Lastation Ghost Game
A Hyperdimension Neptunia & Digimon Crossover Fan Fiction
by Derald Snyder
Episode 1: Another Ciel
*The next day...*
"Come on, doggy! Don't you wanna play fetch?" one of the kids encouraged, holding out a small inflatable ball. The 'doggy' in question was white and somewhat mechanical-looking, with a small horn on his snout and a red cape tied around his neck.
"His name is Hackmon," stated the dog's companion, a nun with a somewhat short skirt and thigh-high black boots, wearing a headpiece that resembled a cartoon cat, with a pair of bat wings hanging down and framing a cute face with a small nose and gray eyes with cross-shaped pupils- the only indication that she wasn't human. "I'm Sistermon- (ahem) Sister Noir, and this is my little sister Blanc."
"H-hello!" greeted the sister in question, appearing to be a young teenager with the same eyes and similar outfit, though hers was pure white save the pink lop-eared bunny headpiece she wore. She also held a yellow-colored staff in one hand that resembled a trident.
"Why are you named after the goddesses?" another child asked.
"Um, we're travelers from a far away land," Sistermon Blanc explained. "So our names being similar is just a coincidence, nothing more."
"Oh, I see!" the child nodded with a smile.
"So why does doggy Hack-mon not wanna play fetch?" the first kid asked again.
"Well, his teeth are really sharp, so if he bit that ball..." Blanc trailed off.
"Aww..." the kid sighed in disappointment.
"Well, how about a baseball instead?" an older kid suggested, walking up with said baseball in hand. "Your Hack-mon can't pop this."
"Oh, good idea!" Noir nodded with a smile.
"(Do I have to play fetch?)" Hackmon whispered to Noir, not wanting to spook the children by showing he could talk.
"(JUST GO ALONG WITH IT.)" Noir's face briefly shifted to one of pure rage, brief enough that the kids missed it, but it was enough to cow Hackmon.
"You might want to count down first, he hasn't played fetch before," Blanc suggested.
"OK then! Here it comes, boy! One, two, three!" He threw the baseball, Hackmon dashing off after it... the ball bounced once and rolled a little before the Digimon was able to retrieve it and bring it back. "Good boy!"
"Bleh!" Hackmon made a face of mild disgust as he spat the baseball out. "(How many times do I have to do this?)" he whispered to Noir.
"(Just consider it part of your training,)" Noir hissed back.
"Here we go, boy! One, two, three!" the boy said and threw the baseball again, Hackmon managing to chase it down a bit quicker this time.
Just then, another woman approached the group, looking very similar in appearance to Sistermon Noir, but her attire was white and her headpiece was blue, resembling a cartoon mouse. "Oh, Ciel!" Blanc greeted happily. "You're back! What did those guys in suits want with you?"
"Later, Blanc," Sistermon Ciel deferred. "Is Noir behaving herself?"
"What is that supposed to mean?" Noir turned to her twin sister, indignant. "I know how to conduct myself around young ones!"
"I'm just afraid you'll disgust them with one of your tasteless jokes," Ciel put her hands on her hips. "I know how you are, Noir. It's one of the reasons I went off on my own to begin with..."
"Oh come now! Just because YOU don't appreciate my brand of humor doesn't mean everyone else is the same!" Noir retorted.
"Please, stop!" Blanc shoved herself between her sisters. "We shouldn't be arguing in front of children! And Noir, we're in enough trouble as it is! That's why we're doing this 'community service' that Mr. Judge ordered!"
"Indeed, you're both fortunate that Lady Noire and Uni decided to show mercy, after you shot several thugs and Hackmon nearly killed a Guild agent!" Ciel concurred.
"Those thugs attacked us first! We were acting in self-defense!" Noir countered. "And we had no idea that Batman was just a human in disguise!"
"And none of those other humans died. I made sure of that," Blanc added.
"But why would thugs go after you anyway, Sister Noir?" one of the kids couldn't help but ask.
"Let's just say, they like to do bad things to cute girls like Blanc and me," Noir replied.
"That's terrible!" the little girl said in distress. "So why did you get in trouble with the judge?!"
"Weren't you listening?" said the boy with the baseball, having just thrown it again. "They got in trouble because they got in a fight with Batman!"
"What! Nuh-uh!" the girl protested. "Batman's just a comic book! He's not real!"
"He is too real!" the boy shot back.
"Is not!" "Is too!" "Is not!" "Is too!" "Is not!" "Is too!"
(FWEEEET!) Sistermon Blanc whistled with her pinky fingers in her mouth, forcing the others to cover their ears! "Stop fighting! I don't know about a comic book, but Batman IS real! I saw him with my own eyes!"
"So did I!" Noir nodded curtly. "He doesn't fly like a superhero, though. He just swings on detachable ropes and drops smoke bombs to run away!"
"That's what Batman does in the comics! He doesn't have any superpowers, either!" the boy exclaimed. Turning to the girl, he bragged, "See, I told you he was real!" The girl just stuck her tongue out in response.
"Anyway," Noir decided to change the subject, "what did those men in suits want with you, sister?"
"...Not in front of the kids," Ciel shook her head. "Hackmon, can you keep playing fetch while I talk with my sisters in private?" Hackmon made a whining sound in response, but nodded in assent.
"Oh, right, I forgot!" the boy said as he picked up the baseball, before throwing it again. "Go get it, boy!"
*Flashback*
"I'm sorry, what exactly is this all about?" Ciel said as she sat down at the table across from the two men in suits, both wearing sunglasses with short hair, though one was blond and the other gray-haired.
"There was a joyrider last night that smashed up quite a few cars," Blond Suit said, pulling out a folder which contained some photos. "These are stills from security footage in the area. Look familiar?"
Sistermon Ciel took the folder that was slid over to her, looking over the photos... and gasping upon seeing the driver, who was a dead ringer for herself, save the maniacal grin! "What...! But- but that's impossible! I was in the priest's chamber at the Basilicom last night! And before that I was in court with my sisters!"
"Yeah, we talked to your fellow priests, and they said the same thing," Gray Suit nodded. "But you understand why this is something we can't just ignore..."
"Perhaps you've got some other sisters you haven't told us about?" Blond Suit pressed.
"No, I..." Ciel shook her head, before something occurred to her. "Wait. Do you police know that I'm not from Gamindustri originally?"
"Your priests said something about accessing cyberspace, but it kinda went over my head," Gray Suit admitted.
"They said that she can literally dive into a computer system," Blond Suit clarified. "So you're saying that you're born from cyberspace itself?"
"Well... yes and no. I was born in a cyberspace from an alternate dimension," Ciel explained. "In that world, members of the same species look almost exactly alike, though individual personalities can vary wildly. So this could very well be another Sistermon with no relation to myself or my two sisters..."
"You'll excuse us if we take that with a grain of salt," Gray Suit snarked.
"I have no reason to lie, gentlemen. I don't even know how to drive one of your vehicles," Ciel kept her voice even.
"Well, your doppelgänger doesn't seem to be very good at it either," Blond Suit pointed out.
"With all due respect," Ciel stood up, her patience wearing thin, "you can ask Lady Noire herself if you don't believe me. She knows I'm no joyrider! And besides, if I really needed to get somewhere in a hurry, I could just zip through your cyberspace instead of taking a car!"
"Well, we'll touch base with her next," Blond Suit nodded as he stood up, his partner following suit. "So we'll let you go for now, but I suggest sticking close to your fellow priests tonight."
"And if we find they've been covering for you, no amount of prayer is gonna save you from us!" Gray Suit asserted.
*End Flashback*
"A joyrider Sistermon?!" Noir gasped as Ciel finished her story. "But even IF you knew how to operate a car, you're not one to commit violence for no reason!"
"Yeah, you always said we should only hurt evildoers who won't repent!" Sistermon Blanc nodded with a frown.
"Well, clearly no one taught this Sistermon that," Ciel sighed. "Do you think she came from the same portal that you two did?"
"It's possible," Noir shrugged. "I don't remember where it was, though... we were pretty disoriented when we first arrived here."
"Yeah, every road and building looked the same at night," Blanc shook her head. "Maybe it's the same for this Sistermon- that's why she crashed into other cars and stuff..."
"That grin she had in the security footage tells me otherwise," Ciel disagreed. "Anyway, I'm going to ask if Lady Noire can help us find this Sistermon and clear my name..."
"Maybe if we stop her, then Mr. Judge will take us off pro-bay-shun?" Blanc suggested. "Whatever that means..."
"It means that law enforcement is keeping a close eye on you, to make sure you don't break the law again," Ciel explained. "If you do, you go right to jail."
"Good thing YOU aren't on probation, then," Noir said. "But imagine if you were put in jail... maybe that other Sistermon would crash her car into jail to bust you out!" She promptly doubled over in laughter...
"That's not funny, Noir," Blanc sweat-dropped. Ciel just facepalmed and shook her head- some things never changed.
*Later, at the Basilicom...*
"So, let me get this straight," said Noire, CPU and ruler of Lastation, her long black hair styled in her usual twin-tails, looking the very picture of elegance as usual. "According to what the police told me, they think you're taking a go-kart and joyriding late at night, smashing up other cars along the way, but your fellow priests gave you a solid alibi. So now you think it's a different digital monster, that just happens to look like you?"
"That's the most likely explanation," Ciel nodded. "Unfortunately, my sisters don't know where the portal they used to get here was, so..."
"True, but if we know the locations of the security cameras that captured your doppelgänger, we could probably narrow it down," Noire deduced. "And then maybe we could try and intercept her before she caused anymore harm..."
"But how could we do that without getting run down ourselves?" asked her younger sister Uni, who had her hair in a similar style, though her bust was a little smaller and her attire slightly more modest. "I mean, we can fly in HDD, but Sister Ciel can't do that..."
"But your airspeed in HDD is quite fast, isn't it?" Ciel mused. "Perhaps you could carry me over the car when we find it, then I can jump down and force my fellow Sistermon to stop..."
"But what if she refuses? What if you get in a fight, and she's stronger than you?" Uni fretted.
"Please. I was trained by the Royal Knight Gankoomon himself," Ciel sniffed. "That being said... I do have an ace up my sleeve, just in case."
"You mean, your 'awakening' power-up?" Noire guessed.
"Well, there is that, but I had something else in mind," Ciel smirked, before suddenly being engulfed in light, momentarily blinding the two goddesses... when it faded, the two couldn't help but gape at what they saw...
"Wha... since when could you do THAT?!" Noire gasped in disbelief.
"It's helpful to catch an enemy off-guard," Ciel replied, her voice a few octaves lower. Another flash, and she was back to normal. "Like that ninja boyfriend of Uni's coming out of seemingly nowhere..."
"So you knew I was here?" a male voice suddenly spoke up nearby Uni, causing Noire to jump a few inches.
"Steamax! Were you here the whole time?!" Noire turned to look at the purple-armored cyborg ninja who had gone unnoticed until now.
"Of course, Lady Noire. I'm still on probation myself, so the best way for me to stay out of trouble is to stay close to Uni," Steamax replied.
"Sorry, Noire... I keep forgetting to tell you when he's here," Uni ducked her head and sweat-dropped. "Anyway, maybe Steamax could try a sneak attack if Sister Ciel's plan fails..."
"Uni, with all due respect, I'm fast, but I'm not that fast," Steamax sweat-dropped. "I can't keep up with a race car on foot..."
"Then maybe we need a car of our own, that could keep pace with that go-kart," Uni responded. "And I know just whose car we can use..."
*And so, that night...*
The go-kart zipped down the road at speeds far over the legal limit, tires screeching as it made a left, bumping into a parked car and leaving a sizable dent. "Yeeee-ha!" cried the driver, who was indeed a dead ringer for the Ciel we know and love, save the mad grin on her face. "All right, is there a car I can race tonight?!"
As if to answer her question, a nondescript black car suddenly zoomed by her, cutting her off! Revving her engine, the Sistermon quickly caught up, seeing that the driver's window was open. "Hey, nice wheels! You wanna race?!"
"I might be game," replied the black car's driver, a handsome well-built man with short black hair and blue eyes. "Name's Brian. And you are?"
"Just call me Ciel!" the Sistermon yelled back. "First car to crash loses!" With that, she turned the steering wheel, her go-kart slamming into the side of Brian's car! But he was able to regain control, Sistermon zipping ahead of him before he could retaliate! "Catch me if you can, sucker!" The two swerved around another car on the road, the driver laying on the horn long and loud!
On the rooftops above, Sistermon Noir and Blanc watched the cars zoom by... "Bless Fire!" "Divine Pierce!" they intoned, firing blasts from their guns and staff respectively, aiming for the go-kart...
"What the-?!" the crazed Sistermon gasped as she swerved to avoid the attacks, turning hard to the right! "What was that?!"
"Our turn now!" Uni cried, in her HDD form of Black Sister, she and Noire (in her HDD Black Heart form) carrying Ciel through the sky. the two goddesses swooped down as the go-kart and Brian's car approached, releasing Ciel, who managed to land on the go-kart's hood!
"Huh?!" the driver Ciel gasped. "Another Sistermon?"
"Stop your car at once!" Ciel ordered as she drew her sword. "Or else!"
"Oh yeah?!" the driver Ciel shot back, summoning her own sheathed blade and knocking her counterpart's blade aside, before standing up and unsheathing her sword. "This just got interesting! Let's dance!" Her blade promptly clashed with the other Ciel's.
"How could a Sistermon have gone so far off the true path?!" Ciel critiqued as their swords locked. "What drove you to this?"
"True path? Don't make me puke!" the driver Ciel retorted. "I've always wanted to be a racer, even back when I was a tiny little Tokomon! So I digivolved to this form so my legs would be long enough to reach the petals!"
"THAT'S your reason for digivolving?!" Ciel said in disbelief. "So vapid and short-sighted...!" The driver Ciel took advantage of her shock, using a furious combos of slashes and cuts to knock her off balance!
"This is where you get off!" the driver Ciel cried as she went for a killing thrust- only to be repulsed by a bright light! "What...?!"
"Digivolve to... Pandamon." the light vanished, revealing what appeared to be a large stuffed panda with an oversized head and a red scarf around its neck. The Sistermon recovered and went for a diagonal slash, only for her blade to be caught by the Pandamon's paw, who promptly retaliated with a punch that knocked her back into the driver's seat with her legs sticking out. "Perhaps now you're beginning to regret your course of action?" she spoke in a lower, but still feminine voice.
"Like hell I am!" the driver Ciel shot back, using her feet to spin the steering wheel one way, then the other, Pandamon trying to keep her balance, but her greater weight meant greater inertia, resulting in her getting thrown off and rolling into a brick wall. "So long, sucker!" the driver Ciel crowed in triumph as she got back into her proper position and peeled off.
"Well, that didn't work," Black Heart sighed. "Time for Plan B, Uni. I'll go retrieve Ciel!"
"Okay!" Black Sister nodded as her sister flew off, summoning her sniper rifle. "Let's see how you like this!" she promptly fired, aiming at the go-kart's tire-
Only for the vehicle to swerve away and avoid the shot! "Nice try!" the Sistermon taunted. "You think I didn't see you up there, all glowing?"
"But did you see me?" said a male voice from behind, a large shuriken coming put of nowhere and shearing off the front right tire! As she began to spin out of control, the Sistermon glimpsed a purple robot standing atop Brian's car, before screaming as her go-kart crashed into a parked car, the two vehicles then smashing into the wall, wrecking them both! Brian hit the brakes and turned, managing to stop before hitting the wreckage itself. Steamax promptly jumped down as Brian got out... "Nice work, Bat- I mean, Agent Duane. Sorry, I forgot you're not in costume..."
"Well, no one's around to hear it, so I'll let it slide this time," Brian demurred as he looked upon the wreckage. But then his gaze was drawn to Black Sister flying down, reverting to normal once she'd touched down. "Good distraction, Lady Uni. As expected of Lastation's greatest sniper."
"You know it!" Uni smiled and nodded, before turning to look at the wreckage. "Hey, is she still moving?!" Sure enough, the driver Ciel was trying to crawl out from the twisted metal, covered in blood. "How did she survive that?!"
"I don't think she did," said Black Heart as she arrived carrying Ciel, who had reverted from her Pandamon from. "Do you, Ciel?"
"She's done for," Ciel affirmed somberly. "Lady Uni, get your phone out and start recording. We'll need something to show the police."
"Okay!" Uni nodded, pulling out her mobile device and activating camera mode, focusing on the dying Sistermon. "It's rolling..."
"Now do you see the error of your ways?" Ciel addressed her counterpart. "You would do well to repent before you pass on..."
"Repent...? Yeah, right..." the driver Ciel grunted defiantly. "I always knew... it would end... like this(cough) someday... But hell... it was fun... while it... last...ed..." With that, she went limp, her form suddenly dissolving into 1s and 0s that dissipated into nothingness.
"Ah! She vanished!" Uni gasped.
"I think 'deleted' would be more apt," Noire spoke up as she reverted to normal. "That's why you wanted the recording, isn't it, Ciel?"
"Correct, Lady Noire," Ciel nodded. "Although, in my world, Digimon are eventually reborn as a Digitama, or DigiEgg... but in this world, I fear that Sistermon will be subject to whatever afterlife this world might have..."
"In that case, it's Game Over for her," Noire said. "And there's no 'continue' or 'reload save' option either..." She then heard footfalls, turning to see the other two Sistermons running up.
"Did you get her?!" Noir gasped, out of breath.
"Are you okay, big sister...?" Blanc grunted as she hunched over with her hands on her knees.
"A little sore, but I'll live," Ciel answered, one hand going to her side. "The other Sistermon is no more."
"Yeah, and I got her on video," Uni added. "So once we show this to the police, that should get our Ciel off the hook..."
"Coming from you, it should," Brian Duane nodded. "Anyway, I've called my fellow Guild agents to come here and clean up this mess..."
"Well, you'll excuse me if I don't stick around," Steamax spoke up. "Until next time, Uni." With a brief bow, he vanished in a flash step.
"See you tomorrow, Steamax!" Uni called after him.
"Well, I'm just glad this whole thing is over," Sistermon Noir sighed.
"...If Neptune was here, she'd probably say something like, 'oh no, you just tripped an event flag; now this is just the beginning', or something like that," Noire half-snarked.
Unbeknownst to the group, Merlin was looking down at them from another rooftop nearby. "How prescient you are, Lady Noire. This is indeed, only the beginning..."
With that, he teleported away...
*Episode 1- End*
