gasped in disbelief. "You're kidding me!"

"No joke, I actually saw her dive into the computer myself," Noire stated.

"And we all saw her come out," Haruhi added, the others speaking similarly.

"Getting back to Keramon," Ciel cut in, "this particular virus grows by devouring data. And Keramon can eat data at a very rapid rate. And I shudder to think of what might happen if it evolves any further..."

"Not good," the 4GO GM grimaced. "I'll see if can code a filter to at least alert us if this 'Keramon' turns up in any of the 4GO servers... I refuse to let this thing devour my magnum opus!"

"I'll be sure to alert my guild as well, just in case," Vert concurred. "Hopefully this thing won't be as tough to deal with as Cheetah was..." Just then, she received an alert on her myPhone. "What's this...? LASA's calling?! Oh dear, I hope Keramon didn't decide to return there! Just a moment..." She answered her mobile device. "This is Vert, is something the matter? ...What?! A-are you certain?!" Facing the screen again, she said, "LASA says there's a massive spaceship in orbit above Gamindustri!"

"Say what?!" Noire, Haruhi, and John Smith gasped. Haruhi then materialized a holo-screen of her own, showing a massive battleship that seemed armed to the teeth!

"I know that ship!" Neon gasped, "It's a Vers Empire battlecruiser! But how did it get here?! It shouldn't have been able to make the trip on it's own!"

"Can you hail them?" Noire asked.

"I should be able to!" Haruhi nodded, her holoscreen showing static for a few moments, then clearing, showing the face of an officer, his hat pulled low to hide his eyes. "Alright, battleship, this is Ma'nabatea speaking, so identify yourself!"

"This the battle cruiser Deucalion of the glorious Vers Empire!" the pilot answered. "We have come to-"

"Wait!" a young, refined female voice called out. "I'll talk to her. On-screen." the image immediately blipped to the visage of a young blonde with green eyes, wearing a modest white dress with a tall neck frill, her hair styled into a circular braid with one lock draping down the right side of her face. "Greetings, Ma'nabatea, Oracle Evangelion, and denizens of the planet Gamindustri."

"Princess Asseylum!" Neon recognized the woman. "What a relief... if she is in charge, then they must come in peace."

"Wait, so is this the diplomatic mission you guys were hinting at during the TV broadcast?!" the GM realized.

"I can't see who's speaking, but yes, that is correct," Princess Asseylum replied. "I'm guessing the regally-dressed one with black hair is the ruler of Gamindustri?"

"N-not exactly, I rule the nation of Lastation, one of four nations that comprise Gamindustri," Noire corrected. "My name is Noire, AKA Goddess Black Heart."

"Ah, so you are a goddess as well? It's very nice to meet you then, Lady Noire," Asseylum bowed respectfully.

"Okay, two things," Haruhi interjected. "One, what you guys doing here already, and two, how did you make the trip without my help?!"

"You said we needed to wait at least a week," Asseylum said in response. "But you didn't contact us, and well... some of the soldiers got a bit restless, so I decided to go ahead with the expedition regardless..."

"It's been a week already?!" Haruhi materialized something that resembled a calendar in alien language... "Shit! It has been! I completely lost track of time!"

"I was going to remind milady when we arrived here, in Lastation," Neon said, "but events kept happening at a rapid pace, and I also forgot... However, that does not answer how you were able to make the trip here, especially in such short time..."

"Oh, I can explain that," Asseylum nodded. "You see, a few months ago, a witch arrived in our empire by some sort of transporter accident. She was apparently studying methods to travel between dimensions, and though she didn't seem entirely sane, her knowledge was beyond anything we'd heard of. Eventually she managed to send herself back home, but she left some of her technology behind as a thank-you. Long story short, our technicians managed to reverse-engineer the witch's technology to enable us to create small wormholes for our ships to travel through, greatly cutting down on travel time between planets."

"Um... would this witch happen to have blue hair, a mole under her right eye, and constantly talk about some organization that thwarts her attempts to obtain Duck P?" Noire queried.

"That's her! H-how did you... is she one of yours?!" Asseylum gasped in comprehension.

"She is!" Vert affirmed. "I can't believe it... this means MAGES. inadvertently made contact with the Animenga cluster even before our satellite arrived there!"

"Damn, talk about achievements in ignorance," John Smith snarked.

"No kidding...!" Haruhi concurred. "Talk about contrived coincidences!"

"Anyway, do you have a suitable spaceport for us to land?" Asseylum requested.

"Uh..." Noire's eyes shrunk to white circles. "Um, let me get with my fellow goddesses, and we'll figure out a place for you guys to set down. Just... stay in orbit for now. And make sure you've got the safeties engaged on all your weaponry!"

"Don't worry about that," Asseylum smiled. "No one on board will fire without my order... But please do get back to us when you've found a landing site for us. Farewell for now." The screen then cut to static.

"Well, that was awkward," the 4GO GM muttered. "Well, I need to get back to 4 Goddesses Online for now, but if that Keramon shows up, let me know and I'll do what I can to help."

"That's very appreciated," Vert nodded. "Good-bye for now."

"Okay, I guess the next thing to do is get all the CPUs on conference call again," Haruhi suggested. "And after that, we should probably try and get in contact with that MAGES. girl..."

"Well, this really has nothing to do with me, so I shall return to my normal duties for the time being," Sistermon Ciel stated. "By your leave, Lady Noire." The tsundere CPU nodded and dismissed her with a wave.

"Let's just hope those Ho-Hum guys don't find out about this," John said...

*Ho-Hum HQ*

"You're saying the diplomatic mission from Animenga has arrived already?!" Overlord Momus gasped incredulously.

"That's right. Even Goddess Haruhi herself was caught off-guard," Generic Ninja #25 reported. "It seems they used wormhole technology reverse-engineered from a certain Mad Magician..."

"You mean... the Vers Empire?!" MAGES. gasped. "I... I believed that place to be in another dimension entirely! It never even occurred to me that I had transported myself to a distant galaxy far, far away!"

"Geez, you must have the devil's luck that you didn't end up in empty space or an inhospitable planet!" Linda commented.

"I agree, meow!" BlackGatomon concurred.

"But wait, could we not use this to our advantage?" Ninja #25 suggested. "After all, if Dr. Pop has had prior contact with these aliens, that means she possesses knowledge that not even the CPUs have!"

"...Yes, you make a good point!" Momus smiled beneath his one-eyed mask. "With Dr. Pop's knowledge, we can effectively neuter any advantage this Vers Empire would have over us!"

"Hmhmhm... how fortuitous, indeed!" MAGES. chuckled. "I did indeed closely study their own technology while I was stuck there... if they think they can neutralize our evil plots so easily, they shall be quite surprised! Fuahahahahaha!"

Overlord Momus briefly laughed along with her before regaining his composure. "(Ahem) Now then, Generic Ninja #25, collect Generic Soldier #20 and return to base ASAP. We must recalibrate our plans to deal with this new contingency!"

"As you will, Overlord Momus," Ninja #25 bowed, before cutting the connection.

*To be continued...*