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

Chapter 25

As she flew South, Rainbow Heart looked at Peashy in confusion. "I know you're stronger than that, how come..?"

"Pea didn't want to hurt them. Pea was fighting the bad energy too." Peashy muttered as she shifted around to look up at Rainbow Heart. "Pea thinks they're good people and CPUs shouldn't hurt good people."

Rainbow Heart sighed softly. "I wish I could avoid that problem."

Peashy gave her younger sister a sad look. "Neptuna will find a way."

"If she knew of a way, she would have done something about it already." Rainbow Heart told her as they touched down on the edge of a forest. "Now we just..." She trailed off as a purple portal opened up and the bigger Neptune stumbled out of it. "Mom!? What happened?!"

"Nep...Tuna?" Peashy blinked as she looked at the bigger Neptune. "...Sexy Neptuna!"

Despite having scrapes on her body and some dirt on her face, Neptune laughed and rubbed the back of her head. "It's okay, just a disagreement with Miss Busty and Nepgear."

"...Do you mean Beru Beru?" Both Peashy and Stadia, who had transformed back into her human form, asked at the same time. Neptune gave them a confused look and Stadia sighed.

"Hot blonde that looks to be in her late twenties, green eyes, boobs that are big enough to make a cow jealous, turns into a green-haired woman with purple eyes with even bigger boobs and probably could be milked to feed an entire orphanage of babies for a month."

Neptune laughed and nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like Miss Busty." Really, she liked the blonde, her boobs were awesome and she didn't have any problem with letting people fondle her boobs, unlike some women that she had met in the various different dimensions.

Peashy suddenly realized something. "Hey, how come there's a piggy here?"

"Huh?" Neptune looked down at the Ran Pig that was walking on the ground. "Huh, I have no clue, must be a lost piggy."

"Ran Ran!" The so-called pig answered

Stadia sweat-dropped, but didn't say anything. A person with a pig's face that acted like a pig wasn't the weirdest or worst thing she had seen in her life after all.

Her mother going through pudding withdrawal was the worst thing she had ever lived through. 'Even that Angel bitch from Celestia won't let mom go through that again.'

"Hey! Didn't S-Sha need a million Ran pigs for her ritual?!" Croire yelled and Neptune's eyes went white and blank. "You dumb-ass! Now the ritual's going to fail and who knows what that moody psychopath will do?!"

"Eh, I'm sure it'll be fine." Neptune smiled stupidly. "I'm sure that Miss Busty and my little sister can handle her."

Stadia looked at Peashy, who gave her a similar contemplative look on her face. "Isn't S-Sha part of the Gold Third?" Peashy nodded. "And didn't they beat mom when teamed up?"

"Pea thinks they were like her when Pea was the CPU of Eden." Peashy pointed out and Stadia nodded, instantly understanding.

Stadia blushed as her stomach let out a loud growl. "Ah heh, sorry, I got mom's appetite and I haven't eaten all day."

"Want to go get some ramen?" Neptune asked and Stadia nodded.

"But where?" Peashy asked. "Here and home know us."

Neptune smiled as she grabbed her Nepnote and a portal opened behind her. "Don't worry, I know some really neat places out there. This place I know has some awesome ramen, just don't show any interest in any cute guys or girls and you won't have to worry about property damage."

Both Peashy and Stadia sweat-dropped but went through the portal with Neptune and the ran pig. Property damage and big fights were something they could deal with, so long as the food was good.

Besides, they were hungry.

(-)

In Planeptune...

Neptune sighed as she dragged herself back into the Basilicom and yawned while B-Sha, IF and Compa all slowly walked behind her. The four of them were dirty, their clothes had small tears on them and they all looked utterly exhausted. As soon as they got into the living area of the Basilicom, the four made their way to the couches and immediately flopped on them. "Urgh, this is why we had two Basilicoms back in the other world." Neptune groaned and reached up to rub her neck. "Ngh, I got a headache. Anyone want to massage my neck?"

"Too tired." The others said and Neptune pouted.

"You had two Basilicoms, though?" IF asked as she shifted slightly.

"Yeah, we had one for work where everyone could go to make requests and leave paperwork and one where we lived." Neptune pointed out. "The one where we lived was remodeled into a big skyscraper and it doubled as a meeting place for diplomats from other places."

"Why'd you have two?" B-Sha asked, curious and wondering how much that would cost to make.

"Plutie had one built before the city was complete, it wasn't that big, but it was our home for decades until we needed to remodel it." Neptune pointed out. "And the other Basilicom was made while the city was being built and we saw no reason to move over there, so we kept our home and work split."

"You were probably lazy and used it as an excuse to not do work." IF pointed out. Neptune shrugged and nodded, not bothering to argue the point. "But, ngh, can't believe I'm saying this, but I miss the lazy you."

Neptune laughed softly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to take a quest of capturing a super fast bird. At least we caught it." The others nodded and groaned as they remembered how much of a pain the quest was.

"Hey, Nep Nep..." Compa spoke up as she looked at her friend who was still laying on her stomach while rubbing her own neck. "I was wondering... Did you have other kids besides those two other CPUs?"

"Yeah." Neptune answered right away. "The you, Iffy and P-Ko in that world were orphans Plutie and I adopted when you were all in diapers." She rolled onto her back and had a whistful smile on her face. "You and Iffy went and grew up and got married on me and Plutie before we knew what happened. Your kids were so cute too!"

Both Compa and IF blushed at what Neptune was telling them. Neither of them could see themselves as some guy's wife, much less having kids.

"You know Ouya and Stadia..." Neptune trailed off and sighed. "I adopted about a dozen other kids and then there's..." She shook her head and sighed. "Don't worry about that." B-Sha, IF and Compa all had confused looks as Neptune had a sad look on her face. "It's just... Other than Ouya, Stadia and P-Ko, all my kids are dead." Neptune shifted so she was sitting up and she pulled her knees up against her chest. "And I can't even have Ouya or Stadia running free because they're forced to fight me and the others." Her eyes started to water up as memories flooded back into her.

*Flash*

Rainbow Heart panted as she and Gray Heart lay on the ground in front of a tired, wounded, but victorious Purple Heart. "...Kill us, mother."

"What?!" Purple Heart gasped at them.

"We're going to fight you when we recover." Rainbow Heart answered and pushed herself to her feet and threw her broken weapon away. "Go ahead... I won't defend myself." She threw her arms to the side and closed her eyes, waiting for the end.

What she got instead was Purple Heart hugging her tightly. "NO!"

"M-Mom?" Rainbow Heart asked, surprised as she felt Purple Heart trembling while hugging her. "What..."

"Never ask me to kill you! You, Ouya, P-Ko or any of my children! You're all precious to me." She tightened her hug on Rainbow Heart. "I love you."

Gray Heart stood up and walked over, getting pulled into the hug as well while Purple Heart sobbed softly, her daughters both crying as they knew that so long as they could transform, they would try to fight and kill their mother.

"I... I'll try to find a way to help you." Purple Heart said to them. "I promise. I'll find a way to free you from your fate."

"No you won't." Rainbow Heart replied. "But... If you do... Can we still be a family?"

"You're always going to be my family." Purple Heart told her. "Even if you end up killing me, you're still my daughters."

*End Flash*

"...ep! Nep! HEY! NEP!" IF yelled and Neptune let out a shriek as she jumped off the couch and landed on the ground. "You zoned out on us."

"Sorry." Neptune answered her. "Just... Thinking about how I failed them." She gave IF a small, sad smile. "I'm pretty pathetic, huh? I can stare down Tyrant Overlords from the Netherworld, free the world from being controlled by aliens and I even stopped the dinosaurs from ruining the world, but I turn into the biggest crybaby when it comes to my kids."

"No you're not, Nep Nep." Compa said and smiled at Neptune as she walked over and knelt down in front of Neptune. "You're a mother, it's okay to cry over your kids."

Neptune smiled at her. "Thanks. Imma nap now." She flopped back, closed her eyes and started to snore lightly, surprising Compa, IF and B-Sha.

"...She must have been tired." IF muttered and she and Compa lifted Neptune up and laid her on the couch while B-Sha grabbed a blanket and put it over Neptune's body, getting a sigh from the sleeping girl. "Still..." IF trailed off and thought about what she knew about Neptune's time in the other world. "...She cares too much." Both B-Sha and Compa looked at her in surprise. "It's a good thing." IF told them. She was about to say something more when she saw Neptune smiling softly in her sleep. "...If she's dreaming, I hope it's a good one."

Both Compa and B-Sha nodded and the three left the room to let Neptune sleep, though they all wondered what Neptune was dreaming about.

(-)

Neptune smiled as she looked around the park at all her friends and her extended family. The youngest kids were playing on the swings and other toys while the teenagers were playing volleyball or baseball and the adults were just mulling and talking to each other.

"Family reunions are fun, huh?" IF, who had some gray in her hair and her brown hair was turning lighter by the day, asked Neptune, who nodded. "But, I don't remember those two..." IF pointed to Ouya and Stadia, who were playing with the other teenagers.

"It's my dream, let me imagine all my family here." Neptune said and her eyes lit up as she saw Nepgear walking into the park with Plutia and a few of her other children.

Neptune didn't care if it was a dream. Her entire extended family being together, even if most of them were dead due to old age, was something that she truly enjoyed and could look forward to.

The only thing that truly hurt was that she could never have this in her life. 'Immortality truly is a curse.' She thought to herself before ignoring it and running to spend time with everyone.

Dream or not, she wasn't going to let her negative emotions bother her while her family was around her.

Neptune being horrible when suffering from Pudding Withdrawal is from "Candidates in Time" by HistyIsPissty.