Hyperdimension Neptunia is owned by Sega, Compile Heart and Idea Factory and everyone else who worked on it.

Well, seems like the previous chapter wasn't that well liked. Have this chapter.

Chapter 17

Sighing as she walked out of her office, Neptune had a drained look on her face. 'Who would have thought spilling my guts about my experiences would be so tiring?' Still, it felt good to get that off of her chest. 'Though, what kind of CPU needs a shrink so that she can function?' Neptune wondered and wandered into the kitchen, well, stumbled as her back had a twinge of pain shoot through it and she hand to grab a hand-rail, which had been installed by Chrome to help Neptune in case her body gave out on her. "Thanks, Chromey." Neptune smiled softly, knowing that the other CPU wasn't around as she was taking a few days off to herself. "I wonder where she went." Neptune muttered softly, but knew that she had to give Chrome some time off.

As Neptune got into the living quarters of the Basilicom, she smiled as she saw both Nepgears in there already having a conversation. "Hey! Nep..." Whatever she was going to say was cut off as Maidgear suddenly let out a cry and slapped Nepgear so hard that Nepgear was twisting to the side and falling to her knees. "What the?!"

"How dare you?!" Maidgear yelled at Nepgear, who was looking down at the ground while putting a hand to her cheek. "How could you let Cave die?!"

"Nepgear!" Purple Heart spoke up as she hovered over to her sisters. "What do you..?" Suddenly Maidgear spun around and hugged her tightly, sobbing into her chest. "...I am utterly confused right now."

"I believe..." Blind Histoire, who was floating a short distance away, "I can answer what questions you have." Purple Heart nodded while rubbing Maidgear's back and looking at Nepgear. "Apparently, while you were meeting with your therapist, Nepgear and Cave went to the last known location of one Rei Ryghts." Purple Heart nodded, following along so far. "There, they met two people who are in league with the person who attacked Noire in Lastation and got into a fight that did severe damage to the town they were in. In the end, one of the two used some sort of teleportation skill and used it to kill Cave."

"...I see..." Purple Heart said softly as she rubbed Maidgear's back. "I'm sorry, she was a good person." Maidgear nodded as her cries increased in volume. "But that doesn't mean that it's Nepgear's fault Cave died."

"It is..." Nepgear said softly and looked up at Purple Heart, her eyes full of remorse and sadness. "One of them... Ubi I think her name was... She was going to use that skill on me... And Cave pushed me out of the way..." Tears burst from her eyes as she doubled over and buried her face in her hands. "It's all my fault."

"YES IT IS!" Maidgear spun around and glared at Nepgear. "If you hadn't been so weak, Cave would still be here! Why would you let her die?!"

"NEPGEAR!" Purple Heart's volume and tone of voice cut made both Nepgears suddenly stop. They looked at Purple Heart, who was giving Maidgear a stern look. "That's enough."

"But..." Maidgear tried to speak up but Purple Heart shook her head and Maidgear found it impossible to say anything against her elder sister.

"Believe me, Nepgear..." Purple Heart's voice was softer as she cupped Maidgear's cheek softly. "Nepgear did not mean for Cave to die. She would rather stay trapped with someone in another dimension if it meant that she could save their life. There is no way that she would have let Cave die."

Maidgear's lips trembled as her eyes watered up and she launched herself forward, burying her face into Purple Heart's chest, sobbing loudly again. "I'M SORRY! I'M SO SORRY! CAVE! CAAAAAVE!"

Purple Heart smiled softly and rubbed Maidgear's back gently and looked at Nepgear as she got up and started to walk out. "Nepgear, stay please?" Nepgear gave her a confused look, but nodded. "It's okay..." She shifted slightly and held her hand out to Nepgear. "Come here." Nepgear walked over to her sisters with some trepidation before Purple Heart grabbed her and pulled her into a hug as well.

The next thing Nepgear knew, her other self was hugging her as well.

Blind Histoire looked at the three sisters, or at least in their general direction as she couldn't see them directly, and had a sad look on her face. She hadn't known Cave as well as she would have liked, but as someone who had been born in Gamworld's Planeptune and stood up to Purple Void, she was someone that Blind Histoire could respect.

"Histy..." Purple Heart said softly as she rubbed both Nepgears backs. "Where's Rei Ryghts?"

"She was meeting with Histoire and your friend IF."

(-)

It wasn't well known to a lot of people, but Histoire had her own office. Due to the fact that she was helping Neptune and Nepgear out as much as she did, she didn't get a chance to use it all that much. In the past, this was because Neptune tried to slack off as much as she could. These days it was because Neptune had been trying to recover from her injuries and with the increased workload due to all the people from Gamworld, there was hardly any time to use her office.

As such, even though it was clean, it was fairly dusty.

"Gee, Histoire, when was the last time you cleaned this place up?" IF groused as she looked at the layer of dust on Histoire's desk. "I think I'll request some cleaning service to come in for this room." IF muttered and she looked at the other person in the room. "So, what happened out there?"

"W-w-well, I was s-staying with someone who helped me when there was a boss spider in my attic..." Rei smiled nervously at the looks she was given. "I-it-it was terrifying. Bu-but..."

"Miss Ryghts, please stop stuttering." Histoire told her gently. "Otherwise this will take too long."

Rei nodded and took a deep breath to try and calm down. "I...I'm sorry." Both Histoire and IF nodded and she continued, "as I w-was saying, I w-was staying with someone while my house had to be destroyed and rebuilt. When Miss N-Nepgear and C-Cave showed up, we went to get my stuff when we met two people and we got into a fight."

"Yes, there was a lot of damage to the town, I'm surprised that you're..." IF trailed off at the uncomfortable look Rei had on her face. "...You still have some of your other self's power?"

"N-not a lot!" Rei shook her head and waved her hands in front of her. "I can do the basic things she could do and transform, bu-but I don't have the power and control she had. If this was a game, I'd be a strong party member, but not over-whelming."

"I think we understand that part." Histoire told her. "So you were able to transform and you, Nepgear and Cave fought them. What happened?"

"Well... Ubi had a light saber." Rei sweat-dropped at the looks of shock that both Histoire and IF had. "B-believe me! We were shocked too!"

"We don't need the mouse's lawyers after us." Both IF and Histoire muttered at the same time.

"T...Trust me, I know!" Rei nodded. "But I fought against the other one, Beth, and she had a scream attack, fire breath and grew wings out of her back. She beat me and then used something called System Crash on me and Nepgear, returning us to our human forms."

"...That's a terrifying thought." Histoire said softly. The idea that someone could just shut a Goddess out of her HDD form was incredibly unsettling. "And the other one?"

"She had a skill... That let her swap a rock in her hand with Cave's heart." Rei nodded as both IF and Histoire gasped in horror. "I do not think she suffered for long."

"Holy crap!" IF's face was so white that one would think she was a ghost. She staggered over to a chair and sat down on it. "T...That..."

Rei nodded and looked at Histoire. "I'm really sorry," she bowed to Histoire, "this is my fault, if they hadn't come to look for me..."

"No," Histoire shook her head, "you had no clue that something like that could have happened. Please, do not blame yourself over it." She had a troubled look on her face that lasted for three seconds before she opened a communication screen and pushed a button on it. A moment later, Chika's face appeared on screen. "Chika, are you terribly busy?"

"No more than usual." She smiled at the oracle through the screen. "Can I help you?"

"Would you please go check on both Nepgears?" Histoire asked and Chika nodded before leaving. Histoire turned off the screen and pursed her lips softly and pushed another button on her communication screen. A few moments later, the older-looking Neptune appeared on screen. "Hello, Neptune?"

"Oh! Hey, Histy!" The girl smiled at her. "What can I do for you?"

"If it's not too much, can I talk to Croire?"

"Crostie? Sure." Neptune pulled out her notebook and opened it up to the right page. "Hey, Crostie, Histy wants to talk to you."

"Piss off, I'm drunk!" Croire's voice came out of the book. "Lousy grapes!"

"Ah..." Neptune sweat-dropped heavily. "Sorry, forgot that we found some grapes and Crostie was hungry, so I gave her some and..."

"BEST WINE EVER!" Croire cheered as the pages glowed.

"Fermented grapes, huh?" Histoire shook her head. "Well, if you have enough sense about you, Croire, what do you know about teleportation attacks?"

"Straight as an arrow!" Croire yelled. "I mean, gah! Hic! Okay, so like, teleportation goes in one direction and you need to see the hole in one!"

"I think the intoxication is bad." Histoire sighed heavily. "Croire, if you have any sobriety left, is there any way to protect against a teleportation attack?"

"DODGE BULLETS!" Croire cheered and the book vibrated. "It's like a gun! Goes one way! Make them into a storm trooper and miss!"

A moment later, the pages went dark and there was a snoring sound coming from the book.

"That's about all we're going to get." Neptune said and closed the notebook. "Was that helpful?"

"...Actually, yes." Histoire nodded. "Thank you." The screen turned off and Histoire cupped her chin. "I wonder if there's a tell when a teleportation happens."

"AH!" Rei's eyes widened. "The rock was glowing black! I think that's why Ubi needs us to be weak and unable to move before doing that. Because if we can dodge, then the attack is useless."

"Well, that's slightly less terrifying." IF muttered. "We'll have to bring this up to the other CPUs."

"In both dimensions." Histoire told her. "In fact, it might be a good idea to try an idea Neptune had." Both Rei and IF looked at her in confusion. "Her phone can call across dimensions, so I had Nepgear make another one so we can teleconference with the CPUs of Plutia's world."

"...Nep came up with that idea?" IF uttered in shock.

Histoire gave IF a small smile. "You do realize that Neptune is a lot smarter than she lets on, right?" IF flinched and looked away. "...Do you really think she's stupid too?"

"No, it's..." IF had a look of pure shame on her face. "It's just that Nep is so silly and never took things seriously for so long, and even when facing that ninja, she took the opportunity to look at the porn he spread all over the place and flirt with him when we won."

"Yes, that's just how she is." Histoire told her. "But she has some good ideas sometimes too."

"I bet." IF muttered and sighed. "I shouldn't think that way about Nep, she's my best friend and all..."

"I-If I may..." Rei smiled at IF. "The fact that you can see the faults of Neptune, openly criticize her and still be friends with her shows just how close you two really are."

"Not like we're lovers." IF muttered.

"I never said you were." Rei answered her. "It's possible to be close and never feel anything romantic towards someone, after all. And love comes in all forms."

"True." IF smiled at her. "Thanks."

(-)

Back in the living area, Purple Heart looked up as Chika walked into the room and saw the trio as they broke off their hugs. "Chika, are you okay?"

"Are you?" She asked and looked at the faces of the two CPU Candidates. "...How about you three sit at the table, I'll get some pudding, cake and ice cream and we talk, okay?" She smiled as the Nep sisters all nodded and went to the table. Chika jerked when Blind Histoire floated over to the table as well. "I didn't see you."

"That's fine." Blind Histoire told her. "All I can do is offer moral support."

After sitting down and transforming back, Neptune smiled as she watched Chika move around the kitchen with a surprising amount of grace and speed. "Thanks, Chika."

"Anything for you, Darling." Chika smiled at Neptune.

Neptune just ignored it and focused on the pudding. She also ignored the way her two younger sisters were whispering to each other about the way Chika was acting.

Neptune wasn't stupid, she knew that someday, and likely sooner rather than later, she would have to deal with the potential romance that was building up around her.

She hoped that it wasn't any time soon, though. She had other things to worry about.

'Like how delicious that pudding is!' Neptune's eyes sparkled as Chika put a giant bowl of pudding on the table in front of her. "YUM!"

Chika just smiled.

(-)

Elsewhere...

"Where am I?" 5pb. asked as she looked around the room she was in, utterly confused. The place was rather nice. There was a couch against the far wall, a desk and a book shelf with lots of books on it. "So..." The door to the room opened and the idol looked as a woman with a blue business suit walked in. "You are..?" The weird thing was that this woman was wearing a baseball cap on her head and blue-tinted glasses on her face while

"My name's Beth." She smiled at 5pb. "I heard from GBox that you came to us to find out more about us?"

"Yes." 5pb. told her. "Please, I..." She stopped as Beth held up a hand.

"Please, just relax, I'll take you to meet with our leader. Do not be alarmed when you meet our leader."

5pb. wondered why Beth told her that and nodded, following after the other woman when she left.

It took less than a minute of walking for 5pb. to come face to face with the leader of the group and she instantly understood why.

A hood over the leader's face that obscured what was under it and two glowing red eyes wouldn't make for the best first impression after all.

"Welcome." The leader told her. "I hear you have questions and I may be able to provide answers."

5pb. gulped but nodded. "Y...Yes." She wasn't sure if this was the right thing to do or not, but she was feeling lost and confused and if someone could help her out, she would listen.

To be continued...

Well, this was a heavy chapter, huh?