Hyperdimension Neptunia - Across the Multiverse
A HyperDimension Neptunia Fanfiction by Dumbrarere1
Chapter 4 - We Need to go Deeper!
Neptune and Andrew awaken in their room in the inn, yawning. The much needed rest was enough to get them going again.
"Before we continue any further, Nep, I want to visit the library we saw on the way in, so we can get an idea of this world's history." Andrew suggested.
"Awww, a library? Jeez, that's lame." Neptune chided jokingly. Andrew knew she was joking and just laughed along.
"I'll probably find some comic for you to read while I look for said history." Andrew said.
"Sweet!" Neptune replied childishly, before they were out the door. Before they went to the library, they took a right and bought some delicious sweet buns to eat from the shop next door, taking a moment to eat them before they walked to the other side of the quaint little town and visiting the library.
Nepgear was in the Basilicom with the kids, drawing with them. At only three, they have certainly gotten to be a bit like five year olds.
"Auntie Nepgear? When are mommy and daddy coming back?" Violet asked as she drew hearts all over her paper.
"They'll come back soon, I promise." Nepgear said. That was when Histoire returned with five individual people. These five people were the Gold Third. Lance, Jacob, and Nepgear gathered to meet them.
"Everyone. This is the Gold Third. Meet S-Sha, B-Sha, E-Sha, K-Sha, and C-Sha." Histoire introduced. S-Sha and E-Sha were holding hands, a lesbian relationship existing between the two.
"Pleased to meet you everyone. My name's Nepgear. I hope we can become good friends and work well together." Nepgear introduced herself.
"I do too, Nepgear. And for an extra forty-five dollars, I'll throw in an extra butt kicking for any baddies!" B-Sha replied.
"Huh? Why is she asking for money for her role as a member of Gold Third?" Jacob asked. Lance just shrugged in response.
"Ignore her. She's a bit of an oddity, but she's wicked tough." C-Sha replied.
"Aren't we all, though?" E-Sha asked. Her friendly nature was a bit of a far cry from S-Sha's introverted self. Yin and Yang.
"Good point. I'm sure S-Sha wouldn't shy away from a good friendly conversation." C-Sha quipped.
"Not interested…" S-Sha responded, waving it off.
"So, the CPUs and CPU Candidates are all unconscious, right? Save for Noire, Nepgear and Neptune?" K-Sha asked.
"That is correct. That's why I've gathered you here, as I fear a dark future is in store for Gamindustri. Cloud, Avan, Sora and the other extradimensional heroes are on their way back as we speak." Histoire replied.
"I can only hope that Neptune and Andrew gather the Sharicite Fragments in time, then… There's only so much we can do as the Gold Third." C-Sha said rather grimly.
"Yeah… They're our only hope right now…" Lance finally said after a long while.
Neptune was struggling to keep herself from laughing at the silly misspelling of "library".
"Did you see the sign out there? "Librarby" what kind of silly thing was that?" she asked
"They might be aware." Andrew replied with a quiet chuckle as he went to the comic books, pulling out a classic Sailor Moon manga from the shelf. "I wonder how a beloved classic got down here…" he muttered as he handed it to Neptune. She quickly went to read it as he then searched for books on the history of the world they were in.
After some searching, he found one. He'd pull it out and read it, before walking up to Neptune. "Nep, look at this." he said.
"Hmm?" Neptune hummed in response.
"According to this history book, it seems that the humans and monsters of this world coexisted peacefully, until Humanity attacked and sealed the monsters down here with a magic barrier. It's like Arngier said before we came to this world." Andrew said, explaining everything to do with the world.
"That bad?" Neptune asked.
"Yeah. And get this. I cross-referenced this with other history books by the monsters who live down here, and there are several references to a young boy. A prince, it seems, by the name of Asriel Dreemurr. He apparently died at the hands of the humans of this world while on a peaceful endeavor to take a human child's body to the surface for burial." Andrew replied. Neptune couldn't even think of anything to say in response to the thought of an unprovoked attack on the royal family's only son.
They continued to read up on it. There were many references to the Delta Rune, and the prophecy, which stated that a goddess from another dimension and her husband, with the aid of a human, will lead them out of despair and to a better life. But there was a contradiction.
"Seven human SOULs to break the barrier…" Andrew muttered to himself. "Doubt going against the prophecy will be so simple…" he added. Neptune nodded in reply as she finished reading the manga. With the reading they needed done, they closed their books and returned them, before heading back out into the snow.
"Dang it… They're still going far faster than I anticipated…" Kurome swore under her breath. "It's still too early in the True Goddess' plans for me to get involved directly, I need to slow them down. Perhaps an attack on Snowdin would be enough to cause a stir." she said, pondering how to delay Andrew's and Neptune's progress.
Andrew and Neptune continued on, stopping when they saw a rather distraught Papyrus. Cautiously, they approached.
"Geez, why're you so down?" Neptune asked him.
"CPU. Allow me to tell you about some complex feelings." Papyrus responded.
"Complex feelings? What sort of complex feelings? What's going on in your head?" Andrew asked.
"Feelings like… knowing your efforts were in vain… but at the same time, knowing you have two potential friends in the process." Papyrus said.
"So you concede knowing that you cannot win, right?" Andrew asked. Papyrus could only nod in agreement. Neptune was completely shocked in response, as she was SURE there was a boss fight against this guy. She decided to shrug off the breach in story and go with the flow.
"Undyne has an interest in you CPUs. She still thinks you're both human, and will try to take your SOUL, but I still think you both can convince her otherwise." Papyrus explained. Neptune just shrugged and let it go.
"Cool. Let's hang out some time, okay?" Neptune asked nonchalantly, somewhat out of character.
"WOWIE! You want to hang out with me?! I'm so flattered!" Papyrus shouted. "I'll be at home, waiting. Feel free to come hang out at any time. NYEH HEH HEH!" he continued, giving his signature laugh, before essentially flying over Neptune and Andrew, confusing them both.
"Did big Skelebro just fly over us?" Neptune asked.
"Yep…" Andrew replied, bewildered. They were so busy talking they didn't realize that an armored figure approached them. They froze and turned around to see it looming over them.
"Woah… That's almost scary." Andrew said regarding the armored figure.
"Why's this story contradicting the original plot so much?" Neptune asked, confused and somewhat scared.
"Don't know, but I guess we're probably in for it." Andrew said as the armored figure summoned and raised a magic spear. That's when he noticed the sound of commotion back in Snowdin Town.
"Uh… Mr armored knight? We're not human, so, you don't have to take our SOULs or any-" Neptune tried to say, before being shushed by her husband. He listened to the noise for a moment, and realized it was signifying something bad.
"Sounds like trouble. Let's go, Nep!" he said, pulling Neptune with him and running straight for Snowdin.
They arrived to Snowdin to find dozens of Shadow Puppets running amok, terrorizing the townsfolk.
"That's a lot of Shadow Puppets…" Andrew mused.
"What do we do?! Surely they've got to be looking for revengeance from last time!" Neptune squealed.
"The only thing we should do, Nep! We've gotta protect these people!" Andrew responded, before activating HDD. He'd never realized he activated HDD in front of the armored figure from before.
"Let's-a go!" Neptune exclaimed, trying to mimic a certain Italian plumber with a mustache, before activating HDD. They ran into the fight and stood resolute.
"People of Snowdin, seek shelter! We'll handle this!" Andrew declared, taking an offensive stance against the Shadow Puppets. Taking the opportunity, the monsters that were stuck outside when the attack happened ran indoors, seeking shelter wherever they could find it and watching the spectacle from safety.
Neptune drew the first strike, and destroyed one of the Shadow Puppets. The armored figure approached, and tossed the magic spear at another shadow puppet. Andrew turned as he saw this, and looked at said figure.
"Listen. I know you may not trust us, but right now, we need to work together to protect the innocent people here." he said, turning just in time to dodge a particularly powerful attack from a Shadow Puppet that flew off harmlessly into the trees. He quickly returned the favor with a downward slice with his sword, destroying the foe instantly. Without saying a word, the armored figure summoned another magic spear and tossed it at five successive Shadow Puppets in a line, and they'd quickly fall.
"How are there so many of these things?" Neptune asked, using Cross Combination on a group clustered together.
"Clearly some unknown force is trying to halt our progress towards the Sharicite Fragment." Andrew replied as he continued to attack the foes ahead of and around them. He used Dimension Blitz on a separate cluster of enemies, and they got destroyed, leaving but a small fraction of what they started with. Neptune, with the aid of the armored figure, used Neptune Break on what was left, and soon enough, the snowy terrain of Snowdin went silent. Those who witnessed the fight were in awe, seeing the divinity of the CPU and her husband matching that of the prophecy, and cheered for them and their victory.
"What a rush…" Neptune said as she left HDD. "I'm beat…" she added in her Human form.
"There'll be many more battles like that in our travels, I assure you." Andrew said with a sigh, before turning to the armored figure. "We've stayed our hand against the people of the Underground, only striking against these Shadow Puppets. Thanks for your help with that, by the way, we would have otherwise been overwhelmed." he said to the figure. It said nothing and walked off.
"Great way to break the original story of Undertale there, author." Neptune said to the author.
"Yes, the plot's kinda broken, but there's little we can do about that." Andrew replied.
After hanging out with Papyrus at his house, they ran into Sans at one of his guard posts in Waterfall. Oddly enough, despite the warmer climate of the area, it still had snow on top.
"Ey, it's the CPU and her husband." Sans said with a wave.
"Hey, Sans. What are you doing out here?" Andrew asked.
"What? Haven't you seen a guy with two jobs before?" Sans asked.
"Of course we have. Leading a nation has its perks, you know, especially when the people of said nation worship you." Andrew replied rather bluntly.
"Fortunately, having two jobs means twice as many legally-required breaks." Sans added.
"True that." Neptune chirped. "Ey, I'm kinda hungry." she added.
"That's funny. I was gonna head over to Grillby's. You wanna come?" Sans asked.
"Ah, why the heck not, we've got some time to kill." Andrew responded.
"Cool. Let me pry myself away from my work." Sans replied as he walked away from the post. "I know a shortcut." he added, before teleporting all three of them into Grillby's. "Fast shortcut, huh?" he asked with a wink.
Andrew and Neptune, knowing he was a teleporter and had done this before, played along. "Very fast." they agreed in unison.
"Hey, everyone!" Sans said as he turned to the people in the bar. Other people in the bar said "hello" in response.
"Thanks for sticking out for us, you two. That fight was fun to watch." one monster said to Andrew and Neptune.
"Yeah, you were amazing out there. You saved our lives." another said.
"It's what Neptune and I do. Protecting others and fighting evil is part of the job as a CPU and Paladin-Knight." Andrew replied humbly as he sat down with Sans at the bar.
"Sans, weren't you just here for breakfast a few minutes ago?" The bartender asked.
"Nah. I haven't had breakfast in at least half an hour." Sans replied cheekily. "You must be thinking of Brunch." he added with a wink. This set everyone, including Neptune, off in laughter.
"Okay, what can we get you?" the bartender, Grillby, asked the three of them.
"Grillby. We'll have a triple order of burg." Sans replied quite sharply. Grillby walked out into the back and proceeded to cook the food.
"So, what do you think of my brother?" Sans asked.
"Eh… He's kinda weird, quite stubborn and hard to follow, but he's sensible, reasonable and quite chill. Overall, he's pretty cool." Andrew replied.
"Of course he's cool. You'd be cool too if you wore that outfit everyday." Sans replied.
"Ew, TMI Sans…" Neptune squealed in disgust.
"Eh. At least he washes it. And by that, I mean he wears it in the shower." Sans said. That was when the food came. Andrew and Neptune each put a bit of ketchup on their burgers and, after shoving the previous disgusting thought aside, began eating.
"Mmm. Talk about delicious." Neptune exclaimed as she ate.
"Mhm. Hamburgers from a bar and grill like this really hit the spot." Andrew replied.
"Oh, yeah, I wanted to tell you guys something." Sans announced quietly. Time seemed to stop as they were suddenly in their own little bubble.
"Okay? What is it?" Andrew asked.
"I've done some investigating on my own, and I believe I may know the source of the Shadow Puppets." Sans said.
"Spill the tea, man." Neptune exclaimed with her mouth partly full.
"I believe it's some girl with a lot of blue. A sinister dark blue. Her hair, her empty eyes, her clothes… lots of blue and black. Her name is apparently Kurome Ankokuboshi." Sans explained. The name somehow sent chills down Andrew's spine.
"So, like… an Anti-Neptune?" he asked.
"Sort of. But very different. And very unpredictable. You'll know her when you see her." Sans added.
"Jeez, what a drag…" Neptune groaned.
"So, have you brought this information to the attention of Undyne and the King?" Andrew asked.
"Nah. They wouldn't be able to do anything about it… Plus it'd complicate your mission. Kurome's got similar powers as you and Nep, but with the added ability to manipulate nightmares." Sans said curtly, closing his eyes for a bit.
"So a rogue CPU, with the ability to manipulate nightmares and travel across the multiverse on her own…" Andrew muttered with a deep sigh. He looked rather pale.
"Sweetie, are you okay?" Neptune asked out of worry for her husband.
"I'll be alright… Just trying to process this information…" Andrew replied. After a few deep breaths, the color returned to his face. "So how do we fight this Kurome?" he asked Sans.
"Don't worry about it, man. It'll come to you naturally." Sans replied responded rather quickly. Andrew could tell that the skeleton didn't have an exact answer on how to fight a rogue CPU. The more he thought about it, the less - and more - things made sense. At the snap of Sans' fingers, time resumed as normal. They talked as though nothing had happened in their time bubble, until Sans suddenly stood up.
"Welp, that was a long break. I can't believe I let ya pull me away from work for THAT long." he suddenly said.
"Wasn't it you who pulled us away?" Neptune muttered as she scratched the back of her head meekly, thinking out loud.
"Anyways, I'll see you later." Sans said, leaving the duo behind to pay the bill. Andrew sighed and got out some money.
"How much…?" he asked Grillby.
Having paid the bill, Andrew and Neptune were now traveling through Waterfall. Andrew was on his N-Gear, discussing what they heard from Sans with Histoire and IF via a three-way call regarding the Shadow Puppets.
"So, Sans says that the Shadow Puppets are being caused by one Kurome Ankokuboshi… A rogue CPU…" Histoire asked.
"That appears to be true. How she's capable of doing it is a mystery, but we'll figure that out. Does it seem that Kurome may be responsible for the attack on the other CPUs and Candidates?" Andrew asked.
"That would explain a lot. A rogue CPU is most definitely capable of tampering with another CPU's Shares. But I do not think she acted alone, otherwise she would not have been able to gain the power to manipulate interdimensional portals and gateways. I wonder..." IF mused.
"You know something?" Histoire asked IF.
"It's only a theory, but a number of sources within the Guild have reported a girl matching Kurome's description, talking with fragments of a dark entity from Celestia near the crash site of Jose Carter's CFA-44 about two years ago." IF reported.
"Fragments of a dark entity… Perhaps remnants of Jacob's amulet, Ignite?" Andrew speculated.
"Doubt it. The fragments seemed ancient. Perhaps through these entity fragments, this rogue CPU was able to obtain the ability to traverse dimensions. Regardless, the news of this Kurome Ankokuboshi is disturbing. This information will be passed down to the Guildmaster and my colleagues, so that the next phase of the investigation can begin." IF responded.
"Glad to have you on board, Iffy." Neptune said with a smile.
"Good to see you too, Nep. Anyways, I must hurry. If we're to discover the true nature of what happened, we need all hands on deck." IF replied, before cutting the call.
"I'll be honest with you both. Things are looking pretty grim. Even Arfoire has been helping, and shares my fear that everything is a sign of a bigger catastrophe. She's personally volunteered to help the Guild find out what the entity fragments mean. You both need to hurry to the next Sharicite Fragment. I'm counting on you both." Histoire said, ending the call. After Andrew put his N-Gear away safely, they continue on their way.
"I'm honestly quite worried…" Neptune said uncharacteristically with a sigh.
"About our friends?" Andrew asked.
"That… and I can't help but feel there's more at play in this whole mess than we know." Neptune replied. Andrew was no doubt feeling the same thing. As bits of information trickled in, they were beginning to piece together the events that unfolded in Gamindustri, and what they mean.
"Hmm… Kurome Ankokuboshi… Entity fragments… It's not much to go on, but things are starting to make sense…" he mused. "At any rate, we will have to await further information from Arfoire and the Guild before we make any judgement calls. Until then, we'll just have to keep our eyes on the task at hand, and get to the Sharicite Fragment." he added, using rational thought. Neptune smiled at this, and continued on in a more positive demeanor.
Their journey continued through the Underground continued as expected. Every monster they came across, they remained passive towards. This was the case until they ran into the armored figure from before, standing perched upon an underground mountain.
"Seven. Seven Human SOULs and Asgore will become a God. Six. That's how many we have collected thus far." the armored figure began.
"There's nothing to be gained from pointless violence, Undyne." Andrew replied, finally figuring out the identity of the armored figure.
"You found out who I am. Impressive." the armored figure, Undyne, said as she removed her helmet. "I've seen how you fight, CPUs. You protected my fellow monsters, while attacking the Shadow Puppets that have been a threat to this world. But not being human doesn't mean you're off the hook." she concluded.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Neptune asked, holding her ground.
"Through your soul, this world will be transformed." Undyne declared.
"What you fail to understand, Undyne, is that going against prophecy doesn't work out the way you want it to." Andrew countered.
"And you know this, how?" Undyne asked snidely, somewhat impatient.
"I know this, because I died once trying to fight the details of a prophecy. A war against crime in Gamindustri, three years ago, and I perished at the hands of a crime lord, bringing the end of the war. I am only alive through resurrection by another CPU of my world. Don't you see? The contradiction against this world's prophecy will only cost more innocent lives, and I'm not even talking about human lives.." Andrew reiterated, trying to knock some sense into Undyne.
"Hmph. As I expected." Undyne finally said, squinting her eyes at the two of them. She'd leap down from the top of the underground mountain, meeting the two of them eye to eye. "I've felt that aura of divinity around you ever since you arrived, but I never believed you both to be CPUs until I first saw you transform when you went after the Shadow Puppets attacking Snowdin. So you've won the hearts and faith of some of the monsters down here. But you're just cowards, hiding behind those that 'believe'! You stand in the way of everyone's hopes and dreams!" she continued, growing more and more hostile every minute.
"Hey, that's not fair at all! " Neptune whined.
"Now, hold up, Undyne. Neptune and I may very well be the two deities described in this world's prophecy. And you know you cannot win against a CPU. So why this hostility?" Andrew asked in the hopes that the situation can be resolved without conflict.
"Ooooh, I'm making such a difference by killing shadows and hugging random strangers!" Undyne shouted, mocking the two of them. "You know what would be more valuable to everyone?" she continued, before summoning her magic spear.
"If we shared pudding?" Neptune asked nonchalantly.
"IF YOU WERE DEAD!" Undyne shouted caustically, before charging in. Andrew summoned his sword and quickly blocked the attack, practically preventing her strike from hitting a shocked and unprepared Neptune.
"Hey, come on!" Neptune groaned irritably as she, too, summoned her sword.
"Your continued existence is a crime, CPUs. You're the one thing standing between us and our freedom!" Undyne swore as she tried to uppercut Andrew. He parried the attack and knocked her off balance, but didn't strike back when he had the chance.
"A CPU does not leave a people in distress! We will figure out a way to guarantee everyone's freedom, but violence will not solve it!" Andrew tried to explain, but his words fell on deaf ears. He parried another attack from one of her spears. With a sigh, he continued the trend of blocking and parrying without striking back. Undyne got lucky and struck Andrew hard across the head, knocking him out cold.
"AAAH!" Neptune squealed in fear.
Undyne looked down upon her victim and looked ready for the killing blow. Rather than feel any sense of accomplishment or satisfaction, however, all she felt was guilt. "Wha- what is this feeling?" she asked herself, looking between Neptune and the unconscious Andrew. She began to realize that her spear was shaking in her hands uncontrollably. She could not for the life of her find the will or strength to strike him down. In the end, all she could do was dispel her spear, kneeling to the ground. She looked crushed, both by the fact that she was unable to finish the fight, and also the fact that something in her heart and SOUL told her that what she was about to do was wrong, and she hated it. "I… Why can I not finish the fight? Why does this feel so wrong?" she asked herself. Neptune began to understand why Papyrus didn't fight them earlier.
"Maybe you should go with your feelings. The Queen always did say that going with your gut is how we survived for so long down here. " Papyrus said as he stepped out of the shadows, placing a hand on her shoulder. Undyne could only sigh.
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
-This one was a bitch to finish. Basically one mental brick wall after the other, especially when I'm in the process of ramping up my aviation studies and getting ready to take the next step in getting a pilot's license. I apologize deeply for releasing this so late.
-I wanted to go further with this chapter than I did, but sadly had little to no willpower to keep going. The Undertale portion of the fanfic has been more draining than I anticipated, but I continue to power through. My fanfiction will be finished, I swear it to you!
That's about all, folks! Cya later!