DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hyperdimension Neptunia.
Warning: Random pairings.
Enjoy!
"I'm... impressed." IF complimented as she looked through the list of what Neptune had used her prize on. Pudding and video games aside, there were some very responsible decisions made here. "So, what did you do with the real Nep?"
"Ai-chan!" Neptune exclaimed, pouting. "I'm the real Nep through and through!"
"It's all thanks to Ai-chan's positive influence!" Compa said, happily.
"Sheesh, I'm not her parent." The brunette muttered, handing the list back.
"I can be responsible when I want to be!" Neptune said, proudly standing in place with her arms crossed and head held high.
"As much as I'd hate to say it, I guess you're right." IF admitted, smiling.
"I bet Nepu Nepu didn't even have to transform into Purple Heart to do it!" Compa said.
"Nepu!?" Neptune exclaimed in surprise before hurriedly looking away and whistling.
"I should've known..." IF muttered as Compa looked on, confused.
"Ara ara, it seems like you girls are having fun." A voice said above them as Green Heart landed on the balcony, transforming back into Vert who smiled at the three of them.
"L-Lady Vert?" IF asked, surprised by her sudden appearance.
"Oh, hey Vert! What's up?" Neptune said, waving at her.
Compa waved as well. "Good afternoon, Vert-san."
"I thought I'd drop in for a cup of tea," Vert placed a hand against her cheek, smiling, "and... I brought some Pocky." She said with a wink, and all three of the girls' faces went red.
"I-I just remembered! I have some paperwork to go and do!" Neptune said with a nervous laugh before running off.
"I need to go help out at the hospital, so perhaps another time..." Compa said with an uneasy smile before quickly slipping out.
"Huh? Huh!?" IF looked around, noticing that she was entirely alone... with Vert.
Vert smiled, licking her lips as she approached her adorable Ai-chan, the woman taking out a stick of pocky as she did so. "Ai-chan, you never did get to kiss anyone during the game, right~? So, how about it? Let's play~"
"L-L-L-Lady Vert!?" IF exclaimed, trying to take a step back as her cheeks burned.
The woman didn't give her a chance to do so as she placed her hands on her shoulders, pocky in mouth.
The brunette's voice was muffled as the end of the pocky made its way into her mouth, the girl closing her eyes as she waited for the inevitable...
Snap!
IF timidly opened an eye and saw Vert looking at her, annoyed and with half of a pocky in her mouth. "So... RNG is playing against me..." The woman muttered, before getting a determined look in her eyes. "Very well. I accept this challenge." With that, she held up 6 Pocky stuck in between her fingers. IF could only look on in terror...
Noire was sitting at her desk, working on some paperwork that concerned her armed forces. It was something about replacing some experimental tanks with ones that didn't spontaneously burst into flames. She... saw the point of it, and even if R&D loved those prototypes, she would just have to send them back and hope they developed something that didn't spontaneously burst into flames, explode, or fly off into space for some reason. Seriously, there was at least one tank orbiting Gamindustri right now.
Just as Noire went to sign the papers- "Noire!" Someone called out right next to her, causing her to cry out in surprise as she got hugged by someone smaller than her.
"R-Ram!?" The twintail cried, looking down at the brunette hugging her. "Wh-what are you doing here!? W-wait, before that, how'd you get in!?"
"I wanted to see Noire-neesan~" Ram told her, smiling up at her.
The young woman blushed. N-neesan!? "Wh-where's Rom, and Blanc?"
Ram let go of her and crossed her arms, holding her head up high. "They're back at Lowee! I came here all by myself!"
"Just... to see me?" Noire asked, confused, right before she remembered what had happened during the game. Blushing, she covered her mouth and looked away.
"Yeah, that's right! I like you, Noire!" The brunette eagerly told her.
"H-huh!?" The girl cried out, surprised.
"I know! Let's go on a date! We can start out nice and slow!" Ram said, grabbing her arm, smiling happily. "I want to spend some time with you, Noire! Just the two of us!"
"W-wait...!" Noire tried to protest, but she was dragged along regardless. How did it come to this!?
Blanc and Rom sat in Blanc's office sipping hot chocolate, enjoying yet another snowy and cold day in the Land of White Serenity. "So, where did Ram run off to?" Blanc asked as she and her sister looked out of the window, watching the snow fall.
"I think she went to Lastation to visit Noire." Rom said, lowering her cup of hot chocolate to reveal a chocolate milkstache.
Blanc sighed as she wiped the milkstache away with her handkerchief. "That girl is too much trouble."
"Even so, I won't ever give up on her!" The little brunette exclaimed, smiling.
Her big sister smiled back. "Good girl." She said, ruffling her hair.
"Onee-san~" Rom whined. Blanc stopped and stood up, finishing the last of her drink and setting the cup down on her desk before she started heading out. "Onee-san, where are you going?" Rom asked.
"Well, if you're not going to give up on her, then I guess I won't either." Blanc said, looking back with a smile. "Let's go."
"Hai!" Her little sister said, jumping up.
Together, the two of them headed to Lastation.
On the way there, a tank fell out of the sky and knocked White Heart to the ground.
"This is... kind of nice." Noire said as she and Ram enjoyed an ice cream cone as they sat on a bench in one of Lastation's industrial parks.
"I told you you'd like it!" Ram said, referring to the flavor of ice cream they were eating.
"I guess you were right. My bad." The black-haired girl said with a smile.
The brunette smiled back before noticing something. "Ah, you have some ice cream on your cheek."
"Than-" Noire started to say, about to bring her hand up to her cheek when suddenly Ram leaned up and forward to lick it off. Noire's cheeks burned red as she looked at the girl in shock.
"Delicious." Ram told her, sitting close.
"Aaauuu..." The twintail mouthed, not able to say anything coherent.
The girl just went back to licking at her ice cream.
White Heart gripped the tank barrel, roared like an angry boar, and sent the tank flying back up into outer space with all of her strength. "I'm going to find whoever dropped that tank and kill them so hard they're going to die to death!" She yelled, grabbing her giant axe and taking off with vengeance.
"Wh-what about Ram, Onee-san!?" Rom cried out, following after her.
"That little twerp can wait!"
"Oneeee-san!" Rom whined in protest.
Neptune pressed her back against the wall, placing a fresh clip into her pistol as Compa reloaded her automatic shotgun. IF had been lost in action, and now it was only the two of them against her. Neptune took a deep breath and Compa placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, the purple-haired girl smiling up at her. They could get through this; they had to, for IF's sake... The two girls nodded to each other and rounded the corner, weapons raised and ready.
She was already there.
Neptune woke with a start and realized that she'd been dreaming. "Wow, the kinds of dreams you have when you do too much paperwork in one hour..." She muttered to herself, not getting up as she found that her head was lying on a very comfortable surface. She thought she'd fallen asleep at her desk, but this warmth and softness was totally unlike that rarely used wooden desk. So, she decided to just lie there, closing her eyes once more. Maybe she'd have a dream about pudding this time...
A hand was on Neptune's head, lightly petting her. It felt really nice, but the girl had no clue who would be petting her, so she looked up and behind her to see Vert smiling at her. "...Nepu?" Was the only question that came to mind as she realized that her head was lying in Vert's lap.
"Ah, did you wake up?" Vert asked, taking her hand away from her head. "When I came in, you were asleep at your desk. It didn't look very comfortable, so I moved you to the couch. How do you feel?"
"Oh, thanks Vert, but why did you let me use your lap as a pillow?" Neptune asked, quickly sitting up.
The woman smiled. "I just couldn't resist~"
"Hahaha..." The girl nervously laughed, rubbing the back of her head. "So, uh, where's Ai-chan?" Neptune wondered if she even wanted to know.
"Ai-chan? She's resting~" Vert said, holding a finger against her lips.
May you rest in peace, Ai-chan. Neptune thought. "So, Vert, was there something you wanted?" She asked.
"I'm satisfied for now, so would you like to join me for a cup of tea?" Vert asked her.
"No Pocky?" The girl asked.
"No Pocky." The woman answered.
"OK!" Neptune said, Vert going off to make some Leanbox tea... and she ended up accidentally spiking her own drink instead of Neptune's. So, after they had a cup of tea, Vert fell asleep in Neptune's lap. "How did this happen..." Neptune muttered, poking the blonde in the cheek. "Vert? Vert! My legs are going to fall asleep!"
There was no response.
"Veeerrrt!"
"We... finally made it." White Heart muttered, landing on Noire's balcony and immediately transforming back.
"Who knew that tank would act like a boomerang..." Rom softly said, landing next to her and transforming as well.
"That aside, we've got a twerp to find." Blanc said, composing herself right before she slammed the doors open. "Noire, is Ram here?" She called out, but there was no response.
"It seems like Noire's not home..." Her little sister said, looking around.
"That twerp... to think she'd kidnap her." Blanc muttered, frowning.
"Onee-san!?" Rom cried out, shocked.
Without warning, the elevator's doors on the far side of the main room opened up and out stepped Noire and Ram holding shopping bags. "And then when Mr. Diehard jumped off the train to save his pet dog from the bad guys, it was sooo cool when he yelled 'give me back my dog!'" Ram was saying, a big smile on her face.
Oddly, Noire was smiling too. "The look on those guys' faces was priceless!" She said, giggling.
"Yeah! That's why you never mess with Mr. Diehard!" Ram said, throwing her fist up into the air.
"...Noire?" Blanc muttered.
"Huh?" Noire blinked, looking up, noticing the two brunettes for the first time. "B-Blanc!? What're you doing here?"
"Oh, hey, Onee-san! Rom-chan!" Ram said, running up to them. "Noire and I went out on a date and we saw tha-"
"You went and saw Mr. Diehard IV, the Great Dognap without me!?" Rom cried out, shocked.
"Oh, yeah, sorry about that! I'll go see it again with you later! It was great!" Ram told her, not at all phased as Rom shook her shoulders.
"You went on a date with my little sister?" Blanc asked Noire, feeling very conflicted about how she should feel about that.
"I-It's not like that!" Noire cried out, waving her hands in her defense. "We just went out and ate, saw a movie, and did some shopping together!"
"It was great!" Ram spoke up.
"How is that not a date?" Blanc muttered.
"It was so totally a date!" Ram agreed with her.
"Mr. Diehard..." Rom was busy sulking in a corner.
"It wasn't a date!" Noire pressed, flustered.
Ram walked up to her, giving Noire her best puppy-dog-eyed expression (which never works on Blanc, by the way). "It... wasn't...?" She whispered, her tone sad and low.
Several beads of sweat ran down Noire's cheeks as she looked at Ram's teary-eyed expression. She was cornered, with nowhere else to go... "F-f-fine... it... was... a date..." She said, her voice barely audible as she looked away, cheeks burning bright red.
"Yay!" Ram said, throwing her hands up into the air.
Blanc sighed before softly smiling. "Well, if it's Noire, then I guess it's alright."
"What!?" Noire cried out, surprised.
"Come on, Rom. We're finished here." The brunette said, turning back towards the balcony.
"I'll come back with you, Onee-san!" Ram said, running forward before turning back to Noire. "It was a lot of fun! Until next time!" With a cute wink, Ram and her sisters headed back to Lowee, leaving a tsundere twintail staring after them.
"Next... time...?" Noire repeated. "Aaauuu..."
Nepgear and Uni sat on the grass, Nepgear with her legs underneath her and pressing her fingers together as Uni held her knees to her chest, looking down at the ground. Both girls had a light blush across their cheeks as an uncomfortable silence hung in the air between them as they couldn't get what had happened during the Pocky Game out of their mind...
The tender warmth of Nepgear's lips...
The soft touch of Uni's...
Nepgear changed her position, stretching her legs out as she sat a little closer to Uni, her face burning as she glanced at her best friend. Uni glanced back, her cheeks reddening as their eyes locked together. They both hurriedly looked away, too embarrassed to say anything... Then, suddenly, Uni's hand slid over on top of Nepgear's, the purple-haired girl looking back at her, but Uni was still facing the other way. Nepgear timidly grasped her hand in return, and they sat together like that for awhile.
Finally, Uni glanced back at Nepgear who smiled at her, and the black-haired girl nervously smiled back. Feeling a bit more confident, Nepgear scooted over and laid her head against Uni's shoulder, causing even the girl's ears to turn red. "Nep...gear..." Uni whispered, their eyes meeting as Nepgear raised her head a little.
Uni very slowly, very carefully leaned forward. Nepgear, realizing what she was going to do, started to lean in as well... Just as their lips were about to tou- "Dogoo~" A wild Dogoo appeared.
The next instant, a gunshot rang out as Uni held her pistol at the puddle of jelly. She looked like a mixture of embarrassment, frustration, and confusion as she wondered just what she'd been trying to do! Before she could apologize to Nepgear, hands suddenly clamped down on her cheeks and Nepgear's lips were over Uni's own. They kissed for several long seconds, sharing feelings that they just couldn't say with words.
Nepgear and Uni pulled away from each other, gazing into each other's eyes for a few, long moments. Then, as if a switch had been flicked, their faces turned a whole new shade of red and the two hurriedly averted their eyes, steam fluttering out of their ears.
It was going to be a long time before someone would break that awkward silence...
Meanwhile, Neptune was enduring the painful agony of not being able to move her legs at all.
A/N: Thus concludes Neptunia: The Pocky Game, Season 1! This is the longest short story (by word count) I've written and it sure was a lot of fun! I hope you all enjoyed it; I know I sure did! Also, I apologize for taking so long to update the epilogue, but I'm happy with how it turned out~
I hope to see all of you again!
Yuhitsu: Nah, Neptune transformed so she could actually be responsible for a change~ Too bad Compa figured it out!
Raiden312: Thus, Noire became Ram's girlfriend... Just kidding! Anyways, there may indeed be a season 2 in the future, with all of the characters from Season 1 and additional characters as well! Likely including Broccoli (Picotchi, right?), Falcom, MAGES., Tekken, CC2, and MarvelousAQL. Possibly including Chian, Financier (or is it Financiar?), and 5pb (though, not really sure how to write her). It will include Plutia/Iris Heart~
Ark: I'm sorry, but it's nothing that complicated. Rom was just stepping up in Blanc's absence to make sure Ram behaved herself.
Archaeologist of Humanity: Thank you!
KZO: Fufufu~
Jerzu: I hope it was worth the wait~
nanohaxfate: Sadly, not this time. Perhaps next time~
To Everyone: Thanks for all of your support! There may be a 2nd season in the future; however, I do not know when that will be.