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

If I posted this as fast as I wrote it, I'd be posting chapters multiple times a day some days.

Chapter 12

A couple of weeks later...

Purple Heart smiled as she walked out onto the balcony of the Basilicom. "Citizens of Lowee, thank you for showing up today." She spoke to the crowd that had gathered. "Even though I am not your CPU, you have welcomed me with open arms and were even willing to listen to my request in regards to CPU Candidate Rom and CPU Candidate Ram." She was relieved at the mostly positive reaction the crowd had and continued on. "While I have enjoyed my time here, I must deliver some news that you may not enjoy now."

There was a murmuring in the crowd and Purple Heart knew that there were people who were at their homes and were watching this.

"As you know, there are other nations in this world." Purple Heart continued to speak, "all of them ruled by their own Voids. I will be traveling to these lands to see the conditions for myself. I do not know what to expect, but the people there, as well as their CPU Candidates, need help." Privately Purple Heart hoped she could at least meet with the CPUs of each of those lands. She didn't know what they were like, but Purple Heart was just hopeful that they would be willing to talk at least. "While I am away, please, continue to put your faith in me. Even if I am far away, so long as I am able to have your faith, I shall be able to fight against the Voids."

The cheers that came from the crowd made her happy.

The fact that she was basically preparing herself to fight against people who looked like her friends did not, however.

(-)

"Nice speech." Chrome said as Purple Heart walked back into the Basilicom. "That should keep your shares up for some time."

Purple Heart nodded as she walked down the hallway with Chrome. "Are the people of the settlement relocated?"

"Yes." Chrome nodded to her. "I went with Linda and Artisan to pick them up. They were skeptical of the fact that White Void was no more, but all of them are happy to be free of her tyranny."

"Good." Purple Heart nodded in relief and turned back into Neptune. "I'd hate for them to dislike being back, ya know? So how about we get this show on the road? I think the plot's been put off long enough, don't you?"

(-)

Several minutes later...

"So this is the ship?" Neptune asked asked as she looked at the ship in question. "It looks like a big boat."

"Yep!" Artisan smiled happily. "It's a remodeled boat that can house a few dozen people. Now it's got propulsion and helicoptor blades so it can fly and land in the water with no problem."

"That's cool. So we can each have our own room, huh?" Neptune asked as she saw Filyn, Gust, Linda and Warechu in front of the boat. "So is this it?" Neptune asked, a little confused by the amount of people. "I thought Compa, Iffy, Rom and Ram would come with too?"

"They're already on board." Linda answered her. "I'm against IF or Compa coming with, but Compa's the only who knows her medical stuff and I don't want IF to miss her daily rubdowns." She blinked at the grin Neptune was giving her. "What?"

"Ooooh! So you rub Iffy down all the time, huh?" Neptune asked, giggling, much to Linda's confusion. "I bet you touch her ALL over!"

"Well... Yeah." Linda gave Chrome a look of confusion while Chrome rolled her eyes. "She needs the lotion everywhere, she has burns all across her body after all."

"Neptune," Chrome spoke up, stopping Neptune from making any further comments, "before you continue, please realize that if IF does not get her daily rub downs that her skin dries up horribly and starts cracking. She once went thirty-six hours in-between rub-downs and her back, rear end, arms, legs and stomach were cracked and splitting open."

"...Oh." Neptune felt like someone had thrown ice cold water all over her. "I'm sorry." She couldn't even imagine how painful that must have been. Just hearing about it made her want to scratch at her own skin.

"It's okay," Chrome said as she walked on, followed by the others with Neptune bringing up the rear.

As she got on board, Neptune looked at Chrome. "Hey, do you mind if I get some sleep on the way there?"

"It's fine." Chrome answered her. "It'll probably take us about five days to get to Leanbox anyway, even by flying."

Neptune nodded and wandered off to the rooms. 'No wonder the nations didn't interact much, if it takes at least five days to get from one nation to the next...' It was easier to ignore problems when they were far away after all.

Chrome sighed as she watched Neptune take off. "Linda, Gust, Warechu, you three need to make sure that this thing stays in the air." At least if something went wrong and they needed to make an emergency landing in the ocean, at least the thing could work like a regular boat.

(-)

After finding an empty room, Neptune walked over to the bed and flopped on it. Sighing, she rolled over and pulled out her cell phone from her inventory and dialed a number.

"Neptune!"

Neptune smiled as she heard her sister's voice. "Hey, Nep Jr., sorry about not calling the past three months."

"Months? Goodness, it's been three days here."

"Hmm, that's good to know." Neptune muttered to herself. "Hey, Nep Jr., do we have anything for really bad burns?"

"Are you okay?"

"Me? I'm fine," Neptune said in such a way that no one would doubt her, "but the Iffy here has a really bad burn on her body and I was wondering if there was anything that could heal her skin."

"Hmm... I think there MIGHT be. I'd have to go to the hospital and ask the doctors there. How bad is it?"

"Pretty bad, Nep Jr. So, um... How are you holding up? I know it kind of sucks dumping that much responsibility on you." Neptune genuinely did feel bad about disappearing on Nepgear again, plus after dealing with Rom and Ram for the past three months and helping them through their trauma, she wanted to hug someone and cry as well.

"I'm fine. Neptune, are you okay?"

Neptune sighed and shook her head as she sat up. "Nepgear... I... I'm really sorry for being a bad big sister to you."

"Goodness, are you STILL blaming yourself for what happened when we were stuck in the Ultradimension and how you acted during that time? Neptune, I already told you that I forgave you for that."

"...No, not that..." Neptune sighed and slumped. "It's really bad over here, Nepgear..."

"...Neptune, if you need to talk, I'll listen. What's going on?"

Neptune's eyes teared up. "How did I get so blessed to have such a good little sister like you? Um, isn't there a big science conference coming up?"

"In a few months here, yeah. What do you..."

"If I get back before it starts, Nepgear, I'd love to go with you to it." Neptune knew she would be bored out of her mind.

She knew that.

But she really missed her little sister and wanted to do things with her.

"Aww, okay, thanks Nep..."

There was a beeping sound and Neptune sighed, knowing the call was dropped. "I guess the difference in time between our dimensions is too much, huh?" Part of her wished that every dimension was on the same time, but that was fine. At least she could have a big adventure and be back before too long. 'Still, three days huh? I better hope it doesn't turn into three weeks, the last time that happened, the country almost fell apart.'

Then again, Rei had been trying to disrupt things and cause chaos during that time too.

Neptune sighed as she sat on her bed, wondering what would happen next.

(-)

At the helm of the ship...

"So..." Linda looked at Chrome. "There's no real information about Leanbox at all." Chrome nodded and Linda turned back to look at the controls of the airship as it moved through the air. "At least this thing is an automatic."

"Yes, way better than the old days where you needed a giant wooden wheel to turn if you wanted to steer a ship." Chrome smirked at Linda. "So many splinters."

"I bet." Linda muttered as she heard the doors to the captain's cabin open up and Gust walked in. "Hey, shorty, need something?"

"Gust doesn't like being reminded that Gust is short." The blue-haired bunny girl grumbled as she looked at Linda in annoyance. "But yes, Gust needs step-stool so Gust can get in and out of bed without falling flat on face."

"Ah, right." Linda muttered and walked out of the room. "I'll show you where it is."

After they left, Chrome walked over to the window and looked out into the ocean below.

But she wasn't looking in the direction they were heading, but rather on the right side of the ship. 'I wonder what Eden's like now.' She thought to herself and wondered if that CPU that had hurt Filyn was still alive or not.

"I wonder..." Chrome whispered softly. "If we end up in Eden... Will that still be there?"

She hoped that was the case. But she didn't have any expectations of that still being in Eden if Eden still existed. "After all, loser CPUs like me don't deserve anything."

(-)

Back in Neptune's room...

Neptune had been trying to get some sleep as she lay on the bed, trying not to think about how things were going when she heard the sound of the door to her room opening up and she saw Rom and Ram poke their heads in. "Hey, you two!" Neptune smiled as she sat up. "What's up?"

"Big sis Neptune..." Ram began nervously. "Can we sleep in here with you?"

"Well, the bed isn't too big, but sure." Neptune smiled as they ran over and sat on the bed with her.

"Um..." Rom began and fidgeted slightly. "You look a little sad."

Neptune sighed and leaned back against the wall. "I'm just thinking about how I'm a bad big sister to Nepgear."

"But you're not a bad big sister." Ram protested with Rom agreeing with her. "You're an awesome big sister!"

Neptune gave her a small smile. "Yeah... But not to her. I'm always disappearing on poor Nep Jr. I'm kind of surprised Histy hasn't just made her into the CPU yet and cut me out completely already."

"Huh?" Ram was confused as she crawled over and leaned against Neptune's right side while Rom did the same on her left side. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it's a little different back home." Neptune began. "Back in Gamindustri while CPUs are born from people's faith and Candidates are as well, if something happens to the CPUs, the Candidates can become the CPU for good." She sighed softly.

"Big sis?" Ram wondered why she looked so... Somber. It was so different.

"Sorry, just thinking of stuff." Neptune smiled at them. "I miss my little sister, you know? She's a bit clumsy with some stuff, but she's a really good girl. You'd like her."

Rom wondered if they'd get to meet Neptune's little sister. 'Even if we can meet her, we have to be the CPUs of this world and Big Sis Neptune has to be a CPU in her world.'

It wasn't fair. Even though she finally had a big sister that was super nice and loving, she couldn't stay forever.

'I... I want big sis to stay here, with me.' Rom tried not to start crying all of a sudden, she knew Neptune would be worried if she did.

But at the same time, she couldn't help but want to keep the person who made her feel safe, warm and loved around.

'It's just not fair.' Rom couldn't fight back the tears and buried her face into Neptune's chest, sobbing softly while both Ram and Neptune were concerned.

She didn't want to lose her big sister, why did life have to be so unfair?

To be continued...

What? You thought we'd be in Leanbox in this chapter? Nope!