Chapter 11: Orange vs. Iris
"Hm, okay... looks like everything's in order for the new game release," the goddess took a sip of her tea. Suddenly, a notification popped up on her screen. "News alert, huh?"
She clicked the link and proceeded to read the article that came up. "'New goddess appears in Planeptune?'" she read. "'Saves outskirts town.' Just what is going on there now!?"
She scrolls, and sees an image of the goddess in question, alongside... "is that Neptune? Why she is she so... big? I thought she only got like that in HDD, I... maybe I should ask her about that..." she took a closer look a the goddess next to her. "She... looks very cutesy." She then continued down to read the article. "Orange Heart... So she's from another dimension, huh? Well hopefully, that means less competition. And she wants to have a dual with Iris Heart? Oh, she's so screwed! Hm, I wonder if they got a picture of her human form... let's see..."
She scrolled down further, and when she saw the image of Orange Heart's human form.
And what she saw... left her in a state of shock, as her teacup fell onto the ground and shattered, tea spilling everywhere.
"Uzume! Nep Jr.! We're back!" Neptune cried out, as she and her mother came through the front door, carrying grocery bags.
"Mommy! Big sis!" the little purplette cried as she got up and dashed over to her family members. She was playing with Uzume while they wait for the older purplettes to return.
"Welcome back guys," Uzume greeted.
"I hope your trip to the store was a fruitful one?" Umio said as he flew into the room.
"Yep, especially with that fruit!" Neptune exclaimed.
Uzume got confused. "Wait, did you actually get fruit...?"
"Yeah, well, we weren't able to celebrate you getting your CPU power back before, because of... well, that creep. But now that we're back home, I figured now is the best time to do it!" Neptune explained.
She handed Uzume a bag, who then looked inside... to find oranges.
Uzume looked to her friend, who was smiling like a doofus. Merci just sweat-dropped, knowing full well about her daughter's "joke", and worried about how the newly re-minted goddess might react.
Uzume then started to chuckle. "Okay, that's a good one!"
"What's so funny?" Nepgear asked, since she was too short to see into the bag.
"Oh, well you know how Uzie is 'Orange Heart'?" Neptune told her sister.
"Pretty Orange Heart..." Nepgear responded.
Neptune laughed. "Glad you like her... well..." she pulled out an orange from Uzume's bag, and showed her.
"Orange!" Nepgear exclaimed as she grabbed the fruit from her sister, and ran off with her new treat.
"I... don't know if she got the joke," Uzume responded.
"Well, at least she got a tasty treat out of it," Neptune noted.
"Well, someone's going to need to help her peel it," Merci said, as she began to follow her youngest daughter.
Turning to Uzume, Neptune said, "I also got some tangerines."
"Aren't those just a different kind of orange?" Uzume asked.
"Well... yeah..."
The two girls just laughed, and then began peeling some oranges.
"So... do you plan to meet up with Plutia soon?" Neptune asked.
"I... I don't know yet," Uzume admitted. "I mean, you saw her!"
"I still think that kid goddess is a little scarier. I mean, she's crazy strong, and I'm not sure she can control it very well. But still, Iris Heart is definitely terrifying!"
"You can say that again," Uzume said as she bit into her fruit.
"Perhaps you two are overreacting," Umio interjected. "You're basing your opinions of those two on your first impressions of them, which was in their HDD forms. You should know, especially you, Uzume, not to judge them on those first impressions."
The girls got a nervous look on their faces.
"Perhaps you should consider hanging with them in their human forms. The other Neptune and this world's Noire seem to be very close friends with Plutia, so there must be something good about her that makes them so close. And Peashy seems like a genuinely kind and bubbly kid," Umio explained. "Not to mention, little Nepgear seemed much more comfortable around them when Plutia and Peashy were in human form."
And the girls started to really consider that. He had a point.
Merci then returned, holding her phone. "Um, Lad-, I mean, Uzume."
"Yeah," Uzume replied, a little annoyed that Merci still hadn't gotten over calling her "Lady", but she could tell she was trying.
"So... you were reconsidering your dual with Iris Heart, right?"
"Uh huh...?"
"So, is there a reason to put that online?"
"What!?" Uzume quickly rushed over, and took a look at Merci's phone.
On it, there was an article about Orange Heart's appearance, and how she saved that town they were visited. Reading through the article, there was mention that the goddess wished to challenge Iris Heart.
"Wha- how did they know..." Uzume said nervously.
"Um... well, I remember..." Neptune started.
"Remember what?" Merci asked her daughter.
"Well, me and Uzume were having a quick discussion about what she was going to do now that she had her powers back, right after we saved that town. And people were there, if I remember right, thanking us for saving them. We didn't stay around long, because we heard Nepgear scream."
"Oh no... oh no, no, no! They freaking took that the wrong way!" Uzume cried out.
Nepgear came in to see what the commotion was, her hand messy and sticky from eating her tasty orange. She saw that Uzie was upset, and ran up to hug her, getting her legs and socks all sticky from the fruit's juices.
Uzume could only smile. "Th-thanks, Lil' Gearsy."
"So, I don't understand, why is this so bad?" Neptune asked. "I mean, unless you chose not to fight Iris Heart."
"That's the problem. Histy has always said that the will of the people is fickle," Uzume explained. "They'll be expecting me to do this fight, and if not, there will be those who are upset with that decision. Plus, I just wanted a private sparring match, but now that this is out in the open, the people will want to see this."
"I see the issue here," Umio noted. "The people will want to know who is stronger, so they will be angry if they don't have proof as to who won. And if they do fight publicly, they'll very possibly put their faith into the victor."
"And I'll say this again, I don't want to take Plutia's faith from her. I'm not even a goddess of this dimension!" Uzume added.
"Oh, okay. Yeah... this sucks," Neptune replied. She didn't know what to do here. She was just a human, this was beyond her understanding.
"Will Uzie be okay?" Nepgear asked.
"She will," Merci spoke up. She places her hands on Uzume's shoulders. "I can't say for sure that I know about all these CPU politics and whatnot, but... while my faith in Iris Heart is strong, you are my daughter's friend, and that makes you my friend. So I want to try to help."
"Thanks, Merci..." Uzume replied. "But how?"
"Well, I can't stop this fight, and you can't back down, but I know how to make a point. I have to act as the mediator to arguments between my tenants many times before. So... whether you win or lose this fight, here's what you do afterwards."
The following day, Uzume walked up to the Basilicom with Umio.
"So, this is it," Uzume said.
"Seems so," Umio.
"Well, it's now or never."
Walking inside, Uzume asked for Plutia.
"Um, you'll have to wait a bit," the secretary said. "It might be a while-"
"So, you must be Orange Heart," a tiny voice interjected. The duo turned to find a familiar-looking fairy on a book.
"I assume that you are the Histoire of this world?" Umio asked.
"Indeed I am," Histoire replied.
Uzume just stared in amazement. When Histoire noticed, she didn't know why she seemed so fascinating, considering that the goddess must've known her counterpart. The only difference was-
"OMG!" Uzume shouted in a high-pitched, cutesy voice, which caught Histoire off guard. "This Histy is so cute!" The redhead then rushed up, and with a yelp, the tiny fairy found herself smushed against her chest, tightly wrapped in the arms of the overly-excited girl.
The few Basilicom workers started in bewilderment from the display. Umio just loudly cleared his throat, and announced, "Uzume, you're causing a scene."
It took a couple seconds for that to register in Uzume's mind. Once she did, she let go, and backed away. "S-sorry," Uzume said in her normal voice, "That... happens sometimes."
Histoire was catching her breath from being squeezed so tightly. "Okay... that was just... unexpected..."
"Y-yeah..."
Histoire finally composed herself, and turned to the secretary. "This is a friend of Lady Iris Heart. If she comes by, you are to allow her inside, along with any of her present companions."
"Y-yes, Lady Histoire," they replied, still trying to process what they just witnessed.
"Please, come inside," Histoire then told Uzume and Umio.
Following her inside, Histoire began asking a few questions. "So, Plutia says that she ran into you and helped you defeat an enemy?"
"More like take over," Uzume admitted. "But he was tough, and we were trying to save my friend's sister, whom he kidnapped. It wasn't fun."
"Yes, Plutia and Peashy would not stop talking about you and your friends. To think that there was a Neptune and Nepgear in our own dimension this whole time."
"It's a bit more complicated than that," Umio noted.
"Yeah, big Nepsy was born here, but she was traveling to other dimensions for a while," Uzume added, "and Nepgear is not that old. She's only five."
"I see," Histoire replied. "And they're not here with you today?"
"I'll be calling them when we've done here. This is why I need to see Plutia."
Histoire was a little concerned. She remembered what her counterpart said Uzume wanted, and had heard the current rumors around her. "So, is this about... your challenge?"
"Yeah, I want to test myself against the goddesses of the Ultradimension. That's all. I don't want to make a big deal about this."
Histoire nodded nervously. She couldn't imagine this going well no matter who one. Either Orange Heart won, and the people put faith into her rather than Pluita... or Iris Heart won and...
The thought horrified her.
Eventually, they made it into Plutia's private housing area. Said girl was sitting in a chair, working on one of her dolls, a smile on her face.
Uzume took interest in what she was making, and went over to check it out. She was surprised to find that it was a doll of herself.
"Oh, Uzie, you're here!" Plutia greeted once she noticed the orange goddess. She looked around, and got disappointed. "Big Neppy and mini Neppy Jr. aren't here?"
"They went out with their mom for some treats. I'm sure we'll see them later. You know, cause..." Uzume trailed off. She wasn't sure about what she was here to do, but she had to see this through. "So... that's a nice doll you're making."
"Oh, thanks. I like making dolls of all my friends~" Pluita replied happily. "And... done!" She lifted her completed doll.
Uzume was impressed. While simple, the level of detail was amazing. She even got the swirl on her orange tie.
Uzume had to try really hard to not have another cutesy freakout. Especially considering Plutia's HDD personality...
"...S-s-s-so, anyways..." Uzume sounded. "I bet you've been hearing the rumors?"
"What rumors?" Plutia replied.
"Forgive her," Histoire replied. "She doesn't... always pay the most attention."
"I... get that..." Uzume replied. "Sounds a lot like Neptune back home."
"Anyways, Plutia, you do remember that Orange Heart here wanted to test your strength. Well, whether she intended for it or not, the people seem to have caught on."
"Yeah... so, I'd like to make it official. Just a friendly sparring match, to test our strength as protectors, right?"
"Uh..." Plutia mused. There was a long moment of silence, before she finally said, "sure..."
"Great! Okay... Um... So, see you in an hour? At city square?" Uzume said nervously.
"An hour...? Mm, I wanted to sleep for a bit..." the Ultradimension goddess complained.
"Plutia, an hour is plenty of time to sleep," Histoire exclaimed. "But you should be prepared to battle her at that time! It is important to be punctual."
"Especially since it is imperative that you rush to fight off any invading monsters at a moment's notice," Umio added.
"You two are like a mommy and daddy, always being annoying..." Plutia complained one more time, before leaving to go to sleep.
Histoire sighed. "I'll make sure she's there on time."
"I wouldn't hold it against her if she was a bit late," Uzume replied. "But thanks. I promise not to take things too far. See ya in an hour."
As Uzume and Umio turned to leave, Histoire said, "for your sake, you might have to push those thoughts aside."
An hour had passed.
Uzume, as of a few minutes ago, was hovering above the city square in her HDD form.
Neptune's family stood along the side of the area with all of the others waiting in anticipation. Neptune herself was giving Nepgear a piggyback, so the little girl could see above the crowd, while Mercury stood by them with Umio.
"She's a little late..." Umio said.
"Yeah, what's taking her so long?" Neptune asked.
"She did mention something about... napping."
"She's a goddess," Merci said. "Surely that couldn't be why she's late."
Neptune looked at her in disbelief while Umio sweatdropped. Mercury clearly didn't know much about what the goddesses were actually like. Not like how they did.
Nepgear wasn't listening, as she was memorized by the pretty goddess in the air. "Uzie is super pretty..."
"Yeah, yeah she is," Neptune agreed with her little sister, mostly to distract herself from her mother's obliviousness.
At that moment, someone began shuffling out of the crowd across from Orange Heart. People who were still in the middle of the square backed away, as a tired-looking Plutia stumbled into view.
"Hi...~!" she called out softly, but loud enough to be heard over the quieting crowd.
"Hiya, Plutsy!" Orange Heart responded in her cutesy voice.
This seemed to wake Plutia up a bit... for the wrong reason. The smile she got on her face was... disturbing, Neptune noticed.
Orange Heart noticed this too, but she tried to remain strong. "S-so, you ready to throw down? Uzume sure is!"
"Hm~" Plutia mused. "Okay, this is going to be fun~!"
Uh oh, Neptune thought.
Mercury, however, was ecstatic. ...And unaware of what was about to happen. "I've never seen Lady Plutia's true form. Oh, I bet she's so gorgeous. Neptune, you and your sister have seen it before, right?"
"Yeah, I suppose... gorgeous is one way to describe her," Neptune said, nervously. Nepgear was already burying her tiny face in the back of her sister's hair, trying to hide from the coming storm.
In the square, Plutia was getting ready for the fight. "Okay, then, I'm going to transform~!"
"Oh, this is going to be so wonderful to see," Merci said with almost child-like wonder, excited to finally see her goddess's true form.
Then Plutia was surrounded in iris-colored light, growing taller, and...
Merci's excitement fell as the light dissipated. "Huh...?"
As Iris Heart made her appearance, and slowly rose into the air to meet with Orange Heart in combat, she grinned, saying, "mhmm, this is going to be so good. You're so cute~. I'm certainly going to have fun with you..." And she licked her lips.
Uzume sweat-dropped as she summoned her weapon, desperately hoping this wasn't a mistake. "U-U-Uzume won't back down!"
"I certainly hope you won't. I want to enjoy this~."
Back on the ground, Merci was still processing what she was seeing. "Th-that's... Iris Heart!?"
"Yep," Neptune replied, reaching to back to pat her sister's head in an attempt to calm her.
"Now, I don't mean to sound rude, but didn't you mention how this nation was a good place to raise children?" Umio asked. He didn't want to bring it up, but he knew that Nepgear must've... been uncomfortable with Iris Heart around, so he thought it was important.
"I-I-I mean... you've heard about her much she has improved the schooling of this nation? Or all the family assistance programs she's introduced? Not to mention her orphanage programs," Merci countered.
"Well, to be fair... I have not heard about these," Umio admitted.
"Plus, my arguments about the other nations are still true! Black Heart promotes working too hard, White Heart is immature, and Green Heart is... too mature."
"We'll... have to see. Uzume will likely go visit them, and Neptune will probably join her, so they could tell you all about it." Plus, if those goddesses are anything like the counterparts we know, then they might not be so bad, Umio thought, wanting to keep that last comment to himself. "We did meet Black Heart, remember, and she seemed nice enough," he noted.
"I... look, I know to give reverence to any goddess I meet, but that doesn't mean I have to worship them over my goddess. They should know that too."
"That's not what I meant..."
"Guys, I think it's about to start," Neptune exclaimed, pointing up to the dueling CPUs.
The two of them were staring each other down, and were having... a sort of warm-up chat.
"So, CPU Orange Heart, correct?" Iris Heart announced. "Before we start, tell me, why fight me?"
"W-well, Uzume like challenges. She heard that you were a friend of Nepsy's, and Uzume wanted to see if you were as strong as all of Nepsy's other friends," Orange Heart responded.
"That's it? You're not here for my nation or anything sinister?"
"WH-WHAT!? N-n-no! Of course not! Uzume is just here visiting! She belongs to the Hyperdimension's Planeptune, as Nepsy's co-goddess, not this one. Uzume would never take your citizens. Uzume wouldn't want to hurt you like that!" the Hyper-CPU frantically explained.
"You certainly love your third-person talk," the Ultra-CPU noted. "Eh, I suppose Peashy is the same way. But... this is just a test of strength for you? That's a bit... boring. How about we raise the stakes~?"
Orange Heart got nervous at this statement. For all she knew, Iris Heart planned on doing something... naughty, with her. And... she wasn't ready for that.
"Wh-what do you want?" Orange Heart asked nervously.
"Well... hm... I know! If I win, I'd like a day with Lil' Neppy Jr. to myself," Iris Heart answered.
The crowd then got a little confused. Was she talking about Purple Sister, the sister to Purple Heart, Iris Heart's co-CPU from another dimension? They were so focused on the dueling goddesses that they certainly didn't notice that there were a pair of girls who looked like the Purple CPUs, including a little girl who would fit the description of "Lil' Neppy Jr.".
The small group that included said look-a-likes were certainly paying close attention now, and were scared about where this was going. Even little Gear had peaked out from her sister's head to look up at the iris goddess in surprise.
"U-uh, Lil' Gearsy is not Uzume's sister!" Orange Heart countered. "That isn't for Uzume to decide! Besides, Gearsy doesn't like your HDD!"
"Oh, don't worry, I won't be in this form while with her. I wouldn't... want to make that mistake again..." Iris Heart
That didn't make Orange Heart feel any better. Apparently, something happened between Iris Heart and a kid, and the goddess was ashamed about it. All Orange Heart knew... is that she didn't want to know what happened. But she still should be concerned about it.
"Tell you what, if you win, you get my little Peashy for a day. Is that fair?"
On the ground, Neptune said, "she's not taking no for an answer."
"This is escalating much further than I was expecting," Umio added.
"Will... will my daughter be okay?" Mercury asked. She wasn't sure she could refuse a goddess, even if their request was indirect.
"I-I-I mean, Iris Heart did say that she wouldn't be in HDD, and she is nice in her human form," Neptune replied, "and Nepgear does like her in that form, right, sis?"
Nepgear nodded in agreement.
"I suppose all we can do is see how this plays out," Umio said.
Neptune looked up at her goddess friend, and then decided to help her in any way she could, for the sake of the people she cared about. She closed her eyes, taking a big breath. Then she shouted, "okay, Uzume, you got to show this woman what you're made of!"
Orange Heart looked down in surprise, finding her friend in the crowd.
"She's got nothing on you! Did she survive the Zero Dimension!? No! You did! So, show her what you got, and beat her smug butt to the ground!"
Orange Heart smiled from the encouragement, and turned to Iris Heart, summoning her megaphone. "Uzume's friends believe in her, so Uzume will beat you!"
Iris Heart smiled as she summoned her whip sword. "Oh, I plan to show you what I'VE got~!" she said sadistically.
Orange Heart smirked. "Then it's my move!"
Orange Heart immediately started off the duel by shouting into her megaphone. Iris Heart, who had yet to see the orange goddess's fighting style, was not able to brace herself and got blasted back.
As she rebalanced herself in the air, Iris Heart cursed herself, not before realizing that this would be how she fights the moment she pulled out the megaphone. But she decided to take it as it was, and said, "well, I suppose this is a dog that just won't stop yapping," she said in a mocking tone.
Orange Heart did not like that, and tried to get ready for a follow-up. Unfortunately, she needed to close some distance to get back into range, and Iris Heart had to time to start her attack.
She swung out with her whip-sword, and as the blade split into its separate blades, and nearly caught Orange Heart.
Nearly. She ducked under the first slash, spun around a second, and did a sort of barrel roll around the series of slashes, and got in close to hit her opponent with a punch in the stomach. Having the wind knocked out of her, Iris Heart was not able to prepare to guard against Orange Heart's follow up, as she spun behind her, and blasted her with an enhanced shout in the back, launching her into the ground.
As Iris Heart got back up, she looked up with... a bemused look on her face. "Well, you certainly like to go in hard," she exclaimed. "And you know what, I have to give it to you, you hit as hard as Peashy does. But while she's just playing, you've clearly got training. That punch actually stung. You've got some bite under that cutesy exterior."
"U-uh, thanks... Uzume appreciates it," Orange Heart replied, not sure how to take this sudden praise.
"But you see... I like to bite REALLY HARD!" Iris Heart gloated as she took her chance for a counterattack.
She launched back into the air, and finally got a strike on the orange goddess. She caught her opponent in a flurry of wide slashes, finishing with a kick to the stomach, pushing Orange Heart back. The crowd shouted in excitement as their goddess finally started pushing back.
"Ngh! Okay, Uzume is sorry for the stomach hit. It's not fun," the orange goddess replied.
"But aren't you the one who wanted to... 'throw down'~" Iris Heart countered. "I thought there was a lot more under that soft exterior. Is that tough personality you have in your human form nothing more than an act? Is that all bark after all?"
Orange Heart glared, and then shouted, "Dream Combo!" Iris Heart was caught off guard by the orange goddess rapid dash attack, getting caught by a flurry of punches, before getting struck back.
"Okay..." Iris Heart replied. She looked back over, only to find that her opponent disappeared. "Where did you go...?" She looked up, and... "Well, well."
Orange Heart had shot above her, and was preparing to attack from above. Iris Heart immediately attempted to swing her whip-sword in a quick counterattack. But Orange Heart was watching for that, and shouted "Dark Ice Waves!" and shot out a blast of magic at Iris Heart.
Iris Heart was flung back again, and glared at Orange Heart. "Okay, that's getting irritating. I guess I need to-" As she was saying that, she swung out her sword, trying to be intimidating, but it didn't separate as it should. Looking at the sword... the separating blade was now trapped in ice. It hadn't even had the chance to properly snap back into place. "Huh, clever."
Orange Heart took a proud pose. "Uzume learned that trick from Trick!"
Iris Heart wasn't sure what she was talking about, until she realized, "oh, the creep with the big tongue. Nice play, but..." Iris Heart swung out her sword extra hard, and the ice shattered with ease. "I'm not so easily trapped. In fact, if we're at the point that this is how we're playing... Fighting Viper!"
Iris Heart charged forward and unleashed twin electric slashes on Orange Heart, who was unable to dodge, in a V formation. The energy burst, and broke the goddess's guard.
"Owie, that hurt Uzume," she cried.
"Oh, there's more where that came from~," Iris Heart replied. "Drive Stab!" She let out a laugh, and unleashed a combo of slashes on the vulnerable goddess, causing her to cry out.
"My, my, quite the cute little puppy. Now, BARK LITTLE DOGGIE!" Iris Heart taunted as she finished her Skill attack with a strong kick.
...But she wasn't expecting to have that kick blocked by Orange Heart's weaponized megaphone.
The "little doggie" peered above her weapon with a smirk on her face. "Uzume won't be afraid."
"...This is going to suck," Iris Heart realized.
Orange Heart take a massive breath, and shouted "WOOF!" ...so loudly, it was as if she shattered the sky. Everyone on the ground, who for the most part, hadn't felt the effects of Orange Heart's damaging voice because they were so high up for most of the battle, even they had to cover their ears in pain.
Nepgear screamed in fear, as this was the loudest sound she ever heard. Neptune had to flip her around to her front, so she could comfort her.
"It's okay, little sis," the older sister said. "That's just Uzume showing the scary woman who's boss."
Back in the sky, Iris Heart was blasted high into the air. And as soon as she rebalanced herself, she had felt her legs... not in shape. The bones weren't broken or anything, but the intense vibration of the sonic blast had left them feeling like jelly. In fact, they felt worse than whenever she was extremely tired in her human form.
She knew that she had to drop into bed before turning back, or else when she lost her power of flight when she transformed back to her human form, she would not be able to stand. At least not for a few days. But Histoire would not have an excuse to get her up from that nap, so that was nice (not that she usually thought about naps in HDD).
But it meant she had to end this fight now, before she exhausted her energy and was forced to change back. Not that she didn't think someone wouldn't help her, but she'd rather deal with this problem herself.
But while it was brief, she was lost in thought, long enough for Orange Heart to come in for a follow-up attack.
"Dream Smash Fist!"
She charged in with spiraling energy in a drill around her fist, and struck Iris Heart. As she passed by, the iris goddess managed to spin around, and strike her back with her whip sword.
"Rude!" Orange Heart excalimed.
Iris Heart just groaned, and shouted, "Hyper Heal!", casting magic on herself to heal her wounds. It didn't help her jelly legs, unfortunately, but it made her feel better.
But she heard Orange Heart shout, "Heal!" She also cast casting healing magic on herself. Not as powerful as her own magic, but Iris Heart knew that this could go on until they exhausted themselves if they kept doing it.
"You know what? We end this now!" Iris Heart announced to her opponent.
"Uzume agrees!"
Iris Heart swung her sword out, as it began to spark with electricity. "Now, how to do it...?" She was weighing her options. What Skill could she...
"I know how!" Uzume called out, and shouted, "Special Dream Combo!"
With that level of intensity, Iris Heart knew what this was. She could even feel it...
"How did you charge your EXE Skill so fast...?" she sounded softly.
Orange Heart shouted into her megaphone, which released numerous sound bursts around Iris Heart while she flew past, and into position for the next phase of the attack, another flurry of punches. Having tossed her megaphone in the air prior, she caught it again, and summoned to magic circles at her sides. "Uzume will give you a dream!" she called out, and shouted into her megaphone, "blow away!", causing lasers to blast out of the circles like music bass, blasting Iris Heart back. And then she finished with one last attack, shouting "spiral dream!" and punching her hard, launching her into the ground.
Iris Heart's impact made a crater in the city square, causing some of the watchers to have to back up. The goddess had managed to maintain her current transformation, but she was hurting, and found it difficult to get up, flight or not.
The goddess looked up at her opponent, and started laughing. "Wow... okay... I never knew barking could hurt so much..." she groaned in pain. "Even got past my healing... Alright... I concede... I'm beaten... Uzume has won..." she finished with a little teasing
Orange Heart smiled, and bounced in the air with joy. "Yay! Uzume won! Uzume won!"
Then the orange goddess stopped, as she remembered what she had to do next. She flew down to her defeated opponent. "Sorry. Uzume got too excited."
"Why shouldn't you be excited?" Iris Heart replied, as she tried getting up. "I just said you won."
Then Orange Heart held out her hand, offering to help the other goddess up. "Because I want to be friends."
Iris Heart raised her eyebrow. Not that she didn't want to be friends with her (maybe a little more, for her... own enjoyment), but she was not sure where she was going with this. "What do you mean?"
Orange Heart cleared her throat, and took a moment to think about what she needed to say. Then she changed back into Uzume. "I know this isn't my Planeptune," she said, loud and clear, making sure the entire audience could hear. "But just because I'm only visiting, doesn't mean I don't see this as my nation."
"Wait, are you-" Iris Heart started, but Uzume cut her off.
"I'm not done, and no, I'm not talking about who owns and leads the nation. Even back home, Purple Heart is in charge. I'm just her senior. What I mean is that I'm a goddess of Planeptune. And I want to do my best to help this nation, and make sure its people are happy and safe. So I need to know that my juniors do their best to make that happen."
"So I'm your 'junior' now?"
"Sure you are! But back to my point, what I wanted to see is if you are strong enough to protect the people. Sure, you lost, but you put up a good fight! Knowing that I'm going to be helping out such a strong CPU, puts my mind at ease."
Iris Heart smiled. "So, you want... to be my co-goddess?"
"In a sense. I still want to explore this world, but I can't just abandon my home."
"Okay. I'm glad to be working with you, CPU Orange Heart." She grabbed Uzume's outstretched arm, accepting Uzume's help in getting up.
"Glad to work with you too, CPU Iris Heart," Uzume replied, shaking her hand after helping her up.
"Well, I need to get home and... rest." And the Iris Heart flew off.
The people were cheering thanks to Uzume's speech of alliance, and rushed over to meet them.
It took a while for the redhead to make through the crowd and back to her friends.
"Awesome, Uzume, you sure showed her who was boss!" Neptune told her.
"Uzie's boss!" Nepgear cutely added. "and loud..."
"S-sorry Lil' Gearsy. I didn't mean to scare you, just trying to beat Iris Heart," Uzume said, before turning to Mercury. "Hey, thanks for the help, Merci. Making it clear I was just testing an ally's strength, great idea!"
The mother smiled. "I can't guarantee that some of the people's faith didn't go to you, but hopefully they choose to believe in both you and Iris Heart as a pair of allied goddesses, not as rivals."
"For someone who knows very little about CPU affairs, you certainly helped with Uzume's problem," Umio said.
"Well, she was upset, and I had to help. With that said, I need to rethink... everything that I know about CPUs."
"Seeing Iris Heart in her true form freaked you out, didn't she?" Uzume inquired.
Merci didn't say anything, but her expression said everything.
"Well, all of us goddess have are little... quirks," Uzume explained. "You know about my... cutesy side. And sure, Iris Heart's quirk is a bit... extreme, but she honestly seems like a good person. I mean, she could've been a lot worse during that fight, I'm sure."
Merci smiled again. "Thank you, Uzume, for easing my fears. I guess you helped me in return."
"Yeah. We should head back. That fight took a lot out of me, and I'm pooped."
"Oh, totally," Neptune replied. "I think we should all take a long nap."
Everyone laughed as they began making their way back home, the people still cheering on Orange Heart for her victory and alliance with Iris Heart.
Walking along, Uzume looked up to the sky, enjoying the clear blue expanse and the shining sun. As she was enjoying it, her gaze drifted, and she noticed something.
It looked like a person, but they were hovering in the air. They were too far away to make out any clear details, but Uzume noticed white mixed with some red and... was that light blue hair?
Before Uzume could think to investigate further, the figure shot off into the distance, too far away to make contact before they would disappear.
Well, that was weird. Was that a CPU? Uzume thought. I wonder who they were?
On the weekend following the CPU duel, the girls were hanging out with the little purplette, when they heard a knock on the door.
Uzume quickly got up and went to answer the door. Standing, well, floating at the entrance was Histoire.
"Oh, hey Histy. What's up?" Uzume greeted.
"Hello, Uzume," Histoire greeted back. "I just wanted to come by, and thank you for ending your little duel with Plutia peacefully."
"Oh, thanks." Uzume rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "How's Plutsy?"
"She's fine, she's been resting since the fight. You really weakened her during the fight. Her's legs are now just recovering."
"Legs? Wait, do mean that counter I did against that kick?"
Histoire nodded.
"Hey there! You must be my world's Histy!" Neptune called out, walking up behind Uzume. "How did you find out where we lived?"
"Well, when a CPU properly reveals herself to the public, it isn't difficult to triangulate-" then Histoire stopped when she noticed who she was talking to. "Wait, Neptune? You... are you the 'Neptune' Plutia's been talking about?"
"Wow, took a bit to notice, huh? Yep, I'm a Nep! Hey, that rhymed."
"I see. Well, it is good to meet you."
Nepgear then came up, and stared at the living tome. "Are you a fairy?" she asked innocently.
"Well, sort of... Nepgear," Histoire answered, realizing that this must be a different person from the Candidate she knew, similar to Neptune.
"Can I touch your wings!?" the little girl cried out.
"U-uh, sure... just be gentle. Soft touches, nothing more please." The small fairy lowered herself so the little purplette could pet her wings.
"So pretty..."
"So, what brings you here, Histy," Neptune asked while this was going on.
"Well, I'm here to resolve Plutia's end of the deal," Histoire explained.
"Deal? Wait, you mean the one about Nepgear playing with Plutia for a day?" Uzume inquired. "I didn't exactly agree to it, and even then, that was supposed to be if I lost, but I was the one who won."
"Yes, but do you remember the other end of that deal?"
The answer came in right as Histoire finished that statement, and another small figure skipped in, and shouted, "Big Neptuna!"
Indeed, it was the young CPU, Peashy, here to spend the day with Uzume and Neptune.
The older purplette immediately backed up upon seeing the little blond. "Oh, boy..."
Nepgear looked at Peashy, then at Histoire, and the cried, "my fairy!" and grabbed Histoire into her arms, in order to protect her from the other kid. Histoire, of course, cried out in surprise, and tried to squirm out of her grip, but failed, and gave in frustration, having been caught in someone's grip for the second time.
Peashy, however, didn't care, as she ran up to Neptune.
"U-uh- okay, no need to be so rambuncti-" Neptune started, but she couldn't finish...
...As Peashy hit her in the stomach HARD!
Neptune went flying for a few feet before landing on the ground, knocked out cold.
"Wow, this Neptuna is even weaker than the other one!" the excited kid shouted.
At this moment, Merci walked in to see what all the commotion was about. "Okay, what's going on out- Neptune!" Upon seeing her daughter on the ground. "What happened!"
Uzume looked at Nepgear and Histoire (still trapped in the little girl's arms), and then out the overly excited Peashy and the unconscious Neptune, and then said, "I think we're having a play date with a kid CPU today..." She wasn't sure if she was excited or worried about this.
From that moment, for the most part, everyone had fun, especially once Neptune woke back up. But Nepgear refused to let go of Histoire for the whole day, until her mother finally convinced her to do it at the end of the day. And Peashy was so rambunctious, that things broke. A lot of things broke.
At the end of the day, Histoire was upset that she wasn't able to properly keep an eye on Peashy and keep her under control (of course, because she was trapped by Nepgear), and promised that the Basilicom would pay for the damage.
But again, at the end of the day, they had fun. It would... certainly be something to remember.
Author's Note: Okay, this was much longer than I thought it was going to be, which of course meant it took a while to write (not to mention the art stuff I was working on at the same time taking up much of my time). I'm sorry about that.
So, the fight was the major point of this story chapter. I brought this up before that I was unsure who would win, and asked about everyone's opinion about it. Well, I got a few responses, but I want to really thank xyzdreadnought and RushAlias here on Fanfic for giving me some very detailed analyses on these characters. Their opinions on who would win were both different (based on how Uzume would react to Iris Heart's intimidation tactics), but the info was very good in helping me figure out their capabilities.
What was especially good to know was that Uzume could build up the EXE Gauge much faster than Plutia could, so I knew that Uzume could win by having her EXE Skill ready to use long before Plutia's would be ready. Frankly, I think I should've noticed this myself, because I beat Re;Birth 1, and I bought every character DLC, including Plutia and Uzume, but thanks for the help there, guys. (Really, I need to finish Re;Birth 2, and finally get into Re;Birth 3 and Victory II).
To continue on the plans for the fight story, the whole thing about Plutia wanting some time with Little Nepgear was something I thinking about including when I was asking about Uzume and Plutia's capabilities, but I wasn't sure if I should. Well, when I was realizing that I might not be able to easily determine who would win based on their capabilities, I figured that maybe I should base the victor on a story reason, so the Nepgear thing became that sort of backup. Don't get me wrong, because everyone's comments / reviews were super helpful, but... this is a story, after all, so it's kind of to be expected.
But one last thing about the fight, my favorite part to write about it was Uzume's counter move on Iris Heart's Drive Stab Skill. Iris Heart had been making fun of Uzume by referring to her as a puppy and making comments based on the bark-and-bite concept (I mean, she's a sadistic dominatrix, it's kind of what she does), and having Uzume counter with a sound-enhanced "Woof!"... it was satisfying and hilarious to me, and it was super savage of Uzume. And in her cutesy HDD form, no less.
Okay, moving on, something I want to mention, I didn't think about this until I decided to have Uzume say it while writing this, but I want to mention how funny it is that Uzume would consider Plutia a junior. So, for the in-story reason that Uzume called Iris Heart her junior, Uzume just assumed that she was her junior, because she's friends with Purple Heart, who is her junior. But she's not wrong, and that's what's crazy about this.
So, it's hard to determine the goddess's actual ages, but we've got some hints. To start with Plutia, we know that when Neptune was stuck in the Ultradimension, she was there for 16 years before the portal was opened and synced the rate of time passing for both dimensions. And for this story, I added another 6 years after that, to cover the time it took for Nepgear to become the five-year-old we know her as (including the time Merci was pregnant with her).
So, that gives us 22 years for Plutia to start with. Then, we know that Ultra Planeptune existed for at least a few years before Neptune arrived. Now, that's vague, so we don't know exactly how many years that is, but I have a guess... thanks to Noire. I assume Noire was Plutia's age when she first became a goddess, and Noire... definitely just kept growing until she became a goddess with Neptune. Noire seems to be around 18 to maybe her early 20s in her physical age. This also handily covers the time Pluita was human, where she seems to be maybe 11 to 13 physically, very much in her preteens, but at this point, that's just details. So, including her time as a human, Plutia has probably been around for a little over 40 years.
Now with Uzume, we can't figure out her actual age, but we can make a good guess with her minimum age. I've already brought this up in an earlier chapter's author's note, but she was insulted by a kid, and when that kid was an old man, he met her for the second time and apologized. Based on the life span of a human, that means Uzume is about 60 to 80 years old at least. So, Uzume is definitely older than Plutia.
And this is where it gets crazy, because of what game consoles these characters represent. Plutia represents the Sega Genisis / Megadrive, and Uzume represents the Sega Dreamcast. Console-wise, Uzume is two generations ahead of Plutia. Uzume is older than Plutia in age, but she represents the younger console (the fact it's more powerful based on technological advancement is not important for this argument). And that's why Plutia being Uzume's junior is so funny.
Now, one thing I am sure is on everyone's mind, who is that mystery person? And why does she seem to recognize Uzume? Well, I'm sure some of you have already figured out the first question, it's not... super vague, but I'll just tell you that this will be revealed in a few chapters from now, there is a bit more I want to establish before then.
Also, yes, very early in the chapter, Plutia's comment on Histoire and Umio being like a mom and dad was a reference to how Neptune made basically the same comment in Victory II.
So, speaking of art stuff, since I mentioned it at the beginning of the author's note, and since it is on topic with this chapter, I have made an Iris Heart piece. It's a part of my Gizoid Imitator series, where I take a character and draw them as a gizoid, a type of robot from Sonic Battle and Sonic Chronicles. And this time around, I made two Gizoid Imitators, and Iris Heart was one of them. I just thought you might like to go see it. It is "Giziod Imitator #6 - Iris Heart" by "Cobalt-Gemini" on DevianArt.
And one last thing, this is of course something I've been planning this whole time, and some of you have asked about it, so I'm going to whet your appetites. Next chapter... Hyper Neptune is coming to visit the Ultradimension!