Hyperdimension Neptunia is owned by Compile Heart, Idea Factory, Sega and whomever else worked on it.
The next few chapters happen simultaneously, so just keep that in mind.
Chapter 74
Walking into the guild, Cave looked around before spotting someone she recognized and walked over to them. "I'm surprised you're here, MAGES."
Holding a large, open pitcher of some sort of drink, which Cave was pretty sure that it was so potent that it could probably kill anyone but MAGES., the blue-haired girl smiled at her. "Not surprised you'd find me here, Cave. The rugrats showed up a bit ago, got registered and went to the catacombs." MAGES. said, shrugging and wondering if they'd be okay. The catacombs had been built about twenty years ago by her father as a way to help people who wanted to get stronger and make a living while keeping the monsters in Planeptune corralled and in check.
"They did, huh?" Cave asked, "surprised that they didn't recognize you if I did."
"You really think that they'd see through my illusion magic if I didn't want them to?" MAGES. asked in amusement. "Besides, I'm curious about them."
Cave mentally sighed, knowing that whenever her friend found someone or something interesting that things turned out bad for someone. "Is this going to be a repeat of the chicken incident?"
"GAH!" MAGES. looked around in a panic. "Dammit, Cave, it's been three years since then and I swear those things are still plotting revenge!"
Cave smirked at MAGES. and sat down at the table. "Anyway," she got a more serious look on her face. "Now that you've met them, what are your plans for them?"
"The two magic users are the only ones I'm interested in." MAGES. said dismissively. "The little blonde girl and the one with the eye-patch... I'll send..."
"Please don't." Cave said in a desperate tone of voice as she knew what MAGES. was hinting at. "Please, I had to watch him do his thing earlier."
MAGES. grimaced at that. Even just the allusion to Trick was enough to send anyone who knew about him into fits of disgust. "Sorry. But you know how our CPU is, if she can get others to do the job, she lets them do it however they want."
Cave groaned softly, "I know, MAGES, I know."
"That's part of the reason I want you to join the Knights, Cave." MAGES. gave her friend a smile. "You could take the jobs that are assigned to us and keep the idiot duo from making things worse for everyone."
Cave raised an eyebrow. "For someone as random as you are, this is surprisingly thought out from you."
MAGES. smirked at Cave. "Also, you'd have to use the same showers as me and, BWAH?!" MAGES yelped as Cave smacked the back of her head. "THAT HURT!" MAGES. pouted while tearing up. "What was that for?"
"Even when I dated others, MAGES. I never did lewd things in public areas." Cave told her. "So if you think I'd let you, someone I'm not dating, fondle me in public, think again."
"You're lucky we're friends, Cave." MAGES. said with a hurt expression on her face.
"I know." Cave nodded.
(-)
Elsewhere...
Walking down some stairs, RED smiled as she looked around. She was a happy redhead. There were so many pretty wifey candidates in Planeptune and her wifey CPU didn't mind if she had a harem either!
"Hmm... Maybe I should see if I can find a couple of cute wifeys for tonight?" RED giggled as she pulled a yo yo out of her pocket and swung it around casually while she bounced, literally, down the stairs. As she looked around, most of the girls she saw, while cute, didn't quite reach the levels of attractiveness that she was looking for. "No one compares to my CPU Wifey after all." RED giggled as she wasn't trying to compare normal people to her wifey, since they were humans after all. Still, that didn't mean she couldn't find a couple that weren't cute enough for her to take an interest in.
The redhead fidgeted and had to take a deep breath to calm down. "Goodness, the thought of finding a couple of cuties for me tonight almost made me have to change my undies." She giggled to herself as she got to the bottom of the stairs. Looking around, she saw the streets were mostly empty, save for a few people and sighed. "Awww... Is everyone working?" She pouted and walked off in a random direction. "Too bad not everyone can be with my CPU Wifey like me."
An image of Neptune in an open office shirt and her panties appeared in RED's mind. "RED," she whispered and crawled forward. "Would you want to share me with more people? Hmm?"
RED shivered and drooled as she could practically feel her wifey's fingers and tongue touch her exposed skin. "N...No... I..."
"LOOK OUT!" RED's erotic daydream was interrupted as something hit her in the face and caused her to crash onto her back, hard.
"Oh jeez!" A female voice yelled while running over to her. "Sorry about that." The object was removed from her face and RED grimaced while slowly opening her eyes to see who had attacked her. "Lemme see..." The person said and RED noticed that the person had brown hair, skin that was of multiple colors, green eyes and was rather short, petite...
"So pretty..." RED looked at the girl more fully and found herself smiling brightly. "I've decided!" She stood up when the brunette helped her to her feet and squeezed the girl's hand. "I want you to be my wifey and join me tonight!"
"Uh..?" The girl had a confused and utterly confused look on her face. "...Wifey?"
RED nodded at the girl. "Yes!" She was practically squealing in delight as she squeezed the girl's hand and noted how warm it felt. "I'll take you to my place, we'll have a nice dinner," she leaned in, a lewd grin on her face while using her free, left hand to run her fingers over the girl's cheek as she lowered her voice softly, "and when we're done..." She put her fingers under the girl's chin, causing her to shiver, "I'll show you just what it means to be my wifey."
The girl was blushing so hard that RED was giggling in amusement. "But... But..."
"Ooooh!" RED's eyes lit up. "You're a kinky girl." She pulled the stammering, blushing girl into a hug. "I like that in my wifey." She blinked as she felt a tap on her shoulder. "Yes?" She asked and turned her head. "What do you want?" She asked the person who interrupted her seduction attempt.
The only response she got was a fist to the face that had her letting go of the girl and flying several feet away. "GAH!"
"No one gets to do that to my girlfriend but me! Got it?!" The person, a girl with short, green hair and red eyes, glared at RED.
Groaning in pain while rubbing her nose, RED sat up and looked at the green-haired girl. "Hmm... Normally not my type but..." She smiled and stood up. "I'm terribly sorry about that." She gave the girls and apologetic look and clapped her hands together. "Had I known you were together I wouldn't have come on like that to you."
"Well... No harm, I guess." The brown-haired girl said, looking uncomfortable. "I mean, I was really uncomfortable when you did that."
"And I'm sorry." RED smiled at the two. "Oh! I should introduce myself! My name is RED!"
"I'm IF..." The girl she had tried to seduce said, her face still red. "This is my girlfriend, Linda."
"Now that you know, you can just get out of here." Linda said, an angry expression on her face and in her voice.
"Well..." RED smiled nervously. "I know!" She clapped her hands together. "How about I take you two out to dinner and maybe we could do some fun stuff back at my place together." The look the two gave her was one of absolute shock. "See, I like cute wifeys, but if a cute wifey I like has a boyfriend or a husband it's a problem. And..." She looked Linda up and down, "you're not my type, but I'm willing to put that aside if I can have a night with a cute wifey like Iffy there!"
"No way!" Linda growled and turned around. "Come on, IF, let's leave this pervert."
"Yeah," IF sighed heavily, "I doubt she'd know much about the CPU anyway."
RED tilted her head. "Huh? You want to know about my Wifey CPU?" The two stopped when she said that and turned back to look at her and RED slowly smiled at them. "How about I tell you all about my wifey and you two have to spend the night with me doing all the fun stuff wifeys do together?"
IF's face was bright red. "I haven't even done that with my girlfriend yet!"
"So..." RED tilted her head. "Then how are you her girlfriend if you haven't gone that far?" Both Linda and IF sputtered and RED sighed heavily. "It's not fair," she pouted, "I find a really cute wifey and I just want a one-night stand with her, I'll even make it a three-some with a girl I don't find really attractive and I'll tell you anything you want to know about my wifey!" She crossed her arms under her E-cup breasts and huffed. "Is that so wrong?"
"I'm not exactly enthused by the idea of whoring ourselves out for information." Linda groused and looked at IF, who had a pensive look on her face. "...What are you thinking?"
IF looked at Linda and blushed. "I... I at least want to see if she knows anything beyond basic information. No one else was willing to talk to us." Linda stared at her. "I'm not agreeing to anything, plus..." She looked away, blushing hard, "I'm only agreeing to talk with her because you're here, okay?"
Linda stared, gawking for almost two minutes and IF grew more and more uncomfortable with each passing moment. "What... The..."
"It's only talking!" IF rounded on Linda, a scared look on her face, "nothing more! I promise! And if you want to leave after that, we can, okay?!"
Linda wasn't sure what she was thinking, she wasn't sure what IF was thinking. But she woodenly nodded and went along with it.
"Great!" RED smiled at them, clapping her hands together. "I'll show you two to a great place and we can talk, okay?" They nodded, reluctantly, and followed after her.
RED was certain that by the end of the night that these two would not only have the information they wanted, but also a night they wouldn't ever forget.
(-)
Meanwhile...
Crouching on the top of a roof, Steamax watched, with growing disdain, how Nepgear was led around on a leash while the person leading her around treated her like a dog. "I think I am beginning to see why the others have a problem with Voids." He said softly as he assumed that the person leading Nepgear around was the Void of Planeptune. "She looks so much like Lady Neptune that it's unreal." He whispered in awe.
As much as he wanted to get Nepgear out of there, since he knew that saving CPU Candidates was important, he also knew that if this Neptune was like the Neptune he knew or how Noire had been, then her HDD form would be quite... Powerful, to put it mildly.
And Steamax knew that one-on-one, he might win, there was no guarantee of that.
Without any available immediate backup, he knew it was best to sit still and not act.
He was sorely tempted to attack the Void version of Neptune when she made Nepgear crouch on her legs and hold her hands up like dog paws while sticking her tongue out and begging for a cookie. "What kind of disgusting person would do that to their own sister?" It was one thing to hear about it from Rom, Ram and Peashy, but to see it in person was far worse for him.
"At least she gave her the cookie." Steamax muttered in total disgust as he stood up and disappeared from sight.
(-)
Uni turned when she heard a soft thump behind her. "Well?" She asked, worried that something bad had happened.
"I understand why Lady Neptune and Lady Chrome thought that Lady Noire was bad when they first arrived in Lastation." Steamax answered her.
Uni gave him a look of confusion that turned into disgust as he explained what he saw. "That... that... ARRGH!" Uni screamed in anger and frustration.
"Lady Uni, what do you suggest we do?" Steamax asked her. "Neither of us know her very well and asking her to trust us right off the bat might be asking too much."
"You think I don't know that?" Uni asked as she tried to calm down and think clearly. "We need to observe more. If a chance comes up, we should take it, I think."
"A chance for what, Lady Uni?"
Uni smirked at him. "To steal Planeptune's CPU Candidate away from her sister."
To be continued...
Well, this should be interesting. Let's see if they get the chance to do so.