Hyperdimension Neptunia is owned by Compile Heart, Idea Factory, Sega and whomever else worked on it.
Can't you figure out what the title is referencing yourselves?
Chapter 76
Panting as the last of the Cawls stopped chasing them, the four girls slid to their butts while trying to gasp for air. "Ho...How were they scarier than a giant monster?" Ram asked as she gasped for air.
"Because there were a lot of them and they breathed fire?" Rom suggested.
"Plus they were sitting there calmly until Peashy hurt the small one." Filyn pointed out and looked around. "I don't see how running away from them will make us stronger."
Rom frowned at her, knowing she was right, but she couldn't let that comment go. "And getting killed won't make us stronger!"
Peashy looked up and tilted her head. "Is that a Dragon?" She pointed up, knowing what they generally looked like, but not what they specifically looked like.
The other three turned to look up at what Peashy was pointing at and saw a Dragon-like creature flying through the air.
"No, that's a Wyvern." Filyn pointed out. "They look like Dragons, but aren't as big. Plus, you can see how its wings are built into its arms," she pointed at the wings, "so they aren't full Dragons."
"Will it grow into a full Dragon?" Rom asked, curious.
"I dunno, never saw a Wyvern turn into a Dragon." Filyn shrugged. "But we should be careful. Wyverns can be bad too."
The Wyvern flew past them and towards a large tree that was partially uprooted with mounds of dirt all around it.
"By the way, what's the boss monster we're supposed to take out?" Filyn asked and Rom looked into the book.
"Hmm... Apparently it looks like a Shampururu but is really, really dangerous."
"You mean like that?" Peashy asked as she was on top of a nearby tree and pointing at the thing that was under the tree. "Ooooh! The not-Dragon is going to eat it!"
"Well, if that's the case, things will be a lot easier for us." Filyn muttered as she, Rom and Ram all got closer to take a better look. "I mean, how bad could it be?"
The next thing that happened had all four CPU Candidates staring in shock as the creature, which was the size of a small cat, jumped up at the throat of the Wyvern, biting and attacking it so viciously that they watched in muted horror as the Wyvern's head came flying off in a spray of blood and the creature crashed into the pit where the boss creature let out a scream and they listened to disturbing sounds of flesh and bone being torn apart.
The girls all had blank, white eyes with black circles around their eyes as they stood still, unable to comprehend what they just saw.
Peashy had it the worst as she was able to see everything that happened in great detail from her position on the tree. "Pea doesn't like that thing!"
"Yeah, neither do I." Rom shuddered as she tried to think. "We can't let that thing go."
"...I'm not going to have my head torn off like that." Filyn pointed out and tapped her chin. "Maybe we can just freeze it in that hole and then blow it up?"
"AHHH!" Peashy yelled as the creature turned to look at her and suddenly charged at her. "It's coming!"
Ram paled as the creature got over the mound, dripping with blood, and rushed at them. "G...GET AWAY!" She screamed as she let loose a gout of flame that the creature nimbly jumped away from. "D...Darn it! S...Stay back!" She yelled, trembling in fear. A flying spear forced the creature to jump away from Ram and focus on the person who attacked it.
"This one has the opposite problem. You're too meek to bring out your full power..." MAGES.'s words echoed in Ram's head while Peashy and Rom kept the creature at a distance.
"Am I..?" Ram asked, her eyes tearing up as she remembered how she didn't even try to fight back when captured in Lastation and all because of how she was split away from her big sis and Rom. "I... I..."
"You need to have confidence in yourself."
"But I'm weak," Ram trembled as she took a step back and fell on her butt. "I can't..." Memories of White Void and how she treated Ram entered her mind. "I'm so weak..." Ram looked down, her eyes tearing up. "Big sis... Help... I..."
"Good job." Purple Heart's voice echoed in her head and Ram blinked. "You really acted like a proper CPU out there."
"B...Big sis?" Ram asked softly as she saw Purple Heart's gentle and kind smile in her mind. "I..."
Ram jerked side to side as she stood up, tears falling down her face. "No... I... I might be scared, but..." She looked up, a look of fierce determination on her face. "I won't let big sis worry about me! I... I won't be a crybaby anymore!" She screamed as fire and wind kicked up around her, causing Filyn, Rom and Peashy, the latter of whom had gotten out of the tree and was trying to hit the rabbit-like creature with rocks. A magic stick formed in her hands as she pointed it at the creature, her eyes glowing red. "Flame... TWISTER!"
Filyn, Rom and Peashy all dodged out of the way as the air around the creature suddenly twisted and flames spiraled around the creature. Before anyone could ask if that was it, more flaming twisters erupted out of nowhere, each one a different color and pierced the flaming vortex from various angles. Contrary to what they were expecting, the multi-colored flaming tornadoes cut through the main tornado.
A few moments later, the tornadoes died out and all that was left was a charred skeleton of a rabbit in the middle of a circular fire burn.
"WOW!" Peashy's eyes sparkled as she got up and ran over to Ram. "How did you do that?!"
"I..." Ram blushed softly. "I'm just tired of being a crybaby, that's all." She blushed more as Rom, Filyn and Peashy all gave her confused looks. "It... That magic girl. She told me that I was too shy and meek..." She looked down and dug her toe into the ground. "I want to be stronger."
Rom was silent while Peashy and Filyn gave Ram praise over it. "Powering your magic with your anger? Such a foolish idea. I've seen what happens when people are consumed by their anger... It's not fun." MAGES.'s warning echoed in her head and Rom found herself frowning softly.
'Am I going to become a bad CPU?' Rom asked herself.
"Rom, you must never hold in such negative emotions." Purple Heart's words entered her mind and Rom thought back to some conversations that she had with Neptune. "I have plenty of friends back home who held in those emotions and let them fester."
Rom hadn't asked, as Neptune had only alluded to CPUs who weren't really bad, but had lost everything because they held their emotions back too much. 'Am I bothered by something then?' She asked herself. '...Why am I so angry?'
Rom didn't know why and in many ways, that was even worse, as it only made her angrier with herself.
"Hey! Hey! HEEEEEY!" Peashy yelled while shaking Rom to get her attention. Rom looked at her and Peashy pouted. "You got quiet. We're going to go back now."
"Ah!" Rom's eyes widened as she saw Ram and Filyn not too far off looking at her in concern. "Sure!" She briskly walked toward her twin and Filyn while Peashy followed after her. "Sorry about that. I was just thinking."
"Oh, so that's why it's smokey around here." Filyn giggled while the other three gave her a confused look.
"Pea thought that was because of the fire." Peashy pointed to the smoldering remains of the bunny creature.
"That's not..." Filyn just groaned at the looks the others gave her. "Nevermind. Let's just go back."
The four giggled and made their way to the entrance to the third floor. As they got close to the door, Rom paused and looked around in confusion. "...Is someone there?"
"What's wrong?" Filyn asked as she, Ram and Peashy all stopped to look around as well.
"..I don't know." Rom admitted. "I just thought I felt someone watching me."
"Maybe it's nothing?" Filyn suggested.
"...Maybe." Rom nodded as they left the area.
Unseen to them, a spider-like creature scuttled along, its eyes glowing softly.
(-)
Meanwhile...
"Well," MAGES. smiled as her familiar relayed what happened down in the catacombs. "They managed to kill that bastard, huh?" That creature had been such a pain in the ass that she was tempted to send Judge down to the eighth floor to see if he could kill it.
"They might be fun to face later." She smiled at the thought of playing with them again.
"Still..." MAGES. whispered to herself softly. "CPU Candidates? That explains a lot." As much as she wanted to play with them, she knew that the CPU would need to know about them. She was about to get up and tell the CPU of Planeptune about them when she remembered that she was with Nepgear. "Oh right, she hates her sister time interrupted."
Shrugging, she decided to tell Neptune later.
Hopefully the CPU wouldn't be upset about holding this information back.
To be continued...
Monty Python is awesome. RIP Terry Jones
I should note that I wrote this before Terry Jones died.