Hyperdimension Neptunia is owned by Compile Heart, Idea Factory, Sega and whomever else worked on it.
Chapter 24
"BRACE FOR IMPACT!" Linda yelled over the speakers and a few moments later the ship came to a rough stop, sending everyone flying forward in the direction that the ship had been moving.
"Oooph!" IF winced and groaned as her back hit the wall and something hit her in the front. Opening her eyes, she blushed softly as she saw Compa mere inches from her face. "Ah heh heh..."
"Chuuu..."
IF blinked and looked down with a shocked expression to see Warechu with a pleased expression on his face as was mashed between hers and Compa's boobs. "What the hell?!"
"Heh heh heh..." Warechu grinned at IF. "Not as big as Compa's, but still pleasant."
IF twitched in annoyance. "Get off of my boobs."
"Sorry, Iffy." Compa pushed herself back and Warechu got out of the boob sandwich and away from IF before she hit him. "That was my fault."
"Not like any of us could have prepared for that sudden stop that quickly." IF grumbled as she got up and looked at the area down below. "Are you all okay down there?!"
Neptune, who was buried under Rom, Ram, Peashy and Gust, the last one was sitting on her face, raised a thumb up at her. "MMMPHMMPH!"
"Oh, so this is what it's like when Gust lands on someone else's face for once." Gust commented as she got off of Neptune.
"Urgh," Filyn, who had jumped to the floor when the Linda had yelled out, slowly pushed herself up. "What happened?"
"We crashed," IF commented as everyone got up. "Come on, let's go see what's going on." Before anyone could say or do anything, Linda and Chrome came out of the cockpit and to the main areas. "Or we could wait."
"Okay, so, good news! We're not being blasted by the storm anymore." Linda said before sighing. "Bad news, I need to repair the engines and I'll need help. Rat! Bunny! You two are with me."
"Of course," Warechu sighed, knowing he could get into places that others couldn't.
"Gust is only good for this anyway," the bunny girl shrugged, knowing it was going to happen.
"And worse news, we missed the ocean," Chrome told them, "and landed in a swamp."
"HUH?!" The CPU Candidates all yelled and Neptune's eyes suddenly started to sparkle for some reason.
"Oh! I bet we landed in Dagobah!" Neptune grinned at that. "Quick! Find the ghosts of ancient Force Masters and a muppet that talks like "find the truth we must" or something!" She sighed at the looks of confusion everyone gave her. "You need to watch more movies."
Chrome sighed softly and shook her head. "Not Dagobah or whatever, but we landed in a swamp."
"Oh?" Neptune suddenly turned and ran for the door, opening it up and looking outside and seeing that, yes, they were in a swamp and yes, they were sunk into the bog. "Well, this stinks. Someone call Triple G!"
"Triple G?" Peashy asked. "What's that, Neptuna?"
"Goddess Guidance Gunning." Neptune answered her. "It's a tow service that pulls airships and cars out of spots when they get stuck." She giggled and rubbed the back of her head when Peashy gave her a confused look. "I, uh... Crashed a bumper car into a tree when I tried to drive once."
"...HOW?!" Chrome, IF and Linda all asked at the same time.
"Very carefully?" Neptune giggled, remembering that incident. "I took my daughters to the fair and was playing bumper car with my friend Plutie and my little sister while they watched and I ended up crashed in the tree." Neptune pouted at the looks they were giving her. "I dunno how it happened, just suddenly I went out of control, hit Plutie's bumper car and went flying into a tree."
"...You have kids?" Gust asked and tilted her head. "Gust would have not guessed."
Neptune patted her stomach and smiled at her. "That's right, I popped out three girls at the same time. It sure wasn't easy."
"I bet not." Chrome muttered, "though she is right, I never would have expected you to have given birth."
"Oh, that's because my three girls were orphans and I raised them." Neptune laughed as Gust, Chrome, IF and Linda all face-faulted. "Anyway, I think..." Neptune turned around to look out at the murk. "There's some rocks that lead to what looks like some solid ground."
"I'd rather Neptune and I be the only ones who go." Chrome said, "however, I feel like all of you," she looked at the CPU Candidates as she spoke, "will only get in the way if you stay here."
"I'm not going into that," IF shook her head, "if my skin breaks, I'll get infected badly."
"I'll stay here too." Compa waved, "good luck everyone."
(-)
The group had taken nearly twenty minutes, with Rom, Ram, Peashy and Filyn each taking a tumble into the swamp, before they got to the solid pathway. Thankfully the murk wasn't that deep, but it was hard to get out of without help and all four of the young girls were covered in mud from the waist down.
"And this is why I wanted to come with just Neptune." Chrome said as she looked down the pathway. '...It's so different.' Chrome couldn't believe that her nation had become so desolate and bleak. The gray skies, the swamp, murk, dead trees, the feeling and smell of death all around them. It was too much.
Phantom images of beautiful buildings, paved streets, trees, forests and people walking down the path filled her mind as they superimposed themselves over the desolate and bleak scenery. '...My people...' She felt her legs give out as she fell to her knees and hung her head. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have run..."
"Chromey?" Filyn asked, worry in her face and voice as she saw her sister looking like that. "What's wrong?"
"Yeah, I'm concerned too." Neptune asked as she stepped forward and put a hand on Chrome's shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"I..." Chrome shuddered and looked up as she saw children running and playing, throwing balls at each other while some walked down the street on a hand-held. "...I can't believe this place would look so bad."
"Huh?" Filyn looked around and saw dead trees, spikes sticking out of the mud and buildings that looked decayed and rotted in the distance. "Chromey, where are we?"
"...Eden," Chrome said as she stood up, "my home." She had a miserable look on her face as she looked down the path and saw a tall, large building in the distance with rounded tops. "...I have to know." She started walking followed by everyone else.
"So..." Neptune said as she put her hands behind her head. "This is Eden?"
"It was a paradise at one point," Chrome answered her as she ignored the frogs and in the distance croaking and slapped a random mosquito that tried to bite her. "Full of life, full of energy, plenty of monsters, people living happily and it was a good time. There were plenty of random storms though." She sighed as she pushed a tree branch out of the way and it snapped as the rotted wood gave way. "But then, everything changed..."
"When the Fire Nation attacked?" Neptune interrupted, wincing at Chrome's look. "Sorry, sorry, I'll be quiet now."
Chrome said nothing and continued to walk on.
"Big sister Neptune..." Rom began, "that was a bad joke."
"...Yeah," Neptune sighed and slumped, "I screwed up." Rom nodded and the group ran to catch up to Chrome.
Above them several dark birds let out caws and flew off.
(-)
It was an hour later as the group entered a circle that was surrounded by worn down buildings that were missing glass, doors and parts of the walls when they finally came to a stop.
"Hey, Chrome..." Neptune began as she tried to ignore the creepy factor of the place. The area they were in almost felt like a prairie town that had sprung up around a railroad but basically closed down when the railroad didn't materialize in that particular spot. "I wanted to say, um, sorry." Chrome gave her a confused look. "About that bad joke."
Chrome let out a sigh and shook her head. "No, don't worry about it. It just reminded me that I have to get going is all."
"Um," Ram looked around nervously, jumping when she heard something in one of the buildings fall to the ground with a loud and hollow crash. "This place is scary..."
"It used to be a place of business." Chrome said softly and pointed to what looked like a domed barn; the broken and exposed metal edges of the metal panels long since stained with rust from the many rains since. "That was a movie theater." She pointed to a place that had smashed in window and broken front wall. "That was an out-door ice-cream parlor." She pointed at another building down the broken street that was barely standing. "That was a school."
"Was there an outdoor pool?" Neptune asked, getting the feel that this place was more of a small town that had lots of good memories for lots of people but had stopped growing in size and opportunities for younger people dried up as a result and they moved, causing the town to eventually stagnate and decline.
Chrome smirked. "Yeah," she pointed off in the distance. "Large enough that over ten thousand people could use it comfortably and still have room for others." She sighed and closed her eyes, the sound of laughter from children and the dull roar of a large crowd filled her ears and when she opened them up she could see buildings that were in pristine condition, people going about their day. She could even see teenagers sneaking into dark alleyways to do lewd things with each other.
Shaking her head, she sighed when the images slowly disappeared, again replaced with a bleak look. "Dammit."
"Um, Chromey?" Filyn began, "are you okay?"
Chrome sighed and shook her head. "No... No I'm not." She looked up at the largest building, one that was mostly still intact, other than the broken clock at the top and the darkened colors and bit her thumb. "...Are you still..." She stopped as a noise filled the air. "What is that?"
"What's what?" Rom asked and looked around in confusion. "Wait, I hear something too."
"It sounds like someone giggling." Filyn pointed out.
"If I had to guess how this will work, the person who's giggling will be walking down from the big building right about..." Neptune looked at an invisible watch on her wrist and looked up. "Now."
A few moments later, a short girl with red eyes, long, light purple hair that was braided to the side and over her left shoulder, walked towards the group, giggling the whole time. She was wearing slip-on shoes, leggings that went up under a long-sleeved light purple dress with white and blue trim. In the center of her skirt was a capital "P" with the bottom looking like an "L", as if someone had combined the two English letters together in one letter.
Neptune stared, her pupils shrinking and her breathing became shallow. "It... It can't be..." She knew who it was, but her mind, her body, her very heart were trying to rebel against it. 'Why? Why are you here?' She thought to herself as her eyes teared up.
The girl stopped a few feet away from them and smiled happily at them. "Hello." She said, her words slightly dragged out. "It's been sooooo long since I had guests of any sort."
"Plutie..." Neptune whispered, trembling as a rush of fear entered her.
She could tell, after dealing with Vert and Blanc...
That Plutia was the Void of Eden.
To be continued...
RED ALERT! RED ALERT! RUN! RUN!