Chapter 13: What if...? (Returning Home)
Quick Author's Note: So, this is a non-canon chapter this is a "what if" that I came up with a while. And I really wanted to write this, so I figured, why not now?
I figured it would be a fun thing to write, plus putting it here is part of my evil plan. See, last chapter was a cliffhanger, so obviously, all of you are wanting to know what happens next. But instead of doing that, I made this non-canon side story instead! Mwahahaha!
In all seriousness, "Double the Nep! Part 2" will be the next chapter after this one. Also, since this what-if chapter is obviously non-canon, you could just skip this one. ...But why would you want to do that? Surely, this side story is something good, right?
Okay, seriously, enjoy!
"See ya Small Nepsy, see ya Gearsy!" Uzume waved goodbye as she, Big Neptune, and Umio walked through the portal to Ultradimension. Then quietly to herself, she said, "and goodbye Orange Heart. For now."
"Bye! Hope you enjoy seeing your mother again, Neptune!" Nepgear called back.
"Remember, Plutia is really nice, as long you are nice back!" Small Nep added, just as their friends crossed the threshold.
"I don't know what the deal with this Plutia is, but the way they talk about her makes me a little nervous," Uzume said once they made it across the other side.
"I concur," Umio replied. "They may be friends, but there is something they seem too nervous to tell us."
"Well, we'll find out later. So, your mom? Where does she live?"
"In Planeptune city, of course." The adult Neptune pointed to the city skyline in the distance, above the treeline in the forest they were in. "We should go to the central plaza. Once we get there, I'll know where to go from there."
"Sure you will..." Croire mocked. "Like you know anything about your own-"
"Please, calm down," Umio interrupted. "No need to start a fight."
"Oh, I'd LOVE to start a fight. Let me out, and-"
"Man, I can't wait to see mom again," Neptune exclaimed. "Let's go!"
"Oh, sure, just ignore me..."
Traveling through the forest and making their way into the city, they made their way to the center, just as Neptune said.
"So, if I remember correctly..." Neptune told them, "I think home is that way!"
As they began to follow their purple-haired friend, Uzume asked, "So, Big Nepsy, what is your mom like?"
"Hm, I think she was... a very kind woman, though she's sometimes disapproving of what I do. I'd wish she'd appreciate my bug collecting more. Oh, she also likes music!"
"Sounds like a fair description," Umio replied. "What is her name?"
"Oh, uh... Hey, we're here!" Neptune brought them to a large apartment building, which on the front was a sign reading "Solar System Apartments". "See, it wasn't far," she told them, as she entered the building.
"She doesn't know," Uzume said.
"Well, we'll just have to ask her when we get inside," Umio replied.
Neptune led her friends to the elevator, and hit the button for the top floor.
"So, you live at the top?" Uzume asked.
"Yep, my mom owns the building," Neptune replied casually.
"What! Maybe you should've started with that!"
"I don't know, what's the big deal?"
"The deal is that you are an idiot!" Croire spoke up.
"Ah, I know you don't mean that."
Croire gumbled in response.
...
...Though she did start to think... Am I forgetting something? I feel like I'm forgetting something...
Getting to the top, and leading them down the hallway to the room at the end, Neptune presented them with... her front door.
"Here we are! Home, sweet home!" Neptune exclaimed.
"Wow, you actually found your way back. That's impressive!" Croire said in a sarcastic tone.
"So, this is where you live," Umio said.
"Yep! Now, all we have to do is knock and-" before Nepute could finish, the door slammed open. Standing at the door was an adult woman, one Neptune recognized.
...Though she looked a little different... A little older, maybe? Yeah, that made sense. Still...
"I thought I heard your voice..." the woman exclaimed, "Neptune, you're back!" Without warning, she pulled Neptune into a hug, squeezing her tightly.
"Hey, mom- Nice to see you- You're, uh, squeezing me-" Neptune said, barely getting the words out.
Ignoring her statement, the woman, apparently Neptune's mother, sobbing, responded with, "I missed you! Where did you go!? You disappeared one day, and I tried to find you, and- and-"
"Oh- That's… right-"
Speaking from her pocket, Croire said, "I just KNEW there had to be something you screwed up!"
"And did YOU think to tell us?" Uzume asked her.
"Well, I… didn't care to remember, and-"
"So, you're no better than Nepsy."
"I-" And with no retort, Croire shut up.
"Ooh, burn-" Neptune teased, still being squeezed to death.
At that moment, Neptune's mother pushed Neptune back a bit, her hands on her shoulders, looking at her seriously. "Really, Neptune, tell me RIGHT NOW! Where were you for the last eighteen years!?"
Neptune's eyes went wide. "Eigh-eighteen years!"
Uzume and Umio turned to look at each other, surprised by this revelation. "She's been gone that long?" Uzume replied.
"I-I swear it wasn't that long!" Neptune countered. She pulled out her Nep-Note, and opened it to the page Croire was stuck in. "What's going on, Croire!?"
Croire thought for a moment. This was confusing for her, too, but she knew she was forgetting something else. Then... "Maybe, time dilation?"
"What is... is that?" Neptune's mom asked. And looking around, she found Neptune's friends. "And who are these people? Friends?" Then she noticed Umio...
"Oh, what the goodness," she continued. "A fairy in my daughter's magic book, a fish with a face. What's happening here...?"
"So... yeah, uh, I'm Uzume," the redhead introduced herself. Then she motioned to the others. "My fish friend here is Umio. And in the book, that is Croire. Nepsy uses her to travel to different dimensions."
"Different... Like, different worlds?" Nep's mom asked.
"Yeah..."
"So, what's this about time dilation?" the mother asked.
"Well..." Croire began to explain. "Time flows at a different pace in one dimension than it would in another. I think it's been... six years, since I met this person," referring to Neptune, "but it's apparently been three times that time here. I thought the portal connecting this dimension to the Hyperdimension synced the times perfectly, but maybe I was off... Or it was something else, like the other dimensions we were in. I don't know!"
The mother fell to the side of the wall, collapsing to the ground, in utter shock. "This is... insane." But looking back at her daughter, while she was definitely older, she didn't seem old enough to match the passing of eighteen years.
Neptune was also in shock. She couldn't believe it's been this long since she was last home. There was only one thing she could think to say. "I'm sorry, mom..."
Merci's eyes closed, sighing. "It's okay, I just... I'm happy you're back... but... I don't know what-"
"Mom?" a new voice spoke up from inside the apartment. "Is everything okay? I heard yelling."
If things weren't shocking and even overwhelming enough for Neptune, there was this new voice, meaning a new person. Someone who sounded familiar, she was even sure that she heard this voice earlier today. And on top of that...
She called her mother, well... "mom".
Uzume and Umio were equally in shock. They were thinking exactly what their friend was thinking, and were trying to figure out how to react.
Nep's mom got up, and turned inside to say, "sw-sweetie, could you go back to your room. This is for me to handle-"
But she didn't get to finish, as Neptune, Uzume, and Umio all began to rush past her, trying to get into the apartment.
"What the goodness is going on!?" The girl who was speaking freaked out, of course, because as far she knew, these people just broke into her home, and she didn't know what was going on.
But the trio of world-hoppers could only stare in awe.
The girl was maybe 17, and a little shorter than the Ultra Neptune. She also shared her long purple hair, and purple eyes. She even had a single D-pad clip in her hair. Though both the clip, and a choker she was wearing, again similar to Neptune's, were black. She was wearing the familiar sailor-style dress, though it was black and purple instead, but it still had the yellow ribbon, held together by a band with the Planeptune N. She didn't wear any socks, but she did have matching medium-sized boots matching her dress's style.
Looking at this person, Neptune could only say one thing. "Nepgear...?"
Trying to shrink away from these strangers, the girl got even more scared. "H-how do you know my name!? Who are you!?"
"I... I..." Neptune couldn't form the words.
At that moment, Nep's mother got between them. "Sorry, sweetie, these are... friends of mine. We haven't seen each other in a long time, and they just got a little excited."
"Yeah, sorry, Gearsy," Uzume replied.
"We didn't mean to scare you," Umio added.
The girl, Nepgear, was... skeptical. None of this seemed normal, and her mom was obviously hiding something.
But these people seemed nice enough, and she knew her mom well enough to know that she wouldn't get herself involved in shady stuff. She hoped.
"Sorry, sweetie, I think I need some time to... catch up with them. So, could you let me do that?"
Nepgear sighed. "I mean, okay... I need to go meet up with my friends soon anyway, so I'll just go..."
Nepgear moved past everyone , trying to leave, but Neptune called out to her, "wait, Nepgear!"
Nepgear turned to her mom's "friend". And taking her first good look at her, she noticed that... she looked a lot like her and her mom.
Before Nepgear could say anything, though, her mom put her shoulder on the strange purplette. "Sorry, Nepgear, she just wants to know more about you, but we can do that later. She... likes to go on and on, and you don't want to miss your friends, right? Don't you have the finals match for that competition your club is a part of tonight?"
"Right! Sorry, miss, we can talk later," Nepgear said, and she left.
Neptune just stood, silent. Before turning to her mom. "Why?"
"I just... don't know how to explain it to her, okay? I don't want to overwhelm her..." her mom explained.
"Is she... is she really...?"
"Yes... she is your sister. I'm sorry Neptune, but... I thought you were dead! And I just couldn't... I couldn't bring myself to tell her that she had a sister that disappeared and that she would never meet. And now that you're back... I don't know how to explain it to her..." she started to tear up.
"I... wouldn't know either," Neptune admitted.
"Neptune... how did you know that her name was Nepgear?"
Neptune smiled slightly, but it was clear she was struggling to hold in her emotions. "It's going to sound crazy, but when I traveling to different dimensions, I met another me. And she had a sister called Nepgear. They're actually from the same world as Uzume here."
Merci looked at her red-headed friend. "Okay, we need to talk. All of us on both sides must have a lot of questions. Come, let's make some snacks, and have this discussion.
A short amount of time had passed as the group told each other about their tales. Neptune's mom, who had introduced herself as Mercury, or Merci for short, asked many questions about what Neptune had been doing. And Neptune, of course, had many questions about Nepgear.
"So, what is she into?" Neptune had finally asked.
"Well, she's not into bugs like you are, if you wanted to know," Merci starts. "In fact, I think she's kind of scared of them. Ever since she was a young kid, and she never grew out of it."
"Ouch," Uzume replied. Must've not been fun to hear that Nepsy's sister hated the very thing she loved the most.
"But she is into mechanics, especially robotics," Merci continued. "Like, she's REALLY into robots."
Neptune laughed a bit, saying, "oh, really?" It was faux shock. It wasn't surprising to hear that this Nepgear would share interests with the Nepgear she already knew.
"In fact, she's the president of her school's robotics club. There aren't very many kids in her club this year, but she's close friends with all of them, and they've done very well this year. In fact, tonight, they are partaking in the finalists for the annual robotics competition."
"What!? When!?" Neptune exclaimed.
"Yeah! That sounds awesome! Aren't these like robot battles?" Uzume added.
"I-it starts in about an hour or so..." Merci replied. "But I don't really watch them. I don't have the stomach for that kind of thing, and Nepgear usually tells me all about them herself anyway."
"What! Come on!" Uzume complained.
"Calm down, Uzume," Umio replied. "Is this going to be televised?"
"Y-yes... Sorry, if that bothers you... I was just... happy to see my daughter again," Merci said. "And I wanted to spend some time with you..."
"Mom..." Neptune spoke up. "We'll have plenty of time to reconnect. I'm going to be here for a while. Plus, wouldn't it be fun to watch something with your daughter. Especially if it's going to be watching your other daughter! And I'd like to see what my sister has been up to as well."
"I suppose... Yes, let's watch the competition!"
"Yeah!" Neptune and Uzume shouted together, causing both Mercury and Umio to give exasperated smiles.
Nepgear arrived at the stadium where the competition her club was a part of was taking place. It didn't take long for her to run into her friends.
"Uni! Rom, Ram!"
Her friends, who were talking in the lobby. "Well, here's a shock. You're usually late, not early," Uni noted.
"Indeed," Rom said, pushing her glasses up (even know she didn't need to, though she always did that). "Are you finally taking your responsibility as our club president seriously now?"
"Sorry I'm always late, guys!" Nepgear replied. "B-b-but today, I don't know, my mom had friends over."
Uni raised an eyebrow. "Why do you sound so confused. So your mom has friends visiting, what's the big deal?"
"Well, I just... never met these people before." Nepgear didn't really know how to explain it to her friends. Heck, she didn't even know to explain what even happened at home. But for whatever reason, that one girl, the purple-haired one with big boobs, she kept bothering Nepgear.
"Nepgear, you're overthinking this," Uni told her friend. "It's nothing to worry about."
Uni got up, and brushed off her shirt. She was wearing a black crop top with blue and purple patterns, which exposed her mid-drift a bit, blue-jean short-shorts with black tights underneath to completely cover the rest of her legs, and black booties with the same blue and purple accents as her shirt. She had red eyes and black hair that was styled into side-updo, half twin-tails with blue and purple ribbons.
And anytime Nepgear looked at her, she couldn't help but blush. And it was getting harder and harder to hide.
"You need to put those worries aside," Rom said. "Now is the time to focus on our match. Isn't that right, Ram?"
"Yes, of course, big sis?" the timid Ram replied.
The two sisters were identical twins, both with brown hair and blue eyes, though Rom had short hair, while Ram had long hair. Both of them were two years younger than Nepgear and Uni (as well as being sophomores while Nepgear and Uni were seniors in school), yet they were both short for their age. Yet, somehow, Rom had grown a little in the chest area, with some B-cups, while Ram was flat (so they weren't completely identical, I suppose).
Both of them had matching outfits, though with different colors. They had thick-rimmed glasses to help with their vision, though Rom's had a light blue color for the rim`, and Ram's were pink. They both wore white collars shirts, grey pleated skirts with solid-color tights underneath, Rom's, of course, being blue, and Ram's being pink, and they both wore black mary jane shoes.
Uni just rolled her eyes at the twins. She was used to them being this rude.
Nepgear just smiled awkwardly. She knew Rom often came off as the typical arrogant, insufferable smart girl, and that shy little Ram was always quick to agree with her sister, but she also knew that both of them were good people underneath their exteriors. They just really liked the fact that they were smart, that was all.
"So, is everything ready?" Nepgear asked.
"Yeah! The Nepgeardam all set," Uni replied, patting a box they were standing box, about a foot taller than the older girls.
"Big sis, why did we name and design our robot after Nepgear?" Ram asked her twin.
"Because she is our club president after all," Rom replied.
"I'll never understand how you can have such an insufferable ego, and still be a kissa**!" Uni exclaimed.
"An incorrect statement," Rom replied, pushing up her glasses. "I am merely respectful to myself, and everyone around me."
"Oh, big sis, you are so cool!" Ram replied.
"...Right," Uni sounded. "Anyway, we're all signed in, just waiting for you, Nepgear. We need to go get our battle bot to its launch station and set up."
"Right," Nepgear agreed. The twins hit a button to make the automated cart holding the box follow them, as they made their way into the stadium.
The club had managed to make their way into the finals, being held today, but they were going last, allowing some of the semifinalists to fight for third. So, they had time to get ready.
As they got into the docks for the bots in the competition, they ran into someone they would have rather not seen.
"Well... hello there," a teen girl with short brunette hair and green eyes greeted them.
"Mona..." Uni grumbled. The whole club knew who this was. She was from a rival school, and was the president of their robotics club. She was also a b****, as Uni put it, and she wasn't wrong.
"So, you think you can really win, huh? Such a lowly team, thinking that they have the skills to get the gold!? Don't make me laugh!" Mona replied.
"Could we not do this right now, Mona?" Nepgear asked. She didn't like fighting with the other clubs, and this was only going on because Mona liked to start problems.
"Oh, you think that you are better than me? When your club dwindled to four members under YOUR leadership?"
That one hurt. It wasn't necessarily her fault, but many members, who hadn't already graduated, either didn't come back this year, or left shortly into the year. Only her closest friends had remained.
But, luckily, those friends were very close and loyal to her, because Rom immediately shot back with, "well, we may be a smaller club this year, but we were the ones who made it to the 1-v-1 finals, while YOU'RE club only made it to the free-for-all for third place!"
"Yeah! A-and when we win, we'll generate enough buzz at our school to gain DOUBLE the members we have now," Ram added. "Maybe triple."
"Well said, sister," Rom said in agreement, causing her sister to smile.
Nepgear smiled too, happy to have such good friends.
"W-well, we just had a few snafus this year, a-and-" Mona stumbled out.
"We don't care," Uni interjected, as she was setting up a laptop. "We're not going to have some EPIC showdown, like it's an anime or whatever, we're not even going to face each other this year. And not ever again, because me and Nepgear will be graduating this year. So just leave it alone, go try to secure your stupid win, and let us worry about securing ours, okay?"
"Well- well- well-" Mona stammered, but Uni snapped her fingers to stop her.
"You are a b****, and you're always trying to show off, make us think we're inferior to you, and get on our nerves, just for your own idiotic amusement. Well, we don't have to take it anymore, so you can just GO!"
Mona then stomped her foot in anger, and turned around, walking away while fuming.
Nepgear sighed. "You should've let me handle that. I'm the club president, and-"
"We're your friends," Uni interjected. "We've always got your back!"
"Of course," Rom joined in. "Perhaps you aren't the best leader, but you are the kindest and smartest person we've had the pleasure of meeting, and you've inspired all of us to do our best, and work hard to achieve our goals."
"Yeah, and also, you're the best roboticist we've ever known!" Ram added.
"You guys..." Nepgear responded with happiness.
"Come on, let's get set up, and do some last-minute check-ups, okay?" Uni told her, patting her back.
This caused Nepgear to blush, of course. "Y-yeah."
So for the next little while, the group of roboticists did just that, and checked up on their robot. Nepgear and Uni worked on testing the joints and other mechanisms, while Rom and Ram worked together to find any bugs in the coding that they may have missed.
But then they heard the announcement that the first match was about to begin.
"Oh, should we go watch?" Nepgear asked.
"Sure, why not," Uni replied. 'I'd love to see Mona get whooped!"
"...Okay, and... done!" Rom announced. "Just saved updates to our code, and uploading it to the Nepgeardam now!"
"Awesome, let's go!"
And the club left to see the third-place match... but the twins forgot something. Normally, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. But in this case...
Someone was watching them, hoping for an opportunity like this.
After waiting a couple of minutes, Mona, having told her club to go ahead over to the match and not to wait for her, approached the twin's laptop... still logged in.
"Now, let's see you try to win if your code is broken."
Mona's club managed to win, to the dismay of Nepgear's club. Even if the Nepgeardam lost, they still had second place, which would've meant that they at least beat Mona. But they just knew that she would try to lord it over them that she got the bronze.
But why would that matter...? She wasn't even from their school. Why cause issues with kids from other schools? What kick did this Mona get from that?
Regardless, it was now time for Nepgear and her club to face off in the finals. The big event!
Rom and Ram got the Nepgeardam into position, while Nepgear got into position to control the machine, Uni by her side.
Nepgeardam was now fully unboxed. And it looked... quite ridiculous. Its body was a cone-like, thick-tube, painted over in the style of Nepgear's black and purple dress, with thin limbs matching the dress sleeves and socks she had, generic claws for hands, and purple blocks for feet. Its head was the strangest part. It was an oversized, purple TV, with a pair of antennas on top, circular blocks on the sides, and on the "screen" was a weird shocked face resembling Nepgear.
"Why did we design it like this," Nepgear said. "This is embarrassing..."
On the other side of the arena, the robot they were facing looked a half-dome on legs, with a single yellow eye.
"Hm, it looks simple, maybe even a bit silly," Rom said. "But if it made it this far, then it must be tougher than it looks. We best not underestimate it!"
"So... who's robot is that...?" Uni questioned.
"I think it was- Huh?" Nepgear started, before realizing that something was wrong.
"Uh, Nepgear, is everything okay?" Uni asked.
Before Nepgear could answer, the announcer began to speak, and started introducing the competitors in the match, and their robots.
Rom and Ram came back over to the other two, and began to ask, "okay, time to power up!"
"I'm trying..." Nepgear replied.
"What d you mean 'trying'?" Rom continued, now confused.
"It's not working. I don't know what's going on!"
"Maybe try to start it automated mode, and switch back into manual control," Ram offered.
"Oh, good idea." Nepgear began to mess with the controls, and was able to override it into the AI control.
And that was their one mistake...
The call to start the battle went off right then, luckily, but that wouldn't help the situation that was about to happen at all.
Without warning, the Nepgeardam charged forward, and swung at the robot.
"Uh, guys..." Nepgear called out, "it's not responding to any of my commands!"
"What!?" the other three of them all exclaimed at the same time.
The other robot barely had any time to counterattack, but it started launching magnetic waves, which forced the robot back.
"Never thought I'd root for our opponent," Uni said, worried.
"Why!?" Rom exclaimed.
"Because if it won't listen to us, then who knows what it'll do!"
"...Fair point." Rom groaned. "I hate doing this, but it must be done. Ram, go tell someone, now!" As Ram nodded and ran off, Rom then pulled out her laptop, though she didn't really know what this could do. She couldn't use it to override the Nepgeardam, and she could only update the code directly, through a wired connection.
And that's when things got worse.
The team, particularly Rom and Ram as their top coders, had spent a lot of time making the Nepgeardam's AI as best they could.
Apparently, it was so good... that it could learn, at least enough to adapt.
Unable to approach the other robot, the robot looked up, and started charging up its laser eyes.
"Um, is it going to...?" Nepgear sounded.
"It's not supposed to aim at the arena. That's against the rules!" Uni cried.
But despite that, the Nepgeardam fire at the arena wall above the other mech. It hadn't moved yet, so the debris fell right on top of it, and its magnetic waves couldn't stop that, so it got crushed.
The team could hear the other competitors complaining, but they couldn't hear what they were saying. But they could guess that they were being called cheaters.
And then it got EVEN worse.
The Nepgeardam started its jet thrusters, and flew above the debris, and started aiming its laser eyes at the angry competitors. That shut them up quickly.
However, it quickly became clear to them that it was not stopping its charge, and they began to make a mad dash out of there. Which was good for them, as the robot very much did fire at their stand, blasting it apart.
At this point, everyone else who was watching could tell that this was bad, and started to try to escape. Unfortunately, they did so in a panic, of course, which involved lots of screaming...
And that attracted the attention of the Nepgeardam.
It flew up, pulled its claw-hand back, and lunched at the stands, shattered many benches. Luckily, no one seemed to get hurt by the attack, or the splintering, wooden debris, but this only made the panic worse.
Nepgear and Uni could only stare in horror.
At this point, Ram came back with a security officer, and they also saw the carnage as the Nepgeardam started to go on a rampage.
"G**... no..." Uni sounded.
"That looks bad," the officer said.
"Ya think!?"
"What, no!" Rom suddenly shouted.
"What's going on!" Nepgear cried out in response.
"Several chunks of our code is gone!"
"Huh!?" Nepgear, Uni, and Ram all repsonded.
The security officer came over to look at it. "Was it like this before?"
"No, I was fixing bugs before we left to watch the first match."
"Can you fix it?"
"Not in any way that could stop the Nepgeardam! I can only update its code through a direct-wired connection!"
"What exactly is missing?" Nepgear asked the twin.
"More than 80% of the coding for the manual controls are gone, and it's now too fractured to work, period. And a very important part of the AI programming is gone, too."
"Which part?"
"Restraint," Rom said flatly.
Uni facepalmed. "You didn't program it to act on its own, did you!?"
"Well... it was a good idea at the time..." Ram replied nervously.
"Really!? We have to control our robots manually for the competition!" Uni exclaimed. "There literally was no point to making a complex AI!"
"Hey, it was very useful throughout the competition!" Rom argued. "It corrected itself any time we made a mistake while controlling it!"
"Wha-wha- Is that even allowed!?"
"Hey! No more arguing!" The officer interjected. "Now's not the time to worry about this! Is there anything you think that you may have done?"
"I... I couldn't start our robot in manual mode," Nepgear explained. "So I decided to start it in its automated mode, then switch it into manual mode. But I didn't know the Rom and Ram made it so advanced."
"And with the code completely destroyed, that second step wouldn't have worked anyway," Rom added. "Not that we realized that until now."
"Well, is there anything you can do to stop it right now?" the officer asked.
Nepgear looked back up at her and her friend's creation. Most of the people had managed to escape, and the other security guards had come to try to fight it back, but they were struggling. "I don't know..."
"No way," Rom cried.
"What now!?" Uni replied.
"I just checked my computer's logs. The broken code was saved only twenty minutes after MY last save to the code!"
"Did you, perhaps, lock your computer before leaving?"
"...Evidently, not," Rom replied with shame. "Someone must've messed with my computer and then uploaded the broken code to the Nepgeardam when we weren't around."
At this point, the Nepgeardam was done with causing havoc in the arena, so it flew up and out of the area, breaking through the dome on top, and started firing its lasers down at the ground outside.
"And now it's attacking the city, great," Uni noted.
"Okay, it seems to me like there is foul play going on here," the officer spoke up. "If I may, can I take your laptop, so I can compare its logs to our security cameras? This way, we can figure out who is truly responsible for this."
"Can't you just look at the cameras without my laptop!" Rom exclaimed, being defensive of her computer.
"Yes, but with your logs, we can clear you of any blame in this situation. I'm on your side here, and I don't think this was your fault. I just need to prove it."
"Just hand them the stupid laptop, Rom!" Uni exclaimed.
"Hmph, fine!" Rom replied, not happy about it.
"I-I'm sorry, sis..." Ram said.
"Huh? Why are you apologizing?" Rom asked her sister, while handing over her laptop to the officer.
"I should've reminded you to shut off your computer, or did it myself. I should've been more attentive." Then Ram started to tear up. "I'm an awful sister."
"Hey, it's not your fault! If anything, I'm to blame. I should have done that myself! And you are NOT an awful sister!"
"I agree with everything Rom said," Uni replied. "You are a good sister Ram, and Rom is to blame for this!"
"What!? Hey!"
"Settle down, you two," the officer tried to interject.
Nepgear merely watched as this all went down. This one mistake, and this simple misdeed from some other party... not only did this probably cause lots of people to get hurt, but it was also tearing her friends apart.
She was the president of their club, and the one who got them into the club in the first place. And these girls were her closest friends, since they were kids. She had to do something! But she couldn't...
Then... Nepgear made a decision.
Uni was fuming, until she noticed Nepgear walking away. "Hey! Where are you going!?"
Nepgear turned back to her best friend. "I realized what I can do to fix this." And then she pulled out a small device. A beam sword, one she made herself, and activated its purple energy blade.
"Wha- What are you thinking!?" Uni cried out. "You can't fight that thing!"
"That's MY robot out there!" Nepgear shot back. "Yes, we all worked on it together, but I was in charge of the project, so it's my responsibility." Then she looked down sadly. "Uni, I care about you a lot, okay. So please, just trust me..."
"You're going to get yourself hurt! Or worse!"
"I know... Uni... I'll miss you... and I wish you could've told you how I really felt about you..." And then Nepgear ran off.
The officer barely had time to process what was going on, and could shout, "hey, stop!" But she was already gone.
Uni could only stand there, trying to understand what she said... what that last part was...
"How you... felt about me?" she said quietly, lightly blushing.
Nepgear rushed through the streets, her sword lighting the way through the dark night. Cars were broken, shops blasted open, all thanks to the Nepgeardam. Nepgear stopped to help people out from underneath rubble as much she could, but her goal was clear.
Eventually, she found herself in the Planeptune city park. And there... towering above her, more than twice her height, was her robot. The Nepgeardam.
"There you are," Nepgear exclaimed.
The robot turned to face her.
"Okay, time for you to be deactivated. Permenantly!" And Nepgear charged the robot, her sword low, ready for an uppercut.
Unfortunately, the teen was too brash, and the Nepgeardam simply swung at her, easily sending her flying away.
Nepgear hit the ground, hard. She was hurting, and struggled to get back up.
The Nepgeardam, however, did not wait. It started marching over to her, eyes charging up.
Seeing the end, Nepgear said to herself, "I'm sorry mom... I'm sorry, Uni... Rom... and Ram..."
And as the robot was about to fire at the poor, defenseless girl...
"YOU LEAVE MY LITTLE SISTER ALONE!" someone shouted. A familiar voice, too.
Suddenly, the purple-haired woman from before, the one who was there to see her mom, flew in, drop-kicking the robot, and causing its aim to go off track, easily missing Nepgear.
As the Nepgeardam staggered back, the woman landed with the grace of a super-hero, saying, "you've messed with the wrong Nep, you bucket of bolts!"
Very quickly, the woman, this "Nep", turned around and rushed to Nepgear. "Heya, seems look you could use some help there." Pulled out some drink, and handed it to her. "Drink up!"
Nepgear slowly grabbed the can, opened it, and drank it all up. It tasted awful. But... she was starting to feel much better.
"There you go! All healed up!" Nep replied.
"Th-thank you... Um, did you call your 'little sister'?" Nepgear asked.
"Uh, yeah, 'cause... well, you are. Sorry, it's hard to explain. My name's Neptune!" she greeted.
"Neptune... you're... my... ...big sister?"
"Yep!"
"I don't... understand... I- NEPTUNE BEHIND YOU!" Nepgear suddenly shouted.
The Nepgeardam had recovered from the attack, and was coming in to swing at the two girls.
But before they could react...
"HEY! GETAWAY!" was heard blasted from the side, with such force it pushed the robot back again.
Standing at the source of the sound, was Neptune's redheaded friend, holding a megaphone.
"Uzume, nice timing!" Neptune shouted to the redhead.
"Well, I couldn't let you have ALL the fun, right?" Uzume called back.
Neptune grabbed Nepgear's sword, which she dropped, and helped the teen up. "We were watching your match on TV, and saw how things went sour immediately. So, me and Uzume rushed here to stop it. Couldn't leave my little sis hanging, could I?"
"I... thank you, big sis..." Nepgear meekly replied.
"Don't mention it!"
Uzume ran over and turned back to the robot, which was once again, recovering. "Okay, so what's the plan?"
"Plan?" Nepgear replied. "I'm sorry, I don't- uh-"
"You don't have a plan? What, you were just going to rush the thing, Gearsy!?" Uzume exclaimed. "Talk about reckless."
"Sorry, I've never really fought, before..."
"Then why do you have the sword?"
"I made it... for protection? And, because I thought it would be cool?"
Uzume groaned. Even the Nepgear that she already knew was more competent than this! Although, even she was still a BIT reckless...
"Okay, let's not worry about that now," Neptune interjected. "Let's start with some simple questions. What's the most dangerous thing this bot can do, and where is its power source."
"...It has laser eyes that are pretty powerful," Nepgear explained. "And its power source is in its chest, about where the heart would be in a real body."
"Okay," Neptune replied, as she summoned twin swords of her own. "We can stagger it pretty well, but it hits very hard! Uzume, try to distract it, and me and Nepgear will knock it down."
"Got it!" And Uzume rushed the robot, and started shouting through her megaphone, causing massive soundwaves to attack the bot. It started to learn again, and braced for the impacts, but it was still being affected by it.
"Okay, I know you're not much of a fighter, but do you know any Skills?" Neptune asked her sister.
"N-not really," Nepgear replied nervously.
"Hey, it's okay. So, do know any magic?"
"Um, a little... but, I'm not very good."
"That's okay. I'm going to teach you're a Skill. Just channel your magic energy on your sword, use it to empower your attack, and swing as fast as you can along the ground, towards the robot."
"That's a magic attack?"
"No... more of a shock-wave attack, I'm just saying to use magic to empower it. It's called Slash Wave, I saw y- ...a friend use it before."
"Okay, I'll try!" Nepgear raised her sword, channeling her energy into it, and shouted, "Slash Wave!" as she struck the ground...
And managed to make a shockwave towards the Nepgeardam. It hit its foot, and caused it to fall on its knees.
"Okay, let's go!" Neptune shouted, and she dashed towards the Nepgeardam, encouraging Nepgear to follow suit. "Uzume, me and Nepgear will get the eyes! You go for the chest!"
"Got it!" Uzume replied, as she started coming in for the punch.
Neptune nodded at her sister, and Nepgear could only nod back, her eyes blazing with determination.
The two sisters began to charge forward, Uzume following behind to perform the finishing blow.
Looking to jab at the robot's eyes, the girls began to lap up...
But then the Nepgeardam began to charge up a new attack. A magic circle appeared around it, and then a bright flash shot forth, blasting back all three girls.
"What the h***!?" Uzume called out. "That was not normal!"
"That wasn't something a robot should be able to do," Neptune added.
"I... I don't know how it could do that," Nepgear replied. "I didn't know it could do that. And I helped make it!"
The Nepgeardam got back up, and started marching towards them again.
"Well now what do we do!?" Uzume cried out.
The Nepgeardam stood above them, readying its claw-hands to slam down on them.
"Any bright ideas?" Uzume asked.
"Run?" Neptune answered.
"Well, that's a good step one."
The girls quickly got up, and dashed out of the way, just as the Nepgeardam slammed down on where they were.
"Okay, so do you think it could that magic attack only once?" Uzume asked Nepgear.
"I don't know. Again, I didn't even know it could do that," she replied. "What's worse, is that the AI this thing has seems to be learning. So, I don't think that plan will work twice."
"Great. Just great."
The Nepgeardam began to charge its laser eyes again.
...Only to be shot at by bullets.
"What now!?" Uzume exclaimed.
"Blast!" a pair of voices shouted together. And the Nepgeardam was assaulted with magic explosions.
Looking over, they found some new players in this match, as Uni stood, wielding a rifle, and Rom and Ram behind her, both holding metal pipes.
"Guys!" Nepgear called out. "What are you doing here!?"
"Did you honestly think that we'd leave you to deal with this alone?" Uni responded. "We're your friends! We always have you back! Besides, we made this thing together, so we'll take it down together!"
Uzume looked at the new arrivals, trying to process what she was seeing. She knew the Candidates fairly well, but they all seemed very different. Heck, the twins even looked older, for some reason.
"...I don't know what's going on here, but it's good to have some backup," she ultimately decided.
"These are some interesting people you've partnered up with, Nepgear," Rom noted.
"Yeah, a-and that one lady with the big boobies kind of looks like you, too," Ram added.
"Well, that's because I'm her big sister!" Neptune told the twin.
"Really! Wow, miss Nepgear has a big sister, too?"
"Yep! This Nep is known as Neptune!"
"Woah, they even have matching names like we do, big sis!"
"Yes. Clearly, Nepgear's family has the same class that we do!" Rom responded to her sister.
"U-uh, okay...?" Nepgear replied. "Um, when did you two learn magic?"
"Well, dear club president, robotic coding is not the only technical language my sister and I have been studying. As of this year, we have become magic novices!" Rom explained proudly.
"And you're using metal pipes to cast magic?" Uzume noted.
"Well, unfortunately, we did not have the time nor money to obtain proper wands, so these inferior pipes will have to do for now."
"I just hope that I don't get in trouble," Uni remarked. "I just stole this rifle, and it's ammo, from a gun shop. Sure, it was blasted open and abandoned, probably thanks to the rampaging robot here, but I really just needed something to help everyone fight really quickly."
"Hey, I'll give out a good word for ya," Uzume offered. "Besides, knowing you, you'd be an excellent shot!"
"Th-this is the first time I've ever held a gun!" Uni countered. "Though... I did like the feeling of shooting it... Not that I would ever shoot someone! That's not what I meant by that!"
"Don't worry, I trust you."
"So, Rom, Ram, you've been studying magic," Nepgear spoke up. "Were you, perhaps, the ones who added that magic attack the Nepgeardam has?"
"Well... only as a last resort," Rom admitted.
"Well, that 'last resort' kept us from putting that thing out of commission," Uzume told her.
"Well, the good news is then, it was a powerful spell placed into a not-so-powerful magic generation. So it should be burnt out now, if it's already used it," Rom explained.
"Thank you, for confirming that for us!"
"However, it seems the AI my sister and I made is much better than we realized, and it is now learning from us."
"...And thanks for re-confirming that... we really appreciate it..." Uzume replied, exasperated.
"You are very welcome!"
At that moment, the Nepgeardam finally recovered from the magical bombardment that was launched from the twins, and put its attention back on its attackers.
"Great, no matter how many times we knock that thing down, it always gets right back up!" Uzume complained. "This tenacity it has is getting old!"
"So, what were you trying to do before we got here?" Uni asked.
"We were trying to take out its strongest attack, then destroy its power source," Neptune explained.
"So, disable its laser eyes, and then take out its central reactor," Uni clarified. "Awesome. How can we help?"
"Well, Rom, Ram, don't you two know ice magic?" Uzume asked.
"Well, we've practiced a fairly strong ice spell," Rom replied. "But... how did you know?"
"Uh... you guys just seem like the type?"
Rom glared at the redhead, while Ram looked down, looking a bit dejected. "...I'll choose to ignore the implications of that statement," Rom replied. "But yes, we can use ice magic."
"Argh, this alternate-reality stuff is hard!" Uzume shouted, not realizing that she just confused all of the present teens. "Whatever! Can you two freeze it in place? Then Uni, you shoot its eyes out, and the rest of us will take it down!"
"Okay, sounds like a plan!" Uni replied, deciding to ignore what Uzume first said.
Nepgear nodded to her friends. "Okay, Rom! Ram! You're up first!"
The twins nodded to each other, ran up to the Nepgeardam, and shouted "Ice Coffin!" casting a combined ice spell, freezing the robot in place!
"Okay, Uni, you've got this!" Nepgear turned to her best friend.
Uni really felt that encouragement. She had to do this to impress her, do this for her!
With no words said, she took aim... Fired two shots...
And she got perfect bullseyes! (No pun intended.) Sparks flew as the robot's laser weapons (and vision) were broken.
"Neptune! Miss Uzume!" Nepgear called out. "Let's finish this!"
Uzume went first, shouting, "Dream Smash Fist!" Her fist was surrounded in spiraling energy, as she dashed forward. What was normally a piercing dash, Uzume instead quickly swung up, and performed a drilling uppercut. The spinning energy tore through the Nepgeardam's frozen chest, exposing its internal components.
"Big sis!" Nepgear called out.
"Yeah! I'm with you!" Neptune replied.
And the two sisters charged forward, their swords raised.
And with a combined yell, the two of them, together, stabbed into the Nepgeardam's exposed core, causing sparks to fly.
"It's going to blow!" Nepgear shouted.
They pulled out their swords, and leapt back, as the core began to release sparks of electricity...
...And then finally... blew up.
"Nepgear! Are you okay!?" Uni shouted.
"Nepsy! Gearsy!" Uzume joined in.
The Nep sisters looked up from her escape, smiling. "We're okay," Neptune said.
"Yeah... it's over now," Nepgear replied.
The purplette teen turned back to the burning wreckage of her robot. "So much work... So much effort... All for nothing."
Uni came up and hugged Nepgear. "It's okay. We know that it had to be foul play. Someone messed with our code. We'll find them, and make them pay for messing with us!"
"That's the spirit!" Uzume replied. "Just... don't go overboard with that, okay?"
"Yeah, besides, you could always make a new one," Neptune pointed out. "It's not like this is the biggest Nepgeardam I've ever seen!"
"Wait, what!?" Nepgear replied, as Uni let go of her. "This is the first time I ever made something like this. How could you have seen other 'Nepgeardams'."
"Uh, I will explain that later... It's a long story."
"Neptune... are you really my big sister?"
"Yeah... I'm sorry, Nepgear. You see, I kind of... left home. Without telling mom, and before you were born. I didn't even know I was going to have a little sister. I started... traveling around, but mom thought I died. She couldn't bring herself to tell her second daughter that she lost her first. And you know... I can't blame her."
After hearing her explanation, Nepgear understood. But still... "if that's why I never met you before... why didn't you come back earlier?"
Nepgear looked down in shame. "I'm sorry... I just... kind of forgot. But I came back to see mom, and you know what, I'm glad I did. Because not only did I get to see mom again, I got to meet you, someone who is such an amazing, brilliant young woman, and a wonderful sister."
"Thank you... big sis Neptune."
A short distance away, Rom studied the adult Neptune closely. "You know, Neptune doesn't seem THAT much older than her 'little sister'."
"Yeah, so? What about it?" Uzume replied to the twin.
"So, if Neptune left before Nepgear was born," Rom explained, "She would've been a toddler at most."
"Uh... good observation. That's... part of Neptune's long story."
"No long story can explain that," Rom countered. "Something is not adding up. But... the two of them do look like each other... Perhaps they're actually cousins."
"No, pretty sure they are sisters..."
"Now, how do-"
"Just leave it alone," Uni interjected. "It's probably just some of that 'alternate-reality' that is apparently so hard to handle. Besides, that's something they should figure out themselves."
Rom sighed. "I suppose. Ram, let's head back. We need to figure out what happened back at the stadium."
"Y-yeah... Are you guys coming?" Ram asked.
"In a moment," Uzume replied. So as the twins, as well as Neptune and Nepgear, left, Uni gave a grateful smile. "Thanks for the help."
"Yeah, don't mention it," Uni said. "Are you going to explain this 'alternate-reality' stuff at some point?"
"I kind of have to, after all this."
"Yeah. Honestly, I'm just glad we able to help Nepgear." Uni began to smile, as her face began to change shades. "She means a lot to us, you know. ...Especially to me, I guess."
Uzume raised an eyebrow, then smirked. "You're blushing."
"Wha-what!? N-no I'm not!"
"You totally are! I bet you've got a crush on Nepgear!"
"No, I don't! Y-your making fun of me, aren't you!?"
"Hey, nothing's wrong with a couple of girls getting together, right?" Then, Uni got caught off guard, because Uzume started speaking in a high-pitched, valley-girl-esque voice. "Uzume can imgine it now! Gearsy and Unisy, walking down the aisle, kissing to signify your eternal bond!"
"Uh-uh... yeah...!" Uni had no idea how to react to that. "I guess you're, uh, a romantic..."
"Huh? You think Uzume is a..." then the redhead realized what was happening, and cleared her throat. "S-sorry, that... happens sometimes."
"Yeah. Let's just catch up with the others, and NEVER talk about this again."
"Okay. Yeah, sure."
Once everyone got back to the arena, the authorities had arrived. And along with them, Mercury was there, too.
"Oh! Nepgear, my baby!" the purplette mother cried, running up, and pulling her into a crushing hug.
"Mom- you're cr- crushing me-" Nepgear replied.
"I know! But I thought you were going to die!"
"Sorry- mom-"
Then Merci looked over, and saw Neptune. She let go of Neptune, suddenly skittish. "Oh, hey, um, thank you."
"Your welcome, mom."
"Uh, um, I-uh-"
"She knows. I told her."
Merci looked down in sadness. "But why...?"
"We couldn't avoid it forever, mom. Besides, I went to save her. And I did just that. We even took down a big robot together!"
"You did WHAT!?" Merci exlclaimedi na sudden shift. "Neptune, you just came home, and almost immediately, you run off to fight some deadly threat! You could've gotten yourself killed!"
"So would I, if... if big sis didn't come to save me. I was reckless, I ran off alone, to stop my own robot. If it weren't for Neptune, I don't know if I... if I would still be here."
Merci's eyes filled up, and she then grabbed both of her daughters, and pulled them in for a group hug. "I love you both. I'm just so happy that my daughters are both alright!"
Watching from a short distance, Uzume turned to smirk at Rom. "Told ya so."
"It still doesn't make sense," she countered.
"Eh, it's complicated."
At that point, the security officer came up, holding Rom's laptop. "Hello again, everyone. Here you go." As he handed Rom her computer, he noticed Nepgear and the new people around her. "Family?"
"...Yes," Nepgear told him. "And I'm happy they're here for me."
Merci and Neptune stepped back, smiling.
"That's great!" the officer replied. "Anyway, good news. You're off the hook!"
"Oh, thank g**!" Uni exclaimed. "Thank f***cking Iris Heart!"
"So, what happened, exactly?" Uzume asked.
"Well, the investigation was quick. You see, someone did indeed mess with your laptop," the officer explained. "They messed with the coding, reuploaded to your robot, and inadvertently caused this entire situation."
"Well, who was it!?" Uni asked.
"...That's on a need-to-know basis. You see, it was minor who-"
"Excuse me!" Merci suddenly spoke up. "My daughter's hard work was turned into an instrument of destruction, causing untold damage to our beloved city, and possibly, probably, harmed numerous citizens! I know you cleared her name, but I still think we deserve to know who actually caused this!"
The officer sighed. "Fine, but please keep this on the down-low. Don't retaliate against her, okay. This is official business now, and the CPU is involved now, too. No need to get in trouble yourself too, alright."
Neptune and Uzume turned to each other. Hearing about the CPU, they had the same thought. And they knew it was probably Iris Heart.
"So...?" Uni sounded.
"It was a young lady named Mona Coda," the officer answered.
"OF COURSE IT WAS THAT B****!" Uni shouted in anger.
"That brat, she wasn't even going to face us! But she just had to see us lose!" Rom exclaimed.
"What exactly is the problem with her?" Neptune asked.
"She's president of the robotics club from a different school," Nepgear explained. "She never liked us, and is always trying to one-up us. But we never did anything to her. She just does it to make us angry."
"So she's a bully," Neptune summed up.
"Yeah..."
"But she didn't plan on this, did she?" Ram asked.
"No," the officer said. "Once we got her to break and admit to her wrongdoing, she said that she wanted to make you lose. That's all."
"Then she could've just deleted the ENTIRE code," Rom explained. "Without a code, nothing would've happened. Period. But instead, she had to take a gamble, and only removed parts of the code. Some 'robotics president'. 'Coda', my butt!"
"Well, she isn't anymore," the officer continued. "We already contacted her school. The club's position in the competition is forfeit, Mona is no longer the president of their school's club, in fact, she is going to be expelled, and she has criminal charges. She's being charged as a minor, but it's still not looking good for her. Also, she's now having a... private chat, with Lady Iris Heart."
"Serves her right," Uni exclaimed.
"Wh-what do you think Lady Iris Heart is doing to her?" Ram asked.
"I genuinely do not want to know," Nepgear told her.
"...What are they talking about?" Neptune asked Uzume.
"Heck if I know," Uzume replied.
"Wait, hang on! What about us!?" Rom cried out. "What place did we get!? We were cheated out of a win. We deserve to know what we're getting!"
"Rom! I DO NOT care anymore. I don't think anyone here does! After EVERYTHING that just happened, why do you still CARE!?" Uni told the twin off.
"But-"
"Uni's right, Rom," Uzume interjected. "It doesn't matter anymore. Right now, I think we should just go home."
"Yeah, I'd like that too..." Nepgear replied. "And spend some time family."
Rom huffed in annoyance. "Fine. But just to be clear, we do deserve something!"
"Sis... let's just go," Ram urged, and began to pull her twin away, who was still unhappy.
Neptune smiled. "I guess... we should go home."
"W-well, I guess I'll see you at school," Uni said. "And Nepgear!"
"Yeah?" the purplette replied.
"I care about you a lot, too."
Nepgear was shocked, but came to an understanding. "I... of course. Thank you. See you at school."
"Ah, good to see you back," Umio greeted as Neptune, Nepgear, Uzume, and Mercury returned. "I hope everything turned out okay."
"Yeah, it did!" Uzume replied.
"So, what do we do now?" Neptune asked.
"I'd like to... hear your story, big sis," Nepgear said.
"Well, there's a lot to that I can tell you. Heck, it even involved another me, and another you!"
"Wait, huh!? I... okay. It must be a very interesting story."
"Yeah, yeah it is. Let me tell you all about it!"
Author's Note: Gosh dang it! This is (and I checked) the LONGEST chapter I've EVER written! Over 9,000 words (meme not intended)! I mean, this is a side story, which just means "short story in the middle of a bigger story", but dang! This is longer than the Snowdin end in my Undertale story, which I just finished somewhat recently.
But, yes, this was my big idea! I (well, we, back when this was a co-written story) made an Ultradimension version of Nepgear that was a kid. But that just makes you ask... what if she was older?
Well, here you are?
So, the premise here is if this non-canon story started the same as in the main story (with the beginning cut out. It wasn't necessary here), but Nepgear is already in her late teens. I just didn't how it would work, so I gave a couple of ideas, and left it up to you guys.
With Nepgear as near-adult, that means the littles as we called them, the Ultra / kid versions Uni, Rom, and Ram, would also be older, so I wanted to do something with them. (By the way, I know that I need to do more with the littles in the main story. I just ran two different story arcs back-to-back, because I felt I needed to. After the next chapter, I'll take a break in the current arc to do something with them. This is a more slice-of-life story, so it isn't like it'll harm the pace of the story.)
Given that these friends would've actually grown up together, I thought it would be fun if Nepgear ended up convincing all of their friends to join her in her robotics journey, of sorts.
Both Nepgear and Uni are mostly unchanged from their original Hyperdimension versions, though Uni has a more casual outfit (though part of it was based in Ultra-Noire's, since the normal Uni and Noire have different but similar outfits. But it's really just the exposed midriff that I wanted to use). Also, I remembered the short-shorts on the tights look from somewhere, remembered liking it, so I decided to use it for Uni (don't worry, they aren't THAT short. They fully cover her behind).
Maybe I didn't show off Uni's tsundere nature that much, but they are mostly the same. Also, I just had to tease the possible relationship between the two. I am one of those guys that ship them together. And, to be clear, Uni didn't have a crush on Nepgear until she mentioned possibly having feelings for her, and Uni started to actually think about it. They were best friends for years after all.
Rom and Ram are a bit interesting. So, what you have to consider is that... when making the kid versions of all these characters, I still wanted Rom and Ram to be the youngest, but Nepgear and Uni were five, so I couldn't make the twins THAT much younger... So I made the three years old. Just toddlers. But if these same girls grew up with Nepgear, then they still only be two years younger than her. And thus, that would make them fifteen now.
As for their personalities, I thought would be fun to switch them, the shy one, and the energetic one. Though, I knew I would have to make them older in personality. I mean, shy is easy. Shy is the same, no matter what age. But the excitable kid would need to be updated. Given that they were going to be roboticists, I decided to go with the arrogant smartypants type of character for the personality-swapped Rom (sort of a Berdly type character, if you've played Deltarune).
If I'm going to be honest, if I wasn't going to make the twins nerds, I would've made the personality-swapped Rom a big flirt, like how many fans might view Frisk from Undertale.
As for their appearances, I just had to give them some nerdy glasses. And their outfits are of course, in line with that, too. I wanted them to still be shorter, like their older sister (even though the Ultra versions of these characters can't be Blanc's sisters), but based on some extra lines Ram says, apparently people think Rom would end up with the bigger chest. So, I made that the case, even if it's still relatively small.
And finally, I thought that if the twins are normally mages, if they are roboticists here, then they would be the coders. (Even though they also started studying magic, but that was just for the battle.)
I don't have much more to say, but I do want to say that the original story idea, when I came up with it, was to not have adult Neptune, but rather Hyper Nepgear meet the teen Ultra Nepgear, and during the robot battle, Ultra-Gear would've been shocked by her counterpart, as Hyper-Gear would use HDD and transform, revealing her as a goddess. But since this was just a what-if, I decided to keep it in line with the main story. A bit disappointing, but I thought it'd be for the best. I mean, I'd actually be using the main characters, right?
Okay, that's all. Enough with the countless words. I hope you enjoyed this little side-story / what-if. As I said, the next chapter WILL be Part 2 for the "Double the Nep!" story.