[X] Optimised Integration: HDD Augmentation (x1.5)
[X] Expansion Ports: May equip one additional Processor Unit. (2 GB: Limit of 2 purchases.)
[X] Dreamcaster Array: May summon mundane versions of CPU weapons freely in mortal form. (2 GB)
[X] Does what Noire don't: Becomes exceptional at understanding and emphathizing with people. Chance of turning an enemy into an ally. (2 GB)
[X] Mega Drive: Bonus to the first round of attack if beginning with a charge, or attacking from the sky. (2 GB)
[X] Power Katana (1 GB)
[X] PW-E-44 Sidearm (1 GB)
C'mon, it would totally work! I mean, In canon Plutia had a whip sword that was already obscenely huge, all we need to do is add sharp things on wires to it before jamming the assault rifle and short sword together at the ends.
I mean, the pistol already shoots bullets and finisher lasers, what more do you want, that sweet ass hat?
Question on the Mega Drive. If it gives a bonus "when attacking from the sky", would it apply if we were, for example, trying to snipe a bitch from low orbit with a Turbo-Maximus?
Actually, speaking of relative planetary positioning, which version of the world map are we using? The one from Rebirth 1 where the Lands are separate flying continents, or the one from Rebirth 2 where three of them are mashed together and they're sat Pangaea-like in the middle of the ocean?
On plan super nep, the dreamcaster really seems like it should only be taken with the railgun. Having it with tools we can already bring with us seems a touch redundant. I would exchange it for another expansion port.
This is more or less what I thought about when I saw the voting options, so this is what I'll support.
The hero can afford to be a generalist, because specialization is what side-characters are for!
You remember a time before all this. You were a young child, still learning, still curious, still unaware of the world beyond. Nepgear was but a bump in your mom's belly, one that grew with every passing day. Dad was still a scavenger, and he loved the two of you dearly. He would venture out into the world beyond, and return with toys for you and gifts for mom. Life was not easy, but it was not hard either. You knew that if all of you stuck together, everything would be just fine. Just you, dad, mom, and the little bump in mom's belly.
Mom was a beautiful woman, with silky golden hair and bright green eyes. You always said that she was the prettiest woman in the world, and both she and dad would laugh. Dad always told you, when you were alone, that he is lucky to marry mom, and have a wonderful kid in you and a wonderful kid-to-be in the bump in mom's belly. You always did pester them for a younger sister, and hoped and hoped with all your might that the bump in mom's belly wouldn't be a monster and eat her up. When you shared your fears with dad, he smiled and said he would pray with you, every night. And he did.
Your memories of those days are fuzzy, barely a drop in the ocean compared to the experiences of today, but they all come rushing back to you in this instant of nothingness. You know a man with blonde hair and blue eyes, who matched wits and skills with your father, who visited often and laughed together with him. You remember a man with cold black eyes and unkempt black hair, who would smile idly as your father and the man with blonde hair verbally jousted. The three of them were friends, and the three of them had daughters as well: a little girl with beautiful blonde hair and those same blue eyes, reserved but strong, and a girl with long black hair and dark red eyes who always worked to be the best. The two of them were the same age as you, brought together by the three men who were friends.
You never did have a strong recollection of when you first met Vert and Noire, because it never seemed important. You were friends for years, and you would be friends for years more. Nothing would change that, and how you met was never important.
Not until now.
The blonde cyborg with red eyes, the machine-man that lead the attack on your home, the proud asshole that tried to kill your father... was once the man with blonde hair and blue eyes.
Traits Gained:
CPU: Gain Share Attribute, HDD, and Reroll
Expansion Ports (1): Equip an additional Processor Unit
Does What Noire Don't: +5 Diplomacy, Possibility of turning enemy into ally
Dreamcaster Array: +5 Martial, Manifest Weapons even in Human Form
Mega Drive: +15 Bonus to First Strike in any engagement
Attractive: +1 Diplomacy, Base Opinions Increase
Blademaster (HDD-Only, Replaces Capable Swordswoman): +5 Martial, + 20 Close Combat Bonus
Traits Lost in HDD:
Endearingly Slothful: -1 to all Attributes except Martial and Diplomacy
Impatient: -2 Learning, -2 Stewardship
Jester: +1 Diplomacy
Processor Unit Equipped:
- Purple (Class-1, + 20 Base Bonus)
A few shimmering blades cut into the ground mere seconds before you, drawing the Cyborg's attention. You smash your fist into him a heartbeat later, faster than a hypersonic spike and hard enough to shatter the air like glass. It twists his head to the side and stuns him briefly, and a laser sears a hole through the ceiling, bubbling and smelling of steel and rock. Dio looks back at you, snarling both in surprise and in shock.
"Leave him," you state. Your voice is deeper, more confident, more womanly. You pay none of that any mind. A brief glance at your father shows him gaping, eyes wide in shock and awe. Well, that's rare. "Leave this place, or you die here."
"Hoo? And you would kill me?" He spits a tooth out, and and grins at you. He draws a red sword from his back, the one he has neglected to use all this time, and holds it in both hands. "How interesting."
You notice that his cheekbones are already reassembling themselves back together. Monstrous strength and speed, incredible endurance, and high-speed regeneration. This will be difficult.
Your hands are bare. You need a weapon.
You see it, feel it, know every detail of its construction and maintenance. The curve of the handle, wrapped in rubber composites for added grip and with a slot for the energy cells and a switch for the power field. The gleaming edge of the blade, lovingly polished with a damp rag and some oil, and sharpened to a killer edge on a whetstone you traded some consumer appliances you found in the field and claimed as your share of the haul. Even the little D-Pad keychain hanging from the hilt, one half of the pair you made for Nepgear and yourself. Instinct carries forth like muscle memory, knowledge burst forth like a tsunami, and with cold precision and clarity you cast away all useless elements and make it more.
You wrap your hand around the handle of a black sword that did not exist a second ago, and flash its brilliant purple edge at the cyborg made from Dio Brando. "Last warning. Go, or die."
24 67 + 29 + 40 Dio - 40 ??? = 96
Success
"Threatened by a child like you, newly-awakened to powers beyond your comprehension? Hah!" His grin turns feral, and his red sword burns bright. "Use deeds, Goddess!"
He snaps forward quicker than mortal eyes can see, but you track him perfectly and parry with the flat of your sword. The clash of your blades force the two of you apart, and you move to charge once more.
Well, you would, if not for the hail of pulse lasers and plasma from behind you. It seems that Dio, for all his bluster, has no qualms using every advantage he has for maximum benefit.
Good. You are the same.
Your see their weapon arms move to track you, hear the individual cracks of heavily-ionised air, feel the position of every one of the twenty four war constructs on the Atrium floor. Mentally, you determine the projected trajectories of every single weapon that can - and will - be fired at you within the next point-two-three seconds. A very small window, but better than anyone would usually have. And they need to die too, before they find the others... and Nepgear.
You charge into the middle of them, duel forgotten, and start with the murder-make--
"USELESS!"
--when a pair of burning red-white beams zaps right towards your head. It is all you can do to barely dodge it, leaving you open to the Cyborg's follow-up strike to the chest.
You carry on regardless, in the process of forming another sword, when Dio punches you clean in the face with a lightning-charged fist to no effect.
Hit Absorbed by Shock-Absorbent Armor
"Impressive," Dio quips, his voice smooth like fine silk, his sword blazing and pointed right at you. "You have lasted a minute. But it appears that you must die."
Rolled 8
Breaking your Arm shooting Dio in the Face
A hypersonic roar consumes Dio's head a second after an adamantine-tipped bolt explodes against it, sending him flying to the exit door, and then you hear your father cry out in pain and the Turbo Maximus thud off the ground.
"Damn you, JoJo," Dio laughs. His head is hardly even dented when the smoke clears. "Did you honestly just try the same trick again? Must I inform you of the definition of insanity?!"
He coughs, staining his pants red, and blood drips out the corners of his mouth. One of his arms looks misshapen, shattered or dislocated when he fired the Turbo Maximus once more.
Hatred grips you tightly. You see red.
"Open fire!"
You are already in motion when IF and what remains of your salvage team - you count eight redshirts - opens fire on the machines around you. The Vampire himself is standing at the door, grinning like a man possessed. Your father is bleeding out far behind you, his arm shattered by firing a gun half his height. The air is dense with ozone and bullets.
Purple Heart: 17 71 + 38 + 20 Processor Unit + 20 Close Combat + 10 Share Blade + 15 Mega Drive = 174
vs
Dio: 21 + 33 + 30 High-End Cyborg + 15 Vampire + 15 Close Combat + 5 HF Sword = 119
Rules of Nature
You crash through the wall of air and achieve godspeed, moving so quickly it feels like your feet don't even touch the ground. Dio's eyes widen, as does his feral grin. You see his sword gleaming, hungry, ready to slice you up. Your sword diverts to meet it, and clashes loud with the sound of thunder.
You swing your arm under his guard, at his gut, grip the handle of a handgun forged of your own will, and pull the trigger.
Four rounds punch through Dio Brando and embed themselves in the ceiling, before disintegrating away into pixelated dust.
The last of the machines falls limp to the ground, and silence reigns.
One second passes. Two seconds pass. Three seconds pass.
Dio Brando sheathes his sword, and laughs.
"How interesting, child." He pushes you away roughly, and takes a step back into the darkness of the tunnel. "You have earned yourselves some time. Use it well, Vault 101, for these next few months will be your last."
"Father..." You feel a presence over your shoulder, and find Vert standing behind you. "Is there no other way?"
He smirks. "Vert. It is only expected a child of mine survives the attack! Fight well, and you may yet prove yourself worthy of inheriting this broken world."
"Father, wait!" She reaches out--
And Dio Brando is gone.
----
The brunt of the assault has been broken, but stragglers remain all over the Forward Structure. You coordinate efforts to hunt them all down, but it is a slow process with only fourteen active combatants, yourself included. Compa and Nepgear make haste to tend to what guards are still alive, your father specifically, but it appears that a mere three others still breathed when Dio Brando arrived - and only one of them will ever walk again. All of you keep busy, while lockdown protocols are reversed and the Inner Vault is opened. This has been a heavy blow.
The first thing you did when you Dio left, though, was go to your father. You are amazed he is even still lucid, if barely.
"Dad, you're going to be fine." You hold his unbroken hand in yours, feeling his warmth. He's cold, and pale, and still shivering. "I promise I'll be right here where you need me."
"...Neptune?" He rasps again, visibly forcing himself. You try to calm him, and he waves you off. "Neptune, is that... you?"
You blink. He's lucid enough to fire the bloody Turbo Maximus, and adrenaline is probably still pumping in his veins. "It's me, Dad. I know you just had to fight a Cyborg Ninja in close combat, but I'm still your daughter."
"But you..."
"Nep, we need to talk."
You turn to address IF, but find a mirror shoved in your face.
...And instead of your usual cute, petite self, you find an older, much more mature woman looking back.
"...Iffy, if this is a joke--"
"Oh, if only." She takes away the mirror, and pulls it out.
Rolled 100
Still Intact
It's the crystal you found, but it looks... off. The symbol inside it is glowing brighter now, and the crystal itself appears to have cracks in it, but there's no mistaking it. That's the thing you found in the Labs, on the 7th Floor.
...Except you didn't show it to anyone yet. It was going to be a surprise, once you got back. How did she...
Rolled 86 + 14 = 100
Unnatural Critical
...Oh.
...Oh.
Well, that's probably not good then.
"That's me."
IF nods. "You are, in fact, a tall and voluptuous woman."
"And the crystal I found is the reason why."
IF nods, and then points at Nepgear, whose legs are currently shaking hard enough to power a Vault. You're not sure if it's out of fear or excitement, though. "Ah... uhm... I mean..."
"Nepgear." She jumps when you say her name, and then you make a point to smile as gently as possible. "It's still me, underneath the boobs and the bodysuit and the..." You frown. Now that you mention it, you are wearing a bodysuit. What's up with that? Ah, never mind. "Point is, I'm still Neptune, your big sister."
She nods, but takes a deep breath anyways. Hopefully this doesn't become a thing. "IthinkwhatyoufoundisaCPUMemory!"
Somehow you managed to catch that. Your heart stops. "That crystal is a CPU Memory."
She nods, but is too flustered to continue. IF sighs, and continues in her stead. "Gear says that she found out some stuff in the high-encryption files we found back at the Labs, information about the CPUs and how they're born. You need a CPU Memory, and a compatible candidate." She presents the crystal you found once more, damaged and used. "And apparently, you're compatible."
"Huh. But I carried it the entire way back and nothing happened."
"There's a process," she explains, "But you bypassed those somehow. Anyways, can you turn back to normal? You're freaking everyone out."
You close your eyes, and feel power overflowing. It almost feels like too much to handle.
But you're a CPU now. You can handle it. You will it, and force everything back into your core. Your power, your form, everything.
And when you open your eyes, everything looks slightly bigger. You look at your arms, and find the sleeves of your parka, slightly charred and covered in dust, but still good to wear.
You're you again, and that's pretty great.
----
You meet up with Vert and Noire later, and try to make sense of things. Noire is completely shocked that you of all people are now a CPU, but Vert doesn't really seem to notice. You can't blame her, what with the Vault being attacked by her Evil Cyborg Ninja Dad and killing lots of people that she knows. If your dad attacked your home as an Evil Cyborg Ninja... wait, would that have Noire or Vert become a CPU, then?
This CPU business is just troublesome. It's not like you chose to become one... except you kind of did. though in retrospect it wasn't actually much of a choice. It was that, or let your father get killed. And there's only one answer to that.
Rolled 46
Hunter-Killers Infiltrated through Barricade
Unfortunately, it appears that Skynet has also succeeded at its primary objective. The Overseer is dead, as is much of the leadership of the Vault as well as a number of senior citizens - that is, people who actually know stuff, not old people. Your father is the only man in a position of command to survive, and even he is not in any condition to work, let alone fight, for potentially months. Compa says that he has suffered immense blunt force trauma all over his body, especially on the spine and all over his arm. If he hadn't fired the Turbo Maximus things would be fine, but...
Ah, he wouldn't want you to dwell on these things. He has no regrets, and neither should you! Unfortunately, with the death of the Overseer, the Vault is leaderless, and Dad is in no position to succeed him.
...Which is why he nominates you to lead the Vault in his stead, and reveals your newfound CPU status to the Vault at large. Which isn't fair at all! You were going to be like a quiet, unassuming sort of person, who would transform in secret and then save people as a masked heroine of justice! That's how it's supposed to go!
Noire appears to be having a seizure right now. IF is crying into the wall. Vert is smiling uneasily at you. Even Compa is a little apprehensive about this. The only other person that looks absolutely supportive is Nepgear, and you're pretty sure she doesn't know how leading a Vault actually works. Because she's twelve.
But with the follow-up attack coming up in a couple months, this might be the only option. Morale is pretty low, with the loss of a large number of security personnel and the Overseer himself. The return of a Goddess to lead them in their time of need is a very romantic idea and could be just what they need, but... you? Overseer? that's crazytalk.
And as it turns out, with all the senior staff dead, Vert and Noire are both entering leadership positions as well. Gosh, you knew things were bad, but not that bad. What's next, Uni gets selected for scavenger missions two years early?
Oh well. Nothing to it now but to roll up your sleeves and get cracking.
Well, at least the defense didn't fail so bad Everyone died.
Still. We just lost basically our entire security force, and All of our old knowledgeable people. Which sucks Massively.
Eh. We managed to go full Goddess, the CPU Memory block is still completely intact thanks to nat 100, and we managed to drive off Dio, if not kill him. Bloody cockroach.
I'm not really surprised since we had to start somewhere but dear lord.
Noire, IF, I completely understand your pain at the idea of Nepnep running your vault, for all that Nepnep is my favorite CPU. Somehow, I have a feeling this is a problem that engaging gratuitous yuri isn't going to solve.
Also dear god Compa is in charge of foreign affairs.
I'm not really surprised since we had to start somewhere but dear lord.
Noire, IF, I completely understand your pain at the idea of Nepnep running your vault, for all that Nepnep is my favorite CPU. Somehow, I have a feeling this is a problem that engaging gratuitous yuri isn't going to solve.
Also dear god Compa is in charge of foreign affairs.
Don't worry, Vert. We've got the Social Charms module - it'll take more than extensive brainwashing likely enforced by cybernetics to stop us getting your dad back on side.
Don't worry, Vert. We've got the Social Charms module - it'll take more than extensive brainwashing likely enforced by cybernetics to stop us getting your dad back on side.
I imagine that once he got a taste of power, he didn't need to be brainwashed. He's just the kind of guy who would happily jump down the slippery slope.
