Disclaimer: I don't own Hyperdimension Neptunia, thank God for that because I doubt I would've made it as awesome as it is.
Summary: Despite some problems, Lucas was adamant about enjoying his weekend but everything changed when a girl named Neptune crash landed in his backyard with delusions of a place called Gamindustri only they weren't delusions. Now in another world, Lucas struggles to find his place among Neptune's party. Rated T for language and certain themes, will be M later.
Chapter 02: Welcome to Gamindustri
Lucas was pulled out of his thoughts by hearing Neptune crying out in the next room. "S-Slow down!" She called out sounding like she was being strangled. "Careful!"
"Just hold still," A new voice answered her with Lucas wondering just what was going on in the other room. "Almost done."
"I-I'm not going to last!"
Having enough, Lucas exited the room and followed the grunting to the door it was coming from and knocked. "What the heck is going on in there?!" He called out feeling a bit concerned.
"Lulu?!" Neptune shouted in surprise to hear his voice before she continued her voice being strained. "Quick, delete everything on my hard drive! Delete it before anyone looks!"
"If you don't hold still the bandages will become loose!" The second voice sounded pretty focused.
Bandages-oh thank God that was what was happening.
"Uh do you need any help?" He called in with the second voice answering him.
"Nah I'm almost done."
A little unsure Lucas shook his head and decided to wait for them to come out after hearing Neptune demand for some scissors.
He had no desire to walk in there.
Moments later the door opened as both Neptune and another girl entered the room.
This new girl had orange eyes and curly orange hair with a black hairband keeping the bangs out of her eyes wearing a wool sweater that had sleeves despite the fact that the shoulders were left relatively bare and a red skirt that reached halfway to her thighs with a satchel strapped to her waist.
The orange haired girl looked to be laughing sheepishly while Neptune had a strained expression on her face. "I guess I did wrap the bandages a little too tight."
"A little? I had more bandages than some sort of huge fighting mummy." Neptune muttered before seeing Lucas and she smiled. "Lulu, I knew you would join my party."
Lucas felt his eye twitch.
He really should've took his chance with the dog.
The new girl looked a little out of the loop by that but she shook that off. "Okay Lulu was it?" She asked tilting her head while Lucas wasn't going to let that continue.
"It's Lucas!"
"Oh sorry I'm Compa," The girl introduced herself, being a little flustered by how sharply Lucas said that, leaving him to feel a little bad. "Nice to meet you Luc-... Luci-... Luke-."
"Just call him Lulu, he's a tsundere about it." Neptune said seeing that Compa was having trouble with it like how she had trouble with her name.
Lucas wanted to glare, but he could see how having trouble saying his name seemed to be having a bad effect with Compa as she sounded less sure with each try.
'How is Lucas hard to say?' Lucas couldn't help but think while he gave a nod of reluctant acceptance with this Compa looking much better.
Perhaps she just had trouble with names? It wasn't that difficult to believe because some people back home were like that.
Wait, did Neptune just call him a tsundere?!
Before he could vocally ask that, Compa approached Lucas. "Okay I'm going to need to ask you to take your hoodie and shirt off," She said holding some bandages. "You didn't have many injuries on you, but I need to look over them again."
Not comfortable about being told to take his clothes off around a girl, let alone two, especially since he lacked any type of physique, Lucas took a small step back, red in the face. "Thanks but I'm fine." He tried only for Compa to shake her head looking determined.
"Sorry, Nurse's orders," She said brandishing the bandages with a quick snap. "It won't take long, promise."
A bit surprised to hear that this girl was a nurse, Lucas hesitated before he gave in and moments later he was trying not to cry out in pain with Compa wrapping a bandage around his chest, pulling a bit too tight at one point.
It felt like his ribs were going to crack.
"So while you're wrapping him up in bondages, where is here anyways?" Neptune asked curiously.
"You're in the central city of Planeptune and they're bandages." Compa explained a bit flustered by Neptune's term, her tongue sticking out a bit as she focused on the bandages making Lucas cry out. "Ooh maybe this is too tight."
"You think?" Lucas whispered in a strained tone, barely able to breathe before she loosened them a bit, allowing for him to take in a deep breath of air in relief.
Wait.
"Planeptune?" Lucas looked at Compa in confusion. "What's that?"
"You don't know what Planeptune is?" Compa asked in surprise while Neptune tilted her head.
"Same here even if it sounds familiar, in fact I can't remember anything except for my name."
"Wow you two must be suffering from Amnesia." Compa said snapping her fingers. "I've never seen a case like this in real life, let alone two, how original."
"Apparently Neptune is, I'm not from around here." Lucas deadpanned with Compa finally finishing up leaving for him to sigh in relief as she handed him his shirt and hoodie. "Thanks Compa."
"Your welcome." Compa said with a bright smile but that smile turned to a look of confusion as his words registered. "You're not from around here? Are you from one of the other landmasses then?"
"O-Other landmasses?" Lucas asked already having his shirt on, but pausing as he heard that question.
"As an amnesiac, I need you to explain everything to me in a manner that we'll understand." Neptune said with a smile while Lucas rolled his eyes.
He still wasn't so sure about her having amnesia with the way she was acting but he wasn't going to call her out on it if it meant getting information on this world.
"Well Planeptune is one of the major landmasses beneath Celestia!"
'Celestia?' Lucas filed that under his head while Neptune had a finger to her chin.
"Interesting." She mused wanting to know more about the other landmasses.
"Yup, there are a total of four major landmasses that float around, sometimes they come close to each other and float away."
"F-Float?" Lucas asked unable to believe that the city he saw outside of the window, the city they were apparently in was on a floating landmass.
Imagine the pain they would be if they missed the landmass.
"Hm you sure you're not suffering from Amnesia like Nep-Nep is Lulu?" Compa asked looking concerned. "You might've hit your head hard last night."
"I'm sure." Lucas said dryly.
"Speaking of which isn't there some sort of medication for that sort of thing?" Neptune intervened, hoping for a yes.
"Not for amnesia but it's usually a temporary thing," Compa had an apologetic look on her face at Neptune's disappointment. "I'm sure you'll recall things eventually. As Grandpa would say 'Fancy may kill or cure!' Get some sleep, take it easy and you'll be better in no time."
"That's… An interesting saying." Lucas looked unsure about that, turning to Neptune in the process. "Still didn't you say that someone held the key to your memories after you woke up from making that crater in my backyard?"
While Neptune thought about that, Compa felt her eyes widen. "C-Crater?" She asked now looking Neptune over again to make sure she didn't miss any injuries.
"Yeah she crash landed in my backyard and the next day I ended up falling through the sky with her to crash at wherever you got us from," Lucas explained, only for Neptune to cry out making him jump. "Don't do that!"
"The first time I crashed, I was sent a cry for help in my dream."
"In your dream?" Compa repeated, smiling a bit. "Then it's not real."
Lucas grimaced a bit. "I'm actually beginning to doubt that." He admitted given the fact that his whole reality was turned upside down with him ending up in another world by jumping into a random hole at the junkyard.
If that could happen, then perhaps Neptune wasn't so crazy after all?
"See? You're already getting development," Neptune gave a big grin at hearing that given how skeptical he was in the beginning. "Though you're kind of doing a 180 with your personality."
… She was still a bit exasperating though.
"But it was real, Histy was all like 'pa-choo' and sent me a telepathic message!"
'So she sneeze dialed you?' Lucas thought giving Neptune a bewildered look.
Taking all of what was being said in, Compa frowned and crossed her arms across her chest with a worried expression. "It's possible," She muttered gaining their attention. "Actually, many places, Planeptune included, are being threatened by more and more monsters lately."
Neptune gained a serious look while Lucas took a step back, his jaw dropping.
M-Monsters?!
He could remember him telling Neptune that there were no such things as monsters and now he had confirmation that they existed?!
What did he get himself into?
"The military powers failed to keep them from appearing, we can only defend ourselves and keep them at bay for now."
Oh great that made it worse, these monsters were apparently overpowering the damn military.
It was just like a-.
Just like that Lucas remembered Neptune asking what sort of JRPG this was and saying he might be a DLC character.
You have got to be kidding.
"Then… There must be a boss generating all these monsters somewhere!" Neptune declared, none of them noticing Lucas having an existential crisis. "I bet my mission is to defeat that boss and save the world!"
Lucas paused and turned to Neptune. "Let me see if I have this straight, the military are having trouble and you think you can find the so called boss of these monsters and win?" He asked in disbelief, giving a scoff. "You'll get killed."
Neptune actually gave a deadpanned look. "Don't you mean we? You are in my party."
Hearing that, Lucas paled at the idea of seeing these monsters and shook a bit with Compa still looking worried. "You may be right about a boss, but nobody has seen or heard anything like that and Lulu is right Nep-Nep it's too irrational, dangerous and highly impossible."
"Thank you!" Lucas voiced happy to see a voice of reason here.
Neptune raised her fists in determination. "Nobody is going to beat the boss if we just sit here," She told them not backing down. "We have to take initiative. That's me and Lulu!"
"Not happening!" Lucas cried out in fear but he was ignored when Neptune continued.
"Besides haven't you heard 'Strike while the iron is hot?'"
"Did you just ignore me?" Lucas frowned that his opinion in finding the boss of these monsters was ignored.
Compa paused at what Neptune said, a quizzical expression on her face before realization dawned. "I believe Grandpa did have a saying like that. Yes, that's right I wanted to be a nurse to save people."
"The sky is green with polka-dots and rainy puppies," Lucas said randomly to see if that would get their attention only to frown and cross his arms. "Guess my opinion doesn't matter no matter where I go."
"So why would I save the injured, but not the ones being threatened by monsters? How impolite," Lucas swore that he saw stars appear in Compa's eyes with her clenching her fists. "Nep-Nep, I'm not the strongest, but I'll help. Three is better than two!"
Head hanging low, Lucas sighed and kept his mouth shut.
"You will?" Neptune looked extremely happy at her 'party' getting bigger. "Don'tcha have school? You're not in the middle of summer vacation or anything, right?"
"Right, but…" Compa smiled a bit sheepishly, unsure of how to say this. "The city's population has been declining due to monster's eating them."
That did nothing to help Lucas who got even paler. "R-R-Really?"
"Students are leaving school out of fear, so it's closed down for now and classes are suspended until further notice."
"Oh, that sucks," Neptune said pretty much underselling it, but she strangely enough looked happy. "But that means you can camp-out right? Goodie, let's go find the dungeon where that boss is waiting!"
Ignoring the fact that Neptune was using video game terms with Lucas wanting to have some normalcy in this strange world, he finally intervened making sure they wouldn't ignore him this time as he got between the two.
"Hold it!" Lucas said a bit scared of how eager Neptune was to doing this. "I never directly asked this but… ARE YOU INSANE?!"
"Eh?" Neptune looked surprised by how loud Lucas just got with Compa jumping a bit, showing that he surprised her too.
"Both of us just fell from the sky, you fell twice in the span of a day and you want us to go to a random dungeon with a boss and monsters that will tear our faces off without anything to use as a weapon?" Lucas asked a bit quieter not wanting to go hoarse from yelling. "That's just asking to die, especially because we're still injured."
Compa gave a guilty expression. "That's right, as a Nurse I can't let you two go out there while you're injured, once you're both healed up we can go."
"But-!" Neptune started, looking like she was about to argue but then she sighed. "Alright."
'Wow she sounds so heartbroken.' Lucas couldn't help but think at hearing her tone.
That thought was quickly discarded when he heard a stomach growl as Neptune grinned, placing a hand on her stomach. "Is there anything to eat?"
Lucas gave her a deadpanned look while Compa smiled again. "I'll be sure to cook something up." She offered.
Hearing that made Lucas grimace before he stood up. "Anything I can do to help?" He offered feeling a tad bit uncomfortable about this whole ordeal.
They were guests in Compa's house, he didn't feel right about letting her do the cooking after she helped treat their injuries.
Compa shook her head at that. "Nope, you and Nep-Nep are guests Lulu." She said making his shoulders slump at the nickname sticking. "It would be impolite to have guests do the work."
Isn't it impolite to have someone do the cooking to two complete strangers too?
Neptune didn't seem to mind as she was humming, while imagining what type of food there would be while Compa left.
While she did that, Lucas looked around the hallway a bit, before a thought came to mind.
Where are Compa's parents?
Considering she was a teenager her parents should be around unless they were at work. Same with Neptune, even if she doesn't remember them they would have to be looking for her.
Or they could be emancipated now that he thinks about it.
"Hey Lulu!" Neptune's voice pulled Lucas out of his thoughts as she gave him a grin.
That set off a few warning bells in his head from the short time he's known her. "Yes?" He asked cautiously.
Neptune didn't answer immediately as she hummed in thought, still having a grin on her face. "If you could say one word for today, what would it be?"
"... What?" Lucas asked a bit thrown off by the completely random question while Neptune tilted her head, crossing her arms.
"Seriously? That's so boring." She said a bit childishly. "You could've said something more interesting."
"What are you talking about?" Lucas asked again, trying to comprehend what she was doing.
"No you have to say one word, not five." Neptune grinned at his very confused expression.
Truth be told she was messing with him and she found asking random questions a great way to do so. Plus throwing people off actually makes them give genuine answers out of sheer confusion.
So in a way, she was getting to know him through this.
Lucas on the other hand was shocked that Neptune was actually making him miss Henry.
At least with him he knew what to expect.
That night Lucas was poking at the Honey Roasted Pork with rice and honey glazed bell peppers that Compa whipped up after a few hours while the two girls were talking animatedly, easily getting along.
Listening in, Lucas came to a conclusion on how the two acted.
Neptune was crazy, childish, random and rude to an extent. Compa on the other hand was kind of ditzy.
Lucas wasn't trying to be mean about Compa because she seemed nice and she had to be smart if she was a nurse, but the way she acted gave that impression.
He gave a low sigh, not sure what to think.
"Hm? Is something wrong Lulu?" Compa seemed to have heard the sigh and broke off talking with Neptune to look at him. "You don't like pork?"
"No it's great," Lucas said quickly, not wanting to offend the girl because the food was really good. "I'm just tired."
Truth be told he was worried about his Dad's reaction to him missing, especially with him disappearing without a trace unless you count the crater in the backyard. He wished there was a way to let him know that he was alright.
But he didn't want to bring it up because he felt it was none of their business.
While Compa was looking at Lucas when she asked him what was wrong, Neptune silently pulled the vegetables out of her meal and placed them on Compa's plate, showing a dislike of them.
"That makes sense, you're still recovering," Compa said buying the lie easily enough with a smile. "Just take it easy. You and Nep-Nep will be healed up in no time."
"I still say that I feel fine." Neptune interjected bringing the attention back to her.
"Well excuse me for not being as durable as you." Lucas shot back sharply while Neptune quirked a brow.
"Didn't you fall out of the sky too?" She reminded him while Lucas frowned.
Yes he did… How did he survive that?
How did Neptune survive that twice?
People don't just survive falls like that. Heck, they didn't even have any broken bones, which Lucas knows for a fact happens when people fall from a shorter height than the one he and Neptune did.
Great, now that will be bothering him for a bit.
Deciding to shelve that for a later time, Lucas changed the conversation. "What's Planeptune like Compa?"
Best to get as much information about the Landmass he was currently on.
Compa perked up a bit. "Planeptune is one of the four Landmasses out there next to Leanbox, Lowee and Lastation," She began with Lucas blinking at how it was the only Landmass that didn't start with an L. "It's also one of the most advanced compared to the others."
"Really?" Lucas asked finding that rather interesting as the city outside did look rather futuristic.
None of them noticed the look of pride Neptune gained that quickly disappeared into confusion, wondering where the pride came from.
"Yessy." Compa gave a nod with Lucas blinking at the weird way of saying yes. "To the Northwest is Haneda City and to the west is Erethisan City. Though, we're also the Nation that suffers the most from Monster attacks."
That caught Lucas's attention while Neptune perked up. "Really?" She asked with some childish excitement at fighting one of the monsters. "That means we can gain some easy exp!"
Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Lucas continued. "Why does Planeptune suffer the most?"
"No one knows." Compa answered with a simple shrug. "It's probably because the CPU hasn't been around lately."
"CPU?"
"Lulu are you sure you don't have amnesia?" Compa asked as while it was said that Lucas wasn't from around here, she didn't see how he didn't know about these things.
How does anyone not know about the CPU's?!
"Even if he doesn't, I want to know." Neptune said using the amnesia card for herself.
Compa hummed, eating in the process not noticing the increased number of vegetables in her plate much to Neptune's delight. "The CPU is one of the four Goddesses that watch over the world, they reside in Celestia." She began with Lucas tensing up at the word Goddess. "There are four of them for each Landmass and Purple Heart watches over Planeptune. No one's seen her in years though."
'Goddesses. Monsters. Different Landmasses.' Lucas cupped his chin in thought, taking all of that in.
'Purple Heart?' Neptune grimaced as her head began to hurt despite the starry look she got at the thought of Goddesses, blurred images going through her head before they were gone. 'That's familiar.'
"And with the Monsters getting stronger and stronger, people are saying it's because the Goddesses powers are weakening, each discussion take place on the Basilicom's blog.
Lucas sat back, digesting everything he heard, idly taking another bite of dinner.
Their chances are not looking good if Neptune does go ahead and try to search for whatever's leading these monsters.
Neptune groaned in slight annoyance as she put her utensil down with a now clean plate. "Come on, can't we skip this useless filler and just go to the dungeon?" She asked in a bit of a whining tone wanting to get to the good stuff of this journey.
Her whining tone was from her annoyance at not being able to remember anything from the blurred images and she wanted to get some answers instead of just sitting there.
"Useless filler?" Lucas asked in disbelief. "You don't think finding out more about this place is important?!"
"Nope." Neptune didn't look one bit sorry for that.
'I don't have to go with her,' Lucas frowned at her. 'I don't even want to be here.'
He wasn't even thinking when he jumped through the portal to escape the guard dog of the junkyard. If he was thinking he would've just ran off to leave and go home.
Although to be fair, he was the one to make the conscious decision to jump through the portal, so that was on him. But this wasn't his world and he wasn't in no damn party.
Besides all Neptune has done since he met her, was insult him.
Lucas clenched his hands, curling them up into fists while Neptune began to continue her conversation with Compa, now asking if this Basilicom baked cookies for some odd reason.
'You're funny looking.'
'Hm… Awkward, funny looks, a bit pale. You have no social life, which means you don't have any friends right?'
'Just call him Lulu, he's a tsundere about it.'
Then she wouldn't take no for an answer when she said she wanted him in her party.
Still if she wants to try and save the world then good luck because she'll need it. He was going to be on the first portal back to his home.
After all, to quote Neptune, if he got here there was a way back.
'But what if they die?'
That question popped into his head with Lucas tensing.
'It's not my problem.'
He repeated that in his head like a mantra, yet for some reason he couldn't convince himself that?
No, what good would he be? He's never been in a fight before and he could barely stand up to someone like Henry.
All he would be is a quick and easy snack for a monster.
Useless in a fight.
That night, Lucas was back laying in the bed that Compa gave him, staring up at the ceiling, lost in thought.
Neither Neptune or Compa noticed how despondent that Lucas was being after dinner, or if they did they didn't question it and he was fine with that.
'Okay they plan to go to this so called Dungeon to look for the boss of these Monsters, I just have to decline and say I'm not going.' Lucas planned, closing his eyes. 'Though I guess I could explore the city while I'm here.'
He had no idea where to find the way back home, so he might as well see the sights while looking.
With that plan in mind, Lucas yawned and closed his eyes to get some sleep, feeling like he would need it.
To Be Continued…
I bet you weren't expecting another chapter this soon right? Unlike my other stories I plan to have the chapters of this one be 4000-6000 words long in an effort to try and keep the updates coming. No promises though because I'll have to try and work on some of my other stories.
Anyways I tried to have some lore in Gamindustri be explained in this chapter, combining elements from the Re;Birth games and the originals. Plus I want to try and make Gamindustri come to life even more than the games have.
It would've been cool to explore the actual cities, perhaps someday they might do something like that if they ever try to make another game.
… Though I think I made Compa a bit OOC with her explaining Gamindustri, I'll try to keep her in character in the future.
Now Lucas is showing more annoyance and anger in this chapter because let's be real, no matter how awesome Neptune is as a character she would be exasperating to deal with in real life. I know for me it would take time to actually get used to her. Plus she does have a habit of insulting people without trying.
And no matter how you look at it, a person, let alone a thirteen year old teenager, from the real world would definitely be dead set against going after monsters, especially if they've never thrown a punch before in their life.
So Lucas doesn't plan to be a part of Nep's party but what he doesn't realize is that it's far too late to back out now.
LightDusk16: Haha thanks, it's always great reading different Neptunia fics, I'm glad you find it interesting so far. And I get what you mean about this story being non-harem but that's basically the basis of almost every Neptunia fic out there, which makes sense considering practically every main character are girls in this game. I wanted to do something a little different.
Rmarcano321: Thanks and Happy October to you too.
Taiman215: Thanks, hopefully I can keep it interesting.
Jeitron 2. 5: Thank you, I'm happy with Lucas's character so far, and yes, he will be the straight man of the Neptunia series which will make his interactions with everyone hilarious. Poor Lucas has no idea what's in store for him.
Omar Zerarka: I'll try to finish this fanfic, but I can't exactly promise because I have a life outside of this, especially with work and all that. But I've been having a lot of fun typing this.