Hello There ! it's been a long time.
I just finished playing Rebirth 1 again, I want to experience it once again so I can at least get the lore and characters right, so I can use and 'expand' around with it.
anyway, big thanks to KuroGems 1208 for BetaEditing
"Have you two found more leads there?" Histoire asks both big Neptune and IF.
"Only a little. But because we didn't get much time to check the rest of it." IF replies about the anomaly that they have found in that forest before.
"Have anyone seen Croire?" Histoire still didn't get any news from her. "I'm a bit worried if she's not on our watch... perhaps she ran away?"
"Not surprised if she did that, we'll keep an eye out for her." IF states.
"Umm... a question here Histy... why didn't you just track them?" Big Neptune asks a question.
"For Croire, I lost tracks of her and actually I used most of my energy in order to find Neptune, but... " Histoire looks concerned.
"But?"
"Unfortunately she's not responding... and the lastest N-Gear that she has is equipped with Advanced Locator. Even if she's in another dimension, it will help us finding her. However, it is not able to be detected either." Histoire sighs.
"I'm sure Nep is going to be fine, she's Neptune after all. But why she dragged Noire into her mess is beyond me. I mean, didn't Neptune try to avoid Noire these past months?"
"Please don't say that IF. I am sure that Neptune and Noire just had an argument, they are close enough to actually argue over little things." Histoire says with a smile. "Please, I need you two to check out that place once more, while Nepgear and Uzume here try to recover more share energy and contact Neptune."
The Forest, HyperDimension Planeptune
Not long after departing from the Basilicom, the girls arrive at the forest again. They didn't have much time to check the rest of the forest yesterday because Histoire has found out about Neptune's disappearance into another world. (and destroyed Plutia's room).
While walking, Big Neptune explains her past encounter with Neptune during her childhood to IF.
"... and that's how I met her, I just remembered it..."
"I mean that made sense." IF claims. "Still, I am somehow not surprised by this."
"How so?" Big Neptune asks.
"I mean, where the hell did she learn those moves? How the hell was she so good at fighting?" A pause. "I knew there was something more than meeting the eyes."
"Right!? Anyway, if she has trained here several days ago, then... it could explain her disappearance."
"Still.. It's better to not tell anyone about this 'hidden' hobby of her. There's a reason why she didn't want someone- I mean anybody... to know." IF claims. "Because everytime she asked why she is so damn strong she reply it with : 'Cuz I'M the Ultimate Protag !'." IF tries to imitate Neptune's gesture.
"Haha, yep that's lil me alright!" Both girls stop and look around. "And here we are."
"Alright there are several cracks here... and there's a big one. You think that lead to somewhere?" IF asks big Neptune and checks the said Dimensional crack when suddenly an annoying sound can be heard not far from there.
"NEPNEPNEPNEPNEPNEPNEPNEP" That voice comes from one of the 'Dimension Crack' there. There's another following voice too.
"Hey hey! Wait up!" A voice comes from a different person who sounds very exhausted.
"What now crap bike!?" And another voice from someone who is annoyed.
"There's someone there ! Cmon Nep !" IF hears the voice. "But why does that voice sound familiar?"
"That sounds like you!" Big Neptune says while running towards the crack.
"My voice? No wa- whatt!?" IF stops on her track.
She finds someone who looks exactly like her, along with a blue pony-tailed hair girl and a bike that somehow moves on its own.
"Whoa, I didn't expect this !" IF counterpart is surprised to find her doppelganger. "Is this what you have detected? Uhh... Hello there?"
"Uhhh, hello... uhh are you... me?" Hyperdimension IF asks, not knowing what else to say.
"Wowww.. Hottie ~" Nepbike comments on her Young Adult Human counterpart. "I am Neptune! Or should I say... NepBike !"
Big Neptune raises her eyebrows up in confusion, but she smiles afterwards. "Umm is the bike... talking?" She examines the weird color and voice. "And you said that your name is Neptune ? Because, you know, my name is Neptune too... that's kinda crazy..."
"It's a long story, but this crap of a bike IS Neptune. Or was. It's complicated." Segami interrupts, as she doesn't want to be left out of conversation. "She came from an erased timeline and somehow possesed Iffy bike."
"Uhhh... hehe... is it wrong that I both understand and not at the same time?" Big Neptune is confused by the explanation given by Segami.
"Don't worry hotter me. I think I got a theory why I'm stuck in this bike form." Nepbike clears her muffle. "You see, when Iffy tried to save me, I 'died'. But my digital 'essence' was fused into Iffy's bike or rather her modified engine, but you know it's just a theory ~ a GAME THEORY!" Nepbike explains her plausible theory.
"Huh, that's smart, coming from you." Segami says with a smirk.
"Righty then... I dunno...I have to just roll with it..." Big Neptune is even more confused more than ever.
"Hey girls, what are you guys talking about?" The two IFs come and greet them.
"Uhh... something science-ey... and now there's two of you~" Big Neptune replies.
"Haha." Hyper IF is not very amused by how Big Neptune remarks. "Anyway, while you girls are talking nonsense, I've got several info on where Nep and Noire could be." Hyper IF points at the Rift. "Several days ago they were passing through that dimension. Care to explain, other me?"
"With pleasure, other me. Alright, the people that you are searching for have passed by my world several days ago. It's Purple Heart but more... advanced than we know." Sega IF informs.
"It's called NEXT Form." A pause. "They both were falling from the sky, and they... uh... is Neptune holding Noire during the time?" Hyper IF explains then asks.
"Yeah, it looks like she's protecting another girl from the fall. That black-haired girl looked hurt too." Sega IF puts her hand under her chin thinking. "But, instead of hitting the ground they just... vanished and disappeared into dark light of some sort..." She's unsure of what she had seen.
"*sigh* I knew it was Croire... Iffy, call Histy right now, tell her what we found." Big Neptune notices there are several other Dimension Rifts but some of them are relatively small. "I'm going to look around more."
"Sorry to interrupt, but who's Croire?" Segami asks.
"Yeah, is she a powerful being like Histoire? Is she the one who made this portal?" Nepbike asks too.
"Might be. She holds the power enough to tear and pierce through boundaries between dimensions, that's how this Rift is created." Big Neptune explains about the strange occurrence happening there. "I'll go look for my mini-self... hey uh NepBike, can I ride you? After all you have a tracker right ?" The much developed Neptune requests.
"owhhh ~~ Riding me? Sounds kinky. After all, you are me~" Says Nepbike jokingly.
"Just let her ride you, idiot!" Segami is furiated. "And let me come with you."
"No. You stay here with both IF and provide them with every info you know." Big Neptune points at Hyper IF who's trying to call Histoire. "Let's go Bike Me!"
Two Neptune(s) go and search for another clue or rift while Segami just stands there and looks down, somehow her heart is beating fast and her face becomes warmer, and she's unable to confront the two IFs.
"Hey Segami... are you okay?" Sega IF suddenly comes to her and examines her face closely. "Are you sick? I mean your forehead is warm and your cheeks are so red." Says IF while putting her hand on Segami's forehead.
"Yo-youu..." The blue haired girl stutters and is unable to say anything. "Too close Iffy... you're too close..." Says Segami with a soft voice.
"Huh, did you just call me 'Iffy'?" Sega IF blushes. "Well I want to tell you something after this, it's embarrassing... but first we need to help these girls first okay?"
"I uh... Alright then."
"-and she's just gone like that." Hyper IF informs Histoire on her phone. "So it's true that both Nep and Noire were just 'passing through' multiple Dimensions."
"Sorry to keep you waiting." Both Segami and Sega IF come to Hyper IF and help her filling the detail.
Several moments later
"Hey uhh, hotter me? Why are there two Neptunes in this Dimension? Which one is the real one?" Nepbike asks while being ridden by big Neptune.
"Huh? Oh right, we are both 'real', but the Neptune that we're looking for is originated from this Dimension, while I'm from a different one... it's a long story." Big Neptune replies. "We've searched the whole place but unable to find another rift that as big as yours." Big Neptune sounds dissappointed.
They are closing in to where the rest of the girls are standing in front of the Dimensional tear.
"Talking about Rift... I think that the portal to my homeworld is getting smaller than before." The Purplette bike points out about the dimensional rift back to her home. "Let me take control, it's gonna be a bumpy ride!" Nep bike then goes at full speed, and being in the forest and all makes the way there much harder and rather bumpy. But that doesn't stop her at all and soon enough they have returned. "Anddddd we have arrived!"
"Took you two long enough." Says Sega IF. "Any leads so far?"
"Nope, none at all." Adult Neptune replies to IF. "We found several Portals.. or Dimension rifts that led to somewhere but they're too small. so all we can do is just take a peek."
"Sorry Histoire, but big Nep here doesn't have any leads." Hyper IF says to Histoire in her phone. "So there's no trails or clues of what happened huh?" IF shifts her focus to the rest of the girls.
"C'mon guys~ don't lose hope!" NepBike cheers. "Well you see... I got special abilities ya know ~ ?"
"Ohh that's right! Nep can travel back in time!" Sega IF says with excitement. "But this Dimension gateway is about to close and it's about to get dark."
"No worries, we just need to see what happened to those two and go back right here at this time." Said Nepbike with excitement, she shows it by moving forward and backward a little. "But I recommend not to mess with anything even if it hurts to witness."
"Yeah, from our experience, things go to be a little out of hands if we mess up with time." Sega IF sighs, remembering her adventure before.
"So uh... you're saying that this motorcycle bike me is a time traveling device!?" Big Nep is surprised.
"But.. we need to see what happened to our friends... can we borrow Bike Nep? Please?" Hyper IF begs her counterpart.
"Yeah Iffy, don't you want to help your other self?" Nep Bike agrees to help their newly found (other selves) friends.
"Whatever you say IF." Segami comments.
"Alright alright, I didn't say I don't want to help. I just wanted you to know about the risk." Sega IF points toward her counterpart and says. "Alright, but you take control."
"YES! Histoire, did you hear that? If I have your permission the we can set off now." Hyper IF asks Histoire on her phone.
"Yes, I can clearly hear your conversation. We don't have many options, so please use this opportunity to find Neptune." A pause. "Please do remember that time traveling is - " suddenly Histoire is interrupted by something, or someone.
"TIME TRAVELING!? Uzume wants to go too!" Who else could ask that.
"Not now Uzume. This Neptune Bike can only carry two persons at once." Teases Big Nep.
"Did you just say Nepsy.. is a bike? Now Uzume really wants to come!" Says Uzume eagerly.
"Please step aside Uzume, we don't have much time left. Alright IF and Neptune, please hurry." Histoire has to intervene before things come out of hands.
"Awww, now Uzume is tired and sad...~" A sad Uzume is heard in the back, she is tired having to deal with fixing the massive loss of shares energy.
"Alrighty, thanks Histy!" Big Neptune thanks Histoire on the phone.
After that Sega IF sets up NepBike's time and destination, but the return time is not the correct time but rather 15 minutes later from now, which makes NepBike question it.
"Hey, Iffy... why-" The Purple Colored bike stops after seeing Sega IF winking her right eye. Which means IF has full intention to do so.
"Alright I'm ready." Hyper IF sits on the bike and gets a grip on the steer.
"Me too!" Bigger Nep says from the back of IF.
"VROOMM! Let's GOOO!" NepBike starts moving forward at full speed and disappears into a portal.
"And now we are alone... don't worry, I've set Nep arrival 15 minutes from now." Sega IF informs Segami who's now standing aside her. "And now we can speak from heart to heart now." And IF gets closer and closer to Segami and pushes her gently to a tree.
"Iffy... alright, no need to hold my feeling now." Segami musters her will and strength...
Hyperdimension forest, several moments before the disappearance of Neptune.
The girls warp in the same forest, but in an unknown location. They're unsure about if that the coordinates were correct.
"Any traces of Nep around here?" IF asks NepBike.
"I'm still looking... you will hear an alarm when I'm done." Nepbike turns on her radar.
"Uhh... Iffy?" Adult Neptune seems bothered by something, but IF doesn't notices "Hey hey Iffy.." And she begins to poke IF's shoulder.
"Not now, Nep." IF doesn't want to be interrupted.
"I just want to tell you that there's something behind us."
"What now... WHOAAA!" IF is surprised to find a giant claw behind the bike. And then she finds out that behind them there's a pair of red eyes glowing in the darkness of that cave. The monster is agitated that its sleep is interrupted.
GROWL*.
"Well... depending on how high my level was in the Author's playthrough in Megadimension Neptunia VII... I think I can take this mo-" IF claims.
"YEAH THAT'S THE THING! THE AUTHOR DIDN'T EVEN REACH THE POINT WHERE YOU ARE THE PARTY MEMBER!" Big Neptune yells.
"What!? Oh author you son of a Bi-"
"HOLD ON IF YOU WANT TO APPEAR IN THE SEQUEL!" NepBike drives forward fast, evading a breath of fire.
"Thanks N - Bike! But that thing is still chasing us!" IF struggles to keep her head cool. "Can you just teleport or something?"
"NEPNEPNEPNEP" Nepbike found the location of her other self. "Ok I will do a time jump there, hang on!"
Just when the dragon is about to swing its big arm, the girls have gone through a portal, thus they avoid death for now.
Meanwhile
Croire is detecting a unique energy from the Basilicom and goes to 'investigate' it. "Aint never felt this Energy before. It's weird..."
She hovers around and makes sure that she's not being followed and continues forward. Not long after that she detects a similar energy not far from the initial source.
"Better hurry or I will miss it." She says to herself.
ZOOOOMMM.
"Hah... hahh.~~" The girls are out of breath, and as for Nepbike, she needs to cool down her machinery. They then end up in a more 'precise' location. Hidden near the bushes, they can clearly see Hyper Neptune training without her noticing.
"Thanks Bike Nep, you saved us." IF thanks Nepbike.
"Yeah, and you bringing us here, near my past mini self." Big Nep says with a relief smile.
"Yeah... no need to thank me... I just need to sleeeeee Zzzzz...zzzzz..." Nepbike's machinery just overheats and knocks her out.
"I think we should let her rest, her machine would be overheated after that. Well Nep, what do we get?"
"Iffy, come here. Look at the person behind that tree." She notices something familiar about her, the ribbons and her long twin tail. "Is that Noire? What is she doing here?"
"Histoire said that Noire is gone with Neptune somehow, but why is she here? Is she stalking her ?"
"But the way Noire looked at my mini self... it's... kinda romantic...~" Big Nep says jokingly.
"Nep, this isn't the time for joking."
"Oops! Just trying to lighten up the mood - oh wait... up there !" Big Nep points at something that flew in the air not far from them. "That book.. it's Crosty!"
"Alright we found our culprit. You watch over her, I got Nep and Noire overthere." IF looks behind her and finds out that the ancient dragon is still looking for them but luckily they are well hidden. "And that giant Dragon is still searching for us."
"I think Crosty is attracted by us..." State Nep, making IF look at her with a questioning look on her face. "She's attracted to something that's 'interesting'. She might have detected that we are coming from the future or something, or.. she just could be looking for that ancient dragon, or both." She's still unsure as she focuses more on Croire.
"Well whatever it is, we still don't know what hap-"
"Iffy, look!" Big Nep pokes IF and turns her head facing up. "She's charging up... that ball thing!"
"It looks like it did use share energy, but it's still relatively small. I don't think it used much of share, and she aims it at that dragon over there right so-"
"LOOK OUT!" Something (or someone) rams both big Nep and IF out of the way, as a sudden light beam comes towards them.
"Argh, that was close!" IF feels the pain on her body but she's glad that her live is saved by Nepbike.
But... they then see something afterward. It's glowing dark in the sky... and it's Croire teleporter ball, but bigger... way bigger than before. That ball of dark purple energy is overcharged with share energy, and it's heading towards Neptune's little counterpart.
"NEPTUNEEE!" They see Noire jumping out to protect Neptune without thinking twice.
And then there's bright light followed by a loud explosion sound, creating a huge shockwave that makes the group fly backwards and hit the trees.
"GYAH!"
"AHHH!"
"My Tireeessss!"
The whole group including Nepbike pass out because of how hard the impact has done to their heads (and machine).
Several times later.
"Oh no... nonono... damn it... Nep..." Says Croire as she see big Neptune, IF and a weird colored bike under the fallen trees. "Why is this punk here too?" She says after seeing IF.
She pulls out a piece of a ripped cloth that she picked up earlier. It belongs to little Neptune's parka dress. She knows that she's at fault here and Histoire will definitely blame her for the disappearance of Neptune and the top of it all she hurt her very first friend, Big Neptune, too.
"I... doubt that annoying Nep still live after that... but..." Croire's not sure about little Neptune's fate. "She always bragged that she is the main protag and those crappy stuffs, so there's a chance...I guess."
"Hey you!" Suddenly someone yells at her. "You Darksty! You hurt them!" It was Nepbike as she's turning on and off her front light as if she's pointing and blaming her.
"It's Croire.. C-R-O-I-R-E!" She's agitated by Nepbike, but can't deny the blame. "Yeah I know this is my fault, and I am planning to fix it." She looks down to big Neptune who is still knocked out. "I don't know there's other people in this... middle out of nowhere. I wanted to send that dragon to oblivion..."
"But?" Asks Nepbike.
"...instead that giant ass Ki laser beam came out of nowhere and it almost HIT ME! I only used a little portion of share energy but because of the shockwave alone made me lost control and overcharge it. I didn't know there's Nep and her friends over there!"
"Hmmm... then help them up! Use your magic telekinetic stuff to lift those logs!" Nepbike refers to a tree log that traps big Nep beneath it.
"Tch, I can't believe I'm ordered by a talking bike... but okay. You have to help me pushing it, since my energy can only lift it for a moment so you need to step up too." Croire indirectly asks for Nepbike's help.
After several times, they successfully free both IF and big Nep from the trees, but the girls are still unconscious.
"Hey you, bring them home, will ya?" Croire asks.
"I will, but what are you going to do?"
"Hate to say this but, I'm going to search for Nep. Not my Nep but the much more annoying one." Says Croire. "I'm the one who blasted her butt, and I'm going to be destroyed if they find out."
Croire sets a coordinate that she used for her magic before and opens a portal.
"Hey uhh... good luck. I knew she survived somewhere. She is the main character you know~" Nepbike wishes Croire luck.
"Th- thanks, now get them both out of here. " Croire starts moving towards the portal and just before she enters it she says something under her breath. "Weird, that bike sounds just like Nep..." and goes inside.
Hyperdimension forest, present time.
Somehow Nepbike manages to carry and transport the unconscious IF and big Neptune to present time (plus 15 minutes from initial time) with little to no problem.
Under the same trees and in front of the smaller Dimension rift that leads to her home Dimension, there's Sega IF and Segami waiting while holding each other's hands.
ZOOOMMM.
"There you a-" Sega IF stops and is surprised to find that Nepbike carries two unconscious person. "What! Nep, what happened!?" IF yells.
"It's a long story Iffy... but it involved a giant laser and stuffs-" Suddenly Nepbike feels a movement.
"Ugh... my head..."
"Ugh... my butt..."
Both IF and big Nep finally wake up. "Hey you, you're finally awake." Nepbike says, referencing to a famous line (meme).
"Nep, the rift's about to close. We need to go." Sega IF notices the rift getting smaller and smaller.
"Wait! Hey, are you two okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. Just need to get our bearings here... ugh... I think I can move now, thanks." IF feels massive pain in her body. "You should go now, thanks to you we know what happened to our friends."
"Yeah, bike me. We will be just fine. We will meet again next time." Big Nep says while still being hurt.
"Sorry you two, we can't be here for long. But, it's very nice to meet you." Segami says with a sad voice. "C'mon Neptune, or you will be stuck in this Dimension."
"Until we meet again!" Sega IF says.
"You two get in there first. Hey, hotter me. About your Cro- cor... book fairy friend, she helped me carrying you both here. But she said she had to find Neptune of this world, she said that everyone will hate her or something like that -"
"Hey Nep! This portal is shrinking! If you're not hurry, your body won't fit!" Calls Sega IF from the other side.
"Aww crap! Okay, take care you two! Bye bye now!" Nepbike says, then speeds towards the closing Dimension rift.
"Fyuh.. glad you made it Nep." Sega IF is relieved to find Nepbike making it in one piece. "But did you get hit by something? Your back looks like it's melted or something."
"And even your paint job is crappier than before, and that's a lot of scratches." Segami follows.
"Oh... I think this is because that giant beam that other me was casting among other things... no big deal." Nepbike replies.
"Maybe it's time to tune you up and give you a new paint job, a nice green and blue color scheme..." Sega IF suggests.
"Bleah... but why -?" Nepbike stops after seeing both Segami and IF still holding hands the whole time, and mutters: "Oh... I get it now."
IF and big Neptune are almost near the exit of the forest while still limping.
"Hey Iffy, so in the end... this is all our faults right?" Big Nep feels bad that their actions indirectly caused the disappearance of mini Neptune.
"Not now Nep, I don't want to get into that topic right now." IF is somewhat annoyed.
"Oh... ok then, so... why did you kiss Nepgear in the second game?"
"AND DON'T DIRECT IT INTO SOMETHING EVEN MORE EMBARRASSING!"
... one thing that I remember the most about Rebirth 2 is IF and Nepgear kiss among other things, I don't remember much about anything else (please don't mention about that cursed ending, I'm sweating the whole playtrough, I really don't want to get that ending. let alone witness it, please don't tell me about it)
anyway back to that IF and Nepgear kiss it's so out of place, it's super awkward and it's making me question it until this day, maybe yes, it's to 'motivate' Nepgear but still it makes me go 'what ?'.
so enough about that kiss, next time we are back to Neptune and Noire again, and explore more about what happen between them, and I'm half way done too !
see you next time and thank you !