HN is Real: Chapter 17: Super Dimension Game Party

IF woke up the next morning after a good night's sleep. She'd gotten used to the generator ages ago; getting around the world, she was forced to put up with ridiculous living conditions from time to time and… well, the generator was still pretty bad but she'd slept through worse. Getting up from her bed, she looked around and wasn't the slightest bit surprised that, while Neptune and Compa were still sleeping, Jacob and Nisa were gone.

Compa stirred. In a few moments, she sat up. As was always the case when she slept, she was wearing her pink-trimmed white halter neck chemise. "Hi, IF…" she greeted with a yawn.

"Morning," IF returned before getting up from her bed.

Compa rubbed her eyes. "You know, I think you should get yourself some pyjamas."

"Nah, I'm good with what I have on now." IF retrieved her coat that was hung over the railing at the foot of her bed and snaked her arms through its ridiculously long sleeves.

"Doesn't it get weird, though? Sleeping in what you wear all day?" inquired the drowsy girl.
"It's convenient," responded IF as she put on her long black socks and tall blue boots. "I wake up, get my coat and footwear on and I'm ready for whatever the day has for me."

"What happens when you need to wash your clothes?"

"I have spare clothes." IF stood up and made her way to the front door. "Don't think I haven't thought this…"

She stopped at the stove as a letter caught her attention. She picked it up and gave it a brief once-over.

"What's that, IF?" Compa asked.

"And this is why I wish you followed my example," not-answered IF.

"… Huh?"

The brunette turned around as she put the letter in her coat pocket. "Get changed. I'll wake up Neptune and we'll head for Chian's."

"O-Okay." Compa was a bit confused but she still got up from her bed, picked up her disc cover and headed for the bathroom.

IF sighed and walked over to the sleeping CPU. "Alright, time to wake up."

She raised her flat hand.

---

"You didn't have to slap me to wake me up, you know," Neptune complained as she rubbed her cheek.

"I know. You said so five minutes ago when we left the motel," IF responded as they reached the front door of Passe's restaurant. "By the way, how is that still stinging?"

Compa opened the door and entered. "Hello- Whoa!"

"What? What is it?" Neptune pushed her way into the restaurant. "Whoa!" she exclaimed.

Most likely because it was early in the morning, no tables were occupied or holding food on them. Well, except for one. One of the six-seater tables was absolutely packed with food. Well, not absolutely packed but there was a huge amount of pancakes, a large bowl of fried rice, plenty of dumplings and crullers and several other breakfast dishes, most of which seemed Chinese in origin, available in vast quantities. Well, vast for a big breakfast, anyway. At each seat was a plate with chopsticks, a spreading knife and a fork.

"What's all this doing here?" IF asked, definitely as surprised as her comrades.

Chian entered from the side hallway. "Hey, girls! Like what you see?"

"Chian? Did you cook this?" Compa inquired.

The silhouette definitely looked proud. "Heck yeah! Jacob and Nisa came here a while ago and told me you were all going to do something big today so you needed a big breakfast."

Just then, Jacob and Nisa entered the dining room. "Oh, you're here," Jacob greeted.

"Jacob, I can't believe you got this all ready for us!" Neptune was definitely excited.

"Hey, I did all the cooking," Chian cut in.

"Oi now, we helped," Jacob retorted.

"And? I still provided the kitchen and the ingredients and most of the food!" Chian snapped.

"Anyway," IF interrupted, preferring not to let this get out of hand, "thank you for the food."

"You're welcome," Jacob and Chian said at the same time. They looked at each other funny (in a hostile way) for this. Well, Chian was still a maybe. Jacob wasn't really as hostile as much as he was vaguely irritated.

Neptune didn't pay this any mind. She already made her way to one of the middle seats and sat down. "So many delicious goodies…" Neptune wiped her mouth of her very abundant drool. "I dunno where to start!"

"Just take a little bit to start off with," Jacob advised as everyone else gathered at the table. "Make sure there's enough to go around. Well, there's definitely enough to go around but make sure everyone's got a full plate before you dig in."

"Thank you again, Chian, Jacob and Nisa." Compa bowed before she sat to the left of Neptune. "So, you two didn't go on your morning run?"

"We did but we cut it short," Nisa answered. "We wanted to get this meal ready before we headed off on the mission." Nisa quickly took a dumpling and chomped half of it off. "And such a meal it is! A heroine most definitely cannot fight injustice on an empty stomach, you know."

"Is this mission also top secret?" Chian inquired of IF as she sat next to Nisa.

"Yup," IF responded simply.

Chian could have smiled slightly. "You go on a lot of those. I still wonder what you're doing."

"If you're lucky," Jacob began as he took a seat on the other side of Neptune, "we may let you know later. For now, I'm starving."

And so the party dug in.

Then, suddenly, Neptune stopped eating. "Weih…" she spoke with her mouth holding more food than air. "Miffih…?"

"Nep-Nep, don't talk with your mouth full," Compa gently advised.

Neptune swallowed her food. "Mission…" she repeated softly.

And then her eyes lit right up right as she dropped her fork and plate (on the table, thankfully, so her food didn't spill anywhere).

"We're doing that today?!" Neptune enthusiastically shouted as she stood up quickly.

"You mean the plan? Yeah, that's today. We're going after we finish this, in fact," Jacob answered. "I wanted us to have a big breakfast because I want us to be energised before we get started."

"Gracious pastries!" cheered Neptune as she once more took up her cutlery. "I'll eat as much as my tummy can hold, then!"

"Nep-Nep, slow down before you choke!" Compa warned as Neptune began going through her food like a vacuum cleaner.

Chian laughed. "Your party must never be boring."

Jacob cracked a smile. "No, it never is."

"I wonder what it'd be like to be a member of it…" she wondered.

Neptune stopped eating so that she and Nisa could share a wink. IF just ignored the event and ate her provisions while Compa, Jacob and Chian just looked confused.

---

A bit earlier than in due time due to Neptune's eating habits, the party had finished the lavish morning meal and exited the factory.

"Thank you, Chian!" shouted Compa as they left.

"Good luck with whatever your plan is!" shouted back Chian from the restaurant door before she went back inside.

IF, however, looked... kind of mad, to put it mildly. "I can't believe you made me pay for all that."

"Hey, you're the one with access to the money," Jacob countered.

"True enough but the real issue here is how expensive it all was. How do you spend 1,000 credits on crullers?"

Jacob shrugged. "Beats me. I'm still trying to figure out the conversion rate. In any event, Neptune's happy."

"Ah…" said a blissful Neptune, patting her stomach. "That was so good… And now I'm ready! Let's get 'that' going!"

"Righto. Next stop," Jacob clapped his hands together in giddy anticipation, "the dungeon."

---

It took maybe ten minutes for the party to get to the lift that would take them to the dungeon. No matter how quickly the lift was going, it felt like it was taking forever; everyone was antsy to see this work. Especially Jacob, who was rocking back and forth, much to the confusion of his comrades.

"Um, Jake?" Compa spoke.

"Yeah?" Jacob looked at the medic.

"Could you not rock, please? It's very distracting and it's making me nervous."

"Oh." At her request, Jacob stilled himself. "Sorry."

After a dozen or so seconds, Jacob started rocking again.

"Jacob!" IF said sharply.

"Sorry, sorry," Jacob apologised as he stopped himself from moving. "It's a nervous habit. I can't stay still for a long time. I need to keep moving."

Nisa had an idea. "If it makes you feel any better, try thinking of this as a self-restraint exercise."

"… Yeah, that makes sense," Jacob agreed. "Alright, I'll try that. Thanks."

He then took a breath and tried to calm himself down.

Then Neptune started rocking.

"That doesn't mean you can do it," IF reprimanded the CPU.

"Aw, butt nuggets."

---

Finally, the party arrived at the dungeon. To Jacob's dismay, it was a Cave #1 dungeon.

IF raised her hand in a 'stop' gesture towards Jacob. "Don't you dare start," she warned as she pulled out her phone. "It's bad enough that we wasted so much money on just one of our daily meals. I don't want to put up with your complaining as well. Now, do we go through with this?"

Jacob nodded. "Yeah. Make the call."

---

Even though this was a big day for the party, it was no different from the previous one for the Basilicom. The Basilicom's doorman was just strolling down the corridor, holding a mug of hot coffee in his hand as he went, before turning left into a door. Inside the reasonably sized room were nine silhouettes, all of which looked exactly the same as the doorman. Eight of them were lined up along opposite walls in two lines of four and the final silhouette was in a tall seat at the end of the room. He would have looked like a judge if he wasn't focusing on his computer in boredom.

The doorman walked up to the judge silhouette who looked back at him as he approached. "Oh, hello Moderator," he greeted pleasantly. "You're here earlier than usual. Why aren't you at the door?"

"Good morning to you, Questmaster," the Moderator responded before taking a sip from his coffee. "I felt it was a good morning to get some fresh air. Also, my shift hasn't started yet."

"You know, you should probably cut back on that coffee," the Questmaster advised. "You'll get addicted to it and you'll probably never have a good sleep again."

A tired sigh escaped the mouth of the Moderator. "I have an excuse this time. Smash woke me up playing video games on the backside of midnight, the naughty dog. I don't think I've ever been so annoyed by his 'whoa's."

The Questmaster smiling was a huge possibility right now. "You should cut back on it. Look at me; haven't even had so much as a coffee-flavoured chocolate all my life and I couldn't feel or look better."

"That last part would mean a lot more if you weren't a silhouette," the Moderator responded.

"Hey, watch it," jokingly warned the Questmaster.

One of the silhouettes on the right wall interrupted their conversation. "Um, Questmaster?"

Both the Moderator and the Questmaster looked towards the employee. "What is it, Four?"

"I got a bit of a weird quest. I think you should look at it."

"Really now?" The silhouette duo looked back at the Questmaster's computer screen and read the quest application after Four sent it through.

The Moderator could have scrutinised the quest. "I do not like the smell of this."

"I feel the same about your coffee," responded his associate. "I best get this to Black Heart, then."

"Don't worry yourself," said the Moderator as he used his free hand to take his flip-top phone out of his pocket. "Send the quest to my phone and I'll take it to her directly. She's probably doing something important right now that will stop her from answering hers."

"Oh, thanks."

---

The Moderator was partly correct. He was correct in that Black Heart was in the middle of something. He was wrong in that it was important. Currently, Black Heart was sitting on a black leather seat behind the purple curtains in her private chambers. On her lap was a black laptop.
Black Heart seemed a bit agitated but not at the computer.
"Okay…" Black Heart sighed before typing on her laptop. "Let's try this again. 'Dear Utadah… I am a follower of yours-' No, no, no…" After backspacing what she typed, she rubbed her face in fatigue. "How do I ask for voice acting advice without sounding obnoxious…?"

And then the Moderator entered through the door. "Lady Black Heart?"

"Go away!" called Black Heart. "I'm busy!"

"My lady, this is very urgent," the Moderator insisted.

To calm herself down and stop her laptop from being thrown through the glass dome, the black-haired royalty took a deep breath. "Is anyone dying?"

"No."

"Is something on fire?"

"No."

"Did Murderarea 3's multiplayer servers go down?"

"Not for another week."

"Then how is this important?"

The Moderator sighed a sigh that was unheard by the CPU. "We just received a quest that directly mentions you."

"… That's it? Could you not have just sent it to my phone?"

"My lady, I would not have brought this to you if I did not deem it absolutely necessary."

Black Heart groaned. "Fine, whatever." Reluctantly, she stood up and walked around the curtains towards the silhouette. "This better be worth my time."

Without another word, the Moderator handed his sovereign the flip-top phone that belonged to him. The quest was already on the screen.

Client: Whirlwind

I just found this purple-haired girl heading for a dungeon. She seemed pretty angry and depressed and she kept going on about how she'll find Black Heart in the furthest room of it. I'm a good judge of character if I say so myself and I'm pretty sure this girl isn't well-aware enough of her surroundings to last very long. Can someone please go fetch her before she gets herself killed?

Recommended level: 20

Black Heart didn't say a word. When she read the application, she read it again to make sure she understood it right.

"... Are you okay, my lady?" the Moderator asked.

"When did you get this?" she asked without looking away from the screen.

"Just now. We-"

Before he could finish, the CPU ran out the door in a hurry.

"… Fine. Take my phone. It's not like I need it for anything."

---

Leading into every Cave dungeon was a pair of tall yet narrow stone doors. Histoire knows what the hell they were for, unless someone got sick of silhouette children getting lost and somehow ending up on floating islands accessible only by their respective gondolas and getting eaten by monsters. Despite being made from stone, Black Heart easily pushed open the doors with one hand and made her way inside. Okay, yes, she was in HDD but the doors should require more effort than that.

"So you're in here, Neptune?" Black Heart asked herself. "Well, if this is what you want, I'm bringing the fight to you."

Her challenge spoken, she walked through the cave with dignity, determination and a will to prove herself as the stronger of the two. She was delayed several times by random encounters but they were quickly dealt with. No matter what, she would not be stopped from finding Neptune.

Finally, Lastation's goddess came across the backmost part of the dungeon. Neptune was right there in the middle of the room. She was lying flat on her back, humming to herself without a care in the world.

Black Heart tapped her sword on the ground as she entered to catch her attention.

"Blacky!" Neptune nearly cheered as she sprung up quickly. "You're here!"

Black Heart didn't care for pleasantries. "What trap have you set for me?"

The unexpected response seemed to confuse Neptune. "… Eh?"

Black Heart simply rolled her eyes. "So I wake up one morning and my doorman tells me that someone put up a quest detailing that a purple-haired girl went into a dungeon looking for me. As it turns out, I am also looking for a certain purple-haired girl. If I were a paranoid person, I'd be thinking that this purple-haired girl knew that and deliberately set up a quest so that we'd meet."

Neptune put her hands behind her head and "innocently" glanced around the room. "You'd have to be a very paranoid person to think that."

"Where's the damn trap?" There went her patience.

"Right above ya".

Quickly, Lastation's CPU turned around with her gun drawn and double tapped. Unfortunately for her, the bullet deflected harmlessly off the speeding Wrecking Ball that smashed her into the floor.

Neptune giggled.

However, Black Heart was not very receptive of jokes like that. Injured, she attempted to push herself off the ground so she could get back up. "You think that's enough to stop me?"

Fate, being easily tempted, responded to this in the form of Jacob falling from the ceiling that he embedded himself in and landed on Black Heart in an unintentional body slam.

"Ow…" Jacob groaned. "I forgot how much that hurts…"

"Uh, Jacob? You're kinda using our enemy as a pillow."

"Huh? Oh, right. Sorry."

Jacob lifted himself off Black Heart with his jetpack and floated to his companion's side. Thank goodness he did that then. If he didn't, he would have been hit by the falling rock and not Black Heart's stomach.

"Ooh…" Jacob's hands moved over his stomach. "That's not gonna do well for her breakfast."

"She seems to be fine," Neptune pointed out.

It seemed to be an inaccurate statement, given that Black Heart was definitely weakened from being hit by a massive sphere of force, a falling six-foot male and a rock to the belly. However, as she was still managing to push herself off the ground despite her injuries, she was fine in a relative sense.

"Okay," she breathed, "you've had your fun…"

That was all she said before she was forced to the ground again because of Compa falling on her back.

"Sorry!" apologised the apprentice nurse before standing up and running to Neptune and Jacob's side.

Black Heart sighed. This was not a good day for her. "Are you done yet?" she asked as she looked up at the current party of three.

"No," responded IF as she used Black Heart's head as a stepping stone when she ran over her, slamming her face into the ground again. "This is working much better than I expected," she commented as she reached the party.

Compa had a bright smile on her face. "Yeah. It's still hard to believe it was this easy."

"Alright, that's it!" With a mighty roar, the opposing goddess forced herself off the ground. Even with blood dripping from her nose and her body battered, she still looked fired up and ready to fight. "I've had enough of this! I'm taking you down now! And where's Nisa?"

Said heroine had just launched herself at the CPU from outside the room. "Justice K-"

"Nice try!" Black Heart seemed to be running on adrenaline as, with speed that could rival IF's, she grabbed Nisa's foot as it got within grabbing distance and then threw the entire blunette towards IF and Jacob. IF was quick enough to duck but Jacob was taken off-guard and consequently hit by his teacher, sending the both of them flying back.

"Jacob!" Neptune turned her worry to her comrades.

"Nep-Nep!" Compa shouted to alert her to the rapidly approaching Black Heart.

The black-clad CPU attempted to punch Neptune but a mighty whack to the face from Compa's syringe pushed her back. Far from done, the medic then swung in the opposite direction and hit the side of Black Heart's head, pushing her back even further. The syringe was then stabbed towards Black Heart's stomach but the distance between the combatants proved to be a bit too far and only punctured the surface. However, this still injured Compa's opponent and kept her off balance, giving Compa the opportunity to step back, aim her syringe and fire.

Black Heart, however, had other ideas. She brought out her wide sword and used it to block Compa's shot. She then took advantage of the weapon's semi-automatic firing mode to close the distance and strike the human with the flat side of her blade. Compa tried to block but that only caused her syringe to get knocked out of her hands. That action was going to be followed with another attack but IF jumped to Compa's rescue with a jumping kick to Black Heart's chin.

As Compa went to get her syringe, IF slipped under a horizontal sword swipe and hit the swordswoman's side with her katara, sidestepped the following upwards slash and countered with another strike to the arm and jumped on top of a foolish stab to deliver a sweep kick to Black Heart's face. Even if this caused IF to fall off the sword to the ground, it was worth it, especially because IF recovered easily by rolling when she landed.

"Ugh… Fine." Black Heart wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "I can't beat you five in a fair fight and I'm at a huge disadvantage when you get me with a surprise attack. Make no mistake, though…" She then rose into the air, "… I will take you all down!" and then she flew away out the door behind her.

"It's no use! We're gonna get ya!" shouted Neptune as the party took chase. As usual, Jacob took the lead with his jetpack.

---

The beaten Black Heart flew through the dungeon, although to say she 'flew' would be a bit generous. Heavily injured and disoriented, she was much slower and less manoeuvrable than before. Jacob was right on her tail and the rest of the party was right behind him.

To her relief, she saw the entrance doors straight ahead of her.

Okay, thought Black Heart as she picked up speed, the exit is right there. I just… have to…

And then her HDD deactivated.

With her ability to fly lost but her inertia retained, she fell onto the rocky floor and slid across. She wouldn't let that stop her, though. She summoned what little strength she had left to attempt to push herself up.

"Hi," neutrally greeted Jacob as he landed behind her.

Surprisingly, the CPU was by no means discouraged due to his presence. "Don't think you've won…" One boot now had its sole against the ground. "I swear… I won't rest…" she then stood up, "… until I've defeated you…" And then she turned around.

Jacob was feeling a lot more sympathetic now. Even though she was glaring at him, her body was covered in bruises and grit and scratches. She had deeper scars on her right side and on the bicep of her left arm which she used to hold the first scar. It was amazing she was even standing.

Neptune and the others caught up eventually. "Yeah, we did it! We snagged ourselves a CPU!" the purple-haired girl cheered.

"Oh dear…" Compa was looking at the goddess' injuries. "Ms Black Heart, you need first aid right away."

"I'm fine," the injured girl spat.

IF seemed to be a bit weary of the lack of cooperation. "Please don't be difficult. We don't want to kill you or anything. We just want to talk to you. We need to learn more about the Console War."

"And why should I tell you anything?" Black Heart was still adamant about being as unhelpful as possible.

This upset Neptune. "Blacky, please…" she began, rather solemnly for her. "If I did anything mean before I became an amnesiac, I'm sorry, okay? I wanna be your friend."

"Wh… What…?" Black Heart was caught by surprise.

"Was I a bully before? Was I a villain? Because I'm not anymore, honest! I'm sorry for making you cry before. I don't want to hurt you or anyone else…" Neptune gulped. Nervously, she raised her right hand which had all of her fingers curled inwards except for the smallest one. "I'll even pinky swear on it… alright?"

"H-Hey now!" Black Heart placed her hands on Neptune's shoulders to calm her down. "Don't think this is your fault, okay? Because it isn't and it never was! It's... It's complicated… but you have done absolutely nothing wrong. Trust me."

Neptune brightened up immediately. "Really?"

A sigh escaped the mouth of the previously hostile CPU, although it seemed to be one of both exasperation and mild joy. "Yes, really."

IF tried again. "Hey, Neptune still has amnesia and she needs to know about the Console War as well. For her sake, please tell us what happened."

The monarch looked back at IF with hostility.

Compa could feel the tense atmosphere. "I think this isn't the best place to have such a discussion. Maybe we should have this back at our motel?"

"I agree," said Nisa. "It is too uncomfortable here."

"Not to mention Jacob's bound to start pacing soon and attract monsters that'll interrupt our talks," IF added.

"Oh shut up," Jacob snapped.

If there was one person who was confused, it was Black Heart.

The amnesiac CPU smiled at her. "Doncha worry, it's a party thing. Now, let's get you into bed."

"Wh-What?" Black Heart leaned back in surprise.

Jacob rolled his eyes. "Damn it, Neptune."

---

Getting back to the motel was as easy as always. For some odd reason, not a single civilian recognised their CPU. Yes, she was horribly beaten up but she wasn't in that bad a shape and her hair and clothes were the same as always. Even the motel receptionist didn't even so much as look twice as the party took Black Heart to their room.

Upon entering the four-bed apartment, Black Heart took a seat on the nearest bed. Neptune sat next to her while the others stood around.

Black Heart took in her surroundings. "Not the most pleasant living area but it'll suffice. Couldn't you have gotten better accommodations?"

"No," IF replied. "There aren't any other motels or hotels in Lastation. At least, as far as I can tell."

"That mustn't be good, especially not for the dogs."

Around the party and beds, the sixteen robot dogs had gathered, curious at this visitor. Black Heart picked one up. "I remember these back before they went out of fashion." The dog wagged its tail and made panting noises. "… Maybe I should have gotten myself one."

"You wanna borrow one?" Neptune asked. "They're very good puppies. They can do just about everything! Except paint, sorry."

Black Heart almost smiled at Neptune's eccentricity but she quickly stopped herself. "I'm fine, don't worry." She placed the dog back down. "Now…"

Jacob stepped forward. "Black Heart?"

Her attention turned to him. While she had calmed down a lot, she still evidently had a problem with him. "Yes?"

Jacob paused for a moment to collect himself. "I'm sorry."

Once more that day, Black Heart found herself hearing something completely unexpected. "Huh?"

"I falsely accused you of pushing Neptune off of Celestia. I honestly thought I was telling the truth and I humbly apologise for any damage I may have indirectly caused." Jacob gave a slight bow. "I was wrong."

Black Heart was pleasantly surprised by this apology but she still stayed wary of him. "Actually, I've been meaning to ask about that. Why, exactly, did you think I did such a thing? Where do you get all of your information?"

The other girls looked at him in anticipation.
Jacob rubbed his forehead. "I'll tell you but I'll warn you now that it's quite unbelievable."
"You knew about Neptune being a CPU despite her amnesia and you knew who I was when I was transformed. I think I can take it."

"I don't think you can," Compa added.

"Well… let's test that, shall we?" Jacob took a deep breath. "My name is Jacob Winters. I come from a small suburb in Australia, the largest island nation of Earth."

Black Heart was confused even more. "I've… never heard of any Australia, or of any Earth."

"Fair enough. This is Gamindustri, after all. Now, one night, I was home alone and I was playing a new game on my PS3. You may be interested in knowing that 'PS3' is an abbreviation for 'PlayStation 3'."

Jacob stopped for a moment to see if the connection between the name of his console and the name of Black Heart's landmass was made in her mind. Judging by her looking like she had some mild epiphany, he'd say it was.

"Anyway, this new game I got was called 'Hyperdimension Neptunia'. It is about a young amnesiac girl named Neptune who has been tasked to travel the four lands of Gamindustri, Planeptune, Leanbox, Lowee and Lastation, to find the Key Fragments needed to rescue Histoire, the 'tome of the world'.

"When I tried to play this game, however, my PS3 blew up for some reason I can't comprehend. However, at the same time, a pink-haired girl crashed through the roof of my house, the second floor of my house and embedded herself on the ground floor of my house. After a brief introduction where I learned her name was Neptune, we then learned that the world within Hyperdimension Neptunia was somehow real. After discovering a portal by complete accident, we found ourselves here."

Jacob took another breath and gave his listener some space to comprehend all this. "Lady Black Heart… this is a video game. You are a character in it."

Black Heart was, justifiably, speechless.

No one else made a sound.

Black Heart wasn't looking at anyone or anything. She was thinking, digesting this onslaught of exposition. She grabbed her forehead in order to somewhat quell the oncoming headache. Then she took a deep breath.

"This is insane," she decreed.

"Nuh-uh!" argued Neptune. "I was there at his house at the time! This man speaks the truth!"

"It's a bit extreme, I agree…" said Compa.

"Although, to be fair, it makes more sense than him being from Gamindustri," IF noted, "especially since this now shocking reveal that even he didn't know about."

"Must be a very good actor, then," Black Heart accused with a quiet yet harsh voice.

"I swear to God, I truly thought you threw Neptune off," Jacob spoke up defensively. "This is why we want to talk to you. What actually happened in Celestia?"

"Please, Blacky?" Neptune asked.

Lastation's CPU held the bridge of her nose. "Fine. What do you want to know?"

"I'd like to know how Neptune actually fell from Celestia, if you know," Jacob answered.

Black Heart clapped her hands together. "Very well, then. You should all sit down because this is going to be a bit long…"