Hyperdimension Neptunia is owned by Compile Heart, Idea Factory, Sega and whomever else worked on it.
Hoo boy, that cliffhanger had a lot of people upset, huh?
The last chapter's name was "Hatred" because I expected a bunch to go my way.
Anyway, have a special Turkey Day update. I'm off till Monday.
Chapter 52
It took Kei everything she had to not break out in cheers or applause as she watched Uni kill Noire. 'As soon as I finish repairing the Fearicite, I'll release Uni from her brainwashing just long enough so she can watch a video of her executing her sister.' It would be glorious and Kei knew that Uni would need a collar on her to control her afterword, but it would be worth it in the end. "Excellent, now... Wait," Kei's pupils shrank as she looked at where Noire was.
Or rather, wasn't at. "What the hell?"
"My apologies, Lady Noire." A male voice spoke up and Kei, Gernia G. and the CPU Candidates turned to see Steamax holding Noire in a seating position in his left arm with Chrome over both of his shoulders in a fireman's carry, Linda under his right arm, Neptune was laying across Steamax's head while Gust found herself hanging off his arm and Warechu's cage was being held up by Steamax's right foot.
No one could react, the sight was rather hilarious.
"St...Steamax?" Noire asked as the robot put her and everyone else down.
"Yes." He nodded to her. "I apologize for allowing myself to be defeated and used against you. Although, this time, I did not grab either of your boobs or your butt."
Noire blushed as she heard that. "Idiot, you didn't need to say that part out loud." She muttered, though she was thankful that he remembered what she had told him about rescuing people.
"That's nice, but I'm still naked!" Neptune cried out before squawking as something was thrown in her face. "My hoodie!"
"Yeah, found it in the lockers." Linda muttered as she, Gust and Warechu gave Neptune a little privacy to get her outfit on while standing in front of her so that people wouldn't gawk at her.
"Thanks." Neptune smiled after getting dressed.
"HOW?!" Kei snarled at Steamax. "HOW THE HELL DID YOU BETRAY ME?!"
"I betrayed no one!" Steamax countered while throwing his arm to the side as his eyes glowed and narrowed at Kei. "You may have rebuilt me and reprogrammed me to follow along with your directives, but I had anticipated that I would be rebuilt when your giant robot injured me and made sure to double and triple backup my precious memories of Lady Noire and Lady Uni."
"Steamax..." Noire stared at the robot. "Why? I never programmed you to be loyal to me."
"It's not about programming, Lady Noire." Steamax told her. "I decided, on my own, as I watched how you could not be with your sister and as I listened to how you refused to trust anyone, that even if you could trust no one, then at least you could trust me."
Noire blushed as she listened to that. It felt... Really nice to have someone who she could trust. "...Thank you."
Chrome ignored them as she used her razor wire to cut open the cage that Warechu was in. "So, as heartwarming as this all is, we have a problem..." She gestured to the CPU Candidates. "I have no way of fighting them without seriously hurting them."
"And I'd ask that you don't hurt my sister either." Noire said as she pulled out her rapier and used it on the collar around her neck to cut it off. Turning to Neptune, she walked over and repeated the action there. "Can you transform?"
Neptune nodded but shivered. "Not a good idea." Noire gave her a confused look and Neptune's eye throbbed. "They shoved a chunk of Fearicite into my Share Crystal."
"WHAT?!" Chrome, Linda, Gust and Warechu all yelled at the same time.
Neptune's lips trembled. "I'm sorry, but I can't... It's turning me into a Void and I can't..."
"Oh for fuck's sake!" Kei yelled and looked at the Candidates. "You want to prove yourselves useful to me! END THEIR LIVES!"
"Yes, Mistress Kei!" They said and turned to Neptune and the others. While Peashy, Rom, Ram and Filyn ran forward, Uni stood her ground and fired a blue laser beam at the group, who all dodged out of the way as the blast hit the Basilicom behind them, damaging it.
"Lady Noire, I will..." Steamax paused as several Progbots suddenly took off into the air. "I will deal with those things!" He yelled back while the crowd quickly started to stampede away from the impending fight.
Noire nodded at him and grabbed Neptune. "Come with me!" She yelled and pulled Neptune around the corner of the Basilicom as Uni took another shot at them, missing them but clipping the building. "Listen, this is going to sound weird, but I need you to let me..."
"Can you deal with the Fearicite?" Neptune asked, a serious look on her face and Noire nodded. "Then do what you need to do."
Noire nodded and put her hand on Neptune's chest and closed her eyes. When Noire's hand sank into Neptune's chest, the shorter CPU stared with her mis-matched eyes in shock. "I've never been fisted before, but I thought you shoved your hand into my vagina, not my chest."
Noire gave her a dirty look while Neptune giggled. "I'm not shoving my fist into you, I'm reaching out to my Fearicite crystal." She looked at her hand and smirked. "Though I do admit it does look like I'm fisting you."
Both of them had disturbed looks on their faces.
"...Noire, do you... Watch that stuff?" Neptune asked.
"Once out of morbid curiosity." Noire admitted as she found what she was looking for and slowly pulled it and Neptune's Share Crystal out of Neptune's body. "Don't ask me how anyone finds that erotic."
"I don't know either." Neptune muttered as she watched Noire grab her Share Crystal with her right hand and she grabbed at the sliver of Fearicite that was embedded into it with her left hand and slowly pulled it out. "...My Share Crystal..." She whimpered softly as she saw how dim and dark it was.
"I take it this is supposed to be a brighter color?" Noire asked as she pulled the shard of Fearicite out of Neptune's Share Crystal as an explosion happened near them. "Here." She gave the Share Crystal back to Neptune, who sighed as she absorbed it back into herself.
"How did you do that anyway?" Neptune asked and Noire smirked at her.
"About twenty-five years ago, some idiot did the same thing to me and tried to use the power for herself and ended up using some sort of weird technology to fuse herself with my Fearicite Crystal." Neptune nodded as Noire continued the story. "Some blue-haired moron. She used it to gain a CPU-like form and I figured out how she did it to me so I returned the favor and pulled my Fearicite Crystal out of her body back then."
"...Did she have big boobs and horns on her head?" Neptune asked and Noire nodded. "Huh, so Rei was here too."
"That was her name?" Noire asked, confused. "Bah, I don't know, I killed her right after I got my powers back. And, besides, how do you think I ripped that excess Fearicite energy out of you the last time?" Neptune jerked in surprise. "Yeah, I shoved my fist into your chest then too."
"Um, thank you." Neptune looked at Noire nervously. "That's twice now you helped me." She could still feel the Fearicite corruption in her body, but it wasn't as pronounced as it was before.
"Whatever." Noire said as she looked back at the fight and grimaced as she saw that the CPU Candidates were gaining ground on the humans and that other CPU. "This is a lovely," she ducked back as a beam shot through where her head was a moment ago. "How do you deal with this?"
"Um..." Neptune spoke up and looked at Noire. "I don't know if you want to hear this, but the only way to beat brainwashing is to give the person who's been a brainwashed a big spanking." Noire gave her a confused look and Neptune giggled softly. "It worked on Rom, Ram, P-Ko and me when we were all brainwashed in the past." While she hadn't been there for Rom and Ram's brainwashing, being bound up in the graveyard at that time, she did hear about it from Nepgear after the fact.
"...A spanking?" Noire gave Neptune a flat stare. "Am I supposed to bent Uni over my lap, bare her butt for everyone to ogle and paddle her rear end in front of everyone or something?"
"...Hot, but no." Neptune blushed at that thought and giggled. "Nah, we just need to beat them until they can't fight back and then when they're at their weakest, we break through the brainwashing."
Noire sighed softly and looked at the Fearicite crystal in her hand. "There's barely enough power in this..." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "It'll have to do."
"Can I ask you something?" Neptune asked Noire, who gave her a confused expression. "Why did you trust me with Uni right away?"
Noire sighed heavily. "Would you believe it's because you're not human? Also, I told you that I would be back after dealing with the trash."
"You made it sound like you were planning on dying." Neptune pointed out and giggled as Noire gave her a glowering look. "Sorry, sorry, but that's what it sounded like.
"Tch, whatever." Noire had an annoyed expression on her face. "Are we done asking questions now?"
"Yeah," Neptune nodded at her. "Then let's go."
"Right."
Black and White lights engulfed the two of them.
(-)
Chrome grimaced as she used her razor wires to pull loose debris and objects towards her and to block attacks from Filyn. "Come on! Filyn! Don't you recognize me?!"
"You're my enemy." Filyn intoned as she stabbed at Chrome with her spear. "That's all I need to know."
Chrome twisted away from Filyn's attack. "This isn't right. Filyn! Come on! Don't you recognize your elder sister?"
Filyn gave her a dull look. "You are not my elder sister. I am one of Lastation's CPU Candidates."
"You don't even look like the others!" Chrome protested as she grabbed Filyn's spear and lifted it and her sister up before jerking it in one direction hard enough to get Filyn to let go of the spear. "Snap out of it!"
Filyn snapped her fingers and another spear formed in her hands. "Mistress Kei will reward me for ending you."
Chrome had a truly sad look on her face and she sighed while moving the spear in her hands into a different position so that the pointed end was facing Filyn. "Why? Why do I need to fight my little sister?"
Filyn said nothing as she rushed at Chrome, the two clashing their spears against each other.
It didn't take long for Chrome to realize that Filyn was not only reacting more fluidly than she had ever reacted before, but she was able to accurately and quickly judge distances and even graze her a couple of times. "How are you so accurate?"
Filyn didn't answer but Chrome swore she saw a glow come from Filyn's eye patch.
"Forgive me." Chrome said as she twisted out of the way of an attack from Filyn and reached out, grabbing Filyn's eye patch and pulling on it to remove it. Stepping back, Chrome's eyes widened as she saw Filyn's eye. "You... You have an eye now?"
"Yoohoo!" A screen popped up to the side. "Filyn, be a dear and hold off on attacking for a moment." A flamboyant voice popped up on a screen that was otherwise dark. Filyn, did just as asked and relaxed her stance. "Sorry that this is only audio, but seeing that poor girl's badly damaged eye made me feel so sorry for her that I had to give her an artificial cybernetic eye. It was pretty tricky, considering that I have to fill the hole up, keep her body from rejecting the cybernetic implant, connect nerves and make sure that the cybernetic eye is working properly before doing some superficial work so that her eye looks normal. It's not perfect, but she can see out of it at least."
"I... See..." Chrome said as she looked at Filyn. "I'm not sure if I should thank you or hate you, because it seems like you're in charge of her."
"Well, I do admit that I was the one who gave her little brain a good scrubbing." The voice told Chrome.
"I see..." Chrome mused as she narrowed her eyes in anger. "So when I get past Filyn, I'll hunt you down and beat you to death then."
"YEEP! Filyn! Protect me!"
"Yes, Master Anonydeath." Filyn intoned and jumped back at Chrome, who parried her attack.
"Anonydeath, huh?" Chrome mused. "I think Neptune mentioned you before. Something about a pervert."
"Why I NEVER!" Anonnydeath huffed over the audio equipment. "My pure maiden heart is not a pervert! Even if I do like to take secret pictures of Little Noire when she's taking a shower. She's so cute, but so cold!"
"No wonder Black Void doesn't like humans." Chrome muttered to herself as she blocked another stab at her body with the spear in her hands. "Dammit, Filyn! Come back to yourself!"
Filyn didn't reply as she continued to fight.
(-)
Near the bottom of the steps to the Basilicom, Linda, Gust and Warechu faced off against Rom, Ram and Peashy. "So..." Linda held her pipe in front of her. "What do we do here?"
"Try not to die seems good." Gust pointed out as she jumped away from a lightning attack from Ram. "Maybe spread out so we're not an easy target?"
"Sounds good!" Linda yelled as she ran to the right while Warechu ran to the left and Gust ran away from the three.
"Crap!" Linda yelled as Peashy jumped in front of her. "Um, are you still mad at me for not letting you smash up more of those bots at the police station?"
Peashy gave Linda a blank look before running at the green-haired girl, who quickly turned and ran to avoid her. "Pea will smash the bad girl!"
"But I'm not a bad girl!" Linda shot back before stopping and jumping up and over Peashy, who stumbled and fell on her face before sliding forward as Linda landed on the ground behind the CPU Candidate. "You should be careful, you don't want your Neptuna to worry about you."
Peashy got to her hands and knees and shook her head. "Who's that?" Peashy gave Linda a confused look. "Who's Neptuna?"
Linda had a look of utter disbelief and shock on her face. "...She's someone you love more than anyone else. She treats you like a daughter."
"Pea has no mother." Peashy declared and held up her hands in a boxing motion. "Pea will make you pay for lying to her."
"What happened to you?" Linda asked softly, glad that Neptune wasn't hearing this, since such words would utterly devastate her. "It doesn't matter, does it?" Linda shook off her hesitation and gave Peashy a determined look. "For the one who gave us all such hope, I'll find a way to break through what happened to you, Peashy."
(-)
"I don't suppose we can talk this out, Chu?" Warechu asked Ram, who had flames surrounding her while her hair fluttered in the wind and her eyes glowed softly. "Didn't think so."
He really didn't want to fight this girl. Not only was she cute, but he had come to like her as a person. She was a scared, timid girl who woke up some nights crying and needing Neptune to help her relax and calm down. She was a girl who had been abused and mistreated by someone she had trusted. She was a girl who was finally getting a nice life. "Dang it." Warechu sighed and wondered what he could do. Ducking under a gout of flame, he took to the sky with his wings and hoped that she couldn't fly.
When Ram merely smirked and snapped her fingers, causing the air around him to erupt, which sent him crashing to the ground, he got his answer. "Chuuu..." Warechu struggled to get up and when a shadow came over him, he looked up to see Ram standing above him. "...Please be nice?"
Ram's only answer was to lift her foot up and stomp her foot down towards his head.
(-)
As she ran, Gust ducked under a lightning blast and jumped up as the ground started to freeze over. "Please be nice, Rom!" Her only answer was several lightning bolts that nipped at her feet, forcing her to jump and bounce to avoid them.
"Be nice? You are causing problems in Lastation and need to be removed." Rom told her, the CPU Candidate's voice was eerily calm as ice formed around her. "The enemies of Lastation must be purged."
Gust gave her a sad look. "You've forgotten Gust? Even when Gust gave you a healing potion back in Lowee when White Void almost killed you?"
Rom tilted her head. "What are you talking..." Her pupils shrank as her mind flashed for a moment.
*Flash*
"Here. Is healing potion, might help her."
"Please... Save my sister."
"Gust thinks this is a bad idea."
*End Flash*
"What the?" Rom trembled as it felt like she was fading in and out of consciousness for some reason. "What's going on?"
Gust smiled at Rom. "Please! Remember! Remember your big sister Neptune!"
"Big... Sis..." Rom suddenly gripped her head with both hands while she shook her head from side to side and cried out in pain. "NNNNGH! It hurts!" Suddenly a storm of lightning and ice formed around her and Gust was forced to jump away while Rom screamed from mental pain.
As she floated down, the blue-haired bunny girl nodded. "Very well, Rom! Gust will help you!" Reaching into her inventory, Gust grabbed two random objects and started to merge them together. "Gust hopes her alchemy skills haven't gone bad yet."
The last thing she wanted to do was kill Rom by accident after all.
(-)
Uni walked slowly towards where Black Void and the purple-haired CPU had disappeared to. 'Well, more like purple with black and red stripes.' Uni thought to herself. Her energy rifle was held in front of her and every time she thought she saw a hint of red from Black Void's hair, she took a shot.
Uni could have rushed forward, but she wanted to make sure that she wasn't walking into some sort of trap. "Hmm..." She turned slightly and started to circle the corner, keeping herself far enough away that if one of those CPUs took a shot at her, she'd be able to dodge, hopefully.
When she saw a familiar transformation light, though one was white and she wasn't sure why, she jumped back and looked up as two streaks flew into the air and took a shot, missing both. "Dammit!" Turning around, she watched as both Black Void and Purple Heart landed near her. "So, you somehow could transform again?" Idly she noticed that Purple Heart's left braid was half red and her right braid was half black while Purple Heart's left eye was similar to a Void's eye, except that her power symbol was still... Upside down compared to a Void's power symbol. 'What is with that CPU?'
"I've had my power stolen from me before, Uni." Black Void said to Uni. "I've overcome it before." Her eyes were soft as Uni glared at her. "Purple Heart, you said that we have to knock her out?"
"Yes." Purple Heart nodded. "A strong shock to her system will cause the brainwashing to weaken and then we just have to do what we can to make her remember."
"And the others?" Black Void asked as she pointed her sword at her younger sister. It took every ounce of self-control to not tremble at doing the one thing she never wanted to do in her life. 'Big sister, was this how you felt on the day I killed you? Did you let me kill you because you couldn't bring yourself to fight me?'
"The same." Purple Heart told her. "I'll help you save your sister, you help me save mine."
Black Void smirked at her. "I might be a Void, but I pay my debts, Purple Heart."
"Are you done talking?" Uni asked as she made her energy rifle disappear and she pulled out two Uzis instead. "It's time to die."
Both CPUs took a stance in front of Uni as they prepared to fight her.
To be continued...
You guys REALLY thought I'd kill Noire off like that?
...Besides, how were we supposed to find out that she and Neptune share some tastes in porn? XD