Hyperdimension Neptunia is owned by Sega, Idea Factory and Compile Heart and whomever else worked on it.

Things aren't always as they seem after all.

Chapter 15

"There's nothing you can do for them, Neptune." Noire said as she looked at the tubes that Neptune put Ouya and Stadia into. "Just grant their request already." She sighed when Neptune didn't answer her and just looked straight ahead. "Do you like the thought of those two being used as weapons every time they're awake? To be forced to fight and kill?"

"I can't do it, Noire." Neptune balled her hands into fists. "I'll find a way to undo the effects of that on them and let them live normal lives."

"Yeah," Noire scoffed at her, "good luck with that." She sighed at the look of determination that was on her friend's face. "Neptune, I've known you for centuries now, I know you're going to try and help them, but you can't help them. The only way to help them would be to strip them of their CPU powers so they can't be used as weapons anymore. Sealing them in their human forms didn't work."

Neptune balled her hands into fists. "I don't care, Noire. I don't care, I can't.." Tears fell out of her eyes. "I can't give up on them. They deserve a happy ending. They never got the chance to live normal lives."

Noire gave her friend a soft look and sighed as she walked over and pulled the shorter CPU into a hug. "Fine, I'll do some research as well, but I don't know if we'll ever have a chance to help them."

Neptune hugged Noire back and nodded, thankful for the support. "At least they can have nice dreams about a life where they don't have to be used as weapons."

Noire nodded. "Yeah." After a moment, she let go of the hug and walked off when Neptune did the same. Stopping at the door, she turned to look at Neptune. "You tell anyone that I hugged you and I'll deny it."

"Of course, Bully Heart." Neptune stuck her tongue out at the tsundere who grumbled and walked off.

(-)

Groaning as she woke up, Neptune slowly pushed herself into a sitting position and looked around. "...My room? When did I get here?" She dismissed it as she remembered that IF and Compa had been with her and had probably pulled her into the Basilicom. Sighing softly, Neptune pulled out a picture from her inventory and smiled at it.

In it, she was smiling happily with Plutia, who was smiling kindly, Noire, who was laughing, Peashy, who had a look of determination and sparkles in her eyes, Blanc, who was smirking and Vert, who was looking like she was calling after them to be careful or something. All of them were at a river with Ouya and Stadia, both of whom had looks of wonder and shock on their face as Neptune had a fishing pole in her hands and was yanking out a fish as big as Peashy.

"I thought those days would last forever." Neptune said softly as she ran a finger over the picture, smiling with some sadness as she remembered how the trip ended with Ouya accidentally knocking over a wasp hive and the group having to run away as fast as possible. "Hee hee, Plutia got stung in the butt and Vert had stings on her boobs." She and Blanc had teased Vert about that for months afterwords.

Teasing Plutia about it was a quick way to get her to tap into her Sadie personality, even if she wasn't in HDD.

Neptune put the picture away and looked up as the door to her room opened up and Compa and Histoire entered. "Heya."

"Nep Nep!" Compa smiled at her friend. "Are you okay? You kind of freaked out and shut down out there." Neptune nodded, smiling at her. "That's good."

"Indeed." Histoire said as she floated closer to Neptune. "IF gave me a run-down of what happened in Harada City. She's currently checking in with the guild to make sure that there's no more monsters on the way." Neptune nodded, glad to have IF as someone who was so serious. "Neptune, what happened? IF told me that this is the second time you've frozen up upon seeing someone."

"...I can't do it, Histy." Neptune told her and Histoire looked confused. "Ouya and Stadia... They want me to kill them. I can't, I..." Her eyes watered up. "I promised them I'd find a way to save them and we'd all reach the happy ending together. I don't want them to have to go through a bad ending."

Histoire closed her eyes, nodded once before opening them and creating a large energy hand to flick Neptune in the forehead, causing her to fall on her butt. "Okay, now that you've calmed down," she said as the finger disappeared while Compa stared with blank white eyes in shock, "Neptune, you need to tell me who those two are."

"...They're CPUs from the other world." Neptune told Histoire. "...And..." Her eyes clouded over as memories came back to her, of seeing Plutia, Peashy, Noire, Vert and Blanc all cut up and bloody, of her own injuries, of the injuries Ouya and Stadia had taken when fighting them, "they don't deserve what they've suffered through." She blinked to clear her eyes. "I want to help them. But I've tried and tried. Nothing I've done can help them."

"Neptune," Histoire spoke up and crossed her arms, "you're talking in circles, please, tell me, how do you want to help them?"

"I want to remove their HDD forms so they can't be used as weapons anymore." Neptune answered Histoire and looked down in shame. "I know that a CPU's true self is their HDD self, but those two were never given a chance and..."

"Is that all?" Histoire asked and Neptune snapped her head up to stare at her. "Have you forgotten that I've been around since the first generation CPU, Neptune?"

"Then..?" Neptune asked with hope in her eyes. "You can help them?"

"I'd have to see them personally, but I might be able to... If you give me..." She held up three fingers, "three days of research."

The next thing Histoire knew, Neptune was hugging her so tightly that she had all the air forced out of her lungs while thanking her over and over again.

"Um, Nep Nep..." Compa sweat-dropped. "If you keep hugging Histy like that, you might kill her, she's turning blue." She giggled while Neptune let out a surprised squeak and let go of Histoire, who took a deep, gasping breath of air to recover.

(-)

Meanwhile in Leanbox...

Nepgear bit back a yelp of fright as someone told her to come out of the bushes. "Yikes! I hope it's someone friendly." She crawled out of the bushes and stood up. "I'm... Huh? Vert?"

"Nepgear?" Vert asked, sighing in relief as she saw a familiar and friendly face. "Oh, I am so glad that..." She trailed off as Nepgear suddenly glomped onto her, crying about being shot down over the ocean. "Oh, I see, you were the one who was invading our airspace, huh?" She asked rhetorically and rubbed Nepgear's back. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm better now." Nepgear sighed as she rested her head on Vert's breasts. "Thank you, big sis."

Vert smiled and held Nepgear for several more minutes. "I remember when you refused to call me that, even months after Neptune disappeared, yet here you are..."

"You helped take care of me." Nepgear said as she let go of the hug. "I still love Neptune as my big sister, but..." Nepgear blushed and poked her fingers together. "I hope I'm not two-timing her."

Vert put her hand over her mouth and giggled softly. "Well, I'm sure that the NTR artists in my doujin circles would love to use this story." Nepgear pouted, knowing what Vert was talking about and even seeing some of those doujins herself.

"No offense, big sis, but I'm not into you or big sister like that."

"None taken, Nepgear." Vert smiled at her. "Though I certainly won't say no if you ever change your mind." She winked as Nepgear blushed hard and stuttered. "Now that we've got our sisterly banter out of the way, why don't you tell me what's going on?"

Nepgear sobered up and nodded, explaining about what was happening in the other nations.

"I see, then Neptune is fine." Vert was thankful for that, though she hoped that Noire and Blanc were okay as well. "I'd love to take you back to my hotel room and give you a complete and thorough..." She said the word with such breathlessness that Nepgear gulped and blushed, knowing that such a thing was dangerous with Vert when she was in such a mood, "cleaning, I'm afraid that I must decline for now. There's a chance that there's a Demon King here."

Nepgear's eyes widened. "That's right! That's why I'm here!" She pulled out a thin notebook and flipped it open to show Vert. "Neptune gave me this notebook and said that if we ran across any of these enemies that we need to run very far away and get her because they could destroy the world."

"I see." Vert said with a serious look on her face as she looked the pictures over. "Hmm... Some of these truly look dangerous, though they all look like they aren't much different than us outside of the ears and eyes."

"I know, I was studying it when I was coming over." Nepgear pointed out as they read some of the entries over. "There's a note at the end that these are only the worst ones that Neptune knows personally and some from rumors and that there were likely others even worse out there."

"Good to know." Vert nodded and put the notebook away to study it later. "Let us go and see if this Demon King is here or not."

"Yes." Nepgear nodded and the two made their way through Halo Forest to find the Demon King.

A few minutes later, the two would come face to face with a creature they had never seen before. "Vert!" Nepgear gasped as they came upon a weird creature defeating some monsters in the forest. "A... Blue penguin? With peg legs?"

"And it's using knives." Vert nodded, noticing that it was beaten up and panting.

"Dood..." The penguin groaned as several plant monsters surrounded it. "I won't stop! Bring it on! I've seen scarier things in Master Neptune's underwear drawer, dood!"

"Wait, it knows Neptune?!" Nepgear gasped and looked at Vert as they nodded and transformed, flying in to take care of the monsters that were threatening the creature, causing it to fall on its butt.

"Dood?" The penguin blinked as it looked at the two CPUs, who transformed back into their human forms. "Master Vert?!" The penguin gasped in shock. "What are you doing here, dood?!"

Vert blinked in surprise. "You... Know me?" The penguin nodded. "Well, I'm sorry, I don't know you."

"You threw me when I pointed out that it looked like your boobs were starting to... Oh!" The penguin stood up straight. "You're not showing your boobs off as much as usual! Usually I can almost see down your dress when you're bent over, but you're wearing a different outfit, dood!"

"Wait, you're from the world my sister was in?" Nepgear asked and the penguin blinked and tilted its head.

"Oh! You're Master Neptune's little sister! I'm so used to only meeting her daughters and friends, dood!" The penguin held up a flipper. "I'm Master Neptune's personal butler, dood! Pudding Prinny! I'm a Prinny that Master Neptune named Pudding Prinny, but you can call me Pudding!"

"Neptune has daughters?" Nepgear asked, her eyes white and blank. "I'm an aunt?! AHHHHH!"

Vert had a contemplative look on her face as she ignored Nepgear's freakout. "How are you here then? Histoire told us that she couldn't reach the other world that Neptune was in because the dimensions were sealed off."

"Because I was helping clean up a mess in Celestia, dood!" The Prinny gave Vert a salute. "But then I was going to come back to Master Neptune and she wasn't there anymore, so the Archangel opened a portal and sent me here instead."

"I'm surprised that Neptune would have a butler." Vert muttered and thought about an even lazier Neptune than the one that had left three years ago. "Wait, couldn't have Neptune used that method to return here sooner?"

"Ah!" Pudding put its flippers against its face. "I don't know, dood! I know that Master Neptune wasn't happy with some of the Angels for one reason or another."

"WHO'S MY BROTHER-IN-LAW?!" Nepgear suddenly yelled, causing both Vert and Pudding to gawk at her. "And how..." She blushed. "Oh my! That means that big sister got married... I bet her honeymoon was really good and..."

"Nah, Master Neptune hasn't gotten married." Pudding pointed out and ignored Nepgear. "Plus the Archangel said something about not seeing this world before until now. Something about a tunnel portal open that connects this world, another world and Master Neptune's world."

"Hmm, that must be from when Neptune managed to go from the other world to Zero Dimension to this world then." Vert theorized and nodded. "Well, ah... Are you male or female?"

"I'm a Prinny! We don't have genders, dood, well, most of us, plus I was a voyeur in my past life."

Vert sweat-dropped. "And you're telling me this... Why?"

"Because I might hack your systems and use it to peek at you while you change, dood?" Pudding said and hung its head. "Prinnies are souls of petty criminals in life, dood, so we get turned into this to repay our sins."

"AHHHH!" Nepgear let out another scream and both Pudding and Vert looked at her. "That means that Neptune was doing adult things without being married!"

"...Don't let her meet Master Plutia or Master Peashy then, dood." Pudding pointed out.

"...Why do you say, dood all the time?"

"Because, dood, we're forced to say it in our sentences." Pudding pointed out to Vert.

"AHHH!" Nepgear's eyes were white and blank. "Neptune's done very naughty things for real! Ahhh!"

"Master Neptune said that her sister was weird, but this is just... Weird, dood."

Vert sighed and looked at Pudding. "You're welcome to come with us, but things get rough, I hope that's okay."

"When Master Peashy decides she wants to play rough, nothing phases you, dood." Pudding nodded at Vert, who walked over to Nepgear and tried to calm her down. Pudding looked around at the forest. "But this is a really nice place." When Vert called out, the Prinny turned and followed after them.

"Tell me, Pudding..." Vert looked ahead while they exited Halo Forest, "are you a fighter?"

"Nope!" Pudding shook its head. "I can protect myself, Master Neptune and any baby Master Neptune has, but don't ask me to fight a final boss, dood."

Nepgear looked at Pudding with her eyebrows twitching like crazy. "...How many kids has Neptune had?"

"Hmm... I think... Well, most of them are dead now because of time, but she raised over a dozen kids." The prinny nodded. "And even then, most of those were just until they got adopted by regular people."

Vert raised an eyebrow. "I think I'm beginning to put the pieces together. Neptune adopted several children, huh?" Pudding nodded at her. "That's very good of her."

"Twelve kids?!" Nepgear gawked as she felt her fingers twitching. "TWELVE KIDS?! WHAT HAPPENED OVER THERE?!"

"Twelve kids in a thousand years isn't that many, dood." Pudding pointed out. "Though, if Master Neptune had any lovers, I don't know, I was always cleaning the Basilicom and carrying paperwork around. Histoire was too small to do anything."

Vert realized that Nepgear was going to be focused on the fact that Neptune had children and not on how she had those children for awhile. "Well, regardless, would you like to come with us, Pudding Prinny? We'll make sure you get back to Neptune."

"THANKS, DOOD!" The Prinny saluted at Vert, who smiled and sighed as Nepgear muttered something about being too young to be an aunt. "Nepgear, we don't age. If Neptune really did have children with a man, you should be happy for her."

Nepgear snapped out of her funk and looked at Vert with tears in her eyes. "That means that I'm old!"

Vert felt her eye twitching. "Nepgear... Dear sister..." She said in a tone of voice that had both Nepgear and Pudding stiffening. "If you don't calm down right this instant, I'm going to reenact some of the doujins about the two of us in the bath with you when we get back to the hotel."

"EEEK!" Nepgear's hair stood straight up and she started sweating. "Right! Right! No more whining about being old or Neptune's love life and children!"

Vert smiled at her. "Good. Now, let's get back so I can wash you down. I smell too."

Pudding looked at Nepgear, who had a defeated look on her face. "Does she lewd you in the bath?"

"Other than fondling my boobs and rubbing my butt, no." Nepgear admitted with a blush. "And Neptune liked to grope my boobs too, to see how I was growing, so it's not a big deal to me."

"Ah!" Pudding nodded as it followed after them. "Can I join you both in the bath, dood?"

"You just want to peep on us, huh?" Vert asked with a raised eyebrow. Pudding just rubbed the back of its head. "That's up to Nepgear, but I have no problem with it."

"Eh?! You want to let a penguin peep on us?!" Nepgear asked in shock. Vert just smiled and she calmed down slightly. "Well, you are Neptune's butler, I guess it would be okay."

Pudding tilted its head and wondered if Nepgear and Vert were exhibitionists that got a thrill from being watched while being naked or something. 'Oh well, I don't mind.'

Pudding will be like Umio, only showing up in non-combat situations. I wasn't going to go to Leanbox, as that was going to be left mostly the same, but some of you wanted to look in on Vert, so... Here, she has a Prinny, named Pudding, there as well.