Hyperdimension Neptunia is owned by Sega, Idea Factory and Compile Heart and whomever else worked on it.
Sorry guys, rediscovered my enjoyment of Pokemon games and did some play-throughs of a couple of games that sucked up my time.
Chapter 69
"So this is the other world?" Uzume asked as they all stepped out of the portal. She looked around in confusion. "How come everything's dark? You'd think everything would be more bright or..." She winced as the lights suddenly turned on. She wasn't the only one as the four candidates all grimaced and covered their faces. Once they were sure they could see, they lowered their arms and gasped in surprise.
While the couches, desks and chairs didn't look too different from what they were used to seeing, the fact that none of them had legs and were staying off the floor was surprising to them.
"Oh my goodness!" Nepgear gasped and ran over to the desk and gave it a pull, finding that it slid around with no resistance at all, other than its weight. "This is way different than what we have back home. Is this powered by anti-gravity? Or magnets?"
"Look, Rom!" Ram pointed to the far wall as a screen appeared out of nowhere. "A neat television."
"Holographic projection screen?" Uni asked in confusion as she tilted her head. "No, the image isn't on the wall and it looks like a television screen... But it still looks like holographic..." She trailed off as Rom walked up to the screen and was able to physically grab the edge of it and shake it. "...That..." She and Ram both gawked as Rom tried to touch the screen but her hand went through it like it wasn't there. "...What the heck?!"
"Huh, where's the electrical outlets?" Nepgear asked as she realized that there was nothing on the walls.
"HEY!" Uzume yelled while clapping her hands, causing the Candidates to jump in surprise. "As cool as all of this is, and I want to look at it more too, we have to help Nepsy and the others!"
"ACK!" The Candidates eyes all went white and blank. "That's right!" They yelled at the same time as they ran for the door, only to stop when the door opened and a person entered the room.
"What'n tarnation is goin' on in 'ere!?" The creature that stood there asked. The body was rotound, but the skin was purple and...
"...Why is an octopus wearing clothes?" Uni asked with blank, white eyes as she pointed a trembling finger at the creature.
"Ah'm closah ta a Squid den an Octopussy!" The creature yelled at Uni and huffed, crossing two of its arms over what everyone thought was its chest. "Ah'm a maid and masseuse for Lady Neptune, name's Bertha."
Nepgear sweat-dropped and looked at Uzume. "Ah, how did you get us in this office?"
"I dunno, I wasn't sure where to aim the portal," Uzume sweat-dropped heavily, "so I aimed for a place that Nepsy spent a lot of time in."
"So, why ahr a bunch of stalkahs sneakin' inta Lady Neptune's office? She's been gone fer months now." Bertha asked as she looked at them curiously. "...Tho, you..." Bertha pointed at Uni. "Look like Lady Noire..." She pointed at the twins, "you two look like Lady Blanc... But Lady Blanc doesn't have long hair." She used a random tentacle arm to rub the back of her head in confusion. "An' yah look like Lady Neptune..." Bertha looked Nepgear up and down, "if Lady Neptune was bigger."
"They're our sisters!" Ram chirped in happily.
Uzume sighed at the confused look on Bertha's face. "Forgive them, we're from another world where Noiresy, Vertsy, Blancsy and Nepsy all have little sisters and we're just visiting this world."
"...Other worlds, huh?" Bertha rubbed the back of her head. "Well, fine, but tha' don't explain 'ow ya got in 'ere."
"What's with the accent?" Ram asked, pouting as it was hard to understand Bertha.
Bertha sighed and started speaking in a garbled mess that sounded like rushing water and clash cymbals crashing into each other. After a moment, Bertha stopped speaking as she saw the confusion on their faces and gave Ram an amused look. "'ile Lady Neptune can unnerstan' me native speakin', an can a couple of othahs, mos' can't, so ah speak 'ike dis."
"Oh." Ram blushed softly. "Sorry."
"Nevermind that." Nepgear said, though privately she was starting to understand some of the things that Neptune had said about this world. "We came here looking for Neptune. She's rushing in to a meeting with some Angels and is very, very upset."
Bertha grimaced upon hearing that. "Ah, dem munny grubbin' 'itches, huh?" A screen popped up in front of her. "'scuse me, callin'..." The others nodded and listened curiously as Bertha made more of that mixture of rushing water and clash cymbals.
After a few moments of pitching changes, Bertha looked at them as the screen turned off. Bertha made some noises before shaking her head. "S'ry, buah it looks 'ike Lady Neptune and the other CPUs arrr 'eaded ta da 'ity square."
Uzume grimaced as she thought about it. "I don't know this place that well, if I did I could just warp us there..." She trailed off as Bertha sighed and moved smoothly towards the wall before tapping it and it opened up, revealing a very advanced city-scape that had flying cars, clear tubes that had people flying around on them, creatures of various sizes flying around and the occasional weirdo dressed up in spandex running around on top of the tubes. "Wow..."
"Jus' git ta one of dem booby toobies an' say where ya wanna go and zoom!" Bertha slid her tentacles across each other. "Ya gets taken ri' thar."
"Thanks!" Ram cheered and ran out of the room with the others, before snickering as she found the elevator down the hall from the room they had been in. "Booby toobies? Bwahahahahahaha!"
Nepgear giggled as well while Uni sighed and shook her head. "See what I have to put up with?" She asked Uzume, who patted her back as the elevator stopped on their floor and let them in. The inside was circular and metallic, though there was no buttons to push. "Um... Bottom floor?" Uni said before hearing a ding and the elevator doors closing before sliding down.
"It could be worse, Unisy." Uzume pointed out and Uni gave her a flat stare while the others looked at them. "At least they don't try something like groping your chest in an attempt to make your boobs grow."
Uni gave Uzume a bewildered look. "...Why would you bring that up?"
Uzume shrugged as the elevator went down at a speed that surprised her. "Well, I remember hearing from a young woman that if you want your boobs to grow that you need someone to massage them every day."
"I'll help!" Ram cheerfully volunteered as she smiled and raised her arm up.
"Me too." Rom said while putting her hands up to her mouth to hide the growing smile on her face. "Maybe we should see if Blanc will let us help her too."
"NO!" Uni yelled and crossed her arms over her chest while turning away, her face red. "No groping my boobs!"
"I agree with Uni," Nepgear said, causing Uni to sigh in relief, "the only one who should be groping her boobs should be Steamax."
"Yeah," Uni nodded, before her eyes went white and blank, her face going bright red. "What?! NO! WHAT THE HELL?!" She gave Nepgear a look that was a cross between annoyance and betrayal.
Nepgear blinked in confusion. "But I thought that Steamax was your boyfriend?" She backed up as Uni sputtered with steam practically coming out of her ears.
Uzume chuckled before clapping her hands together. "Okay, that's enough teasing poor Unisy. If she likes Steamax or he likes her, it doesn't matter right now." A somber look came to her face. "Regardless of how things are, we're just here to help out Nepsy and the others, to make sure that things don't get too crazy, right?"
The others all nodded as the elevator stopped and the door opened, allowing them to run out. The urge to stop and stare at the various aliens and technologies that they saw was strong, but they resisted.
Nepgear bit her lip softly and wondered what they'd find when they got to the city square.
(-)
Meanwhile...
Sitting in an open park, Sobar panted as he sat on the grassy ground, his body bound by energy binds. Thankfully, as it was the middle of a work day, the park was mostly deserted. "I don't..." He gasped out, sweat pouring down his face, "that you'd let me sit in the shade?"
"Hey, Pink..." Green frowned as she looked at Sobar, "he doesn't look good. He's looking sick."
"Not..." Sobar grimaced and wobbled. "Capable of being in the sun for very long." He looked at them as sweat poured down his face. "If I'm in the sun too long, I could die." He gave them a toothy grin, "I'm sure that I don't need to tell you that Neptune would hate you and your kind forever if that happened."
A few seconds later, several large umbrellas were opened up and put around Sobar, blocking the sunlight and causing him to sigh in relief. "Thank you." He looked at them with some gratitude.
"Well, it's not like we want you to die." Pink told Sobar, "we're just collecting what your wife owes us."
"Actually, something about that bothers me." Green said and gave Sobar a confused look. "How is it that she's your wife considering how you took her against her will?"
"Heh," Sobar gave them a small smirk while chuckling. "If there's one thing that I've always regretted, it was how I took her as my wife." His face was gentle, though his eyes showed a troubled look. "The other kings feel the same, I'm sure. But as for me, I was a fifteen year old who had no knowledge of anything, who was raised to hate everyone on the surface and to think that CPUs were worthless and that they should belong to us for what the first CPU did."
"So what changed?" Pink asked in confusion.
Sobar was silent for a moment as he thought about the past. "When I saw Neptune, I wanted her. I guess it was lust at first, but it became love and as the years went on, I hated myself, because it wasn't right that she was my wife the way she was."
"And yet you two stayed together?" Green asked and Sobar nodded. "...Why?"
"Another thing I actually regret." Sobar said with a sigh. "She was so emotionally fragile when I spoke to her that she looked like she was about to fall apart. I enjoy the fact that we're still married, but I feel like I took advantage of her."
Pink scratched her head and looked at Green in confusion. "Doesn't Lady Flonne preach about love between two people being the most pure if it's given and accepted willingly?"
"Don't get me wrong," Sobar told them as he ignored them and thought about Neptune, "I love her to death. I just wish that I had managed to woo her properly." He sighed and shook his head. "I wish that we could be open about our relationship with the people of the world."
"But considering what your people did to the surface dwellers..." Green trailed off and Sobar nodded. "I'm pretty surprised though..." She sat down and looked Sobar in the eyes. "According to the reports we've gotten, the CPUs haven't been seen in the under-cities for a few hundred years, why is that?"
Sobar shrugged helplessly. "I only know the barest of details..." He trailed off as he thought about the past.
*Flash*
"King Sobar..." Purple Heart said as she entered the main court room of the royal palace, causing everyone in the room to quiet down and step aside in surprise.
"Lady Purple Heart?" Sobar looked at his wife in concern. There was a haunted look of pain on her face that she wasn't bothering to hide. "What can I do for you?"
Purple Heart sighed and shook her head. "I apologize," her voice was soft and cold, but at the same time he could feel the raw emotions that she was holding back, "I've come to realize that the world will never allow it."
"What's going on?" Sobar asked as Purple Heart gave him a look of longing. "Lady Purple Heart?" He hated being formal with her, but if she was in front of him in HDD with others of the court there, it had to be for a good reason.
"Recent events have caused me to realize that as much as I would love to be a CPU for the Mole People as well, I must stay on the surface at all times." There was a trace of sadness in her voice that only he picked up on as she walked over and handed him something. "Please, keep it and remember." She gave a brief bow and turned around to walk out. "I'll keep those on the surface safe from those who stir up old problems." She turned to look at Sobar one last time and he was taken aback by the tears in her eyes. "I deeply apologize, King Sobar, but dividing my attention only brings despair and destruction in the end."
King Sobar took a step forward, everything was telling him to run after her, to stop her, especially as he saw the tears that came out of her eyes. He looked down and looked at his hand, his eyes widening as he saw a small, but precious item in his hand.
Her wedding ring.
*End Flashback*
"I should have chased after her, I should have made sure that she was okay." Sobar shook his head. "So many things that I did wrong in my life."
"So... Are you divorced or something?" Pink asked while scratching the back of her head.
"I don't know." Sobar shook his head. "I don't know."
Green opened her mouth before she turned and saw several people walking into the park. "Ah, looks like our time's up."
Sobar blinked and looked across the park to see Purple Heart and the other CPUs, as well as Ouya and Stadia, standing there with angry expressions on their faces. "...Neptune..." He whispered softly, happy to see her again.
A pillar of light filled the park, causing everyone to grimace and look away. Thankfully it only lasted for a moment before fading and when it was done, a certain pink-haired Angel was standing there with her arms behind her back, which caused her large chest to jut out. "Oh good! All the CPUs are together and now..." She trailed off as she looked behind her and saw Sobar tied up, which caused her to look confused. "...Why do I feel like I just walked in at the worst possible moment?" She asked herself softly.
Purple Heart closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I had... I had hoped that this was just Histoire not telling me everything. But it seems like it's true." She opened her eyes and hundreds of years of hatred and anger came rushing out in such a wave that both Pink and Green yelped and jumped behind Sobar, trembling while even Artina took a step back. "It's one thing to demand maximum payments, you bitch, but involving my family?!"
Artina looked at the Goddesses as they pulled out their weapons and felt like banging her head against the wall. "This sucks." She muttered as she desperately tried to figure out what the hell went wrong.
Ah, classic miscommunication, got to love it.
Also, weirdo in spandex running on top of the tubes is a Futurama reference. Captain Yesterday to be specific.