It's been a while since I updated this story. I deeply apologize for that as my brain started to form an Azur lane story that intrigued me to write. Every time I sat down for some writing, I ended up typing more for that story. It's time to get back onto the Neptunia grind as I still have more stories to tell. I started to slowly get back into the swing of things, so this chapter might be a little clunky.
Chapter 5: Orange and Green (Ultra Story)
Ultra Leanbox, a nation that had been fated to fall into obscurity with the evolving times and the nations undergoing drastic changes.
Ultra Planeptune had been destined to be tied to Ultra Lowee after the CPU of their respective nations had announced to the world that they had been going steady toward a joined future. For the time, the people didn't know how far Lady Plutia and Lady Blanc were in their relationship with the overactive theories ranging from mere handholding to unspeakable kinks that laid behind closed doors. The only solid piece of evidence that they could gauge their relationship was the undeniable fact that they had combined their consoles together before they even got married.
Of course, since they weren't married, and they also weren't joined by the sacred CPU ritual revealed by Croire, they didn't bask in the perks of married life like longer relevancy and shared fate from the people where if one person had their fate placed in Blanc, then Plutia would get it too. Also, they couldn't have a daughter of their own because of their non-union.
They did gain the perk of having their nation put under the limelight that earned them a respective healthy portion of migrating people from other nations and settlements.
This migration had caused Leanbox to suffer as Vert's land had seen the most notable shift.
The troubles didn't stop there as Lastation's CPU had announced that she had secretly gotten married to a mysterious purple-haired girl that was the talk of the nation for a while. After people were able to hear this strange girl's desires to further improve Lastation and work hard to earn the title of Lastation goddess, everyone had accepted her, and the nation also found itself growing from migrators.
This was another blow dealt for Leanbox. The CPU of Leanbox had not thrown in the towel just yet, but her economy and people were going through hard times as businesses had started to either close or move to the other prosperous nations.
Vert was facing the end of the rope that she continued to bravely ignore as a panicking CPU would have never been able to turn around the unfortunate events.
To this day, she is grateful that her worries were answered in a wonderful bundle of orange sunshine that had shot straight through her heart. She found herself bless that it was love and adoration that she saw first in her orange sunshine instead of a scapegoat for herself.
She was now married to her wife, Uzume, a CPU from another dimension that also felt like she had reached the end of her rope. Together, while unconventional, they agreed to marry each other to preserve their life and Vert's nation.
A marriage built on an uphill battle of falling in love after they had gotten married was a strange experience, to say the least, however, in time, Uzume had grown to fully allow herself to fall in love with the woman that not only saved her life but brightened her heart to another level.
Four people stood on grassland that extended far out. One of these four people was Uzume, the red-haired CPU of Leanbox. She gazed at the sun that presented the day with a promise of warmth and happiness. She was joined by her lifelong fish friend, Umio, and her tall blond wife, Vert.
Her loving wife had hooked her arm together with Uzume as they exchanged a flirty look at each other.
"So… what do you'll think?" Came the question of a blond-haired girl with a yellow and black coat to the married couple of Leanbox.
All four of them gave the lush green landscape one more glance, and while they did that, Uzume and Vert couldn't help themselves as they also stared romantically at each other again.
Peashy caught wind of this and puffed her cheeks in frustration. "Hey, Bert! Uzi! I'm talking to y'all!"
The married couple finally stopped doing loving looks at each other to address the yellow-haired girl. "Well, I think this is a marvelous spot for you to construct your nation, Peashy," said Vert.
"Totally, the land is nice and flat, and you got mountains protecting it from the left and right, so monster attacks should only be a concern for the south part of your nation," replied Uzume.
"Those meanie monsters better think twice of even setting half a mile into my borders or else I'll turn them into stew."
"Eh? Why stew? That's kind of an odd thing to say and you might as well say a nice fine powder," replied Uzume with a sweatdrop.
"I want to make them into stew to show you how much my cooking skills have improved," said Peashy with a wide grin.
Vert uncontrollably laughed with a hand covering her mouth much to the shock of her red-haired wife.
"Ah! Wait, hold on, monster stew is not a good food dish. Trust me on this as I once had to dabble in a stew just like that. Ugh, just the memory of the first bite had me licking Umio's fishy scales just to overpower the horrible taste."
Umio politely chuckled softly at the memory. "Oh, I do remember that. It feels nice and a little concerning that I taste better than a monster," joked Umio.
"Yeah well, we were lucky to run into a decently stocked convenience store after that little dramatic moment," fired back Uzume.
"Yes, very lucky, if we didn't, then plan B would have been the rock stew for that night's dish," said Umio.
Peashy stood engaged in the active banter between the red-haired girl and the floating fish. "You were a bum?" She spatted with the first thing that came to mind.
"Huh?! I was a survivor, not a bum," yelled back Uzume that further resulted in Vert laughing harder.
"H-honey… a little help here," said Uzume who felt without an ally.
"Alright… Peashy, Uzume here doesn't like to talk about her past but she wasn't a bum. Where she came from there were a lot of bad people that made life for her and her friends very hard. I find her nomad days to be very alluring to that of a resourceful person."
"Oh, okay. Resourceful Uzume, not bum Uzume," happily said Peashy.
"I can live with that title… does sound pretty cool and reliable now that I think about it," said Uzume with an accepting nod.
"Peashy, if you don't mind me asking, but what's with the sudden interest in land real estate?" Asked Umio.
"This is for Pee's future! I finally gave the green light for Plut and Blanc to get married!" She yelled with excited energy.
"She's pretty much in the same position I was in when Noire and Nepsy finished the inner walk trial that granted them to safely get married," said the redhead to her fish friend.
"Oh, that was a very brave and grown-up thing to do, Peashy. But I thought that you couldn't create a nation after you already associated with Planeptune," said Umio.
Peashy shook her head too aggressively at the statement. "Histy said that I'm special like older Neptuna when she got to be a CPU even though she shouldn't have been. I'm special where I have Planeptune's connection and a second connection that lets me pick up where I last left off, like a save game."
Vert nodded cheerfully. "That is correct. Peashy had a nation to herself when she became a CPU, but there were a lot of bad people involved with it that hindered it from actually becoming a practical nation."
"Yeah! Now Pee can have her own nation and it can be the most pract… practic… al- what Bert said! And for my first- hard P word that I can't say- declaration, there will be a play place in every corner! It's going to have a ball pit, countless slides, monkey bars, horsies, and much more!"
"Wait, she can't say practical but can say 'declaration' without tripping over herself. Huh!? You're going to have a what in every corner?!" Shouted Uzume when she finally caught wind of it
"A play place, a place where every kid can play and have fun, Miss Uzume."
"I see, Peashy, perhaps we should keep those to a minimum for the time being. What you should focus on are standard common buildings that every nation cannot go without. Places like police stations, schools, food markets, fire stations, and homes," replied the blond CPU of Leanbox.
"It would really help people in deciding if they want to migrate to your nation, young Peashy," replied Umio.
"Hmph, okay… Pee did invite you all for advice on building my nation after all."
"Good save there, Vertsy. Okay, if we want to be done before the daylight is gone, we should get a move on!"
"Okay!" Peashy activated her HDD that turned her into Yellow Heart. The next few hours were spent in a draining process of building and destroying when Yellow Heart would make an error in her architecture. Every few buildings that were successfully created were then followed by a random play place that earned a stern look from Vert.
Uzume helped Yellow Heart in getting the key buildings in a reasonable location so there wouldn't be five hospitals or three supermarkets so close to each other, there was competition, and then there was the clutter of all the chaos.
When the construction started heating up, Uzume had to go into HDD to avoid random buildings that raised below her, and basically left her in rooftops.
When everything looked in order, one building was left to be summoned. "Wowie, Peashy, your whole nation has that awesome pristine look to it that will totally turn heads," cheerfully laughed Orange Heart as her personality had drastically shifted.
Vert who had also gone into HDD, had placed her arms around her wife while she rested her chin on her shoulder. "Indeed, that this nation of yours will certainly be the talk of Gamindustri, but do keep in mind that it was Uzume's little architectural brain that allowed this nation to radiate like this," stated Green Heart.
Orange Heart blushed profusely as she scratched her head. "Vertsy, don't be mean, Peashy was like totally the sculptor of all of this. The only super-duper important building left is your Basilicom," cheered Orange Heart.
"My Basilicom?" Asked Yellow Heart with a sudden fear that crept in her heart.
"Why yes. The Basilicom is the brain of any nation that oversees all affairs and economical endeavors related to the CPU's nation."
"She's right, little Peashy. You are clearly the heart of the nation, but you need its brain too for a healthy nation," said Umio.
"Wowie, both of you are so on the nose on that it's funny. Peashy, there is no wrong way to making your Basilicom. It's a representation of your desires and feelings from inside you. It can be tall like little Neptuna's Basilicom or it can be low to the ground with jagged edges like our Noire's Basilicom."
Yellow Heart floated in the air while she gave it her all to produce an image in her mind. She snapped her fingers in triumph as she raised her hand to summon a massive building in the center of her nation.
Both Green Heart and Orange Heart grew bewildered at the imposing building that hid them from the sun in the sky.
"Kyaa! You like totally made a play place!" Declared Orange Heart.
This building was a rectangular structure of about three floors in height. Its design pallet was an embodiment of a rainbow as different sections of the building walls had a different color to them. In areas where it was supposed to have scenic windows, there stood a three by three square tic-tac-toe game that covered anyone from looking outside.
In the front part of it, the doors were stationed on the second floor with two paths that allowed entry and exit to the building. The first one was a slide that provided with the means to exit, and the second was a net-like ladder that forced anyone to climb upward if they wanted entry.
A sad display of this play place was that there was an outside ball pit in a rectangular structure that looked like a fountain would have been a better choice. There was clearly more personality inside this Basilicom that had yet to be seen, and it only furthered to make the married CPUs look despondent.
Orange Heart comically felt dizzy at the sheer scale of this child's place. "Uzume's going to have to eat her own words with a fork and napkin after seeing this place."
"But Uzi! You said that there wasn't a wrong way in making my Basilicom. If the people that want to work for me aren't down to play in the obstacle course of their lives, then I don't want them!"
"Peashy! It's unbecoming of a CPU to be so selective about her own people, especially when this first step into the growth of your nation is so important," sternly spoke Green Heart.
"Nah, this is the way I want it and it will stay like this! I've been good and didn't make a single play place in my nation, so let me have it," she spoke with a pout that proved her stubbornness.
"This is bad, this is very bad. Who's going to subjugate themselves to working in conditions like these? Perhaps we should find a middle ground of sorts." Green Heart pondered over this dilemma.
"She looks very hyped up by the idea of a play place Basilicom. Vertsy, we might have to wait it out until she gets bored with the idea," stated Orange Heart.
"Hmm, I only hope that once she has her fill of the place, the novelty of a play place Basilicom will wear out," said Green Heart.
Aside from the Basilicom, the new nation that had yet to house its future people looked ready to go. The CPU couple had decided on letting Yellow Heart get to work on her nation's exposure for the rest of the day to see what kind of people would jump at the idea of a new nation. They knew that the possibility of them losing shares and people to Yellow Heart's new nation was a given, however, they were fine with it if Peashy had enough to get her by as her own CPU ruler. The landscape of Ultra dimension had been indeed spread thin with seven CPUs currently active along with now four active nations that would be biting for power.
A couple of hours later, while there was still sunlight, Uzume and Vert had kicked off their planned time off with a fighting game from Uzume's choice.
The sounds of rapid button mashing filled a dark room as colorful lights from the game screen shined on the faces of the two married CPUs. "Ha, wow, Vertsy, you're really going all out on this round," joked Uzume with a half-seriousness expressed in her voice.
"I will not be schooled by the likes of your puny character that you insist on always picking in serious fights," proclaimed Vert with her eyes not even blinking.
"Puny!? That's not what the pros of the game have to say. My character might have trashy move-sets at a glance, but she takes a skilled hand to effectively use her to beat down her opponents." Uzume then mashed two buttons together that made Vert grit her teeth at the screen.
Vert did a comeback as she pushed her analog stick sideways along with a few more buttons. "I admit that there is a high-skill gap for her that lets her compete with the others, however… she is objectively bad all around."
"Hmm, let's rephrase that: She is bad because I cannot master her, so I'll just say she's bad and use my all-rounder choice instead," teased Uzume.
Vert loudly chuckled and accepted her wife's trash talk which had been a favorite thing for them during their gaming sessions. "If this was a shooting game or any other type, I would school you all the way to the couch," she said sweetly.
Uzume gulped jokingly who wouldn't put it past her wife to actually do that. "Hey, I know that Vertsy, but come on… fighting games are my bread and butter."
"Indeed, they are," sighed Vert. This was what she yearned for- an equal who loved the competitive nature of any game and enjoyed it with a determined smile. She was ultimately pushed back as she suffered a horrible loss in the end. She instinctively wanted to toss her controller, but she then felt her wife's loving presence as she laid her head on her shoulder.
"If it makes you feel better, I actually had to redo my ultimate since you blocked it the first time," said Uzume with a cheeky smile.
Vert playfully scoffed and lightly pushed her wife away from her that in no way was meant to hurt her wife's feelings. "I want a rematch," she declared boldly.
Uzume was ready to accept the challenge when a knock brought both of their attention to the door.
The one who knocked was Umio who opened the door and floated inside. "Uzume, you have an urgent call coming from Lastation's Basilicom," said Umio.
"What's going on?" Asked Uzume with confusion.
"I believe it relates to a personal matter of Neptune," said the floating fish.
Concern had been painted across the face of the former Planeptune CPU as she got up from her comfy chair with her wife right behind her. Uzume picked up the phone from the living room and placed it to her ear. "Nepsy, is that you?"
The sound in the other line was vacant for a second until a loud crashing sound had been heard. "Uzume! It's me your favorite dimension jumping Nep!"
"Yo! Hey, what was that loud crashing sound?" Remarked the redhead with a raised eyebrow.
"Huh? Oh, Noire's been feeling a little restless and she accidentally dropped a glass of chocolate milk," laughed Neptune from the other line.
Shortly after that, another voice had been heard in the background. "Ah! That was the last of the chocolate milk!"
The voice was loud that made Uzume pull back the phone, and it was still loud enough that caused Vert to recoil as well.
"Whoa, I take it that's Noire?" Asked Uzume.
"Y-yeah… she's being a little emotional with the baby and whatnot. Listen, I was wondering if you could do me a favor of swinging by with some chocolate milk, root beer, ice cream, cheesecake, and possibly some burritos from this mom and pop shop near the Lastation central library?" Asked Neptune with the metaphorical action in the air expressing that she was nervously tying her phone cord with her finger.
"Wait, hold on, let me write this down so I won't forget," replied Uzume.
"So, you will?!"
"Well, yeah. You're my best friend… aside from Vertsy, hehe…" the red-haired girl locked eyes with her tall, blond wife that playfully placed her hands on her hips. "- ah… anyway, it's not a problem. We've been meaning to drop by and see how you all been doing with the pregnancy," said Uzume.
"Oh, trust me, Noire has shown different shades from her regular moods these past few months. I believe at one point she cried like crazy after seeing herself gain weight that she downed half a tube of ice cream in one sitting. The only reason that she didn't finish the rest was that I took it out of her hands. Kinda regret it now when she flared up in anger and threw an encyclopedia book at me."
"Jeez, were you okay?" Quickly replied Uzume.
"Pfft, it's the baby factor that's getting to her. She apologized for throwing it at me and remained moody with herself for the rest of the day. She didn't stop being moody until I took her out on our first time to that mom and pop shop."
"Oh, so you feel that if I brought some of those burritos, she would get her happy face back?"
"That's right. She's been cooped up in this house because of the baby while I've been holding down all the battle stations from work. And the weird conundrum is that she doesn't want to go out right now because she feels too cold and aching."
"Hey, I'll take care of this. It would be uncool of me to refuse my friend," grinned Uzume.
"Thanks a bunch. Oh- Ah! Got to go. Noire has that look in her eyes that she's thinking about sucking the milk out of the carpet." The phone line went dead that left Uzume with wide eyes.
"Yikes! That was too much information." She shivered at the thought that crossed her mind.
They both took to the skies in no time at all to make the trip to Lastation. Along the way, Green Heart busted out laughing to the point of tearing. "Haha! That really is too much information. I bet Noire would actually make her sleep outside the house door if she found out what her wife had said."
"Right! Like, it's totally not cools to say private things like that," said Orange Heart.
"Sigh, well, Neptune has never been good with keeping her thoughts in her mind. That girl could speak her mind and make everyone in a room look like a fool if she had good dirt on them."
"Oh, Vertsy… she just feels comfortable around Uzume to speak what's going on in her mind. I think she's been having to do a lot from juggling Noiresy's pregnancy and work all by herself."
"Hmm, if that's the case, I'm glad we are going to see them," said the green-haired CPU.
They reached the bounds of Lastation, and then they were walking the streets of Lastation in their regular forms.
"Okay, you mentioned a list of sorts for Neptune, right?" Asked Vert.
"Yeah, here's the list I got from her." Uzume handed her the list that instantly made Vert's face drop at the contents of it.
"This is a rather sugary list if you ask me… burritos? Now that just sounds very Neptune-like if it's not nachos or burgers."
"You forgot pizza, too! We former Planeptune CPUs do love our fast-foods and might as well throw in a churro."
Vert's stomach started to growl in response to the items her wife listed out. "Let's get this over with before I end up eating the things we buy," replied Vert happily.
It took about an hour until all the items were in bags, as they were on their way to Lastation's Basilicom. They paused at the front door of the Lastation couple after they made it past the reception area.
Uzume gestured silently to grab her wife's attention. "So… Noiresy might be a little emotional right now and, it's probably best that we don't talk about anything weight-related," replied the red-haired girl.
"Is it alright if I compliment her on her motherly glow?" Half-joked Vert.
"Umm… maybe? Not sure how she might take it but be mindful of any hard throwable objects around her," awkwardly laughed Uzume that made Vert grow worried.
They knocked on the door, and then it opened to reveal a disheveled purple-haired girl. She looked like she hadn't had a good night's sleep for some time as she had bags under her eyes and her hair appeared wild.
"Nepsy, did a tornado blow through here?" Blurted out Uzume as she didn't expect the state of her friend to be this drastic.
Neptune played it off light-heartedly with a smile, which was a contrast to her overall dire appearance. "Sure did. Tornado Noire blew right through here, but don't tell her I said that. She might be a tornado, but she's my tornado."
"It's so good to see you again, Neptune. We've brought the items you requested," said Vert as she showed her the bags.
Neptune sighed in relief and happiness. "You guys are my lifesavers! I wanted to go myself, but Noire didn't want to be left alone."
"Neppy, who is it!?" Said another voice that resided in the house.
"It's Vert and Uzume… and they have a surprise for you!" Joyfully responded Neptune.
Both Uzume and Vert stood captivated in place when a white-haired, twin-tailed, pregnant CPU came into view from the hallway. She was dressed in a pale blue shirt that stretched to incorporate her growing stomach along with gray sweatpants. She looked as equally if not more drained than her wife as her hair and skin color looked worse for wear.
"Hey, it's been a while since we've seen you two… huh?" She zeroed in on the bags that contained visible cheesecake, a large jug of chocolate milk, and root beer. "Are those…?" Drool had started to form in the corner of her mouth, and her eyes shined brightly that could have given Neptune's hungry face a run for her money.
"I hope you don't mind a last-minute party," said Uzume.
Black Heart regained her composure and politely gestured them to come in. "Well, I guess we can't reject your offer after making the trip here under your own volition," calmly spoke Black Heart with a royal aura to her.
The other three merely nodded and chuckled since Black Heart didn't know that her wife was the one that orchestrated the whole event.
The Basilicom housing unit was soon ablaze with laughter and joy, as all of them sat in chairs outside the patio to watch the day go by.
Black Heart was like a kid in a candy store as she devoured a slice of cheesecake, along with a glass of chocolate milk. "Oh, wow, that hit the spot so good. Can you believe that I was in need of chocolate milk today after I stupidly dropped my glass?"
This reminded Vert of the scenario where Black Heart was tempted to suck up the spilled chocolate milk from the floor.
Uzume stared daggers at her wife to keep her in check or else they might feel the wrath of the random object thrower.
Neptune rummaged through the bags and pulled out four hefty hot packages that were covered in aluminum.
Black Heart perked up when she noticed what her wife was holding. "Neppy, those look like those burritos from that mom and pop restaurant you took me in the past," declared Black Heart.
Neptune smiled cheekily and handed one to her wife who snatched it rather quickly. "The cats out of the bag now, since it would feel odd that Uzume and Vert would show up here not just with sugary goodness at the right time, but also a personal favorite of ours, too."
"So, you called them here, didn't you?" She said with not an angered look, but a wonderfully surprised one.
"I did, sweetie. The baby's been kicking you hard these past four months, and I wanted to make you happy just once if I could."
Black Heart held the burrito close to her as she found the warmness helped her collect her thoughts. "You do make me happy, you goof. I'm happy that you're in my life. I'm happy that I get to share a family with you. I'm happy that you find the time to be by my side during my mood swings and between work. And every day you find a way to keep outdoing yourself by your sweetness and love."
They exchanged a wonderful kiss that added color into their faces, and for just that moment, they didn't resemble a tired couple at all.
"Look at them, Uzume. Their tender moment really speaks out to me. I could only imagine how we would fair with a baby of our own," she said casually.
Uzume, who had been drinking root beer, almost spat it out in shock by what her wife had said. "B-baby… us!?" She said with a full-blown blush.
"Oh? Uzi, I'm only playing around with you. I know that it's not for us now, but one day, I would love to hold you while you have that motherly glow," stated Vert.
"I'm not sure if I could handle that responsibility. I already drastically change when I go into HDD, and mood swings would probably fry my brain," replied Uzume with a dry laugh.
"Now that won't do at all. Well, if I must, then I will be the one to become pregnant. I just hope that you will take charge as a wonderful father figure," joked Vert.
"Ah! Vertsy, you're so mean!" cried Uzume as she let her Orange Heart personality lose.
I think going forward, when I write about Ultra chapters, I'm going to have Vert and Uzume be the ones taking us through the day to day lives of the CPUs. A good reason for this chapter was to get the gears moving on Plutia and Blanc as they have been in limbo without getting married, mostly because of Peashy. I do want to include cross stories between Ultra and Hyper with a pregnant Noire seeing Euri and how she would respond to that. I also want to fully realize Vert and Uzume's romance banter. I don't think I'll be doing a solo Plutia x Blanc chapter as their dynamic in a relationship is something I have trouble emulating, but who knows?
Going forward, I do desire dishing out more small frequent chapters as my creativity has shifted to my other story I'm working on, Fear not though, I won't let this story end on a weird note as there is a destination I do desire to stop at. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you all in the next one!