Chapter 12: CPU Duel

Purple Heart couldn't believe how excited her little sister was. She and Noire had agreed on a day to have their sisters meet up, and Venus was giggling cheerfully from the idea of visiting Lastation again.

"I didn't think that you liked Noire's nation so much," the transformed goddess said.

"Well, it's fun!" her sister replied.

Purple Heart figured she might think that. Especially after her experiences in the other nations. Noire so far was the only goddess, besides her own older sister, that Venus still liked.

"And Uni is super cool!" Venus then added.

"Uni, huh?" Purple Heat mused. She had to admit, she wasn't sure how this was going to go. She didn't know much about what was up with Uni. Not that Uni had mistreated Venus, but she personally hadn't heard much about her being receptive to Venus, either. And even Noire didn't know what Uni was even up to.

Still... maybe Noire thought that Uni might like a new friend. After all, the young tsundere was pretty close with...

Purple Heart's eyes started to tear up. She didn't want to think about that. That she wasn't the only one who might be suffering. She just hoped that the CPU Candidates would get along. Venus needed this.

The city line of Lastation came into view, and Purple Heart made her way to the Basilicom.

Noire was waiting as they landed.

"Venus! It's good to see you!" Noire greeted. Venus ran up and gave Noire a big hug. "O-okay, y-you're cru- crushing me."

"Yeah..." Venus happily, and obliviously, said.

Purple Heart turned back into Neptune, and told her sister, "maybe you should let go, or else... there might not be a 'Nora' anymore."

"Huh!?" Venus exclaimed as she finally let go, Noire catching her breath. Then Venus continued, "Do you mean that Nora will turn into something else!?"

"Uh..." Neptune sounded. As usual, she didn't know how to respond. She didn't mean that Noire would turn into something else, people usually knew what "there might not be, insert person here, anymore" meant.

...But Neptune also didn't want to tell Venus what that actually meant.

Then Venus continued once more. "I don't want Nora to become something awful, like a cat!"

"Cat?" Neptune asked.

"I like cats..." Noire said under her breath, so Venus couldn't hear.

"Yeah! Dogs don't like cats right!?" Venus clarified.

Neptune and Noire looked at each other.

"Compa?" Noire asked.

"Compa," Neptune confirmed. "Though, I don't think she meant for this to happen."

"Right. By the way, it's good to see you, too. Are you feeling better?"

Neptune went silent for a moment. "Kind of... maybe... I don't know... I was wondering about Uni-"

"Ooh, yeah!" Venus jumped in. "I want to see Uni! Is she here?"

"Well... yes, but..." Noire went silent for a moment, before saying, "I told her you guys were coming to see her... and she just..." Noire shook her head. "She went down to the training room. I don't think she wants to see anyone right now."

Neptune chuckled nervously. "I... guess she's not in a mood for visits. Do you think-"

"Training room?" Venus asked.

"It's just a large room where we can practice for fighting," Noire replied.

Venus's eyes widened in excitement. "So... it's a place to play fight!? And Uni's there!?"

"U-uh, w-well yes."

"Woohoo!" Venus cried as she ran inside.

Noire turned to Neptune once more. "...Don't you have a training area?"

"Actually, no, we don't," Neptune sheepishly replied.

Noire glared. Of course, the lazy CPU didn't have a training area.

"I-I mean, we've always trained in the field. The best experience is the real deal!" Neptune continued upon seeing Noire's displeased.

Oh, that actually makes more sense, Noire thought. Now that she thought about it, she recalled hearing that Venus's first fighting experience was with fighting Dogoos for a quest, with a bit of a Fenris scare.

Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that it was still partially due to her laziness, at least what it was before.

"...So, Venus probably doesn't know where to go," Neptune spoke up, "and she's probably going to get lost in your Basilicom."

"Are you sure that we want her to see Uni? She doesn't seem very happy right now," Noire replied.

"...I don't think we have a choice anymore."

"Right," Noire said, as she and Neptune turned to follow Venus into the Basilicom.

BANG! Bullseye.

Why would Noire ever think that Uni wanted to see Venus?

BANG! Bullseye.

Why did she not care about Nepgear?

BANG! Bullseye.

Why was this new Candidate so much better than her best friend?

BANG! Bullseye.

This wouldn't have happened if Noire didn't just give up. If she didn't force Neptune to give up...

BANG!

...Missed.

Uni dropped her rifle to her side.

She decided to switch to another gun. Maybe that would make her feel better.

As Uni was pursuing through her firearm collection, when she heard...

"Uni! Hey!"

The young tsundere looked over. Oh... great. It's Venus.

The purplette began running around the room, taking in a big it was. Neptune and Noire followed in after her.

"Impressed?" Noire stated, proud of her indoor training area.

"It's so big!" Venus exclaimed.

"So, Uni has targets set up over there for target practice, and we have both practice dummies and robots that you can practice on," Noire explained. "You could also do a 1-on-1 sparring match."

Uni rolled her eyes. How old was this girl physically? She couldn't have been that far apart from Uni's own age, so why did she have to act like such a child?

"Uni! Uni! What are targeting for?" Venus called out.

"Wha- you mean 'practicing for'?" Uni asked, confused.

"Uh, I... think so."

Of course.

Neptune stepped in. "Uh, maybe you should... not do that? Guns are... complicated. Hard to use. Even I don't know how to use them." Well, Neptune was more so thinking about how dangerous guns could be, especially when you're not trained on how to use them. She could've learned how to shoot one, but never actually wanted to. But giving Venus even just a pistol... sounded like a recipe for disaster.

"You could give her a bow and arrows. Or throwing knives," Uni stated with a cruel smirk.

Okay, that sounded equally as terrible. "Sis, I think you should stick with the sword and shield. Range isn't really your strength."

"But what about my new move?" Venus asked.

"That's a special Skill, but not your main skill set."

"Ooh! Ooh! What if I throw my shield?"

Before anyone could say anything, Venus summoned her shield, took it off her arm, and threw it like a frisbee. Uni stepped out of the way before the shield was thrown.

Well... Venus hit the target. But it seemed to only hit the edge, and in fact, knocked over the target, while the shield fell to the floor with a loud clang.

"...And know you don't have a shield," Neptune told her sister after this display. "In a real fight, you'd be defenseless, and getting the shield back might be harder than you think, maybe even impossible."

"Oh..." Venus sounded, taking in Neptune's advice.

Uni ignored this, and walked over to her target. It had a pretty big dent in it. "Great! You broke it!"

"Uni, it's a target. It would've broken eventually," Noire replied.

"It's made for bullets and other projectiles. It can't handle the force it got. How strong is she?"

"Remember how strong Uzume is?" Neptune replied.

"Yeah," Uni responded.

"I'd say Venus is fairly close to her strength."

Uni scoffs.

"Hey, Uni?" Venus asked.

"What!?" Uni snapped, but not enough to deter Venus.

"Do you want to do something fun?"

"Not really..."

"Ah, come on."

Neptune came up. "It's okay. I'm sure Noire has some games we could try, or we could go fight some monsters."

Venus gasped. "Both sound like so much fun! Uh, maybe we could fight something?"

That caught Uni's attention. She likes to fight? Okay, maybe she could use this chance to put her in her place.

"Actually, I could use a sparring partner," Uni spoke up. "Target practice is starting to get dull."

Neptune and Noire looked at each, nervously. This sounded like a CPU duel, and these were normal for goddesses. But given that Venus was still relatively new to fighting, and had never been in a CPU duel before. And the more experienced Uni had a very different fighting style and the advantage with her firearms.

But Venus, none the wiser, and super eager, said, "sure! That sounds super fun! What do I do!?"

Noire sighed. No backing down now. "Sparring is a fighting duel, generally meant for practice between two people. You just can't go too hard, and do anything that would cause serious harm."

"Woah! So I can battle Uni, as long as I don't hurt her badly!?" Venus asked excitedly.

Neptune understood what she meant, but she also sounded far too eager.

Noire, on the other hand, just wanted to take any opportunity for her sister to make a new friend.

"Okay, just... don't go overboard," she told the Candidates.

Venus nodded with a big smile, but Uni didn't reply. She just left to grab a new rifle.

Neptune retrieved her sister's shield for her, while the Planeptune Candidate followed Noire to get into position.

After Noire went over to Uni to confirm that she loaded rubber bullets (to which she already had, but was not happy to talk), the Candidates stood off against each other.

"This isn't what I had in mind," Noire whispered to Neptune.

"Yeah... and I'm concerned that Venus isn't ready to fight someone like Uni. The closest she's ever dealt with in concerns to firearms are laser blasters from robots," Neptune whispered back.

"Well, it's a good place to start, and I've heard she can handle those very well."

"Yeah, but you usually see the glow of the laser briefly before firing. But an actual gun? Not really."

"I made sure that Uni's using rubber bullets. They'll be fine."

Uni took aim at Venus, who was absent-mindedly swinging her sword around, and lazily looking at her shield.

Is she even taking this seriously? Uni thought. "Are you ready?" she asked, annoyed.

"Yeah," Venus responded, raising her shield.

Uni groaned slightly. This was as good as a call to start as any.

Uni began firing bullets, which freaked Venus out a bit, as she wasn't expecting such a quick attack. Venus raised her shield to block the bullets.

Then, in an act of bravery (for some reason), Venus charged forward, holding her shield up to block Uni's shots, and holding her sword out.

Uni scoffed at such a simple and stupid move, but was then surprised as Venus made a swing. Not some weak, unskilled swing of a novice, but a quick, strong, and surprisingly accurate swing.

Uni narrowly dodged the attack. Okay, so she actually knows what she's doing under all that airheaded stupidy, she thought. She still can't outsmart me!

Uni aimed a shot toward Venus's head, but now having a basic idea of how Uni's weapon worked, Venus took notice, and spun out of the way, making a wide slash as a follow-up attack.

Uni leapt back to avoid the attack, while Neptune and Noire stared as they watched.

A headshot? Seriously!? Neptune thought.

Uni, please don't take things too far... Noire thought.

"Okay..." Uni sounded, "can't get by your defenses? Then it's time to step things up!"

Uni prepared a stance, and took aim. Then, energy built up in her gun's barrel. "EX Multi Blaster!"

A strong blue laser was fired at Venus. The Planeptune Candidate managed to block the blast with her shield, but she was not able to prepare a proper counter, and could only push herself else out of the way of the attack's force.

But this did not deter Venus. If anything, this made her more excited.

"So that's what we're doing now? Awesome! Here's something I came up with recently!" she excitedly responded, and then magic energy was channeled into her sword.

"Sonic Sever!" Venus shouted as she swung her sword, releasing an energy wave towards Uni.

The twin-tailed Candidate tried to jump out of the way, but got snagged by the attack, causing her to trip.

Venus hadn't gone too hard with her attack, thankfully, so Uni wasn't in terrible condition, but the energy burn still stung, and tripping did help.

"...Alright," Uni grumbled as she got back up. "Let's dance. Aero Shooter!"

Magic circles appeared around Uni, as she jumped up onto them, and then began using them as platforms, leaping from circle to circle, as she began to shoot down at Venus.

Venus began to freak out, as the rain of bullets came down. She raised her shield to protect herself, and she began to run around, trying to avoid the air-to-ground shots.

"Don't think you can escape from me!" Uni shouted as she began the last part of her Skill, and charged energy in her rifle, aiming right at Venus in the air.

But just as Uni was about to fire her last shot, Venus was able to recollect herself, and took notice of her opponent's finisher. She quickly pulled her shield back, shouting, "Aurora Reflect!"

Venus swung her shield out as Uni fired, and the shot connected to her shield, and the magic energy and the physical force knocked the blast at Uni, knocking her out of the air!

After Uni hit the ground, she screamed. "Could you just go down already!"

Uni got back up, and started glowing white.

"Wait, Uni..." Noire said, getting more concerned about what was going on.

Then Uni was fully covered in the light, and as it faded she had transformed. Her hair turned white, and was now styled in twin spiral-drills, and her eyes had turned to a green color. She wore a black swimsuit-like outfit, with a silver ring on her chest (which had shrunk a full cup), and black gloves and boots with similar silver rings on her feet, over thigh-high socks and similar detached sleeves. Her rifle had become a massive railgun.

Uni, now Black Sister, flew up, and aimed at Venus, her railgun building up power, glowing a dark blue.

"UNI!" Noire shouted.

"Brave Cannon!" Black Sister shouted, as she fired a dark blue beam at Venus.

...Or attempted to, but something then pushed down on Black Sister's railgun, which directed the shot in front of Venus. The attack was still a large blast on the ground, and while Venus was able to block it with her shield, she was still blasted back, knocking her flat on her butt, and taking some damage.

Noire immediately ran to make sure Venus was okay, while Black Sister stared at the interloper...

...Purple Heart, who was floating right in front of the transformed Candidate, using her katana to forcibly hold Black Sister's railgun down.

"Purple Heart..." the drill-haired CPU sounded.

"You need to calm down," Purple Heart sternly said.

"I-"

"You are taking things too far! Venus cannot transform yet, and she can't handle the power of another transformed goddess in battle."

Black Sister was silent. She hated her sister. She hated this new Candidate. She hated all of it!

...But she couldn't hate Neptune. The one person who could've understood how she felt. The only one who still might've cared about Nepgear... had no one else interfered.

With a hard look, Black Sister dropped her railgun, which turned back into its original rifle form as it hit the ground, bouncing off of it until it stopped.

Noire helped Venus sit up. "Are you okay?"

Venus grimaced. "Th-that hurt. ...And my nose feels tickly... a-ah-"

Then Venus took in a sharp breath, and sneezed.

Noire giggled a bit. "Okay, I get it." She then looked up to Purple Heart. "I'll take her outside, and see if she has any injuries."

The purple goddess nodded, and turned to the Candidate in front of her as Noire left with Venus.

"Uni, what was that about?" Purple Heart asked.

Black Sister didn't answer.

"Uni-" Purple Heart started again.

"Why? Why did you listen to them?" Black Sister interjected.

"What?" the purple CPU replied. She wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean.

"Nepgear. You'd never stop looking for her! I know it! But then you... my sister, the other CPUs, you stopped because they thought they couldn't find her. Why did you believe them?"

"I... I didn't want to, trust me, but we searched so hard and-"

"I WASN'T READY TO GIVE UP!" Black Sister screamed, tears starting to flow down her face.

Then, Purple Heart hugged her, catching Black Sister by surprise.

"I'm sorry. I know you miss her..." Purple Heart said.

"...I just... I can't stand it... I want to see her, just one more time..."

"Me too... But that chance was taken from us."

"BUT IT'S NOT FAIR! I don't want to accept that!" Black Sister cried. "This can't be what life is anymore, without Nepgear... I have to know what happened!"

Then the black Candidate began to fly off. "I'm sorry... I need to be alone."

"That's okay... Uni, I'm sorry I couldn't do more," Purple Heart called out. "Please... be more careful in the future."

Black Sister didn't say anything, as she flew out a window. Shooting out towards the city limits, the Candidate couldn't keep her tears in.

"I hate them, all of them. I just want Nepgear back, why can't they see that. That stupid new Candidate... she can't replace her. I won't accept that!"

Noire had brought Venus to her Basilcom's medical room, and asked the doctor to do a full check-up on her.

After the check-up, Venus was cleared. Just some bruises, and frayed nerves. She was curious as to why the blast caused Venus to sneeze, since it was just an energy blast, and the doctor assumed that maybe the energy tickled her nostrils.

Even still, Noire was concerned for Venus's well-being.

"Hey, are you okay?" Noire asked the Candidate.

"Yeah, my nose still feels fun- ah, ah." And Venus sneezed again.

Okay, I don't care what the doctor says, she's allergic to energy blasts, Noire thought.

"...I'm sorry about my sister," Noire apologized. "I didn't realize she'd get so... aggressive."

"Nah, I don't mind," Venus replied, wiping her nose on her sleeve. "She was very, um, very... cah... com- compost... uh..."

"Are you trying to say 'competitive'?"

"Yeah, that word! I don't think Uni meant to be... that!"

Noire thought about it. Yeah, I made sense. She herself was pretty competitive, especially in her HDD form. Uni might have picked up that behavior from her older sister.

But Noire knew that wasn't the reason for her aggressiveness. And yet... she didn't know if she should tell Venus that. She seemed to still think highly of Uni, ...and Noire didn't want to ruin that.

Even still...

"You know, I think Uni is going through a hard time," Noire told Venus.

"She is? Why?" the purplette asked.

"I- ...I don't know. It might have to do with an old friend of hers."

"Uh, who's that?"

Noire sighed. "Nepgear."

"Wait, Uni was friends with sis-gear...?" Suddenly, Venus got excited. "Then I'll become Uni's friend too! No, her best friend!"

Yeah, Venus did think highly of Uni.

"...It's great that you want to be friends with my sister. It might really help her. ...I wish I could help her..." Noire started to cry. "She won't even talk to me. I'm a failure of an older sister..."

Venus was distressed by seeing Nora, who had been so kind and helpful, break down like this. But... it also reminded her of what she was going through...

"...I wish big sis would talk to me more," Venus said. "I know she loves me, but she likes to be alone a lot of the time. She does a lot of quests with me... but she's too quiet..." The Candidate started to tear up herself.

Noire took notice, and then pulled Venus in for a big hug. "I'm sorry. I've been trying so hard to help Neptune open up... but she can't get over Nepgear. It doesn't have to do with you, and you're right, she really cares for you, but she can't separate her feelings about you and Nepgear... But if you need to talk to someone, you can always talk to me."

"R-really?"

"I-I know that I can't replace Neptune, or that you can't replace Uni," Noire replied, trying to hold it together. "But I'll be like... a second sister for you, if you want."

"Th-THANK YOU, NORA! I love you!" And Venus hugged back.

...Which meant Noire was getting crushed again. "O-okay... you can stop-"

As Noire was convincing Venus to let go of her, Purple Heart came in. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah..." Noire replied. "She's alright. Just a bit unnerved."

"Thank goodness. Noire, can I speak with you?"

Noire got up, and left Venus to go speak with her older sister.

Once the goddesses got to a private spot, with Purple Heart not turning back into her human form, which concerned Noire. Then the purple CPU started talking.

"So, about Uni... it seems she's still upset about Nepgear."

Now Noire understood why Neptune wanted to remain in her HDD. It was the only way she made be able to handle the distressing topic. "I figured as much. But I didn't realize it would be this bad."

"She was upset that we stopped searching, and isn't happy with how things are now..." Purple Heart then took a deep breath, as she readied herself for what she had to say next. "I... understand how she feels, but she still went too far. If the damage Venus took was serious, I don't... I don't know what I'd do. I just... wasn't able to tell her that."

"I know... I wish I could just talk to her... I... I don't..." Noire sighed. "At least Venus still likes her. But I'm worried..."

"Do you want me to talk to her? I'm the only other person who understands what she's going through, so maybe..."

Noire considered what she just offered to Venus. This sounded like a far trade, although. "I agree... but do you think she'll listen to you? It sounds like she didn't just now."

"I don't know, but... I don't want any more animosity between everyone. I don't know what to do about Vert, or Blanc. But if we can figure things out with Uni, that's a start."

"I know. I really appreciate that Neptune."

Purple Heart softly smiled. "Perhaps for today, we should head home."

"I'm sorry things went sour."

"You don't have to apologize. It's not your fault."

"Yeah... Goodbye, Neptune."

"I'll see you at the ball."

"Of course."

And with that, Purple Heart floated off to pick up her sister.

Noire could only hope things could get better soon.

Author's Note: As far as shield-throwing goes, Captain America, Venus is not.

So this is an idea I had a while ago, of Uni and Venus dueling, but Uni gets upset with Venus, and uses her HDD to nearly destroy our purplette. But of course, Venus misunderstands why this happened, and still thinks the best of Uni.

To sell this, I made sure to have Venus... not so much be winning the fight, but effective surviving Uni's attacks. Venus did get caught off guard by many of Uni's attacks, as she has never fought a sniper, but she also kept Uni on her toes most of the match.

I'll admit, I didn't know much about Uni's skills, so I had to look them up online. I wasn't sure if I could pull Uni off at first, partially because of the description of her first few Skills. Venom Shot and Paralysis Shot were described as Uni using special bullets, but I already decided to have Uni use rubber bullets, so those can't really be used. But once I could see her more advanced Skills, I found that they were better than I thought. I just have a bit of a harder time thinking of flashing moves for gunners, but Uni's looked pretty good.

I especially liked Ariel Shot. I figured that it would be a good move for a dynamic battle, if disrupted. A good show of Venus's defensive Skills, and allowed for a good moment in the battle. And the Skill normally looks really fun, too! Though it ends with a... rocket projectile of sorts. It sort of just pops in, and it looks odd to me, so I replace the move with a laser shot.

I was also kind of on the fence about using Brave Cannon in the fight. If I recall correctly, Brave Cannon was a special move given to Uni by CFW Brave. So that would mean this move is personally special to Uni, and it felt... kind of wrong to me for her to use a move that connects her to an old friend out of aggression and malice. But then I thought about it, and I figured Uni was acting this way because of her feelings towards a lost friend she cared about, and the result distaste she has towards Venus. So, I figured it could work for the theme here.

So, I was thinking of making stronger bonds between the pairs of Noire and Venus, and Neptune and Uni. To start, both Neptune and Uni clearly cared about Nepgear, and it's obvious that Uni blames her sister (and the other CPUs) for giving up, and not Neptune. At worst, I could see Uni thinking the Neptune was too easily swayed, but she still understands what Neptune is going through, seeing her as a kindred spirit.

As for Noire and Venus, Noire is so far the only goddess that wants the best for Venus, and is supportive of her. Neptune is certainly trying, but her own problems are holding her back, and besides, I'm mostly talking about how the other goddesses have treated Venus. It makes sense to me that Venus might look at Noire as a second sister of sorts.

I don't think I can play up on these ideas as much as I could, since we have one more chapter before the two-parter, and it won't involve these characters. But I'll try to fit some small stuff in during the two-parter, and afterward.

And lastly, I don't know how I do it, but I keep coming up with new, very random ideas for Venus. Like in this chapter, where she sneezed because of an energy blast. I mean, it makes sense right? A high concentration of energy could tickle your nose, right?

I also loved the "Bang! Bullseye" pattern I set up with Uni's inner thoughts. I thought was clever.

Well, anyway, sorry this took a while. Had a lot going on, but I got through it. Hopefully, the next chapter won't take as long to get to. See you then!