A/N: To my utter disappointment, I have no choice to announce that this Hyperdimension Neptunia fic is being cancelled. Please enjoy this last chapter that I've written up before I label this fic as cancelled.

Chapter 21 - Lowee's Newtype

Day 42

Leanbox - hotel

It was the middle of the night when Soren woke up. For a moment, he was puzzled on why he woke up until his eyes landed on IF sleeping in the other bed. 'Ugh, that's right. I was supposed to check for something…'

Soren got out of bed, and making sure that IF was still sound asleep, went over to her coat that was hanging on a chair. Then he started searching the pockets for something specific, something that took longer than he expected.

"Shoot, how many pockets does this coat have?"

Eventually, he found what he was looking for: the vial of poison that he saw Yvoire had the other night. If Soren didn't know any better, he would've thought it was water in a corked vial, though that did give him an idea.

"Yes, that might work. Sorry If, I'd like to trust you, but I'd rather be on the safe side in this case…" With that, he quietly left the room, vial in hand.

Leanbox - streets

"Hey Ren, there's a message for you from Touma in Lowee."

The party were walking through the streets when one of IF's phones beeped to signify a text message. Seeing what it had, she gave the phone to Soren, who took it with a bit of reluctance. Reading the message however, changed his tone as he muttered, "So, the items are finally done."

"Items? What items?" Compa asked.

"Ah, I was busy helping Touma with something a few weeks ago. Looks like things worked this time. I don't want to remember the previous attempts, ugh…"

The other girls were confused by that when Neptune remembered something from back then. "Hey, wasn't that the time where something came to life or something and-"

"Neptune, please stop." Soren interrupted, "I really don't want to remember it."

"But-"

"Ehbit."

"Bu-"

"Ehbibit."

"…Tch, fine. Be that way. Still, I wonder what this item is?"

"Don't worry about it. What Touma made will definitely help us. We need to get over there as soon as possible to pick it up."

"Well, you're in luck, as today is a Terraportation day between Lowee and Leanbox." Compa told him, "We can go over there right now. That's okay, right Iffy?"

"Eh? Ah, yes. It seems that the monster population is somewhat under control, so no new leads have popped up." IF replied, if rather hastily.

Soren raised an eyebrow at IF's tone, but sighed, "Okay then, let's head back to the hotel to sign out before heading over to the Sky Harbor."

Lowee - forest

"Ah ha ha ha hah! I've finally found you."

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me…" Soren muttered as everyone turned to see the witch from before walk towards them.

"Whoa, another stalker!" Neptune pointed out, "What's up with your laugh, seriously?-! What do you want?"

"Right, you wouldn't remember. I am the notorious Overlord Momus' messenger!"

"…Are you serious…?" Soren narrowed his eyes at the witch, as the girls tensed up at the news.

"Your act is a grievous sin against the great Overlord! You'll go no further until you face your punishment!"

"Oh, and what punishment would that be?" Neptune asked.

"The one that is permanent. Death!" The witch materialized her spear and prepared to attack.

"Like that's gonna happen! Rraaaggh!" Soren hissed as Yukihira deployed around him, and he charged straight at the witch before anyone could act.

The witch instinctively brought up her weapon to block, but was caught off guard by the pure power that Soren put into his attack. The spear didn't break, but it did send her flying into a tree, hitting it with a crunch.

"…Wow, is something wrong with Ren? Not like I'm complaining or anything, but…" Neptune asked, sounding like a certain tsundere without the stutter.

Seeing Soren fight like a Berserker was rather odd, leaving the witch totally on the defensive. IF winced as Soren delivered another painful attack to the witch as she replied, "I dunno. He looked stressed lately, so maybe he's taking it all out on her?"

"Um, shouldn't we help?" Compa asked.

IF was about to reply when she heard another crunch. "Uh, we should, but I really don't want to get in between that. Besides, we should let Soren let out his stress on the enemy, and I'm curious about that Infinite Stratos thingy of his too…"

Neptune and Compa didn't feel right about that and the former was about to say something too when she saw Soren give the witch an uppercut. "Uh, yeah, we should stay put and watch."

The witch was given a thorough beat down before Soren gave up due to exhaustion. To everyone's surprise, the witch was still alive, though it did look like she was on her last legs. "Ugh…so this is the power of Infinite Stratos. Still, I can't unleash my full potential in this frail, temporary form. Guh…"

"…Where exactly did you hear about Infinite Stratos?" Soren finally asked after taking a few deep breaths.

"Wouldn't you like to know…" The witch spat before she retreated, vanishing before their eyes.

Everyone blinked at the sudden vanishing act as Yukihira's frame vanished, returning to standby mode. Suddenly, Neptune snapped her fingers as she said, "Wait, we've totally seen her before, right? So, she's the Overlord's messenger…"

"Tch, some messenger. I don't know what those heretics are afraid of." Soren looked miffed, but calm now.

"Hey, you took her off guard with your Berserker attacks. Besides that, you feeling better now?" IF asked.

"Yeah, I guess Arf was right. Beating the crap out of stuff really makes for a great stress reliever. Anyhow, since the messenger is real, I guess this Overlord is too?"

"But we still don't know if it's a big lie or not. For all we know the messenger is just making up stories." Compa replied, "But, she does know Nep-Nep and keeps popping up. Yet another Nep-Nep addict!"

"I hope not." IF did not look thrilled at the news as she folded her arms. "Why don't any of them go after someone besides Nep? Someone more…worth stalking?"

"Like the goddesses?" Soren suggested.

"Yeah, like the goddesses."

Day 48

Lowee - mushroom field

"Oooh, so pretty and green…" Neptune cooed as she held up a green crystal the size of a baseball.

"Please put it away Neptune. I don't want you accidentally using it, wasting it in the process." Soren told her.

"But it's so pretty and glittery. It makes me want to look at it all day."

"You better listen to him, Nep." IF scolded, "Xelfer Crystals are very hard to make on Lowee. I'm surprised that Touma managed to make them, even with your help."

"…After how many tries at failure, and all those bottles of Reflex wasted." Soren shook his head at the memory before brushing it aside.

"…To be honest, it's my first time seeing a Xelfer Crystal, even though it was talked about back in school." Compa suddenly said, taking out her own crystal. "They're really effective healing items, but the complex method of making them makes them impractical to mass-produce, even though it requires only two ingredients."

"A hundred bottles of Reflex and an infusion of pure mana." Soren added before shivering. "Not to mention the high failure rate…"

"It's funny though, the fact that Xelfer is just Reflex spelled backwards."

"Well, the creators did not have much of an imagination when they came up with that name for their invention."

That's when Neptune looked up and around, asking, "Hey, where are we?"

The party had wandered into a mushroom field, though the mushrooms were not regular sized, not to mention they were different colors. It was something out of place in a snowy field.

"Whoa, looky! There's a ton of mushrooms here!"

"We can see that Neptune. Besides, these aren't normal ones. Makes me wonder what this place is exactly." Soren said dryly.

"Well, there's a sign over there," IF pointed out and walked over to it. "Huh, it says 'Welcome to Shroom Kingdom. All visitors stay out!' Okay…"

"Wow, what a welcoming sign. Really advertises the tourism of this place."

"Oh, don't be like that Soren. Besides, they must make real tasty mushroom dishes!" Compa admonished, before she spotted something. "Oh, hey, a turtle!"

What approached them was a dragon-thingy with a turtle shell, having chains and piercing. Neptune couldn't help comment, "That's one mighty big turtle… Will eating mushrooms make 'em grow like that?"

"I don't think that's a turtle Neptune…" Soren eyed the dragon turtle, seeing a spout of flame come out of it's nostrils.

"I am a carnivore! I don't eat no shrooms!" The dragon turtle roared.

Hearing that put everyone on guard as Neptune looked a bit nervous. "H-He talked! Is it a monster…?"

"I ain't no monster! I am Wowser, King of the Woopa Twoopa, and ruler of Shroom Kingdom!"

"Well, at least it explains the sign." Soren muttered.

"Wowser? You're just a spiky-shelled turtle, right?" IF asked, looking skeptical.

"Did you just make fun of me?-! You did, didn't you?-! Raaawr!" A blast of flame erupted from Wowser's mouth before she spat three fireballs at them, making the four duck.

"Whoa, did he just spit three fireballs at us?-!" Compa cried out.

"Way to speak the obvious Compa! I think one of them nicked me!" Soren was busy patting his head, putting out the small flame in his hair.

"Right. That's one angry turtle-thingy. He's obviously dangerous." IF was about to pull out her weapons when all of a sudden, Wowser turned around and started walking backwards cautiously. "Hey, where's he going?"

"Come back here, Wowser!"

"Stooop!"

Everyone turned to see two men running towards them, one wearing red, while the other wore green. Wowser gave a 'tsk' and growled, "Them again? I better leave…"

To everyone's surprise, Wowser leaped away, jumping much higher and farther than his large body would suggest. Neptune was one to say something about that. "Whoa, didja see that?-! What sorta turtle can leap like a froggy?"

"Not a normal one, that's for sure." IF replied.

"Th-That was scary though. What's going on in this trippy place?" Compa asked, still shaken from Wowser's appearance.

"Who knows." IF then started sniffing and subconsciously licked her lips. "Hmm…? Something smells…really good…"

"Yeah… It's making me hungry. What could it be?"

"Food, it must be food!" Neptune cheered.

The girls followed their noses until their eyes landed on the mushrooms hit by the fireballs. Compa pointed them out, "Oh! The mushrooms hit by that turtle's fireballs are all perfectly grilled."

"…Huh." Was all IF could muster.

"Mmm, grilled mushrooms." Neptune drooled, looking at the cooked vegetables.

"As much as I'd like to pick them, we'd better…hey, where's Ren?"

"Munch…munch…"

The girls followed the sound until they saw Soren eating a grilled mushroom, a sauce packet in hand. He froze in mid-chew as the girls looked at him. He gave a gulp before saying, "Uh, you girls want one?"

Everyone was silent before IF face palmed. "You know, I expected something like this from Nep, not from you Ren."

Lowee - forest

The party was walking through another forest on their way to another job when Compa suddenly said, "You know, we haven't seen that tomboyish girl yet. She might be training for her next attempt to woo us…"

"Woo us? Don't you mean assault us?" Soren asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, she's too young for that yet. Only teenagers and adults can assault others."

"Uh…huh…"

IF looked between them before saying, "Compa's logic aside, we should capture her and ask what Nep did to her next time. She's gotta know something."

"How're we gonna do that? She's kinda tough, y'know? I dunno if we can capture her all that easily." Neptune pondered.

"It's simple really. I just came up with it earlier today in fact."

"Oh? What is it?" Compa asked.

"Well-"

"Oh, sorry Iffy, looks like you're gonna have to tell us on the fly. The Newtype's here!" Neptune pointed out.

Blanc appeared before them again, landing from a leap. She looked rather pleased at their presence. "…Neptune…I'm so glad to see you. I thought you left Lowee already."

"Actually, we just got back yesterday, but whatever."

"Heh…all the more reason…that I won't let you go! I'll defeat you here Neptune!" Again, Blanc assumed her fighting stance as her axe and Processor Units appeared.

"If it's a fight you want, we'll give you one! Let's go everyone!" Neptune transformed as everyone drew their weapons. Predictably, Blanc went after Neptune first,

During the fight, Soren was about to go after Blanc next when IF held him back. "Hold on Ren."

"What is If?" Soren hissed as Neptune went for another attack, seeing IF hold him back.

"It's about the plan earlier, you see I…"

After whispering the plan to him, Soren looked at IF with a raised eyebrow. "Is that alright?"

"It's all I got. I'll tell you when to move in."

"Gotcha."

The fight went on, until Neptune smashed Blanc with a Neptune Break finisher. Having her energy spent, Neptune reverted back to her normal form, but that didn't stop her from going after Blanc. "Get her get her get her get her! Her guard's down! Goooooo!"

"You bet! Get her from both sides!" Compa cried out.

"…Wha-urk?-!" Blanc was still trying to get up when Neptune and Compa jumped on her, causing a scuffle. Soren wondered what to do now as IF tried to restore order.

"Stop that! She's not a stray cat. She's a just a girl. We shouldn't gang up on her like this! We're gonna do this the proper way."

"The proper way?" Neptune asked as she and Compa got off Blanc. Before the Lowee goddess could react, she found herself being held up by Soren in his IS. She tried to struggle out of his grip, but it was too strong.

"Hey! Lemme go, damnit!"

"So this is the proper way? I kinda like this."

"You shouldn't say stuff like that Nep-Nep."

"I feel like a bully for some reason." Soren muttered as he kept his grip on the struggling Blanc. "Hold still you!"

"Like hell I will! Let me go damn you!"

"Whew, finally! Iffy's gonna interrogate the heck outta ya, so you best be prepared to cry and confess!"

"Just confessing. No crying is necessary. I feel bad enough as it is, holding her like this."

"Hey, d-don't put this on me!" IF shouted, but resigned herself as she turned her attention to Blanc. "Nep can't remember her past. Please tell her anything you know. From elementary school, ideally."

"Really? We'll probably be here all day in that case." Soren added.

"Iffy, Ren!" Neptune shouted, looking a bit embarrassed.

"Tch, I don't know anything!" Blanc then surprised Soren by pushing him back with her body before smashing his head with a head butt. The attack didn't do any damage due to the IS' energy barrier, but it did surprise Soren that he let go of her. Blanc then made her escape after picking up her axe, leaving the four by themselves. However, there was one thing Blanc wondered about.

"What the heck was that armor thing?"

"Aw, damn it!" IF cursed, before looking at Neptune and Compa. "She probably clammed up since you two jumped her like delinquents! Now we'll probably never gonna get anything out of her."

"I doubt she would've said anything anyway." Soren said as he dematerialized Yukihira. "She seemed to be the really stubborn type. We'd be in this forest all day trying to get her to talk if she didn't run off."

"…I guess you have a point. Oh well, there's always next time, considering the number of times she came after us." IF slumped before looking in another direction. "C'mon, we still have a job to get to, so we'll worry about all this after."

Lowee - forest (they sure have a lot of these, don't they?)

We now return to Blanc, who's back in human form after her energy for HDD ran out. Shivering against the cold, she had gotten lost after running away from Neptune and the others and was busy muttering to herself. "…I get so hungry in the human world. It's really uncomfortable, along with this frickin' cold."

Blanc held her coat tighter as she trudged through the snow. "…I can't even stay transformed for long after every battle with those four idiots, it's really annoying…" She then gave a snort as a thought came to her. "…How ironic for me to get lost in my own forest and starve to death on my own land…? How ridiculous…"

It seems Blanc's temper is starting to build up as she walks through the snowy forest. Wonder how long it'll be before she blows?

"It's…all Neptune's damn fault."

And there she goes, blaming Neptune.

"…I'm concerned about the Extremists' actions lately. This is the absolute worst time to be away from the Basilicom. This…is also Neptune's damn fault."

Now it seems Blanc's starting to hallucinate. Funny, one would think that would happen on a hot day, not a cold one.

"…Walking in the snow is hard as shit. This is probably that damn Neptune's fault too!"

Wow, seems Blanc's cursing Neptune for just about everything. What's next, blaming her for Lowee's snow?

"And I bet it's that damn Neptune's fault to that I'm hearing this annoying as hell voice!"

Yup, as expec-wait, what?

"You heard me. What the heck are you? A figment of my imagination?"

Uh, this is not the voice you are hearing for…

"What kind of crap is that? …Oh jeez, I'm fighting with an imaginary voice. Things must've really gone to shit."

And one would think Noire was snippy…

"…So you talk to her too? Glad to hear you're not just a figment of my imagination. Shit it's cold…" Blanc kicks some snow away from her shoes.

From the way you're dressed, it's surprising that you're not sick already.

"…You calling me a slut?-!" Blanc then promptly tripped on a root, sending her face first into the snow. Getting up, she seethed as she brushed snow off herself. "Ugh, damn it! Today's been crap! This is all that Neptune's damn fault!"

"Um, did someone say my name? Compa?" Neptune's voice called out.

"No, not me. I think it's coming from over there. It might be a lost child…I'll go take a look!" Compa replied as crunching sounds start to approach Blanc.

"Hey wait, I'm coming too!" Soren's voice added, "For all we know it could be a monster or two."

"Tch?-! …What?" Blanc couldn't believe she was found by the people she wanted to see the least before she tried to adopt a surprised expression. Compa and Soren showed up a moment later, and when the former saw Blanc, she immediately rushed over to her.

"A girl! Her hands are freezing… Were you walking through the forest alone? It's okay, we'll take you to town." Compa immediately wraps her arms around Blanc in a attempt to warm her up, while Soren notices the tracks the goddess made.

"…I'm fine. I can walk on my own. Go away." Blanc tries to get out of Compa's grip, but the peach-haired girl's grip is surprisingly strong.

"Are you sure about that?" Soren asked, but Compa's reaction was more extreme.

"No can do! There a lot of monsters wandering around. It's so dangerous! Dangerous, you hear me? Just let me know where you live and we'll help you get there. Don't be shy! Come with us."

"For some reason, I couldn't take you seriously at that moment, Compa."

"I said to leave me the hell alone! I don't need a frickin' pity party!" Blanc continued to struggle, but didn't need to as Compa let go in reaction to her coarse language.

"H-Huh? Listen to yourself… A cute girl should never talk like that!"

"Heh, makes me wonder who her parents are." Soren smirked, when they heard more crunching noises.

"Whassup, Compa? You find someone? Oooh, is this her? Is she lost?" Neptune asked, with IF behind her. For some reason, the latter's tuning everything out, focusing on her phone.

"N-Neptune…! Anyway, I'm leaving. Bye." Blanc tried to leave, but Compa reacted fast and attached herself to the goddess. Meanwhile, Soren raised an eyebrow when he heard Blanc say Neptune's name, but kept silent about it.

"Absolutely no can do! It's safer to stick with us. I'm gonna be a very mad Compa if you don't listen." Compa was persistent in not letting Blanc go again.

"You're lost, huh? Stay with us, okies? It's much safer. Otherwise, Compa's gonna have a lotta sleepless nights worrying about you." Neptune said with a nod.

"Why don't I care about that?" Soren mused.

"Don't say that Ren! If Compa has sleepless nights, she might do something by mistake, like stab you in the butt with her needle during battle!"

"…Alright girl, let's get you back to town ASAP. No time to lose!"

"…I told you to leave me alone. I'm not lost. I can get back by myself, dammit." Blanc grumbled, her struggles continuing to go on.

"You don't have to act tough. Captain Iffy! We've taken a lost girl hostage and stuff!" Neptune announced.

IF looked up from her texting to look at the situation. "…You did what? Found someone? Then let's take her back with us real quick. I'm starting to get cold."

"Agreed! Let's get back to town. All hands, retreat!" Everyone started to move at Neptune's words, with Blanc still struggling the entire way.

"Hey, listen to me, dammit! Are you kidding me?-! Lemme go!" Blanc kept on trying, until her stomach rumbled, indicating that she was really hungry.

Everyone paused hearing that, until they started walking again as Compa said, "Oh, are you hungry? Don't worry, we'll fix you something to eat when we get back to town. In the meantime, do you have something for her to nibble on, Soren?"

"Why me?" Soren asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, Iffy carries the money instead of food, and Nep-Nep would've eaten anything we've given her."

"Hey! I'm not that bad!" Neptune protested.

"Well, okay…" Soren fished out a tangerine nutrition bar from his Storage Device and held it out to her. "Here, it's not much, but it'll help until we reach town."

Seeing the food in front of her, Blanc took it with hesitation while mumbling, "Thanks…"

"I'll help too! Maybe I should sing to keep your mind off of hunger." Neptune started, "I'm a Nep-Nep girl, in a-"

Immediately, Soren moved to cover Neptune's mouth before another word could come out. "Heck no Neptune. My ears still bleed from that serenade you tried to give us back in Leanbox in an attempt to help us relax!"

"Don't we know it." IF muttered.

"No singing, nothing. Just keep quiet, got it?"

Neptune nodded and Soren removed her hand. At the same time, Blanc remarked through chews, "Huh? How interesting…"

A/N: APRIL FOOLS! Just kidding, as if I'd cancel this thing. If there's one thing that I stand by, it's that as long as I'm alive, none of my fics have been cancelled, with an example being my Gundam Seed Destiny story. I haven't updated it in a while mostly due to the rewrite and a lack of interest. So anyway, I'm back, though updates are going to be sporadic at best. I was supposed to have a whole bunch of chapters together, but an old PS3 game called Demon's Souls caught my interest and ate up my time.

Interestingly enough, I preordered Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2 over a month ago and I have it now, but for some weird reason, I haven't even taken it out of the plastic yet. Ha, thinking about it, it's probably because of this fic. I want to finish this before I start playing, else I might lose interest all together. Oh well, I'll get around to it eventually, though I might still use pinrose's walkthrough videos as a base for HIN Mk2. So thanks to those who read/reviewed, and look forward to the next chapter! (01/04/2012)