The purple curtain of night was upon the city, steadily taking over the orange of a sunset sky. Traffic was jammed and the train stations were packed, as they would be at the end of another busy day. Beyond the usual commotion of citizens bustling through the street was a stillness in the air, the sky above vacant and clear -- until a flash of light sparked without warning, blindingly bright to the millions that paused where they were to stare up at the brilliant effect. When the light faded and their vision returned, they bore witness to a silhouette where the flash had been, an obscure shape that resonated with a howl-like sound on its inexplicable descent towards the downtown district.
“... move, move, move, move, move, MOVE!”
Confused crowds urgently began to spread apart to seek shelter from what was considered to be a meteor; in all the chaos, they could not decipher the pulsating sound as a feminine voice, frantically warning those down below of her inevitable impact. Indeed, no one could comprehend that the gigantic object hurtling at their civilization was a person -- not until that woman was upon them, her debut a lightning strike of a catastrophe to the area she was dropped into. The whole city felt the magnitude of her landing, and after the tremors of unease passed, it became the most pressing curiosity to know who it was that had cratered within the loops of dense urban roads. Survivors from the impact were the first to discover the pastel-striped pillars that were her legs and their thigh-high socks, hooked out of the pit she had dramatically made. Brightly-colored boots twitched in search of stable ground to balance on, but anywhere they were placed caused something to crackle or break beneath them. From the fractured freeways had spilled some of the traffic onto her lap, pooled around where her thin legs disappeared into her white-colored oversized hoodie as though she had splashed into a circle of toys. She shifted from that spot, encouraging the crowding observers to back away cautiously; as the dust steadily cleared away, they could then comprehend the gigantic purple-haired girl that had spontaneously crashed into downtown, her whirled expression seemingly thoughtless of what her massiveness was responsible for.
Deaths: 27
Property damage: 229,630C
“Guh-uh…buh… ah, o-oww…” Neptune shifted in her crater, physically making sense of where she was while her head continued to spin. She whined weakly and lifted herself slightly, responding far healthier than any of the crowds expected; “Ouch…! Ugh, that had to be one of my worst landings yet… Definitely bottom-tier-- but there really shouldn’t be a tier list for me falling!”
The audience outside the crater watched anxiously as the otherworldly woman stirred so soon, partially twisting her back so she could massage the soreness of her rear, that which she had landed so harshly on. The oversized hoodie did little to hide Neptune’s underwear as she stroked the area, wincing when she touched somewhere too delicate. With a groan, she thumped back into her seat and curled upward, nestling her aching head into a palm while allowing a single eye to scan her surroundings properly. Though the terrain around her was unusual, she could comprehend the distinct noises of peril and destruction, despite feeling none of the urgency herself. Hesitating to assume too much, she crossed her legs and took a wider look around, slowly piecing together the set pieces of a normal human city.
“Huh? Huh??” Neptune blinked in confusion, holding herself still as details dawned on her. “Is this… a highway…? Lights, cars, a-and a bus…?” Her eyes scanned across the risen road from which she described her findings aloud, up unto where the highway had been severed by her body. A bus that had been cradling on that broken ledge lured her glistening gaze closer, peeking inside the windows to tell apart more than a dozen citizens – a variety of tiny people, no taller than a centimeter compared to her.
The surprise popped Neptune into a gasp, a movement that rattled the road just enough to tip the bus over the edge. It was a short fall, for it fortunately landed atop Neptune’s lap, caught in the slack of her hoodie like it was a net. The long vehicle bounced and rolled, and once settled, the driver inside immediately broke out the door and scrambled onto the fabric; the load of passengers would have followed, but the bus was then grabbed by a coil of fingers and lifted into the air, taken as casually as a remote control. They were held directly in front of Neptune’s widened eyes, and when they tried to hide and cower behind their seats, the entire bus was shaken up and down, confirming just how real and alive they all were. Though no commuter could see her smile, they all heard her unmistakable giggle ringing through the walls.
“Tiny~~~!” Neptune sang, twisting the bus in her grasp -- and tossing around the passengers. “Oops! I should hold you steady, huh! My bad~” Fixing the bus’s balance in her grip, she then stood up with a thundering step, claiming her full height for the first time. The grand view she had was a spectacle, but nothing like what the crowds below her witnessed, marveling at a giant rise as tall as many of their buildings. “Wow~! Everything is really tiny here! Oh my gosh--” Neptune excitedly left her crater and bounded towards a street, ushering herself into the narrow space between buildings. Her hips constantly made breaks into the walls as she tried to walk straight through while laughing, “Nepnep can barely squeeze through~! And I’m like, the smallest girl I know! Hehe~” Enthralled as she was, she did not consider the consequences of every footfall, the many abandoned cars and trucks that she was stepping over, kicking aside, or outright flattening.
While Neptune rampaged around cheerily, it went unnoticed how two tallies of numbers existed in the corner of her vision, consistently keeping count of sharply rising numbers, denoted with the symbols of a skull and a broken building:
Deaths: 153
Property Damage: 248,648C
Neptune’s train-like path of demolition ceased once she had reached a wide intersection, a space generous enough to let her fit in, and where numerous crowds had naturally merged together. They drew minimal attention from Neptune, whose roof-level stare was vastly more interested in everything that had been “miniaturized” rather than what fled from her feet. Office windows would suddenly be filled with her curious face, only for her interest to then flash to the apartment balconies that had been behind her. She twirled with amazement over everything, but when something particular caught her eye, she dropped everything to approach it -- including the bus she had previously cared about, mindlessly letting it slip from her hand.
An intricately designed skyscraper had earned many admirers, but never one quite so thunderous. Towering at only half its height, Neptune stomped up close to the proud structure, unaware of how even something its size shuddered from her approach; she was enamored with not just its tallness, but its unique spiral-shape, developed with numerous terraces that cropped out from the sleek walls. Neptune circled around it energetically, spying into the many luxury apartments and watching the wealthy occupants inside. Her positivity was met with worry and dread, but instead of sympathizing with the diminutive denizens, she glared at them mischievously, posing confidently outside with her hands on her hips.
“Hehe~ Is it frightening to look up at a huge Nepnep like this?” Neptune sarcastically inquired, bending down to look into a lower level of apartments. Upon hearing the shriek of some women inside, she felt a tickle of empowerment, and instinctively drew out her hands into the air like playful claws. “Gaooo! Hehe! Did that scare you? Don’t worry~ It’s just a game!” She gasped with delight-- “Oooh, just like that arcade game…! That monkey makes it seem so easy climbing to the top, so maybe…?”
Feeling inspired and adventurous, Neptune rose a foot onto one of the terrace ledges, where a rooftop tennis court became the first step of her ascent. The players that had been using the green-colored field fled to the walls, instantly intimidated by the purple boot and its shine of clean leather; like a monster of its own, the truck-sized foot twisted and pressed into the roof, grinding the contents into a crater that deepened as more weight was applied. The leg threatened to break right through the terrace, the structure strained to support Neptune as she lifted herself up to a second ledge. No one had believed it would be possible, but Neptune proved capable of climbing the building, giggly taking herself from one roof to the next.
Her monumental stunt had enthralled an audience spread far through the city. Crowds formed into buzzing masses around the building, expanding in size and rowdiness as evacuees fled into them from the exits. Emergency services arrived to control and guide the people, their various sirens and alarms adding to the sounds of distress like new instruments in a song. All news channels and broadcasts followed along with the bizarre situation, reporting her actions and their consequences to the wider world. The lowly angles of their camera footage captured the uneasy atmosphere among the crowds, hundreds of heads gawking at the giant, but they also caught winks of white underwear flashed as she lifted her legs to each foothold; captured on film was not just the terror of a monster, but just as well the playfulness of a curious girl.
Despite her gigantic scale, Neptune retained a surprising amount of her spunk and speed, quickly reaching the spire-shaped peak of the tower. The awkward design could only be mounted in a straddle position; Neptune’s legs hugged the base while one arm hooked around the spire, maintaining her placement in a tepid balance. It was of little concern to her how the building whined and groaned under her weight, too amazed by the sweeping view of the cityscape and every urban detail to consider the effect of her sitting right above hundreds. She awed audibly and shaded her eyes from the setting sun with a hand at her brow; “Wow…! It really keeps going and going and going…! Good thing I can see over all these roofs or I’d get so lost, heh~”
Neptune’s eyes then narrowed, pointing into a single moving target in the air nearby – before realizing that there were several just like it, buzzing around her like a swarm of bugs. She figured them out a moment afterwards: “Helicopters!” she announced, so loud that her voice rattled those very pilots she spoke about. “Ooh! So cute~! Are you putting Nepnep on TV?” Her eyes dazzled and her cheeks reddened, flushed with the excitement of being witnessed worldwide – though in reality, the helicopters were operated by the city police. She had to wave at the assumed-camera and pose with a v-sign, giggles spilling from her shining smile.
“Okay okay okay!” Neptune laughed. “You got to look at me – I want to look at you! Come to Nepnep~” Intrigued by the helicopters, she impulsively made a reach for one, only having to hesitate due to the spinning blades. It was that slight shiver that gave the pilot a chance to avert her, brushed by the wind of her grasping fingers, but otherwise able to sway away. Neptune scoffed, “Hey! C’mon, back over here~ I won’t hurt ya’!” When she reached again, extending her arm farther and faster, the aircraft still avoided her. Strangely, she found herself more impatient than usual – compelled, she felt, to take what she wanted. “Hey…! You know, if that’s how you’re gonna play… I can play back!!”
None of the police’s maneuvers were meant to be a game; they attempted to call out to her via loudspeakers and lights, but Neptune was convinced of her virtual reality, deciding to sport a mischievous glare and grin as the role of a monster. Claw-shaped fingers launched at another helicopter unexpectedly, nearly chopping it down out of the air; the tower rocked along with her attempts, causing windows to shatter and walls to crack. Those below clearly observed the tower shift and bend, individual floors of businesses and condos gradually snapping apart from one another as Neptune craned back and forth.
The helicopters yet kept their distance, wary enough to stay out of her reach, or so they believed. Neptune, annoyed at being evaded, took a risky lunge at the closest helicopter – she reached far not just with her one arm, but by standing on the spire and leaning in that direction, extending her range significantly. The helicopter was snatched out of the sky, the swirling blades barely missing Neptune’s skin; the vehicle was otherwise fully engulfed in her fist, the cockpit cast in darkness except for the glow of control panels. Neptune awed over her success, spacing her fingers carefully so that she could peek at her prize. The pilot was astonished by the eye that filled his view, a pupil bigger than his head pointed at his entirety, seemingly fascinated with his fearful presentation.
“Eh-heh-heh… Not so fast now, huh?” Neptune gloated, smug about her success. As she wondered how else to play with her newly obtained toy, she gave it a small shake – but in doing so, the blade nicked a knuckle. “Ahn!” she squeaked, instinctively releasing the aircraft as though it had bitten her; only after she was kissing her wound did she realize the death-drop she sentenced the helicopter to. “Oh! Oops!” A hand reached low to reclaim it, but it was far too gone, plummeting fast to the pavement– ka-koom! It popped into fire, debris of its design scattering like a bomb.
Deaths: 160
Property Damage: 4,567,617C
It was then, after Neptune reopened her eyes with delight, that she finally noticed the lingering symbols in her upper peripheral. It existed in her vision like part of a hud, a pair of numbers that rose according to her actions – and both had just increased after the helicopter crashed. “... Hm? 160…?” Neptune blinked at the pop-up, enthralled by its inclusion in what was already a weird scenario. “Hmm… Numbers... Does that mean I…?”
Crr-rrr-rrrk… Neptune blinked more rapidly, hearing the sharp noises of the tower’s strain. With her weight having shifted too far forward, a wall of support broke under the pressure, causing the rest to eventually crumble just the same. The spire roof and the woman wrapped around it caved into the level below, followed by the next, then several at a time as Neptune fell through the various floors butt-first.
Foom-foom-foom-foom! “Guh-guh-guh-guh!!” Neptune crashed down the tower in staggered style, a series of little drops to her that shook her each step of the descent. Afraid of tipping over and falling harder, she coiled around the spire’s tip, centering her destructive weight straight through the middle of the building. Each floor blew outward with dense smoke and spits of debris, everything crushed or forced away as Neptune cratered through every single segment of the structure. Her striped-socked legs gashed down walls and her hands pushed aside the metal infrastructure, but it was her ass that proved most dangerous, smothering all and any that happened to be under her, until she finally struck the bottom level. Her impact generated a terrible shockwave – Booom! – a spike of seismic activity isolated to that city district, an effect that threatened the foundations of nearby buildings and inflicted a tremble into the panicked mobs. Smoke flushed out of the base as her ass arrived hard, flooding the streets with the beige and black air of everything Neptune had demolished.
When the dust faded enough for the crowds to see through, they saw the despairing results. Where the tower once existed was now that mountain-like woman, collapsed partly on her back and embedded in a mound of debris. The harsh landing on her butt had stunned her, but only for a phase as she soon shivered to life, waste and ruins slithering down her body as she rose into a seat. Idly shifting her legs and feet caused the few standing remains of the structure to crumble just as well, removing any signs of the pride that once stood there; it went beneath Neptune’s notice, too dazed from the fall to realize she was destroying more in her recovery. The fact that she had committed a massacre would only be comprehended when it pinged to her in another notification:
Deaths: 1,135
Property damage: 9,660,225C
Those numbers, however, continued to roll higher every second, updated with newly accounted deaths and destruction. Neptune gasped at the climbing amount, “Th-That much…?! D-Did that many… really…?”
But that shock and accountability were fleeting. Seconds later, Neptune’s expression softened and she nodded. “So then, this is a kill counter,” she stated, speaking to herself while the sounds of tragedies rang on, “and it keeps track of all the damage I do! Interesting~” The subject dwelled on her iconically airy mind, rolled through thoughts until she came to a fun conclusion: “Ahah, so that’s what this game is about! Highscores – so retro! Heh, this really is a giant monster simulator!!”
Any remorse lingering from Neptune was washed away. Though ordinarily an altruistic and well-meaning person, the thrill of winning took over – a feeling, though usual for Neptune, that was especially empowered in that moment. Quietly encouraged to play her part, she rose from the ruins with a refreshed outlook, deciphering the districts as zones in a gameworld and its millions of citizens as the points she was meant to collect.
News spread quickly that shortly after her crash, the giggling giant was up and moving again, striding down streets with an energetic pace. It took only a few steps for her to catch up with the crowds that had fled from her, upon them with the devastating power of an all-out gamer. Her presence pushed the people to fight for escape, climbing and shoving so they could get away from that growing thunderstorm of footfalls. Abandoned cars and trucks were left to be flattened, completely crunched down by the pastel purple of boots; a thick layer of scrap metal and pavement had since formed on the sole, a disgusting underbelly of the cutesy footwear that was hunting them down for amusement. Indeed, when Neptune had her chance with a cluster of citizens, she smiled wickedly at them, an expression eclipsed by the shape of her sole as it plunged onto them. The group scrambled and screamed–
“Ba-boom! Kraaaash! Hehe…” Neptune added her own sound effects to her rampage, unaware how truly loud she already was. “Oh no, the monster is here! Ahhh! Heh… Don’t step on me! Aaa– blehh!” Even her own dialogue was introduced, the censored horror of her stomp taking some number of lives – an exact number, as projected to her by that running tally. All of her playing served to accumulate more and more, perpetually tickled by how fast it rolled up from just a few steps.
Deaths: 1,295
Property damage: 10,055,775C
Neptune’s careless fun-having had guided her to a river that split through the city, kept connected via long suspension bridges that arched above the traffic of boats below. Drivers along such a path were bottlenecked bumper-to-bumper, caught in a congested road that only allowed for forward direction – the direction everyone had been evacuating towards, away from the giant that was now gleaming at them. There was barely a pause in Neptune’s pace when she noticed a bridge filled with such cars, followed by the hard rhythm of hurried stomps as she dashed towards the point of interest.
“Whoaaa! Your bridge looks like a jungle gym!” Neptune acclaimed as she stood at the mouth of the bridge, peering between the support poles to see the length of stalled cars. The entire structure whined horrifically as she applied her weight on either side, laughing as she used the supports to hang forward. She could feel the pressure of herself through her palms, but the consequences meant nothing to her. “I want to check out the other side of the city~ soooo, good luck, drivers!”
Neptune continued on her hands and knees, low enough to duck beneath the bridge’s upper limits and crawl above the traffic. Her knees took turns barreling through multiple lanes at a time, bulldozing every vehicle in her way – abandoned or not. Disliking this metallic feeling on her skin, she took a strategy of swiping aside the densest clusters of cars and trucks; her hand would cut in the middle of the bridge, then force everything off the ledge, dumped into the river. In all of her fun moving forward, she was unaware of how the bridge dipped because of her heaviness, too distracted to tell she had well surpassed its limits.
With that much of a path cleared, Neptune continued unobstructed, but nonetheless slowed down to admire the little things around her. She picked up a truck and marveled at its details, before becoming bored and tossing it and its driver far behind her. While doing as much, a group of survivors attempted fleeing between her legs, but Neptune noticed them when she looked back under herself, her surprised expression pointed upside-down at her targets. She reached for them quickly and claimed an amount to be pleased with, the list of squirming bodies brought directly under her gaze and in the pathway of her panting. A huge giggle poured over them, but as the palm gently flattened in the air, her captives felt a sense of security, that she lacked lethal intent and could release them.
Indeed, that much had been Neptune’s plan, but that changed dramatically when she was suddenly struck from behind – a searing smack against her uplifted rear-end, a pop that felt as though someone had stung her ass with a rubber band. In truth, it had been a military-grade attack: a direct hit from a rocket launcher, one of several that was arranged at the bridge’s entrance. The surprising strike triggered a fast reaction when Neptune jostled forward, her cheeks shot red and her eyes shocked open. Those in her grasp were then shoved into her chest as Neptune prepared for the landing, falling flat on the bridge – and crushing her collection. Still phased by the ambush, she groaned into the pile-up of cars in front of her, but her whimpering earned no sympathy from the soldiers as they unleashed a pattern of rockets into that same target.
“Wahh! Guh– St-Stop!!” Neptune whined and squirmed, but the rhythm of explosions remained consistent. Though she expected the pops to happen, the rockets nonetheless caused her to flinch and gasp each time, causing her arms and legs to flail into the supports of the bridge. Yet, despite her volatile response, Neptune was in little pain – between her grunts was the occasional laugh and scoff, amused by how the power of an army was proving futile against her butt. Neptune rolled onto her side and tugged down on the hem of her hoodie, sticking her tongue out teasingly towards her playmates. “What? Think you found the monster’s weak point?” she asked, crossing her legs to shield the white of her panties. “Heh~ Denied! Too weak~”
Subsequent rockets were then blocked by the soles of Neptune’s boots, but in all of the explosive activity, it went unnoticed that the bridge’s supports were wearing thin. When Neptune then curled her legs under her, expecting to rise and stand tall above her army opponents, too much of her weight became concentrated in one spot. The bridge that had already been dipping low towards the water was sinking quickly, yet in her excitement, Neptune continued up onto one knee – “Get ready…! It’s time for Nepnep’s counter-atta– hah?”
Large cracks in the pavement webbed outward from Neptune’s center, and support wires snapped one after the other in series. It was a slow development, but then, all at once– kra-kooosh!! The middle segment of the bridge broke apart, a stretch of road between one anchor point to the next; cars and their drivers plummeted into the river alongside the debris of the bridge, but most spectacular of all was the mighty splash of Neptune’s fall. Barely a gasp escaped her before she was belly-flopping into the water, her massiveness pushing away a jolt of waves in a radius around her. The docks and coasts were immediately flooded, and the nearest streets and plazas were drenched with raging water, overtaking the unsuspecting onlookers.
Deaths: 1,980
Property damage: 19,445,900C
When the water receded back into the river to expose the damages of the flood, there was also a sigh of relief from the crowds. They hoped the giant invader had been quelled, or at least tripped into submission. The military wished as much to be the case as they formed closer to the bridge’s break to confirm her defeat, but remained prepared for a second battle – as prepared as they could imagine themselves.
Before the river could settle, it trembled with life, and glowed a mystical purple without explanation. It was thought to be an explosive ready to detonate, but when they expected a boom, they were met with a geyser – bursting from the river’s depths was the rise of something bigger than Neptune, a tallness revealed as she unfurled from the water, rising from it like a phoenix from ashes. The military scrambled away from the fissure and opened fire, sprung back into combat as the figure of something new was revealed by the curtains of cascading water. In Neptune’s place was a more mature woman: much longer hair styled in twin braids, chest and hips that flourished healthily, and a sleeker black outfit – a tight cybernetic leotard and thigh-high boots had replaced the lazy fashion of an oversized hoodie. There was a different shine in her eyes, then colored a cosmic blue that stared down in disdain at the broken bridge that was level with her waist. This disgruntled attitude appropriately belonged to Neptune’s alter-ego Purple Heart, a character with a different mindset about her supersized condition and the military that she blamed for getting herself soaked in the river.
“You dare trifle with a goddess?” Purple Heart bellowed, introducing the city to the tone of her deeper, transformed voice. She was collected and steady with how she spoke, but it was also clear what destructive intent was behind those words. In retaliation, the army continued firing upon her, but the rockets that once spanked Neptune were proving to be even less effective against Purple Heart. She stood against the weapons unbothered, her hands planted on her hips in disapproval of their efforts. Her glare sharpened; “I’ll show you the anger of a CPU!”