F3: Welcome to chapter 15 of my Neptunia Story. We left off with 5pb finishing her concert but then monsters are invading Leanbox. Hyperdimension Neptunia is property of Idea Factory, and Compile Heart. With that said Let's Dive In.
Chapter 15: Leanbox Under Siege.
Gunfire rang out through the boundary of Leanbox's boarder as the anti-ground cannons were firing upon the monsters that were coming close and it was working mostly to keep the monsters at bay but it wouldn't hold them back forever.
"Keep firing! They must not enter the city!" The guard shouted.
The hunters that had joined the guards were firing upon the monsters with their guns, with some of them using spells to attack but their bullets either bounced off the monsters or their magic had little effect on them.
"Sir. The monsters are getting closer. We can't keep them back for long. The hunter's spells and weapons are proving to have little effect on them." Another guard spoke.
"We must hold the line. These monsters cannot break through to Leanbox." The main guard said.
Just then IF and Linda would show up running up to the guard.
"Sir. We're here to help." IF said.
"You two. I'm not sure how much of help you two can be but I guess we can't be picky at this moment." The guard said.
"So, what's the status?" Linda asked.
"Right now, we are busy keeping these monsters at bay but no matter how many we take out more just seems to be right behind them. Like there's an endless supply of these things." The guard stated.
"An endless supply of monsters? That sounds familiar." IF said.
"You got an idea?" Linda asked.
"Maybe. But if I had to give a straight guess. Then my bet would have to be on a Spawner or a portal just like what happened in Lastation and Lowee." IF stated.
"You think that could be the cause for these monsters." The guard said.
"I'm certain of it. Though that also means they'll most likely be in the very back of wherever these monsters came from." IF said.
"Right now, we need to get rid of them and quickly otherwise we'll be overwhelmed." The guard said.
"Leave that to us." IF added which made Linda confused.
"Um… no offense their Iffy but uh how are we going to get through a wall of monsters that's in front of us? Linda questioned.
IF smirked "Whoever said about going through them?" IF answered.
Linda looked at her strangely not sure what she meant but then IF closed her eyes and suddenly was surrounded by a bright light activated her HDD. Linda covered her eyes from the bright light before the light faded as Linda opened her eyes seeing an entirely different person in front of her.
"Whoa... IF is that you?" Linda asked as the woman in front of her nodded.
"Yep. Now hang on." Gear Heart said as she wrapped her arms around Linda's waist and then took off into the air.
"Whoa! Hey, slow down a little bit will yah!" Linda called out trying not to flail around.
"We'll get their faster if we fly so hang tight." Gear Heart said sounding motherly as she flew a bit faster straight ahead trying to find where the monsters were spawning from.
"Down their look!" Linda called out pointing down to the ground. Gear Heart saw the monsters marching forward and she noticed some Ancient Dragons among them which were bad if they got to the capital. They had to at least slow them down.
"Linda, you have any bombs on you?" Gear Heart asked.
"Yeah. Their mini bombs. What are you thinking?" Linda questioned.
"Time to start a bombing run." Gear Heart said which made Linda smirk as she summoned a bomb in each hand.
Once they were above the monsters Linda started throwing her bombs at the monsters as they detonated on impact blowing up the monsters underneath them killing some of them.
"Oh yeah, how yah like that you monsters!" Linda shouted as threw more bombs below them killing more monsters on impact.
"Nice one Linda. Keep it up." Gear Heart stated, as they flew above the monsters. However, Linda had run out of bombs as she tried to bring out another.
"Uh oh. Were in trouble. No more bombs." Linda said.
"That's fine. What we've done and slowed the monsters down just enough. Though we still need to find whatever is making them appear." Gear Heart added as they continued to fly around looking for the way to spot the monsters from spawning.
=HDN=
Meanwhile back in Leanbox Chika, Compa and Rei managed to get Vert back to the basilicom and laid her gently on a couch but they were worried as Vert wasn't responding.
"We got to try and wake her up. Those guards won't last long with those monsters out there. Not to mention the hunters." Rei replied.
"I know that but she's breathing and nothing else is wrong with her other than the wound we found on her back. I'm not sure if there is anything we can do but just wait for her to wake up." Compa replied.
"If we wait then Leanbox will get invaded by those monsters." Chika stated.
Compa brought out her cellphone and started to dial a number "I'll call GeGe. See if she and Nep can help us out." Compa said as the number started dialing.
However, watching through the security cameras, Croire noticed what Compa was doing and decided to interfere.
"Oh no you don't. Can't have that can we." Croire said and with a press of a button triggered a device in the basilicom to activate as it pulsed through the building.
Compa phone released a static sound from the speaker loud enough it made Compa drop her phone as her phone sparked and shutdown.
"What was that?" Rei asked.
"An EMP. It must've shut down the electronics here in the building." Chika replied as her phone was affected too.
"What about the doors?" Rie questioned.
"Electronic locks. Looks like we're not going anywhere and no one's getting in." Chika said.
"Great. Just great." Compa said, the three could only look after Vert until she wakes up.
"Guess we have no choice but to wait." Rei replied however she was also worried about IF and Linda if they were doing alright handling the monsters.
Meanwhile flying above the forest Gear Heart was still holding on to Linda as they were looking for whatever was creating the monsters and luckily Linda spotted something down in the forest that looked like it was their target.
It was a large mechanical device and it was generating monsters as they were coming out of all sizes.
"Hey! Down there! It's huge!" Linda pointed out.
"A giant machine. I guess that makes a lot more sense. We better take care of it before it creates more monsters than Leanbox can handle." Gear Heart stated as she began fly down toward it.
However, as she did that the machine started to make a loud beeping sound like an alarm.
"PROXIMITY BREACH. BEGIN TERMINATION." Its mechanical voice spoke as the machine started to transform. First came it's legs letting the machine stand on its mechanical legs and then the arms came next as it has two spiked knuckles for hands and then finally the head as two red beady eyes glowed staring at the two.
"TARGETS LOCKED. BEGINNING TERMINATION." It declared before charging at the two.
"Crap. Hang on!" Gear Heart spoke as she jerked upward to avoid the attack but the machine responded by giving chase after them.
"Damn. This thing's fast. We can't get close to it." Linda said.
"At least it's not making more monsters. It seems while in that mode it can't make any more monsters." Gear Heart said.
"That's good at the very least. But how can we deal with it before it tries to kill us." Linda added.
"For now, it's best we avoid it attacking us but we also have to find a weakness." Gear Heart said as she avoided another attack.
"DEPLOYING ARMAMENTS." The mech said as it opened multiple weapons and then fired it's lasers directly at them.
"Dragon Skin!" Gear Heart declared just as the laser hit her blocking the attack.
Just then the mech suddenly got close to her and just after the attack finished it delivered a powerful punch to Gear Heart making her lose her grip on Linda making the young teen plummet to the ground as she screamed flailing her arms.
"Linda!" She called out to her as she went to pursue her but the mech intercepted her backhanding her away as Linda fell through the trees to the ground below as Gear Heart was dealing with the mech.
Meanwhile, Linda landed hard on the ground as she groaned getting up slowly.
"Okay, that's going to hurt later." She said getting up slowly but then she felt shooting pain coming from her left leg. She looked down at it seeing how scratched it was from falling and it was bleeding as blood dripped down her leg.
"Great. And me without any healing skills. Man wouldn't I give for Warechu right about now." Linda said as she tried to stand but the pain in her leg made it rather difficult. She heard clashing metal above her but she couldn't see through the tree line.
"That sounds like IF up there fighting that mech still. Wish I could help her out but I'm stuck down here… huh?" She said but then noticed something ahead of her that looked like the place where the mech was stationed. She hobbled her way over to the spot and she noticed that it was a control console with the words 'Active' in big green letters along with a large picture of the mech that was fighting.
"This must be some kind of control unit. It must've activated when we entered the area. Then maybe there's a way to shut it down." Linda said as she balanced herself on the control unit and started hacking into it.
"Hm… biometric encryption. This might take a while but if it'll help IF beat that mech then I'm all for it." Linda said beginning her hack into the mech.
Above in the sky IF was still fighting with the mech and it was proving to be difficult to handle as she avoided another barrage of lasers coming from it.
"Serpent Death!" She declared as the liquid snake tried to bite at the mech but it was to no avail.
"Poison immunity! Are you kidding me!?" She shouted as the mech rushed at her its fist coiled back ready to punch her again.
This IF met it she coiled her fist back with a battle cry punched at the mech just as it punched at her their fists colliding reaching a shockwave coming to a stalemate.
"How is this thing so tough?" She asked herself as she pulled away from the mech.
The mech floated in place for a moment before its shoulders opened and fired missiles at her.
"Oh c'mon! Missiles now!" She shouted as she flew upward as the missiles followed her. No matter how fast she tried to shake the missiles they persisted and followed her.
"I can't shake these things. Alright then…" IF said as she pulled back and headed straight toward the mech.
"You can have them back!" IF shouted as she flew directly at the mech.
However, the mechs eyes glowed as it deployed two shoulder mounted guns and started firing at IF but it was aiming for the missiles as it aim was true destroying the missiles behind her as the resulting explosion force her forward at the mech in which he delivered a powerful punch to her stomach as she gasped for air. Then it swerved and hit her with an axe kick sending her to the ground near Linda.
Linda looked back and noticed IF was struggling a little as she carefully got up.
"That looked like it hurt." Linda said as IF stood up.
"Yeah. This thing is tougher than it looks." She said brushing off any dirt on her.
"But I think I can shut it down." Linda added.
Gear Heart looked at her strangely "How?" She asked.
"I found a control unit. I bet it must control it. I'll hack in and shut it down. Think you can buy me some time." Linda said.
"How much do you need?" Gear Heart asked.
"About five minutes." Linda answered.
"I can do that." Gear Heart said as she flexed her wings and took to the air as Linda returned to the control unit and continued hacking it.
She rammed herself into the mech knocking it away so it stays away from Linda and hopefully it doesn't pick up on what she's doing.
However, on the other side of the mech Croire was controlling the mech with… a game controller.
"Oh, c'mon IF going to have to try better than that." Croire mocked as she pressed a button combination on the controller as the mech moved in the commands given.
The mech reeled its fist back to attack the CPU but Gear Heart avoided it this time and landed a punch to its metal stomach damaging it as the metal cracked.
The two began to exchange blows with the mech lands blows on her stomach and arms but Gear Heart responded by hitting its legs and head so she could try and blind it.
Linda was typing away on the control unit as her eyes traced the screen and before long, she found the main control server to shut it down.
"Sorry buddy no more doing any more damage for you." Linda said pressing the final key to initiate the shutdown.
The mechs eyes flickered before they went dark as its whole body went limp before plummeting down to earth with a loud thud. Gear Heart was breathing heavily as she floated down the mech to make sure it was shut down.
Linda hobbled over to her standing next to her "Yep that did it." Linda said.
"Yeah… let's back to Leanbox." Gear Heart said but just as the two were about to leave the mech suddenly started to speak.
"Impressive work Gear Heart. A most dominate display." A muffled voice said.
"What the heck!? Did that thing just speak!?" Linda said getting behind Gear Heart.
"No… it's voice muffler. Who are you? Are you the one creating these portals and making these monsters?" Gear Heart asked.
"Maybe… maybe not. That's for you to discover. However, I'm very pleased with your progress. You're growing stronger by the day. Maybe you'll be even stronger than the other CPUs." The muffled voice said.
"The heck are you talking about? What progress?" Geart Heart asked.
The muffled voice laughed at her mockingly.
"Don't tell me you don't know. Surely your father might know something I mean after all… you are his greatest creation. Or maybe you should ask Rei Ryghts. She might have an answer for you." The voice said.
"I don't have to ask anything." Gear Heart said.
"Are you sure? Tell me Gear Heart… no… IF. Have you ever wondered why you don't age like everyone else around you. Why do you still look so young? I'm sure that Rei and your father might have an answer for you but you might not like it." The muffled voice said ominously.
"Why should I ask them anything? I don't know who you are but when I find you, I'll make sure to bring you down." Gear Heart spoke firmly.
The muffled voice seemed to laugh at this "Do you honestly think that? Do you know the true reason why you were created? Why was your origin hidden away for so very long?" The voice said.
"Then if you know so much about me then why don't you just tell me!" Gear Heart shouted.
"And spoil the fun. Sorry but you'll have to discover that all on your own." The voice before laughing mockingly.
Gear Heart let out an angry growl before stomping on the mechs head crushing it beneath her feet the sound of crushed metal beneath her.
"Damn… remind me not to get on your bad side." Linda said but she nearly tripped over her leg that was still bleeding.
Geart Heart picked her up carrying her bridal style which made Linda blushed in embarrassment.
"Hey! Don't just pick me up like that!" Linda shouted.
"C'mon it's best we get that leg looked at before it becomes infected." Gear Heart said as she took to the skies holding Linda in her arms before flying back to Leanbox. However, what they didn't know was that floating nearby was a drone with a camera implemented into it as it had recorded everything in which on the other end of the camera Croire had witnessed everything that had happened.
"That's all I wanted. Thanks, IF. For providing me what I needed to take Leanbox and its goddess down." Coire said as she sent the video to a current journalist that is currently in Leanbox at the time.
=HDN=
Meanwhile, at the basilicom Compa, Rei, and Chika were still looking after Vert who was unconscious but then she started to stir letting out a small groan getting their attention.
"Lady Vert!" Chika shouted as Vert sat up, her eyes opening.
"What… happened? Everything's all a blur." Vert replied.
"You were out for quite some time Lady Vert. Are you feeling alright?" Compa asked.
"Yes… but my memories a little fuzzy. What happened?" Vert questioned.
Chika then spoke up "We were heading back here from the concert but then you suddenly fainted. After that the guards contacted me saying that there were monsters trying to invade Leanbox." Chika explained which immediately got Verts attention hearing about the monsters.
"Then we need to go handle them at once." Vert said as she got up but was hit with immediate dizziness afterwards as she caught her footing.
"Easy Lady Vert. Linda, and IF are already handling it plus the other hunters as well. I even issued a red alert for all citizens to return to their home's." Chika replied.
Vert gave her a gentle smile "Thank you Chika." Vert praised as Chika could only blush from it.
Rei cleared her throat a moment getting their attention "Anyway now comes another problem we need to solve. Why would some want Vert out of the way?" Rei questioned.
However, before anyone could answer the door to the basilicom opened as two guys in uniform with tv cameras came in along with a short girl behind them. The short girl has long sandy-brown hair with teal eyes and a bright pink bow on top of her head with a skull in the center along with red lining and white frills on the end. She wears a matching bright pink Iolita-style dress accompanied by numerous white frills in layers and a red bow in the center with yet another skull. She wears pink stockings with bright pink ankle high boots with red ribbons in the center. She was holding a microphone in her left hand.
"Ah-ha! Thought you still be here!" The young girl shouted pointing a finger at Vert.
"You've got to be kidding me? Abnes! What are you doing here?" Vert questioned crossing her arms under her bust.
"I'm just here to expose you for who you are. You laze about while your own country was in danger. How very irresponsible." Abnes stated firmly.
"Hold on wasn't she one of the Seven Sages." Compa said as Chika nodded.
"Yep. Look this really isn't the time for this so why don't you do us a favor and leave." Chika responded.
"Oh, so you're trying to hide the fact that your goddess is nothing but lazy is that it." Abnes said pointing the microphone toward Chika which was starting to annoy her.
"I'm not hiding anything. Vert is a proud goddess and wouldn't dare leave Leanbox unprotected." Chika said.
"Then why don't you try explaining this!" Abnes declared before bringing up a holo screen of the fight seeing the mysterious CPU battling the mech that was summoning the monsters to attack Leanbox.
"That's the same CPU that helped me in Lastation." Compa added.
Abnes had a grin on her face. "So, are you telling me that we might be looking at a new goddess that might just replace Green Heart?" she asked coyly.
"No. Lady Vert is the only goddess for Leanbox. You know why are we talking to you. Get out!" Chika shouted, trying to shove the little girl out.
"So, you're just trying to hide the truth that Miss Tits over their can't cut it as a goddess." Abnes said.
Before anyone could respond they heard a sound coming from the open door and before long it was none other than Gear Heart with Linda in her arms as Rei noticed her bleeding leg.
"Linda!" Rei shouted, with worry in her voice as she ran over to them Gear Heart gently placing her down allowing Rei to grab hold of her.
Linda only chuckled at this "Guess I kind of overdid it." She spoke.
"Overdid it! You're lucky you didn't lose it! I've told to be careful and you did the exact opposite." Rei said angrily but then as quickly as it came her anger left only to be replaced with relief.
"I'm just glad that you're okay at least and not in worse condition. Let's get that leg looked at." She said calmly like a mother to a child.
However, Abnes took this opportunity to speak to Gear Heart "So Miss CPU. Do you plan on taking over this beautiful nation of Leanbox because of the incompetence of Miss Vert?" Abnes asked, pointing her microphone to Geart Heart.
Gear Heart, however, was aware who was in front of her decided to take the microphone from her.
"Lady Green Heart is the only one for Leanbox. Whatever delusion you have of me I am not here to take over this nation. This nation belongs to Lady Green Heart. So, I suggest you leave immediately." Gear Heart said glaring at the small girl.
That seemed to have intimidated her as took back her microphone and ran out of the basilicom screaming with her camera crew right behind her.
"This isn't over CPU! I promise you." Abnes shouted back running away from Gear Heart.
Gear Heart then turned to the others "Sorry you had to see that. Are you alright Lady Vert?" Gear Heart asked.
"I'm fine but… just how do you know my name? I don't believe we've met before." Vert said which made Gear Heart nervous of answering.
"Um… well… that's rather difficult for me to explain." She said nervously.
"Then can you tell me who you are?" Vert asked again.
"Just… call me Gear Heart. I'd rather not show you who I really am." She said again.
"Very well. Then you have my thanks for protecting my nation. I'm in your debt Lady Gear Heart." Vert said bowing a little to her.
"Um… you wouldn't happen to see IF out there per chance. I hope that she's okay." Compa said with worry.
Gear Heart could only smile at this "I'm sure your friend is fine miss. Now if you'll excuse me a moment, I must be off." Gear Heart said as she took to the air again before flying out of the basilicom and into the sky above. Luckily, she didn't go far as she flew outside to the left of the basilicom and landed but not before turning back to her human form and she rushed into the basilicom.
"Hey girls." IF said waving at Compa and the others.
"Iffy!" Compa cheered as nearly trampled over IF pulling her into an embrace.
"You had me worried. Are you okay?" She asked checking over IF to see if she had any injuries.
"Compa I'm fine. I'm not hurt or anything." IF said trying to calm her friend down but she then looked toward Vert.
"Feeling any better Vert?" IF asked.
Vert only nodded "Yes. Very much so. Though you just missed that mystery CPU." Vert replied.
IF wide eyed "Really? Well, I'm just glad that those monsters were dealt with and that Leanbox is safe and sound." IF replied.
"Yes, and I'm glad as well. It's a shame I didn't get to talk to Gear Heart more. I'm sure we would've had a nice conversation." Vert added.
"I think we've had enough excitement for one day. I'll be staying at a hotel here until Linda's leg is healed then I'll be returning home." Rei replied as she almost effortlessly lifted Linda up in a bridal carry making the girl blush.
"R-Rei! Not you too!" Linda shouted clearly embarrassed by this as Rei walked out with Linda in tow.
Compa let out a yawn "Yeah… same here. It's been an exciting day so I think I'm going to turn in too." She spoke.
"You're welcome to one of the rooms here if you like." Vert offered.
"Thanks. I think I'll do that." Compa said taking her up on the offer.
"I think I'll join in too. After today I'm beat." IF added.
This made Vert smile "Wonderful. I'll have the rooms fully prepped and ready." Vert said.
"Leave that to me." Chika added as the four of them left the front of the basilicom just as the sun was starting to set on the nation. However, the words from that voice still lingered in IF's mind. What was she created for? What was her purpose? Those thoughts still lingered in her mind and the only person that might be able to answer them is her father.
Meanwhile, in a disclosed location Croire had looked at the share energy that IF was obtaining and the share energy from Leanbox and she was completely shocked by the turn out. Thanks to the video she posted all over Leanbox, Vert had already lost almost twenty five percent of her shares while IF shares increased by the same amount.
"Wow twenty five percent in that run. Not bad IF. Not bad at all. But still not near enough. I need one big push to get IF to maximum power. All that's left is Planeptune and that goddess there is nothing to sneeze at even though she's a complete goof ball. Hm… this one will take some proper planning." Croire replied.
"You'll… never win… you know that." The smaller Croire said to her from inside the Nep Note.
Croire grabbed hold of the book "You are starting to annoy me. Luckily, I know just the perfect spot to get rid of you." Croire said as she opened a portal.
She had an evil grin on her face before she gripped the book hard "Time to send you to the wolf's. I'm sure they'll like a little morsal like you." She said before throwing the book with the little Croire through the portal before closing it behind her.
"And that gets rid of that little annoyance. Now how to deal with Planeptune? That one I'll have to think about." Coire said as she started pondering ideas.
Meanwhile, in a forest far from Planeptune a Mother Fenrir was looking after her pups as they were playing in front of her. Just then their fun was interrupted as a portal suddenly opened near her pups as the mother fur raised in defense as she barked at her pups to return to the cave. They did as they were told as the mother got defensive preparing to fight whatever was behind the portal.
But then something came flying out of the portal which turned out to be a book of some kind but the book had flipped opened the cover to a page seeing picture of a fair wings on it. The Mother Fenrir approached the book with care before sniffing it but just then the page flashed causing it to step away from it but then the light vanished revealing a young girl.
She had choppy, platinum blonde-white hair with black earpieces with red on them. She wears a black dress with silver and red accents, a crimson ribbon tied around her right wrist, and a cape-like piece that attaches to her top by a pink orb in the center of it with smaller pink orbs below her shoulders. She also has a pair of purple and blue gradient themed wings. She has bright cyan colored eyes. However, she looked very exhausted and hungry.
"Stupid… big version of me. Got to… find… Neptune." Croire said as she tried to fly with her wings but she couldn't summon the strength to fly as she fell right back to the ground.
"Damnit!" Croire shouted angrily, trying to get herself to fly but to no avail as it resulted her in falling back to the ground.
Just then she saw the Mother Fenrir staring at her curiously as it started to approach her.
"Oh, great now I'm going to be this things lunch." Croire thought as the monster was now standing in front of her as she closed her eyes waiting for it to eat her but it surprisingly didn't as it started to sniff her.
"Okay… what's it doing? It's not… eating me. Then what's it going to do." Croire thought as then the Mother Fenrir opened it maw and gently picked up the small fairy by her dress.
"Hey! What are you doing!? Put me down!" Croire shouted trying to get the beast to let her down but refused as the pups saw their mother carrying the fairy and returned to her cave along with her pups. It was quite warm in the cave as she put Croire down on the ground near her as Mother Fenrir laid down showing her stomach as the pups approached her and started suckling her teats.
However, Croire was starting to get the idea and as much as she was against this idea she needed to get her strength back she crawled over next to one of the pups and started suckling the teat as milk entered her mouth as she started to feel drowsy and fall asleep in the cave with the Mother Fenrir and her pups.
=HDN=
Meanwhile in Lastation it was nighttime as most of the citizens have gone to bed but there was still someone that was staying up processing information. It was Fuuki who was looking over the energy readings she just got from Leanbox as the energy she got was more than enough for what she needed to trance where the signal was coming from and who was stealing the other nations shares. She noticed that Leanbox lost twenty five percent of their shares which was a huge loss and she was even reading the comments of a social network about how this new CPU could be better than the others.
"C'mon baby show me the money." Fuuki said as she clicked enter on her keyboard and with much luck, she had pinpointed a spot in Leanbox as to where the energy was coming from as the target was moving.
She immediately began dialing for Noire as she answered her phone.
"You got something?" Noire asked over the phone.
"Yeah. That share energy reading. I got it. And it's come out of a Leanbox. It currently inside the basilicom there." Fuuki said.
"Good work Fuuki. Let me know the moment it starts moving again." Noire said.
"Will do." Fuuki said hanging up as she kept progress on tracking the energy and maybe they can find out who has stolen the share energy from three of the nations.
F3: That ends chapter 15 of my Neptunia story. The monsters have been beaten but now what other mysteries will be revealed? And what plans does Croire have for Planeptune? Don't forget to leave and comment. Make sure to follow and/or favorite this story. With that said this is Fireuser3 and I'm Out.