The Running CPU

by Project 0mega

Neptune believes shes done the unthinkable and has ran away to a new dimension as a result. But one day she runs into an old acquaintance, Uni while living her new life. She hopes her changed look and personality makes it so Uni wont realize its her. To top it off a new powerful enemy has emerged. Can Neptune and the new CPU's defeat it or do they need help from outside sources.

8. Chapter 7: Making a Friend

Alright. Now I know I've been a little behind on updating things but I've been busy dealing with this story. This chapter took a little longer to make than usual because both Alternet RedSkys and I made and worked with this chapter. Now onto the story.

Chapter 7- Nepgear's POV

I slowly blink my eyes open and glance to my right to see what time it was. 8:07 blinked at me. What? My alarm should've gone off at 6:20. I glance a little to the left and see a framed picture of all our friends after we defeated Magic and Arfoire (1) instead of the picture of sis and I when we were participating in one of 5pb's concerts (2).

That's not right. I look around the room and recognize it as Neptune's. I must've slept walked in here again. Explains why my alarm didn't wake me. Where are you now Neptune. I just want to talk to you, to tell you it's not your fault. I lean up and stretch. Time to get the day started. I get up and straighten up the bed.

I quickly make my way out, into my room across the hall, and get dressed into my usual attire. I make my way to the kitchen to make me something quick to eat but stop in the living room when I see Uni talking with Histoire. Is something wrong? Uni's been over here a lot lately. As if sensing my presence Histoire looks over to me.

"Hello Nepgear. Uni and I have discussing something that involves you."

DId I do something wrong? Histoire raised her hand as if knowing what I was thinking and says. "You're not in trouble. We've just been talking about how much you've been working and we both agree you need at least a week or so vacation away from this."

"But Histoire-"

Histoire stops me again and says. "Its fine. I can handle the work until you come back. If I need help I'll just ask IF to stop by."

Uni puts her hand on my shoulder. "I agree Nepgear. You've been working as hard as Noire. I was thinking about us spending a week or two in the Gemstone Dimension."

My face grows red. "Noire is letting you take one too?"

"Yeah I just need to report in once every other day to give her a report on what happened."

I glance down to the floor. True I've been working hard. I glance back up at Uni and back to Historie. I sigh. "Alright. I'll do it. When are we leaving?"

"We can leave now if you want I already have my things ready."

"Alright I'll get my things together then."

~Time Skip~

The trip through the portal was shorter than last time I believe. My gaze started looking over the crowd. I recognize someone with bone white hair tied into a braided ponytail and my graze instantly turns into a glare.

"Hey Uni isn't that Abby?" I say cooly.

"Yeah it is. Hey Abby over here!" Uni shouts.

I feel a small spike of anger spark in me. I know I shouldn't be jealous but I can't help it.

Abby walks over after spotting us from the crowd with her blood red eyes she was carrying a small bag with her "So what brings you two here? Oh before I forget this is for you Nepgear." Abby hands me the small bag "I made it for you as an apology I would have never hit on Uni if I knew she was yours. I hope you can accept my apology."

The small spike of anger disappears quickly. "It's alright. I accept your apology. Thank you for this by the way." I say with a small smile on my face.

Abby nods "Thanks I usually don't talk with many people. Hmm so what brings you two here? Are you two here on business or are you here to relax? Me and the rest of the CPU's are having a beach party if your interested."

Uni answers before I do. "I'm here on both and Nepgear here is on vacation for a week or so. I wouldn't mind to go if Gearsy here doesn't mind."

"Its fine. So where is it?" I ask putting the bag into my inventory.

Abby stretches "Not far from here. Though the beach we are going to we'll have to transform to get to as its on the other side of a mountain. You see that mountain?" She point to a small hard to scale mountain "It's just on the other side of it. Crystal clear water and rather good place to go fishing."

I give her a quick nod and look at Uni. "Alright. I'm ready when you are." she responds by transforming and I follow suit. I gesture to Abby. "After you."

Abby nods and transforms her hair turns from bone white to jade green her suit is green as well as having dragon like wing looking to being made out of jade. She takes off and we follow her.

When we get there I see Emma, Isabel, and Becky dueling. Emma was only using her pure white blade and holding a coffee mug that said #1 mom, Isabel was using her greatsword, and Becky with her halberd. Emma was deflecting their blows and dodging the heavier hits while taking small sips from the mug.

As if deciding to mess with Emma, Uni Yells. "Hey Emma!"

Emma looks up at us saying. "Hmm?" Isabel's claymore then shatters her mug.

Emma groans in despair. "That was my last pudding flavored kind and that mug was a birthday gift from the girls."

Isabel gasps "I'm so sorry Emma! I'll see if I can get it fixed. Is there anything I can do to make this up to you?" Isabel says to Emma sincerely feeling horrible for what she's done.

Emma puts the remainder of the mug into her inventory and says."It's fine Isabel. It was my fault for not putting it down while we dualed."

Isabel nods while rubbing her sword arm "Still at least let me buy you some pudding flavored coffee later. I'll feel bad if I don't at least do that for you." Her teal eyes look at the ground still regretting shattering the mug.

Emma puts her arm around Isabel's shoulder. "Alright if you really want to you can go with me to the supermarket tomorrow when i go shopping and you can pay for the coffee."

Isabel smiles warmly "Thank you Emma."

The three of us land and transform back out of our HDD forms. Uni greets everyone and I give them a small wave.

Uni's clothes flash and a swimsuit replaces them. She nudges me blushing. "Come on Nepgear it is a beach party after all." I blush my eyes lingering on her longer than necessary. I shake my head and pull up my inventory and scroll through it until i find my two piece orange and purple bathing suit.

I look at Abby and notices she hasn't changed and I ask her. "Are you going to change into one or are you sitting out?"

Abby blinks "Oh um well I usually sit these sort of things out. It's not that I don't want to but I can't show much skin." I look and notice she almost completely covered in clothes except for her head.

"Why can't you?" I ask sincerely.

Abby bites her lip and looks away "Just look at my face pale skin and red eyes. I'm what you'd call an albino. My skin burns easily in the sun. Though that's not the only rea-Never mind." She was about to say something but stopped herself still looking at her skin I notice it's incredibly pale.

"I think i got something that'll help you not burn as easily. I have it here somewhere." I say scrolling through my inventory.

Abby looked a little nervous "Um thanks but I'd have to go elsewhere to change."

"Alright. I think I saw a good place a little over there."

Abby takes the item "Thanks Nepgear your proving to be a good friend. I won't be gone long." Abby quickly leaves to go get changed.

'That is odd usually most people her that shy about changing into their swimwear...is she hiding something?' I wonder briefly before I here Becky yell "VOLLEY BALL!!" She must not get to do this often being from Lowee.

"You joining Nepgear!" Uni calls out.

I give her a small shake. "Not this time no. I'm going to sit this one out."

I go over to where they've set up some lawn chairs and coolers. I sit in one of the lawn chairs that is by both a cooler and a table. I reach into the cooler and grab a drink at random. I went to put it on the table but saw Croire laying on a miniature lawn chair with her own swimsuit on.

If everyone is here where are the kids? Croire cracks open an eye at me for a second before closing them again. "Hello Nepgear."

"Hello Croire. Where are the kids I don't see them anywhere?"

"They wanted to go over to Vert's today to see her and IF. So we took the opportunity and set this up between us. So what brings you here just tagging along with Uni again?"

"Yes and no. I've taking a small break from work for a week or two, with convincing from both Histoire and Uni."

At the mention of Histoire, Croire gives off a small scowl for a split second. "You have anywhere to stay?"

"Not at the moment no I was going to see what my options were later."

A small smile creeped its way onto Croire's face. "You can stay with us at Emma's place. We have plenty of room. I'm guessing Uni is on a vacation too with you."

"Thank you Croire I'd like to stay if that's really alright."

She waves me off. "It's no problem."

Before I could respond I hear Emma yell. "What!"

I look over and see Emma standing near us at the back right of the volleyball boundaries starring over at us with a shocked expression on her face. She stood like that for a few seconds before a volleyball was spiked into her face by Uni.

Uni raises both of her arms in victory. "Headshot!"

I winced since that looked painful but I soon hear a familiar voice "I'm back Nepgear. I hope I wasn't gone too long." I turn to look and see Abby in the diving suit I gave to her.

"You don't do these much do you?"

Abby shakes her head "I grew up mostly away from human contact in a forests. That was my first memory waking up alone in the Black forest. So this as you can say one of my first Beach parties. Sorry if I'm sounding like a major downer." Abby's voice had a hint of pain to it but it was masked heavily. Her past is becoming more of a mystery to me one I want to solve.

I give her a small smile before leaning my head back in my chair and closing my eyes. "That's alright. Everyone's had their ups and downs. Even I have a lot of them. It's good to see you getting along with everyone here and the kids. And a beach party. It's good to experience something new once in awhile."

Abby nods looking out into the sea as if she can see something in the distance "I guess you're right about that. I mostly came to for the beauty of nature and to fish. I heard this spot has a large variety of great catches." her hands seems to twitch in excitement at the idea of catching a prized fish guess everyone does have a favorite hobby.

I look over at her. "We both can go and do a little fishing if you want. I may not be any good at it though. Never really tried it before." I say to her as a suggestion that she didn't have to sit here or do it alone.

Abby perks up at the suggestion "Um sure I scouted out a good spot earlier. I can give you some pointers since your a beginner if you'd like." she offers to me.

I get up and make an after you gesture. "After you then."

Abby nods and guides me to and through a small cave opening out into a large expense of sea away from the rest "This a perfect spot water straight down is deepen enough for the larger fish and it's away from the rest so we don't have to worry about hooking them by accident. Now I just have to get the rods and bait out." She starts cycling through her inventory for the necessary items for us.

"Alright. Do we use bait or just toss the hook and bobber into the water?"

Abby gets out our rods and bait "Well since your new I'll show you how it's done. You can use a bobber if you want but you get better catches with just bait. Just watch for the bend in the rod now to show you how to cast." After skillfully putting the bait on her hook Abby demonstrated to me how to properly cast the hook reallying the rod back before flinging the rod forwards sending the hook flying into sea before locking the real in place so it doesn't go any further. It was honestly a little impressive.

Alright let's see if I can do it at least decently. I put the bobber and bait on and reeling the rod back and flinging the rod forwards sending the hook a little past where Abby had hers. "So now we wait." I say looking at my bobber.

Abby hums "Umhum The wait can take minutes or half an hour. The key is patience. It would be called catching if it was quick." Abby tells me as she sits down with her rod.

I sit down besides her and pull out a couple snacks and drinks I snatched from the cooler and table before we left. "Want some?"

Abby shrugs and takes a snack and a drink "Sure it'll be a while. Do you want to do catch and release or keep our catches for a meal?"

"Hmm. I guess we can keep a couple for later. It's been awhile since I've had any fish."

Abby actually let a smile grace her face "Well then I'll cook them for us maybe teach you how to descale them. Nothing beats fresh well seasoned fish."

"That'll be nice. Thank you."

Abby nods before she feels a solid tug "Got one!" She hurries to real it in when it broke the surface of the water it looked like a giant salmon "Sweet this one will make a good meal!" I sweat drop at how normal she is making this sound.

"That was quicker than I thought it would be. Doubt I can catch anything of that size." I saw watching her bring in the fish.

Abby gives me a look as she brings it in "Don't be so hard on yourself just relax and calm your mind focus on the breeze, the sound of the crashing waves and the smell of the sea air. The fish can sense your tension just focus on relaxing and not tensing up." Abby advises me earnestly.

I do as she instructed and calmed most of my thoughts. I began to focus my mind on Uni but stopped with a shake of my head when I felt my body heating up. That won't work. I began thinking of the good times between my sis and I and a small smile tugged it's way onto my lips. My body slowly started to relax itself. "Thanks. I've just had a lot on my mind recently. So we making that fish now or later?"

Abby taps her chin "Don't mention it. Hmm we can do it now if you want. I was going to wait till you caught one yourself. Hmm your bobber went under." Abby smirk caused me to look and see my bobber completely submerged.

What! I gave my rod a small yank before I started reeling it in. The fish fought back pulling against my efforts it was like a battle me verses it and I wasn't going to lose! With a war cry and a hard tug I yanked it out of the water and onto the stone floor of the cave. The fish lands in front of me revealing to be a rather fat tuna.

Abby licked her lips at the catch I made "Now that will be really good to eat. Good job Nep knew you had it in you that is a great catch."

"Thanks. I was able to do this because of your help." I say fidgeting with my hands.

Abby smiles in response "Your welcome. Now to start descaling them." She takes out a large assortment of rather sharp knives "Time to begin you want to go first or for me to demonstrate for you?"

"A demonstration please." I pick up one of the glass bottles I grabbed from the cooler and look at the name. Tropical Sunshine. Hmm never heard of it before. I pop off the top and take a sip of it. Taste pretty good. I down around half of it before i sit down and watch Abby descale her fish.

She was quick and precise scraping the knife against the scales direction I watch as the scales fall off from the meat below as she continues her work. She was performing this task with practice easy I doubt it will be as easy for me but just watching her do this tedious task I can tell she's having fun still. Maybe because she's with a friend? To think I used to be at odds with her the day before and we are having such a good time now. Is this what Neptune saw in everyone?

After she was done I tried to the best of my ability to copy what she did. I may of not done it well but I'm proud I got it done. I look over to Abby and ask. "Alright what are we supposed to be doing now?"

"Hmm we cut the meat out and cook them after seasoning them or we can just run stakes through them and cook them over that. I have the necessary items in my inventory to do either." Abby says while taking some items out of her inventory.

"We can do what you think is best." I say opening another bottle of the tropical stuff.

Abby snaps her fingers "We'll cut the meat off and cook it should be good. I can show you how to season it right…...Um aren't you a little bit too young to be drinking the hard stuff yet?" She tells me after noticing the drink in my hand.

"What do you mean?" I ask raising an eyebrow at her.

Abby blinks before grabbing a bottle and pointing at a specific set of words I missed "Its an alcoholic beverage. Pretty high concentration too you should be feeling a bit tipsy now."

I glance at my half empty one I'm holding and the three others on the ground a drank. I giggled a little before saying. "I guess I missed that. I'm actually 36 but this is the first time for me drinking alcohol."

Abby shrugs taking a drink and gulping it down "It's alright just don't over do it. You have yet to experience a hangover and trust me you don't want to. Not fun at all. We should get some food in us before we drink more." She starts striping her fish of meat well getting the camping stove she brought out heated up.

I tried to follow her example but my hands would follow some of my commands I tried to give them. I giggled. I guess I'm more drunk than I thought. After messing up a few times I just leave it for Abby. "I'm sorry Abby but I keep messing it up."

Abby pats my head gently "Don't worry I'll take care of it from here. Your just really drunk right now. Just tell me how you'd like me to season your fish. Do you like it a little spicy or something specific?"

I give her a wide grin. "Surprise me." I say before finishing up the drink I had. That's the last one I'm having for awhile.

Abby begins cooking and seasoning the fish well with ginger, garlic, salt, and a certain seasoning I am not familiar with wonder what she is doing. She soon approaches me with two plates full of fish "Well I think I outdid myself with this. And you did say to surprise you."

"It's fine." I say before taking a bite out of the fish. I moan at the taste. "Taste great." I say before almost inhaling it.

Abby smiles eating some of her fish "This is the life good food, nice view of nature ,and good company. Do you feel the same?"

"Yes. Yes I do."

Abby smile leaning against my shoulder and yawns "A perfect way to end the day I'm glad we are friends now Neppy…" I look at her and see she fell asleep on my shoulder guess she just needed a nap but I am glad to we were able to heal our relationship.

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Writer: Project Omega

Co Writer: Alternet RedSkys

Thank you all for reading this chapter. Please review what you think of it. Here are the links for the pictures below(may have to copy and last though).

(1)-https/vignette.wikia./hyperdimensionneptunia/images/6/6c/The-neptune-gang_%281%29.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/660?cb=20130717003319

(2)-https/vignette.wikia./steamtradingcards/images/c/cf/Hyperdimension_Neptunia_ReBirth3_V_Generation_Artwork_7.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/500?cb=20151105042254