Hyperdimension Neptunia: the Flame Guardianes
A/N: Sorry for lack of updates, I've been pretty lazy about updates recently, but I'll try to update every or every other week. But please enjoy!
Chapter 5:
The Battle of Lowee
It had been nearly a week since the rescue at the eggplant field, and while the room had been fixed up, there was one thing that still was on Nepgear's mind…
Why was Ranger not talking to them?
It wasn't like the silent treatment, he literally wasn't even showing his face, he was just holed up in his room on the Swifte Flame, not even answering when Nepgear knocked, and it really worried her. Neptune was optimistic, as always, saying that he'll break out of his shell, and Histore said that maybe he has more pressing matters to attend to, but she wasn't sure.
Nepgear knew better.
Obviously, it was his sudden burst of anger and violence, he seemed like that wasn't ever supposed to happen, and Nepgear knew it. Just the fact it happened was enough to make that all she could think about, and it gnawed at her. Nepgear finally decided to ask Hana why he was acting that way.
"Never really thought about it, but I'm sure he's fine." Hana said,
"Though I think he's upset, he doesn't want to talk to anyone, and I'm the only one allowed in his quarters now… I'm worried." She then patted Nepgear on the head, and continued on her business.
Today was the day. Today, Nepgear had the day off, so she decided to see just what was up with Ranger (she was surprised Neptune hadn't already) and see if she could help. Walking down the maze of halls and chambers that was the Swifte Flame, finally arriving at the reinforced double doors that led to Ranger's quarters. Gathering all her courage, she heaved, and pushed open the doors, which were, for some reason, unlocked. Stepping through, the first thing she noticed was the lights were off, the second thing, was the desk that Ranger sat at, his back turned to her.
"Um… hi?" Nepgear said, not knowing what to do, she started to walk forward, about 3 feet, when Ranger spoke, his voice coarse and rough:
"So, you came. I unlocked the door for you, since you were so intent on speaking to me." The room smelled of sweat, and the air was thick and heavy. The stuffiness of the room made Nepgear almost gag. On one of the walls, large slabs of pegboard were hung, displaying weapons, mostly guns and knives, along with some assorted tactical items as well.
"G-goodness, I was so worried about you, I wanted to check on you and see if you were-" Nepgear was cut off when ranger said, rather aggressively,
"And why do you care? Why does anyone care? You saw what I'm truly like, so go on. Say it. I'm a monster, I'm insane. SAY IT!" Shouting the last part, Ranger turned, and stared Nepgear in the eyes.
Normally, all of Nepgear's composure would have been lost at him shouting, but something kept her from giving in. She was here on a mission. And she would succeed, no matter what.
"No! You've been acting weird, and I want to know why! I won't leave until you tell me the truth!" This… surprised Ranger, whose expression shifted, before erupting into a burst of anger.
"You want to know the truth? Fine. Here's the truth!" Slamming the knife he was holding into the desk in front of him, the blade sticking into the surface about a millimeter, and Ranger standing up and began pacing.
"I've been like this for 12. FUCKIN'. Years. Nobody cred, I just… I guess I couldn't take it anymore. I almost… snapped. I lost my mind, and thank god Hana was there, or I would've probably killed innocent people." He looked at Nepgear, his eyes glazed over,
"You know what? Just go. Just. GO. I'll be… fine. You have more important things to worry about than some sad, fucked up excuse for a man". Nepgear stood there, then turned around and began walking out of the room. Just before she closed the door, she looked over her shoulder, and said
"I'm worried about you, and I care about you. No matter what".
And at that, she gently closed the door.
When Nepgear exited the Swifte Flame, Neptune, in her CPU form, was waiting for her.
"Neptune? What's this all about?" Nepgear asked
"Blanc called. Lowee is under attack, and she requested the help of the other CPUs." Neptune began to fly away, but noticed Nepgear's sudden change of expression.
"Nep J.R.? What's wrong?" Neptune asked, hovering back to her younger sister.
"Sis… he… he's not gonna help." Nepgear began crying as she said this, looking back at the massive vessel.
"No need to feel sorry, Nep J.R., there's a lot of things that are out of your control. This is one of them. Don't worry. He'll come to soon enough." Upon hearing that, Nepgear nodded, and then transformed, flying away with her sister.
Though both CPUs never saw this coming.
Downtown Lowee was a full-blown warzone, homes were set ablaze, and a solid cloud of smoke rose from the city. As Nepgear, Neptune, Noire, Uni, and Vert flew at full speed towards the war-torn country.
"Seems like we're just in time to the party." Noire said, looking down at the lines. The battle lines were formed in rings around the Basilicom, the residential area, and the downtown area, the outer ring, downtown, was where most of the fighting was.
"It seems that we should aid the outer ring, as that is seeing the most resistance." Vert commented.
"I agree, but I feel like we should find Blanc, and work from there." Neptune said looking down at the second ring. Then two figures came rushing up towards the 5 CPUs.
"Rom! Ram!" Nepgear and Uni shouted, almost in sync.
"Hey guys! You're just in time!" Ram shouted.
"Just in time…" the shyer, quieter Rom repeated. The two were fighting off any attackers from the air, as there were a few monsters that were coming from the air.
"The front line needs the most help, so go help them take town those dummies!" Ram shouted, acting tough, yet she and Rom were on air patrol, which was kind of demeaning for CPUs. As the quintet of goddesses went to aid the front line, the commander of the line shouted
"The front line is down! Fall back and aid mid line! Go go go!" At this point, it was a free-for-all battle to the second line. All hell broke loose, soldiers dashing to the line behind them, and opposing monsters and soldiers raising hell, burning every shop they could find.
"We should aid the second line, they're going to need the most help." Nepgear stated as the second line began defending.
"Agreed" Neptune said, as the CPUs began executing as many monsters as they could.
Meanwhile, back at Planeptune's Basilicom, Compa, IF, and Histore were watching the news at the second line.
"As you can see, the monster incursion has worsened, and we have no way of telling how this will play out. However, the other CPUs have arrived to support. However, we don't know anything else at the moment. Back to you." The news then switched to weather, and a conversation broke out.
"Do you think Nep-Nep and the others will be enough?" Compa asked, nervously.
"I hope so, the guild in Lowee said that all available agents are aiding the inner ring, outside the Basilicom." IF said, checking one of her many phones. As she finished speaking, the room began to shake.
"A tremor!?" IF screamed
"No. Planeptune doesn't even have earthquakes, so there must be another explanation for this" Histore said in her usual, tuxedo way of speaking.
"So… what IS happening?" IF asked. Before anybody could answer, the Swifte Flame appeared at the window, hovered for a second, then turned, and blasted off towards Lowee, and cloaked after getting a reasonable distance from the Basilicom. As that happened, the news turned back to the battle, the reporter saying, rather worriedly,
"The situation has worsened, as there are now what appears to be fighter jets dropping fire bombs, and there seems to be no way to stop them. This may be our darkest hour." As the news feed was cut off by static interference, IF turned towards the battle and said
"Hang in there Nep. Help is on the way."
Back at the battlefield, Nepgear and the other CPUs fought with all their strength, energy, and valor, yet soldiers and monsters kept approaching, getting tougher and tougher.
"Man, we're not making any progress, these things keep coming!" Noire shouted to the others, annoyed. She was right. There seemed to be no end to the swarm that presented itself to the line of warriors.
"LOOK OUT!" one of the soldiers cried, pointing up. Sure enough, there was a fighter jet, heading straight for the CPUs.
"Oh shi-" was all that could come out of Vert's mouth before she was struck with a rocket from the attacker. As the green-haired CPU flew away, another jet came in for a strafe run, firing missiles, each time getting closer, and closer to the goddesses.
Just as it was about to hit the CPUs, the jet's wing exploded, and came crashing down, landing behind its target. Looking up, all of the other jets met the same fate, exploding mid-air. After a second, the Swifte Flame ant its fleet of VTOL warships appeared, deactivating their optical camouflage. The VTOL closest to the goddesses opened its side door as it descended to meet them. Inside was Ranger and a group of soldiers.
"Ranger… you came." Nepgear said, tears of joy starting to appear in her eyes.
"Ha-ha. You thought I would leave you for dead, my friend?" Ranger yelled over the roar of the VTOL's jets. Ranger, along with the soldiers, jumped out of their warship. H then turned to the CPUs and said
"We must get to the Basilicom. This battle is a diversion. Someone or something is after Lowee's Sharicite, and it's up to us to stop them." Turning to the squad behind him, he began speaking,
"This is Z.E.D. Alpha 1 team. These are the best of the best… of the best. The greatest soldiers in the world." Looking back at the CPUs, he told the squad
"The CPUs are your superiors, and their orders are final. Unless I say so, of course." Speaking to the group as a whole, he half-shouted
"Now let's kick ass!" the soldiers let out a "U-RA!" in unison and charged, with Ranger, towards the Basilicom. Shrugging, the CPUs following after, Neptune picking up Vert along the way. Pushing back to the Basilicom, Ranger slowed down, allowing Nepgear to catch up.
"I thought about what you said." Ranger said to Nepgear. "And I realized there's no reason to hide. It was… an off day for me. I promise, I won't do stupid shit like that again."
"Apology accepted." Nepgear said, smiling. They arrived at the door, and Ranger opened the door, motioning for the others to follow. The group had been walking for about 30 seconds, when Ranger grabbed his walkie-talkie, and so it
"Blanc, where's Mina? And where are you?" A few seconds passed, then the radio began to emit static, then Blanc said, over the radio,
"The room with the Sharicite. Some asshole is trying to get in here. Where are you guys?" Blanc sounded more than annoyed, and banging was heard.
"We're inside the Basilicom. Where is the Sharicite?" Ranger asked. At this point, the banging was audible from where the team was. And, over the radio, Blanc said, rather quickly
"In the conference room. There's a room behind the screen." After Blanc said that, a loud boom was heard, and Ranger shouted
"Blanc's in trouble, let's move!" And the entire team rushed towards the conference room. Upon kicking the door open, the team was met with heavy fire from enemy soldiers. Ducking behind a tipped over table, Ranger shouted:
"Take them out! Shoot to kill! Nepgear, with me!" and the team opened fire. Nepgear, following Ranger to the hidden door, or rather, hole, as it had been breached by C4. Inside the room, a man stood over Blanc, who was knocked unconscious by the blast. He held a syringe, hooked up to some device, and was about to pierce Blanc. Drawing his sword, Ranger charged forward, and sliced the device and syringe in half, and turned to face his opponent. The man pulled out a sizeable machete, and the two began fighting. Nepgear aided Ranger, shooting the man in the back, causing him to drop the machete. However, he instead pulled a strange looking gun, and shot Ranger with it. The gun was a "Pulse Gun" as it shot out a wave, throwing Ranger back, right onto the Sharicite. He then turned around, and shot Nepgear, throwing her onto her back. He then pulled a more traditional gun, a revolver and put it to Nepgear's head.
Ranger, who had dropped his sword, with his right arm stuck on the still floating Sharicite, which was rotating and acting like a drill, slowly digging into his shoulder. He pulled his magnum pistol out, and was aiming it at this man, who now had stood up, and shouted at Nepgear
"CPUs… YOUR KIND. IS. FINISHED!" and then, a gunshot was heard. Nepgear closed her eyes, awaiting her fate. The sound of a body hitting the floor was heard, and Nepgear opened her eyes. The man was dead, a hole in the back of his head. Looking up, Nepgear saw Ranger on the Sharicite, and quickly rushed towards him, pulling the warrior off the crystal. Within seconds, the blood on Lowee's Sharicite has evaporated, leaving no trace. Ranger picked up his gun and sword. He sheathed them, and walked towards the corpse in front of him. At that point, the team and other CPUs had finished off the enemy, and had walked into the room. The first thing Noire did was check on Blanc, who had woken up.
"Asshole had it comin'" Blanc said, Looking at the dead body. One of the soldiers had checked the corpse for anything useful. Another picked up the device that the man was going to use on Blanc. The soldier checking the corpse said
"I found a phone, there are several messages relayed on it."
"Good" Ranger said, one of the soldiers patching up the massive wound on Ranger's shoulder. The group then left the Basilicom, the battle won for today.
Back at Planeptune's Basilicom, the news was doing a report on the battle.
"The assault on the nation of Lowee has ended, all soldiers retreated out of the nation, after the group, as we now known is called the Flame Guardianes, has saved us. Now, back to the station." The trio watching celebrated the victory, knowing that an entire nation was just saved.
However, no human, CPU, or Flame Guardiane could ever know what lay ahead of them. As nothing could prepare them for what they were about to find out.
That was easily the longest chapter I have ever done. I apologize for the lack of updates. I start the "Three Days of Insanity tomorrow, so there will be little to no writing for me, so hopefully I get another chapter in before school starts back up.
Until next time!