A Foreword From the Tome of Time: This is a small tale about the Neptune from the other world Alastor spoke of. In a Gamindustri far away, the Netherworld would be making its presence known on this particular day.
[Truth Fragment - 02: The Silver Goddess]
Far away, in an alternate Gamindustri, a young woman with silver hair and blue eyes sauntered through a meadow of dandelions. Her countenance was brimming with cheer and her joyful humming could have easily warmed the heart of the devil himself. As she sauntered about, the young woman suddenly broke out into a skip. Her jolly change of pace hadn't even lasted for a few minutes- because not even five minutes after she began skipping, she spun around and laid herself out on the field of flowers beneath her. Looking up at the sky, she sighed tiredly. "Planeptune's so boring. I should wander off to Lastation and see how they're doing over there today."
Just as the woman was about to close her eyes and drift off into an afternoon nap, the smell of something burning caught her attention. "Hmm, that doesn't smell good." Opening one eye, she looked out toward her left to note a gigantic cloud of black smoke rising rapidly from what looked like some kind of tower not to far from where she lay. Flames erupted from the bottom of the source, but under closer inspection, the silver-haired woman noted that several mini-explosions were occurring within and feeding the flames. The woman's eyes narrowed as she irately stood back up. "Man, this just had to happen on my day off, didn't it?"
A dazzling light began to gather around Neptune's body. Holding out her hand, she yelled, "Processor Unit- Set!" As she said this, the light burst into several rings of binary, covering her body until not a single centimeter of it was showing. When the light and the binary faded, a slightly taller woman and more developed woman was standing where the younger one once stood. The only other real difference in her appearance was her bright blue eyes had transformed into a stunning gold. Her CPU suit was similar to the Purple Heart from our Gamindustri, but it was colored white and gold rather than black and purple. While summoning a white sword, she said to herself, "Well, time to get to work, I guess."
As Neptune was about to begin her journey toward the burning tower, the sound of a gigantic explosion roared from that general direction. The flames were growing larger- and it sure did not seem like it was an accident. Growling to herself, Neptune created a strange rune on her hand before saying, "Sky Form." Upon uttering these words, binary began to form on the CPU's back- eventually materializing white wings made from blades. Without a moment to spare, Neptune took flight- racing toward her destination.
In the blanket of the sky, Neptune soared gracefully and swiftly- though she probably would have reached her destination sooner had she not been performing barrel rolls in the sky to increase her "high score." As she flew however, strange creatures began to appear in the sky. Monsters that she had never seen before. They didn't look cybernetic- no, these were organic creatures: dragons, fenrir, and nekomatas. The CPU's eyes widened with astonishment. "What in the world is going on?"
CRASH!
The thunder echo of another explosion rung out through the area. Gritting her teeth, Neptune muttered, "I don't have time to find out where these things are going." Extending her palm, she waited until the strange binary created a gigantic-red axe. A savage glow appeared in Neptune's eyes before yelling, "Get outta my sight!" With a mighty swing, her axe easily cut through a few of the demons in question, but what happened next had caught her by surprise.
Normally, when a monster is killed in the unique multi-verse of Gamindustri, they burst into data and disappear; however, that was not the case today. A sickening splashing noise assaulted her ears. A disgusting red liquid littered parts of the sky and began to fall like crimson rain drops. A few splashed onto Neptune's face, causing her eyes to widen with fear. The warmth of the liquid disturbed her, but what probably bothered her more was the fact that the entrails of said killed demons began to fall from the sky.
A strange sensation began to course through Neptune's body. An unfamiliar sensation overtook her- guilt. In all of her time as a CPU, she had never experienced such guilt over slaying potential enemies of Gamindustri; but at this particular moment, the silver goddess felt as if she had made a grave mistake. It was at that moment that a gigantic stream of darkness soared across the night sky. Indeed, this stream soon gave off the appearance of a black meteor, and as it drew closer- a person, no, a woman.
Neptune could only watch with astonishment as a woman with cloaked in black flames zoomed toward her at a blinding speed- her sword at the ready. The silver goddess barely had the time to prepare her guard stance before the woman cloaked in flames jammed a powerful fist clothed in a black gauntlet against her sword. A powerful sound of metal clashing against metal rang out from the sky as the two opposing forces collided. As their eyes met, Neptune was finally able to get a good look at her opponent. A woman with long black hair and stunning silver eyes stood before her; but the dark, feline-like pupils told her all she needed to know: this woman was a demon.
Shockwaves continued to erupt from the point of collision. Neither force seemed to give an inch as Neptune attempted to parry the mysterious demon's fist; however, the black-haired demon seemed to be one step ahead of the silver goddess and would constantly readjust her position on Neptune's sword to continue applying pressure to the blade without allowing Neptune to parry. As the two forces competed, Neptune finally got an idea. Summoning a drill spear with her remaining free hand, she yelled, "Eat- this!"
The drill whirred to life as Neptune attempted to jam the drill spear into the black-haired demon's abdomen, but the demon was far too cunning. Having taken note of Neptune's surprise attack, she allowed herself to slide on Neptune's sword in order to push off of it and put distance between the two of them. As she did that, her fists began to light with a crimson light from within the black flames that cloaked her body. As she charged the energy, electrical sparks began to surge from the crimson glow. Her eyes were menacing- she was planning something.
Taking note of the attack's seemingly magical properties, Neptune immediately flew toward the black-haired demon. With the drill on her drill spear spinning at full velocity, Neptune yelled, "Oh no you don't!" As the silver goddess approached her enemy, the black-haired demon raised one of her glowing hands in the general direction of the drill spear.
Without a moment to spare, the drill spear immediately rammed itself into the crimson glow of the demon's hands; but to Neptune's surprise, she didn't pierce the demon's hand. Looking up, she realized that while her spear had managed to make impact with the mysterious glow on the demon's hands, it had failed to break through the glow into the demon's hand. At last, the demon spoke. "Your weapon is probably an magic deflection weapon. Good choice, but you forgot to account for the fact that your drill spear is rotating in a single direction. Meanwhile, my attack," the demon paused to allow Neptune to realize that the crimson energy in the demon's hands was rotating in the direction opposite to her drill, "Is moving counter to your own!" finished the demon as she increased the velocity of her spell. The crimson spiral in her hand began to spin faster and faster, causing Neptune's body to spin with her drill before being forced away from the attack and being sent flying in the opposite direction.
Neptune could do nothing- she was overwhelmed. Quickly descending, she crashed into the ground and left a crater where her body had landed. Weakly, she managed to stand up and look at the enemy before her. While she had taken damage, this wasn't nearly enough to actually fell a goddess. Just as she was about to stand back up, deep-crimson vines bound her in place. She looked on in horror as her bonds grew thorns- piercing her skin and causing her blood to seep from her body. The CPU looked up as the black-haired demon descended toward her. At last, the demon had expelled its cloak of black fire. When the demon had finally reached the ground, Neptune asked, "Wh-What are you?"
The demon said nothing for a moment, apparently trying to decide on whether it wanted to tell Neptune or not. "I only hit you because you killed a few of my subjects. We're here on some important business and will try not to cause you or your people any trouble." Looking down at the CPU with a disgusted face, the demon added, "Though I think a goddess of all people should actually try to consult with someone before trying to blast them clear out of the sky."
The CPU was skeptical, unsure of whether or not she could trust this newcomer. "What is your reason for coming here? I won't allow demons to simply waltz about Gamindustri like it's their playground."
Raising an eyebrow, the demon asked, "Are you sure you understand your predicament? All I want is to find something called a CPU Memory. If I heard right, it's a gem that can grant someone the power to become a CPU or something like that right?" Seeing Neptune's puzzled and concerned expression, the demon sighed. "I need the power of a goddess to heal my mother. My old man told me it's not good to ask the gods for help so I figured I'd get a CPU memory and use it on her-"
"You musn't!" Neptune yelled.
"Wh-Whoa!" the demon immediately leaped back at the urgency in Neptune's voice. "G-Geez, what's your problem? It's not like I'm here to massacre a village or anything."
"You musn't use that memory," warned Neptune. "A CPU Memory can only be wielded by someone deemed worthy. If you're not, the memory will turn you into a horrible creature. What's more is that the results are permanent!"
The demon seemed surprised by this bit of news, so much so that she snapped her fingers- causing the vines that bound Neptune to the ground to disappear into black mist. "I-I see. Well then, I guess I'll be going then. I guess I'll have to find some other kind of divine relic." With that, the black-haired demon turned to walk away, but before she could, Neptune grabbed onto her wrist. Looking down at the CPU, she asked, "What? Still wanna fight? Look, I didn't mean anything by coming here and since the relics in your world are useless, I'm gonna look somewhere else. Problem solved right?"
Neptune shook her head. "Wrong. You said you need the power of a goddess right? Why not let me help you? In exchange," eyeing the demon girl's palms, she added, "I want you to teach me some of your fighting skills. You're certainly no pushover from what I saw."
The demon girl had to think about it for a moment before laughing to herself hysterically. "A-A demon teaching a goddess 'moves?' I get it, you're a looney goddess right?" Shaking Neptune's hand off of her wrist, she crossed her arms and said, "I think you've forgotten that we're natural enemies. It wouldn't be good for your social status or whatever if anyone found out that an overlord like me was associated with you."
Neptune shook her head. "You don't seem like a bad person and you need my help. Even if we're enemies, it's a goddess's duty to help those in need."
The black-haired demon stared at Neptune incredulously before sighing with defeat. "Just have to be the hero eh? Your kind is creepy, but I guess I'm cool with that. I guess it'd be better to use the proper cure instead of substitute." Smiling a bit, the young overlord helped Neptune up and said, "My name's Umbra. I'm an overlord from the Netherworld called Absolana. Who're you?"
Shaking her hand, the CPU replied, "CPU Neptune- the lone CPU of this Gamindustri. It's a pleasure."
Umbra and Neptune remained that way for a moment before laughing the situation off. Indeed, from this fateful encounter, a new friendship had been born; however, it was also the beginning of a horrible tragedy.
An Afterword From the Tome of Time: You've learned yet another piece of the truth. Though enemies for a moment, the young overlord Umbra had become friends with the Neptune of another Gamindustri. What exactly is the "great tragedy" I speak of? That, is a story for another day.
Author's Notes: The last backstory chapter for now, though this concludes the truth fragments of this part of the "game." We won't be seeing these again for a while, but that aside, we can finally move on to the main story! Please look forward to it! ^_^
P.S. Just as a side note, for this Neptune's design- think the thrown out design of the older-looking Neptune in the HDN and Mk2 artbooks but with silvery-white hair and blue eyes. CPU form is Purple Heart for the most part aside from the costume change.
Next Time - Stage 6. Imprisoned