Chapter 7: Monikers and Sisters

Noire was on her balcony, watching the skyline. " I hope they arrive here soon..."

"You're seriously going to stand here, and wait for her?" someone responded behind her. Turning around, she found it was her sister, Uni. "You look way too desperate for her to get here, and that's sad," the estranged Candidate mocked.

Noire sighed, wishing her sister would calm down, so they could work things out. But that clearly wasn't going to happen anytime soon. "I just... want to be sure that Neptune won't get hurt. You know that it's been hard for her, and she only recently started coming out again... That, and this Venus's first time in Lastation-"

"Oh, this is so pathetic," Uni replied. "And maybe you should be worried about yourself. I heard your Ultradimension counterpart had a habit of being someone's landing pad when they would fall from the sky."

Uni was about to turn and leave, but as soon as she opened the door, she noticed that Noire had stepped back from the balcony, closed her eyes, and spread her arms outwards.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Uni asked in confusion. "I... get that you're a goddess and all, but you really don't need to be all 'praise me, come into my embrace' like that."

"I'm bracing myself for the inevitable," Noire replied.

"Are you serious! Ugh, this is so-"

"Noire?" a mature voice called out. The twin-tailed goddess opened her eyes and found Purple Heart hovering above them, with Venus in her arms, slowly descending to the balcony. The pair landed, and then Purple Heart transformed CPU turned back into Neptune. "Are you... trying to assert dominance or something?"

"It looks like Nora's trying to measure something," Venus replied. "Something REALLY big." This caused Neptune to snicker, not that the innocent Candidate understood what that statement implied.

Noire's face turned completely red as she dropped her pose. "V-V-Venus! D-don't j-just say things like that! ...N-not without context at least!"

Venus titled her head. "What... what does context mean?"

Uni rolled her eyes, while Noire took a deep breath. "'Context' means to provide further info on what you said. You say something is big, adding context would be to say what was big..."

Noire really liked Venus, but she was... a serious work in progress.

Neptune was still snickering at the situation. "Oh man, Noire, you like 'em big, don't ya?"

"Y-y-you stop that! Right now!" Noire shouted back, once again blushing. "J-just come inside already."

Noire led everyone inside. Uni ended up sitting down in a chair away from the group, while Neptune and Venus sat on the couch.

"S... so, Venus," Noire said, starting to calm down. "How do you like Lastation?"

"It's really cool!" the Planeptunian Candidate replied. "It's like... home, but different. I don't know how to explain it."

"Oh, well you see, Lastation is always working to improve its technological prowess, and to be on top of everyone else! ...Of course, Planeptune is still ahead of us... but we're catching up!"

"Neat! I... don't know the difference in our nation's... techiness..."

"Techiness...?" Noire sighed. "Whatever, you'll understand someday. So... Venus, can I talk to your sister in private for a bit? You could... um, hang out with my sister! Get to know her."

"What!?" Uni exclaimed.

"Hey, that's a great idea," Neptune chimed in, helping her sister up, and guiding her to the Lastation Candidate. "You could show her around Lastation!"

"F-fine," Uni replied. She really didn't want to hang out with the new Candidate, at all, but... if it was for Neptune. She didn't have anything against her, after all. At least, not compared to her sister. "Come on," she said with little interest.

"Yay! I get to hang with Nora's sister," Venus giggled. Uni just scoffed in response, not that Venus noticed.

As Candidates left, Noire brought Neptune into the kitchen. "So... I heard about what happened," Noire said.

"About what?" Neptune asked.

"The robots that attacked you. I heard that they had your nation's symbol on them, but that they weren't made by you."

Neptune sighed. "Yeah... It really had me scared.

"Scared that your citizens would believe you lost control of your own robots, and that people might get hurt because of it?"

"They targeted Venus specifically. No one else noticed, but I did."

Noire didn't know what to make of this new info. "Do... do you really think that someone wants to get rid of Venus?"

"I... I don't know... But... I don't want to lose my sister... not again..."

"I... get it. I'd be worried about my sister, too, if this was happening to her." Noire sighed. "At least you care about her. ...By the way, how have you two been getting along?"

"I... uh... yeah," Neptune nervously said.

Noire did not like the way she responded. "Have... you two done anything together, you know, as sisters?" she added.

"Um... we've done a couple quests..." Neptune replied, unsure of her response.

Noire shook her head. "Are you still overworking yourself? You should be doing more stuff with your sister. Why not play some games with her? Or go outside and just hang out."

"But... I have so much to-"

"Histoire has confirmed to me that you already do more than enough work!" Noire interjected. "...You haven't played a game with Venus... have you? Or at all," Noire guessed, but she was sure she was right.

"I..." Neptune sounded.

"Neptune, it's okay," Noire said, trying to comfort her. "If you want, I have a Planeptune console, so the first game you play with your sister is one of yours, not mine."

Neptune was shocked by what Noire was suggesting. Noire was prideful. Well, all of the goddesses were intensely proud of their consoles, but Noire was especially prideful of all her nation's advancements. To suggest playing on a rival console was... insane to hear. "Noire..."

"It's decided," Noire interjected once more. "Once our sisters come back, we're playing some games together!"

"I... alright, I can do that."

Unbeknownst to them, someone was listening to their conversation. Not out of malicious intent, he was there to meet with a friend. One who was not currently there. But he happened to overhear their conversation, and something caught his attention. Something he felt he needed to address to his friend...

Uni and Venus were exploring Lastation. The latter Candidate was so fascinated with this new location she hadn't see before.

"Wow! So, what's with all the dish thingies!" Venus asked, pointing to one of Lastation's massive satellite dishes.

"There for communications," Uni said with a hint of disinterest. "Their size can take in a massive amount of signals, and inside the inner structure, everything is routed to its proper destination. We have the fastest internet speeds of any nation."

"Okay... What does all that mean?"

Uni groaned. This girl... This had been going on since they left the Basilicom. And it was getting on her nerves.

"Ooh! Look! They're selling treats over there!" Venus suddenly exclaimed.

Uni rolled her eyes, but was at least happy that she didn't have to further explain the satellite dishes to Venus.

"It looks like... cookies," Uni said, taking notice with her sniper eye's sense of detail.

"Cookies..." Venus said, starting to drool.

"Really...?"

Venus skipped over to the food cart, while Uni just followed behind her.

"I want... that one. Ooh, and that one. And that one..." Venus went off, picking different cookies she wanted.

"Wow, you are certain a hungry gal," the vendor said, before laying his eyes on her fellow Candidate. "Ah, Lady Uni, I see you've made a new friend here. And I'm sure that this must be Planeptune's new Candidate."

"Yeah," Venus happily replied.

"I'm just showing her around Lastation, like my sister asked," Uni countered with annoyance.

The vendor just shrugged, figuring it was the black Candidate's tsundere nature talking. "So, how is Lady Black Heart anyways? I understand she's been a little stressed dealing with Planeptune business relations for the past while."

"Not... 'business' relations," Uni replied, knowing that Noire was just trying to (and failing) to cheer Neptune up.

"Eh, I suppose it's known of my business." The vendor packed up Venus's choice of cookies in a paper bag, and handed it to the purplette. "Here ya go, little lady."

"Thanks!" Venus cheerfully replied, before getting a more inquisitive look and asking, "so, big sis says I have to pay for these. How do I do that?"

The vendor just gave her a patient smile and explained the purchasing procedure, and warned her not to spend too much, or she'll have nothing more to spend. Venus thanked him for the cookies and explanation, and skipped along, singing about her treats.

"Could you stop...?" Uni argued.

"Okay," Venus (thankfully) stopped. "So... there's something that's bugging me."

"What?" Uni replied.

"Well, my big sis... she's called Purple Heart when she's in her goddy form, right?"

"'Goddy' what?" Uni responded. "Whatever. Yes, Neptune's goddess title is Purple Heart."

"And Black Heart...?"

"She's my sister."

"You mean Nora. Cool! So... does every goddess call themselves 'Heart' when transformed?" Venus asked.

Uni sighed. "Well, all of the full CPUs use the moniker 'Heart', yes," Uni replied.

Venus tilted her head. "Uh... mo... moni... mona... moki- no, um, monika?"

"MAH-NIH-KER!" Uni sounded to the idiot Candidate. "It means name. All full CPUs are named after the color of their nation plus 'Heart'. Lastation is the land of Black Regality, so Noire is known as Black Heart."

"Okay... okay... so, what about us Candidates? What are we called?" Venus tried asking next.

Uni was about to answer (just hoping to get this over with), but the moment she thought of the words she needed to form, she stopped, realizing something. Something she didn't want to acknowledge. "D-doesn't matter," Uni quickly said, walking off.

"Awe, come on, I want to know," Venus complained.

Uni tried to ignore her, but Venus continued to bug her, begging and begging her to know the title of a CPU Candidate.

"...Please tell me. What are Candidates called...?" Venus cried one last time.

"'Sister', d*** it!" Uni finally snapped. "I am Black Heart's Candidate, so I am Black Sister!"

Venus stopped after hearing Uni's answer. Rather than being taken aback by her angry outburst, she was simply in contemplation. About 30 seconds later, she announced, "so... that would mean... when I get my goddy form... I'll be 'Purple Sister', right?"

And that was what Uni didn't want Venus to figure out. "Let's just go back. And eat your stupid cookies," she simply growled back.

"Yeah, great idea!" And Venus pulled out one of her cookies, biting into it, and chewing it with a look of bliss on her face as they began to walk back to Noire's Basilicom.

Uni didn't want to call Venus "Purple Sister". That title belonged to Nepgear. ...Why did Venus have to come along and take it for herself?

"Oh, Uni, Venus, you're back!" Noire exclaimed as the Candidates returned.

Uni didn't say anything, trying to hide how upset she was. Not that she planned to give her the time of day, anyways.

Venus, however, unintentionally gave her an escape, when she approached Noire and Neptune, proudly announcing, "I got COOKIES!"

"Wow, sis, that's great!" Neptune replied.

"And I got one for you!" Venus pulled out a cookie, and handed it to her sister. "And one for you!" Then she handed one to Noire.

"Oh, thanks," Noire replied in surprise, while Neptune had already begun munching on her treat.

"Seriously, you planned on giving some of those to them?" Uni asked in disbelief.

"Well, I don't want them to feel left out," Venus said. "And don't think I forgot about you!" she then gave a cookie to Uni.

Uni just stared at the treat given to her, before saying, "I'm going to my room."

"What? But we were going to start playing games when you guys got back," Noire replied.

"I don't care," Uni said, as she left.

"Ah, fine then, be a party pooper," Neptune exclaimed.

Venus just looked on in sadness as Uni walked away. She was really hoping to become friends with Uni.

Noire sighed. She was hoping this could be a chance to reconnect with her sister. But apparently not. "So, Venus, have you played any games before?" she asked the new Candidate.

"Well... Neptune said I could... but I really want to play with her! So I waited until we could!" Venus exclaimed.

"Is that so..." Noire gazed towards Neptune as she said that.

Neptune sheepishly looked away. "It's... you know... I thought about it... but I was... busy, you know!"

"Uh-huh..." Noire sighed. "Well, Venus, I guess nows the time you get to play with your sis."

"Yay!" Venus cheered, and grabbed Neptune's arm as she dragged her into Noire's living room.

Noire smiled. Venus was charming, to say the least. The effect she'd have on Neptune would be good, she just knew it. As long as Neptune let her into her heart, and did not screw it up.

Hours had passed as they played through one of Neptune's games. It took a couple rounds for Venus to figure out how to play, but she eventually got the hang of it. And by that, it meant Venus was actually schooling her opponents, big time.

Neptune was always a skilled gamer, ...well, usually, but she was seriously out of practice from not having played for so long. And Noire just couldn't keep of with the Planeptune sister's surprise skills.

Venus had this way of just doing something random on the fly, and catching her opponent players off guard. They couldn't get a read on her, and it didn't even seem like she was trying. She was just good.

After a few hours of playing, and getting beaten again, Noire slumped back. "I guess that's what's to be expected of a sister of Neptune," she exclaimed. Seriously, most of the time she got second place to Venus's victory. Occasionally, Neptune would get second place, or beat them both, but Noire could not get a win over Venus at all (not counting the beginning, when she was still learning the ropes).

"Awe, thanks, Nora!" Venus replied, soaking in the praise.

"Well, I'm going to get us some tea," Noire said, as she got up.

Once Noire left, Neptune turned to her sister. "Well, Noire is right. Us Planeptune girls are always on the ball with our gaming skills. Um, well... me too, maybe, if I wasn't so rusty..."

"Awe, big sis, you awesome! Playing with you is SUPER fun!" Venus exclaimed. "We're like...! Uh, what was the word you use for two people?"

"Um, duo? Couple? Wait, no, that's romantic." Neptune whispered that last line, so her sister wouldn't hear it and get the wrong idea. "Maybe... pair?"

"Yes! Pear! I knew it was fruit-related!"

Neptune let out a big laugh. She wasn't expecting Venus to relate that to fruit, but... "I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

"Wow, the apple must really like the tree," Venus replied, failing to recognize the metaphor, though it was still true, in a sense.

"Yeah, it sure does. But if I were to call us anything, it's Nepsisters..." Neptune trailed off.

What was she saying? She always wanted to say that... but to Nepgear. It made sense, their names both started with Nep. But not Venus's.

Neptune looked at Venus, and she saw a flash of something. It wasn't real, just her imagination, but...

Neptune had gotten comfortable hanging with her sister, that she was beginning to think she was with Nepgear. But it wasn't Nepgear, it was Venus, ...a completely different person.

"Big sis...?" Venus asked worriedly.

"Sorry, just... spacing out. Forgot what I just said," Neptune responded.

"But I-"

"It's nothing!" Neptune shot back, almost snapping. Instantly, she looked apologetic for what she just did, but Venus just looked distraught, as if she didn't get something she wanted.

Noire came back at that moment, looking a little concerned. "I just heard yelling, is everything okay?" she asked softly.

Venus got up, her head low. "I'd kind of like to go home now... And got to bed..."

"Venus," Noire said. "Are you okay?"

The Candidate didn't say anything. She just decided to head to the balcony.

Neptune got up, and was about to follow her sister, when Noire stopped her.

"What did you do?" she asked the Planpentune goddess.

"I... said something... I didn't want to say... Nothing bad... but it wasn't... meant for her..." Neptune replied shakily.

"So you screwed up," Noire explained.

"Y-yeah..."

"Neptune," Noire came up, and hugged the frustrated purplette. "It's okay to screw up, but you need to learn from this, and be more careful, okay? You can't just forget about how your sister might feel."

"I... I know..."

Noire looked outside. She could see dark clouds forming in the west. "Looks like a storm is approaching your nation. If you're going to go, best leave now. And make sure you two get the rest you need."

"Okay." Noire let go, and Neptune began to make her way to the balcony, before turning back to Noire. "N-Noire, I'm sorry for ignoring you for the past year... I want- I want to say thanks for trying to help me feel better."

"You're welcome, Neptune," Noire said, as her friend left.

Uni sat in her room, next to the window, which was open. She could see Purple Heart flying away with Venus in her arms, heading back to Planeptune.

The black-haired Candidate looked down at the cookie Venus gave her, still in her hand, uneaten. Purple... Sister... Venus... she played in her head. No, it didn't sound right to her.

She angrily threw the cookie out the window, and let a frustrated shout.

As she rested her hands on the window's edge, tears flowed out of her eyes.

"Lady Uni, are you okay?" a male voice asked.

Normally, Uni would've been startled hearing a voice come from out of nowhere, but this had become a frequent occurrence for her, so it didn't bother her at all.

Looking up, she found a large robot hanging off the side of the building. He had blue plating, designed to take the form of a ninja. He had a sheathed sword on his side, and a massive, folded-up shuriken on his left arm. A single thin, blue, mechanical, glowing eye stared at her. No emotion could be shown on his faceplate, but Uni knew he must've been concerned.

"Steamax. Sorry, I'm just... frustrated," she told the robot. "Any news?"

"Unfortunately, nothing new in terms of the search," the ninja robot, known as Steamax, replied.

"Agh, why!? Why does this have to be so hard!" Uni slammed her fist down. "I just want to find her... I need to know what happened to Nepgear!"

"I know, Lady Uni, I've been trying as hard as I can," Steamax replied. "But finding one person, even a goddess, can be far more difficult than we'd hope."

"If... if only my sister didn't give up on Nepgear! If only she didn't convince Neptune to give up! We could've covered more ground, and- and-"

"There's no point in complaining, Lady Uni. This is just how things are right now," Steamax interjected. "But just know that I won't stop looking for you. You can't keep a goddess hidden forever."

Uni looked away in shame, but thankful. "Thank you, Steamax."

"If I may, there is something I wish to discuss with you."

Uni folded her arms and leaned back, ready to listen.

"Well, for a while now, I've begun to have a suspicion about the disappearance of Lady Nepgear," Steamax explained. "We know almost nothing of the circumstances behind the disappearance, but what we do know... it simply does not add up."

"Okay, what are you thinking?" Uni inquired.

"I believe... that there must've been foul play involved."

"Foul play...?"

"Indeed. It doesn't make sense for Lady Nepgear to simply go into hiding, unless someone forced her to. I'm should apologize, I should've told you about my theory a while ago, but I had no leads to go on. ...Until now."

"Okay, continue."

"I was eavesdropping on your sister and Lady Neptune earlier. Apparently, Lady Neptune and the new Candidate, Lady Venus, were attacked by unidentified robots during a quest for the Guild."

"Alright, but CPUs get attacked by rogue robots all the time," Uni stated.

"But this was not a normal attack. The Planeptunian symbol was found on these robots, however, Lady Neptune noted that their designs did not belong to her nation. Furthermore, their attack sounded deliberate. Lady Neptune claims they were targeting her sister."

Uni didn't really care what happened to Venus, but she did take notice of how odd this sounded. "So... you think these robots had a mission. That would mean someone was in control of them, right?"

"Exactly, and if someone has the intent of eliminating the Planeptune Candidate, then it is safe to assume that they may have been involved with the disappearance of the previous Planeptune Candidate."

Uni couldn't agree more with this theory, though it did scare her. The way the evidence was shaping up, it sounded as if Nepgear might've been killed. Sure, Histoire herself said that she would've known if Nepgear had died, but Uni always knew it was a possibility, and well... she really didn't want it to be true.

"Of course, we can't be absolutely sure that this is the case, but if my theory holds true, then following this trail could lead to the location of Lady Nepgear," Steamax continued, "and if not, then at the very least, we could prevent a major threat to Gamindustri, thus keeping the peace for the citizens."

"So it's a win-win for us," Uni summed up. "What should we do?"

"Well, if they're building robots en masse, then they must be getting the materials from somewhere. And if they are doing it under the CPU's noses, then they must be getting these materials through shady dealings," Steamax explained. "I plan to delve into the criminal underworld tonight, so I can find leads on the origin of these mechs. It will take some time, though, but I am sure the results will be worth it."

"This is the only lead we have on Nepgear..." Uni said slowly. "Do it. Report back to me when you can, but please... stay safe. I can't lose another friend."

"Of course, Lady Uni," Steamax responded, before sliding down the Basilcom, and leaping into the streets below.

Don't worry, Nepgear, Uni thought to herself. I WILL find you! And I WILL set things right!

Once the Planeptune sister returned to their Basilicom, Neptune made sure Venus went to bed, before doing the same herself. She wasn't sure if she would be able to sleep, as the storm had begun to pick up by the time they landed. But once she was laying down, it didn't take long for her to fall asleep and begin dreaming.

Neptune found herself walking down a path cutting through a field of sunflowers, wearing a beige sunhat, a loose white shirt with straps and a frilly strip of cloth, leaving her shoulders, along with jean short-shorts and white sandals. It was a nice sunny day, a contrast to what the weather was in reality. As she walked, she found someone standing ahead, with their back turned to her.

"Nepgear?"

Her younger sister turned to face her. She was wearing a white summer dress that had sailor-dress shoulders on top, complete with a blue ribbon, a white sun hat with a blue bow on it, and brown sandals with white straps. And she was holding a sunflower behind her.

"Neptune, you wouldn't forget me, would you?" Nepgear asked.

"No, of course not." Neptune smiled, tears in her eyes. "You're my little sister!" She ran up and hugged the lilac Candidate. She was happy. This was a good dream.

...Not that it would stay that way.

"Big sis!"

Neptune paused. Nepgear didn't say that. She looked up. Nepgear was still there, but she had an expression of disgust. Looking behind her... there was Venus.

Like the other Planetpune CPUs, she was currently wearing a summer outfit. Specifically, she had on a flowery, light-purple shirt, a short white skirt, purple sandals with flowers on them, and a purple sunhat with another flower on it, her side ponytail held up with a purple ribbon. ...And she was also holding a sunflower.

"Venus...?"

"Why are you with her? I thought I was your little sister?" the young Candidate complained.

Neptune let go of Nepgear, and began turning to turn Venus, ...only for the lilac Candidate to wrap her arms around her older sister, and pull her back. "She's my little sister, you idiot!" Nepgear replied with a strained smile. "You're just a substitute."

Neptune could only look on in horror at Venus's heartbroken expression, which quickly to anger. "I am not! I'm a Candidate, and a better one than you are! And Neptune's MY sister!"

Venus grabbed Neptune's and pulled her away from Nepgear. The lilac Candidate angrily stared and crossed her arms. "Your sister!? Neptune, do you really think this moron is your sister, and not me?"

"I... I... I think..." Neptune didn't know what to say.

"You little...!" Venus pushed Neptune behind her as she stomped towards Nepgear, her fist raised, dropping her sunflower.

"N-Nep Jr., V-Venus... please- please don't-" Neptune begged, but she couldn't form the words. Tears filled her eyes.

Venus swung in for a punch, and struck Nepgear right across the face. She staggered back, dropping her own sunflower, before stepping back up and retaliating with a slap in the face. Then they both grabbed each other and began to wrestle with each other, growling angrily.

"STOP!" Neptune finally shouted, not being able to take it anymore.

Thankfully, they did, but the tension remained, thick in the air. The purple Candidates stepped away from each other, and both turned towards their big sister.

"I'm your sister, right!?" Nepgear argued. "I'm the one you care about. Me!"

"No, I'm your sister!" Venus countered angrily. "She abandoned you! I'm the one who's here by your side right now."

"I... don't... I don't... know..." Neptune said, scared.

"WHICH OF US IS YOUR SISTER!?" the Candidates shouted together.

Neptune finally broke down, falling to her knees, clutching her sunhat, and screaming in frustration, distress, and fear.

And with that... the dream shattered.

Neptune shot up in bed, with horrified silence. Her breathing was shaky, as she stared outside her window. The storm was now in full rage, the rain outside pouring intensely hard. Far in the distance, she could see signs of thunder and lightning.

In the back of her mind, she joking thought that this would be the perfect time for a water monster to rise up and attack the city. Certainly would be better than the dream she just had, at least for her.

Suddenly, without warning, Neptune's door slammed open, startling the purple CPU. But she had no time to process that, as immediately after that, dashing inside, Venus tackled Neptune, holding her tight. She was upset and crying.

"Woah, woah, woah, woah..." Neptune said, slowly getting softer as she spoke. "What's wrong sis?"

"I- I was trying to sleep," Venus said shakily and sobbing. "A-and then there was this bright flash, and a-a sky... earthquake! It was scary!" Venus then sobbed into her sister's chest.

Neptune smiled faintly. This reminded her of when Nepgear first had to deal with a storm. She was playing games with her sister during a stormy night and a bolt of lighting outside startled her, causing her to lose the game. She then panicked and grabbed onto Neptune. It was a nice memory.

For whatever reason, while a Candidate is given a lot of basic knowledge at birth, knowledge of thunderstorms and lightning didn't seem to be on the list. At least in Neptune's experience. She didn't know about Uni and Noire, and as for Blanc and the twins, well... Lowee, being a snowy winter nation, it was more likely they would get blizzards rather than thunderstorms, and even then, Rom and Ram were kids, so it would make sense for them to be scared.

It was kind of funny, a girl who looked like an older teen, clutching onto her pre-teen-looking sister, scared out of her mind because of a thunderstorm. But it warmed Neptune's heart, knowing she could be her little sister's support pillar during these scary times.

Though of course, Neptune's dream still hung in the back of her mind.

"Sis...?" Venus asked, still sobbing.

"Yeah," Neptune replied.

"You'll be here, when scary things happen? Right? You won't leave me alone?"

Neptune tensed up. "Y-yeah, of course. You're my little sister," she told her sister. But as much as she tried to believe it for herself, deep down in her heart...

She wasn't sure if she could.

Author's Note: What... did you think "Nepsisters" was just the title of the story. Well, this story is missing one Nep, and the new Nep isn't even a Nep in name, so of course it was going to be a plot point! I mean, how couldn't it be?

But no, in all seriousness, I came up with this plot point after I started writing the story, so I'm just being a moron.

There's a lot to talk about here, but before I get in order of the chapter events, I want to start with this... While planning out and writing this chapter, I realized a characteristic to give her...

She likes cookies.

I mean, back in the Lowee chapter, the Pyoshi bot made cookies because that's what it made in the manga, but when I was trying to figure out what she would be doing with Uni, eventually I settled on her getting cookies. And that's when I realized Venus's favorite food should be cookies. Cookies are to Venus as pudding is to Neptune.

And think about this. Venus has had cookies in Lowee, and now in Lastation. So now she needs them in Leanbox, and probably her own nation of Planeptune. If she enjoys them this much already, she's probably had them in between chapters. But we can always give her a special cookie in Planeptune.

Now, going the chapter start. Yes, I'm pretty sure only Ultra Noire has been landed on by the whole joke. And no, I'm not counting the anime in for this. But I thought it would be funny if she just braced for it. And when I came up with the way she would do it... well, you can see how hyperactive my mind is.

No, I'm not going to list out what each person was accusing Noire of doing, I'm sure you can figure it out on your own. But I will make a slight exception to note that Neptune's was a reference to a joke on John Oliver's Confederacy video (since that one might be a bit more obscure, and it could hint at one of the other accusations). I just added to it, and I'll do it no more, since I normally don't like the kind of humor (hence why I used the word "add").

I'll briefly touch on the Purple Sister event, since it's related to the chapter's title, to say that I'm a little surprised no one has brought it up before, but I shouldn't be too surprised. Either you guys didn't think about it, or didn't think that Venus would share the same title that Nepgear had, since she is a Planeptune Candidate, was a big deal (we do have two White Sisters after all). Well, I made it a big deal, gosh dang it.

Also, when Venus was trying to sound off "moniker", yes... I did know what I was writing. And if you were bugged by it, good. That was the intention. Mwahaha!

Now onto the last two sections of the chapter. Both weren't originally planned... at all, but while planning out the chapter, I came up with these, and decided to add them here.

Firstly, the Uni and Steamax scene. Uni was always planned to still be searching for Nepgear. I just decided it was important to reveal that earlier, and maybe add another character to it who might be used for a later important event. That of course, being Steamax, since he is close to Uni.

To be clear, Uni is searching in secret, which was why Steamax didn't intervene in on Neptune and Noire's conversation. The idea is... Neptune was dissuaded from continuing to look for Nepgear, since it was so long since she disappeared with no evidence, and that it wasn't healthy. Uni clearly wasn't ready to stop, so to keep Noire from trying to do the same to her, and bugging her non-stop, she kept looking in secret, and even enlisted Steamax to help, since this fits his skill set. But it obviously caused a rift between the two sisters.

If you're wondering why Steamax isn't stuttering talking to Uni, I figured... he's been working with her for a while, he's probably more comfortable with her by now. If Uni flirted with him, even accidentally, that would probably make him a stuttering mess. But Uni is clearly not in the right headspace to do that (not to mention, I wouldn't write that. While Steamax's crush on Uni is obvious, I only see them being friends. If you ship them, that's fine, but this is how I see it).

And finally, the dream. This was a near-last-minute idea I came up with. I know it was going to be a bit weird, seeing as this chapter focused on Lastation, and the final event took place right after they returned from that nation, but I wanted to get this plot point stewing as early as it made sense, and the next few chapters I have planned... I don't think it would fit any better. Plus, I feel I made it pretty organic to the chapter's plot.

The event is based on a piece of art I found, where Neptune, Nepgear, and Adult Neptune are all in summer outfits, enjoying a sunflower field. It's such a nice scene... and I feel bad for using it for a nightmare scene. But when trying to plan this dream sequence out, this image came to mind, so I wrote around it.

Obviously, the girls are in their summer outfits, though I had to make a guess on Neptune's footwear (the bottom of her legs are cut out in the frame), and there is no Big Nep. Plus, I needed to come up with a summer outfit for Venus. But I should note, when I looked up the image again, so I could get the details, and I saw that Nepgear was holding a sunflower, that's when I knew how hard-hitting I could make this. That's why Venus also had a sunflower. It to give the impression that both of them wanted to give their bis sis a flower, but then they started fighting.

And I felt it would be both funny and sweet for Venus to be afraid of lighting during her first storm (the last few lines were just to set the realistic line of the plot point that was just established). Also, a lot of little references during that part. Let's run them down:

Horrified silence: I got this from the "Ask Frisk and Company" Tumblr blog, which I re-read recently. Basically, Toriel was having a nightmare, and when she was about to wake up, the askers were warning Sans that she was about to wake up, screaming like a banshee, and he barely got out a "what", when she jumped up in HORRIFIED SILENCE! I was dead laughing at that, and felt the need to make a nod to it here.

The water monster joke: This was a reference to Perfect Chaos in Sonic Adventure DX. A very Sega reference for a Planeptune goddess to make. Also, Sonic Adventure is one of my all-time favorite games, since it has so much nostalgia for me, but it bugs me that the song "Open Your Heart", a great theme, but it starts with the lines "thunder, rain, and lighting", and there is NONE of that in the Perfect Chaos fight (when there was in the first Chaos 0 fight). So disappointing.

And lastly, sky earthquake: I got this from ProZD's YouTube skit "people in LA every time it rains". I thought it would make perfect sense for Venus to say something that stupid. (Though how Venus knows what an earthquake is before thunder, I couldn't tell you. Maybe she's so strong, she accidentally caused some minor quakes.)