Disclaimer: don't own characters or settings. Now I'm off to-

go back to writing

AN: Ok, a few things to go over as usual. First is a warning that there is a bit more exposition meshed in here again. One bit of it might not go over well. Not sure though. I might be wrong. Also some moments that might seem a little ooc from Neptune. I was actually considering if I should change it or not. Then I remembered why I had her acting this way and left it like this. Again, I know I'm forgetting something to say here, but can't remember what it is. Just be warned this chapter felt a little rocky. I am not entirely confident of it, but I do not want to lose my momentum in writing this story. Hope you enjoy!

"Sheesh, you four sure know how to make a scene," Neptune piped up during breakfast the following morning. This earned her three blushing CPUs and one candidate. Neptune was currently going through some social media sites and finding them flooded with videos from Noire's event," And Blanc, nice throw!" she laughed as she freeze framed it during said toss. The current video actually showed two angles that caught Ranma's and Noire's expressions side by side.

"Can it, Neptune!" Blanc fired off once she overcame her initial embarrassment. She then heard some gasps nearby. As it had turned out, the twins just learned about it along with Nepgear as the twins huddled around her and her gear.

"That's awesome!" Ram declared as Rom nodded in agreement. Blanc could already tell that trouble would be brew later. She groaned at this.

"Aw, come on! It's not that bad. If anything, this'll blow over. It's not like anything compromising was caught on camera," Neptune continued to go on with a happy go lucky smile. Noire and Ranma winced at the reminder. Neptune had meant it to be a shot at Blanc, but only then remembered what she had gone through at the convention. Not that she completely forgot; she just failed to think about what she was saying. Unbeknownst to the purplette, she had frozen for a good thirty second at this realization," Ooh…" When she did recover, she noted that Blanc and Vert were both looking at her strangely. One seemingly confused as the other looked on almost conspiratorially… Ah nep it! She quickly gave off a laugh and began her retreat," Well, that was fun, but I have an event to set up. Later!"

This said, she dashed out of the room. She could hear her sister yelp in surprise and calling for her to wait, but Neptune needed to get out of there and fast. As much as it hurt, she wasn't going to guilt trip Noire over this. She honestly only meant to tease. As she dashed by RED, who just came out of a room along the hall, she heard a shocked yelp.

Neptune, was too busy dealing with her own thoughts. The fact was she could not deny she loved her Nowa. She really did, but Neptune didn't know what to do. She really had no idea. It hurt her to see anything that hinted at the two getting together. It also hurt to think she could possibly ruin it for them. The problem was she had no control over what was going to happen at the tournament. The contract she had made so long ago was actually going to be put into effect. She seriously only made it originally as a joke to appease a certain "fatherly" figure back then. She even had plans to call it null and void over the years at such a time as when it would interfere with her life. She only kept it as a memento.

However, it had all backfired in the end. She could no longer get rid of the document since she knew it was still valid…

RED had just gotten done with some early morning paperwork in preparation for the tournament. She just needed to check in with her Wifey Ranma to make sure of a few things, including getting a feel for the situation with two of the other goddess wifeys. Things were moving along much more quickly than she thought they would-

It was that moment that a purple haired CPU wifey came dashing by and causing her to cry out unintelligently, fall backwards in surprise, and drop some of the documents she was about to go over. That wasn't too bad since she had stapled them together in groups since this kind of thing tends to happen too often in Eden. Adaptability was crucial to living here. No, what had her attention were the signs of tears on the fleeing wifey's cheek. As the Eden Oracle recovered, she let out a sigh. It looked as if they had managed to make progress in one area only to lose ground in an area she wasn't even sure she had in the first place. Normally that wasn't too bad in since you would think it meant a possible loss of nothing, but in the case of feeling, they could very well become negative if there was no ground to begin with. She was going to have to look into the matter.

After gathering her papers, she took out her cell phone to call Nisa.

Ranma and the others looked at the exit through which Neptune performed a flawless Saotome Secret Technique. She didn't know what to say about that and scratched her cheek sheepishly in thought. The scene wasn't quite over as Nepgear hurriedly finished her breakfast and tried to follow her sister out. It was at this moment that RED showed up. Ranma was pleased to note that there was no accident as RED actually dodged the purple missile that ran by her. This earned the oracle an applaud from the twins. Not missing a beat, RED smiled happily as she bowed to them. Blanc was smiling warmly at the distraction. Ranma had to admit that despite RED's quirks she was a good person.

"Good morning wifeys!" she greeted as she came out of her bow bringing a shudder to the pigtailed goddess," Sorry to bother you all, but I have some things to bring up about the tournament with Ranma before she goes anywhere."

Ranma sighed thankful that the dreaded "wifey" was not used as part of her name," Ok, so watcha got for me?"

"Well, we have a little issue to go over and some things that just need to be confirmed," RED answered as she flourished the paperwork in her hand causing Ranma to stiffen apprehensively," Don't worry! These are for me. I just need to go over some oddities that are popping up. This should only take a few minutes."

Ranma's shoulders sagged in relief," I guess it can't hurt, but doesn't Gust usually help you? Where has she been?"

"Here and there, she got taken by surprise as the festival started to really get under way. Turns out that there were some conflicting international laws when it came to certain insurance claims popping up. Namely on who to hold accountable for some of them. Still have no idea how Gust wifey missed checking into the public indecency articles before this festival got underway," RED explained in a somewhat professional manner while at the last remark before continuing," Last I recall though, she got pulled away for a special negotiation. As to what it is, I have no clue since Gust left without sharing details."

"Oh my, that doesn't sound promising," Vert noted.

"Wait! How are you having international law issues!? All of those claims should be covered by Eden law!" Noire demanded in outrage at what she thought of as incompetence.

RED chuckled at this nervously," Would you believe me if I stated that the incidents in question started in Eden and ended in other nations?"

"How!?" asked a dumbstruck Noire. The insurances only covered what happened in civilized areas.

Ranma whistled at this," So how many were sent into orbit versus accidents and the breakdown on the causes?"

The other goddesses present looked a bit confused as RED smiled," Fortunately only two cases of someone being sent into orbit by the same person."

"Hm, sounds strong. Hope he's in the tournament," Ranma commented.

"She is, and she's looking forward to keeping her promise," RED replied to which Ranma smirked in realization," Sadly we don't have an exact number on the accidents. They just keep cropping up. Interestingly it seems even across the board. Martial arts techniques gone wrong and R&D mishaps in both magic and technology. We're just lucky we covered them all with insurance plans or we'd be in worse trouble!"

Ranma only shook her head as a thought suddenly came to mind," By the way, it came to me recently that this place seems made for me. Isn't that going to make it harder to find a replacement?"

RED stopped for a moment noting the troubled looks on the others' faces," Well, I don't like to think about it, but it should be fine. This nation's strength is in its adaptability. It should be easier…"

Ranma frowned at this. She was glad for the news, but it was clear the topic had set a darker mood. Ranma thought for a moment and hit on a thought that might fix that," Wait, if it's so adaptable, why are there so few guys?"

The scene then cu-

Ranma's arm flashed out on pure instinct as if grabbing something while looking at everyone. The change of topic seemed to be work as everyone looked to Ranma.

"Wait, no one has gone over that yet?" Uni exclaimed in shock. Meanwhile Blanc recovered from her own shock of Ranma using O.S. in such a way and decided that was time she and the twins left to have some fun. So she grabbed their hats, turned HDD in the time it took them to realize she had and flew off with the twins in hot pursuit. She had to admit it was fun to turn the tables every now and then.

It was this escape that reminded Noire she had yet to talk to Blanc about yesterday. She figured it should be easier to arrange a meeting if she left now. After all, she and Uni did not need to be here for this. Even if said meeting could be arranged in texts. That being the case, there were only three left.

Vert giggled at the scene. She had no reason to leave and this would only make it easier for her purposes. This being said, she could help but find Noire's and Blanc's escape comical. This should be fairly interesting.

RED looked to vert to see if she too was going to be leaving. Noting her humor and relaxed stance, she turned back to Ranma with a smile," Oh that? Well, I'd have to say it's a good thing wifey Vert is still here because I'm not an expert on part of what happened."

"Wait, there's more to it than just your ad campaign?" Vert asked curiously.

RED nodded quickly in confirmation pulling out a brochure for Eden. Ranma read through it and seemed slightly annoyed as Vert looked on curiously.

"… This doesn't make sense!" Ranma stated after a minute," It says everyone is welcome so long as they have passion. It even outlines what that means and uses positive tones!"

Ranma knew this for a fact. Tones and phrasing for official use was something Noire had gone over as part of helping Ranma do better in public speaking and reading. After all, say the wrong thing or missing the tone of what's written in any document could be problematic. She had done her best to drill this into Ranma saying it was especially important for some reason.

Vert seemed confused for a moment," May I see that?" she requested. Not because she hadn't read the brochures before, but that Ranma's description did not match what she had seen before. Ranma nodded in response and handed it over. To Vert's confusion it was the worst of the brochures responsible for Ranma's demographic," Ranma, this is NOT gender neutral! It practically invites all women to Eden exclusively!"

"And if you were a man you'd be saying that it challenges you to do so in a fairly intimidating manner, as if challenging you to battle the goddess. Female combatants have said they felt both messages from this and all of our other forms of advertisement," RED stated as a matter of fact. Vert looked at her curiously while trying to understand what RED was getting at. Ranma on the other was not so speculative.

"What are ya talking about! No way I woulda missed that! Noire hammered stuff like that into me!" She declared in indignation.

RED smiled before answering," You are not wrong, Ranma. This was written exactly as you said."

Vert smelled something fishy going on at that moment," My dear, would you care to explain?" To which she was answered with RED pulling out a phone and pulling something up on it before handing it to Vert. It was nothing but text. Very familiar text that she soon realized was what was written on the brochure. More interestingly, it was written as Ranma had said. This meant that the tone was changed in another way," You used the pictures in a way to change the message?" She questioned in confusion. She would have picked something like that up. All of the goddesses should have noticed this. Advertising analysis was an important skill even after peace was made since it became one of the main forms of battle in the Console Wars of this era.

Ranma quirked a brow and was about to comment but was interrupted by RED," We found it impossible not to unless we omitted all images of Ranma. There is no arrangement that changed this. The reason this brochure has so the most bias is because it contains the most images of the Goddess of Eden."

"That makes no sense!" Vert raised her voice. Not in anger but in alarm. Ranma now looked confused at the proceedings," Are you saying that the problem is with Ranma- wait! You must mean…" Vert fell silent for a moment as she thought about what was being said.

After a few minutes, Ranma became a little impatient." So what's the deal? How is this my fault!?" She demanded in annoyance. This shook Vert out of her thoughts.

"Well, if I'm understanding this correctly, it's might have been unavoidable from the very beginning," Vert answered putting Ranma on edge," Would you mind answering a few personal questions?" She received a questioning glare," Please, it would shed some light on this," Ranma stayed on edge but finally nodded for her to go on after a moment," You like girls, correct?"

"Of course I do," Ranma replied in annoyance .

"Ok, and I'm going to guess you don't like guys in the same way," Vert received a flat glare for her troubles," I thought so, describe how you feel about them?"

"They disgust me!" Ranma answered almost immediately due to a couple unfortunate memories in the past.

"I didn't mean romantically, dear. I meant what is your response when you see a random stranger," Vert calmly corrected.

"Oh," Ranma eased up a little as she thought about it," Well, I guess I start by figurin' out if they fight. Then if they seem good enough, I want to fight them," she said thoughtfully as she held her chin.

"And if they don't fight or are too weak?" Vert urged on.

Ranma shrugged with her response," Not really worth my time. Sure I'll put up with 'em. Heck, I might even befriend them if they seem like an ok guy."

"Hmm, that might explain it," Vert said at last to Ranma's confusion," Ranma, as a goddess we are born with certain general values. One of them is that we love both men and women," Ranma looked a little shocked at this and looked alarmed," Don't worry dear, you aren't changing, this situation should be proof of that," Ranma settled down a little," The reason for this, however, is part of our purpose. We love those who follow. That means we are capable of being attracted to one degree or another to those who follow us."

"Okay, but what's that got to do with the lack of guys?" Ranma asked a little confused.

"Well, just as we need to love those who hold faith in us, our power draws those who are best suited. Anytime there is something that invokes the image of a goddess, it gives off a small aura. Not a compulsion mind you, but a sample of what it means to follow that goddess. The reason so few men came to Eden is because they are the one's who accepted your challenge, so to speak, or looked past it to the martial arts incentives," Vert lectured.

Ranma took a moment to sort through what had been said," So wait, the only guys that will come to me will only do so because they want to fight me?"

"Yup," RED chimed in. She wasn't big on the whole studying thing. She only cared about what was necessary to serve as Ranma's oracle. That's why most of what Mina had said about the topic had flown over her head at the time. She figured a goddess would know about the faith stuff and she'd just bring up the base facts to one with Ranma present. She was quite happy with the result. However, it was time for her to get back to her original task," Now Ranma, we need to go over these files quickly."

Ranma sighed at this," Ok, what's up?"

"Well, first there have been some concerns of the use of weapons in the tournament," RED began her list.

Ranma groaned at this. She personally felt they were a crutch, however, she was not about to handicap a bunch of styles from using their schools main focus," Only restriction should be the martial arts weapons restrictions. So none of that automatic, explosive, or whatever crap."

"That's not a problem. The problem is there are concerns about not substituting for the more lethal weapons at the tournament itself," RED pointed out.

"That? I already have that covered," Ranma waved off the matter.

"Ranma, you haven't exactly been forthcoming on the matter…" RED pushed on.

"Uh well, it's a bit confidential," Ranma noted as she glanced at Vert. This caused the green goddess a little bit of surprise as she caught it.

RED sighed as she realized what Ranma had done," You really should be careful," was all she said before letting the matter slide. She guessed it would work out if they just reassured people and gave a public demonstration of whatever was in the works," The next problem is the fact that we have some individuals with odd circumstances."

"What kind?" Ranma demanded pointedly," It better not be idiots using free power ups…"

RED sighed," not quite, there are reports that some individuals are requesting to change certain classifications like what classifies as a weapon or combatant."

"What's the issue?" Ranma was curious.

"They're trainers of certain creatures, fighters whose style relies on a living creature in one way or another, or who were found to be using magic to supplement their style," RED summarized.

"Hmm, trainers can't compete, but they can act as a coach for a single combatant, combatants can classify the creature as a weapon so long as it is proven the combatant is the one doing the fighting and their helper gives no more help than what falls under weapons and equipment restrictions, and the last one should be checked by a magic expert to confirm that the magic in question falls under the same restrictions," Ranma said thoughtfully. A part of her wanted to ban these practices outright, but she found herself curious.

"Are you sure about the magic part," RED pushed," almost everyone found with this issue would be disqualified."

"Tough luck," Ranma snapped out.

"Uh Ranma, you might want to reconsider that," Vert cut in," I know what style she's talking about and it's dying out because it is not classified as pure. Any magical competition looks down upon them for resorting to physical force and subverting magical means. As for tournaments like your own in the past, they were either severely handicapped or ostracized."

"Then they should make their own tournament," Ranma shot back.

"Ranma, they have and are almost gone because of it. Since obviously they couldn't make it as mages or fighters so it's a place for failures," Vert pointed out with dripping sarcasm," Their training is specialized and just as harsh, Ranma."

Ranma did not like how that sounded at all. She thought it over for a moment, before turning to RED," Basic gear and weapons only with exception of the minimum requirements to uses their magic, have an expert make sure they aren't using enhanced stuff and set up physical tests with the understanding that they have to use their body and can only use magic to help them to that end," Ranma decided before glancing to Vert's approval.

"Alright, I'll come up with something," RED noted happily," There is one last oddity to go over. There's been a strange request attached to Tekken's entry," Ranma looked on in confusion," Her sensei wishes to fight you should you defeat Tekken."

"Why not join the tournament?" Ranma asked while Vert shared in her confusion.

"According to the request, he does not wish to interfere with his student's promise. However, he states he is honor bound to fight you unless Tekken beats you first," RED answered," I would have said no if this weren't someone you had made a promise with."

Ranma thought for a moment on the matter before sighing," Great, I seem to have pissed someone off… Well, tell them I accept if it really is a matter of honor."

Neptune had managed to lose her sister by going through the illusion thing surrounding the place. She stood at the outer edge and watched Nep Jr. franticly charge off in the direction of the event. She needed a moment to collect herself. She also needed a moment to think. She had to come up with a better plan. She had previously decided to let things go on as a sort of practical joke, but she now realized two flaws in her plan. This would totally nep off several people and hurt others. This had never been the intent of course. She had not realized how close Blanc and Noire had gotten to the harem master. She winced at the thought of what Blanc was going to do to her if this continued. More painful though, she didn't want to hurt Noire… Actually, that was a good question. Would Blanc be able to inflict more pain? After thinking on that for a moment, she shook away the thoughts on her likely demise.

The other major flaw came in the matter of planning. She had not made a proper out. Then again, she always figured that Ranma would lose. This thought actually lightened her mood a little as she considered it. Why in the nep was she so worried? There was no chance of victory for Ranma! No, that wasn't the problem. The problem was if her complicity in the matter were to be found out. Sheesh, what had made her go along with this little plan to begin with!? The worse part was that she doubted she would find her greatest follower before the match. He was always hard to find until he allowed you to. Neptune just knew he wouldn't allow it since he likely figured she would try to talk him out of his coming battle.

After a moment of dreading, she came to a realization. She was a goddess. She had all the time in the world to fix her bridges after this, but she was wasting good time better spent with her sister enjoying what may be her last moment of joy for a while. Afterall, she only had to escape before Blanc pulled out the axe.

That thought in mind, she made her way to where she knew Nep Jr. would be looking for her.

Ranma was currently in the company of her friend she had made back during the convention. They were currently enjoying an exhibit. It was a demonstration of the technology being developed for an upcoming expansion to one of Vert's favorite games. It was stated that the equipment was going to be a cross console accessory for all consoles to maintain the availability of the game to its users. Right now, however, none of that really mattered as Ranma took on Vert's charge. It wasn't quite like the fight they had before. Ranma had quickly found to her annoyance that her real world abilities did not translate into the game's world. She was also working on adjusting to the controls for the special skills system as she executed the monk class's counter attack skill. At that moment her body seemed to follow a predetermined pattern. She quickly realized she had missed the timing since she forgot the game had a delay and needed advance set up where as she was used to waiting for the last possible moment. She quickly cancelled the skill to dodge away. She was rewarded with a slash of red pixels as her opponent's spear grazed her right arm. The red bar displaying her health started to drop as the word "Graze" showed up at the edge of her vision. Vert had warned her the system was different from battle in the real world and made strategy, tactics, and timing more important.

Her eyes narrowed as she ran through the list of skills she had. She had a second as Vert recovered from executing a skill. Sure, she could attack right now, but that would leave her open to reprisal. Not to mention that Vert could take the damage easily where as Ranma couldn't. She had an idea. Ranma used a movement skill to reopen the distance quickly. She charged up a ki blast skill. The more time it charged, the more damage. These were obvious meant to be used as an opener or in tandem with effects like stun or paralysis. Vert smirked at this as she threw her spear and made a charge with her shield. Ranma had not expected the throw, but she didn't allow it to ruin her plan. She canceled the attack, causing her to lose half the ki channeled in an explosion of dust from the simulated ground. It was a secondary effect for cancelling the skill and why Ranma used it. She immediately activated the counter skill. First, came the spear that fortunately only grazed her for half of the damage of a normal attack. Fortunately the counter skill was a melee only ability. Then came Vert charging in only for Ranma's counter to go into effect with Ranma sidestepping the attack to deliver a randomly selected counter attack. In this case, she spun around to deliver a head blow with a kick. This caused the first bit of real damage dealt to Vert in the fight and stunned her for a few seconds. As for the advantage of the counter skill, it had no recovery time. Ranma followed up with the strongest ki blast she could manage in point blank before the stun wore off. This time there was no dust cloud and Ranma realized she was in trouble, Vert had only taken an equal amount the damage she'd dealt.

"Nice juke, dear," She complimented as she struck with a skill of her own while Ranma was still recovering.

Soon after, the two of them were walking away. It had gotten a little closer once Ranma had finally adjusted to the controls, but Vert had won in the end with over half of health. They were on their way to a place to eat. Vert was leading the way.

"You know we can have a rematch once the game comes out. There's no need to be mad," Vert tried to appease.

Ranma grunted in frustration," I look forward to it, but I'm telling ya the combat was unbalanced. We were supposed to be equal, right?"

Vert sighed at this. She and Ranma had both given their own opinions to the representative. Where she had been focused more on the game play aspect and its translation to a virtual environment, Ranma had been more analytical about the combat side. She had to agree that the recovery time system was a little constraining. She also agreed that certain mechanics had been more counter intuitive to real combat, but she didn't mind that as much since most of that had been brought in from the original game," Ranma, I understand you were bothered by the differences. I agree that it was not a good arrangement for player vs. player, but that is because you played a new class against an established one. Not to mention that tanks are the current meta," she noticed Ranma's confused look," Tanks are characters who are made to take more damage than others. I thought Uni had played games with you."

"Yeah, but she called them vanguards," Ranma explained," Not to mention most of her games were single player. She was usually coaching me as I tried them out."

"I see," Vert commented neutrally. It looked like she might have to have a word or two with Noire. Not that she was mad, but she did want to make sure the sisters were spending some time together outside of an official capacity. Not like she was going to fly off the deep end like a few months back. She honestly had no idea what came over her," Well, I'm sure the developers will improve the game before they release it."

"I hope," Ranma shot back. It was clear to Vert that Ranma had quite the competitive spirit," So where going now? That that battle buffet place?"

Vert noted Ranma's hopeful expression and felt a twinge in her heart that she would have to dash it," Not today dear, we're going to a much simpler locale."

As it so happened, it was just around the corner. As they turned on it, Vert pointed it out. It was a small restaurant. Nothing special about it really. However, Ranma began to drool a little once they came close enough for the smell to hit her. It was an establishment that specialized in okonomiyaki. Whatever disappointment Ranma had before was soon replaced with joy as they entered. Soon enough, they were seated and Ranma was happily devouring her meal.

"So Ranma, I know that you agreed to accompany me today, but is there anything you would like to do?" She asked as Ranma reclined after finishing her meal. She seemed a little surprised at first and hummed for a moment as she thought.

"Well, there is one thing I'd like ta do," Ranma finally began," If ya don't mind, I'd like to go somewhere and just let loose fer a while, ya know?"

Vert grinned at this as she had a feeling she knew what the pigtailed girl really wanted, but she felt a little teasing was in order," Why whatever could you mean? We're in the middle of a grand festival with everyone celebrating. How much looser can you get?"

"Uh well, it's just that I feel a little pent up is all," Ranma replied ignorant to her verbal misstep.

It was then that Vert acted affronted," Now Ranma, I know I tend to come on heavy, but I'm not a loose woman to be another notch on your bed, oh harem master."

Ranma backed away and nearly fell out of her seat next to Vert as she flailed her arms about as in warding," Wait a minute I didn't mean- I'm not like that!"

Vert soon found she couldn't hold her affronted act for much longer before she started to giggle much to the confusion of her redhead companion," You are so easy to tease dear. It's adorable. I know full well you just wanted to go out and fight for a bit. I wouldn't mind one bit."

Afterwards, they went to the guild and grabbed a collection quest that took them away from the festivities. They had just finally finished the quest. When was looking a little happy that she got to go out and fight for a little bit. However Vert knew she wasn't fully satisfied and had an idea for settling that. She went HDD. Ranma was alarmed by this turn of events and started to look about as she tried to find the threat that would have made a goddess go HDD. Vert smiled wickedly as she contemplated drawing the moment out. She declined the thought and pointed her weapon at Ranma.

"Ranma, I know for a fact that there's no way you could be satisfied with just that. Not to mention it's been a while since I've unwind in this manner," Vert declared to Ranma and noting the growing recognition of what she was getting at," You know, there was a time when goddesses fought quite often. We still yearn for such battles, but we hold our friendship too tightly to reopen such hostilities. How about a spar?"

Ranma nodded and decided to go HDD as a sign of respect for her friend. Thus the battle began almost immediately. Normally one would expect a stand off of some kind, but that was not the case here. They both went into action almost immediately. Vert calling upon the winds themselves in a burst of speed. This wasn't like her charge before, however, as she stopped halfway through it and thrust out her spear. This sent a high speed wall of air smashing into her fellow goddess. Ranma had been clearly trying to meet her charge early to rob it of its deadly momentum. She was now taken by surprise when she realized her partner had a counter for that. Worst for the red goddess was that she was only just recovering from being thrown back by the sudden wind when she narrowly dodged the spear from Vert's follow up charge. However, she was unable to grab it to use as leverage as she had before. Vert had angled it down to thrust the spear into the ground. She swirled about it quickly to catch Ranma in the ribs with a kick. Fortunately, the wasn't as strong as Blanc's. Much of the force of the charge had been bleed off in the spin to deliver it. While fortunate for Ranma, it still hurt and sent her tumbling away. She recovered to a crouch just in time to deflect a thrust. Ranma smirked.

Vert had managed to catch Ranma off guard early on, but her eyes widened in that moment when she realized her mistake. She had failed to keep Ranma off balance long enough to keep her from grabbing her weapon. Which Ranma did to devastating effect as she rolled back and kicked up at Vert forcing her to let go or take serious damage. She chose the latter since the fight would be over if she lost her weapon. She held through the blow as best she could, releasing her spear with one hand once she her ground. With that hand, she released a blinding gust of wind at the unprepared goddess. The quickly broke away. Vert to recover and rethink her strategy. Ranma to avoid possibly follow on strikes as her vision recovered. She was surprised to notice this occur faster than usual.

The sun was starting to set as the two tired goddesses lie beside each staring up at the sky. They were no longer in HDD. They were also sharing the same satisfied smile. Vert was happy that Ranma had fun, but she couldn't help but feel Ranma was holding back somehow. Not so much in skill or power, but Vert noticed Ranma wasn't using too many of her abilities and that she had nothing new. She had to wonder at that since didn't match what she had read. Ranma had more than enough time to make something new. All the same, she was content. She had a fun day with Ranma and- That was when she noted the setting sun. She still had some things she wanted to do. But first, she needed to get herself and Ranma back to Eden. That in mind, she rolled over to pull Ranma into a light hug. She had had to stop a giggle as she felt the goddess stiffen," Well, that was fun, but we need to turn in that quest and then there's one more thing I wanted to do today," She reminded as she released the pigtailed girl before slowly getting up and stretching. While it wasn't necessary, the action felt good after strenuous activity.

She noted that Ranma had a light blush as she muttered something while getting up and doing much the same. Soon enough they were on their way.

Ranma was curious as to what the event she was being dragged to was all about. Vert kept winking to her and saying it was more out of curiosity for herself and a surprise for Ranma. She figured she'd go along with it since it actually had been a fun afternoon. As it was, they came to a large open area with a stage. It was apparently some kind of outdoors show. Eventually the stage lit up and Ranma was surprised to find Neptune and Nepgear in HDD on stage together. Not only that, but they were singing and dancing together to a cheering crowd. Ranma's first thought was that they were pretty good as could be attested to by the rest of the audience. She also noted that they were actually kind of cute. All together she found the show to be enjoyable.

As for Vert, she had two goals in mind when she came here that night. First and foremost was to see Nepgear's performance. She was so adorable up there. It was also a lovely moment of sisterhood for the two goddesses of Planeptune. Vert smiled at this.

As for her second goal, it was to gauge Ranma's reaction to Neptune. She seemed to be enjoying the show. However, the reaction she was looking for was a bit weak. This didn't bode well for RED's goals. At least as far as she could guess.

Once the event finally drew to a close, she decided to pose a question to Ranma as they left," Ranma, I'm afraid I must confess to something. I've been rather lonely here at the festival until today. Would you please accompany tomorrow?"

Ranma didn't even hesitate as she smiled and answered," Sure thing!"