Hyperdimension Neptunia is owned by Sega, Idea Factory and Compile Heart and whomever else worked on it.
Life got in the way, that is all.
Chapter 28
As Neptune, IF and Compa made their way into Lastation, Neptune looked around the city and tilted her head in confusion. "Man, the aestetic of this place makes it feel like a giant factory where everyone works like crazy."
"I thought you'd make a friendless joke or something." IF said and Neptune gave her a blank smile. "...You always make those kinds of jokes."
Neptune shrugged and looked around. "I suppose the drab colors are something... Ooooh!" Her eyes sparkled as she saw a small outdoor vendor selling food. "That smells yummy!"
IF sighed as Neptune ran over to the food cart. "If someone was trying to kill her, all they'd have to do is put a food cart next to the Basilicom and feed her."
Compa put a hand to her face, giggling at the thought of someone doing that. "I wonder if anyone ever tried such a thing before." Both IF and Compa tried to think of someone doing that before deciding that it wasn't worth trying to figure out as Neptune came back with some skewers of food with glazed meat on them. "Thanks, Nep Nep." Compa smiled as Neptune handed her one and handed one to IF.
Neptune smiled and started to eat. "MMMM! This is good!" Neptune practically squealed as she ate one of her three skewers in only a few bites. "Been so long since I grabbed random food from sellers." Neptune admitted and started chewing on her second one while Compa and IF ate theirs at a more sedate pace.
The three made their way through Lastation with IF and Compa pointing out places that Neptune looked at in confusion.
Neptune smiled as she finished her last skewer off and sighed in happiness. "Yeah, that was good, I needed that." She patted her stomach and let out a loud burp, which caused her to blush and cover her mouth. "Excuse me!"
"Jeez, Nep..." IF muttered and reached over to poke Neptune in the stomach through her dress. "I think you've been putting on weight."
"Nah uh!" Neptune shook her head and giggled when IF started to rapidly squeeze her stomach. "That's just baby fat."
"A thousand years of baby fat?" IF muttered in confusion but pulled her hand away. She looked at Compa, who shrugged and looked back at Neptune. "What do you..?"
"Oh!" Neptune's eyes lit up as she saw some people walking towards them. "Noire! And Uni! Hey!" She waved at them.
"Looks like our intel was right." Noire said to Uni, who nodded, smiling as she saw Neptune. "Hey." Behind them, K-Sha walked along slowly and cautiously.
As soon as the group got closer, Neptune tilted her head as she saw K-Sha. "Wow! Noire has a friend?!" Noire gave her a flat stare while Uni covered her mouth and giggled. "I'm impressed!"
"Why?" Noire gave her a flat stare. "Because I'm a friendless freak or something?"
"Nah." Neptune smiled at Noire. "Because you didn't need to put an advertisement online or in the paper to meet with strange guys to have friends." She giggled as everyone looked at her with blank white eyes. "Then again, the other Noire didn't have to do that either, all the strange guys kept coming to her."
"...Don't tell me she... Did stuff." Noire stuttered out while blushing hard at the thought of doing something weird with strange people.
"Well, of course she did." Neptune nodded, causing both Noire and Uni to blush hard at that. "With all the lawyers, diplomats, aliens, demons, angels and sentient monsters that were living in the nations, of course she had to meet and do stuff with weird men." A smug look of amusement crossed her face as Noire, IF and Uni all face-faulted.
"Neptune..." Noire let out a low growl as she pushed herself up. "That's how you greet me?"
"What? Did you want me to greet you with a kiss or something?" Neptune asked while smiling blankly as Noire's face went bright red. She giggled as Noire face-faulted again.
"Mouuu..." K-Sha moaned in dismay. "You have that kind of relationship with Noire?"
"Nah, we're just good friends." Neptune smiled at K-Sha. "Unless you mean Noire in the other world, we dated for awhile." K-Sha perked up and asked Neptune to elaborate. "Well, you know, a lot happens in a thousand years." Neptune pointed out while blushing softly and poking her fingers together.
"I'm glad Gear isn't here to see this." IF muttered, knowing that Nepgear would likely freak out over hearing this stuff.
Noire found her eyes twitching as she got up and huffed. "I don't know WHY anyone would be happy to see you if you're going to act like this." She crossed her arms and looked away in annoyance while Neptune laughed nervously.
"Sorry, sorry. I really did miss you though." Neptune smiled as she sensed Noire's annoyance starting to fade away. "Anyway, I wanted to invite you to Planeptune. Histy hasn't figured out where the bad guys are just yet, but we can share stories, make plans and relax until we make the final dungeon run."
"Sounds like a plan." Noire told her before frowning softly. "Neptune, there's some..."
"Tell me when I get back with Blanc." Neptune said as she ran off with IF and Compa following after her. "I don't wanna repeat myself."
Noire sighed and shook her head. "K-Sha, can you watch after Lastation while Uni and I are out?"
"Of course." K-Sha smiled at her. "I'll keep everything safe here, you just keep yourself safe."
Uni just shook her head, muttering something to herself that neither Noire nor K-Sha could hear.
(-)
A little later...
"Ah, Lowee, still cold enough to make any girl capable of cutting diamonds without needing tools." Neptune giggled as she, Compa and IF made their way into Lowee City.
Compa looked confused and looked at IF for clarification. "What does Nep Nep mean by that, Iffy?"
The brunette just facepalmed. "Compa, don't ask, you'll only get a weird answer." She, herself, had no idea what Neptune was talking about, but didn't want to find out for herself, knowing it was probably something weird or perverted or both.
And if it was, she'd have to punish Neptune for trying to corrupt Compa out in the open like that!
"Okay." Compa nodded, smiling and forgetting what Neptune had been talking about. The trio walked around Lowee until they ran into Blanc, literally, with Neptune tripping over a rock and tumbling down the street until she crashed into someone and landed on top of them. "Nep Nep! Are you okay?!"
"I'm fine." Neptune laughed nervously and pushed herself up. "Are you... BLANC?!"
The other CPU gave her a deadpan stare. "Do you always make a nuisance of yourself by landing on other people or am I a special case?"
Neptune laughed nervously and helped Blanc to her feet. "I'm sorry, but you'd be surprised how many times I've had someone acting as my landing pad." Blanc gave her a flat stare before Neptune suddenly hugged her. "Mmmmm!" She rubbed her cheek against Blanc's, smiling happily. "Blanc-hugs are best for recharging."
"Recharging what?" Blanc asked, wondering when Neptune would be done hugging her and putting up with it for the moment.
"My supply of Blancanium!" Neptune smiled and let go, causing Blanc to stare at her stupidly.
"Then I want some Neptunium!" Ram yelled as she pounced on Neptune, followed by Rom, as their combined pounce knocked Neptune onto the ground and all three girls started to laugh as they landed in some fluffy snow and got covered by it.
Blanc smiled upon the sight. It was nice to see her sisters having fun. "So I take it things are settled in Planeptune?" She asked IF, knowing the guild agent had access to more information about Planeptune than anyone other than Histoire and Nepgear.
"Yeah." IF nodded to her. "Nep surprised me with how fast she cleaned things up and has been doing actual work." Blanc stared at her and she laughed as she saw the same reaction that she had upon hearing that from Histoire. "Surprised the hell out of me too."
Blanc nodded and decided that she didn't need to ask anymore about it. "Neptune," she turned to the CPU in question and got a face full of snow for her troubles.
"Uh oh!" Ram gasped and pointed at Neptune. "You were supposed to get hit with the snowball!"
"Quick!" Neptune stood up. "Run away!" She threw her arms into the air as she, Rom and Ram quickly ran away from Blanc.
Blanc calmly wiped the snow off of her face. "I am not going to..." There was a splat as she got hit with another snowball. She wiped the snow off of her face with her eyes visibly twitching. "Get upset over..." Another snowball hit her in the face and IF and Compa took several steps back while looking at the three perpetrators, who were trying to look innocent while holding snowballs in their hands. "...IF, Compa..." Blanc muttered as she wiped her face off again. "After I deal with them, we'll meet you in Planeptune." They nodded and Blanc's eyes went red with rage as she was hit in the face again. "THAT'S IT! PREPARE TO DIE!"
"RUN!" Ram yelled as she, Rom and Neptune quickly ran away while Blanc chased after them with a hammer made of snow.
"...How did she create a snow hammer so fast?" IF asked and Compa laughed.
"So you're Blanny's friends then?" A new person spoke up and IF and Compa came face-to-face with a woman with long, brown hair, a blue outfit and a rather sizeable chest. "My name's C-Sha." She smiled at them.
"Name's IF, a lone gust of wind blowing through Gamindustri." IF introduced herself, "this is Compa, and that..." She pointed at where Neptune, Rom and Ram were running from Blanc. "Is Nep... ...I thought she was more mature than this." IF sighed, wondering where the more mature Neptune had gone.
"I wouldn't worry about it." C-Sha smiled as she watched Blanc having fun trying to hit Neptune and the twins with her snow hammer. "There's nothing wrong with having fun like this, is there?"
"I suppose not." IF said and shook her head. "How about we wait for them to finish their game?"
"Sure." Compa nodded and smiled as the three went over to a coffee shop to warm up.
(-)
It was almost an hour later when Rom, Ram, Blanc and Neptune finally finished playing, all four were panting softly, covered in snow and soaked with water from the snow when it melted on them.
"I can't believe you two little shits got snow in my underwear." Blanc grumbled, not liking the fact that her butt was not only cold but also wet from the melted snow.
Neptune giggled to herself as she saw Blanc arguing with Rom and Ram over skirt flipping and dumping snow down her underwear. As Blanc argued with them, the scenery started to shift and change, as did Blanc's outfit.
*Flash*
There was a crash in the courtyard and the Basilicom staff sighed, one of them pushing a button so that all the sliding doors would open up before their Lady White Heart destroyed a few in her quest to punish one of the Planeptune CPUs that were visiting that day. "You think there's something more going on?" One of the staff members asked.
"Maybe." Neptune said from behind the staff member, who let out a shriek. Neptune looked confused as she chewed on a potato chip. "What? These are yummy." She giggled at their bewildered look. "And who knows? I don't even think Blanc knows if she likes anyone like that." She ate another potato chip as three girls ran out of the hallway and into the courtyard, followed by Blanc. "Oh dear, red eyes of rage, I better do something." Neptune muttered and threw the bag of chips behind her.
"DID YOU HAVE TO PUT A FREAKING HOT WATER BALLOON ON MY CHAIR?!" Blanc screamed as she chased after Peashy, Ouya and Stadia.
"Neener Neener Neener!" The three taunted Blanc while sticking their tongues out at her.
Neptune giggled as she watched Blanc chase after her daughters. "Well... Hey! Blanc!" When the miko-clad CPU turned to look at her, she got a pie to the face. "Ha ha! Now you're a wet dessert!"
"NEPTUNE!" Blanc screamed and chased after Neptune, who ran away while Peashy, Ouya and Stadia panted and laughed as Neptune ran away from Blanc.
*End Flashback*
"Fun days." Neptune muttered and blinked as she felt someone shaking her. "Huh?" She looked around in confusion as she was pulled back into the present. "What happened?"
"Sheesh!" IF grumbled as she let go of Neptune. "Flashbacks again?" Neptune looked embarrassed and rubbed the back of her head, laughing nervously. "We've been trying to get your attention for a minute now."
"Sorry, so are we heading back to Planeptune now?" Neptune asked and the others nodded.
"Neptune," Blanc spoke up, looking at her friend seriously. "We met someone who said she was..."
"Nope!" Neptune shook her head. "Tell me when we get to Planeptune, okay? Noire and Vert should already be there with Nep Jr. and Uni, so we can all get together and you can tell me everything then."
"...Alright." Blanc nodded and turned to C-Sha. "We'll be leaving then."
C-Sha gave her a smile and a thumb's up. "Don't worry, I'll keep Lowee safe and magical while you're away." Blanc nodded, smiling as she, Rom, Ram and Neptune all transformed. Purple Heart grabbed Compa while the twins grabbed IF and the four flew directly towards Planeptune.
(-)
As they got closer to Planeptune, Purple Heart smirked and looked at White Heart. "So, Blanc..." White Heart looked at her in confusion. "When did you get a girlfriend?"
White Heart's face turned bright red. "C-Sha is NOT my girlfriend!"
Purple Heart laughed at her. "Oh dear, I thought Noire was the Tsundere. But now it makes sense why I landed on you, I only land on Tsunderes after all."
White Heart growled. "I am NOT dating C-Sha!"
Purple Heart smirked at White Heart. "I never claimed you were. Are you hiding something?"
"NEPTUNE!" White Heart screamed and Purple Heart laughed and flew towards the city while White Heart yelled denials the entire way.
"Hey, Rom..." White Sister Ram looked at her twin. "Should we tell Neptune that Blanc was saying C-Sha's name in her sleep last night?"
White Sister Rom thought about it for a moment and nodded. "Yeah."
"You two can do what you want, but make sure that I'm not flying high in the air when you tell Nep about that." IF commented as she looked up at them. "I don't feel good about the idea of you accidentally dropping me to the ground."
The twins laughed but nodded and flew after them silently.
Who says Nep wouldn't still have fun with snowballs? Someone had to teach Peashy how to throw snowballs after all.
