The Lastation Arc (ConceptTopic, 12)
From Compile Worlds
The Lastation Arc is the first arc of Compile ♥ Worlds, coming after The Transition. It starts in Episode 59, and is the current plot arc of the RP. It involves the characters of Madou Monogatari and Puyo Puyo being teleported to Gamindustri, where they join forces with Neptune and friends to solve mysteries and kick ass! ...and also eat pudding.
Characters
While the main cast is still mostly comprised of Puyo characters such as Arle Nadja, Satan, and Ringo Andou, the main cast of Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;birth1 also appears. Since it is post game, Arfoire does not appear. However, the evil Ganache of Avenir is set to make a return, along with many of the other supporting Neptunia characters.
Addtionally, the introduction of some new original characters is set to happen as well, in order to keep the plot interesting and moving forward. Additionally, some of the RP's older OCs will return after a long absence to cause mayhem for all.
Kanon, the leader of the Planetary Gods of Gaias, may have something to do with the deepening mysteries and the magical worlds' connection to the Neptunian ones.
Setting
The plot arc, rather than focusing on the rebuilding of the original Compile Worlds, instead moves into Gamindustri, the main setting of Neptunia. Many characters have crash landed in Planeptune, though others still are in Lastation, Lowee and Leanbox. All four lands will serve as significant settings during the course of the RP.
Episodes
Hyperdimensional nonsense from another world!
The new plot arc kicks off with Episode 59 on Planeptune, where Neptune has once again neglected her Basilicom and CPU duties to reminisce about the place she fell from the sky. She is joined initially by Compa. They both notice however that someone is stuck in the ground. That someone becomes two people, then three! While Nanako and Arle Nadja were stuck in the ground right side up, poor Feli was not as lucky, and she was trapped upside down, with Lemres burried even further beneath her. Calling Plutia and Peashy over, the Neptunia girls pull the gang out of the earth and introduce themselves. Once out of the ground, the Puyo gang quickly realize they're not even in the vicinity of any of the worlds they know. Compa invites them to her room to figure things out and eat pudding, and who are Neptune and Lemres to say no to a good bowl of pudding?
When they arrive however, not much figuring things out goes on, as Neptune doesn't seem to have a clue what's going on herself. Peashy meanwhile, must have seen Nanako's accidental noncanon breast enlargement art, as she latched on to Nanako's chest and screamed about her "large boobs", and even the RPers were mystified and in disbelief at the little girl's obsession with female breasts. While Feli and Nanako spend the remainder of the conversation trying to dislodge Peashy, Arle tries to see if anybody knows anything about their world or how they may have gotten there. No clues are offered, and Lemres becomes rather obsessed with Compa's Delicious Pudding. Compa suggests visiting IF in Leanbox to see if IF knows anything about the situation or their distant homeworld. Everyone agrees, dragging Lemres away from his pudding (and Nanako away from Peashy). Neptune stays behind however, afraid the Planeptune Basilicom Staff will catch her skipping out on her work again.
Meanwhile, in Leanbox, Vert and IF are enjoying a nice couple's gaming session when RanRan arrives and informs them of the arrival of Compa and the Puyo gang. One more awkward introduction later, and they get right to business. While IF doesn't recognize anything about the other worlds or Eldora, she does recognize Kanon due to some old legends about another world removed from their own. Feli, Nanako, and Arle are excited that there may be some connection after all. IF looks up the source of the rumors on her phone while Vert sends RanRan to go dig around in the library for anything about Kanon. Before their investigation can take off however, Yvoire begs for Vert to take care of a mysterious man belegierently screaming about buying the Basilicom with more DIAMONDS than you could fit in a chest. And we all know who would use DIAMONDS as a currency for bargaining.
Arle begins to lament because she knows exactly who they're dealing with. Lo and behold, it is none other than Satan, who has also conveniently crash landed right here in Leanbox. Satan claims he and Arle will live in the Basilicom together after their wedding once he purchases the building, but Arle once again rejects him, and this time without being chained to the wall. Vert and Plutia decide that Satan has caused enough trouble and dont want to get kicked out of their own Basilicom like Noire, so they transform! ...Which Satan completely ignores while he rants about the Angel Academy meeting room and casually slips that he let the evil Angol Mois escape from his custody. Oops! Arle gets angry hearing this, while Lemres and Feli comment on Vert and Plutia's HDD forms, like finally. Satan realizes he's being threatened (also finally), and he flees, swearing that he'll become the main villain of the arc somehow.
Nanako suspects that the evidence left behind of a connection between Kanon and Gamindustri is fake, and the Puyo gang becomes concerned with the safety of Gamindustri and the other Compile Worlds as they contemplate Angol's escape from Satan's custody. And they still haven't solved the mysteries of Arle and Auriol's "destroyed power", Eltia and Chitose's appearances, and the puzzles of the shrine maidens Aoi Azuri, Midori Mizuri, and Akai Suzuri. Oh, Arle, you just can't catch a break.
The sugar-coated trail of a sweet conspiracy
Episode 60 picks up right where the last one left off, with Arle and co. explaining the dangers of Angol Mois to the Neptunia gang. As if by cue though, Alpha shows up, irritating IF. Alpha declares he has created a means of blocking off Angol's magic more permanently: a clone! Nanako dislikes the idea of a potentially evil clone, but Alpha swears he put it through rigorous moral testing to ensure it would not act evil of its own free will. Trusting in Alpha, the large group decides to venture to his "Temporary Lab" to meet the clone... only to discover the FGF Arcade is his temporary lab. What its doing in Leanbox is anybody's guess at this point. Nanako marvels at how it's still in pristine condition despite the fact that Ecolo accidentally the entire Primp two arcs ago. Alpha introduces them to Sigma, who is apparently baking a cake for "Alpha chan". Lemres does the most epic exclamation ever as predicted, and suddenly IF turns on an old computer and manages to contact Juichi. Juichi, confused why he's wearing an unfitting outfit and also inside an FGF computer, remembers he has a very important message to send to everyone: Noire and Lastation are in trouble again and need help! Apparently Historie is locked away, and the Basilicom has been cordoned off. Arle and IF don't like the sound of this, so its decided everyone will go to Lastation and settle business.
Some epic transformations later, White Feli and the HDD!CPUs fly everyone to Lastation (much to Sigma's discomfort). When they arrive, everyone is gathered around one of the many TV Screens in Lastation. The TV turns on and an enthusiastic woman dressed in Avenir colors appears. She calls herself Praline and begins to hype up the new Mois Praline chocolates, which has everyone going nuts on the ground below our heroes. Her buzz for the candies creates a litteral stampede as she closes the advertisement of a TV show, and everyone believes Angol is pulling the strings of the Mois Praline company, apparently headed by Praline herself. The group decides to visit Chian, as she would know if Mois Praline is really shady or not. Unfortunately, when they arrive at Chian's house, they find Chian, Noire, and Singe all tied up. Noire shows she's still her tsundere self after she's untied, and Chian offers drinks while Noire explains she was tricked by Praline into being kicked out of the Basilicom so Mois Praline could take over with their candy craze.
However, in the kitchen, Chian yells in surprise when someone is there. It turns out to be a girl named Fresa, whom Neptune seems to think is an air freshener. Fresa explains that "Mr. Ganache" will be "oh so cross with her" that she didn't keep the Lastation Basilicom staff tied up. Additionally, she seems irritated that the others have found out a little piece of the conspiracy that seems to be happening in Lastation. Using her cybernetic eye, Fresa deduces Arle is there, and that she has "orders higher than Ganache" to kill Arle. So then she completely destroys Chian's house with a barrage of bazooka casings, some of which can go right through magical force fields. The gang gets split up by the attack as they try to escape her trigger happy madness. The episode closes ominously as Fresa yells that the Neapolitan Trio and Mr. Ganache will get them yet.
Divisions and Reunions
In Episode 61, the focus is on the small groups the party separated into during the escape from Fresa's attack. Neptune, Compa, and Noire end up by themselves. They contemplate their situation, learning that Fresa had led a rather sneaky ambush on Noire in order to subdue her so easily. Nevertheless, the trio swears they will save Lastation once again and fight back against the Neapolitans. This prompts an exhausted Gypsum to emerge from the shadows of hiding, explaining that she is also wanted by Fresa on the premise that she has defected from Angol. She goes on to (rather pessimistically) explain that Fresa is a dangerous foe because her Cybernetic Eye allows her to shoot a Perfect Snipe, which is a shot so deadly accurate there is a less than one percent chance of it missing. Gypsum continues to say that it is both impossible to coerce Fresa with money or disable her Cybernetic Eye, but Noire remains determined to find a weakness in her new arch-nemesis. At that moment, CyberConnect2 appears, and has even more dirt on Angol's schemes to share. Firstly, Histoire has gone missing because she has split into Key Fragments again, in order to prevent Angol from using her knowledge and power for his own gain. CyberConnect2 just happens to be in possession of one of the four fragments. Furthermore, she spreads rumor that a Fake White Heart is working with with Angol to collect the Fragments for him, which Noire realizes is why Ganache is also working with Angol and attempting to silence the Lastation Basilicom's authority. The new party of 5 decides that between Gypsum and the Key Fragments being targets, that it would be dangerous to stay in Lastation. CyberConnect2 takes them to the Azuri Shrine in Planeptune, where Aoi Azuri is peacefully sleeping unaware of what's happened...
Meanwhile, in Leanbox, Alpha and Nanako have just finished tidying up everything in the Arcade, with Alpha sharing another one of his cringe worthy puns. Before they can get uber excited about science and what not, Plutia and Peashy show up, having fled from Lastation entirely. The two explain the situation in their frazzled state, which riles up Alpha because Sigma is missing from their party. Alpha furiously explains that it is dangerous for Sigma to be alone because Sigma becomes overwhelmed by the anxiety and depression of being alone, and therefore vulnerable. He need not remind the party of all the horrible, terrible things Angol will be capable of should Sigma die. Nanako realizes the severity of the situation is actually as bad as Alpha has made it out to be, but before the four of them can move to Lastation to rescue Sigma, Schezo Wegey and Mitsuki attack them, mishearing their conversation and desiring the "power of angels" that Sigma has. They go for a Pair Attack and a meteor strike, which initially catches the group off guard, but Plutia, Peashy, and Nanako are able to subdue Schezo with little effort, forcing them to retreat. Mitsuki muses that it would've just been easier to go look for Sigma themselves in the first place. Alpha takes Plutia and Peashy to a room containing the Regeneration Chambers of the clones to heal their wounds, only to be startled by the sudden appearance of Beta. After some more silly puns and ear twisting, Beta agrees to watch over the Arcade while Nanako, Alpha, and the CPUs search for Sigma in Lastation. Plutia an Peashy take off like jets an go WOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH with Nanako an Alpha, barely even letting them say goodbye.
Back in Lastation, Sigma is still running from the threat of Fresa's attack. Once he is a safe distance, he stumbles around, and begins to cry after realizing he is alone in the large city of Lastation with no way back to Leanbox. However, before his loneliness completely overcomes him, Tech appears and comforts Sigma, explaining that he's lost from his friends too and that they should search together. This manages to cheer Sigman up, and Nanako and Alpha and the others arrive just in time. Sigma embraces Alpha aggressively, happy to be reunited. Tech reveals he is in possession of the second Key Fragment, which Plutia and Peashy recognize. They realize that Histoire has sealed herself to prevent her power from falling into the wrong hands. A mysterious figure appears however, claiming they should give him the Fragment. Tech identifies the man as Vanille, his old teacher. Vanille bitterly responds by pointing out Tech's interest in his male classmates, which Tech defends (though Peashy insists that boobs are better, much to everyone's chagrin). Vanille quickly makes his move, swarming in several large, modified Protectors made of Angolium to attack the party and even the numbers. At first, they attempt to overwhelm him, but Vanille reveals that he has Magic-Piercing Cannons installed on the Tectars to remove their barriers, and then uses his "All Seeing Eyes" to conduct a Forsight and prevent Tech and Plutia from attacking. Nanako tells Tech to take Sigma and the Fragment and book it. Meanwhile, Nanako tries to outwit Vanille's Forsight by launching a sneak attack on his Tectars with IF and Vert. However, Vanille had also predicted this, for while the Tectars were destroyed, Vanille himself was a body double, and the real Vanille had been safe all along. Just when things look bad though, Satan rolls in in a Carbuncle Tank, and Ms. Accord and Popoi roll in in their own tank. Satan and Accord perform a Pair Attack of their own, completely obliterating Neo Tectars Vanille had summoned as reinforcements. Accord then threatens to exploit Vanille's allergy to Hee Hee Tea, and Vanille retreats to regroup and refocus on the Key Fragment that Tech took with him. Satan wheels away to find Arle after being thanked. The rest of the characters file into Accord's tank to return to Leanbox, apparently leaving Sigma and the Key Fragment behind...
Two Sisters and some very Dark Chocolate
Episode 62 continues to advance around Lastation, where Arle is still runnning from the Fresa threat. She finally is able to stop, and meets back up with Chian and Singe, whom she was briefly separated from. Arle is relieved that they're okay, but concerned that they are homeless now, thanks to Fresa destroying Chian's house. Chian and Singe wonder what will become of Avenir, but they dont have much time to ponder before Alpha shows up and makes another bad pun. Tech and Sigma follow behind, and Arle is happy to see them all. She explains she was escaping Fresa, while Alpha and co. explain they themselves had just escaped Vanille's attack. Chian and Singe greet Arle's friends, though when questioning Sigma, he spews out a very long and complex answer, which causes Arle to cut in and say "It's a long story". Tech goes on to explain that the reason they were attacked was for a Key Fragment, which he then emphasizes must NEVER fall into Angol's hands. Meanwhile Alpha concludes that Fresa and Vanille must both work for Angol, since they both pursue goals that would help Angol achieve domination in Gamindustri. Additionally, Alpha learns of Mois Praline, which furthers suspicions.
And as if on cue, every TV in Lastation turns on once again for the Mois Praline show, and all eyes are once again directed at the screen. This time, Praline boldly announces that she has a special guest on the show who will convince skeptics to buy her chocolates. White Heart suddenly appears on the show, much to the horror of Chian and Singe. However, as this special "interview" drags on, they notice that White Heart is selling the chocolates a little too much and is rather polite even in the face of Praline's over the top TV personality. What comes next though, unlike White Heart being fake, shocks the heroes; Mois Praline announces plans to expand to the rest of Gamindustri with a new White Heart Truffle. Special White Heart cardboard cutouts were even prepared for the daring publicity stunt. Besides the heroes, Lastation again was a hot mess running around for chocolate, and the gang noted that they needed to warn Neptune and Vert not to allow expansion of Mois Praline in Leanbox and Planeptune.
Again, by sheer luck of timing, Uni and Falcom arrive in their first RP appearance on a very small airship. After some debating, the group decides it's best if Chian and Singe fly with Uni to warn Neptune about Praline, while Arle, Alpha, Sigma, and Tech stay with Falcom in Lastation to keep the Key Fragment and Sigma safe from Angol, though Uni promises to inform Neptune and the others about where they are, which pleases Alpha. Uni flies the two former Avenir employees to the Basilicom in Planeptune. Unfortunately, Neptune herself isn't home due to the shenanigans of the last two episodes, though Nepgear comes out after dealing with a series of harassing phone calls. However, before they can explain in any detail why they're here, Praline herself shows up personally, along with an airship full of goons. Praline is trying to persuade the staff to let her discuss with Neptune and Nepgear about expanding Mois Praline, but the staff insists that Neptune does not authorize any sweets besides Compa's Delicious Pudding. This causes Praline to call her goons on the lone staff member, while Singe exposes himself and calls for security robots. Praline is instantly irritated that Ganache and Fresa didn't completely silence Avenir and the Lastation Basilicom staff, so she calls for backup despite mumbling about how it will ruin her publicity in Planeptune. Singe locks Praline and her two men inside, and more flood from the airship to try and come to her aid, beginning a battle at the Basilicom.
Nepgear and Uni transform to their HDD forms to deal with the goons outside, while Singe and the robots defend against Praline. Praline and her employees demonstrate surprising agility, weaving through laser fire and chasing after Singe. Nepgear and Uni manage to outright kill most of the Praline Goons outside, though their strange possessed nature allows them to ignore their fatal wounds as they call for reinforcements. Similarly on the inside, Praline uses her goons as literal meat shields, who ignore their wounds and continue covering for her until the staff and robots pin them down. Nepgear and Uni manage to steal the Praline airship and batter it around, defeating the remaining goons aboard. Meanwhile, inside, the robots get a sucessful shot on Praline, but she remains unfazed, yelling about her suit. She attempts to brainwash the staff, but it fails since the staff only values loli appeal, so she instead brainwashes Singe, capturing him and escaping in the process. Uni and Nepgear learn the bad news from Chian, who was also sniping goons from the window the entire time, and speculate that she can't be far since she ran away on foot. However, in the time she did have, she's probably managed to escape, so for now Singe is her hostage...!
The Counterattack: Phase 1
Episode 63 finally picks up with where the Accord Tank (driven by Nanako)™ was seen last, driving back to Leanbox. Nanako and co. reflect on the battle that just took place, as well as the importance of Sigma and the Key Fragment that they were forced to leave behind in Lastation. Accord muses about how Nanako has been doing, unable to believe herself that Vanille had just attacked them. The gang quickly arrives in Leanbox, where Nanako parks the tank. Nanako and Juichi return to the FGF Lab to continue planning a counter for the Neapolitan Trio. Accord meanwhile, takes the Neptunia characters to Primp Magic School, which has also somehow ended up in Leanbox. Amitie and Sig appear, greeting their special guests in their usual well-mannered, but aloof sort of way. While Peashy and Plutia bombard the students with playful spirit, Ms. Accord and Vert realize that the students may probably need to play a larger role in he upcoming events, since the threat of Angol Mois' stronghold in Lastation becomes more agressive with each day. Amitie and Sig agree to help, though they're reluctant at first due to the way Accord phrased the request for their participation.
Soon after, Raffine shows up, after being absent for pretty much the entirety of Compile Worlds, announcing that she will take care of the problem. Everyone is sort of confused by her haughty confidence, as Raffine's magic doesn't nearly compare to Amitie and Sig's, but Vert says that she would be a good asset regardless. As the CPUs, IF, and Primp Students decide that they should attack Vanille, Accord reveals a strange event with him involving his contact lenses for an unknown reason. Before everyone can head out though, Beta suddenly appears, claiming that Nanako and the FGF Lab are under fire. Raffine tells everyone else to go deal with that while she handles Lastation alone, but Vert and Plutia volunteer to help Beta instead, allowing Accord to stay at the school and the Students to take on Vanille with IF as planned. The parties involved then all go their separate ways. With Vert and PLutia's help, they're able to shoot down the aircraft attacking FGF, allowing Nanako to rest up while Beta reinforces the defenses. The airship crashes, revealing it was the Mois Praline airship that was stolen by Uni and Nepgear in the previous episode. Confusion ensues as Nepgear and Uni have a brief argument about how the airship's weapon and autopilot systems activated by themselves and attacked Nanako.
While Uni is more concerned about finding Neptune and Noire, Nepgear and Nanako are somewhat distressed the enemy tech is destroyed after stealing it to make use of it. Beta resolves that she'll accompany Uni to find Neptune (after Uni complains about being separated from Nepgear), while Nepgear stays behind with Vert and Nanako to help out with salvaging the aircraft. Beta and Uni go to Planeptune, where they find Gypsum searching for anyone who might have ended up in Planeptune that could help them. She is briefly startled, though apologizes to Beta for being Angol's assistant, which she brushes off, since Angol is the common enemy of everyone at the moment. Gypsum leads Uni and Beta to the Azuri Shrine, where Uni informs the party there about what happened. Noire becomes upset with Uni, and a brief sisterly argument ensues over one another's safety and inaction. When Uni storms off, Noire blames herself for Uni putting herself in danger, though a pep talk from CC2 picks her right up again. Gypsum changes the subject by noting that since she created Angolium, she can develop a way to pierce it. With this in mind, the Azuri Party decides to go after Fresa while the students go after Vanille.
The Judge's Verdict
Meanwhile, in the same episode, back at FGF, Phi had woken up from a long slumber inside the lab, and helps with fixing up the lab after the attack. Once that's done, Nanako thanks the others for their help, and they work on salvaging the airship together. While Vert gathers resources and Nepgear fixes the external damage, Nanako and Phi hop inside, probing around to see how the Airship works. Phi recognizes Angol's technology and alloys, and claims that by merging them with Ecolo and Alpha's technology, they would be able to enhance the Airship's weapons and defenses with Nanako's crystal energy and other magical sources. Working together, the four of them completely repair and upgrade the airship, and Nanako has a daring plan for getting Uni herself to pilot it in their fight against Praline, seeing as how the latter will eventually probably come to Leanbox for some business or another...
Back in Lastation, Angol Mois is meeting with Praline and Vanill in the Lastation Basilicom, where he is checking in on the status of the various facets of his plans. Praline and Vanille are hesitant to give him the bad news. Angol gives them harsh words for their hiccups, but seems relatively calm that things are progressing towards his intended finale. His minions reveal that 4 Key Fragments have been located, that the chocolates have at least been consumed by all of Lastation, and that Avenir is silenced for good with Praline's hypnotism of Singe. Angol asks Vanille about the status of something called "Motherboard", which Vanille hesitantly reveals to be on schedule. Vanille concernedly questions Angol about going through with Motherboard, but Angol silences him sternly. He dismisses the two, making them focus their efforts on collecting the Key Fragments since the other parts of the plan are falling into place.
Angol muses to himself silently in the room, noting that while he berated his minions in person, he believes that Arle (who he knows is without magic) and Eldora (who doesn't have jurisdiction over Gamindustri) are responsible for the interference in his plans. On cue with Angol's dialogue, Daichi suddenly appears in the basilicom, literally ripping Angol's door right off of it's hinges with his firey strength. Daichi confronts Angol, finally calling out that he's literally done every evil thing you can do in Compile Worlds besides turning Sig into a baby. Daichi asks him what happened to his promise, but Angol reminds Daichi that he made no such promise back then, and was never obligated to change his ways. This enrages Daichi, who likens Angol with the likes of other villains, and tells him that his warped sense of justice is no better than their world destroying evil. Angol has Daichi removed, his scheduled appearance being past done. Angol heads to Gamindustri Graveyard, where he seeks to personally pick up a Key Fragment held there.
However, when he lands, he is greeted by CFW Judge, who has the Key Fragment. Angol demands that Judge hand it to him, threatening him should he resist. Judge is unamused though, and brushes him off, calling him a zero and beheading the hapless Helicopter pilot that brought him there. Infuriated, Angol attempts to slash at Judge with his Angolian Claymore, but is only able to cause a slight scratch to Judge's Armor. Judge then off handedly reveals that he is the person who cleaned up during the aftermath of The Tournament, which confuses the berserking Angol. Angol is trapped in the Anti-Crystal Cage by Judge, who leaves him there to swear revenge while he continues patrolling the Graveyard at his leisure.
Trivia
- This will be the first arc in which a clone not created by Ecolo will be introduced.
- This is the first arc to feature Compile Heart properties and references, namely Neptunia.
- This is also the first instance in which Neptunia canon is taken into creative license, since Ganache's loyalty to being good is somewhat questionable and convenient.
