Twisting and turning, like hurling a stone down a jagged mountain slope. All feeling was dulled at first, and it was through that numbed state that she first noticed her existence as a singularity. Solitary in thought and deafeningly alone, it was this ability to form such internal consciousness that begat her the rude realization of truth which slinked in coil around her every breath. It was so agonizingly wrong, this certainty that filled her very core; an awful realization that took up every facet of her mind.

She, Kurome Ankokuboshi, was individually alive.

Despite her body being filled with nothing but a vague sense of fatigue, Kurome couldn't rid herself of the startling knowledge that everything was very clearly wrong. Uzume, her other half, her better half, had accepted her during their final battle for dominance. It was that duel which revealed the inner truth she'd forgotten long ago, a truth that she'd long since accepted in earnest; the sacrifice.

For so long Kurome had stewed in her loneliness, and as the days became months and the months became years the regretful woman had lost the reasonings as to why she sealed herself from the world to begin with. Her soul, in response, had ripped the conscience long buried in her heart, and set it out alone to stand against her. As she drowned in her own hatred and desire to eradicate the whole of Gamindustri, Uzume, her better half, had set about her own rebellion.

Uzume, the side who truly deserved their original name, had fought against her machinations and schemes desperately in an attempt to save the wasteland of their prison; knowing nothing of their origins, and fighting on a will to defend what few creatures sprung up from their cataclysmic power.

Once upon a time Kurome wore the name of Uzume without a care, but having spent years as a silent consciousness in the back of the victor's head had stilled her desire, and watching a life of carefree adventure from the perspective of one so pure left Kurome to abandon the name forever, and embrace the mockery the other goddesses dubbed her. She no longer cared for being the 'True Uzume' like she had once before, and she was perfectly content letting her other wield the body they shared entirely for the rest of their merged life.

And yet she felt the breeze on her skin, and that alone had been the startling needle to jab her senses into overdrive. Once again Kurome had a physical form, and knowing this made her realize that the link she'd felt from her other half was gone.

Uzume was no longer there.

Had she the strength to move Kurome would have shot up, but just knowing that she'd lost contact with her other half had the panic within ravaging her sensibilities. Said panic had the midnight vixen's physical awareness in overdrive. She could feel the grass on her back, the wind across her exposed skin, and a soft subtly pressure against her cheeks rhythmically pressing in on the lump of squishy flesh.

"Hey, are you dead?" A voice spoke curtly, and while a little harsh Kurome could recognise it as female. Whoever the woman was sounded more curious than anything, and soon the repeating pressure on her cheek got harder, almost jabbing now.

"I don't think that's helping, chu." Another voice, although this one was male and very irritating. "Punk looks like she's seen her fair share of drinks last night."

"On a Wednesday? Fat chance." The woman brushed off her male counter, and her voice held a playful mischievous side to it. "But she don't seem to be budging with the stick."

"Maybe we need to be a little more direct?" The man said, and Kurome heard what sounded like cracking.

"Yeah, I got you."

Instantly her side was bathed in pain, to the point Kurome managed to burst from her groggy state of half-sleep and grip her ribs as she rolled over.

"F-fuck..." The single response fell freely from her lips, and she heard a whistle pierce her ears.

"Yep, that did it, chu." She heard a shuffling. "So you gonna sit there all day or what?"

Kurome cracked an eye, and the first thing she noticed was the pair watching her. One was an unhealthily pale girl, looking no older than seventeen at best, and sporting a head of putrid green hair underneath the gray covering of her mouse hoodie. The second, and much shorter of the two, was a literal mouse... or at least a mouse looking mascot. Thing appeared to be ripped straight from a cartoon, and seeing as he was up close Kurome finally got to recognise the rat.

"Y-you?"

"I what?" The little man... er, mouse said, his tiny arms crossed. "Do I know ya or something?"

Wait, what? Does he not remember me? Last she checked it was her who turned him into a literal monster to distract the goddesses way back when; a trick that worked concerningly well. How do you forget something like that?

"You know this chick?" The girl asked, and Kurome watched through her lidded eyes as Warechu just shrugged.

"If I did do ya think I'd be asking?"

"Jeez, no need to be a smart ass." The green one's eyes found Kurome as their target again. "Hey, you doing good?"

"You just blasted my ribs, what do you think?" Kurome let out with a substantial amount of sass; in the event of such an asinine question she found it appropriate.

"So you're cool, good." The woman's eyes flowed over her, and Kurome held back the questioning glare she so desperately wanted to send. "You don't look too beat up or anything, so I assume you were lying in the middle of the road for another reason."

Kurome said nothing, but she didn't need to as Warechu chose to open his big fat mouth once again.

"Looking at it, chu, I'm thinking she wanted to get run over by a truck; looks goth enough to be a psycho, chu."

"Nah, not quite seeing it." The short woman countered, waving him off. "Too much blue and not enough black. If anything she's probably more of a 'smoking under the bleachers with the other goths' type gal."

"You know I'm right here." Kurome let out as she got to a standing position; the agony in her side having dulled enough to allow some basic movement.

"Chu, I'm telling ya, any sensible person wouldn't be taking a nap on the highway if they weren't looking to meet the pearly gates, chu."

"Hello?" Kurome was getting fed up with what she perceived as complete and utter nonsense. "I'm right here."

"She could have just been hitting a fat one. Some of the strong stuff she probably couldn't handle." The girl crossed her arms with a smug look. "Heh, if anything it was probably some good stuff. Wonder if she has some lef-"

"HEY!" That drew their attention, and Kurome did her absolute best to reign in her anger. Breathing in and out for a bit she calmed down over the course of ten seconds before speaking again. "I'm right here. If you have questions then just ask, instead of acting stupid and guessing when the source of those questions is standing right in front of you."

"Oh" The woman let out. "Huh, sorry bout that. So you're willing to tell us what's good?"

"I wouldn't have said so otherwise."

"Cool, so why were you lying out cold on the road?"

"I don't know." Kurome said, only for Warechu to let loose a long whistle.

"Wow, some source of answers you're turning out to be, chu."

"Shut it scrub." Kurome spat with venom. "I said I'd answer, not that I knew all the answers myself."

"So what use are ya if you don't have answers, chu?"

"Plenty; depending on what you need from me." Kurome threw out, noticing how the pairs eyes lit up slightly. She really didn't like how smirks slipped over their lips.

"Plenty, chu?" Warechu looked to the woman, who in turn did the same before both faced Kurome again.

"Say..." The woman started in a sly tone. "We didn't quite catch your name yet, have we?"

"Kurome." It was blunt, but it was all they needed. Kurome herself didn't feel all that threatened giving out her name. An ex goddess was still a goddess after all; even when halved.

"Linda." The woman then pointed to Warechu with her thumb. "The rat's Warechu."

"I ain't no rat! I'm a mouse, chu!" The guy was looking mighty offended. "Don't go giving my rep a bad rub labelling me a filthy rat!"

"Whatever." Linda brushed him off as she smirked harder. "Hey, considering you were lying in the middle of the highway I wouldn't be wrong in guessing things aren't going so good in your life, yeah?"

"Perhaps..." Kurome couldn't fully deny it, but she wasn't going to explain her predicament to a complete stranger; especially one this shady. "Why are you asking?"

"You know... me and Warechu here were in the middle of hauling a few things to the capital city."

"Really?" Kurome didn't know where this was going, and the devious amount of smugness radiating from Linda and Warechu was... concerning, to say the least.

"Yeah." Linda continued as she pointed to the rugged little truck behind the pair. Small and red, the thing looked rusted beyond repair, and the trailer linked to the back of it looked like it would shatter any minute; this did nothing to quell Kurome's worries. "We're getting paid in straight cash too; none of that credit or checking nonsense. Nothing but cold hard moola, the kind that isn't easily tracked."

"She's right chu." Warechu looked just as sleazy as Kurome remembered. Then again he looked worse when depressed; she distinctly recalled him mumbling something about being dumped before she turned him into a giant beast. "This is the type of cash that can be split even, if you catch my drift."

"Split." Kurome narrowed her eyes. "So you're saying you want me in on this?"

"Well..." Linda began as she slowly skipped over to Kurome's side, and wrapped an arm around her. "Thing is, this'll take all day with just the two of us, but with you we figure it'll save at least an hour or two. What do you say, fancy on some extra cash?"

Ah, I see now. Kurome chuckled internally as she realized what was going on. The savvy tones and manipulative atmosphere, coupled with the excitement at sharing a workload.

The two idiots were lazy.

If anything they wanted to force all the work onto her, all the while they lounged around pretending to be working hard. They presented the choice as a kindness, assuming the call of money would be enough to sway her decision. Kurome was anything but cheap.

"Deal."

However Kurome was also broke. The two took the answer well, and as she watched them high five and cheer she questioned whether this was a good thing or not. For whatever reason she was walking amongst the people once more, and while that alone was concerning she also realized she had nothing to her name. Lacking resources and wealth, the prospect of the simple offer presented by Linda and Warechu was all too tempting, and concerningly convenient. Was this a lucky break, or an omen of events to come?

Regardless of these worries Kurome looked past them. She would discover the truth of her sudden separation from Uzume, and when she did Kurome was certain she'd find a way to mix with her kinder side once more, however until then all she could do was wander over and hop in the back seat of the truck as Linda sat ahead of her, speaking of the job as Warechu drove. Kurome half-listened to the constant ramblings of the girl as she explained how to act at the Basilicom, her mind more or less stuck on the ignoble truth of things.

Kurome Ankokuboshi was a broke bitch.

.

.

"Okay, what's cracking up that pretty little face of yours?" The taller, light purple haired woman questioned, noticing her friend appeared stuck on something.

"Huh?" The woman looked distant in her response, and Neptune knew her bud was way gone at the moment.

"Okay, you really need to spit it out Uzume. Something's bugging you, and unlike actual bugs I can't catch this one."

"Oh, sorry Big Nepsy." Uzume did her best to shake off the worrying, but it was just too strong. With a faux smile she tried to sound cool.

"I'm set. Nothing can get Uzume Tennouboshi down!"

"Uzume..."

"Damn, that visible huh?" Big Nep nodded, and Uzume fell back on her rear, only to then lay back on the grass with her arms crossed behind her head. "Look, it's weird to describe. I kind of feel... empty, you dig?"

"Ah, I get what you're saying." Big Nep sat next to her. "So, do you know what's got you feeling like a downer?"

"Well..." Uzume moved one of her arms out, digging the hand in her pouch and pulling out what looked to be a small cartridge. She stared at the tiny bit of plastic between her fingers. "I think it might be this."

"That again?" Big Nep sighed. "Look, I told you already; we'll find the other one. It couldn't have fallen far."

"I'm telling you it didn't fall!" Uzume's voice pitched up a few clicks, and she let out a breath to calm down a little. "I watched them both, and I saw the blue one fade away."

"I know you said that, but game carts don't just wander off to the shadow realm every other day." The older looking girl wore a soft expression. "We were tired that day."

"I know what I saw." Uzume made her stance on the matter starkly final, and Big Nep chose to cut her losses there.

"Okay, chill, I get it. Once we get back to Planeptune we can ask Histy and little me if they know anything about this thing. With any luck we might learn where the other one went."

"I hope so."

Uzume couldn't shadow the bad feeling of worry and emptiness in her gut. Fortunately she didn't have to for long as Big Nep stood again, all the while a beeping filled the air. Pulling out what looked to be a phone she answered the blaring instrument.

"Hello?" Her eyes lit up. "Really! That's so neat; we'll be right over!" She hung up, and Uzume chose to vent her curiosity.

"What's happening?"

"Little me and the others are having a celebration!"

"Don't they do that almost every time we come back to the Hyper Dimension?" Uzume could count on one hand the times they arrived back when there wasn't a parade or some other celebratory stuff going on. Sure Planeptune was rather cut back, but it always seemed a little weird how there was always an event going on; even to the badass that was Uzume.

"Well, yes, but this one has a gaming contest!" Big Nep cheered, and Uzume saw fit to question once more.

"And?" She didn't see the hype. "We play games all the time."

"These are retro games though." A cheeky grin slipped over Big Nep's mug. "And from what I hear they're going to be given as prizes to whoever wins, and you know..." She leaned in close to Uzume, and spoke with such conviction it could freeze the water in a swimming pool. "It would look pretty cool to win the contest in front of such a big audience.

Cool huh? Well then that settled it, after all who was Uzume to deny something so inspiring to the people; she was a goddess after all, and looking cool was just part of the job.

"Okay." Uzume started. "I guess it could be pretty sweet to give it a chance. I'll be sure to dominate the fighting game events."

"That's the spirit!"

Big Nep practically dragged Uzume to the Nep bike, and with the click of their helmets they soon sped off to partake in the fun of competition.

Author's note

...

Kurome's had a bit of a rude awakening that's for sure, and from the looks of things the surprizes don't seem like they'd stop any time soon. Now stuck with the two absolute worst influences she needs to not only figure out what happened to her, but also keep out of trouble.

Warning, this story is more of a backburner type deal. It has no real schedule, and I work on it from time to time when I'm feeling stumped. Don't go expecting regular updates, but don't expect this to die off completely either - unlike my main focus this isn't nearly as stupid long or convoluted as the other story.

See you later... eventually.