With the posting of this chapter I'd like to make an announcement.

Negadimension is going to be on indefinite hiatus until I finish Echoes of Maid's Heart.

I just can't find it within myself to have motivation and continue to write ND at the current moment. And it would surely mean a decrease in overall quality for this work. So until further notice, ND will be on an indefinite hiatus.

I know this sucks to hear. But I think this is the correct course of action to take right now, considering how long this chapter took to release, and even then I'm not happy with where I left it off and the concessions I've had to make.

See you all that remain as readers in Echoes of a Maid's Heart instead! And again, I'm very sorry all of this hubbub.

"...So tell me why we're at an arcade? In Leanbox of all nations? I would've thought they'd have gotten rid of all of these by now…" Neptune mumbled dejectedly as she glanced at the big neon letters that spelled 'ARCADE' above her head.

"Because this IS the only remaining arcade in Leanbox." Compa stated matter-of-factly

Saying that must've sparked some sort of childish energy inside of Nepgear. As once Compa explained that this was the only remaining arcade, her eyes shone with sparkles, peering through the door excitedly and full of curiosity.

"Really?! I wonder what kind of games are in arcades nowadays?!" Nepgear exclaimed, blindly rushing in through the revolving door and leaving the other two behind in her excitement.

Neptune stood there, awestruck at how giddy Nepgear was. "J-Junior's pretty excited huh?" she mumbled nervously

Compa had a bewildered expression on her face instead. "I would've thought you'd love to come to an arcade? Or did all that booze-"

"Don't finish that."

"Why shouldn't I?"

Neptune held onto her words for a moment, but the look on her daughter's face forced her to spit it out. "I'm already aware of my faults as a woman and parental figure, Compa. You don't need to rub it in my face."

Compa nodded, regret in her words plastered all over face. "Y-Yes ma'am…"

Neptune let out a sigh and reluctantly followed Compa inside the building.

Inside were… well, your usual culprits for the 'casual' arcade goers. A strength test machine here, a basketball game there, and so on. But it was the lineup closer to the back that raised Neptune's eyebrows.

A whole row of Streets 6, the newest Streets game, along with a whole slew of rhythm games. Some she had seen two decades ago, but a lot of new ones she hadn't seen at all. Those machines were very flashy and in your face, but at the same time the gameplay really did look enticing to one's eye.

And where was Nepgear in all of this?

Playing Reflex Shot off in a little dingy corner of the arcade. A very antiquated version of it too. Though it wasn't hard to imagine that they didn't update the IP for two decades…

"Ge-Ge really likes her on-rails shooters huh?" Compa commented, watching the lilac-haired woman having her own fun off in the distance. If Neptune listened closely enough, she could even hear her younger sister laughing all giddy to herself like a child.

"I really wish she didn't. What with how old that machine looks and is compared to all the other ones here…"

Compa raised an eyebrow in confusion. "You don't even play games anymore. Are you sure you should be the one judging Ge-Ge right now?"

Neptune grit her teeth and crossed her arms. "Tch… Whatever. I've been dragged on this 'vacation' of my own free will to begin with…"

Compa frowned, "It's to get you to relax and lighten up. Why can't you-"

"You know why."

"Still! She shouldn't be souring it that much though!"

"..."

"Play one game at least, Nep-Nep." Compa pleaded quietly. "I wouldn't be doing this for you if I wasn't worried about you. Even despite Iffy's condition."

Neptune paused, taking time to think over her response to such a statement. How could one respond to such straightforwardness? Surely not with anger or contempt, considering the congo-haired woman was right on the money to begin with.

After much deliberation, Neptune sighed and rested her arms at her side, showing she had given up on a potential argument. "Fine." She replied, somewhat bitterly, "I kind of failed as a parent if one of my daughters is-..."

Compa closed in on Neptune with a menacing stare, "Were you saying something, Nep-Nep~?"

Neptune gulped. "N-No ma'am. Sorry…"

Compa nodded, and her face returned to normal. "Good, now you can choose any game to play. I'll play with you."

As she scouted the arcade for the game that she was going to play, everyone else's gaze was drawn to the newest customer that loudly announced her arrival.

Not because she herself was boisterous (even though she was), but because everyone else announced her arrival for her to hear.

"Oh! It's Lady Vert!"

"Lady Vert?! Where?!"

"Miss Vert please sign my arcade pass! I'm such a huge fan of yours!"

"Miss Vert can you sign my laptop?! You've been such an inspiration for me to keep on gaming!"

Neptune groaned at all the sudden commotion. "Vert this, Vert that… WHY IS SHE THERE WHEREVER I- go…" she wanted to scream, but that would bring attention to herself. Not that her hair color once again gave away her Planeptunian-ness to all the other citizens of Leanbox.

Compa slapped the back of Neptune's head lightly, "Ignore that. Don't ruin your mood. We came here to have our fun, don't let that bitch over there ruin it."

Neptune shivered over the quick switch of Compa's tone to malicious and back. "You're real scary when you're mad, you know that, Compa?"

"I don't get what you mean at all though~?"

Neptune shook her head. "I-I'm glad that I'm hardly ever on your bad side…"

"Hardly?" Compa put a hand to her chin, "But you've made me mad plenty of times in the past…?"

Neptune put a hand over Compa's mouth and hushed her with a pained smile, "I-I don't need to be reminded of those thank you very much!"

The congo-haired woman shrugged indifferently. "So then, what are you gonna play, Nep-Nep?"

"I had decided on it before she came along, but there's nothing like some good Outburst Orange. Kinda old by today's standards, but its still really good, too bad there might not be a sequel. " Neptune casually explained, stretching her fingers one by one.

"EXCUSE ME!?" Neptune shouted in disbelief as Nepgear handed her the 12 loss of the day.

Nepgear chuckled awkwardly, "Sis… have you gotten rusty? "

"No I haven't! I still remember my combos! What are you—" Neptune tried to argue, only to get interrupted by Nepgear.

"What types of games do you sell in your store?" asked the lilac-haired younger sister, cutting the older off.

"...Fuck." Neptune couldn't say much in response.

Nepgear smiled sadly and sighed, "I don't mean to be so rude to you, Sis. But sometimes you do need to be reminded like this."

"Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt my pride though…" Neptune lamented.

Nepgear couldn't help but laugh at that. "Well, it is what it is. Don't take it too harshly."

Neptune let out a sigh of defeat and shook her head. "I wish it wasn't."

"Oh, are you three taking turns playing Outburst Orange? Perhaps I could join you and let Compa play instead of waiting to take her turn?" Vert asked as she approached the group from behind. Her fans being heard loudly behind her as they gazed from afar.

"...isn't that that purple-haired chick that tried to hurt Lady Vert? I think I saw it on the news one time…"

"Oh yeah…! You're right, it is her…!"

"Wait, that's her…? What's she doing here then…?"

Vert coughed loudly for everyone to hear. "I would appreciate it if you all would gossip quieter or not at all. Thank you very much."

The whole mob quieted up instantly and those who spoke nodded with a terrified look on their face, "Y-Yes Vert!"

Neptune bemoaned her situation, and groaned, "I don't need your sympathy, Thunder Tits. Besides, weren't you having more fun with your fans?"

Compa looked fiercely from behind Neptune and beside Nepgear, pure hatred in her eyes as she watched intently for anything 'funny' from the blonde-haired woman.

"Yes, but…" Vert confidently smiled back at Compa, seemingly unfazed by the woman's hateful stare, "I couldn't help but overhear your frustration at, what is that now? Your 8th or so loss? I was keeping track loosely."

Compa instantly stood up and was about to pull out her own weapon, but Nepgear immediately pulled her back down by her sleeve and sighed, "Compa, please don't start anything in the only arcade in Leanbox…"

"But that stupid tits for brains started it fi-...?"

Neptune was smiling confidently at Vert. "Oh yeah? You think you can beat me? You only play FPS games recently. You really think your fighting game skills are up to par with even me? Then bring it on, Vert. I'll show all your fans the reason why you only play FPS games now."

"You think you can win?!" Vert shouted, having taken the bait, hook, line, and sinker. "I'll prove it to you why I have a successful career and you don't!"

"Oh yeah? Then why don't you show me right now? Put in a coin, and pick a character."

"Tch…! Confident little—"

"Please Select your character!" the game's announcer shouted in glee as the music started up at the character select screen.

"Not making your choice, Neptune? Are you going for a counter pick?" Vert asked, the Player 2's pointer on the screen still pointing to the default character.

"Just make your choice already Vert" Neptune waves her hand.

"..."

Vert moves the cursor to the top right most character. A spear user character that boasts range, pressure, and mobility. While touted as an easy character to get into due to its auto combo capability by mashing light, medium, or heavy attack, it's also one of the most difficult characters to master as it's a one trick pony once knowledgeable players know her attacks.

"Her huh…" Neptune mumbled. She thinks for a moment before moving her cursor to a particular character.

"Are you serious, Neptune?"

"What? Too afraid to fight a character that's been nerfed for the last 4 games?"

"..." Vert didn't respond.

Once they selected the stage and music, the game finally starts the introduction cutscene. The crowd cheers behind them as the 2 players let the cutscene play.

"You gonna be—" Nepgear was about to ask. However, the look in her Sis' eyes already told her the answer.

"READY. FIGHT!"

The announcer announces the start of the game.

-small timeskip- (this was supposed to be written out and way detailed, but I realized I asked too much of my editor, so we're going straight to the end instead. Just imagine it went the distance and there lots of footsies and mind games involved kthx)

And with one final press of the A button, Neptune's character had won the set.

"Y-Yes…!" Neptune barely squeaked out from her side of the arcade machine. Out of breath and trying to catch a breather, sweat was all over her face as she watched the screen fade to black and then to the promotional video showcasing gameplay.

And not even a few seconds later…

"Oh god… I need… water…"

Thankfully, her (and Vert's) prayers were answered as Compa gave water to both of the women after a while.

As Neptune sat there, chugging down her bottle of water, Nepgear walked up to her older sister and let out a sigh of relief.

"You had me worried there, Sis…" she mumbled, "Normally you talk so much during games, but you were super into it." she stared at the screen playing the promo video with a frown. "It was kind of scary actually. Seeing you make a serious face and let out angry grunts like that…"

Nepgear glanced down to Neptune, "Can you never do that again, Sis? Please?"

"Haaaah…! Oh my god I can breathe!" Meanwhile Neptune was rapidly gasping for air after her drink and stared into the distance absentmindedly. She only glanced up at Nepgear once she even noticed the existence of her hair in her periphery.. "Huh? Oh, uh… yeah. Sorry for scaring you like that, Junior. I didn't mean to. I just-"

"Don't want to lose to me?" said a voice from beside her.

Neptune didn't even bother to turn around to face the owner of the voice and nodded with a slight smile. "Yeah. But judging from your voice, I put in way more effort than you had to, didn't I, Vert?"

Vert laughed and Neptune could tell the woman nodded back at her, "Maybe a bit too much if you're this worn out." she replied, "As much as I hate to admit it, you did beat me fair and square. Without any sort of cheap tricks you would've tried to do in the past too."

"Hey! I'll have you know that button mashing is a very effective tactic!"

Vert let out an irritated grunt, "And it's not an actual strategy for when you go up against anyone competent!"

"You wanna go, Vert?" Neptune asked, egging Vert on, "Cause we can. You've been breathing down my neck this entire trip and I'm sick and tired of it."

"So long as we keep it outside the city then I'm more than ready to show you that you're out of your depth."

Neptune had a wicked grin and snickered, "Fine by me."