We - Nepgear, Uni, Rom, Ram, me and Diana - flew out of the Basilicom to check what is happening.
The first things that should be noted is that the east wall is broken. Once again.
And CFW Magic is flying around, destroying the city and attacking harmless citizens...
Yep. This is bad.
And my sister is about to explode.
"B*TCH IS GONNA DIE!"
And there she goes...
"Come on, let's follow her." Uni suggests.
Not like there is anything else to do.
"MAGIC! You– What have I told you?!" Diana yells at her.
"I have realized something... I have no reason to do what you tell us to." Magic casually replies.
"Oh, rebellious... But that won't help you."
Diana tries to attack Magic with a magic blast, which is simply absorbed by her.
My sister responds with a deadpan expression and saying: "...Oh, f*ck..."
"Now... prepare to die!" Magic draws her scythe, ready to attack us.
"Not again..."
"Is this seriously happening again?!"
"Uh, oh..."
"Laaaaaame..."
"What even is life?"
"[Unrecognizable swearing]"
The other CPUs won't be able to come here in time, even if they were contacted...
Yeah... it had to happen at some point...
Though I didn't expect it to happen this soon.
"DIE, FOOLISH CPUS!" CFW Magic is about to strike us.
All we do now is take a defensive pose and close our eyes, waiting for the impact...
"NOT TODAY! CROSS COMBINATION!"
What? Who?
A metallic clang resounds as Magic deadpans: "My scythe is not a boomerang..."
We slowly open our eyes again and I can't trust them...
There is Neptune, in flesh-and-blood with active HDD, in a fighting stance in front of the now-disarmed CFW.
"This ends here! Neptune Br–"
"You thought I'd come alone? How foolish of you..."
Nothing happens...
"Where are those idiots?"
"Oh, I waited for the perfect moment to re-enter the show. Meanwhile I called for help..." Neptune explains.
"Help?" We all question.
"Down here! Those guys were desperately trying to hit me, while I hit them continuously. I had to deal with more difficult things!"
"And I am here, just cause I can be."
Looking down, I see a girl. She is about 1.5 meters tall, has pink-purple shoulder-length hair, a green sleeveless shirt, yellow pants, a scarf the same color and knee-length purple boots.
Next to her is a boy, about the same height, blonde, spikey hair, blue shirt, red pants and scarf and metallic shoes.
In close proximity to them, CFW Judge and Trick lie unconsciously on the ground, while Brave just sits there, legs and arms crossed.
"Wryn? And your rival? I thought you despised each other! Besides... how did you get here?" I question, ignoring Brave.
"We talked about it... How do you know my name?" Wryn explains.
"And why not mine?!" The blonde guy asks.
"Not important." I dully answer.
"Ahem, I was kind of picking a fight..." Magic reminds us.
"Well, now that you remind us..." Uni begins.
"...you are alone..." Neptune continues.
"...and we are nine people." And Diana finishes.
"Additionally, you are unarmed." Nepgear points out.
"Oh... right... FLEE– Er– TACTICAL RETREAT!"
Magic immediately produces an Escape button and hits it.
Therefore she, along with the other (albeit unconscious CFWs), teleport away.
"Phew... Safe for now..." Nepgear sighs in relief. The damage done to the city is repairable and... nobody died. Probably. Nobody important at least.
We all lower down to ground level and disable HDD.
"NEPTUNE!" "JUNIOR!" The sisters embrace each other in a hug.
The rest of the Candidates also run over to hug Neptune.
Except me.
'cause I decided to walk over to chat with Wryn and the idiot until they were finished.
They finally break of their hug.
"I missed you so much, sis"
"I am happy to see you, too. Not that I missed you a lot..."
"I missed you, Miss Neptune..."
"Great! Now I am not the biggest dummy around anymore!"
I am honestly not sure whether Ram just insulted herself, Neptune or both...
"So... where is that guy that stole my sister?"
Oh, right... I am so f*cked...
Neptune obviously doesn't get an answer until she spots me herself.
It looks like fire is burning inside her eyes, wrath against me...
"Good luck. You'll need it." Wryn pats my should.
Neptune slowly starts walking towards me...
"Uh... sis?" Nepgear starts talking to her sister.
"Nobody is taking my sister." Neptune is completely ignoring her.
"Sis?"
"Nobody..."
"Neptune?"
"You are gonna pay for that..."
"NEPTUNE!" Nepgear suddenly snaps at her sister.
Pretty much everybody (except Wryn and the guy) jump at that.
Neptune also stops walking and instantly turns towards the source. "Whoa, Nep Jr.! What the heck? Why the shouting?"
"Just why do you think you may influence my life to that degree?" Nepgear yells back at her.
"You're my beloved little sister–"
"There is no need to protect me anymore! I can look after myself!"
"Uh, well–"
"If you think about it, I cared for you, supported you. But you? You put limits to whatever I was allowed to, mistreated me and... and now this. Neptune, there are limits - even for you! You are irresponsible, lazy and an airhead, while I try my best whenever I can. It is a wonder Planeptune still stood with you as its CPU!"
"..." Neptune was completely baffled. She just stood there and nobody else dared to say anything... until she spoke up herself. "Junior... Is that how you think about me?"
"Yes. You just... disappear without any trace, then come back and think 'everything will be fine'... What if that wasn't the case? We thought you had died! And then you come back and your first action was going to be to decimate my boyfriend?"
"...Uh... I am just a hindrance in the end... Maybe I should just go again. Come on, Wryn... We'll go..."
But the girl in question just crosses her arms and shakes her head. "Neptune. This is exactly what your sister is talking about: There is a problem, you choose the quickest and simplest way for yourself to solve that. Nevertheless, I will still leave. My job here is done."
And just like that, Wryn and her rival disappear into a portal which immediately closes as they step through.
"So then... what should I do?" Neptune sighs, turns away from us and sits down onto the street.
"Do your job the way it's supposed to be done." Nepgear replies coldly and leaves towards the Basilicom.
Not saying any more words, the other Candidates (and my sister) leave, sad looks on their faces.
Just I am split between actually following Nepgear or talking to Neptune.
I decide to do the latter.
Therefore I walk over to Neptune and sit down next to her.
The streets are still empty from the 'onslaught' that occurred.
"What do you want?" She asked without looking at me.
"You're still my friend, you know?"
"...You think the same way, don't you?"
"She said the truth, there is no denying that."
"Yeah, that is the truth... but the truth can hurt more than lies..."
"Goin' all poetic now, too? You're totally not acting like yourself."
"Heh, you're probably right 'bout that. Everything's usually sunshine and rainbows with me, huh?"
"Yeah, pretty much. You're making everyone's day just that tiny bit more enjoyable."
"I do? I thought people were thinking about me as rather annoying."
"Well, both is true. The latter mostly when the former is inappropriate."
"You think I should change something about that?"
"Honestly, no. You're you and that's fine the way it is. Though, you should at least do your work and make sure Histy isn't burning her processor one day."
"You know what? You're right! I am the main character (in the games) and that shall never change!" Neptune shouts and jumps up rather suddenly.
"That's the spirit!" I stand up and pat her shoulder. "...Uh, you do want an epic re-appearance to the public later, don't you? Then we rather make sure you're not recognized on the way back to the Basilicom."
"Heck yeah!"
I hand Neptune some blue sweater I have on me and thus we make our way back towards the Basilicom...
*Meanwhile, in another Gamindustri, different from ours...*
"It's... funny, really... I was trying to save her this whole time, but I had to kill her in the end..."
A blood stained sword, radiating a powerful aura, drops to the ground, along with a few tears while somebody starts sobbing...
A/N
I add the most obscure references ever...
And then I sit there, wondering whether people will even understand them...
So I thought 'No, they will not', and named the referenced characters.
As for the last paragraph... I have no idea what I am gonna do with that.
Maybe I'll come back to it in 13 chapters.
And I'd still appreciate feedback. Or anything, really. Grammar, spelling, whatever. I want to improve.