Hey, it's me! True Blue Pikachu! Welcome to what is probably the best worst idea I've ever had. I'm gonna be doing a Hyperdimension Neptunia cross Mario Party fanfic series.

The idea came to me after I read "Neptunia Kart: Double Dash!" by HistyIsPissty. Very entertaining read, laughed a lot while reading. Give it a read if you haven't already. ...Oh and check out their "Candidates In Time" story too. That's a disaster waiting to happen. I mean that in the best intentions possible, and you'll see what I mean when you see it for yourself.

There will also be callbacks to TheRunawayGuys' Mario Party 1-8 LP's, including Chuggaaconroy & MasaeAnela's Mario Party 2 & 4 collaborations. Maybe StevenPlays as well? Guess I'm a bigger sucker for TRG & Friends than I thought... Anyway, just like Hyperdimension Nepgear: A Savior's Tale, I will be having some help help with what items I can use in place of Mario power-ups, maybe some locations for the boards & minigames, too. As well as other party style video games I can think of.

Enjoy the Tourney, fellow Nepsters! Let's Nep It Up!


Uh, hi... Here we are again. When we last left off, almost every participant of the Great Summer Grand Prix, including myself and big sis, were all recovering from all the wreaks and injuries sustained from lightning, eggplants, metal doggoos, and Rom's hat. Why Rom in particular? ...Hers was blue. And I'm leaving it at that.

Anyway, it's been a few months since the Kart Race and everyone's slowly but surely calmed down after everything that happened. But, um... and I'm sorry if I spoil people who didn't read about Neptunia Kart Double Dash. Remember when Rom and Ram said that they were gonna host a Party Game Tournament? Well... Wait, are we allowed to have a fanfic sequel by a completely different author.

Neptune: "Ah, we can always edit the dialogue if it's that big a deal."

Big Sis, stop interrupting my narrations! Goodness! Urgh, where was I? ...Oh yeah!

You definitely know already, but my name is Nepgear. And this... is the Party Game Tournament I mentioned earlier. ...Goodness, is it wrong of me to hope that Iffy and Compa make an actual game like this?

Hyperdimension Neptunia

Super Neptunia Party Tournament

Chapter One: The Madness Begins Anew!

One day, all of the CPUs & Candidates of each nation in Gamindustri, including the Adult version of Neptune, were all gathered around in a cozy room in the Planeptune Basilicom. The news was the Lowee Racing Committee & Party Planner Board, along with the Leanbox Tourist Board, have finally made the necessary preparations and are ready to announce, as suggested by Rom & Ram after the... disastrophe of an end to the Great Summer Grand Prix...

That the Gamindustri Party Superstar Tournament will be live all around each nation of Gamindustri! ...if that wasn't obvious by the name.

"I thought you were gonna make us argue over which of us is the Superstar in the middle of an open field." came the cheery voice of Neptune, who's already broken the 4th wall in record time. "Hehe~ Just the many blessings of being the main character."

"Yeah, of the main game series only! Now can we get back on track, Neptune?!" Blanc shouted in irritation over the sudden interruption.

"Oh, yeah yeah yeah!" Neptune said as she sat back down in her beanbag chair in the middle of her room.

"...So, Blanny." Uzume rubbed her arm and looked back at Blanc, taking a moment to shake off her being startled a moment ago, "You're going through with this Party Game Tournament, huh?"

"Yeah... I had time to calm down after getting shot by lightning and pelted with my sister's hats." Blanc said calmly to Uzume and adjusted her own hat she was wearing, "But thanks to the updated item list we used, no one got Blue Shelled out of existence... Not that it kept THESE TWO from making the blue hats any less of a torture fest!"

"Eek!" Rom squeeked from her big sister yelling at her. Ram shook a little bit, though she was used to Blanc's face darkening and one of her eyes glowing red, "A-Are you still mad at us for how the race went for everyone?"

"Everyone from the Grand Prix is still very nettled from your childish antics affecting the outcome, Ram." Vert spoke in a calmer tone than the Loweeian CPU, but still had a fury to suppress when around others "...Which is precisely why Blanc and I agreed that you and Rom are both forbidden from being contestants in the Gamindustri Party Superstar Tournament."

"F-Forbidden?!" Ram shouted in disbelief. Rom gasp in shock as well, "Fwah? You mean... Ram and I aren't allowed to play?"

"Uh, nope!" Uni chimed in on the conversation, "For one, you two cost the other 7 racing teams 500,000,000 credits worth of medical expenses and robotics repairs."

Nepgear nodded in agreement to Uni and Vert, "Hmm. And honestly, as much as I was looking forward to playing with you two, I can't disagree with the decision to take you both out. Who knows how much trouble you'll cause by going all over the board?"

"Wh-Wha-Wha-What?!" Ram couldn't believe what she was hearing! Months of suggesting minigames and board events to include in what could be the largest Party Game Tournament in Gamindustri history... And she & her sister can't even be part of the festivities?!

"You can't just... We picked out our favorite Minigames and...! Ahhhhh!" Ram groaned in frustration and turned to her twin in desparation, "Rom, back me up! We deserve to be apart of all the fun boards and exciting action, don't we?! Don't we?!"

"A-Actually, Ram..." Rom spoke softly, as if she was ashamed of herself, "You and me not competing is... probably for the best."

Ram's eyes went completely white in pure shock, "...What?"

"If this was only about the race, I wouldn't want to be left out, either... But when was the last time we both competed for something... a-and played fair while we were doing it?" Rom spoke out, "If we played a real Party Game board, neither of us would be happy unless one of us won. And... You've either froze the other players or rigged your own coins and stars, even before we got any bonuses. And I would get pressured into doing the same. I'm sorry, Ram... but we would only ruin the tournament if we played in it."

"..." Ram had absolutely nothing to say to her own sister. Sure she just wanted to make things fun for her, and winning was fun in her eyes. But deep down, she knew... Rom was right about how "fun" games usually go for the two of them, "...I-I see... Aw, man..." Ram sighed and sat back down. She hated being excluded, but there was nothing that can be done about the ban on her and Rom.

"...Anyone else feel like we laid it on a bit too thick with that?" Big Neptune spoke up.

The smaller Neptune childishly pointed at the blue hat Rom wore, her cheeks puffed in a pout, "Mmm!"

"...Rude, mini-me. But fair." Adult Neptune said blankly.

"Childish antics aside, it's true that you won't be main competitors of the games we'd be playing. But no one here has ever said you couldn't be apart of the Tournament in other ways." Noire said to comfort Rom and Ram.

As the twins perked up from her words, Noire looked over at Blanc and Vert, "Can they?"

"But of course. In fact, one of the reasons we couldn't announce the Tournament sooner was the time it took to come up with a compromise for their exclusion."

Vert's words were followed by Blanc showing an... unusually cheery smile on her face, "Seeing as this chaotic mess of a Friendship Game was your idea, you two have been given the honor of hosting and commentating the matches of each game in the tournament!"

Almost immediately, both twins got up and looked at their big sister with sparkles in their eyes, "We're the announcers?! Thank you so much! You're the best big sister ever!"

"I mean, that job kinda nullifies the effect of them being banned, but hooray!" Neptune spoke up in her stupidly cute way.

"I don't know, Neptune." Noire spoke up, "Assigning Rom and Ram the announcer roles first would've meant they'd be bratty about why they couldn't play."

"You're... not wrong..." Vert said as she looked down for a moment. But perked up a second later, "But this doesn't change the fact that we have 18 more participants to fill out the brackets with."

"E-Eighteen?! What the goodness?!" Nepgear shouted at Vert's words. Uzume looked at Vert like she was crazy too, "I'm with Gearsy! Couldn't you just pick out everyone who was at the Summer Grand Prix and have Iffy and Compa take Rom & Ram's spots?"

"Hear us out, will ya?!" Blanc shouted not nearly as angry, but just loud enough to catch everybody's attention, "Vert and I have to go over the ruleset and how the character selection process is being run down!"

"Eek! U-Uzume's sorry...!" Uzume apologized cutely before sitting back down.

Once the CPU's & Candidates and Adult Neptune had their eyes on Vert and herself, Blanc cleared her throat and began her explanation, "Anyways, we all know how the basics of my Party series of video games. We roll a giant dice, move around the board, play a minigame after every turn, get coins, buy stars, whoever has the most Stars is the winner, ties are broken by coins." Almost everyone gave a nod to that small rundown.

Vert decided to speak up next, "The part that makes character selection complicated is that all games must be played by 4 people. As Uzume suggested, the initial plan was the have all of us involved in the Great Summer Grand Prix involved as contestants, filling out Sixt- err, 14 out of 32 total participants at maximum. However, the Tourist Board and Party Planners went at a frenzy of arguments as to who should fill in the open spots that came with banning Rom and Ram for their hijinks. Ultimately, myself and Blanc stepped up and allowed them to go all the way to include 32 participants total. That way, almost everyone that both Lowee and Leanbox talked about would have their chances to shine."

Blanc quickly chimed in on the ruleset explanation, "Now, we have a special rule for selecting the characters and advancing to the next round. First off, we're taking the tag team part of the Great Summer Grand Prix and pairing two of those teams onto one board. The pairs don't automatically form into teams, but whoever was paired up in the Grand Prix will be playing against each other in the first round."

Uni raised her hand and spoke up, "So that's... Me & Noire are in a board. And Neptune & Nepgear are in... and you two, Blanc & Vert... and Uzume & Adult Neptune... And the Gold Third... and... A-Affimojas &... A-And...!"

"...Steamax?" Noire deadpanned. Uni looked at Noire with a blush on her face, "...T-Thanks."

"That 7 pairs for 14 players. So we need to have 9 more pairs for our tournament players." Nepgear said with a hint of excitement... but then she realized what that would mean, "G-Goodness! This will surely be a chaotic tournament!"

"It gets crazier." Blanc went on with the explanation, "Not only will each board winner be allowed to advance to the next round, but so does the second place person at the end of the board."

"Wait! The second banana advances too?" Uzume shouted in surprise.

Vert gives a firm nod, "Yes, Uzume. Say you, bigger Neptune, Blanc, and myself went against each other on one board, and on another in the same round were Noire, Uni, smaller Neptune, and Nepgear."

Vert places eight colored pieces on the table. Purple for Neptune, lilac for Nepgear, violet for Adult Neptune, orange for Uzume, white for Blanc, green for herself, black for Noire, and silver for Uni. Each piece was lined up in two separate vertical rows to signify the placings of different games.

"So at the end of those games, the winners of Round 1 will, of course, advance to Round 2." Vert said as she moved the green and lilac pieces to another spot on the table next to each other. Vert continued as she grabbed and moved the orange and black pieces, "And then, the players who came in second place would also advance, giving us one full set of players for the board in the 2nd Round."

"Why am I in dead last?!" Neptune and Blanc both shouted at the same time, noticing their purple and white pieces were left alone, but placed further down than the silver and violet pieces.

"Awwww... Neither of me won the exhabition game!" Adult Neptune said in a sorrowful tone.

"It's just an example, older Neptune. Clearly rigged, but for practice only." Uni said half-comfortingly, "...But geez, I'm starting to see why the numbers had to be inflated so damn high!"

"Yeah. A lot's been factored in on every decision made and each direction that Leanbox and Lowee have taken." Noire said with a nod.

"Yes. We've put so much hard work into this. It's all so exciting to watch it all play out." Vert said with glee in her voice, "Though I probably don't need to explain, it should be obvious that the advancement system will not apply to the Final Board of the Superstar Tournament. That one will be for all the marbles."

Neptune leaned closer to Blanc and Vert, "This sounds too good to be true, even if it mutually benefits all of Gamindustri rather than half. Tell me, what's the prize for curvestomping the Championship round at the tail end?"

"The title of Gamindustri Superstar, a big trophy as proof of the big win, and of course, seven hundred million credits!" Blanc all-too-happily explained.

"Nepu?! That lucky number is 200,000,000 more than the Grand Prix prize-"

SLAM!

"Let's party!" Noire declared rather enthusiastically.

"Whoa!" Uni was startled by her sister's outburst and slamming her hands on the table, but recovered quickly enough to join her sister's excitement, "I-I guess we're doing this!"

"Woo! That's the spirit, Lastation sisters!" Adult Neptune shouted out as well.

"Hey hey hey! What's all the racket out there?!"

"Huh?" Big Neptune looked down at her pocket and opened it up, taking out her Nep-Note and opening up to a page with sparkling wings, "Oh, hehe! Sorry to wake you, Crosty. Come join in the cheers!"

"Hnnnnnnngh...!" Groaning at the nickname she's unfortunately used to, Croire's fairy form materialized on the open pages of the Nep-Note and floated around the room, "So, what's with the board meeting, ladies?"

"Oooh, Darksty! Glad you could join us!" Small Neptune perked up, "We're trying to set up a superstar massive party tourney, and we need a ton of people to get involved. And since you so happily joined the conversation..."

"Neptune, you can't be serious!" Nepgear put her foot down and glared at her big sister, clenching her fists at the bad memories brought up just from looking at Croire, "We can't involve Croire in something like this without her screwing everything up for her own amu-"

"Fine, I'll do it."

"WHAT?!" Nepgear looked at Croire with... the Nepgya face.

"I'm surprised too, actually!" Adult Neptune said as she smiled widely, "I expected you to be defiantly against the idea of a super fun worldwide event like this, Crosty."

Croire shrugged her shoulders, "I've got nothing better to do, that's all. Getting out of this book and away from all of you wasn't happening any time soon, so... might as well enjoy what I'm stuck with." She looked right at Vert's practice board and smirks, "Besides... that right there looks like a lot of fun."

"Right?! I can't wait until you see what the Tournament has in store for all of Gamindustri, Darksty!"

"And just who gave you permission to slack off at a time like this, Neptune?"

"Ahh, crapbaskets..." Neptune let out a sigh and leaned back. She tilts her head backwards and looks towards the new voice upside down, "What did I do this time, Histy?"

Within three seconds, the small fairy form on Planeptune's Oracle, Histoire, was floating above Neptune's face, "More like 'What didn't you do this time?' Though honestly, I think we all know the answer to that!"

Neptune's upside down glare sharpens, "It's not my fault I spent my hardworking days in the hospital!"

"Planeptune Shares were already low enough before that disaster of a Kart Racing Tournament!" Histoire flailed her arms up and down.

"We're really doing this shit now?" Croire spoke up aloud and rolled her eyes, "In front of literally everyone here?"

Everyone else in the room, including alleged workaholic Noire, either rolled their eyes or facepalmed as they all shared Croire's statement.

"Darksty's right, you know! What's so wrong with me trying to make my job as a CPU fun?" Neptune spoke out as she leaned forward.

"When you don't even do your work and just play & sleep all day, pretty much everything is wrong with that!" Histoire shouts as she floats around to stay in front of Neptune.

Neptune let out an annoyed sound as she puffed her cheeks, "Mmmm! I really don't have time to worry about that stuff! I've got a whole Party Game Tourney to-"

"Ohh, here it goes! The great video game main character Neptune can't work on her duties because of a party game!" Histoire threw her arms up in exaggeration, "And just what makes you think for one second that I'll allow you to partake in this Tournament after how the last Lowee & Leanbox collaboration event went?!"

"Didn't you read HistyIsPissty's prequel fanfic that goes into this one?" Neptune broke the 4th wall, crossing her arms over her chest with a huff, "Everyone who was in that racing catastrophe, besides the Blue Hat Spammer Sisters responsible for the trip to the hospital that came after, pretty much has to partake in the Party Tournament. Can't say I have much of a choice, even if I didn't want to. And why in my own name would I not want to be in it?"

At that point, Histoire turned to face the rest of the CPU's and practically exploded on everyone in the room, "Then you should have focused on your duties rather than partaking in the race at all! I swear, every second of every day is only leading us one step closer to the downfall of Gamindustri altogether!"

Everyone in the room responded only with a dissatisfied glare towards Histoire. Then, Croire then turned to Blanc and Vert, "...Question. Do all the newcomers have to have a Tag Partner is this event?"

"On entry, yes." Blanc answered while trying to keep her cool this time. Croire then had a smirk on her face as she turned her attention to Histoire, "...I think we found mine right over here."

Vert was the first to catch on to Croire's gesture and placed her hands together, "Oh, how wonderful! Having you both in our event will surely turns heads our way."

"Wait, what?!" Histoire exclaimed as soon as she heard Vert's words.

"Heeeey, not too shabby of an idea, Vert and Darksty." Neptune said as her usual smile came back, "We haven't seen Histy in action since the Re;Birth Trilogy, so having her compete would be a breath of fresh air."

"Not if you count the new Reverse game on the LS5 as her being playable." Noire pointed out. To which Uni perked up and said, "Wait! Are we allowed to talk about that Remaster of a Remake?"

"Hey, I've heard about Reverse! Is that any good?" Uzume asked. Adult Neptune looked away, "Ehhh, not sure how I feel about 'Previously on Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1' being left in the transcript..."

"Goodness, you know you messed up if you can't even update the name of the game." Nepgear said with disappointment in her voice.

Back to Histoire, who had taken a whole three minutes to process what happened, "A-Are you seriously lumping me into this tournament?!"

"We need more reps from every nation in Gamindustri, human or not. So I don't see why you can't join in." Blanc said in approval to Histoire's rather forced inclusion, "...In fact, you guys gave me an idea of another pair I want to discuss this with back in Lowee."

"We should probably get on that ourselves, actually. This Prologue chapter has gone on for a while." Neptune said as she got up from her seat with a hop.

"I think the overall story will be going over the limit at this rate, Neptune." Noire said as she stood up and turned around, "Thanks for having us over, by the way. Let's get out of here and break through the limits of our sanity, Uni!"

"Whatever you say, Noire... Bye, Nepgear! See you at the tournament!" Uni shouted as she ran off after Noire.

"Oh! Um... see you later, Uni." Nepgear said as she waved bye.

"Guess we'd better rehearse our commentary, Rom." Ram said as she bounced up and down like the child she was. Rom gave a shy smile and nodded, "Uh huh, uh huh! This is gonna be so fun!"

Blanc was about to stand up as well, before she looked over at Vert, who had a troubled look on her face. The Loweean CPU tapped her on the arm lightly to get her attention, "What's up, Vert? Nervous?"

Vert gazed over at Blanc before letting out a sigh, "Haa... I suppose I should be. Given how one innocent kart race turned into a worldwide competition that, based on how your own games go for some, are able to tear apart friends in an instant."

"You did tempt fate with the 'What could possibly go wrong?' cliche back then." Blanc said with an impression of Vert to try and lighten the mood. Then she added, "But I'll take a shot at it and say that this tournament could've been worse."

"How so? Could it it have just been us competing amongst ourselves by journeying around Gamindustri, fighting monsters and earning money in order to impress a king and marry a princess?"

"Ah...! Hahahahahahahaha..." Blanc started laughing awkwardly, with Vert finding herself with nothing more to say as the remainder of the party went to make their own preparations.

...or dragging Histoire to a special 'hang out' portal, in Croire's case.


One month and a half later...

"Hellooooooo, Gamindustri! And welcome to our live coverage for Day 1 of the Gamindustri Party Superstars Tournament!" One of four girls spoke up in the Nepstation Studio room.

The girl that spoke first was a fair-skinned girl with bright teal-green eyes. She has long blonde hair worn in a ponytail held by a red ribbon shaped like lightning bolts with white and black accenting. Her outfit consists of a black tank top with a white band going across the bottom with two blue jagged lines going across it, one darker then the other. At the neck is a red tie with lines of black and white. She also wears a pair of white short shorts with a red and black belt with a white buckle and a pulse line, black fingerless gloves ending above her elbows with white frilled cuffs, and above the knee black boots with red bands below the cuff. "I'm but one of four hosts and commentators for this event: the Game Reporter of Lastation, Dengekiko! And joining up with me on this exciting game day are...!"

"As always, the Game Reporter of Planeptune, Famitsu!" Another excited girl spoke up next to Dengekiko. Famitsu is a fair-skinned girl with bright green eyes. She has long, dull orange hair worn in a ponytail with spiked messy bangs and a gold crown clip on the side of her head. She wears a red and white top with yellow accenting and six red buttons going down the chest, along with a blue skirt with a pair of suspenders and a big red bow pinned to the side, orange and white sleeves, and big, cartoon-inspired white gloves. "We've got something exciting planned for our 32 competitors today! But Dengekiko did mention four hosts and commentators, so let's say hello to the other duo joining us both on Nepstation!"

Both Dengekiko and Famitsu then looked down to a familiar pair of pink & blue twins next to them, holding their personal colored mics in their small hands. The shy blue twin perked up, "O-Oh! Hi. I-I'm Rom, CPU Candidate of Lowee and the oldest White Sister twin. I hope my commentary will be funny and e-entertaining for everyone watching. Or reading, as Miss Neptune would've put it..."

"And backing up Rom and the two lovely ladies' fiery energy is the youngest of the White Sister twins, CPU Candidate Ram! That's me!" The twin in pink spoke up.

"You saw it right, folks. Lowee's CPU candidates are joining me and Famitsu on the booth." Dengekiko said while facing the camera. Famitsu's free hand rubbed the back of her head, "While we can't go into to great of detail, other than personal issues with the other Great Summer Grand Prix competitors, having Ladies Rom and Ram here on commentary is certainly a change of pace for Dengekiko and myself."

"Funny you mentioned that, Miss Famitsu." Rom spoke up with glee, "Almost half of the Superstar Tournament line up also raced with Ram and me in the Grand Prix! Isn't that exciting?"

"Are they now?" Dengekiko visibly perked up a little, "What do you say we check out the competition and see for ourselves?"

"Ooh, I hope everyone's as excited for this Tournament as we are!" Ram bounced as everyone in the room looked over at the monitor behind them that showed a central field with more than enough people to fill the large space.


Party Tournament Gathering Arena

"32 Competitors, 16 Pairs, 8 four-player matches at the start, 4 Nations, 2 Goddesses who's names include Nep in them, only 1 Gamindustri Superstar!" Neptune called out as she pranced around the arena, "Hope everyone's excited as I am, for Super Neptunia Party!"

"Please stop giving Iffy and Compa more ideas than they're allowed to work with, big sis..." Nepgear said as she looked to the side with her arms folded. To which Neptune responded with, "Aww come on. I was just living things up for our reading audience."

Sighing at Neptune's comment that always makes her feel sorry for whoever built the 4th wall in the first place, Nepgear looked around at the arena and saw who was competing, "Quite the cast of competitors we have here."

In addition to the 7 pairs that were present in the racing Tournament, as well as the team of Croire and Histoire replacing Rom and Ram for... reasons... there were 8 more pairs of competitors to join in on the fun tournament.

Leading off the Makers were the infamous duo of IF and Compa. IF stood tall and proud as she gazed up at the sky from where she was at, with Compa looking all around to try and find what her pal Iffy was looking for.

Falcom slapped her cheeks and bounced up and down in excitement for the tournament, with MarvelousAQL behind her as she punched and kicked the air, wiping of sweat from her forehead afterwards.

Cave stood by herself in a far corner of the room near the entrance. Her partner, 5pb., was playing her song for the Opening Ceremony of the Party Tournament, so she was waiting for that to wrap up before the Tourney kicked off.

Nitroplus sat on the floor in meditation... or was trying to, but God Eater was hyping herself up for the big tournament and could barely contain her excitement, leaving Nitroplus with a slight lack of mental focus for the upcoming event.

Two more teams of CPU assistants were formed after the idea of Histoire, Planeptune's Oracle, was enlisted to join. The first pair was Kei Jinguchi and Chika Hakozaki, Oracles of Lastation and Leanbox respectfully.

Chika was looking in a hand mirror, making absolutely sure she looked perfect for her darling Vert... and the Tournament of course. Her partner Kei was busy reading a rulebook and item list of the Gamindustri Superstar Party Tournament, as she wanted to be the most effective Party Player she can be.

Mina Nishizawa, the Oracle of Lowee, was adjusting her hat as she gazed at the arena around her. She looked to her right and saw that Financier, Blanc's maid and Mina's partner for the Tournament, had brought her light snacks for everyone to enjoy, and she had one in her hand to share with Mina.

Rei Ryghts, the one who founded the Citizen's Group that used to cause problems for the CPU's long before the Shift Period & Kurome were dealt with, slightly fidgitted in sheer nervousness as she wasn't used to being surrounded by tons of people. Also because she was partnered with Plutia, a CPU from UltraDimension. She seemed docile on the surface as she beamed in glee over the hype and excitement of the tournament. But cross Plutia, and things might get ugly...

The final pair for the Tournament, also from UltraDimension like Plutia, were former members of UltraDimension's Seven Sages. Abness tapped her foot on annoyance at the lack of little girls (that were not CPUs) gathered around the arena. Behind her was Anonydeath, who had a built-in video streaming device that played a muted video involving Noire and her... well, her hobby may not be a secret anymore, but if anyone took advantage of it like Anonydeath once tried to do in the anime, there'd still be hell to pay.

"You bet your sweet Fijian Water there will be, Narrator!" Noire exclaimed and pointed to the sky with a finger gun. ...Then she lowers her head and lets out an aggravated groan, "Nnnngh, great. Now she's got me doing it."

"...Do I even wanna know what you just referenced?" Uni asked her sister about her first comment. Noire straightened herself out and said, "Probably not."

"Oooooh!" Neptune blinked and looked around with her pretend binaculars, "Yepparoo! If you look up chaos in the dictionary, a group picture of all of us will definitely be there!"

"Not all of us, Big Sis. Cave's partner isn't done with the opening ceremony." Nepgear pointed out. Neptune turned to her younger yet taller sister, "So are we waiting on her so the story can advance? Because this whole chapter has been nothing but explanations and tutorials."

"Not without a word of warning first, Neptune."

Upon hearing her Oracle's voice, Neptune looked over and saw both of the small fairies riding on their books over to the Planeptunian Sisters. Croire held up a hand and gave a simple "Yo!"

"H-Hi..." Nepgear waved back at Croire.

Neptune looked over at Histoire and asked her, "What did you mean by 'word of warning', Histy? What trigger word do you have that will make my Anticipation ability activate?"

"A single word from me would just fly by your head, as any of my lectures tend to do." Histoire said as she floated down to Neptune's eye level, "I'm merely informing you that I will show no mercy to you should we face each other in the tournament."

"I see you've calmed down enough to want to partake in the festivities, Histy." Neptune snarked a little before offering her rebuttal, "Just so long as we have a fun time and I can make my way to the top, we're guchi."

"I don't see how you winning this thing will be fun for *everyone*..." Croire said with snark in her voice.

Histoire, refusing to let Neptune counter Croire, flew closer to her face and glared, "In case you did not understand the first time, I am afraid you won't be advancing past any round, should our teams of two face off each other."

"W-Why? You don't think the Credits I'll win will help out Planeptune in the slightest?" Neptune said with 'confusion' in her own voice.

"If it were left to you, our entire basilicom would be full of pudding, games, consoles for said games, and more than enough mini-fridges full of the all that pudding."

"Nepgear!" Neptune yelled at her sister's matter-of-fact tone of voice. She looked back at Histoire with a small sigh, "Haaaa, okay so the beans were spilt as to what I would do. But come on, you've gotta keep things fair for us."

"Precisely why you of all CPU *must* be kept in check, or who knows what random plothole you'll try to shove into the overall story." Histoire said followed by a finger point, "So make no mistake. If worst comes to worst, I will help Nepgear win the tournament."

"Then I guess I'll keep an eye on you as we advance to the finals, Histy." Neptune said with a fierce look on her smiling face.

Nepgear had a nervous smile on her face as she giggled to herself, "Hehehe. Those two are getting along surprisingly well."

"Ummm... in what regard?" Croire asked the CPU Candidate. Nepgear looks over at Croire and shrugs her shoulders, "I don't know. I just felt like saying it."

Croire sighed to herself in annoyance. Then, from the corner of her eye, she saw what appeared to be a small bench with snacks laid around. Though the small area made little sense to her, she was admittedly bored of waiting around for nothing to happen. No announcements, no staff introductions, no drawing tickets-

Okay, so the tickets are coming up soon. But at that moment to Croire, when the hell was 'soon'?

"...Hey Lilac, I'm gonna grab a snack while we wait for stuff to happen. Wanna come with?"

Nepgear looked at Croire with immense confusion, "Huh? You're gonna go eat? ...Do Tomes need to eat?"

"Nope. But it gives us something to pass the time between chapters." Croire answered as she flew over to the snack area. Nepgear saw where Croire was going, then she gazed back at Histoire and Neptune, "Uh, is it okay if I go-"

Both Oracle and CPU were locked in a Rivalry Glare with sparks flashing between them, "Hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngh!"

"...Screw it! See you all next chapter, folks!" Nepgear shouted and ran over to the snack area while passing some other competitors, "Save some food for me, Croire!"