===CH 3===
A way back
'Thoughts'
"Speech"
"Skill"
Highlighted/other
Planeptower; basement a few minutes later
Histoire and Alex arrived at the floor with the white console placed on a pedestal in the centre.
"This thing is supposed to send me into a different dimension?" stated Alex with slight annoyance in his voice at the sight of the white console
"Yes, this is how Neptune and Nepgear first entered Zero Dimension."
"Wait for me! I'm coming too!" yelled Neptune from the elevator
"I'm not sure whenever it is desperation or plain gullible on my side, but I'll give it a try. Show me how it works." stated Alex while face palming and shaking his head slightly.
"You only have to press on the power button on top of it. A temporary gate will open up and take you there, though I must warn you, travelling across dimensions isn't easy and as such will weaken you. The enemies in Zero Dimension are also significantly stronger than ordinary enemies." warned Histoire before facing Neptune, who was about to activate the console.
"and Neptune. You will stay here until we've figured out what exactly happened to you. You are currently unable to access HDD. Zero Dimension is not a place for games, you yourself should know this."
"I'm not entirely Helpless, Histy, I still have my NEXT form. And besides, we're only visiting Big me and maybe Uzume while we're there." Neptune then proceeded to reach for the button, only to find her hand blocked by an invisible barrier. "Huh?"
"Splitting Void" muttered Alex, causing a transparent barrier to appear. "Splitting Void creates an invisible barrier and can take the shape of a cylinder or rectangle, preventing everything from passing through with the only exception being light." Alex explained at the unspoken question. "I'd like to know what this is about. one of my men once experienced something similar during battle, he was an artificial CPU, but the cause of him loosing the ability to access HDD is still unknown to this day."
"When you crashed into a street after your arrival here, you were surrounded in a red and purple energy flame. I took hold of the side that radiated Share energy, but the two energy's of the flame got replaced by a smaller black one that shocked me and caused my HDD to partially wear off. My processor units vanished and my suit returned to my normal clothes."
"I'm not an expert at this kind of things, perhaps you evolved and your processor units got destroyed in the process?"Alex guessed.
"Is that even possible?"
"Maybe. Would be cool if it is." Alex then inspected the console again. "Since you can defend yourself, mind showing me how this thing works?"
"Sure. Just press this button" Neptune then presses the button, causing the console to suck them into Zero Dimension.
Zero Dimension; with Neptune
Neptune wakes up on the trembling floor after having passed out on their way there.
"What's going on!?"
A huge purple blur suddenly passes across the rooftops followed by a loud crashing sound and a medium sized earthquake.
"What the!?"
The blur suddenly passes by again accompanied by a deep mechanical scream and another earthquake upon impact.
"Isn't that one of the giant Dark CPU's!?"
Neptune quickly transformed into her Next form and flew above the rooftops, just in time to see the titan getting swung through the air, face first, into the ground. Followed by another earthquake.
Uzume landed next to her not long after Neptune landed.
"Nepsy! What's going on here?"
The titan then got smashed into the ground again, this time with enough force to send the two CPU's a few centimeters into the air.
The Dark CPU then let out a long pained Groan before exploding into Pixels. Defeated.
"I don't know. But whatever did that to the Dark CPU must be really strong"
A strong gust of wind suddenly passed over the two and a small thud resounded behind them.
"You're awake." Stated Alex "I was already wondering when you were going to wake up."
Neptune and Uzume turned around and spotted a boy with black scale claws as arms and Legs, resembling those of a dragon.
Uzume quickly jumped back in surprise while Neptune only took a step back.
"A-Alex?" asked Neptune carefully
"That's me"
"You know him?" questioned Uzume
"What happened to you?"
Alex then released his Dragon force form, returning to his usual appearance
"Not much. I've only been exploring the nearby area when that giant purple lady thought 'let's crush that guy down there under my foot'... well, you probably saw what happened next." Alex then laughed slightly "She didn't even put up much of a fight!"
"Y-You are the one that threw dark purple around like that!?" yelled Uzume surprised and shocked
"That thing was supposed to be a dark CPU!?" Alex practically yelled in surprise and disbelieve "That giant was barely stronger than a regular demon from my dimension!"
"I'm not sure if I even want to know how strong the four Dark CPU's in your dimension are..." stated Neptune
"Soo, Nepsy, what brought you and your friend here?"
"We were going to look for big me to get Alex back into his own dimension"
"Where's he from?"
"Alphadimension." answered Alex "A Dimension not unlike this one. Everything has been destroyed by a war that started even before I was born, more than 250 years ago. Demons and Dragons run freely across the land, only few of them weaker than the giant you called Dark CPU."
Alex then looks over the ruins of Zero Dimension during a pause in his statement.
"It almost feels like home here, It's just not as destroyed as my home... and it could be more on fire... Reminder of home aside, do you know where she is?"
"I'm not sure. I meet her yesterday, but haven't seen 'er since." replied Uzume
"Any Ideas on where she could be? I'm running out of time here..." Alex stated nervously
"How's that?"
"I got send here against my will. There are currently 4 Dark CPU's running around in my dimension, my entire Military got slaughtered and my People are probably getting slaughtered as we speak."
"Are you a CPU?"
"Yes, I'm the CPU of Alpha Dimension. I also need to get back there as soon as possible while I still have people I can save, my time for doing so is running out... as is my patience." said Alex with some annoyance clearly hearable towards the end of it and the air around them suddenly becoming more heavy.
"S-She should be around the area of my Dimension's Lowee. about a day's trip from here."
Alex suddenly claps in his hands and a Purple magic circle starts to draw itself beneath them. "A day's trip using common travel methods, or a second using teleportation."
"Art of transportation: Space Jump."
The purple circle suddenly erupted into a purple beam, cutting off everyone's view of the area around them before revealing the destroyed ruins of Zero Dimension's Lowee
"Does she have something like a house or area she visits often around here?"
"None that I know of." replies Uzume.
"Neither do I" adds Neptune.
"Great... let's just hope that she's within reach..." A large purple magic circle suddenly formed beneath Alex's feet, mirroring itself into the sky to cover most of the city ruins. "Locate"
Both Circles pulsated a few times and a small holographic window showing adult Neptune running away from a monster appeared in front of Alex.
The two circles vanished and the hologram enlarged into a 3D projection of her
"She's the only living humanoid within a 15km radius from us."
"That's her." confirms Neptune.
"What did you mean by calling her a humanoid?" asks Uzume confused.
A smaller magic circle appeared in front of the group.
"I called her such because she's not a human based on my energy reading." he waves his hands above the circle a few times and mutters "Art of Transportation: Warp"
The magic circle suddenly started to glow for a few seconds with adult Neptune stumbling out of it, falling on the ground in front of Uzume
"I don't wanna die!" adult Neptune yelled, cowering on the ground with her hands above her head.
"You're not dead, so stop screaming!" commanded Alex, causing everyone to flinch.
"These two said that you'd be able to get me back to Alphadimension"
"Alpha dimension!?" Adult Neptune jumps to her feet and asks with a shocked expression. "That's suicide! No way I'm going back there."
"What's it like Big Nepsy?" asked Uzume from the sidelines of the conversation.
"In one word: Hell. The monsters there literally eat light sabers for breakfast." replied Adult Neptune while showing some of the pictures she glued into her Notebook.
"I can confirm this. some of the weaker demons actually do eat Laser and plasma based weaponry, I also once received a report of a demon eating a crate full of explosive ammunition." added Alex. "That aside, I merely requested you to send me there, you guys tagging along is optional."
"How will you get back then?" asks Adult Neptune worried.
"Depends, I saw how I got here and finding another black hole shouldn't be too hard, alternatively I might be able to replicate whatever you're going to use to send me there."
"Oh... alright then." adult Neptune replies bluntly before lifting her right hand in a V pose to her head. "Open"
A dark Purple portal suddenly opens close to the group with a torrent of fire shooting out of it, melting multiple buildings.
"What the hell!?" yelled Uzume, only barely having been missed by the torrent of fire.
Multiple dragon roars suddenly sound from the portal sending a shockwave out of it, causing everyone except Alex to get blown away slightly.
"Alright, I'll be on my way then" stated Alex on his way to the portal
Another continuous beam of fire shoots out of the portal, melting more of the nearby terrain.
"Dragon Force, Stage 2!" Alex chants, causing his entire form to get covered in black scales with two dragon wings appearing on his back.
"That little campfire won't stop me!" he yelled at the dragons on the other side of the portal. Taking a stance he took a deep breath and jumped into the path of the raging inferno.
"Alex!" all three girls yell in panic and shock
"Shadow Dragon Inferno!" he released his attack and almost instantly pushed the orange fire back into the portal with a beam of pure black fire easily twice its size.
His attack ended and he jumped into the portal, catering the ground beneath him with the applied force and laughing madly while doing so. "I'll show you what a real fire feels like you oversized lizards!"
"...He's insane" muttered adult Neptune
The dying cries of multiple dragons suddenly reach out of the portal, accompanied with a torn off burned red wing.
Everyone just stared at the slowly disappearing dragon limp in front of them.
the awkward and confused silence that was about to form among the group suddenly got broken by Alex sticking his head back out of the portal, having released his Dragon Force form.
"You guys coming along or staying behind? The dragons are dead by the way"
"No thanks, Alex. I think it is better for us if we stay behind in our world, but feel free to visit if you find the time." Said Neptune still in her Next form.
"Sure thing. See ya!" another dying screech of a probably large creature could be heard before the portal closed and vanished.