The Delusional Takeover
Planeptune Arc 1: Flower Bloom of Chaos
"Lady Neptune! Lady Neptune! Come play with us!"
"Mommy, I wanna play too!"
"Mommy! Lemme play!"
"Oh, Miss Neptune brings happiness and fun everywhere she goes..."
The purple-haired protagonist was surrounded by many adorable little kids, swarming her like chicks chirping for their food. It was nothing that the protagonist could not handle, however. Neptune, in her trademark White Parka dress, managed to keep everyone's spirits up with her joyous and happy-go-lucky attitude.
"There's no need to beg, everybody. We'll all get a chance to play! Come! Let's go the playground right now!"
The sounds of children rejoicing followed, along with many footsteps that followed the goddess of Planeptune towards the playground.
"Ahh, Lady Neptune truly is the best..."
The cloudy blue sky, the laughter of the children, and the joyous atmosphere that Neptune created. Truly this was a wonderland that the goddess treasured. The smiles of everyone around her, both parents and children alike as they played around the playground.
"Lady Neptune! Lady Neptune!" One of the children tugged at her clothes, catching Neptune's attention.
"Yes? What's the matter?"
"What's that in the sky?" The child pointed, which Neptune looked towards.
The Clouds above swirled and distorted into a whirlpool-like shape, and from the abyss that was created, a huge ball of purple fire was launched, headed straight towards Neptune and the children.
The goddess's cheerful expression she wore swiftly turned to one of distress. Her eyes widened slowly as the reflection of the incoming disaster in her eye grew larger and larger.
"EVERYONE! WATCH OUT!" Neptune shouted in a panic, as she tried to shove the kids away from her to safety. But she was too late.
The meteor smashed before Neptune, sending a massive shockwave that engulfed everyone in the vicinity within, Neptune included. She raised her arms in an attempt to shield herself from the dust created, but was hopelessly sent flying away.
"ACK!" Neptune spluttered as her body was knocked against the wall of a nearby building. She could hear the cries of everyone around her as well being consumed by the explosion. The panicked children shouted in complete fear, all of them swept away in the storm.
Her vision was blurred temporarily, but with a quick shake of her head, Neptune could see clearly again. She looked back and forth her surroundings; various purple fires erupted around the once cheery playground, with various blue and purple cracks and rifts being made on the ground. Her entire world, in the blink of an eye, turned to hell.
"H-Help me…!" She heard the voice of a young girl in the distance. Neptune saw her clothes being torn, bruises everywhere as she limped away from the massive dust clouds and towards her goddess; Her hope.
The goddess got to her feet, and as fast as she could, carried the child over her shoulder. "I'm here, kiddo… I'm here…" Neptune reassured, attempting to calm the distressed child. The kid's eyes were bawling with tears, having witnessed disaster unfold before her eyes.
"W-Where's… m-mommy…?" She mumbled.
"We'll find her, but first you need to get to safety."
A jarring red glare suddenly shined from behind the two. Their eyes instinctively retracted as they turned to see what it was.
The CPU of Planeptune gulped.
A giant red visor lighted up from within the fog behind the two.
Neptune knew exactly who was the cause for this catastrophe.
"Wha…!?" The child screamed as she noticed her body began to break apart. Her entire being began to fade into pixels that scattered away like leaves in a storm.
"Help me-!" Neptune tried to hold onto the child, but in a near instant, the child vanished before the titan, disappearing in an instant.
"No…!"
The CPU's expression was one of complete despair, in the face of the monstrosity that was the cause of this disaster.
Dark Purple.
The fog around the giant faded, revealing her having knelt down to see the CPU up close. Neptune stepped back, fear overwhelming her from spine upwards, even falling down and being forced to crawl away.
The titan smiled. The Dark CPU began to stand up. The thirty meter tall giant whose sole purpose was destruction; the wretched foe who was the nemesis of Uzume for countless years, and the diabolical being who caused the destruction of the Zero Dimension.
And it had come for Planeptune, Neptune's home.
"NO!"
Dark Purple let out a shockwave of purple energies as she finally stood to her full height. The energy wave consumed Neptune in an instant. All the CPU could do was scream as her body was ravaged by the flowing energy.
"AAAAA-"
"-AAAAGH!"
The goddess shot up from her bed. Sweat dripped from her forehead. She frantically looked back and forth, worried that she was sent into the afterlife. Her breathing slowed down as she regained her senses, finding herself in her Basilicom; her room.
It was merely a nightmare. A dream that took a turn for the worse. The citizens that were thrown into chaos, the child that disappeared within her arms, they were only figments of her imagination. And so was that giant.
"It… it wasn't real…" She mumbled to herself, placing a hand on her beating chest.
"Neptune!"
Her name was called out. Neptune turned to see several familiar faces approach her, namely Nepgear, Histoire, and B-Sha. She sighed. It was truly a dream.
"Neptune... What happened!?" Nepgear asked worriedly
"Are you alright?" The oracle asked atop her floated book. "We could hear your scream from outside."
"Yeah... You had a nightmare, didn't you, Nep-Nep?" B-Sha deduced.
"Y-Yes… It was pretty scary…" Neptune answered. Soon after however, she gave a reassuring smile. "But I'm all better now. A nightmare isn't real after all; they can't keep a Nep like me down!"
"That's good to hear." Histoire began. "But, I have something to ask you Neptune. Do you recall what events had transpired before you awoke?"
"Huh? What do you mean, Histy?"
"You were captured by the Dark CPU..." Nepgear said, worriedly putting her hands together. "Don't you remember?"
"Oh... Oh!" Neptune gasped as the events that happened flashed into her memories. After Affimojas's defeat, the celebration that happened was cut short after a giant vortex opened up in Gamindustri's sky. The CPUs went to investigate the matter, and were unknowingly lured into a trap. There they ran into Uzume. However, it was not a humble reunion. Uzume summoned the giant from the Zero Dimension; Dark Purple, and the CPUs were effortlessly captured.
"Wait... Where is everyone else!? Noire? Blanc? Vert? And… And Uzume! How did she summon that giant!? Wasn't it the thing she fought against since… forever!?" Uzume's actions alone raised an immense number of questions, and Neptune demanded to know the answer.
"Calm down, Neptune. The other CPUs have been rescued as well, and we found out that it was Uzume's fallen counterpart that kidnapped you. Uzume herself has no ill intention."
"Wait... There's an evil Uzume?"
"Correct. The fallen Uzume was responsible for your capture. Your older counterpart guided us to where you were captured, but the fallen one was nowhere to be seen."
"Wait, hold on..." Neptune raised her hand, interrupting her oracle. "Calling the other Uzume of evil Uzume is just confusing me more. How about we call the other Uzume by a different name?"
"Oh? What did you have in mind, Nep-Nep?" B-Sha tilted her head at the suggestion.
Neptune pondered for a long while, placing a hand on her chin as she brainstormed for ideas. "How about... Kurome Ankokuboshi!"
"Big Sis... That's quite the extreme naming sense you have there…"
"Hey, I like it. Uzume's last name is Tennouboshi right? Ankokuboshi, Tennouboshi, it fits!"
"See, even B-Sha agrees with me. I hereby declare that we call the evil Uzume by the name, Kurome Ankokuboshi!"
Histoire placed a hand to her head while Neptune fooled around. "I'm not even half-done with explaining the situation and there she goes going off-track and decides on a name..."
"Kurome still feels weird though..." Nepgear muttered. "I feel like we should just refer to her as the Evil Uzume..."
"Nah. If I learnt anything from good and evil games, its that it always gets tiring repeat the same name with the added title. Just call her Kurome!"
"Well, you have a point…"
"Uranus save me..." Histoire grumbled
The Oracle gave her thorough exposition to Neptune. Nepgear wanted to give her sister pudding during the long lecture, but Histoire decided against it. This exposition was serious.
When Nepgear and everyone else discovered the location of the CPUs, they went there swiftly and rescued them from their seals. They were held in pods with matching Colours, which were guarded by three clones of Arfoire; the Deity of Sin. They were no match for them however, as usual.
A beautiful reunion followed when the CPUs were released from their stasis. Noire reunited with Uni and K-Sha, the latter tackling the CPU. Uni couldn't resist K-Sha's sudden lunge, and decided to join in on the dive. The feeling of being piled on felt very familiar to Noire…
The same could be said for Blanc, who embraced her twin sisters in a hug. The twins bawled their eyes out, saying that they missed every minute of her absence, to which Blanc could only reassure that she would make sure it never happened again. C-Sha watched by, folding her arms and smiling at her partner's reunion.
When Vert was released, she acted a little strange. Immediately she decided to grab both Nepgear and S-Sha and give them a tight squeeze. Nepgear uttered her trademark "What the goodness!?", while S-Sha scoffed and turned away, stating she was not interested in the hug despite already being in it.
But the CPU of Planeptune was not as fortunate. When she was released from her seal, she was out cold. Unconscious. Immediately she showed signs of sickness: Her body was dreadfully pale, and her body temperature almost as cold as Lowee.
It was decided that Neptune would return to Planeptune to rest and recover, Nepgear, IF, Compa and B-Sha accompanying her, while everyone else would continue searching through Heart Dimension for Kurome.
"And that's where you awoke with a scream." Histoire concluded. Despite giving the run-down, she could only sigh and cover her forehead with her palm.
"Zzz... Zzz..." The Nep was fast asleep.
"Neptune... Neptune... Ack... I really am just dumbfounded by this..."
"H-Huh...? The exposition is over...?" The CPU stirred a little, before suddenly jumping up from her place. "Yippie! I sure skipped through a huge chunk of text, didn't I?"
"Sigh..." Histoire was irritated at Neptune's attitude towards the situation, but at the very least, the readers of the story understood what happened.
"Aww, don't go all sighing. I didn't even need the exposition! I'm the protagonist, and protagonists learn from experience!"
Unable to tolerate Neptune's arrogant behaviour, Histoire yelled at her CPU something that another familiar CPU would say.
"Neptune... You are listening to my plot-advancing lecture do you understand!?"
"Yikes...!"
The goddess felt her ears sore. Trails of sparkles were left behind as the oracle floated out of the room. Neptune had gone through hell, and it was boring. Lectures... They were evil.
"Evil..." She mumbled to herself.
Neptune was now alone in her room, all covered up in her pretty pink blanket. She still felt pretty sick but she didn't want to lay in bed all day. Stretching her arms, Neptune flopped her blanket over and hopped off the bed.
She knew that Nepgear was getting medicine and that IF and Compa were doing their daily jobs at the guild and the hospital respectively, and B-Sha… was probably being Presto Mask somewhere.
Neptune was alone at home.
What would an ill goddess do when she's bored in her own Basilicom?
The answer was obvious.
"Time to play some games!"
Instantly, Neptune spun around like a whirlwind and she was all set to play her games. Console set up, controller in hand, Food and drinks (With pudding of course) by her side. Her fingers were all set to ran marathons on the buttons!
"But first... What game should I play? Oh... Maybe I should do Noire a favour and play a classic... Infamous? Ooh... The second game is my favourite."
"Or maybe try out Blanc's new game; NEW SUPER WALUIGI BROS.! ... NEW!"
"But... Hmm... How about shooter games... Haloo 4? I can't make up my mind!"
"These Godly Game classics, Nepu... Nep cannot decide... Nep cannot decide..."
Neptune eventually decided and booted up a game. A Godly Game series well known for being one of the first of its kind that spanned fourteen different titles, not including spinoffs and such, with its fifth teen title coming up...
Ember Emblem VII
"Not to be mistaken for Victory two!" Neptune smirked at the fourth wall. "You should totally play Megadimension completely before this. Wouldn't wanna spoil!"
Loading up her save file, Neptune began the game where she left off.
The hours that followed were intense. Action! Grinding! Button-Mashing! Neptune never frowned once, her eyes were stuck to the screen with her fingers pressing the buttons in sync as if it were an extension of herself.
Soon her characters reached the throne room of the dungeon, all of the equipped with Super Rare items that she spent many sessions grinding for.
"Let's do this!" Neptune told herself as the cutscene preluding to the finale played
She hummed to the music that played during the battle, her purple eyes carefully analysing every pixel of the boss's idle animation, all while calculating the most viable plan of attack for her turn and the many that would follow after.
She was confident! She would win against the final boss! She would complete the game; All within three hours!
"Wait... N-No no no no!"
"You've made a big mistake, Manfloy!"
The screen faded to black for a split second and the defeated cries of Neptune's party echoed through the speakers.
She couldn't believe it...
The boss performed an instant OTK!
"NEPU!?"
A sad tune played as large bolded letters appeared on her screen. Together they formed the two infamous words that represented a loss or a defeat
"GAME OVER"
"NEPU-! NEPU NEPU NEPU NEPUUUUUUUU!" The agitated sounds coming from the distressed continued for a few minutes. She was on her last life that on that run, so now she had to restart at the last save point which needed about 40 minutes of playtime to get back.
Nothing much for a vivid gamer like her, but her party suffered a harsh penalty of loss; Permanently losing one of her playable characters.
And it was her best one too.
"Why must you be so cruel game... To use such a forbidden technique against even the goddess of victory... Nepu..."
The poor goddess's mood drooped. The soured Neptune put down her controller and swiftly hopped onto her bed, nuzzling right into the sheets as her blanket magically flopped over her. She did not bother to switch off the game, the
She dedicated over three hours in that session, only to have to all be for a loss. Oh well. Neptune decided that she'll complete it after a nice cozy nap. Ember Emblem VII will be completed in due time. Just do it later!
"Goodnight world..." She mumbled to herself before her eyelids shut.
"Zzz..."
The world of dreams soon took her in. Neptune fell into slumber almost instantly. Quite the fast sleeper she was.
"Ugh..."
Neptune's eyebrows furrowed. She tossed and turned about her bed while quietly mumbling to herself. "N-No... S-Stop..."
A dream raged within her cage of a mind. A sour thought that atoned to Nightmare. Neptune was placed in a situation familiar to the nightmare she had earlier. An encounter with tragedy, an encounter with despair…
An encounter with a Dark CPU.
"N-N-Nepu…"
"I'm home!"
Two Guards in purple opened the wide door of the Basilicom. A young girl with purple hair in a sailor outfit carried two paper bags, one in each hand, as she walked in. Both guards bowed in deep respect for the CPU Candidate.
"Welcome back, Lady Nepgear." One of them said. "How was your trip?"
"It isn't much. Just went to the pharmacy to get some medicine. Oh, and some ingredients. I learnt how to make a stronger type of Nep Bull from a close friend of mine."
"Thats great, Lady Nepgear. We hope you will create the Nep Bull without much trouble."
"Thank you. Say, how's Histoire and Neptune doing?"
"Lady Histoire is busy looking up some old records of our predecessor CPUs, while Lady Neptune is within her chambers."
"Alright. Wow, you two are quite the respectful guards aren't you?"
"It's the least we can do for Lady Neptune's saving us from the horde of monsters."
"Ahh. Alright. I'll be going now. Keep up the good work!"
"Understood, Lady Nepgear."
As the candidate parted ways, the respectful guards slowly leaned towards each other's ears, raising a hand over the side of their mouths.
"I told you Nepgear's the harder worker..."
"Nah... Lady Purple Heart is still my bae, she's the best."
Nepgear made her way up to Neptune's room. She gripped her paper bags tightly. She was still a little worried about Neptune after all, being capture by that Fallen Uzume...
Nepgear held onto the door hand and slowly twisted it, opening the door quietly hoping she wouldn't wake Neptune up if she was still sleeping.
Peek. Neptune was fast asleep.
The younger Sister couldn't help but smile at her sister sleeping so peacefully.
She treaded lightly across the room, heading for the side table with her bags held around her chest. She did not want to wake Neptune up. The bags were placed slowly onto the bed's side table and Nepgear made her way out.
But before she did, she noticed that Neptune left her game console on. Being the good younger Sister she was, she went and pressed the power button of the console. The television screen faded to black. She also picked up the leftover snacks by the console's side.
"Neptune... Get well soon..." Nepgear mumbled before she tiptoed out of the room.
"...Ngh..."
"Hmm...?"
The grunt made by Nepgear halted her. She tiptoed to Neptune's side and saw her elder sister put up an uncomfortable expression in her sleep.
"Ngh... Ugh... N-No..."
"Neptune...?" The candidate muttered worriedly Nepgear inched closer to Neptune's face, horrible anxious at what she was mumbling.
"N-No... S-Stop... I-I-I..."
"Neptune…" She placed the back of her palm onto her sister's forehead, worriedly that she may be experiencing another fever.
The moment her hand touched her head, Neptune's eyes shot open, bursting with purple light.
"WHAT THE GOODNESS! ACK-!"
Neptune shot up up from her bed and pounced onto Nepgear. The two tumbled across the floor ending up with Neptune ontop of Nepgear. The elder Sister pinned the younger one brutally, her hands grasping at her wrists like a wolf pouncing on its catch.
"N-N-Nep...t-tune...!?" The candidate felt her throat wither like the desert. She was at a complete loss of words for her eyes were staring deep into her deluded eyes Neptune had.
Her pupils were missing, showing only the purple Color of her eyes. A purple lightning-like effect sparked periodically from Neptune's left eye with several veins visible from the side. She panting heavily, drool dripping from her. This behaviour however was startlingly familiar to Nepgear. The delusional monsters that appeared in Gamindustri has this same feral behaviour.
The candidate gasped. What had overcome her sister!?
Neptune clasped both her hands and gripped tightly on Nepgear's neck, strangling the helpless girl. Saliva could be seen dripping from Neptune's exposed teeth. Sparks continued to fly from her left eye.
"H-H-Help... H-Help..." Nepgear could barely see, let alone breathe. She tried to break the grasp but she was too weak.
"DIE!" Neptune broke her silent stance, bellowing ferociously as she strangled the living daylights out of her.
Nepgear's struggle to survive seemed hopeless. Her vision began to fade, going blurry until soon only darkness could be seen from her eyes. The candidate's hands wilted as her struggled ceased. She blacked out.
"Nep! What's going on!? Wha!?"
"Oh my...!"
"Why is Nep-Nep...!?"
Familiar voices came from the doorway. IF, Histoire and Compa watched in horror at the scene before them.
Neptune let out a snarl as she turned to see the three. She let go of Nepgear's neck and jumped away from the newcomers. No sight of the old Neptune could be seen, as the CPU lunged towards the three, letting out a roar of terror.
"Presto kick!"
The heroine appeared, slamming her foot into Neptune's face sending her flying to the other end of the room.
Donning her trademark mask, Presto Mask stood triumph before her opponent.
"What's going on here!? I'll stop monsters and baddies in their tracks!"
"B-Sh- I mean Presto Mask!" Compa said with widened eyes. "You've arrived just in time! There's something wrong with Nep-Nep!"
"Neptune..." Histoire didn't have much to say. She was too concerned with her goddess who slowly recovered from the kick.
"It's as if she's become a Monster..." IF mused. "She was pinning down Nepgear..."
Nep-Nep..." Presto Mask had a brief stutter as she fully realised Neptune's delusional state, but she quickly returned to her persona of justice. "Compa! You take care of Nepgear! IF and I will deal with Nep-Nep."
"Roger, desu!" Compa made haste, carefully grabbed and carried Nepgear's unconscious body out of the room.
"This is where a boss battle would start, wouldn't it?" Presto Mask commented.
"Yep. Now let's find out what's wrong with Nep." IF readied her Qatars and entered combat stance. Presto Mask did the same, taking out her bazooka and setting her sights on their opponent.
Neptune recovered from the blow and got to her feet. She snarled at the two, her left eye sparking with energy as the veins around it pulsed. An aura of despair surrounded the goddess as she opened her mouth, letting out a familiar phrase that the terror of the Zero Dimension often said.
"Let us begin the banquet of despair!"
End