Planeptune central main bridge, 10am
Faith is like a virus. It infiltrates, adapts, takes control, and much like a virus, faith can mutate.
In Planeptune, there was a grave mutation going on.
One CPU was enough to stir the nation, but two was enough to shake it. Able to cover more ground and inspire more people, the duo of Uzume and Kurome was taking Planeptune by storm. After a long, arduous fortnight of stirring up chaos and shifting the faith of the people, it was time to strike. To take control, no, take back the nation. The twin CPUs shared many things; a former nation, an appearance, a weapon, and a great love for the other.
There was another, more sinister force behind the sudden popularity of the twin CPUs. The sword Uzume had been gifted with, the Valhaburn, shared many of the properties of Noire's sword, the Gehaburn. Including the corrupting effect it had on those around it. Though it was a different kind of corruption, corruption is corruption nonetheless. The citizens of Planeptune prayed to their CPU en masse, yet she stayed silent, unmoving. The perfect opportunity for the two Orange Hearts to appear and soak up their faith instead. The effect was noticeable from the start. The two felt fresher, more alive, invigorated. This growing passion only steeled their resolve.
And by the True Goddess, they would need it.
"FAKE CPU OF PLANEPTUNE, LISTEN TO ME!" Kurome bellowed, clearly putting her all into sound cool "WE, THE ORANGE HEARTS, OWN THIS NATION. IT'S OURS, AND WE'RE GONNA TAKE IT BACK. WE'RE NOT EVIL, HOWEVER, AND WE WILL GIVE YOU EXACTLY TWO HOURS TO SURRENDER." Stepping down from the podium, Kurome had a VERY self-satisifed smirk on her face, a smirk that only furthered Uzume's adoration of her.
Planeptune Basilicom, 10:15am
"This is quite the predicament" Histy said to herself, sipping away at tea at random intervals. With the death of Nepgear and the potential death of Neptune at the hands of these rebels, Histoire's nerves were shattered. Regardless, she still needed a plan to save Neptune. Planeptune's shares were draining rapidly, and in this state Neptune would be in no state to fight.
Speaking of Neptune, the weakened CPU of Planeptune was hunting for... something, in the Vault. It was rare to see Neptune so proactive, let alone dedicated, but the minute Neptune woke up she immediately went to the vault, and hadn't left since. Curiosity got the better of Histy, and she ventured off towards Planeptune's Vault.
Planeptune's Vault was an almost Eldritch location. Structures of trash that defied the laws of physics, piles of mess that bent light around them, it was a horror. In truth, it was mostly Neptune's uncaring nature that resulted in it being like this. She had little regard or care for the past, and very rarely if ever actually used the Vault, so for her to suddenly spend all day here was concerning.
"GOTCHA!" As soon as Histoire ventured only a meter into the vault, Neptune's voice boomed through it.
Appearing from behind a pile of trash, Neptune leaped into the air and sprinted towards Histoire, clutching a tiny glowing purple object.
"Histy, I got our defense solution riiiiiiiiiight here!" Making a cute pose, Neptune leaned forward and unclasped her hand, revealing a tiny pyramid object that was pulsating Intermittently. It was...a NEXT shard?
Histoire's slap came out fast and hard. "ARE YOU INSANE?!" It was uncomming for the little oracle to shout, but every moment was chilling when she did.
NEXT Form was the supposed step up from HDD. However, there were a few... issues. One, NEXT form was so rare that almost nobody in the public knew it existed. Two, NEXT form consumes share energy and life energy. Using it for too long can be permanently fatal. It was essentially a WMD, except the mass destruction was also inflicted upon the user.
"We JUST lost Nepgear and IF, and now YOU want to go out and potentially die too? What's WRONG with you Neptune?" Histoire was bitter, and on the edge of tears. She really couldn't handle losing another friend.
Whatiswrong me? Neptune though. Though her little sister died, as did one of her best friends, she seemed... oddly fine? Was there really something wrong with her? Was she incapable of grieving? Aside from a few moments of sadness, she was still as chipper as ever.
"I... I don't know Histoire." Neptune rarely, if EVER, called Histy by her full name. Her tone had changed almost completely, becoming sullen and withdrawn. In an instant, Histy was sympathetic towards her once more.
"Neptune, I know you want to save Planeptune, I do too, but I also don't want to lose anyone else. You're weak, we have no allies, and there are TWO CPUs breathing down our neck. I'm sorry, but we can not win."
Harsh as she was, Histoire was right. Well, mostly right.
"We have one ally though; Mrs Lonely Heart." Neptune was suddenly upright and full of life again. Sigh, she never changes.
"Neptune, she killed Nepgear, are you sure we can trust her?"
And just like that, Neptune's posture fell again. Without making eye contact with Histy, Neptune gave a weak nod.
Lastation Basilicom, 10:45am
The holo-screen at the end of the desk flickered into life slowly. Not five minutes ago, Kei received an emergency distress signal from Planeptune. Noire's entire council; Kei, Cave, Uni and Rei all piled into the meeting room.
The screen finally bore a sight; Histoire.
"I must be brief, I'm afraid. I have devised a plan that will keep Neptune alive, however it will come at the hopefully temporary cost of Planeptune as a nation." Reluctance was dripping from Histoire's every word, and her first sentence ended on a long sigh. "I will stay behind to hopefully appease the new CPUs. If I can make their shares rise, Neptune may benefit as well."
Kei rose from her chair and interjected. "What's the catch, Histoire?" Kei had dealt with the oracles before, and was savvy enough to detect a potential problem.
Another long sigh. "You absolutely can not approach in HDD mode, you must be in and out within one hour. I must leave to prepare things. We shall wait for you, and shall leave an entrance unlocked at the back of the Basilicom, via the forest. Good day."
The holo-screen flickered and died, silence overcoming the room as it did.
Noire was torn; She loved Neptune dearly, but she wasn't an infiltration expert. The public know of the Gehaburn, so taking the sword with her was a massive no go, which left her greatly exposed. If only-
"Mrs Black Heart, may I offer a suggestion?" The oft quiet Cave chimed in, looking quite eager.
"Go on, Cave." Noire clasped her hands and sat back in her chair.
"I was the former security and infiltration specialist for Leanbox. With your permission, I would like to assist you in recovering Neptune. I have mapped the streets of Planeptune many, many times." There was a certain arrogance in Cave's voice, as if she was completely confident in her abilities.
"I can vouch for Cave" said Rei's voice quietly from the corner. "As can I, at least, the data from when she was active says so" chimed in Kei from beside her.
Noire rose from her seat, paced around the room, and stared at the window. It was going on 10:55, they didn't have much time.
"I'll take you on that Cave, we leave IMMEDIATELY." With a nod, Noire dismissed everyone except Cave. Taking her over to the side, Noire dropped all pretense of mightiness for a moment.
"If anything happens to me, I want you to rescue Neptune regardless, okay? She is priority one, I am priority two, got it?" Cave gave a nod. She knew about Noire's love for Neptune, though in saying that basically everyone did. Even Neptune.
Planeptune streets, 11:15am
Carrying Cave on her back, Noire flew to Planeptune's border and quickly moved inside. Planeptune's outskirts looked like an apocalypse had hit them. Nothing but silence, save for the odd smash of glass or yelling. Cave lead Noire through various side-streets, back alleys, and other shortcuts. Given the pace of her movements, and the sheer confidence in her strides, it was evident that she'd taken this route many times.
As they got closer to the city center, the silence began to fade, replaced with sounds of yelling and rioting. Was Planeptune really in THIS much chaos? Noire had little time to take in the ambience, as Cave was hurrying and rushing her along, through even more dilapidated and abandoned streets. Finally, they reached the city center.
It was a very open path between the nook the two were hiding in and the entrance to the Basilicom underground access. There was a crowd gathering outside of the Basilicom gates, and it was VERY likely the pair would be noticed if they tried to cross. Blending with the crowd was also not an option, as the two were very out of place.
In an instant, Cave grabbed Noire, pushed her towards the path she had to run, and ran towards the crowd. "ATTENTION EVERYONE: ORANGE HEART IS WORST CPU" Cave screamed, before bolting off into the distance. The angry crowd shifted their attention towards here, and went off in pursuit.
Noire smiled a little at Cave's display of bravado. She reminded herself to reward Cave somehow when they got back.
The entrance to Planeptune Basilicom's underground was dark and filthy. A decommissioned sewer, chaos had broken out before the city had the change to fully clean it out. Did Cave really wade through this in the years before? Eurgh.
The gate came off with ease, practically falling apart as it did so. With cautious steps and careful eyes, Noire entered the tunnel and made for the back of the building. In her head, she was mentally preparing for her first meeting with Neptune in weeks.
It would not be easy.
Her adventure in the smelly and unpleasant sewer over, Noire entered into the Basilicom forest for the first time in weeks. It had changed, in a way. Now overgrown and unkempt, it was as if the forest itself was mourning Nepgear. It seemed everyone was at this point. Noire stopped for a moment, taking in the fresh forest air. She hadn't really stopped at all since it happened. Every day was work, work, work. Always something to fix, always something to address. It'd been weeks since Noire just... stood still and breathed. It was pleasing, in an odd spiritual way. It still wasn't going to make the upcoming conversation any easier.
Noire trodded slowly and wearily towards the back entrance of the Basilicom. Grasping the handle gently and pushing it down, it was... unlocked, good. Histoire had kept her word.
Unknown Location, Planeptune, 11:25am
Cave, though incredibly fast and nimble, was absolutely NO match for a Goddess, let alone two. Thus, she was captured and tossed into a dark, dingy room in a rickety shack. Her two captors were very astute; Within 5 minutes of her imprisonment, the darker of the two had deduced that her presence meant that another Goddess was in play, and sent the red one off to go find her. Once that was done, an uneasy silence brewed in the room as the darker one paced back and forth, appearing to ponder something of great worth. Eventually, she got very close to Cave, almost as if she were familiar with her.
"You loved a girl called 5pb., didn't you?" said the woman, with a very sadistic smile on her face, and she was right. But how did she know?
"Yes... I did, once." said Cave, hoping to try and worm out the source of that information. With a smile and a spring, the woman leaped back with glee.
"My name is Kurome. I like to travel dimensions a lot, since I lost my own. In my travels, I stumbled upon a little pocket dimension where everyone died, it was kinda funny. A woman that looked like you, and one that looked like the idol 5pb., keeled over and died in one another's arms. I figured you'd want to know." Kurome seemed to be enjoying this, as sadistic glee was overriding any other emotion on her face. "However, since you said you love her in this dimension, and I'm the most generous CPU of all time, I'm gonna let you go! Ta-ta!" Kurome lifted Cave up by her arm, and tossed her out the window nonchalantly.
Cave had hoped to repress those memories. When she was working in Leanbox, Cave grew incredibly fond of the idol 5pb. Her beautiful hair, her magenta eyes, the cute little shy smile she put on when nobody but Cave was looking, the way she cuddled into Cave during the nights when she couldn't sleep... but duty called, and Cave had to leave. 5pb.'s sister, MAGES., had often offered to put them in contact, but Cave always refused. Those were memories that had to stay longer buried.
Now free to do whatever, Cave immediately ran towards the border. She trusted Noire enough to handle things just fine. Why did that Kurome woman let her go so easily, though?
Planeptune Basilicom Living room, 11:35am
It hadn't changed at all. The couch was still a mess of cushions, the carpet was still frayed in random locations, and Noire swore that the pudding pot on the table had been there since her last visit. Also there was... the faint outline of Nepgear's bloodstain. Sigh. It didn't bother her so much now, she needed to face it today or she'd never have the chance to.
From the door on the opposite of the room came Histoire, nerves evidently shattered and mood thrown to the abyss. She nodded in the direction of the door, signalling Noire to follow her. A large staircase awaited, presumably to wherever Neptune was. The ascent of the stairs was a long, quiet one. It was possible that Histoire still couldn't face Noire after the Nepgear incident.
Nonetheless, a 5 minute climb led the two to their destination; Neptune's room.
"You can go in, I have to go prepare some things" Histy said lowly before floating off back downstairs.
Beads of sweat began to roll down Noire's face. She told herself she had prepared for this, convinced herself she was ready, but she wasn't. Not at all. How could she kill someone's little sister and then face them? Especially when that someone is the woman she cherishes most in this world. The woman she, for years, looked after and doted on from afar. The woman she never once said "I love you" to, the woman she-
Click, creaaaaaaak. The door before her opened, and behind it stood the tiny form of Neptune. Without a word, she took Noire's hand and led her into the darkened room behind her.
It was nice to touch her again, if not for a moment.
Sitting down on a beanbag chair, and motioning for Noire to sit on the one opposite her, Neptune looked... oddly serene.
"I missed you, y'know that Noire?" Neptune said with an uncharacteristic softness.
"I... I missed you too Neptune" Noire replied, forcing a smile as she did so. She wasn't lying, of course, but the strangeness of this situation was getting to her.
Silence. Neither of the two had any idea what to say, and while time was limited, they did have to speak first. Staring at one another, and then briefly to the side, and then back to one another for what felt like years, the atmosphere in the room was awkward, to say the least.
Said atmosphere was quickly broken by Neptune mumbling something unintelligible.
"Neptune, did uh... did you say something?" Noire asked, worry in her voice.
"I don't blame you at all, Noire."
Hearing those words caused the sadness in Noire's heart to come to the forefront. A few tears escaped her eyes, and her face contorted into saddened grimaces. Neptune spared no second as she rushed to Noire's side, knelt beside her, and began drying her eyes.
"It's okay, Lonely Heart, don't stain your pretty little dress with tears. Or my carpet. Yeesh." Why was she so nonchalant about this? How?!
The two sat like this for a while, before Noire's emotions settled down a little. It was nice, in a way, to be near Neptune for a while. Before Noire could say anything, a dreaded DING echoed throughout the Basilicom.
It was 12pm. Neptune had to resign immediately. Grabbing Noire's hand, Neptune dragged her from the room and the two quickly descended to the living room to prep for a speech.
Only to be greeted by an unknown red-haired intruder relaxing on the couch, holding a VERY familiar sword.
"I was waiting at the front door, but I got kinda bored. Figured I'd let myself in. My name's Uzume, and I think this nation belongs to me, wouldn't you agree?" Though seemingly nonchalant, there was a subtle venomous tint to Uzume's words, as if she was a ticking timebomb approaching the final countdown.
"I gotta know though; Why'd you keep going Neptune? Lost your sister, your best friend, and soon your nation. I don't get it, you're all alone, so-"
"Hooooooooooold it right there Mrs Evil Heart, I'm not completely alone ya know" Was... did Neptune suddenly absorb Noire's personality? Was that why she was here? To consume her?
"Riiiiiiight the two lovebirds, I forgot I'd heard about you two" A playful smirk appeared on Uzume's face, as if she was amused by the concept of ANOTHER pair of CPU lovers. "In truth, I know how ya feel, and if it wasn't for the fact this is MY nation, I'd happily let you two go, but-"
"Wait a moment" Noire pushed past Neptune, and got a little closer to Uzume. "I thought you said, if she surrendered, you WOULD have let her go?" The alarm bells were ringing loudly in Noire's head; this was a trap.
"Oh no no no no, neither of us said that. You can go read the declaration yourself up there, nobody said anything about sparing" Uzume was right. There was no talk of sparing anyone.
In an instant, Uzume lunged towards Noire, who gracefully deflected the blow down towards the floor with her usual rapier. "That sword...!" Noire gasped; it looked just like the Gehaburn.
"Seems familiar, doesn't it? Don't tell me you thought your sword was unique." Uzume backed off a bit, switching to a more combat oriented stance.
"Neptune, run." Noire said coldly. Neptune complied, backing off and running down the stairs.
Noire feinted towards Uzume, who refused to take the bait and responded with a swipe upwards which Noire only barely missed. Responding with quick swipe, Noire managed to cut the fabric on Uzume's shirt, but little else. The two began circling one another, both trying to read the other.
"So, I get to reclaim my nation AND fight one of the tougher CPUs? Today's gonna be great." All calmness was gone from Uzume's voice; she was ecstatic to have a good fight. Uzume once again lunged at Noire, this time opting for 3 swipes in quick succession that did a great number on the furniture, but very little to Noire, as the Lastation CPU was quick enough to effortlessly evade all of them. Uzume wasted no time in following up, and assaulted Noire with a flurry of stabs and slashes, all of which ended in nothing. Uzume was strong with the sword, but Noire was far too fast for her to do squat.
"I'm aware you want to have fun, but I have something to do," Noire transformed suddenly, taking on a very annoyed face as she did "so GET OUT OF MY WAY"
With one mighty swing, Black Heart sent Uzume flying through the living room window, onto the streets below. "That was simple" Black Heart gloated to herself.
Planeptune Streets, 12:05pm
Neptune zoomed through the streets, huffing and puffing all the way. She had no idea where she was running to, or where she was going, but she knew she had to trust Noire. She could trust, Noire, right?
She could. Entering into an open street, Neptune looked up and saw the graceful form of Black Heart soaring through the skies... only to be shot down by a powerful looking bolt of powerful energy. Following the bolt was one of the Orange CPUs, now with a black and purple colour scheme instead.
"You were actually dumb enough to try and slip under our noses. So much for "The Great Black Heart", huh?"
Neptune immediately changed course, running for the location where Noire may have landed. It was imperative that Noire get out of this too. In the distance, Neptune heard the steadily approaching sound of a great battle, which would often shake the earth beneath her. It took considerable effort to not fall face first into the dirt again.
The site of the battle looked like a literal warzone. Craters, scorched earth, buildings torn asunder like nothing. In the middle of it, two exhausted looking CPUs.
"Why are you fighting, Kurome? What do you WANT?!" Noire yelled, infuriated.
"Planeptune is mine. If not the one in my dimension then it has to be this one, or the next one. Nothing personal." Kurome retorted, seemingly oddly non-chalant about this entire situation. From nowhere, the sword Uzume wielded appeared in Kurome's hands. "I think it's time I ended this one." Kurome poised to strike, and Noire was too injured to actually move.
"NEXT FORM, GO!"
With a blinding flash, a taller and more muscular Purple Heart appeared between the two CPUs.
"Noire, stay back." Noire nodded, floating off to a safe location. Turning to face Kurome, Purple Heart wasted no time in begging her assault. Though wielding a mighty, massive sword, Purple Heart swung around with ease, easily deflecting Kurome's strikes. Within minutes, she had already landed multiple hits on Kurome and disarmed her of the fight was set to be short, swift, and simple.
At least until the appearance of Uzume, who charged Neptune and actually managed to land a strike on her using the retrieved sword.
"Don't you DARE kill her, Neptune!" Uzume barked, shaking with rage.
Neptune tried to focus but... Why is everything so fuzzy?
Noire watched in horror as Neptune collapsed and detransformed, passing into complete unconsciousness. Bolting from her spot in the air, Noire grabbed Neptune and flew off into the distance, towards Lastation. Saving Planeptune meant nothing if Neptune was dead.
"Should we go after her?" asked Uzume, holding the injured Kurome.
"Nah... I got what I want." Kurome replied as she wrapped her hand around Uzume's.
"D'you think they'll live?" asked Uzume, noticeably much less tense now.
"Maybe, maybe not. So long as Planeptune is ours and you are mine, I don't care at all."
From the wreckage of the surrounding area, civilians rose from the rubble and ruin. They slowly crowded around the tired CPUs and stared. It began to make the two a little uncomfortable, as the crowd quickly grew to the hundreds. One woman in the back yelled "Hail Orange Heart!", and was echoed by another, and another, another. Eventually, the entire crowd was chanting it in rhythm;
Hail Orange Heart.