Re;birth Hacker

Realize: Twilight Of Zero Dimension's Resolve

The light subsides as Neptune appears in Planeptune's transfer terminal, "I've arrived in the Hyper Dimension! Woo hoo! Wait, this isn't the time to celebrate! Histy! Histy, it's an emergency! ...Um, wait... Histy...? That's weird. She's usually in my face as soon as I walk in, barraging me with a weird combo of 'Welcome Home' and random lectures... Heeeey, Histy! I'm heeeereeeee!" Neptune notices Histoire passed out on the floor/table or whatever/wherever she was near, "Holy crackers! Histy's passed out! Hey, Histy, are you alright?! Yipes! She's burning up!" Histoire slowly comes to, still seeming to be literally overheating, "...Oh... Nep... tune... Welcome... home. I'm glad... you made it... safely... back..." ~ "I'm not important at the moment! Right now, I'm just worried about you! What happened??" ~ "It is... most embarrassing... But I tried... my best... to accomplish a task... far above... my specifications..." ~ "Oh, Histy... you were doing this for us...?" ~ "By the... way... where is... Nep... g...ear..." Histoire collapses to the ground again. Panicking Neptune is panicking, "Wha?! Did Histy just short circuit?! Why isn't she getting back up?! Oh, no, no, no, no, what the heck should I do?!?!" IF walks in, shaking off a migraine, "Jeez, Nep, what's this racket about? You haven't even been back five minutes and you're making a scene. You should at least come say hi first." Neptune pounces on IF, "Iffy!! You have incredible timing!" ~ "Hey, come on, don't get weird. Did you want to see us that badly?" ~ "Iffffyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!" ~ "Alright, alright, get off it already. Stop crying and getting your snot all over me." ~ "But... but... Histy is...!!" ~ "Histoire is... what? Wait, Histoire?! Nep! What's going on?!" ~ "Well, you see... then yada yada blah and..." ~ "This and that and the other thing, I see." ~ "Oooh, just as I'd expect from you, Iffy! We're definitely kindred-spirits if you can understand that!" ~ "Whether we're kindred-spirits really isn't important right now- we need to do something to help Histoire. Nep, help me carry her." The two take Histoire out to the living room area, or whatever room it is with the pink background and more pink background... IF looks to Neptune, "Alright, we've laid her down for now, but this is pretty troubling. I've called Compa, but... we don't know if the treatments we used are gonna work." Speak of the devil, Compa enters, "Sorry to keep you waiting, Iffy. Oh, welcome home, Nep-Nep." Neptune looks to Compa, "Long time, no see, Compa!! Hmm? Were you not that worried about me being gone, per chance?" ~ "Ah, well, this isn't really the first time you've disappeared without telling anyone, Nep-Nep. I figured you'd suddenly reappear eventually like you usually do." ~ "Uhhhh... Huh. I can't tell whether you're really confident in me or if you just think I'm some kind of careless fool..." IF looks to Compa, "Sorry for calling you so suddenly, Compa." ~ "It's no big deal when it's a request from you, Iffy. And it's been quite a while since I've had a chance to see Nep-Nep." ~ "So, do you think you can take a look at Histoire? Her condition doesn't seem to have evolved from the stuff I texted you about earlier." ~ "Leave it to me! Well, I want to say that, but I think it'll be impossible with normal treatment methods. If I remember correctly, isn't she that artificial life form created by the Planeptune CPU from forever ago?" Neptune nods, "Yes, indeedy! I think it was a CPU named 'SC' or 'SG' or something like that." Compa looks to IF, "Then, do you think there might be a user's manual for Histy floating around somewhere? If it exists, I think some kind of troubleshooting information might be able to help us out." ~ "A user's manual...? Even if one existed, I really doubt it's still around here... it'd be so old..." Neptune sighs, "Yeah, seriously, she's not some run-of-the-mill consumer electronics device, so there isn't- Wait, there totally is an instruction manual!" Shocked IF is shocked, "Are you kidding me?!" Neptune nods, "No joke, Iffy! I distinctly remember Histy going on and on about her manual once, many Planeptune moons ago..." Compa chimes in, "Then, let's hop to it! Let's find the manual!"

(Some Time Later)

IF holds up a book, just a book, not sure what kind of book, maybe she'll tell us...? "Now then, we were able to find the instruction manual, but..." Compa sighs, "There are too many sections with 'If You Think She's Broken, Then...' as the header, so it might take a while to find..." Neptune points to a section of the manual, "Let's try out this simple diagnostic sheet. All we gotta do is answer 'yes' or 'no' to the question on it!" Compa nods, "This kinda looks like fun. Let's give it a try!" Neptune looks to Compa, "Alright, I'll start. Ummm... 'Is she unconscious?'" ~ "Yes!" ~ "Next is, 'Has her body gone cold?'" IF feels Histoire's temperature, "Nope." Neptune continues, "Next. 'Is she automatically restarting repeatedly?' Hmmm... looks like a 'no.' Next is, 'Did she try completing a task beyond her specifications?' W-What's with this incredibly pin-pointed question...?" IF looks to Neptune, "So, what's the answer, Nep?" ~ "Now that I think about it, Histy mentioned trying something way above her specs, before she passed out..." Compa hums, "As expected of Histoire! She left us a helpful clue while taking her last few breaths. How nice!" IF sweatdrops, "Woah there, Compa. Don't just kill her off like that." Neptune nods, "Okay, well, let's answer 'yes' to that one. So, that leads to... 'She has short-circuited. Please apply the Sanshiro's Soulful Patch. She will revive with sheer willpower.'" IF looks to Neptune, "Revive with sheer willpower...? That's a pretty vague repair method..." Compa chimes in, "But if this is all we can rely on, then we have to try finding that patch." IF nods, "You're right. I guess that's where we're at then. Nep, sorry for asking you right after you got back, but can you go look for it?" Neptune hums, "You got it! ...Wait. From your wording just now, does that imply you're not coming with me, Iffy?" IF looks to Neptune, "I really do want to go with you, but we can't just leave the Basilicom empty. The atmosphere's bad enough because of the CPU Shift Period, so if something were to happen, it'd be a problem." ~ "Then how about I stay at the Basilicom, and you can go look for it? You're more of an expert at finding things." ~ "That's true, but what are you gonna do if there's some serious crisis in Planeptune while I'm gone? Up until now Histoire managed everything on her own, but can you really take her place in confidence?" ~ "Uhhh, well..." ~ "With the other nations, their CPUs always deal with these internal issues, but if you can't, we've no choice but for me to stay." ~ "Oof. That's an extremely good point... Well... you'll come along with me, right, Compa?" Compa looks to Neptune, "I want to go, too, but it would be bad if something happened to Histoire, so... Do your best, Nep-Nep!" ~ "Yeah... I figured as much..." IF looks to Neptune, "I'll search for information and clues, too, so if I find something helpful I'll call you. You should try to help Histoire out every once in a while." The group split up to complete their tasks.