Hyperdimension Neptunia is owned by Compile Heart, Idea Factory, Sega and whomever else worked on it.

Final update of 2019. Have a great New Years everyone!

Chapter 67

Laying on her cot, Neptune rolled over and looked at the wall before sighing heavily. "This really isn't comfortable." Sure, the thing had been an obvious military or cargo ship, but they really could have made the beds more comfortable, darn it!

Sitting up, she yawned while stretching her arms over her head. "Lesse, it's been like three days since we left Lastation, Chrome said it'll take some more time to get to Planeptune..." Neptune trailed off, wondering why Chrome kept getting quiet whenever the mention of the final nation came up.

After stretching and getting fully dressed, Neptune walked out of the room she was in, which felt like a small storage locker rather than a room to sleep in. Stepping into a small corridor, she walked towards the main area of the ship and found Chrome sitting on a small couch looking at a data pad. "Hey..."

Chrome looked at her and smiled before patting her thigh. "If you're tired, you can use my lap again." Her smile increased as she found Neptune laying face-first on her lap. Gently stroking Neptune's hair, she went back to looking at the data pad.

"wtdng?"

"Just reading some books that were written in Lastation. It's quite interesting stuff." Chrome told Neptune as she rubbed the other girl's scalp gently. "The girls are all sleeping in one room. I made sure that there were several mattresses for them." Neptune nodded while Chrome idly petted her. "Hey, Neptune..."

"Hmm?" Neptune muttered, her voice, even muffled, was obviously drowsy.

Chrome smiled at her. "Nothing, just sleep well." Neptune nodded and it didn't take her long to pass out. 'I'm so, so sorry that you're suffering for our sakes.'

There were several reasons that Chrome had asked Uni to supply them with a fast ship for the final leg of the trip. Beyond the fact that she wanted this journey to end and with how far away Planeptune was, a fast ship was needed, the biggest reason was currently using her lap as a pillow.

"I know it's only been a few months, Neptune," Chrome whispered softly, "but I'm glad that I got to meet you."

Her only response was a light snore from Neptune.

Chrome sighed softly and went back to reading. It didn't take long for her eyes to get too heavy and she too passed out.

(-)

Hours later in the cockpit...

Linda yawned as she leaned back in the captain's seat. "Comfy?" She looked at IF, who was in the co-pilot's seat and curled up while snoring lightly. "Guess so, huh?" She smiled and looked back outside. "Daybreak, huh?" She yawned, wishing that IF was there to see it with her as the ocean and sky became more and more lit up as details, like the heavy amounts of clouds in the area, became visible. With the auto-pilot heading straight towards Planeptune, it was only a matter of time before they got there. Seeing the way the control console was lit up at various places was rather cool, especially with how they were different colors and some would turn off and others would turn on.

She was taken out of her musings when a screen in front of her lit up. "Huh? What's going on?"

"This is an automated message. You are entering forbidden territory. Turn back now."

The message shut off and Linda blinked, more awake now. "Well, fuck." She hated to wake everyone up, but felt this was important enough to do so. Pressing the ship's internal speaker system button, she started to speak to everyone. "Hey! Everyone! Get up! We got trouble!" She turned the ship to the right so that she wouldn't advance any further, but she didn't turn away from her destination.

It was only a few minutes later when Neptune, Chrome and Gust entered the cockpit. "What's the big hubbub, bub?" Neptune asked and Linda pressed a button on the dash, which replayed the message that she heard.

Chrome sighed heavily. "And this is the problem with getting to Planeptune." The others looked at her. "Go towards the nation, I'll explain." She looked out the door as she saw the CPU Candidates, all looking a bit groggy, Compa, Warechu and Steamax waiting outside the cockpit. "Since ages ago. Planeptune has been an unknown to most of the world. But there are some scant details that have gotten out into the world."

"What details?" Uni asked, curious about the mysterious nation.

"Reports of people being attacked by the ocean itself." Chrome told her. "As if there were giant sea monsters that would rise out of the ocean. Or the water tornadoes. Or the time that there would be people who had random boating accidents."

"That last one sounds familiar." Neptune muttered, wondering where she heard that before.

"...Sounds like Falcom." IF muttered, remembering her dead friend.

"Yeah! Falcom!" Neptune snapped her fingers. "She got into an accident so badly that she ended up jumping dimensions once!" When IF gave her a shocked look, Neptune gave her a small smile. "I mean my Falcom, sorry, Iffy."

"It's fine." IF muttered and mentally cursed herself for getting her hopes up that somehow her friend was still alive somehow.

"Um... Everyone..." Linda muttered softly as she looked out the window, her face pale. "Those stories about water tornadoes..?" She trailed off, pointing and everyone turned to look, seeing the clouds getting dark in the direction they were traveling and several tall tornadoes filled the air as lightning crackled through the sky.

"This is magic." Rom said and Ram nodded. "Someone cast a really strong spell and this whole area has lots of water tornadoes acting as a wall."

"Should we turn back?" Filyn asked. "I mean, we could just..."

"I need to go to Planeptune," Neptune interrupted, "and I need to know what's going on. Histy and Kurome, they're both there." She felt herself trembling a little bit. "I don't know who's the CPU, but I know that all the answers I need are there."

"If that's the case, then perhaps you'd be willing to follow my instructions?" A voice that had everyone jerking in surprise.

"Hey!" Neptune's eyes lit up. "I'd know that stern-yet-motherly voice anywhere! Histy!"

"...Do I really have that kind of voice?" Histoire asked.

"You do sound like my mom when you talk." Compa pointed out.

"Yeah, I feel the same way." IF nodded. "Though my mom had a higher pitch than you do."

"Wait, you can all hear Histy?" Neptune asked, her eyes white and blank.

"So your name is Histy?" Chrome asked the voice.

"Histoire, actually," the voice said softly. "To the one piloting, please listen to my instructions. There is a path through the tornado wall, but it's very risky."

Linda sighed and looked at the tornadoes as some of them turned sideways and the lightning crashed around the ship. "...Don't care about the risk, just get us through this."

"I apologize in advance, but you're going to be in for a bumpy ride."

"Histoire," Chrome spoke up, "I won't make threats, but how can we trust you?"

"...I suppose that you cannot trust me. But if you make it through the wall I can answer your questions." Histoire explained to her.

"How come you didn't contact us sooner then?" IF asked Histoire.

"...I deeply apologize. But the only one I could contact was Neptune and even that was limited at best. You are close to Planeptune now and I can more easily contact you. If you wish to know if I'm trustworthy, please, allow me to guide you through the tornado wall."

Linda looked at the storms as she flew towards them and sighed. "Fine! Disembodied voice take the controls! Take them from my hands!"

IF gave her an amused look. "You've been waiting to say that since you heard that song, haven't you?"

"It's an oldie but a goodie." Linda pointed out and IF laughed while everyone but Chrome looked confused. "It's from like eighty years ago. There were music stations in Lowee that would sometimes play old music from back in the day."

"I remember that song." Chrome smirked. "I sang it all the time until my sister pointed out the silliness of a CPU singing a song about a CPU taking the controls." She rolled her eyes at the look of amusement that Neptune gave her. "I sang along with it, I didn't write and sing the song."

Neptune snapped her fingers. "Drat! You'd have something in common with some of my friends then."

"Is that so?" Chrome asked, curious about that.

"Can you be quiet?!" Linda yelled as she focused on what Histoire was telling her.

"Yes, please? It's easier to concentrate on what's going on when I don't have other people talking." Histoire said. "Okay, next, ease to the left. This is where it starts to get hard."

"...Starts to?" Linda asked and gawked as she saw tornadoes that were parallel to the water. "THE FUCK?!"

"Just calm down. Fly upwards at twenty degrees, then bank to the right and then go straight North."

Linda nodded and moved the ship in the directions indicated. "GAH!" She screamed as she banked to the right and the wings of her ship were clipped, causing the whole airship to shake and everyone to get knocked to the ground.

"Oh dear, I should have warned you that you would get clipped."

"YES! YES YOU SHOULD HAVE!" Linda yelled, her pupils as small as pinpricks while she tried to recover and not get knocked into the ocean. "Okay, going straight North and... HOLY FUCK WHAT THE HELL?!"

Everyone got up and stared in shock out of the window as they saw water tornadoes twisting, turning and seemingly moving in all directions while lighting crashed down all around them.

"Please remain calm. Head straight for the center of the storm. If you have been following my instructions, you should be straight in line to what looks like three tornadoes meeting at a single point."

"...Yes." Linda muttered. "...Head to where they meet?"

"Yes."

"THAT'LL TEAR US APART!" Linda yelled.

Rom tilted her head and closed her eyes. "No..." She said softly. "It feels different... There's some magic there. Just go for it."

Linda looked at her. "Are you sure?" Rom nodded and Linda sighed, grimacing before turning back to the window. "Well... Fuck it!" She pushed the accelerator and rushed towards where the tornadoes met. When the ship met the threshold of the tornadoes, everyone cringed and waited for the ship to be torn apart, even Rom, who knew it felt different.

When the ship just shook slightly and passed through with no problem everyone sighed as they flew out of the storm and into crystal clear skies and water.

"PHEW!" Neptune sighed in relief. "I don't want to do that again. That was way scarier than any of the amusement rides in Lowee could ever be."

The others nodded and sighed in relief.

"Um..." IF spoke up, her eyes wide as she pointed a trembling finger at the window. "Guys..."

Everyone looked at what IF was pointing at and gawked in astonishment.

"Planeptune?" Neptune asked softly, her face pale and her eyes wide. "It..."

"It's HUGE!" Uni stared in shock. "I think it's bigger than Lastation!"

"Almost." Gust muttered in shock.

"So this is the mystery nation, huh?" Chrome asked as she looked at it. "...It's like someone fused Leanbox and Lastation together."

Neptune could only stare as she looked out at Planeptune and tried to ignore how the storms surrounded the nation.

Not only was it tall, but it was wide and had walls that had open jaws that spewed what looked like water into the ocean below. But on top of the insanely high walls that looked like some old-fashioned castle walls, the nation itself seemed to hover over the water.

"...Well... I guess we're storming Castle Grayskull." Neptune muttered and wondered if she should put on a skull mask or not.

To be continued...

And we finally got to Planeptune.