Hyperdimension Neptunia is owned by Sega, Idea Factory and Compile Heart and whomever else worked on it.
I had an urge to come back to this, and I wasn't getting anywhere with Echoes of the Life, so, why not?
Chapter 12
Groaning as she woke up, IF slowly sat up and looked around groggily. "Where... Oh, the hospital..." She raised a hand to rub her head and grimace as she was feeling some pain still. "I'm pretty stiff and sore right now." The brunette grimaced and rubbed her head some more. "I was on a mission and..."
The door to her room opened up and IF turned her head to look at who was coming in, gasping as she saw Neptune walking in. "Nep?"
"Iffy!" Neptune seemingly teleported over to her bed. "Are you okay? You're not crippled are you? Do you need to use the bathroom?"
"I'm fine, just sore, not crippled and..." IF blushed and nodded as she pushed herself off of the bed. "Yeah, I need to do that." She muttered as she realized she was in a hospital gown and walked to the bathroom.
Neptune giggled as IF walked past her. "Hey, Iffy..." The brunette turned to look at her. "Nice butt." She said and held up her phone to take a picture while giving her friend a thumbs up and a wolf whistle.
IF's eyes went wide and her face went red as she slapped her hands behind her back while turning around and realized that she was naked under the hospital gown. "Dang it, Nep!" She yelled and ran into the bathroom, leaving Neptune giggling.
After a few minutes, IF walked back out of the bathroom, her hands still covering her butt while giving Neptune a glowering stare. "Why the hell did you strip me out of my clothes just to do this to me?"
Neptune had a confused look on her face as IF looked like she was about to cry and sighed softly. "Well, for one, you've been out cold for an entire day." IF blinked a few times. "And you can thank the nurses, you were sweating up a storm about four hours ago, so they stripped you out of your sweaty clothes, sent them to get cleaned up and I asked them to put a gown on you so that you wouldn't wake up naked."
"...Oh." IF blushed and smiled softly. "Thanks, Nep." Neptune smiled at her. "So why did you... Um... Comment on my butt then?"
Neptune grinned from ear to ear. "Well, you have a cute butt, you should be proud of it for one and for two," her grin turned almost sinister and IF gulped softly as Neptune got close and leaned in. "That's your punishment for forgetting who I was."
IF sweat-dropped heavily. "I'm sorry, Nep, I feel really bad about that."
Neptune's smile became more gentle and she leaned back and walked to the door. "That's fine, Iffy, I just wanted to tease you. I'll get someone to come check on you, okay?"
IF sighed and smiled after Neptune had left. "Well, it's good to see she still has a teasing spirit."
(-)
The next day...
Neptune stretched her arms over her head and smiled as Compa and IF walked up to her. "Day off, you two?"
"Well, the guild gave me a couple of days off to recover from that beating the old hag gave me." IF, now in her normal clothing, grimaced. "Thanks for saving my butt again, Nep."
"Hey, you saved me in the past." Neptune winked at IF. "And besides, we're friends." She saw IF wince and when it looked like she was about to say something, Neptune put her finger on IF's lips. "Nope, no apologizing, I won't hear it. You forgot me, it's fine. You aren't the only one who forgot me."
IF's face was slightly red as Neptune pulled her finger away. "But we're friends, I shouldn't have..." She paused as Neptune just smiled and shook her head. The smile wasn't one of Neptune's usual smiles, it felt a little sad and distant. But what really got to her was the fact that the smile felt like it was a mother smiling at a small child who made a mistake but the mother didn't blame her child over it. "...Nep..?"
"This was bound to happen." Neptune said, her voice sounding a bit distant for some reason. "It happens every so often. Some new threat pops up and poof, everyone forgets what a CPU is until the crisis is over."
"It happened to you before, Nep Nep?" Compa asked, confusion in her voice.
"Yeah, the last time was when the dogoos mutated and..." Neptune was cut off as she heard a familiar voice. "Huh?"
"Neptune!" A happy voice broke through her reminiscing and Neptune's eyes lit up as she saw her younger sister running up to her, IF and Compa.
"Nepgear!" Neptune ran up to her sister and did a flying glomp that tackled Nepgear to the ground. "I missed you! I wanted to find you, but things were crazy here! Iffy was hurt and I know you're a tough girl, I'm sorry I didn't come to look for you, but people forgot about us and and and..."
"AAAAAAIIIIIIRRRRR!" Nepgear gasped out, her eyes watering up from the force of Neptune's tackle and hug.
"Ack, sorry!" Neptune got off of Nepgear and helped her sister to her feet. "I got too excited and reacted like P-Ko does." Though Neptune would admit that her daughter's tackle-hugs were far more violent than what she had just done to Nepgear. "Are you okay, though?"
"I'll be okay." Nepgear gasped as she got to her feet. "And it's okay, Neptune, things are crazy in every nation right now."
"What's going on?" Compa asked as she and IF walked over. "Is something bad happening in the other nations?"
"Well, Noire's a wanted criminal and I just got word, before I got here, that she got arrested and Uni said she was going to break Noire out of prison. Rom and Ram are in Lowee and no one can remember who they are and there's rumors of a Demon King running around in Leanbox."
"Yikes!" Neptune's eyes widened in shock. "Demon Kings are seriously bad news! If it's a real Demon King they might be looking to take over the world and turn it into their own personal Netherworld." She started pacing back and forth while looking at the ground. "Oooh, that's the worst thing, with things as crazy as they are right now, who could it be? Demon Kings are pretty much equal to Overlords, right? It was the Tyrants who were super powerful." She muttered to herself as she continued to think out loud. "Most Overlords tend to be satisfied with their own Netherworlds and only threaten to take over other Netherworlds to test the power of the ruling Overlord. Of course, if it's one of those big jerks, they just do it because they're bored and want to cause problems for the people."
"Uh, Neptune..." Nepgear trailed off and sighed as Neptune kept pacing and muttering to herself.
"Hey, Gear," IF spoke up, ignoring Neptune at that moment, "how did you know all of that? Even my information network hasn't been able to get anything out of the other nations."
"Well..." Nepgear looked embarrassed as she rubbed the back of her head. "When I was in Zero Dimension, I realized that I was really dependent on the internet with my phone and stuff, so I modded mine and Uni's phones so we could contact each other via radio, and I... Um..." She blushed at IF's look. "I kiiiiind of hacked into Leanbox servers and got top secret Intel from the Basilicom."
"NEPGEAR!" Neptune suddenly yelled, causing Nepgear, IF and Compa to all let out shrieks of fright with blank, white eyes. "Look, I'd love to go to Leanbox and figure out what's going on, but I need to stay here. So, would you be willing to go help Vert?"
"Neptune?" Nepgear asked, confusion in her voice. "What do you mean?"
Neptune sighed as she ignored Compa and IF's questioning her motives. "It's... Complicated. Vert doesn't have a little sister to help her and I know that she really likes you." She gave Nepgear a flat stare. "Plus didn't you spend a lot of time with Vert crying when I was gone?"
Nepgear blushed hard and poked her index fingers together. "But she was willing to comfort me and she never pressured me to be her little sister at that time."
"She probably did, but you were crying so much you couldn't hear her, right?" Neptune asked and Nepgear blushed even harder. "Look, Nepgear, if it's truly a Demon King, we have bigger issues to worry about than just everyone forgetting we exist." She snapped her fingers and a thin, but worn out, notebook appeared in her hands. "Here."
"What's this?" Nepgear asked as she took the notebook. "...What is this material?" It felt like a normal notebook, but there was something about it that was obvious to anyone who touched it that it wasn't paper and plastic.
"It's a few centuries old, but that stuff doesn't get destroyed in case it gets wet." Neptune told her. "Inside is a list of every really dangerous Demon Overlord that I've ever met and some that I only know from rumor." She shrugged at the looks she got. "Listen, Nepgear, there are Tyrants and Overlords that exist out there that are really dangerous, okay?" Nepgear nodded as she listened to Neptune. "If there's any Overlord in that notebook in Leanbox, you give me a call and I'll rush right to Leanbox."
"It's that bad?" Nepgear asked, her pupils shrinking and Neptune nodded. "Goodness, I don't know..."
"No!" Neptune pointed at Nepgear. "If you're scared, it'll be that much easier. Just go and see who it is, if it's a Demon King listed in that book, just get out of the area, give me a call and I'll come in and hope I can talk them down."
"Huh?" Nepgear, IF and Compa all asked and Neptune blushed softly.
"Eh heh... Don't worry about it, it would take too much time to explain. Just..." Neptune gave Nepgear a soft look. "Be careful." She bit her lip gently. "And, Nepgear, if there are any CPUs that you don't recognize, please, don't fight them. They're really dangerous."
"Why would there be CPUs that I don't recognize?" Nepgear asked and Neptune sighed.
"There are..." Neptune bit her lip. "Well, let's just say that there were mistakes made and there are two CPUs from my past that are here, okay?" Nepgear nodded. "So, please, be careful, if they transform or try to fight you, get Vert and get away, okay?"
"Sure, I'll do that. Thanks for the warning." Nepgear clutched the notebook and smiled at Neptune. "Um, sis, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, just..." Neptune sighed and walked up to Nepgear, hugging her again. "I know you didn't age, but you look so grown up now."
"Especially since she's taller than you?" IF smirked as Neptune twitched and glared at her. "Payback for taking a picture of my naked rear-end."
"What the goodness!?" Nepgear asked, her eyes white and blank. "Why was IF running around naked with Onee-chan? Did you two realize that you have deep passion for each other and spend a night together in a hotel or something?"
Compa just giggled as both Neptune and IF face-faulted from the questions. "No, Iffy got hurt and they had to change her out of her clothes and put her in a hospital gown and Nep Nep took a picture of her."
"Oh." Nepgear nodded. "Well, okay then, I'm off."
"Already?" IF asked and Nepgear nodded. "Are you..?"
"I've had to run Planeptune for three years, IF, I know that you need to do some things you don't want to as a CPU." Nepgear had a determined look on her face. "And if it is a Demon King like Neptune is worried about, then we're all in danger. If not, then I can at least help Vert out if she needs it." IF and Compa both nodded. "Alright, I'm off!" Nepgear said as she ran in the direction of Leanbox.
"And there she goes." Neptune said as she, IF and Compa waved Nepgear off, who was waving back at them before she turned a corner and disappeared. "...I hope Vert doesn't get the wrong idea."
"And if she does?" IF asked, gulping as Neptune grinned at her.
"I have ways to punish Vert if she goes too far." Neptune's grin was so savage that both Compa and IF gulped and made a silent prayer for Vert's well-being if she did something bad.
"Anyway, we should head to the Basilicom." Neptune told her friends. "Histy was saying something or other and..." Neptune blushed softly. "I wasn't paying attention."
"You never pay attention." IF sighed in exasperation as she and Compa started walking towards the Basilicom.
"I was worried about you though!" Neptune pouted as she slipped up next to IF and put her arms around IF's shoulders. "We're friends, right?"
"Yeah." IF smiled at Neptune, "thanks Nep."
Neptune smiled brightly and got her arm off of IF's shoulders before bouncing over to Compa and throwing her arm around Compa's shoulders. "I don't want you to feel left out."
"Thanks, Nep Nep." Compa smiled happily. "Come on, let's help Histy out." Both IF and Neptune nodded as the three continued to make their way to the Basilicom.
Yeah, this is the "Nepgear meets up with Neptune, IF and Compa before heading to Leanbox" scene, just slightly modified.