"Purple Progress at Last"
I woke up. Something wasn't quite right. Turning in my bed, I saw that my sister wasn't lying next to me. Wait, Sister? I've never had a... No, I do have a sister. Of course I have a sister. Neptune's always been there. Still, it's strange to see her up before me. ...Where did she go? I should look for her.
I walked around the tower to finally see Neptune at her desk, writing on some kind of document.. She... looks smaller than I- Oh, I remember now! Even though she's my older sister, I'm the taller one. Because of that, people mistake me as Neptune's older sister... Neptune looked up and saw me, smiling..
"Good morning, Nep Jr. How'd you sleep?"
"Big sis?" Wait, I'm not the one who's talking. But why is my mouth moving? ...It's weird. It's like I'm on autopilot or something. "What's going on?"
Neptune sat up in her chair and grins. "We got a lead on that syndicate that's been stealing Shares from us, so the gals and I are going to Nep them up!"
"Oh, that's great!"
"You know, it's meant to be just us CPUs, but this kinda thing is gonna be a breeze." Neptune looked up in thought. "Would ya like to come with us, Little ol' Nep o' mine?"
I could feel my eyes widen in excitement. My head nodded enthusiastically.
"Yes!" My voice was just as enthusiastic.
Suddenly, the image in front of me- my sister grinning at me- cracked. Then it shattered, leaving me to see nothing… but a blank white void.
"...That was the day we went to the Gamindustri Graveyard," I heard my voice again, in the void. But I wasn't talking. Instead, the voice sounded like it was coming from behind me. Turning around, I saw an exact copy of me looking off into the white void. "My world opened up, from then on..."
Wait, that's not me! I'm right here!
The other copy glanced at me, making a sorrowful smile.
"Hello, Alexandra Rose. My name is Nepgear." ...I'm Alexandra? No, that's not right…
"You need to remember. Our personalities are fusing." We…
"...We're fusing?"
"I'm sorry," Nepgear says while looking me in the eyes. "My spirit is sort of taking over yours. I can't really control it, but It shouldn't be too bad. I'll still be me, and you'll still be you, for the most part. As long as we can recognize ourselves as two different people, we should be okay." Then… I'm not Nepgear. I-I…
"I... I..." I can't say the words, but they're coming to me. I think.. I'm Alexandra Rose… I'm a girl from… from…
"Don't hurt yourself trying to force things. I know it's very overwhelming."
"Nep...gear..." Nepgear's lips turned upwards, putting me at ease.
"Miss Rose, I truly am grateful for everything you're doing. Please find my sister, okay?" Wait, what's going on!? A bright light is blinding my eyes! W-Wait, Nepgear!
Alex stirred on her cot. Opening her eyes, she found IF and Compa were sitting beside her.
"Feeling better, Lex?" Alex weakly turned her head towards IF.
"I-Iffy…"
"Heh, I guess you do know us."
Compa leaned in and gently placed her hand on Alex's forehead.
"Are you sure you're okay, Lexi? You were hurt real bad before you transformed." Compa said. Alex twitched a bit as she tried to push past Compa's hand.
"I-I'm fine Compa… Just… a headache… that's all" Alex said as she sat up.
"Running off like that was very irresponsible, Miss Valera!" Histoire scolded. "There are monsters everywhere and none of you girls have experience! Not only that, you put Miss Rose in danger!"
"Hm?" Alex looked towards the door.
IF chuckled, "Histoire's been preaching to your friends since you guys got here. Something about a riot act and whatnot."
Alex got up from her cot and walked into the room where they were told about the spirits, hearing the faint voice of Histoire coming from it.
Sure enough, Histoire was on her Tome chewing Maya out. Despite her small stature, Histoire's voice was loud and booming. Alex was surprised she didn't hear Histoire in the first place. Maya was on her knees as Histoire floated back and forth, her lecture continuing without a seeming end.
Maya refused to make eye contact with the book fairy, staring at her lap as Histoire droned on. Maya felt smaller than Histoire, which is actually quite the accomplishment.
Lara and Hotaru were taken aback by the surprising ferocity of the small fairy. The latter was hiding behind the former, trembling.
Alex chuckled nervously. For some reason, she felt like she's seen many of such scoldings from Histoire, and has been on the receiving end of some, too.
The four girls looked behind them and immediately showered Alex with hugs. Lara and Maya buried Alex deep into their arms as they could. Maya nuzzled her face into Alex's, ignoring the other girl's surprise. Meanwhile, Hotaru tried to push her way into the group hug as well. However, the tightness of the hug prevented her from doing so. With each push, Hotaru bounced away from the group until one hard push knocked her onto the ground. Glancing around, the smaller girl squeezed her eyes shut and tried to hug the entire trio. Hotaru's arms barely reached past Lara and Maya's waists. Eventually, Alex nudged towards the other two and gestured towards Hotaru. Smiling, the three broke free of Hotaru's pseudo-cling and engulfed her into the hug as well. Histoire was content to place herself on top of Alex, using Lara and Maya to keep her balance.
Histoire let out a small sigh, calming herself down, "Alright girls, that's enough. It seems that a lot of good came from such irresponsible actions."
She floated over to Alex. "Are you okay, Miss Rose? Compa told me about your injuries." Alex nodded.
"I'm fine. All the pain, and the injuries, disappeared when I transformed." Alex reported.
"So you did acquire a spirit?"
Alex nodded again. Suddenly, she started to glow a pinkish purple light and the spirit coalesced itself and materialized as a small statue in front of her.
Histoire stared at the statue when tears began falling from her eyes. "Nepgear… I'm so sorry."
"Aw, don't cry, Histy," Alex consoled. "I'm here now!"
Alex paused and blinked, then shook her head. "Histy? I never called you that before… But I feel like I have…" Alex put a finger on her cheek. "I think it was in my dream."
Histoire wiped her tears away, catching onto Alex's last sentence. "Your dream?" Alex gave a slight nod, crossing her arms and closing her eyes.
"Yeah, I had one while I was unconscious. In that dream, I was Nepgear. And Neptune was asking for me to go to the Gamindustri Graveyard with her."
Histoire gaped, "Interesting… Could it be that Nepgear's memories are bleeding into your own?"
"W-what the Goodness?" Alex cried. She clapped her hands over her mouth. After a second, she shook her head. "What does that even mean?" Histoire made a small gesture towards Alex, eventually tracing a circle around her.
"It means that you and Nepgear have formed a bond, one that is slowly manifesting Nepgear within you." Histoire stopped tracing the circle and pointed straight at Alex. "As such, this is causing Nepgear's and your personalities to merge into one being." Alex took a step back slowly reaching a hand over her heart.
"D-D-Does that mean I'm slowly turning into Nepgear?" Histoire nodded and Alex turned away, wide-eyed."Then, that means all that stuff that Nepgear was telling me was true?!"
Histoire tilted her head to the side, crossing her arms.
"Although it shouldn't be anything too drastic; but you will inherit certain characteristics of Nepgear's. In some cases, you may even emulate her completely for a bit.. Fortunately, you will still be yourself for most of the time."
"Oh… " Alex glanced at her own hands, both of them suddenly feeling heavier than before. "I don't think I can handle this, Histy," Alex muttered nervously as she looked down with her hands on her skirt. "I'm not ready to be some kind of Video Game Goddess and save Gamindustri..."
Histoire floated in front of Alex and gently touched her face. "I know you and your partners can save our world, Alex. I believe in you." Histoire assured in a very firm tone.
"Umm. Thank you, I guess..." Alex felt a small amount of pressure float off her shoulders. It wasn't much, but Alex was grateful for it.
"So, Miss Histoire, does this mean the same will happen to us when we get our spirits as well?" Hotaru said, popping out behind Lara.
"Unfortunately yes, Miss Iwata." Histoire turned to Hotaru. "If this has happened with Alex, it will most certainly happen to you." Histoire visibly shuddered after she said that line. She can't imagine the currently meek and shy Hotaru having the violently colorful personality of Lowee's Goddess. She shook her head to get rid of such thoughts.
"Anyway, Miss Rose. Are you ready to introduce yourself to the Resistance?" Histoire asked, shifting the topic to prevent herself from thinking about the image that popped into her head..
"I am ready, Miss Histy!" Alex responded with confidence.
Histoire led the four girls to another room within the base with IF and Compa following close behind. Inside the room was another computer with several monitors, and standing in front of the computer was a small blonde girl in an orange dress. Behind her were two other girls sitting at an orange table minding their own business. One was a girl with red hair polishing a large sword. The other one was a young teen with long purple hair wearing a black hoodie, who was currently scarfing down a plate of pudding. The blonde-haired girl turned around once she heard the doors open.
"Hey, Histoire! Did we finally get some new recruits?" The small girl asked with excitement in her voice.
"Yes, B-Sha. More accurately, these four girls are the ones I brought in from the VR Dimension," Histoire answered.
"Wait, does that mean…?" The red haired girl, Falcom, placed her sword on the table and trailed off.
Histoire nodded. "These girls have been chosen to be the Champions of Gamindustri."
Maya chuckled, feeling bubbles of pride rise within her. "Champions, huh? I kinda like it."
"And it just so happens that Miss Alexandra Rose here is the Champion of Planeptune."
Alex squeaked and stood at attention, a blush tingeing her cheeks.
"She has acquired the spirit of Purple Sister." Histoire continued.
Alex once again started to glow a pinkish purple as her spirit manifested beside her. The now dubbed Champion of Planeptune was startled.
"Why…" Alex started but stopped when she noticed the statue shake. Almost as if the statue was happy. Feeling warmth grow in her chest, Alex realized what was happening and smiled.. "I see, she wants to see her—our friends again…"
The girl wearing the black hoodie with purple accents, stood up, her long purple hair swaying as she sauntered up to Alex. "So I guess that means you're my new little sister, huh?" Alex blinked once. When the girl in the black hoodie didn't say anything, Alex blinked twice.
"Um… what?" The girl in the black hoodie grinned, giving Alex the peace sign.
"Oh, of course! I'm Neptune, nice to meetcha, little sis!"
Alex gaped, combing through Nepgear's memories for help.
"Oh, don't act so surprised, the readers would riot if there wasn't at least one Nep in the first few chapters."
"You're… from another dimension... " Alex said, trying to wrap her head around the bigger Neptune's utter disregard for the fourth wall. It's at this point that the two authors can and will try to reign Neptune in, even with the changes. We'll see how that goes. Our Beta readers don't think so.
Neptune smiled at the author's exasperation. "Yep! I actually came from the Ultradimension, although I haven't been there in, like, forever! Lil' me and Nepgear were letting me crash at their place until… well…" Neptune made an awkward shrug. Alex could see a pained look in Neptune's eyes. "...you know…"
Alex felt a pang of sadness surge through her. She could practically feel Nepgear's lingering regrets.
"At least the citizens are safer in your dimension and didn't suffer the same fate as this dimension's Neptune and Nepgear..." Falcom pointed out.
B-sha coughed into her fist, grabbing the attention of everyone in the room. "Anyways... Now that we have a spirit, we can finally try to take the Basilicom back!"
Hotaru tilted her head. "Basilicom?"
"The base of operations for the goddesses," Alex explained. "My-er, Nepgear's home."
"All four Basilicoms were taken by ASIC after the CPUs fell." Histoire explained, "I suppose we can claim it now that we have Purple Sister."
"Is there a security measure that requires some sort of identity verification in order to break in? I can't seem to recall installing one myself." Alex placed a finger on her chin, but then shook her head, "I mean… Nep—... Ugh, you know what I mean."
Histoire smiled sadly as Alex tried to straighten herself out. "Like everything, the Sharicite within the Basilicoms has been corrupted. To truly claim it for ourselves, we have to purify it, and only the goddess that came from the sharicite can do that."
"Alright!" B-sha shouted, jumping on the table and producing her Preto mask, "It's going to be our standard moving plan. Neptune, IF, Compa, you guys are escorting the Champions while Falcom and I provide cover! That's going to be 1000 Credits."
"Hold on!" Maya cried, "What's a 'credit'?"
"The 'Credit' is the currency of Gamindustri, used across all nations." Alex explained "And... wait a second B-sha, are you trying to charge us again?"
"B-sha, Please…" Histoire chided.
B-sha scratched the back of her head, making an embarrassed smile. "Sorry, old habit…"
"Wait, you said something about a moving plan?" Lara cried, "And we're coming too!? But I don't know how to fight!" Lara turned to Hotaru and Maya. "Do either of you know how?"
Hotaru shook her head violently while Maya scratched the back of her head. "I mean, I've gotten in a couple of scrapes before, but I don't think I'd be able to take on an actual monster."
"Yeah, sorry about this," IF apologized, "But this base is temporary, always was."
"The monsters made it impossible to stay in one place for too long, so we just keep moving around the city." Compa added.
"You girls don't need to worry!" Neptune cheered. "Iffy, Compa, and I are something of a dream team! We'll make sure you girls are safe."
"Still the same Nep, no matter what dimension she's from," IF mused. "Which reminds me…"
IF walked over to a chest and grabbed something that looked like a white handle attached to a purple circle. She tossed it to Alex. Alex inspected it and a pink blade suddenly popped out of it. Despite this being her first time seeing it, Alex felt as if the blade's appearance was normal to her.
"The Beam Saber…" Alex said as she did a couple of practice swings.
"Thought it could come in handy," IF said as she winked at Alex. "Come on, It's time to go home."
"You really think it's a good idea for us to do this?" a small black mouse, Warechu, asked.
"I don't know what you're so worried about, that crystal's been pumping out monsters ever since we took the Planeptower. Only an idiot would try to raid the place," his companion, a young gray-skinned girl with elf ears named Linda (called Underling by most people), replied.
The two were within Virtua Forest, on the outskirts of the city. Weaving through its many trees and ignoring its pitifully weak monsters, Warechu and Linda were planting red X-shaped crystals on the ground as they walked.
"Besides," Linda continued, "do youwant to be the first person the Boss sees when she gets back?"
"You got a point there, that blue-haired weirdo scares me more than the Hag ever did. She kept muttering things like plunging the world into eternal despair and stuff. Honestly, where did she even come from?" Warechu complained.
"Don't know, don't care. I just want to get this done so she doesn't plunge me into eternal despair."
The pair walked off, as the patches of grass that the crystals were dropped on started to turn from a healthy green to a dull brown.
"Hi-yah!" Alex yelled as she sliced through the last of the monsters with her saber. With their health at critical, a shard of the Share Code appeared all around them.
"Share Code, Digitize!"
Alex made short work of scanning the code, causing all the monsters to disappear in a cloud of pixels.
"I'm glad I can do that without transforming," Alex said with a sigh of relief.
"You're a real natural with that sword, Lex" IF said, an impressed smirk on her face.
Alex blushed while scratching her cheek, "I-It's more Nepgear than anything."
"So this is Planeptower's inner sanctum?" Neptune said, inspecting her surroundings. What Neptune saw before her was a finely decorated room. Fancy colored lights dotted the walls and a long purple carpet had been laid upon the floor leading up to a gigantic set of double doors which would even dwarf an ancient dragon.
"Can't say I've seen this before in any of the dimensions I've been in." Neptune finished her thought.
"It's usually locked off from everybody except the CPU and their Oracle. Sometimes really close friends come by here." IF looked at Alex, "Anything could be behind this door, Lex, Are you ready?"
Alex nodded. IF opened the door to reveal an Ancient Dragon waiting for the group in the Sharicite sanctum.
Neptune's eyes lit up, "Ooooh, an Ancient Dragon! Never thought I'd fight one in this dimension!"
"Focus, Nep!" IF shouted, "We're going to have to go all out."
Alex took out her Digivice and fragments of Share Code wrapped around her, forming some sort of egg-shaped cocoon. In a flash, the Share Code dissolved and revealed Purple Sister in Alex's place. Gunblade in hand, Alex lifted off the ground and darted towards the monster. Neptune and IF covered their faces as the wind blast from Purple Sister's flight obscured their vision.
"Wha-Hey!" IF shouted. Alex turned her head around, eyes wide.
"Sorry!" As Alex was calling back at IF, the Ancient Dragon raised one of its large, powerful claws.
"Lex, above you!" Alex looked up to see the Dragon's claw falling towards her. Whipping her body around, Alex created a platform under her feet and kicked off of it. The Ancient Dragon's claw slammed the platform into the floor. The monster's palm crushed the platform and part of the floor with it.
Alex skidded across the ground, jumping into the air. Holding her weapon high above her head, Alex cleared the dragon's height and fell straight for the monster's head.
"Take this!" Alex swung her weapon into the dragon's head, expecting another clean cut like many of the monsters before. However, her weapon stuck into the dragon's thick scales upon contact. "...Huh?"
The Ancient Dragon roared as it shoved Alex off of it, and knocking her weapon out of her hands. Her eyes following her weapon, Alex suddenly felt a crushing grip around her entire body. The dragon had her in its claws and she couldn't break free. Alex stared at the monster, eyes widening.
"Uh oh…" The Ancient Dragon brought Alex close to her, opening its mouth wide. Gasping, Alex desperately reached out for her weapon.
"Lex!" IF, who was running into the fray, sped up. Meanwhile, Neptune was rubbing tears out of her eyes. Quatars out and ready, she began slicing at the Ancient Dragon's legs as soon as she reached it. Just like with Alex's gunblade, IF's weapons bounced off the dragon's scales harmlessly.
As the Ancient Dragon's jaw began to close over Alex's upper body, her gunblade reappeared in her hand. Alex, acting on instinct, thrusted her gunblade upwards and her free arm downwards. The gunblade lodged itself between the dragon's upper rows of teeth, while Alex hand clasped onto the dragon's gums. The latter of which caused Alex to convulse and nearly have the dragon's jaw collapse on her.
"Ew- Ew- Ew!" Even with her newfound strength, Alex was struggling to keep the dragon's teeth at bay. "This. Is. Gross!"
Glancing up, IF let out a frustrated grunt and pulled out her pistol. The girl began frantically alternating between swiping and shooting at the dragon.
"Hold on little sis!" Neptune, having cleared her eyes of any annoying tears, rushed onto the scene. "Imma comin!" The dragon's jaw began to start closing on Alex.
"Please, hurry!" A sparkle appeared in Neptune's eyes as she held two large sword in both hands.
"Don't ya worry!" Neptune leaped towards the Ancient Dragon's stomach, crossing both arms. "Raging Rush!" Alex froze as the attack's name reached her ears.
"That sounds like…"
Releasing a flurry of slashes into the Dragon's softer belly, Neptune raised both arms above one side of her head and swung down as hard as she could. Noticing Neptune's attacks causing the dragon to flinch, IF kicked off the monster's leg and swung her quatars into the cuts that Neptune made.
Backflipping off of the Ancient Dragon's stomach, IF pointed her pistol at the injuries and emptied her clip into it. Neptune also pulled out her own pistol and did the same.
The barrage of bullets forced the Ancient Dragon to yank Alex out of its mouth, crying in pain. Relieved from not being eaten, Alex felt herself slam against the floor with a loud thud. The dragon had thrown her with all its strength as it backed up in pain. Rushing towards Alex, Neptune picked up the girl while IF kept her eyes on the Ancient Dragon as she backed up. Once Neptune had moved a considerable distance away from the monster, she gently placed Alex on the floor.
"You okay, Lexi?" Alex pushed herself to her knees, nodding in a jerky fashion.
"I'm good. I… think?" Neptune smiled and turned back to the Ancient Dragon. The monster had turned away and its head bent forward. The sounds of licking could be heard coming from it.
"Alright, here's the deal. You know the thing where I did something cool back there? That was one of my special attacks. All of us have one. You should find yours and use it!" Upon hearing Neptune's voice, the Ancient Dragon whipped its body around and released a fiercer roar than before. "Look deep inside your mind, Lex. Try to remember." The monster began thundering over to the trio. IF patted Neptune on the shoulder, with the purple-haired girl nodded in response. Without another word, IF ran towards the dragon. Alex tried to reach out to IF but Neptune caught her arm, put at her side, and then put both of her hands on Alex's shoulders.
"Okay. The two of us will distract it, and we'll try to take its attention to us. Aim for its belly and unleash your special attack. Ready?" Alex stared at her hands, closing her eyes.
"Ready!" Neptune grinned and pulled Alex to her feet.
"Alrighty! Let's do this. Raagh!" Letting out the most cheerful battle cry that Alex could ever hear, Neptune ran ahead. Using her speed, Neptune caught up with IF and the two looked towards each other. With one quick nod between the two, and the duo restarted their assault on the dragon.
The Ancient Dragon thrusted both of its claws at the two girls. The two pulled away from each other, dodging both arms. Running behind the dragon, IF and Neptune slashed at its legs, and made noticeable cuts into back of its legs. Small drops of blood began to slowly leak out from the cuts. The Ancient Dragon turned around, attempting to use its tail to swipe at Neptune. Acting quickly, Neptune leapt over the dragon's tail and continuously ran behind the dragon. Firing at the injuries at the dragon's legs, the monster desperately continued its assault on Neptune. With each swipe the dragon made, Neptune danced out of the dragon's grasp. Occasionally, the girl made a pose or a face as if she was enjoying herself.
Meanwhile, IF took the chance to step back and glance at Alex. The girl back on her feet, to IF's relief. Alex currently had her eyes closed, one of her eyes twitched as she racked her brain and Nepgear's memories to find her special move. Letting out a concerned but faithful grunt, IF turned back and held a palm out towards the dragon.
"Demon Flames!" Bursts of fire spontaneously appeared around the dragon's body, causing to flinch. Neptune took this chance to back away from the monster and collect herself. The dragon reached out to Neptune, but retracted its arm as it was engulfed in flames. IF turned to Alex once again. Alex was now pressing her fingers against her temples, slightly slouching and bending her knees. "Anything?" IF called out to Alex. The girl responded by frowning.
"I'm trying!" Alex said as she began knocking against her head with her knuckles. "Why can't I think of anything?!" Alex thought to herself. "Help me, Nepgear..."
Alex took a deep breath, remembering Nepgear's words.
"I am Alexandra Rose, but I'm also Nepgear... I just need to accept her as a part of me…"
Alex's mind was filled the precise schematics for Purple Sister's gunblade.
"These images!" Alex smiled as her chest welled with hope. "I can feel our bond! I'm getting there!"
Alex saw several memories of Nepgear using her weapon, sometimes as an outright gun. Other times, she'd summon her own robots to give her cover fire while she combo-ed the enemy. While this was useful, and cool, Alex knew that she didn't have enough power to pull it off right now.
"ALEX! You can do it! Nngh!" IF had caught the dragon's claw between her quatars, her legs shaking underneath the dragon's force. Opening her eyes to see IF struggling against their opponent, Alex hastily closed her eyes again, her breathing speeding up.
"Just a little bit more…" Alex thought to herself. "There's one last memory! One where she-" Alex's eyes opened up, shining as the name came to her.
"That's it!" Alex cried as she flipped a dial on her sword, "Limiter Release!"
"Yeah, Lil Sis!" Neptune cheered as she dodged the dragon's tail again. "You can Nep this thing up!"
A sudden spike in Share Energy resonated within Alex's body. As the energy within Alex grew, her Gunblade and her eyes began to glow..
Taking a deep breath, Alex then shouted, "M.P.B.L. Overdrive!" Leaping off the ground, Alex flew towards the dragon. "I'll use all I have on this!" Holding her gunblade out, she spun into the dragon with her sword. The sword plunged into the dragon's abdomen, and with all her might, she lifted the dragon off the ground and threw into the air. This allowed IF to drop onto the ground, relieved. While Neptune rushed over to her friend, Alex rapidly shot at the dragon. With each shot, the Ancient Dragon rose higher and higher. As the dragon was reaching the peak of its forced flight, she shot the dragon one last time to keep it airborne a little longer. Then, Alex flew towards it and stabbed the monster right in the stomach, using her new CPU strength to hold her gunblade- and the monster- kept in in it a bright yellow energy from her weapon, she pulled away from the dragon, leaving it in the air inside an electric cage. Alex landed and raised her gunblade high into the air, then lowered so that she was pointing straight at the Ancient Dragon. After a moment, Alex pulled the trigger. A huge laser released from the gunblade. As the laser connected with the monster, Alex grabbed steadied her sword-arm and closed her eyes. Pulling the trigger further, the laser grew in size and enveloped the Ancient Dragon in white light. Alex turned away, her eyes still closed. Once her back faced the monster, the Ancient Dragon suddenly exploded in a sphere of blue energy. Once the sphere dissipated, the dragon dropped onto the floor. The monster lay still without breathing.
Alex smirked to herself as the name of Nepgear's special move came to her.
"Celestial Severance."
"Woah…" IF gaped as she witnessed the whole thing, "That was awesome, I knew you had it in you Gea- Lex…" IF was breathing heavily as she let her muscles rest from the Ancient Dragon's standoff.
Share code appeared around the beast, and Alex immediately took out her digivice and pointed it at the monster.
"Share Code, Digitize!"
The Dragon disappeared as its code was absorbed and purified, leaving only the Sharicite covered in a shadowy aura.
Alex landed in front of the crystal. The Sharcite flickered in her presence and her digivice reacted to the crystal. Share Code erupted from the device and flew into the crystal. The crystal slowly lost its dark aura and began to glow brightly. It flew around, circled Alex for a second, and placed itself in the center of the room. The Sharcite began to release its own energy, which started flowing through Planeptower. Soon, the tower began powering up. For some reason, Neptune was singing some sort of triumphant song that felt at home in Lowee as this was happening.
Every light in the Planeptower powered on, giving the place the purple color that it had previously lacked. With the power back on, every single of the computers in the Basilicom began to turn on as well.
Histoire sighed happily. "We aren't winning yet, but it's nice that we're starting to make some headway now. It's better than running away all the time."
"Miss Histy?" Alex called.
Alex was standing over by one of the larger terminals showing a larger map of the city. While the Planeptower had regained its luster, the rest of the city still looked pretty rundown.
"That's strange…. The Sharicite should be giving power to the rest of the city…" IF mused as she stared at the terminal. Alex stared at the terminal. Suddenly, her eyes widened.
Alex immediately punched in some commands on the keyboard. According to Nepgear's memories, she was the one who designed the system, Alex knew the system very intimately. Alex internally thanked her bond with Nepgear once again. With a couple more commands, the terminal began change the outlook of the city to a grid-based version of it and filled it with color. While Planeptower was highlighted with a purple overlay, the rest of the city was a dull grey.
"It seems like there's something blocking the share energy from reaching the rest of the city." Alex reasoned. "Look, the purple light means that this area has power." She then pointed to the grey regions. "These areas don't have power."
"That is troubling…" Histoire held her chin in thought, "Miss Rose, I want you and the others to investigate this with Compa and IF."
"Are you sure? I-I'm the only one who can transform… I couldn't bear it if any of the others got hurt." Histoire shook her head, giving the girl a reassuring smile.
"IF and Compa are more than capable of protecting you all. We do need to cover as much ground as possible to find the cause of this share blockage."
Alex nodded, still nervous, but with a renewed sense of responsibility. Not just because of Nepgear, but also because she promised to help in any way she could.
==NEPSTATION 02==
Neptune: Nepstation! And even though Big Me is in this chapter, no one can beat the OG Nep Master! With me is Alexandra Rose and Underling!
Underling: That's not my damn name!
Alex: To be fair, Miss Underling, that's the only name I remember you having.
Underling: *Growls*
Neptune: Well to settle the issue, Can you tell us what your actual name is?
Underling: It's Lin-
Neptune: IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOUR NAME IS!
Underling: W-What?
Neptune: Cause next time, The Resistance is going to find you guys and my beautiful country will be restored! Tune in next time for, "The Tallest of mountains"!
Underling: Did you seriously just set me up to do an episode preview?
Alex: Miss Neptune sure is a handful.