"Haaaah!"
*Schwing!*
With one final slash, the two whale monsters burst into purple-colored data.
A red and black-colored tail comes swinging, and Neptune only had a few seconds to react before it sends her hurling into the ground, katana breaking into three pieces, and the timer given to her by the Ultradimension Histoire is thrown from her pocket and slides on the ground nearby.
00' 00" 17
The dragon leans down its face on the fallen purple-haired girl with its tongue slithering about, preparing to finish her off, but it fails to notice the yellow-haired figure rising up from behind—
"Don't bully Neptuna!"
—and giving it one good, hard kick in the face that leaves data fragments sputtering out from its body, before disappearing entirely from existence.
Neptune stares in awe at Yellow Heart's form (absently thinking from the back of her mind that wait this is pretty familiar didn't this happen with Noire before) as she sends Neptune a triumphant smile, and lands at Neptune's side as they face another dragon looming in front of them.
Feeling encouraged by her friend's assistance, Neptune stands up with determination brimming in her eyes as she resummon her katana to her hand. Though it had just broken a while ago, as long as she had the katana's data structure stored in her equipment database, she can summon it anytime she wants.
"Let's go, P-ko!"
Behind her, Yellow Heart nods. "Right, Neptuna!"
Letting out a roar, the dragon rushes forward with its claws raised, as the two girls leap upwards—
"Taaaaah!" Neptune brings down her sword.
"Haaaaa!" Yellow Heart draws in her leg backwards, before unleashing another kick.
—their combined attacks hit the dragon with full force, only managing to give one final glitched cry as it vanishes into the mixed colors of blue and red data.
00' 00" 00
"Opening gate!"
At Mini-Histoire's call, a beam of energy shoots up into the sky, a large rune emerging from it. The blonde-haired girl standing in the circle of light clutches the white-petaled flowers in her hands with worry.
"But Neptune..."
"If it's Nep-chan, I'm sure things will be okay," Plutia tells her with assurance.
Before Vert could say anything more, a bright glow surrounds her body as she and the circle of light disappear from the spot, leaving faint trickles of light behind. The sparkles were pretty to look at, which Plutia couldn't help but stare after with a smile.
Meanwhile, Neptune picks up the fallen timer, sees the frozen red numbers on it, places it in her pocket; and stares at the warp point up ahead, accepting the fact that she had missed her opportunity in going back home. Next to her, Yellow Heart transforms back into her smaller human form.
"Neptuna... why didn't you go...?!"
"You were in a pinch, P-ko. I couldn't just leave you," Neptune states matter-of-factly. She approaches the small child and leans down to her eye level to give her a reassuring grin.
Peashy's eyes start to water at Neptune's sacrifice and embrace her, soft muffled sobs coming out from her throat. Neptune smiles and returns the hug.
Behind them, the familiar hum of the warp point's activation sound alerts the two girls of the three girls' presence that just teleported into the room.
Ultra Noire widens her eyes upon seeing the purple-haired girl. "Ah!? Why are you still here?!"
"Hey, everyone! Good work!" Neptune greets casually.
"Telling us 'Good work!' in such a casual manner is inappropriate for your situation," Ultra Vert tells her. "What do you plan to do?"
Neptune merely laughs and places a hand in the back of her head. "Aw, I'm sure things will work out! After all, I am the main character!" She gives a wink. "Right?"
The three Ultradimension goddesses give each other knowing glances at her reply. Based on the stories Plutia had told them about her, it seemed that this Neptune always had this optimistic outlook with her, and this situation was no different.
"Anyway, first thing's first, we should get out of this tower," Neptune says, approaching the warp point's controls that looked like an old video game console with Peashy in hand. She fumbles with the cartridge labelled with "DOWN STAIRS" as it doesn't seem to be budging. "Huh? That's strange... is something wrong with this thing?"
She starts to pull at it with even more force, making Ultra Blanc raise a hand towards her in concern. "If you treat it roughly like that, it might just brea—"
Her warning appears to have been said too late, as a flash of bright light shines out from the device, enveloping the entire area.
"Waaaah!"
"Neptuna!?"
The light eventually subsided, but to everyone's shock Neptune wasn't present anymore.
Peashy frantically looks around for any sign of the purple-haired girl. "Where's Neptuna?!"
The three girls behind her look equally as confused. "Huh? She... disappeared?" Ultra Noire asks out loud.
Ultra Blanc's face changes into a troubled expression. "This is only an assumption of mine, but I think... Neptune might have been transported into another dimension."
The others turn to stare at her with surprise. "Eh?! Another dimension?! How do you know for sure if the dimension she got transported into wasn't her own?" Ultra Noire exclaims.
"From what I know, only Histoire is supposed to have access between the Hyperdimension and ours. So for her to have triggered a portal in this manner... I can only theorize that she accessed another dimension instead," Ultra Blanc explains, to which Ultra Noire responds with an "Eehh? Is that for real?" in disbelief.
"Then... Neptuna's gone?" Tears start to well up in Peashy's eyes before she bursts out into loud cries. "Waaaaah!"
"Oh dear," Ultra Vert says worryingly as she scoops up the crying Peashy into her arms and comforts her.
"We're going to have to talk with Histoire about this..." Ultra Blanc states.
Ultra Noire places a hand in front of her face in exasperation. "Ugh, things just got a lot more complicated..."