Vayne: I thought I'd give my hand as Neptunia another go, since I'm currently playing HDN Rebirth 1. Not much to say, so please enjoy!

What IF I Could?

Chapter One: Unlikely Matching

Leanbox was a peaceful nation. The kind residents looked out for one another, keeping their friends and neighbors safe and serene. All worshiped and praised their Console Patron Unit, Lady Green Heart or otherwise known as Vert. Vert, similar to Neptune the CPU of Planeptune, was always playing games. Online, adventure, first person, it didn't matter. Vert played them all, and played them every day with the occasional nap or tea break. While all her citizens loved and believed in her dutifully, many were always amazed that things were as peaceful as they were with such a lazy Goddess.

Walking out of the store with a bag of groceries was a young girl with long brown hair and a cute green leaf ribbon in her hair. Her comically long sleeves covered her hands fully, which suited her preferred fighting style.

"Ah…that's everything I need." She said as she headed for home.

IF wasn't born in Leanbox, but always worshiped Green Heart. After a long struggled she was allowed to live here was a citizen and worked at a small café. She had the week off and decided to take it easy, stock up on snacks and drinks, and settle down for a marathon of gaming. With the bag in her left hand she pulled out her phone to check Lady Green Heart's blog. The CPU had two separate blogs, one for important information regarding the nation and another one for rather meaningless posts about what games she was playing.

"Gaming as usual." Vert commented to herself as she looked at the blog. Vert had posted something about her usual online game where she joined up with a party of new players and helped them with some quests. Everyone knew when they were lucky enough to have the CPU in their party as Vert had a list of all her online user names. IF sighed, she was never fortunate enough to get into a party with her beloved Goddess, "Come on IF, it'll happen eventually right!?" She shook her head to clear her mind.

After getting home IF put most of the snacks and drinks in her fridge and took one of each up to her room. She sat down and turned on her computer, keeping her phone on Lady Green Heart's blog. Many would consider her behavior to be akin to a stalker but IF didn't care.

"Let's see…What's Lady Green Heart playing at the moment?" She wondered, letting the computer boot up. She cast a glance at the phone, "World of Console War, I'm not surprised." The brunette said as she opened the aforementioned game. The game had multiple classes; IF felt quite comfortable with her melee rouge character. She put in her security passwords and logged on. She instantly got a message.

"Hi Iffy~!"

"Ugh, talk about impeccable timing." IF sighed. She typed in her reply, "Hi Nep."

"What you doing online? Wanna go beat up some baddies?!"

"Nah, I'm going to do some PvP."

"Awwww okay! Maybe I will too and we'll do an epic duel!"

"Nep I beat you every time, my build is a complete counter to yours." IF sighed at her friend's competitive and airheaded nature, "And you still owe me fifty Drake Scales for that item I crafted you."

"Nyah~ I'm working on it!" IF smirked and checked Neptune's character location.

"Then why are you in the starting zone?"

"Uhhh….."

"Nep stop picking on the newbies and killing all the quest mobs!" IF scolded, Neptune had a tendency to goof off at the expense of other players.

"No one's here! I promise!"

"You got till the end of the week or I'm coming to your house and taking your pudding."

"NOOOOOOOO NOT MY PUDDING!" Neptune's character changed location to the main city hub, IF smirked as her mock threat worked like a charm.

"Alright, time for some PvP." IF cracked her fingers and entered the queue for the arena, she always did one on one battles, she didn't like to rely on others in her matches and the possibility of her getting a bad team while the other is higher in skill was high. The queue popped almost instantly and IF was matched with someone she had fought before. The other player was very unskilled so IF let him know she would just give him that win, it wouldn't affect her ranking too much.

After several matches IF began to yawn as the sun was setting.

"One more…" She mumbled. She accepted the last matching and suddenly shot awake as she saw the other player's name, "N-No way!" She furiously typed on the keyboard.

"L-L-Lady Green Heart!?" She sat still, hoping she would reply.

"Yes? Have we met?" She replied, her character sitting down as IF's did the same.

"N-No but I live in Leanbox, I-I can't believe I was matched with you! This is amazing!"

"Ahaha!" Vert laughed, "I'm honored by your praise."

"Oh my Goddess…Calm down IF." She breathed, "I-I don't want to sound creepy but…c-could I friend you? I've always praised you since I first saw you!"

"Of course, that's a silly question! I'll send you one after the match."

"O-Okay. G-Good luck." IF prepared herself, fully convinced she would lose.

"As to you~!" Vert's character got ready, drawing a long spear. IF knew she'd have to avoid the spear, but she also had several stealth based skills that could be useful. IF started by cloaking herself, disappearing from Vert's screen and sneaking around behind her to try pull off her usual combo. But the moment she went to press the key Green Heart's character activated a low cost, weak area of effect skill that damaged her, breaking the cloak and causing the skill bar to change, making IF hit a skill that only worked on stunned enemies.

"H-How did she time that?!" IF gasped as her opponent struck her several times, but she noticed the damage was very small. Having to change her pace IF used an ability that made her harder to hit and they exchanged blows, IF was getting her hopes up, her heart beating, as she gradually whittled down the Goddess's health. But the moment her health hit ten percent IF found her character stunned, "W-What the!?" She then realized the build Lady Green Heart was using. It was typical for patient, very skilled players with that class. The more damage they take, the faster they gain magic to use skills, and certain skills function differently. Within a few seconds before IF knew what was happening her character was dead on the floor.

"Good game~!" Vert said.

"I-I didn't stand a chance x.x" IF said, feeling a bit down. Then her phone went off and she instantly read it.

"Just fought a nice rouge in PvP! She seemed nice and was pretty skilled, I almost missed my chance to pull off my combo she was pressuring me so much!"

IF gaped at the post and didn't realize Vert had sent the friend request. She fumbled, knocking her empty drink to the floor and hit 'accept'.

"T-Thank you for the fight! I hope we can p-play together again!" IF bit her lip waiting for the reply.

"I look forward to it!" IF saw Lady Green Heart had logged off, no doubt she had been up gaming all night and day and was going to drop like a stone into the lake of sleep. IF logged off, sighed with joy, and collapsed on her bed to do the same.

"Now if only I could meet her in person…" IF said to herself as she fell asleep.

…

IF woke up incredibly late the next day, it was practically night again. She grumbled as she rolled out of bed to at least get dinner and saw it was pouring with rain outside. IF was kind of glad she slept in as it seemed like a crummy day, with such violent weather her connection to online games would plummet anyway. She went downstairs to think of something to fix up to snack on. She then heard a knock on the door.

"Coming!" She called, walking to the door, "Who could be coming to visit at this hour?" She grumbled and opened the door.

"Hello, sorry for intruding." A woman spoke to her.

"L-Lady Green Heart?!" IF gasped. The Goddess smiled as she hid from the rain under her umbrella.

"I was attending a gaming convention in the area but it started raining as I started home. Might I ask if I may rest here until the rain lets up?"

"Y-Y-Yes Lady Green Heart! C-Come in!" IF stammered as Vert walked in.

"So stiff, please call me Vert."

"Y-Yes Lady Vert." IF blushed. She led the Goddess to the living room and she sat down.

"Ah, such a warm room. Much better than the cold outside." Vert sighed, sprawling out comfortably on the couch.

"I-Is there anything you wish for Lady Vert?" IF said stiffly.

"Well, to be honest some tea would be lovely." Vert said. IF darted into the kitchen and put some water on the stove and grabbed some tea. She cursed as it was fairly low quality as she never really drank it much.

"Of all the times…" She mumbled, waiting for the kettle to whistle. The moment it began to peep she pulled it off the stove and poured the tea. She slowly brought it out to see Vert sitting upright on the couch staring intently at the TV and game systems IF owned, "Y-You're t-tea Lady Gre-I mean V-Vert!"

"Ah, thank you. Please, won't you sit down?" She patted the spot next to her and the brunette nervously sat down, "So, do you play video games…I'm sorry I did not ask you your name yet."

"I….IF." She said.

"Such a cute name."

"C-Cute?!" She flushed with warmth and Vert giggled softly.

"Oh, that cute red makes your cute face even cuter." IF was at a loss for words, "So, you play video games?"

"Y-Y-Yes. I-I always f-follow your gaming blog a-and play the online games you do."

"Oh my, I wonder if we've run into one another."

"L-Last night. We met in PvP."

"Oh?" Vert seemed to think for a moment, "Oh! That was you?"

"Y-Yeah, I just wasted your game time."

"On the contrary, that was a lovely fight! I've never met a rouge specialized in stealth combat out damage me in trading blows." Vert praised.

"T-Thank you Lady Vert."

"IF…Not cute enough, I'll call you Iffy instead."

"I-Iffy?" She shied away.

"Yep, a cute name for an adorable girl." Vert pinched IF's cheek, "Will you play a game with me?"

"I-If y-you wish too."

"What do you have in forms of options?" Vert sipped her tea.

"N-Not much. I mostly have single player games for my consoles, I do online with my computer."

"A casual yet efficient setup. I will defer to your choice." Vert smiled.

"O-Okay." IF tried to catch her breath. Oh man…I can't believe this! The rain hasn't let up at all, what is Lady Green Heart winds up staying here all night?!