i tried to combine the two chapters that i said were going to be short into one, and then decided to split them again lmao
and for those who are wondering, im planning to have all the other seven hd goddesses have their time with blanny, including noire and uni, just that some will show up much later / have more time than others
The "friendly spar" between White and Iris Heart begins immediately with a deafening clash of blades. The former pushes her strength further, to which the latter meets her demand with a similar but still weaker force. Before White Heart could push her power through, a smirk appears on her opponent's face, and she unexpectedly jumps backwards and strikes her with a lightning strike before Lowee's CPU can react.
"Ugh, damn you!" Now with a distance between the two, White Heart makes it an effort to immediately re-close the gap as soon as possible.
Given her reaction to that attack, Iris Heart finds a perfect response: "Come on, Blanny, show me your power with your own two hands! If you can, that is!" Using her weapon's and attacks' longer range, she slowly but steadily racks up successive hits while staying just out of range, leaving White Heart yet to score one.
Naturally, the tank-like CPU's anger builds up. "You wanna play like that?!" Right when her opponent least expects it, White Heart uses Gefahrlichtern as quickly as possible. It doesn't matter that the ice bullets did little damage to Iris Heart; their distraction is good enough. "Heads up, thot!" she yells as she's already right in her face with Getter Ravine before slamming her target down from ten feet in the air into the ground, shattering the pristine park scenery.
"Wow, never heard Blanc say that before." As they're fiercely fighting, the other CPUs simply move to the side and spectate.
"What does 'thot' mean?" Rom asks Neptune.
"Oh, just another insult," Vert hastily explains. She tries to make it seem as uninteresting as possible so that the twins don't think of it as anything to be worth using.
"Oh, really! Hey, Rom, you're a thot!" Ram gleefully shouts.
"Ram…"
Neptune falls over, rolling around while obnoxiously laughing at that exchange. "Ha! Guess the apple doesn't fall far from the orchard, or whatever!" Her reaction provides instant gratification for Ram, smugly smiling at her quick learning.
"...Well, I tried." Vert gives a defeated sigh.
As they're having this nonchalant and casual conversation, Blanny has her eyes glued to the fight. It's not like she wants to; all of this violence, particularly from White Heart, is undeniably scaring her the most out of the crowd, but this is what she came here for: to learn more about what her past self was like. Every single insult and brash move her counterpart makes, which contrasts her own meek and unsure style, makes her wince. Yet, this is also a reminder that she was once like this, and that this is what everyone, including herself, is trying to restore her to. No matter how much she doesn't like it, she keeps pushing herself to watch more of the duel.
Neptune notices her gaze after her laugh while the others are enthralled by the fight. "Digging the show, Blanny?"
"Um…" Noticing the others, their indifference comes to a surprise to her. "...Is this normal?"
"Mhm, more or less," she replies. "So, whaddaya think? Your other self's pretty rockin', huh?"
What should be a simple yes or no question sends Blanny into a pensive state. She's having a hard time forming an opinion of "herself."
"Uhh, Gamindustri to Blanny; you there?"
"...Huh? Oh! Um…" She continues to try formulating an answer. At the same time, on top of thinking about her opinion, she's also occupied thinking about how Neptune will react to her response.
After a minute passes, Nepgear notices the silence between the two, realizes the situation Blanny's in, and asks her, "Hey, before I forget, Falcom told me earlier you wanted to ask me something."
"...Oh, that's right!" This is much easier to address and quickly abandons trying to answer Neptune's question. "But...I wanted to, you know, ask it when no one else is around."
"Ooh, does Blanny have a love confession?" Neptune dramatically gasps. "Is this another addition to Nep Jr.'s growing sister harem?!"
"Neptune! This is probably something serious!" shouts Nepgear, before turning to Blanny with a smile. "We can go somewhere else if you want."
Blanny gives one glance back at the fight, which doesn't seem any more pleasant to watch than before, and gives a quick nod.
"There should probably be a safe and quiet place around that area." Nepgear points towards the orange forest, then silently walks over there with Blanny following.
Neptune is keen on being sneaky and tries to eavesdrop on them, but Iris Heart crash lands not too far from her.
"C'mon, did you run out of sexually charged quips? If so, that makes this steamroll so much easier!" White Heart shouts from above.
"Are you gonna take that, Sadie? C'mon, give it to her good!" hollers her fellow Planeptunian CPU, reinvested in the fight.
"Took the words out of my lips, Neppy," scowls Iris Heart while standing up.
"Get 'er, Blanc! You gotta win if you're our big sis...sort of!" rallies Ram.
"Uh huh, uh huh!"
While previously pissed off at Ram, White Heart can't help but smile at her and Rom's cheering before directing her attention at her opponent.
Vert is next to be concerned with how this fight is affecting Blanny, but looking around, she finds her, as well as Nepgear, absent from the group. "...Now where did they go?" They all seem rather distracted; Vert seems sure they won't mind if she takes a quick look-around to see where they wandered off to.
(-)
In the much quieter and more peaceful clearing, Nepgear and Blanny are sitting on a log, where Blanny can take time to observe this Lowee's scenery again.
"So, what's up? Don't be afraid to ask me anything!" says the CPU Candidate, trying to be as assuring as possible.
"...Oh! Yeah…" If Nepgear brought her here specifically for her to ask this question, then Blanny guesses she ought to. She can ask what was bothering her earlier afterwards. She takes a breath and asks, "Falcom said to ask you about how your fight against the 'Deity of Sin?' affected you."
"Hm, the Deity of Sin incident...yeah, sure thing!" Nepgear is rather enthused that Blanny is curious about this and already knows which parts would interest her the most. "It all started several years ago, maybe a decade. Back then, I had barely seen anything of the world outside of my Basilicom, so I was really dependent on Neptune for everything. I just saw her as someone who could solve everyone's problems, including mine. When the strongest of the Deity of Sin's followers took all of the CPUs down all by herself, I didn't know what to think or say; I just stood there and let her capture me. Even after my friends came to save us, they could only afford to save one of us, and when they chose me, I still felt so worthless and wondered why not any of the others.
"But, it was thanks to my friends' support, and maybe a little bit of shoving, that I was finally able to start doing something against the enemy. And after that, they helped me at every point of the journey until the very end!"
"Wow...really?" She still has trouble grasping how important Nepgear is making her friends seem.
"Yeah! If it wasn't for them, the Deity of Sin would've come back in full force, and Gamindustri wouldn't even exist anymore; that's how important they were to me."
That last point makes her point about friendship a bit clearer. There's one thing about her story that's bothering Blanny, though. "Getting help while you're already the leader of a lot of people feels…"
"Huh?" She guesses that she really was the stand-in goddess of Planeptune while her sister was still stuck in the Graveyard. "I never thought about that a lot; all of the people I met treated me like I was like anyone else. Though, that probably has to do with the fact that back then, no one I met had already known I was Planeptune's CPU Candidate. I'm sorry if I couldn't help you with that…"
"It's alright. I just keep getting the feeling that someone who leads a country shouldn't rely too much on her people..."
"Aw, please don't feel that way! I'm sure that if you just ask your citizens, they'll be more than happy to help you!"
"But won't they see that as being weak or not worthy of being a CPU?" Blanny has been wanting to ask this question to anyone, but just can't. Now that she's heard Nepgear open up like that, she trusts her enough to ask her.
"Hm? Well, I don't think so. At least, once they know the whole amnesia situation, they'll help you with anything you need!"
"I still need to announce to everyone about that, though…" Just the thought of that makes Blanny shudder.
"Err, that could be a tough thing to do...but, don't worry! You still have me, Neptune, the other CPUs, and our friends to help you without anyone noticing!"
That's another thing that doesn't seem to add up for her. Again, she's been too afraid to ask this in front of a group. "...Why do we help each other...even if we have competing countries?"
Nepgear is curious why she keeps asking these kinds of questions, as if they're pre-programmed into the amnesiac. "Another one of those weird things that you still remember, huh? I mean, our older sisters, including you, used to be really cutthroat, but nowadays we're all, er, mostly friendly to each other."
"So...it's just me who feels like that?"
"If you want to put it like that...I mean, the nations are still rivals when it comes to some stuff, but I think everyone in Gamindustri knows that we're friends and that we always help each other. So, don't worry about it; you can trust all of us!"
"Okay…" Blanny doesn't seem convinced. It's hard to just not trust yourself and go against your instincts.
"It's okay if you don't feel that way now; we'll work on it together," reassures Nepgear upon noticing her tone.
"I want that to happen, but everytime someone says something like that, about not trusting my immediate reactions, I can never do that. They make me worry too much to listen to anyone..."
"Hmm…" It certainly feels like Nepgear has run up against a wall. "I don't know how to deal with your gut feelings if they're that strong…but I'll tell you as many times as I need to: you have lots of people that can help you with anything. You may not think so, but the other CPUs and I do, and we will help you, whether you like or not!" Nepgear says in the most encouraging way possible.
Her instincts might feel like an unstoppable force, but seeing Nepgear's supportive smile, complete with fists curled in front of her in determination, makes Blanny feel a bit more trusting, and hopefully, this trust will persist. "Thank you…though, there's one more question I wanted to ask before we go back…" One more thing she doesn't want to ask in front of everyone; one that came up during her visit here.
"Oh, what is it?"
"When you said the other CPUs will help me...does that include the other me? She seems so...angry that I lost my memories."
"Aw, she gets mad at...lots of things, not just you in particular," she says nonchalantly. "It's just how she is, so don't feel bad when she gets like that."
Blanny proceeds to feel bad. "...Okay." She visibly builds her courage up, feeling a bit guilty making her answer this next question. "Do...you like me or the other me, or, my past self more?"
Nepgear fears that almost anything she says will make her cry. "Um...you're both great! I can't decide, honestly." Looking at Blanny's dissatisfaction, she adds something she learned through similar experiences. "Instead of focusing on who's better, I myself would try to find ways to make our synergy together stronger!"
Getting along with someone like that? Well, that would be better for everyone. "I can try…"
Nepgear is next to be afraid to ask a question. "Um, I'm really sorry if this makes you upset, but...do you not like her?"
"What? N-n-no! She's perfectly fine!" Blanny instinctively refutes. "I-it's just…"
"You don't like how angry she is, do you?"
She has a look of defeated shame without answering, confirming Nepgear's suspicions.
"I see. It's not bad; it's okay to feel bad if someone is mad at you," she says with as much comfortingly as possible. "Like I said, she gets angry at everyone. In truth, I'm sure she respects you a lot, even while she's mad at you! Another way to think about it is that Rom and Ram like her, so if they trust her, and you trust them, then…"
"I understand." Her reassurance still feels like a paradox, but she'll try to keep that in mind when she sees her again. "Thank you for answering my questions, Nepgear. I was too afraid to ask any of those in front of anyone else."
"No problem, Blanny! I sometimes feel the same way, so I'm glad I could help." She stands up, holding a hand out to help her senior up. "So, ready to go back? The others might get worried if we wait too long,"
"Mhm." Blanny takes her offer. Looking up, she can see that the sun is a good part of the way down.
From behind them, they can hear a laser being fired and other sounds indicating a fight, making both of them jump up a bit.
"What? But the two should've been in the other direction, right? I think we would've noticed them if they somehow moved over there," wonders Nepgear.
"Should we check it out?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah!" The two carefully step around the plants and trees towards the sound, which doesn't seem so far off.
(-)
A few minutes in, they find a much larger clearing, about the same size as the field they ate at. It's also in a similar state as the field with collateral damage caused by a fight between two combatants.
"Is that...Vert?" As Blanny points out, Leanbox's CPU is in a determined but tired battle stance, spear already drawn.
"And...actually, I don't think I've seen this other person before." Her opponent, dressed in red and white robot-esque armor, has her beam saber by her side which glows a bright green that lights up the otherwise dim field.
"For the last time, I have no hostilities against Blanc, I am not conducting any kind of infiltration into the Basilicom, and I'm not even from this dimension; I'm from the Leanbox in the other dimension," warns Vert with great exasperation.
"I am not going to trust some extra-dimensional entity, trying to disguise herself as a CPU!" shouts back her assailant. "I won't let you snakily backstab Lady Blanc!"
"What?" Blanny can't help but step out of the sidelines and get closer to the conflict. Naturally, she walks towards the one she's familiar with.
"Wait, it might be dangerous to step in like that!" Nepgear warns rather loudly with little success.
The two fighters turn to the source of the yelling. "Lady Blanc, you've come! This woman disguising as Leanbox's CPU is trying to assassinate you; help me take her down!"
"Watch out; this girl is a rather hostile and powerful one," warns Vert.
"But, she came here with me…" Blanny tries to explain as she stands with her busty friend.
Seeing her CPU be so friendly to her comes off as a complete surprise to this unknown figure, gasping dramatically and left with no words to react. "L-lady Blanc...no…"
"What is it? For everyone's sanity, please don't misconstrue any more wild conclusions," advises Vert.
Still at a loss of words, the three CPUs can't read what kind of emotions are washing over her. Embarrassment for putting Vert in so much trouble? Doubling down on her delusions and thinking that this Blanc is a fake, too? "I...must make a tactical retreat." She quickly presses something on her arm, summoning a red beam that teleports her away towards the sky.
Vert sighs deeply in disappointment and takes a knee to rest herself. "...That was certainly an event. It's a shame she cowardly ran away like that."
"Vert, are you okay?!" Nepgear runs over now that the threat is gone and tries to care for her, with Blanny also trying to help.
"Oh, thank you, Nepgear, Blanny. I can manage." They help her stand up. "That girl is much stronger than she looks."
"Who was she?" Lowee's CPU asks what's on everyone's mind.
"I don't know. I was trying to find you two when she came and ambushed me. You already saw that she has a particular fondness for Blanc. She was about as strong as one of the Gold Third, too."
"That's weird," reacts Nepgear, then wonders, "Is there a Gold Third in Ultra Dimension?"
"That is a good question. We'll definitely have to ask Blanc about her when we get back and...after her little duel."
"Gold Third…" Blanny might've heard C-sha mention something like that. "Um, do you need any help getting there?"
"I'll be fine, but thank you for asking. But I will need help if she comes back." Vert is a bit sluggish at first as she leads them to the other fight. "Though, what were you two doing away from the group?"
Blanny responds with a shy half-lie. "I just had a couple of questions to ask Nepgear, and it was getting too distracting."
"Oh, I see. Well, I'm glad it wasn't anything too serious," says Vert unsuspectingly. "I think the others should be just ahead…"
(-)
"Um…" Walking back to the open field, Vert, Nepgear, and Blanny are greeted by many of their friends laying inertly on the ground, which is itself a complete mess with many holes and scars dug up.
Neptune has just finished disengaging HDD and falls over. "Oh, hey guys. Y'all missed a lot."
Next to Blanc are Rom and Ram, all three lying face down.
"What?!" Seeing her sisters like this immediately alarms Blanny, who runs over as fast as she can to them and starts shaking their body. "Please be okay!" Did Blanc do this?
"Mmm...stop doing that, sis! We're fine, just tired!" loudly replies Ram.
"Ram and I wanted to join in on the fight…" explains Rom.
"...Huh?" Blanny looks at them funny.
"Your sisters are a real rambunctious pair..." Blanc speaks up monotonically.
"Yep, Rom and Ram decided to team up on Sadie! Of course that isn't fair, so I tagged along with my fellow Planeptune girl, and we won! Isn't that right, Plutie?"
"Indeed, Neppy." Still standing, Iris Heart is still standing as the only one still in HDD. She's casting a heal on herself, bringing her nearly back to tip-top shape. Looking at the returning girls, her eyes passionately lock onto Blanny. "Thanks to you, I think I have enough energy for one more fling. Do you want to join in, Blanny Blanc?"
"We forgot! Blanny!" Both of her sisters try to get up and cast a few spells in an attempt to stop her.
The CPU quickly summons lightning at the two, instantly silencing and incapacitating them. "Annoying insects."
"Rom! Ram!" Seeing such hostility towards her younger sisters makes Blanny tense up in anger, maybe even ready to avenge them.
At least, she seems tense until Iris Heart starts approaching her. "The moment I saw Blanny Blanc today, I knew I had to get my hands on her. And now, it's about time I get to try her out."
It doesn't take much knowledge for Blanny to understand that she's in danger; that predatory glare is enough for her to start backing off.
"Plutia, please! Can't you at least leave one of us alone?" Nepgear stands in between Iris Heart and her prey.
"Huh? 'Leave one of us alone?'" Vert gravely wonders. She tries to join her "younger sister" in defending Blanny, even if she's already so exhausted.
Iris Heart ignores her warning and advances on them. "Oh, you two. Are you really going to keep your precious and adorable Blanny to yourself?" She rhetorically asks, adding vicious emphasis on "precious and adorable."
Being the only able-bodied one around right now to defend her senior, Nepgear shoots a determined look at the sadist and transforms into Purple Sister before quickly drawing her saber. "I don't want to do this, but I should at least be able to stop you!"
"Hmm, does Neppy Jr. want in on the action? Then be my guest!" She suddenly flies towards the three, pushing aside Vert with a force strong enough to throw her into the water.
"Vert!" Now is definitely not the time to check on her; Nepgear has to block this first attack. "Blanny! Take this chance to run!" She shouts without diverting her attention from Iris Heart.
This dominatrix's aura is way too ominous for Blanny to doubt her usefulness in this situation; Falcom's advice of avoiding combat is what resonates with her the most. "Umm…right!" She staggers at first, but the usually sluggish girl starts running towards the capital city at a considerable speed.
"Where do you think you're going, Blanny Blanc?" She jumps backwards, which distracts Nepgear enough for her to fly past her and towards the fleeing girl.
"Oh no you don't!" Nepgear reacts inhumanly quickly and catches Iris Heart by the foot to slow her down.
Before she could swing at her, though, Iris Heart swings back with an electrically charged whip. The elemental attack causes the Candidate's muscle to contract just long enough for her to let go. Blanny might be a few hundred feet away by now, but as long as she's not out of sight, the CPU can catch her in no time.
"Goodness, where is that weird girl who was over-protective with Blanc when you need her?" Nepgear has no choice but to join in on the three-woman pursuit.
the next chapter should be coming sooner than usual because of the split thingy
On the field lies four extremely tired goddesses, having been stuck to the floor for a while to let themselves recover. Well, four plus one more in the water getting out of the lake. "Oh dear, my clothes! They're all wet!"
"Huh?" Neptune turns her head to Vert and puts on a knowing grin. "Oh my, I didn't expect a post-chapter scene to go in this direction! A shame that none of them can actually look at your see-through clothes, though."
Blanc is next to notice. "What do you mean no one can look-" She stops herself at the sight of Vert.
"I think Blanc's gonna get angry again..." says Rom.
"Oh, what am I to do? I didn't bring any spare clothes, and I'm going to catch a cold if I keep these on..." Vert proceeds to take her dress off, leaving herself in undergarments.
"Jeez, you're trying a bit too hard, aren't ya?"
Blanc doesn't seem to notice Neptune, too focused on Vert, as she bitterly asks, "You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"
"Of course I wouldn't!" She continues to flaunt her bodily privilege.
"The one thing I wanted the other Vert to be different with, and of course she's still the same!" The not-so-endowed girl shouts in frustration
"Oh, don't be so envious about that, Blanc. This is a serious situation!" Vert teasingly says.
"'Serious situation?' Like the one where Sadie kicked my ass?! I don't have to tolerate this shit; I'm going to stitch that mouth of yours shut!" With renewed energy, she runs over to Vert, ready to mash her face in with a fist.
Such blind rage makes her easy to dodge, as Vert simply sidesteps her approaches and Blanc eventually falls over into the water.
Vert lets out a laugh louder than usual. "Oh, Blanc, how silly of you. Here, let me help you up." She picks the much shorter goddess up with a hug, making sure that her head is particularly close to her assets.
"Haha! Silly big sis!" yells Ram, who has been recording the whole thing with her handheld.
"Whoa, you're recording this? You're as crafty as a cobra, Ram!" compliments Neptune.
"Yeah, I know. Look, I have another video with big sis and Blanc!"
"Oh, I got to see that!" Neptune starts fumbling towards her.
"I...just..." Too defeated and humiliated from what seems like everyone is laughing at or taunting her, she doesn't even fight back. "Just...let me go so that I can get us spare clothes before ending my own misery."
