Ch 4: Dimension Tripper

After the initial chaos of Sync's appearance died down, the party had settled around the small tea table in the Nep sisters' room. Vert, of course, had remained fainted on the couch but Nepgear made sure to replace the blood pack hooked up to her arm with a packet of high-dosage Nep Bull to help speed up her recovery. Judging from the pained sounds she made when Histoire introduced Sync to the other two, she was already gaining some semblance of consciousness.

Neptune, meanwhile, was busy taking the news of Sync's identity with her usual level of maturity and composure. Which was to say, not a whole lot.

"Whaaaaat?! CPU Candidate?! But... he's a guy! We never have important male characters unless they're villains, robots, or giant talking fish! Wait, is he actually just an android that happens to look like a guy? Cause that would make way more sense then-"

She was promptly cut off as Histoire bopped her on the head. "Nepu! What was that for Histy?"

Histoire crossed her arms as she glared at the loud-mouthed CPU. "Neptune, I understand that social etiquette is not one of your strong points but please refrain from being so rude to our guest!"

"I'm not being rude," Neptune replied with a pout. "I'm just trying to figure out why a male character would show up in a series clearly based around cute girls and tons of fanservice." A look of surprised horror suddenly fell across Neptune's face as a thought occurred to her. "Oh, no! Are we stuck inside a crappy fanfic where an obviously self-insert male OC comes along and turns us all into his sexy harem members?! Quick, someone check the ratings to see if we're going to have to do anything lewd!"

Histoire gave a facepalm to this while Nepgear just gave an uneasy laugh. Sync, on the other hand, seemed to find Neptune's wild ravings more amusing than anything else as he answered her question with a small, mischievous grin.

"The story's only rated T. I doubt there's going to be any kinky harem action in here. As for being a self-insert OC, I highly doubt it. I'd probably be much more mysterious and be plotting to bring about the next Conquest Ending if that was the case. Our author is a bit weird like that."

Everyone in the room fell completely silent as they all turned to stare at Sync. Well, except for Vert, who simply let out yet another groan in her half-conscious state.

Not surprisingly, it was Neptune who found her voice first.

"Hey! Breaking the fourth wall is my gimmick! You can't just go around stealing other peoples' defining characteristics, buster!"

Sync raised an eyebrow at her. "I thought breaking the fourth wall was the norm for everyone here?"

Neptune seemed to puff up like some kind of angry bird as she faced him with a look of mild indignation. "Hmph! Looks like someone forgot to read the instruction manual on how things work around here! Alright, listen up newbie! I'm going to tell you exactly why I have first dibs when it comes to breaking the fourth wall! I'm-"

"Neptune, the self-proclaimed Protagonist of Protagonists."

All of the bravado seemed to drain out of the hyped up CPU as she stared at the boy in surprise. Like a shark smelling blood in the waters, Sync immediately caught onto Neptune's shocked reaction and widened his grin.

"Your official title is Purple Heart and you're the CPU of Planeptune," he continued speaking. "You're well-known for being energetic and bright to the point of idiocy. You also have a tendency to break the fourth wall and spout out memes whenever you get the chance. In contrast, however, you're HDD personality is much more mature and also a touch more arrogant. You're favorite food is custard pudding while eggplants are your most hated. Your height in human form is 146 cm, weight is 38 kg, and your cup size is an A. In HDD form, your height increases to 164 cm, weight becomes 48 kg, and your cup size enlarges to an E." He paused for a bit as he put on a show of trying to remember something. "Oh, and you currently hold the world record of 'longest-lasting impression of a kangaroo.' If I recall correctly, you jumped around while shouting 'Byoing!' for nearly two whole weeks before you finally collapsed from pudding deficit."

The dumbfounded expression on Neptune's face was so priceless that Noire would have probably traded over Uni to get a picture of it had she been there (okay, perhaps not Uni but definitely her private cosplay collection at least). Of course, it was not just Planeptune's CPU who was shocked by all of this as Histoire and Nepgear also looked at Sync with nearly identical dumbfounded expressions.

Off to the side, Vert unconsciously covered her face with her hand.

After waiting a few seconds and not getting a response, Sync gave a nonchalant shrug as he answered the unspoken question that hung in the air like a dense fog. "Sis had a detailed profile of all of you in her library. I figured I might as well get some research done before meeting with all of her friends."

With a grin still on his face, he grabbed one of the cups of tea that had gone untouched so far and took a long, drawn-out drink while patiently waiting for Neptune to explode.

She did not disappoint.

"STALKER! PERVERT! GARY-STU!" the purple-haired goddess screamed while pointing her finger accusingly at the source of her panic. "HE'S ALREADY TARGETING ME TO BECOME HIS FIRST HAREM MEMBER! NOOOOOO! I WON'T LET YOU SEDUCE ME! I'LL NEVER LET YOU USE MY ADORABLE BODY FOR YOUR KINKY-!"

Thankfully, Histoire recovered just in time to interrupt Neptune by grabbing her by the ear.

"That's quite enough Neptune!" the Oracle yelled out over the CPU's pained protests. "Your behavior today has been completely unacceptable!"

"Me?!" Neptune shouted in disbelief as she struggled to free herself from Histoire's grip. " But... but... what about him?! He's trying to turn us all into-!"

"Do not try to change the subject when I'm talking to you, young lady!" Judging from her tone and steely eyes, Histoire was already far gone into her dreaded lecture mode. Neptune gave a loud gulp of fear upon noticing this but by then it was already too late to stop the oncoming storm.

Even Sync could not help but wince as Histoire began to scold Neptune with the wrath of a thousand angry mothers. Just as he put down his teacup and considered jumping in to help the poor CPU, a hesitant voice spoke up next to him.

"Um... was there anything about me in those profiles as well?" Nepgear asked shyly.

All concerns for Neptune were set aside as Sync put on his usual playful smile and faced his fellow CPU Candidate.

"Of course. Sis had an extremely detailed description about you," he answered in a scandalous tone, making the implications as clear as day.

Rather than getting riled up, Nepgear just gave a startled yelp while scooting away from him. Much to her confusion, however, Sync just shook his head and gave a small sigh at her reaction.

"Sheesh, you're making this way too easy for me," he remarked in a disappointed tone. "At least quip back at me like your sister. Honestly, teasing you makes me feel like I just kicked a small puppy."

Nepgear's self-deprecation instantly kicked in as she lowered her head in despair. "A puppy? Do I really look that pathetic?"

Sync suddenly gave an amused snort, causing Nepgear to look up at him in surprise. Realizing he had her attention he gave her a friendly little smile. "I think you misunderstood me. I'm just saying there's no fun in making fun of someone as innocent as you. That's hardly something worth beating yourself over. And besides, what's wrong with being compared to a puppy? Puppies are cute."

His cheerful words seemed to have a positive effect on Nepgear as she gave a small laugh at his last comment before giving him a smile in return. Unfortunately, Sync was not the only one to notice this.

"NOOOOO!" Neptune shouted out from the side. "NEP JR.! DON'T FALL FOR HIS-"

"NEPTUNE! YOU WILL FACE ME WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU!"

Both CPU Candidates winced as the entire room shook from the force of Histoire's shout.

After a brief silence broken only by Histoire's ongoing lecture and Neptune's futile distraction attempts, Sync spoke up to Nepgear again in a rather serious tone.

"Actually... to tell the truth, I've been wanting to meet you ever since I read your profile."

Nepgear could not help but blush at his words. "R...Really? You wanted to see me?"

Sync definitely noticed her reddening face if his playful grin was anything to go by. However, he seemed to think better of teasing her about it as he simply shook his head and continued on with his explanation.

"Not in the way your thinking," he casually said, causing Nepgear to look rather embarrassed about her misunderstanding. Sync went on as if he did not notice. "I read that you have exceptional skill in various fields of science. As such, I was wondering if you could use your knowledge to help me with a pet project of mine. I'm not sure if it crosses over into your field of expertise but I have a Philosopher's Stone that could require some fine-tuning."

All prior embarrassment or hesitation was wiped clean from her face as Nepgear's eyes immediately lit up like a pair of dazzling stars.

"You have a Philosopher's Stone?!" she shouted out excitedly. "I've been trying to get my hands on one for years! Do you realize the amount of atomic discoveries that can be made by studying its ability to transform lead into gold?!"

"Um... actually, I'm just trying to return all of sis's Ran-Pigs back into-"

Nepgear did not seem to hear him as she instead she got up and grabbed him by the arm.

"Less talk, more science!"

The next thing he knew, Sync was being dragged out of the room by a hyperactive Nepgear. Behind him, Histoire and Neptune continued on with their bickering as they failed to notice the obvious disaster-in-the-making. Vert, meanwhile, just gave yet another groan in her sleep.

It was well past sunset when the comatose CPU finally woke up.

As Vert slowly opened her eyes to stare up at the ceiling, she realized just how clear her head felt. Sure her mental state was still in utter disarray from the memory of what had just happened before she collapsed, but she was not feeling any physical dizziness or pain like the last time she had been knocked out. The absence of Chika trying to suffocate her also helped in that matter. Shifting her eyes to the side a bit, she saw the IV drip attached to her and realized that this must be the reason for her physical restoration.

With a sigh, she sat up and slowly unhooked the now-empty medicine pouch from herself while taking in her surroundings. She was still inside the Nep sisters' room but only Histoire and Neptune were currently present at the moment. The purple-haired CPU was busy playing Dank Spirits IV (something that Vert sorely wished she could be playing herself instead of having to deal with all of this) while Histoire was off to the side looking through some paperwork on the tea table.

Vert was just about to wonder why Histoire was working here rather than in her own office when the Oracle finally seemed to realize that her guest was awake.

"Ah, good to have you back with us, Vert. I was hoping you'd be back up before dinner."

Vert remained silent as she simply looked around the room once more. Realizing that the bane of her existence was missing, she gave a loud sigh as she decided to get the immediate question out of the way first.

"Where is he?" she asked, her exasperated voice making it crystal clear she was not asking this out of concern for his welfare.

Histoire raised an eyebrow at Vert's tone but chose not to comment on it as she answered the question.

"I believe Sync went off with Nepgear a while ago. She's probably giving him a tour of the place."

"I doubt that," Neptune suddenly said as she turned away from the TV. "He's probably just trying to seduce Nep Jr. into joining his harem! I bet he's trying to recover from how I totally rejected his sorry-"

She immediately fell silent with a surprised "Nepu!" when Histoire threw a crumpled wad of paper at her forehead.

"I believe I told you to stop with that kind of talk, Neptune?" the Oracle said in a dangerously calm voice. "Or perhaps you need a remedial lesson on proper etiquette again?"

Neptune wisely chose to remain silent as she instead turned to focus back on her game.

With a sigh, Histoire turned back to Vert. "As you can see, I've been busy keeping an eye on Neptune this whole time. The last thing I wanted was for her to ruin Nepgear's chance of making a new friend."

"Nep Jr. doesn't need to be friends with a guy like him! The only thing that lies down that path is the dreaded Harem Ending!"

Vert was not in the mood for anymore shenanigans so she chose to speak up again before Histoire blew up once more.

"Please tell me this is just a bad joke, Histoire. I mean, there's no way that... boy can be my b... b... ugh... CPU Candidate of Leanbox."

Histoire's glare shifted over from Neptune to Vert without losing any of its intensity.

"He is your brother, Vert," the Oracle said with an air of finality. "I've run a preliminary scan on him when he arrived here – alone, I should remind you – and found conclusive evidence that he was born from this dimension's Leanbox Sharicite."

Vert seemed to disregard the warning tone in Histoire's voice as she went into full-out denial mode.

"Your scan was probably faulty then," Vert desperately said while shaking her head. "If he's actually the CPU Candidate, then why can't I properly sense his connection to the Sharicite? It's still disjointed and completely unreadable even after all this time! And more importantly... why is he even a boy in the first place?! We've never had a male CPU or CPU Candidate before!"

"See?!" Neptune chirped in enthusiastically. "Even Vert agrees that its weird for him to be a dude! I told you he's a Gary-Stu OC trying to collect all of us for his-"

Another crumpled wad of paper to the face promptly shut Neptune up as Histoire leveled herself on Vert with a disappointed expression.

"I expected better from you Vert. I thought you would accept all of this with your usual level of maturity."

When the blonde CPU simply buried her head in her hands and started mumbling to herself, Histoire gave a tired sigh and decided to first calm her down a bit by answering her questions.

"I admit I do not know the reason for his faulty connection to your Sharicite. I shall have to perform a more in-depth analysis later on to figure out the reason for this. The only thing I can say for certain at the moment is that his unstable connection to the share crystal will definitely have an effect on his powers."

"I knew it! He's a Gary-Stu! He's probably stronger than all of us combined and-"

A cushion made contact with Neptune's head this time as Histoire dusted off her hands.

"Ahem. As I was about to say before I was so rudely interrupted, Sync has a paltry amount of share energy compared to everyone else. It doubt it will affect his everyday life but he'll definitely be falling short when it comes to combat prowess. In fact, I'm not even sure if he can transform given his current level of share energy."

Vert did not immediately respond as she slowly lowered her hands and digested all of this. While she was glad the boy was not some kind of overpowered super god, she was not exactly all that pleased about the implications of his apparent handicap either. If she was actually going to be saddled with him (the terrifying prospect looking more and more likely as time went on), she was probably going to be held responsible for his safety even if his own reckless behavior got him into trouble in the first place.

Noticing the distressed look on Vert's face, Histoire spoke up once again.

"I'm sure you won't have to worry about Sync too much," the Oracle said, completely misinterpreting Vert's expression for one of concern. "While his share energy itself is low, he is actually extremely efficient at processing it. If I had to wager a guess, I'd say his processing power is probably even greater than that of your NEXT-Gen form. Combined with his unique spatial powers, I'm sure he'll be able to get himself out of most tough situations just fine."

Vert hardly seemed relieved to hear this as her head seemed to fall even lower.

"You still haven't told me why he's a boy," she eventually muttered.

Histoire crossed her arms with a thoughtful expression. "Hmm... that I can't say for sure. It probably has something to do with the mystery of his improper bonding with the share crystal but even that is just a guess. Another possibility is that a massive number of Leanbox citizens wished for a male CPU Candidate but considering your general fanbase, I find that highly unlikely."

Upon hearing about her citizens and realizing that she would have to publicly announce Sync's presence - as well as dealing with the inevitable fallout that such an announcement would make - Vert mentally collapsed and slumped over in complete and utter defeat.

"I want a refund..." she muttered weakly to no one in particular.

Histoire's eyes turned steely again as she glared down at the broken CPU.

"That's quite enough of that Vert," the Oracle admonished. "I realize Sync isn't the little sister you always dreamed about but he is still your family. Whining about it won't change anything so you better get used to your new life as an older sister. Once he gets back, I expect you to apologize for your behavior towards him until now and start acting like someone befitting your age and position." She paused as her expression softened just a bit. "And given time, who knows? Perhaps you will grow to cherish him even more than your imaginary notion of having a little sister."

A long silence filled the room broken only by the sound of Neptune's game. After a good three minutes had passed, Vert slowly raised her head to reveal the resigned look of someone who had given up entirely on life. Looking even more zombie-like than when she had glomped Nepgear earlier that day, Vert turned to face Neptune with a blank stare.

"Any chance you'll trade Nepgear for him?"

"Nuh uh!" Neptune immediately exclaimed while holding up her arms to form an 'X' for good measure. "No way am I giving up Nep Jr. for a Gary-Stu like him! You've got to be completely out of your mind if you think I'll-"

A pair of cushions hit both Neptune and Vert so hard that they were sent sprawling to the floor.

"You two..." Histoire growled out as the very earth seemed to shake from her menacing aura. "I have just about had it with you're-"

Her angry tirade was cut short when the shaking suddenly intensified. As it turned out, Histoire's anger had nothing to do with the enormous tremor as an earthquake suddenly shook the entire building. Both Vert and Neptune got up from their concussed daze and tried to look for cover when the shaking stopped just a few seconds later. As it did though, every electronic device in the room suddenly shut down... including Neptune's game console.

"NOOOOOO!" Neptune cried out as she ran over and grabbed onto the blank TV screen. "I was five steps away from reaching the next bonfire!"

"Be quiet Neptune!" Histoire shouted into the dimly lit room. "I'm trying to figure out how to turn on my emergency flashlight feature!"

As it turned out, she did not need to bother as the back-up generators apparently kicked in and restored power to the building. Sadly for Neptune, her game data had not been so lucky.

While the purple-haired CPU continued to cry about her game, Histoire brought up her holographic communicator to contact the front desk and find out the extent of damage the earthquake had just caused. Before she could dial however, an incoming call message suddenly appeared on her screen.

"Why is Nepgear calling?" Histoire exclaimed in surprise, instantly gaining both Neptune and Vert's attention. Her expression slowly fell into a worried frown as a distressing thought crossed her mind. "Oh no. I hope she and Sync were not hurt in that earthquake."

Her worst fears seemed to be confirmed however when Nepgear appeared on-screen looking extremely worse for the wear. Her clothes were covered in dirt and her hair was a complete mess as she stared into the screen with a distressed look. Behind her, a crumbled wall could be seen as if the building she was in was teetering on the edge of collapse.

"Histoire? Oh thank goodness!" A look of immense relief passed across Nepgear's face as she realized her call had gone through. "I thought we'd never establish contact with you!"

"I'm sorry about not picking up sooner," Histoire replied worriedly. "More importantly however, are both you and Sync alright? Where exactly are you right now?"

"We're both fine... for the moment." Nepgear turned to look to her side for a bit as if confirming her safety before turning back to the call. "As for where we are, I... honestly have no idea."

A confused look fell across Histoire's face. "You don't know? Weren't you inside the Basilicom when the earthquake happened?"

"Earthquake?! Is everyone alright?! Oh, I knew something would go wrong while we were away!"

"Whoa, hold up there Nep Jr.!" Neptune interrupted as she pushed herself in front of Histoire's screen (much to the Oracle's displeasure). "What do you mean while you were away? You've only been gone for a few hours."

"Hours? Oh, gosh darn it! So there was a time difference between our worlds after all!"

"Told you," Sync's smug voice called out from the side. "Looks like someone owes me a cake."

"Hey! Stop trying to mooch off my- Nepu!"

After successfully wrenching Neptune away from her screen, Histoire turned to face Nepgear with an stern expression.

"Nepgear... would you like to explain to us what exactly happened?"

The CPU Candidate definitely took note of Histoire's expression as she began to sweat nervously. "Oh... um... f... funny story that. You see, Sync and I were testing out his Philosopher's Stone in my lab when I... er... tripped."

"You tripped?" Histoire repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"Over one of my anti-headcrab crowbars," Nepgear clarified. "Unfortunately, I happened to fall onto one of the additional Pylons I had lying around and it got knocked into the containment field we set up around the Philosopher's Stone. The warp field generated by the Pylon must have reacted to the alchemic energies of the stone to create a disruption in the stabilized ions which then caused-"

"Skip the technobabble and cut to the chase Nep Jr.," Neptune interrupted. "You're making my head hurt."

"Well, to put it simply, I ended up causing an explosion that sent me and Sync into an alternate dimension."

"And I assume that was the earthquake we just felt," Vert stated flatly.

"Oh, hi sis!" Sync suddenly called out with a wave as he stuck his head in from the side. "And yeah, the explosion was probably what shook the building."

"Don't call me sis."

"Anyways," Nepgear cut in, obviously noticing the bulging vein on Histoire's head, "when we woke up, we found ourselves in this unknown city. To make matters worse, we soon ran into this angry black hedgehog who began hunting us down ever since Sync tried to talk to it."

"In my defense," Sync cut in, "I was simply telling him that he was trying way too hard to be edgy with his dark looks and that over-sized machine gun of his. How was I supposed to know that he'd take it so personally?"

Nepgear just let out a sigh before continuing with her explanation. "We tried to fight the hedgehog but he turned out to be too fast for us to handle. Luckily, Sync was able to teleport us out of danger and we've been on the run ever since. We managed to lose him a couple of days ago so we decided to take shelter in this abandoned warehouse for the time being. We've also been scavenging for parts since then to try and reconstruct a dimensional portal to get back home."

"Ooh! Just like what we did back when we were trapped in the Zero Dimension!" Neptune chirped in excitedly.

The younger sister did not get a chance to respond as Histoire spoke up in a voice that practically dripped with death.

"Nepgear... I seem to recall grounding you from any unauthorized science experiments for an entire month after that Nepgeardam incident. Would you care to explain to me why you disobeyed me and ended up causing this entire mess?"

The poor CPU Candidate began shaking like a leaf under Histoire's fearsome gaze.

"I... I was... I was just helping Sync out with his project!" Nepgear desperately said in her defense. This did not seem to placate the angry Oracle one bit as her glare only intensified.

"If that was the case, shouldn't you have asked for my permission first?!"

Nepgear could not come up with an answer to that as she continued shaking in fright. Luckily for her, Sync came to her rescue.

"Ahem. I believe we have more pressing matters at the moment," he casually commented. "I think we should focus on getting me and Nepgear out of here before that crazy hedgehog shows up again."

Histoire gave a tired sigh at this as she dropped her glare. "Very well. However, do not think I'm letting this matter drop Nepgear. Expect a full lecture from me once you get back."

"Y... Yes ma'am!"

Histoire turned her gaze towards Sync who was still hanging out on the edge of the screen. "I assume I simply have to channel a bit of share energy through this connection to let you gain a fix on our dimensional coordinates?"

"Yep. That should about do it."

As Vert and Neptune watched, Histoire began focusing Planeptune's share energy through the com-link while Nepgear and Sync moved off-screen to start up their dimensional transporter. The unseen machine gave off a loud hum as it apparently began to charge up to full power.

"The warp field is stable," Nepgear reported. "Power level at 97... 98... 99... 100%. Locking onto dimensional coordinates now."

Just as she finished saying that, a loud explosion suddenly shook the entire warehouse.

"There you are!" a deep, angry voice yelled out from the apparently newly-made hole in the building. "I'll show you who's an edgy edgelord!"

"Oh, crap," Sync was heard muttering.

"Chaos... Control!"

The intruder's yell was the last thing to be heard before the live feed came to an abrupt end.

Histoire, Vert, and Neptune all remained silent as they stared in horror at the static-filled screen. Their shock did not last for long, however, as the holographic screen flared to life a few seconds later to notify them that Nepgear was apparently calling them again. With a shaking hand, Histoire answered the call.

"I- thing- on?" Sync's distorted yet distinctive voice called out as his hazy image flickered as well. After a few seconds though, the connection seemed to stabilize as his tired form showed up just as he let out a relieved sigh. "Whew. Fixing up this N-Gear without Nepgear's help was a lot harder than I expected."

"What?!" Neptune yelled out in panic. "What happened to Nep Jr.?! Don't tell me you already seduced her and made her sacrifice herself to save you!"

Sync just gave a small laugh to this. "Don't worry. She's... fine." His hesitation was not lost on the group as they all narrowed their eyes at him. Seeing their reaction, he gave a tired sigh. "She's just been distracted by this world's technology ever since we got here."

Now that he mentioned it, the three onlookers finally noticed that he was indeed in a different setting. Instead of an old warehouse, he was currently standing in what looked like an extremely dilapidated mall. Behind him, a large glass window could be seen showing off the bizarre sight of an enormous underwater city.

"I managed to grab Nepgear and teleport us into the portal before the psycho hedgehog got to us," Sync explained as he carried over his communicator and sat down on a nearby bench. "Unfortunately, the coordinates got messed up thanks to all the commotion and we ended up here as a result."

"Are you okay?" Histoire asked, falling back to her worrying mother role. "Were you attacked by anything in your current world?"

Sync gave a shrug. "Eh. Just some crazy mutant humans. Nepgear and I found a pair of wrenches to beat them back though. I have no idea why but it seems the wrench does extra damage to just about everything here." He paused as a deep, rumbling sound similar to a whale sounded from nearby. "Well, except for those giant diving suit monsters. Those things are ridiculously hard to take down even with our new weapon. Luckily, we haven't met too many of those things during our time here."

"And just how long have you been there anyways?" Vert asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"Well... there's practically no sunlight down here to judge time with thanks to the whole 'underwater city' business but I'd probably wager at least a week. At least, if the number of food wrappers and dead bodies piled up around here are anything to go by."

Vert was very glad Sync did not show them a shot of the ground around him.

"What exactly is Nepgear doing?" Histoire asked, her previous frustration slowly setting back in. "Shouldn't she be helping you build another dimensional transporter to get back home?"

"Like I said earlier, she's currently distracted," he answered with tired grin. "She's been busy tearing down this entire city to collect all of its tech. Seeing as how all of you know her so well, I think you can guess just what kind of technology they happen to use down here."

Histoire gave a facepalm as she let out a mighty groan. "Steampunk?"

Sync nodded. "Steampunk."

A few seconds passed in silence before he spoke up again. "I know it's kinda late in asking this but is there any chance you can just send someone to rescue us? Like maybe a friendly dimensional traveler or something like that?"

Histoire wanted to faceplant onto the table for not thinking of that solution sooner. "I need a vacation," she muttered to herself before facing Sync. "We actually do have someone we can send to rescue you and Nepgear. In fact, I'll send Neptune to go fetch her right now."

"What? Why do I have to be the errand girl?" Neptune whined.

"Because none of this would have happened in the first place if I hadn't been too distracted by you to notice Nepgear slipping away into her lab!" Histoire shot back. "Now go out there and bring over your other self before I put you on paperwork duty for the rest of the year!"

This finally did the trick as Neptune gave a fearful "Nepu!" before rocketing out of the room.

"She's probably hanging out at the manga cafe again!" Histoire called out towards the retreating girl's form. She did not know if Neptune heard her but she was confident that the CPU would get the job done one way or the other with such a dangerous threat looming over her.

"Um... Do we really need to call over the other Neptune?" Vert suddenly asked from the side. "Can't we just figure out a way to deal with this ourselves?"

Histoire turned on her with a scowl that instantly made her regret her words.

"Are you saying we should just leave your brother and Nepgear in that mutant-infested hellhole?" the Oracle growled out dangerously.

Vert could not help but cower underneath the overwhelming presence of Histoire's wrath. While she was deathly afraid of Sync learning how to travel through dimensions from the older Neptune, she was even more afraid of what Histoire would do to her if she spoke out against their current rescue idea any further.

"N... N... No! Not at all!" Vert frantically said. "I was just... um... saying that we should come up with a back-up plan in case this one fails!"

Histoire did not seem convinced by this answer as she continued to tower over the terrified CPU (a remarkable feat for someone who was barely over a meter tall). Luckily for Vert, a loud metallic clang coming from Sync's end of the call suddenly interrupted them.

"Oh boy... Looks like she's at it again," Sync muttered as he grabbed his communicator and moved away from the terrifying, inhuman roar that sounded off nearby. "I hope your associate gets here soon because I don't think this city is going to last for much longer."

"Give me that Rivet Gun!" Nepgear's crazed voice yelled out from the distance. "I need it for my collection!"

Another enraged roar along with the sound of several collapsing structures followed shortly afterwards.

Histoire could not help but facepalm as the sound of utter chaos continued to play out from her screen. As for Vert, she used this perfect opportunity to slowly make her way towards the open door...

"Whew! Looks like we managed to make it out just in time!"

Thirty minutes after the chaotic interlude, Big Nep successfully managed to track down the dimension tripping duo and brought them back to the safety of the Nep sisters' room. Despite having just escaped a collapsing building with their lives barely intact, the three of them looked relatively upbeat. Big Neptune looked more excited than anything else while Sync just looked mildly amused at the whole misadventure. Both of their brightness paled in comparison to Nepgear though as she looked positively ecstatic about the huge pile of steampunk weaponry and gadgets that Big Neptune had managed to bring along with them.

"Heh heh heh... I'll make sure to keep you close forever and ever Mr. Rivet Gun," Nepgear lovingly whispered out as she caressed the steam-powered gun in her hand.

Deciding not to interrupt Nepgear's romantic little moment, Sync instead turned to face their savior.

"Thank you for rescuing us," he said, adding in a polite bow to accompany his words. "I have to say, you looked really awesome when you appeared to save us from that diving suit monster."

Big Neptune promptly ran over to hug him as if he was a stuffed animal. "Awww... he's adorable and sweet! Hey, Histy! Can I keep him?"

"Oh, great," Croire muttered irritably from within the Nep-Note. "Now she's turning into a shotacon as well."

Neptune was less than pleased about her counterpart's actions as well.

"No! Don't fall for his cute act!" Neptune yelled out as she tried to pull Sync away from her older self. "It's all a trick to get you to join his harem!"

"Oh, come on," Big Nep countered as she tightened her grip on the boy. "There's no way an adorable little teddy bear like him is ever going to be a big nasty harem lord. If anything, I'm going to add him to my collection!"

"Um... ladies?" Sync's muffled voice said from somewhere within Big Neptune's breasts. "As much as I don't mind being in this situation, could you please not put me inside that notebook? I'd rather not spend the rest of my life with an ill-tempered Histoire clone as my roommate."

"Hey!"

The playful shenanigans within the room were abruptly interrupted however when a fearsome voice suddenly spoke up.

"Ahem. Now that we're all safely back here, why don't we take some time to discuss what exactly happened today?"

Both Neptunes let go of Sync as they, along with everyone else, turned to face Histoire with fear in their eyes. If the tiny Oracle had a second form, then this was probably what it looked like as a fiery aura surrounded her entire body. Killing intent seemed to roll off of her in waves as she slowly looked over the group as if picking out who to unleash her fury upon.

Much to Nepgear's horror, Histoire's eyes eventually landed on her.

"Nepgear," the Oracle said in a falsely sweet voice. "I'm pretty sure we made an appointment for a lecture once you got back. Shall we get started now?"

Nepgear responded by taking cover behind her pile of steampunk gadgetry.

"Save me Neptunes! You're my only hope!"

Surprisingly, it wasn't the purple-haired duo who came in to rescue the poor tinkerer. It was hard to tell whether it was on purpose or not but Sync's stomach suddenly let out a growl loud enough to cause a small tremor.

"Whoops," he said with a sheepish grin. "I guess I forgot about my hunger in all the excitement."

The tense atmosphere was immediately broken by his nonchalant comment. Luckily, Histoire's anger seemed to wax a tiny bit as well as she let loose an enormous sigh and turned off her fiery aura.

"I suppose getting some food might not be such a bad idea right now," the Oracle muttered as she turned away from her victim. "Nepgear, as punishment, you are in charge of making dinner for all of us tonight. If I am satisfied with your meal, I might consider letting you off with a warning."

"Y... Y... Yes! Of course! I won't let you down!"

With that, Nepgear zoomed off towards the kitchen without delay. She did take a second to flash a grateful look towards Sync as she ran by him though. However, he did not seem to notice as his attention was fixed elsewhere.

"Huh? Where's sis?" he asked after seeing no sign of the blonde goddess.

"She ran off somewhere before you got back," Histoire growled out as she floated over to the door. "I swear, she's acting more immature than Neptune. When will she stop focusing on her delusional fantasies and face reality?"

Still grumbling to herself, Histoire exited the room as well. Sync, on the other hand, stayed where he was and gave a large sigh.

"Oh boy. Well... looks like I'll need to go big sis hunting again."

"You can do that later," Big Neptune interrupted cheerfully as she grabbed Sync's arm and began to lead him out of the room. "For now, let's go help Nepgear make dinner first. She'll need all the help she can get to match Histy's expectations and survive. Oh, and maybe we can convince her to make us some pudding while we're at it!"

"Pudding?! Count me in too!" Neptune shouted excitedly as she followed the exiting pair. "Besides, I need to keep tabs on our Gary-Stu anyways!"

Sync brightened up again as he faced the shorter girl with a laugh. "What? Were you afraid I was going to dress everyone up in maid outfits while you weren't looking?"

"Aha! So you admit it! Well too bad buster, I've got my eyes on you! You're not going to be dressing anybody up, not while Detective Neptune is on the case!"

A mischievous grin appeared on Sync's face for a brief second as he made a mental note to find a sexy cop outfit for Neptune in the future. Presently however, he had more important matters to attend to.

Turning his head to face the older Neptune, he spoke up in the most innocent voice he could muster.

"By the way... would you be willing to teach me the basic principles behind dimensional traveling?"

Big Neptune gave a large smile as she replied without hesitation. "Sure! But you'll have to call me Ms. Neptune while I'm teaching you, okay?"

"You got it, Ms. Neptune."

Sync could not help but smile as he could practically hear his sister letting out a horrified scream.