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

Chapter 73

"That's so rude, Histy." Kurome told the fairy while shaking her head. "I haven't seen you in decades and that's the first thing you say to me?"

"Everything's your fault!" Histoire hissed at Kurome. "What makes you think...?"

"Woah! Woah! Woah!" Neptune yelled, interrupting their argument and holding one hand flat with her palm down while jabbing her fingers into her palm. "Timeout! TIIIIIIIMEOUT!" Neptune sighed and lowered her hands. "First of all, you can see her, Histy?"

"If you're talking about a blue-haired girl that's partially transparent and has an incredibly arrogant look on her face, then I can see her too." Chrome said, causing Neptune to gawk at her.

"Why are you so surprised, Nepsy?" Kurome told her while smirking. "I was once Planeptune's CPU." Neptune opened her mouth and Kurome continued to speak before Neptune could say anything. "At least before I sealed myself up and you and your sister found my console and freed me."

Neptune's eyes widened and her face went pale as she took a step back. "You... You're the Kurome from MY world?!"

Kurome chuckled softly. "Come on, Nepsy, you should have figured that out the instant that we met in Lastation. Then again, you were always pretty slow, huh?" She ignored the hurt look on Neptune's face as she continued. "Yes, I am Hyperdimension's Uzume Tennouboushi. Or rather, the spirit of a tiny sliver of her."

"A sliver?" Chrome asked.

"And yet you still caused everything to go to hell!" Histoire yelled at Kurome, who merely chuckled at her.

"Even you don't know the full story, Histy. So I think it's time to explain."

"You were my predecessor," Neptune interrupted, "you lost control of your powers and sealed yourself to save Planeptune, but when sealed away, you grew resentful and created the Zero and Heart dimensions while being corrupted by Negative Energy." Kurome gave her a startled look while Neptune looked back at her smugly. "See? I can pay attention too!"

"I guess so." Kurome chuckled. "But that's too far back, Nepsy. I was thinking during the final battle when I was Dark Orange."

"...Oh."

"What is she talking about?" Chrome asked, confusion in her voice and on her face.

"Let me explain, Nepsy." Kurome told her and Neptune nodded. "You see, after I was defeated, I found myself floating into the Ether." Kurome said as she thought about how her body had been there dying. "However," her eyes glinted in determination, "I refused to die. I took all the hate of Gamindustri and used it to escape death." She smirked at the thought of it. "It was quite useful. But it caused a problem." Her face became more serious. "I found myself splitting again. Part of me returned to the Heart Dimension while I sank into the Ether."

"Part of you?" Chrome asked, confused.

"Nothing but rage, vengeance and hatred was in that part of me." Kurome shook her head. "For simplicity sake, Nepsy, just think of the "me" that you currently see as the "me" that was manipulating everyone and the "me" that you saw after my defeat as the angry "me"." Neptune nodded, that was easy enough.

"I take it after you sank into the Ether that you somehow ended up here?" Chrome asked, getting a nod from Kurome. "I see... But how..?"

Kurome chuckled softly. "Blame Crosy."

"Darksy?" Neptune asked, confused. "What did she do?"

"I read her book while I was brainwashing you." Kurome told Neptune. "And I found out about this dimension. So I guess as I sank into the Ether, I wanted to come visit this world. When I ended up in this world I ended up possessing a body..."

Neptune's eyes widened as a thought came to her mind. "...You possessed this world's Uzume?!"

"Bingo, Nepsy." Kurome chuckled, glad Neptune was sharp enough to pick up on things like that. "You aren't as stupid as Noiresy, Vertsy and Blansy think you are."

Neptune pouted at that. "I know that I'm a big dumb stupid head, but they don't need to think that." She jerked when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Chrome?"

"You're not stupid, Neptune." Chrome smiled at her. "Naive, silly, foolish and easily distracted yes, but not stupid."

"I'll take over what happened next." Histoire said, her voice full of sadness and disappointment. "Uzume, the CPU of Planeptune, at the time had asked for my help. She was determined to make the other nations open up and become closer to each other and felt the best way to do so was to rid the world of some of the more... Troublesome monsters."

"Tentacle monsters?" Neptune asked.

"Tentacle monsters." Histoire and Kurome both replied in unison.

"Figures." Chrome muttered, wishing that had happened.

"Uzume certainly had the power to do that." Histoire continued, "but only in Planeptune, not across Gamworld. Hence why she called for me to assist her."

"Assist?" Chrome asked in confusion. "I thought you were supposed to record history of Gamworld and provide information when it was needed."

Histoire nodded at Chrome. "Indeed, that is one of my functions. One of my other functions is to assist the CPUs when it was needed. For Uzume, the thought of horrible monsters running around unchecked was a nightmare. I agreed to lend her my power..." Histoire sighed as she trailed off. "It happened like this..."

*Flash*

Looking at the CPU known as Orange Heart, Histoire smiled at her while Orange Heart held Histoire's book in her hands. "Are you ready?"

"Uzume can't wait to end those icky monsters!" The orange-haired CPU smiled and had a look of determination on her face.

"Then let us begin." Histoire said as she started to glow brightly.

"Uzume can... Uzume can feel everything!" Orange Heart stared in awe as her body glowed. "Now Uzume c..a..n.." Orange gasped as dark energy started to engulf her body. "What's going on? What is this!?"

"Oh dear," Histoire stared in shock. "This shouldn't happen, Uzume, please, let's..."

Whatever Histoire was going to say next was cut off as the dark energy emanating from Orange Heart suddenly erupted into a dark tornado that engulfed the two of them completely, causing Histoire to screw her eyes shut.

When the energy vortex died off, Histoire opened her eyes and gasped as she saw Orange Heart, only her hair was bright blue and her eyes were a darker shade of blue, but her pupils... The power symbol in them was upside down and black.

"Uzume sees..." Her voice wasn't as high pitched, though it sounded very similar, but now it came with a sinister undertone.

"Who?" Histoire asked as Orange Heart looked at her and smiled. "Orange... Heart?"

"Yep! Uzume is Orange Heart..." She gripped the tome and looked at her free hand, which was glowing with power. "All this negative power..." She looked at Histoire and smirked. "Uzume wants Histy to help her."

"Well, I was going to help you, but..." Histoire was cut off as she started to glow with power again. "What are you doing?"

"Uzume will flood this world with negative energy." The CPU said as Histoire watched while Orange Heart's body changed even more. Her processor turned dark in color, became more skimpy in what it covered and right in the center of her chest, a dark hole erupted outwards. Orange Heart leaned her head back and smiled. "Yes..."

"NO!" Histoire screamed as she felt that negative energy flood her. "STOP! PLEASE!" Her eyes teared up as she couldn't stop what was happening but could feel that her power was being used to twist, warp and pervert reality.

Orange Heart, who would become to be known as Orange Void, held up her hand towards the Sharicite and she watched with satisfaction as her negative energy flooded the crystal, causing it to stop glowing before falling to the ground and shattering. As the air got cold and bitter, red and black energy condensed into a new crystal that was upside down and pulsated with red and black energy. "Uzume thinks that it would be super duper to give this to the rest of the world."

Histoire could only stare in horror as her powers were used to send that negative energy across Gamworld. "NO!" She could see the Sharicite Crystal in Lastation as it shattered and turned into a new crystal. Her eyes widened as she watched, trembling as a new, evil CPU, came forth and hunted down Lastation's CPU and CPU Candidate, killing them both. "STOP!" She saw Eden's crystal shatter and how the new, evil CPU, brutalized the CPU Candidate of Eden. "PLEASE! NO MORE!" In Leanbox, another evil CPU came forth and killed her predecessor instantly. In Lowee the same thing happened.

"Did Histy like seeing that?" Orange Void asked, smiling sweetly. "Uzume thinks that Histy might want to try and undo her hard work, so..."

Histoire stared in horror as Orange Void grabbed at the pages of her book. "NO!"

"Uzume will make sure that Histy never undoes anything."

There was a tearing sound and screams from Histoire as the last thing she ever saw was Orange Void's evil grin.

*End Flash*

After hearing that, Neptune trembled and glared at Kurome. "You... You... HOW COULD YOU?!"

Kurome chuckled softly. "I probably would have done the same to our Histy had I won, Nepsy."

"SHE'S OUR MOTHER!" Neptune screamed at Kurome, who merely smirked at her.

"And I'm a being full of hate and malice." Kurome merely rolled her eyes. "So I don't care what you say, Nepsy."

Chrome put her hands on Neptune's shoulders to try and keep her from lashing out. "I understand where you're coming from Neptune. It's because of her that Iris Void took my nation from me and killed all of my people and even her little sister." She narrowed her eyes at Kurome. "To think it was Planeptune's CPU."

"She's NOT Planeptune's CPU!" Histoire protested, "she merely took over Uzume's body and forced her to do lots of bad stuff!"

"I just have one question then," Chrome looked at Kurome, "how is it that you're dead? If you have this much power..."

Kurome chuckled at her. "Would you believe it's because of my little sister, Uranus?" Chrome raised an eyebrow but nodded at her. "See, I had no clue about the dynamics of CPUs and CPU Candidates in this world, so when I had a little sister be born to me, I was... Actually kind of happy." Kurome sighed heavily. "Uranus never liked me though, even though I was quite kind to her. I actually treated her like how you treated Gearsy, Nepsy." She sighed heavily. "But then one day she transformed. I was going to announce it to Planeptune that their CPU Candidate had achieved transformation, but that's when..." Kurome looked a bit embarrassed by what she was admitting. "Well, that's when I ended up losing my head. Even if I have the power to affect reality, not much I can do in that situation." Kurome shrugged at them. "I can interact somewhat with reality, but for the most part, I'm just a spirit now."

"Why?" Neptune asked, tears in her eyes. "Why would you hurt Histy?! WHY?!"

"I only meant to stop her from undoing what I did, Nepsy." Kurome sighed and actually looked remorseful for her actions. "I never, never, intended to hurt her that much."

"You lie!" Histoire shot back, glaring as best she could despite having no eyes. "You didn't stop until I was like this."

"And didn't I apologize many times over the years?" Kurome asked rhetorically.

Chrome let out a soft sigh. "Neptune, Histoire, please, both of you, calm down." She squeezed Neptune's shoulder. "I understand how mad you are. Remember how I was when I saw Iris Void again?" Neptune nodded. "And you made me promise to not hurt Iris Heart if I ever met her, right?" Neptune nodded again. "So please, calm down, okay?" Neptune nodded again, this time sighing and Chrome gave Kurome a nasty look. "I have nothing but utter hatred for what you did to this world. The fact that you made our world go from a place of beauty to one of such..."

"You have tentacle monsters and other creatures running around." Kurome shot back. "Though I'm certain that the other nations were quite well off."

Histoire sighed softly. "Lowee was full of jungles and mountains, there were plenty of places to go for some beautiful sightseeing."

"Not anymore." Chrome told her. "The jungle encroached on everything and traveling on foot across the nation is nearly impossible now."

"I see..." Histoire shook her head. "Leanbox was a nation that focused on containing its monsters so that the people could live good lives."

"It's a giant maze now!" Neptune pointed out helpfully. "I got captured by a tentacle too." She looked at Chrome and smiled. "Thanks for saving me."

Chrome rolled her eyes. "Don't mention it."

"...And Green Void was using tentacles to make her nightmare form stronger and stronger." Neptune shuddered.

Histoire sighed heavily and hung her head. "Eden was a paradise. It was a garden with lots of lakes and..."

"It was turned into a swamp because of Iris Void." Chrome told her. "And now it's no more." Even though it had been over sixty years since she had been the CPU of Eden, the loss of her nation and people still hurt Chrome badly. Glaring at Kurome, she trembled in anger. "If not for you... I could have retired with Filyn being the next CPU of Eden. I probably would have went traveling to the other nations, just to see them."

"You're seeing them now." Kurome chuckled at the rage she was getting from Chrome. "I'm a spirit, you can't do anything."

"...Someone get me the phone. I'm gunna call the ghostbusters!" Neptune declared and looked around for a phone.

"They aren't even in this universe." Kurome pointed out. "Plus can you imagine how much they'd charge you just for gas to get here from where they live?"

Histoire had a distressed look on her face. "..Is Lastation still a vibrant land of life where technology is used to make everyone's lives better?"

"Well..." Neptune trailed off. "Does a bubble shield to stop pollution from getting to your city count?"

Histoire trembled and lowered her head. "I failed... I failed to protect Gamworld. My most important role and I failed." She started to cry anew and didn't resist as she felt two arms wrap around her and pull her into a hug.

Neptune patted Histoire's back. 'Don't worry, Histy. I'll fix this. I promise.'

To be continued...

And there you go. That's how things went to hell in Gamworld.