This is Part 3 of a three-parter set of chapters, Chapter 19 being Part 1 and Chapter 20 being Part 2. Please read Chapters 19 and 20 before you read this chapter.
Chapter 21: Will Be Venus
"Purple Sister is here, and ready to roll!" Purple Sister Venus announced proudly.
Black Sister, while she was incredibly happy that her friend was not only completely all right, but also there to save her when she needed it most, she was having a little trouble believing that this was all it took for Venus to finally obtain HDD.
And on the other side of the large open room that was this battlefield, Parallax was also completely shocked, but he kept his composer. Probably not surprising, being a robot. However, his anger remained. "You should have died, like you're supposed to, Fal-"
"You can't call her a 'False CPU' now!" Black Sister interjected, snapping back to reality after hearing Parallax's vile voice. "She's transformed! She's Purple Sister Venus, clear as day!"
"Her transformation means nothing. She is not the accepted successor to Planeptune," Parallax snapped back.
"You won't be saying that, once I pound you into the ground, HARD!" Purple Sister boasted, pointing her sword at Parallax. "Uni, you ready to beat this guy!?"
"Yeah, uh, I... guess," Black Sister said, trailing off. She never thought she'd see Venus act this way, but here she was, the new Purple Sister. Black Sister was also concerned, as fighting with her new gunblade wasn't exactly working out for her.
However, Purple Sister radiated so much confidence, that it was reigniting Black Sister's own determination. ...Yeah, she could do this! With Venus by her side, they were unstoppable!
Black Sister's fierceness returned, as she gave a nod to Purple Sister.
"Let's do this!" Purple Sister responded, as she rushed towards Parallax.
Parallax raised his hand to the side, as his blades reformed into his imitation sword. "You need to accept that your life is forfeit. Critical Edge!"
He rushed towards Purple Sister, and made a double slash at her. However, Purple Sister's new reflexes were quick, and parried both his strikes with her own sword. He attempted to finish the move with a powerful slash, but Purple Sister effortlessly blocked it with her shield, holding the force of the attack back.
"Don't... pretend... to be... MY SISTER!" she shouted, as she pushed Parallax's attack back, forcing him off balance. And in a swift motion, Purple Sister held her sword out, charged it up with energy, and made a wide slash, striking Parallax in the chest he could recover.
The robot was knocked back, and as he got up, he found a large gash across his chestplate. This enraged him. "You little-"
But just as he started speaking, Black Sister flew past, and unleashed a barrage of shots at the robot. He held his arm up to block at least a few of the laser bullets, and protect his head, before leaping back. As he flew back, he made a motion to send all of his blades at Black Sister in their standard dagger modes.
The energy blades swarmed Black Sister. She weaved in and around, and attempted to block and parry a few of the daggers, but with a dozen blades flying around her, she couldn't defend herself.
Until something flew by her, and she found herself surrounded by a magic barrier, which then expanded, pushing the blades away. Purple Sister had thrown her shield, using her new barrier to protect Black Sister.
Purple Sister winked at Black Sister, and then turned to Parallax, who had snapped back in her direction with rage.
Parallax recalled his blades, and put his focus on the Planeptune Candidate. He prepared to attack, but again, Purple Sister reacted first.
"Comet Drive!" she shouted, as she pulled her sword back, and then made her charging stab. Now with the flight provided by her HDD, she had complete control of her aim with the move, and easily struck Parallax.
And she wasn't done, as she spun around, recalled her shield from Black Sister's side, and followed up with "Blaze Impact!", grabbing her shield, infusing it with fire magic, and slamming it into the ground, blasting the robot away.
Black Sister flew over to Purple Sister, calling out, "great job! You're pretty quick. You're really getting used to your new form."
"Thanks! But I'm not done until I take this tin-can DOWN, and show him what a so-called 'Flase CPU' looks like!" Purple Sister replied. "There is NO WAY I'm going to let him best me!"
Black Sister was genuinely shocked by the sheer confidence her friend now displayed. Yes, Black Sister knew that HDD gave every goddess a confidence boost, and Venus, who struggled to find her own confidence before, shouldn't have been any different. But her eagerness to prove herself the best... "You're sounding like my sister. ...Not to insult her, but she's always claiming to be the best, especially in HDD."
"Oh, I'm not trying to be the best. I don't care about that at all. I just know that I am going to beat him, because I'm giving it my all! Especially with you at my side!"
Okay, so she was just cocky. But at least she wasn't trying to do this on her own. And in turn, Black Sister felt she had to help, in any way she could.
"Okay, then let's do this!" Black Sister replied.
"Yeah!" Purple Sister cried out.
The transformed Candidates turned towards Parallax, just as he was getting up. As he returned with a glare of his own, his blades formed together into two swords, and approached his foes. "You have made me very angry. The world is changing, and neither of you deserves a place in the new world. And yet... you stubbornly refuse to accept that!"
"Why would we accept that!" Black Sister countered. "Your version of 'acceptance' is us dying, and why would anybody want that! We're certainly not going down without a fight, despite you wanting us to. Besides, we CPUs are the protectors of Gamindustri. Everything would fall apart without us! Is that what you want?"
"A new CPU of Planeptune has already been prepared," Parallax callously retorted. "As for your nation, Lastation Candidate, I don't care about its fate, unless they get in our way. Of which, you already have. I already told you this, and the consequences thereof."
The first thing Parallax mentioned gave Black Sister pause. A new CPU of Planeptune. What the h*** was he talking about?
Purple Sister, on the other hand, wasn't phased, and challenged Parallax's statement. "We don't need your 'new CPU'. I bet she's the real 'false CPU'!"
Parallax glare tenseified. "I'm done talking to you... You refuse to understand the truth, and talking is doing nothing to help you understand. And regardless, you're fated for death. Raging Rush!"
Parallax leapt at the girls, and unleashed a series of aggressive slashes, finishing with a single arcing slash. Purple Sister used her shield to block most of the strikes, including the final blow, but Black Sister's attempt to parry the move with her gunblade wasn't very successful, and she got hit.
Now he's using Big Neptune's moves? Black Sister thought. She hadn't seen many of these people for over a year, and yet this robot who supposedly copied his opponent's abilities knew all of these other Skills. Not to mention the twin's spells, the CPUs, or her own skills.
Purple Sister got a little grazed by the attack, but as soon as Parallax finished with his attack, she was already in motion, getting between him and Black Sister, and then making a backspin, swinging her sword at the robot before he could make another extended onslaught.
Parallax managed to parry the attack with his swords, but he was knocked back. Black Sister, getting back up as quickly as possible, flew out from behind Purple Sister, and fired a series of shots at Parallax, which he couldn't react quick enough to evade.
Got him.
But Parallax recovered quickly, and he moved with surprising speed, rushing behind Black Sister and counterattacked. It was a simple attack, but Black Sister barely blocked it with her blade, pushing him a step back.
Purple Sister, once again came to the rescue, calling out "Stardust Saw!" And she actually tossed her shield, with its magic blades coming out mid-flight.
Parallax called in his blades to create a barrier and block the attack, but the force of the Shield Skill pushed him back, and then broke through his barrier, hitting him hard.
The giziod sat up in a kneeling position. "Just... DIE! Umio Hevean!" His blades raised up, each one surrounding themselves in energy, ...vaguely fish-shaped.
There is no way... Black Sister thought. The blades flew up, which totaled to over DOUBLE the count of "Umios" in the original move, and then shot forward, firing energy blasts (mimicking dropped bombs) onto the girls, blasting the ground.
Purple Sister held up her shield, using her new barrier Skill to protect them from the blasts above them, but she wasn't very quick, and while she could block the blasts, she didn't have time to fully strengthen her protection.
But that was the least of her worries, as the blades began to make their return round, and flew under the barrier, where it was left open in Purple Sister's haste, and stabbed the ground around the Candidates, unleashing bursts of energy.
The two Candidates attempted to fly up to escape the attack, but they didn't get out unscathed. Black Sister, however, had a head start, and as she took to the air, she zeroed in on Parallax.
Okay, Empress Mode was too strong, how about a regular Blaster, she thought, and prepared her move. "EX Multi Blaster!"
Her laser charged up, and... well, it was a more stable blast, but she still had difficulty controlling her aim. And of course, Parallax dodged, unscathed.
...But before the move ended, something flew past Black Sister at high speeds. Purple Sister made a move to intercept the Multi Blaster's beam, and...
"Aurora Reflect!" she shouted, and used the redirective properties of her attack to re-aim the beam! Parallax barely had time to look over at the Planeptune Candidate as he got caught by the full blast, getting pushed into the wall.
"Yeah! Now we got you!" Purple Sister shouted excitedly. "Great job Uni!"
"Venus! What are you doing!?" Black Sister countered. "That was reckless! What if the beam hit YOU!"
"What, I thought it'd be cool. And it worked, right!?"
"Okay, but... next time, we need to coordinate that. I don't want to hurt you."
"Co... or... Core- Core-di- Augh, I don't want to figure out tough words right now!"
"Good to know that you're still the same old Venus, even in HDD." Honestly, Black Sister was happy about that. Many Planeptune CPUs changed drastically in personality when they transformed. Not in bad ways, for the most part, ...except for Plutia, maybe.
Thinking about it though, Nepgear didn't change all that much either. So, perhaps Planeptune Candidates didn't change. Or was there something more to this that Black Sister never thought of.
Purple Sister Venus smiled. "Of course! I mean, what's so different about me?"
"Nothing really, besides some new level of cockiness," Black Sister said. "Although..."
"Although what?"
Black Sister looked down at her weapon, distressed. "I'm not really helping, am I? I'm not used to this weapon. I don't have good sword skills, and my gun Skills don't work well with this weapon." She then turned to Purple Sister. "How do you do it? Noire said you'd just... come up with new moves in the battle."
"Well, I don't really think about it," Purple Sister said. "I just do whatever comes to mind. And it works out."
"So, you just... go with the flow? That sounds dangerous. What if 'doing whatever' only causes more problems."
"Well, I trust that my sword and shield will do the trick."
Black Sister blinked. She just had faith? She didn't believe in herself before, but she believed in her weapons? Was she just confident in her combat abilities this whole time?
As if to answer her question, Purple Sister continued, "I just want to make sure everyone is happy. And no one will be happy if they're hurt. So, I'll do my best to fight, if that's what it takes." And her cocky smirk returned. "And if I can also show the bad guys just how badly they're going to lose, then all the better."
Black Sister took this in, and laid her eyes back on her new weapon. If that was all it took... then maybe...
"You..." a voice spoke up. Parallax was getting back up, though he was starting to look worse for wear. "I will not lose to you. I was tasked with killing you..."
"You just won't stay down, will you?" Purple Sister said.
"Not until we take him apart completely," Black Sister replied.
Purple Sister smiled. "Good, I was having so much fun fighting by your side!" She then charged towards Parallax, as the robot arranged his blades into a spear, and raised it to block her strike.
Black Sister gripped her sword with both hands. Okay, let's do this like Venus does. Just go with the flow, and have confidence in your own abilities.
As Parallax pushed Purple Sister off, he prepared for a counterattack. This Candidate was too strong for her own good. Why couldn't she just-
Black Sister suddenly flew to his side. He knew this move, a... "surprise" follow-up shot-
Without hesitation, Black Sister rushed in after Purple Sister jumped back, and made a stab towards his chest. He bearly leaned to the side, and he was still cut through.
The giziod made a desperate jab with his spear to force Black Sister away, and as she made some distance between them, Parallax looked down at the deep gash on his chest plate. And he remarked, "well, how interesting. Now you play a swordswoman? Like your sister?"
"No, I'm going to fight my way! A way you've never seen before," Black Sister retorted, following with, "Critical Cross!"
The Candidate rushed in with a powerful slash, flying past him, only to spin around and come back with a second, crossing slash. Parallax was able to stop the first slash, but the second one caught him off guard.
"What the-" he sounded.
"You copy our abilities, right? Well, how about brand-new, on-the-fly moves?" Black Sister countered.
"Wow, you're freaking awesome!" Purple Sister replied.
"Enough!" Parallax shouted. "Inbetween Spear!" He threw his imitation spear, where it broke back into the individual blades, forming energy into mini-spears, all flying toward the girls.
The girls began to weave through the barrage of blades, and both came in for another set of attacks.
"Sonic Sever!" Purple Sister called out, unleashing a wave of magic from a swing of her sword.
Parallax leapt over the Purple Sister's ranged attack, an impressive feat, based on its vertical nature, but then Black Sister locked sights onto him.
"I've got another one for you!" she exclaimed. "Shooting Star Waltz!"
Black Sister envisioned some of the moves her sister, as well as Nepgear, used, and came up with this new Skill. She rushed forward and delivered a series of slashes while quickly prancing around the exposed robot. And to finish the move, she flew in front of the robot, to make use of an idea she came up with.
None of my own gun Skills work with this gunblade. It isn't a stable enough weapon, Black Sister thought. So let's try something new.
The gun portion of the blade began to charge up with energy, but instead of a single beam, she fired a circular spread shot of energy bullets, which then homed in onto Parallax, blasting him into the ground.
Parallax barely managed to land on his feet, sparks flying as he slid back across the metal ground, trying to maintain his composure.
He looked up at the Candidates, and growled, "fine... I'll admit, you two are worthy opponents. But I have a mission to accomplish, and you two must die!"
"Would you care to tell us WHO gave you this mission?" Black Sister questioned. "I think we deserve to know who wants us dead and why?"
"Yeah, and do why they think I'm not a real goddess!?" Purple Sister angrily added.
"That is not your concern. And I... AM NOT DONE!" Parallax shouted, as his blades returned to him, forming a staff and charging up with magic. "Combo Skill! Icecalibur! Endless Cocytus!"
Black Sister's eyes widened. "Those are Rom and Ram's individual EXE Skills. He's combining both of them! Venus, shield up, hurry!"
Purple Sister obliged, and raised her magic force field, just as Parallax raised his staff up, causing a whirlwind of ice to assault them, along with large ice spikes trying to skewer them. He then slammed his staff on the ground, shattering the ice spikes, while unleashing a wave of ice that flew below them, and then shot up in an upward spire of icicles.
And this was enough to break through Purple Sister's magic shield, and trap the goddesses.
"D*** it!" Black Sister cursed.
"Oh, you're going to get it now!" Purple Sister exclaimed.
"It's not over yet!" Parallax said, as he raised his staff, as a massive ice blade formed on the top. He then flew up, and shot back down with a downward stab of the ice blade, breaking through the ice pillar, and blasting the trapped Candidates away.
Both of them slammed against the wall, next to each other. The area where they were was covered in an icy fog, a remnant of the ice blast.
"...What was that?" Purple Sister groaned.
"It was an EXE Skill," Black Sister replied.
"Like big sis's... uh, I think it was 'Neptune Break'?"
"Yeah, that. Except that was two similar EXE Skills combined into one. And that combo was brutal..."
"Well..." Purple Sister smirked. "Perhaps we should use a combo of our own."
"Do you know an EXE Skill?"
The smirk was lost. "No..."
"Right, well, these are more difficult, complex moves. I don't think we can just come up with one on the spot. And I certainly don't have one prepared for this weapon." Although, Black Sister was considering using... no, just because she'd seen that move plenty of times, doesn't mean she knew how to use it herself.
"Well, what if we come up with one together?" Purple Sister asked.
Black Sister thought about it. "That... could work. But we don't have much time."
"Okay, so, what do we call it?"
Black Sister turned why some exasperation. "Um, what? Why is that the first thing on your mind?"
"Come on, whenever I come up with a new move, I never know what to call it. I have to wait to get my sister's help. But I was watching you, and you had names for moves as soon as you came up with them!"
Black Sister didn't know how to react, but she looked over, and Parallax was getting back up, a figure hidden by the icy fog. His double EXE must've taken a lot out of him, but that hadn't been enough to stop him. "Venus, we don't have time for this!"
"Oh, come on, please?"
"Ugh, fine, do you have an idea?"
"Um..." Purple Sister thought on it for a brief moment. "Ooh, what do you get when you mix purple and black?"
"Uh... darker purple?" Then Black Sister came up with a better answer. "What about ultra-violet? It's the color that makes up black light, but it is purple, just a really dark purple."
"Okay, and... Oh! I know how to finish the name!"
"Okay..." Then Black Sister noticed Parallax fully stepping out of the fog. "We're out of time. Ugh, I can't believe we spent all that time coming up with a name."
"Don't worry, we got this. You said we should just go with the flow," Purple Sister said, smirking again.
Black Sister sighed, and returned a smirk of her own. "I said that's how you always fight. So of course we got this."
The two Candidates turned towards their robotic enemy, with a shared determination in their eyes.
"Why can't you simply give in. If it's not me, then it'll be someone else. Planeptune will not accept you!"
"That's where you're wrong," Purple Sister said smugly. "Planeptune already accepts me. And more importantly, I accept myself! I will be Venus! And if you don't like that, then too bad!"
Black Sister couldn't be more proud of her friend. "Now it's time to end this! For real this time!" she continued. "Ultra-Violet..."
"UNITY!" Purple Sister finished, as both Candidates charged towards Parallax with incredible speed.
The Gizoid warrior had no time to react.
Purple and Black Sister sliced through the robot, one strike after enough in quick succession, before joining together for a cross slash.
"Let's keep this going!" Black Sister called out.
"Uni! My shield!" Purple Sister exclaimed.
Black Sister nodded, and aimed her gunblade at her partner, who was holding up her shield. Don't worry about the type of beam, Black Sister told herself, trust yourself and fire!
The Lastation Candidate charged up her gunblade, and fired a powerful beam at the shield, while Purple Sister used an EXE-empowered Aurora Reflect, redirecting the beam at Parallax, where it burst in a large black of energy on the ground.
"Last one!" Purple Sister called out. The two goddesses flew up, and crossed their swords.
"Let's finish this!" they exclaimed together, and charged down towards the weakened robot with a spiraling drop slash, unleashing a purple and black spire of blasting energy.
Parallax was launched into the wall, torn apart and broken. He wasn't completely destroyed, but his body was sparking, his arm was dislodged, and his eyes were flickering. His outer shell was torn open in various spots, and many of the exposed wires and other internal components were damaged.
He had reached his limit.
As the robot struggled to get back up, he glared at the Candidates. He began to approach them, slowly, due to his damaged motors, and with a broken voice modulator, he said, "I- I- can't believe -lieve it... You've b-beaten me-me... You'- you're st- stubbornne- ness has denie-ied your judgment... But you can not-not delay it f...or...ever..."
"I beg to differ," a voice spoke, sounding as if it was speaking through static. As the voice spoke, Parallax found a katana blade held to the side of his neck.
Behind the giziod, a warping effect was seen, as Steamax disengaged his invisibility, his armor damaged, but functional.
"Steamax!" Black Sister cried out, tears in her eyes. "You're alive!"
"S- so you esca- escaped..." Parallax retorted, displeased.
"My love for my friends gives me the determination to push forward and survive, so I can fight for them another day," Steamax replied. "The value of friendships is something you seem to fail to understand. After all, it would seem you've been beaten by the combined might of the CPU Candidates."
Parallax grunted. "I- I-I know I have- have lost... But this i-i-isn't ov...er... I'll re-re-return..."
And without warning, Parallax was surrounded by a vortex of dark energy, and when it dispersed, the Gizoid had vanished.
"Wha- Where did he go!?" Purple Sister cried out.
Steamax staggered back from the sudden vortex, and replied to the Candidate with, "it seems that he used some form of teleportation."
"Tele... tell... tell-port... Ugh, what does that mean?"
"To keep it simple, it means he disappeared, and will almost instantly reappear someplace else. Where, we don't know," Black Sister explained. "In other words, he got away," she finished, with an air of anger.
"Dang it!" Purple Sister shouted. "He really got away? I don't want him telling anyone else that I'm not a real goddess!"
"This is certainly distressing," Steamax replied. "He is a clear dangerous threat, and he speaks as if Planeptune is going to undergo a transformation, and purge Lady Venus of her status. He must be eliminated before then."
"It seems he's working for someone else," Black Sister added. "I bet he's the next of the long line of those robots sent to assassinate Venus."
"I believe you're right. I'm sorry, Uni, but... I think we need to put off the search for Nepgear. This threat has now exceeded any other priority. Whoever is in charge of these robots, needs to be taken down as soon as possible."
"Yeah..."
"My communicator survived my prior fight, but the underground nature of this place is interfering with outside communications. But the moment we step outside, I'll send a message to Affimojas, asking for his assistance. I'll also send a request to the Guild to put a bounty on this Parallax."
"Venus and I will sign off on that. That should guarantee that it's approved, but we need to make sure that the bounty warns of Parallax's ability to copy and combine his opponent's Skills."
"Of course."
"Steamax... I'm... I'm so glad you're okay!" Black Sister finally said, crying as she flew up to hug her robotic friend.
"Yes. He beat me, but as he promised, he kept me alive. He used some dark power to entangle me, and keep me from escaping. But I escaped nonetheless. I would not let him have his way. I'm glad you were able to beat him in my stead."
"I'm just happy you're alive."
As they let go of each other, Purple Sister flew up, with a smile on her face. "Hey, mister robot, check it out! I finally transformed! I got my goddy form!" she exclaimed, as she flew up and did a loop. "Isn't it amazing!?"
"W-wait, this is the first time you've engaged HDD?" Steamax replied, finally taking in Venus's new form. "C-congratulates!" he added, starting to stutter with his shyness towards girls. "Th-this is truly a m-momentous occasion, L-Lady Purple Sister."
Black Sister rolled her eyes at her friend's nervousness around Venus. It's not like Venus really cared about how she was viewed, at least with her form.
"I think it's time to leave," she announced. "We need to get back to Planeptune, and tell our sisters and Histoire what happened here."
"Are you sure you want them to know why you were here?" Steamax replied.
"We already need to put a bounty on the robot. Between that, and Venus finally obtaining her HDD form, they're going to ask questions about what happened, and why we didn't send out an SOS. Besides, Noire already found out that we're still looking for Nepgear, and I don't know how long she's going to keep it to herself. I already know that she might not be happy I brought Venus into this, especially with what just happened."
"Oh, come on, she can't be that mad," Purple Sister said. "I mean, wouldn't she be so excited to see me in HDD!?"
"Well, yeah, I suppose," Black Sister replied. "But it's YOUR sister who really needs to see this. You know, Noire was proud of me when she found out I got my HDD, but later, she mentioned that was also disappointed that she couldn't be there to see the first time I transformed. I can't imagine how Neptune is going to react."
"Well, at least she's not trapped for three mean years anymore."
"...Touché. Well, let's not keep our sisters waiting, and get out of here."
Once the group left the bunker, they split up. Steamax stayed behind to start sending his messages, but he promised to begin searching for Parallax's whereabouts, as well as doubling down on the search for whoever was responsible for this mess. He was even going to work with the Guild more openly. Finally, he promised to be in contact with Uni soon.
The Candidates were now flying back to Planeptune together, and Purple Sister was having the time of her life. Leaving the bunker, she was, for the first time, able to fly freely, out in the open air, and she was high on the resulting adrenaline rush. She was doing flips, loop-de-loops, spirals, and all sorts of tricks, flying around Black Sister and cheering with joy.
Black Sister, however, was more focused on what was going to happen once they made it back. She was trying to figure out the best way to explain to their sisters what happened in the bunker. Not to mention she and Venus needed to sign off on Parallax's bounty once it came up in processing. She just hoped Noire was still in Planeptune.
Unfortunately, she really couldn't think about that, as Purple Sister's excitement cut into her thoughts.
"This is so fun!" Purple Sister exclaimed. "I can't believe I've been missing out on this! You have this much fun flying, right?"
Black Sister smiled. She was happy that Purple Sister was at least enjoying her new achievement. "Well, I'm not one to just fool around in HDD."
"Aw, come on! I'll race you home!" And she shot off over the mountains.
"Wait, hang on! I didn't agree to this!" Black Sister called out to her friend. "Planeptune isn't even my home!" She sped up, trying to catch up to the excited Candidate.
And she caught up to her, where Purple Sister just floating above a mountain. Black Sister realized that this mountain was on the edge of Planeptune's boundaries, and you should be able to see the city from here.
As Black Sister approached her friend, she realized that something was wrong. Purple Sister's excitement was gone. She was just hovering there, motionless. She didn't even react as Black Sister approached, she just stared toward her home.
"Uh... Venus, are you okay?" Black Sister asked tentatively. "What's wro-"
The Lastation Candidate paused as she saw what her friend was seeing. In the distance, there was Planeptune City... with large plumes of smoke billowing from the center of the city.
"Oh no..." Black Sister sounded.
Purple Sister slowly began to shake, anger and confusion starting to radiate off her, as tears welled in her eyes. "What... what happened...?" the Candidate questioned in distress, as her rage took over. "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY HOME!?"
She summoned her weapons, and was about to charge into the city, but Black Sister stopped.
"Venus, stop! I know you're upset, I would be too if it was Lastation," Black Sister told her. "But we don't even know what's going on. Rushing in there could only make things worse. Let's approach cautiously, and see what happened for ourselves, okay?"
Purple Sister calmed down, but she was still very unhappy, and Black Sister couldn't blame her. After all, in this situation, of course she wouldn't be happy. "O-okay."
"Let's go. Follow me."
Black Sister took off at a brisk pace, with Purple Sister behind her.
As they approached, they got a better sense of what happened. In the center of the city, a fair distance from the Basilicom, buildings were heavily damaged and on fire, and craters littered the ground below. Sirens wailed in the distance as emergency crews attempted to put out the fires and help the citizens.
Purple Sister was barely holding it together as she took in the situation. This was her home, her nation, her people. Who would dare hurt them!?
"It looks like a large-scale battle," Black Sister noted. "I can't imagine a powerful monster making it this far into the city, especially without causing more damage on the way. It could've been an army evasion, but I don't think they'd have the time to deploy this deep in the city and then escape in the span of time we were gone. No, this could only have been caused by a battle between goddesses."
Purple Sister turned to Black Sister with a worried expression. "Do you think big sis is okay?"
Black Sister turned towards the destruction, sharing Purple Sister's worry, for both Neptune and her own sister. "We need to get to the Basilicom."
Author's Note: Okay, that ending is heavy, I know, but let's put that aside for the moment, and start from the top. And I need to start with an important question: How many of you got confused by me referring to Venus as Purple Sister?
Now, this wasn't going to be something that came out of nowhere. The topic was brought up back in Chapter 7, "Monikers and Sisters". But the important thing is, if you haven't noticed, when one of these goddesses is in HDD, I've been referring to them by their goddess title, not their actual name, unless of course, it's a character speaking and calling them by their name. And I'm pretty sure the games to this, too.
Plus, I actually think it's more confusing to call the goddesses by their actual names when they are in HDD. I read another fanfic that didn't call Neptune "Purple Heart" when she was HDD, but I had missed the point where she transformed, and was starting to get confused. And while that's on me for skipping the text (dumb Autistic + ADHD brain), I thought it actually would've been better if the writer had called Neptune by her title while she was in that form. Could've saved me some trouble, and I think it would've looked more natural. So, I strive to do better in my writing.
Of course, both Nepgear and Venus would share the title Purple Sister, as the little sisters and Candidates to Purple Heart. And these two aren't the only ones that share a title. Rom and Ram are both called "White Sister". If both of them were present and in HDD, I'd called them White Sister Rom and White Sister Ram respectively.
But also consider that two whole chapters were spent with Uni, and later Venus, in HDD. Any time I need to refer to their names, and because they were in HDD, I'd have to write out "[Color] Sister". Two whole words, as opposed to one. It might not seem like much, but add it all up, and gets a little tiring. So imagine writing Purple Sister Venus every single time. ...Yeah, unless both Purple Sisters were present, I'd rather not write out that full title each time, except at the beginning, just to make it clear who is present.
However, as I realized this, and began writing, I also realized that this would actually serve Venus's story. Her whole character arc is about recognizing who she is, what her worth is. She is Purple Sister, but not the same Purple Sister as Nepgear is. I think that her taking the title of Purple Sister for herself is important, it's her identity, as well as Nepgear's, and she should own this identity, make it her own and define for herself what that means, as the CPU Candidate of Planeptue and Purple Heart's sister.
I already mentioned that this wasn't intentional, be the music track "Will Be Venus" is the most fitting song for this moment, because of the name of course, but also because it just fits. Not just as the HDD theme, but as Venus's theme.
So, let's actually talk about Venus's actual achievement, and transformation into HDD, and the process for how it happened. Now, I knew HOW I wanted Venus to transform for the first time, I just needed to figure out the "why". As I explained before, I was using the anime rules for transformations in regards to obtaining HDD, where they would need to overcome a block they put on themselves. Using the examples I used before, Nepgear needed to stop holding herself back, and Uni needed to push her doubts aside. So I needed to figure out what Venus's block would be.
Obviously, I figured it would have to be related to how Venus was treated, where she was being compared to Nepgear. And after thinking about it, I realized that Venus would probably begin to feel inferior and incompetent being compared to this person she never knew, believing she would never be as good as her. So, she needed to prove to herself that she was strong and capable, and that she could stand up to those who put her down.
Next came the personality. At first... I didn't consider a personality change for Venus. But when I realized that I should try to make one for her, I considered a theory I had heard before. The theory was that the changes the goddesses get to their personalities when they use HDD are because their HDD form brings out their true selves.
This is how I thought it worked in my own words. There are parts of ourselves that are at the core of who we are, but we don't openly show in our personalities. Things we're ashamed of, want to be better at, or maybe don't even think about. The goddesses have these too, but using HDD happens to bring these out into the open. (This is why the CPUs in HDD have the title of "Heart", because this is who they really are deep down, in their own hearts.)
Neptune probably becomes much more mature in HDD because despite being so lazy, she still wants to help her friends when they're in trouble, so deep down, she probably wants to be seen as reliable, so her HDD gives her a personality more capable of that. For someone like Blanc, it accentuates the core of her personality, where she's fairly calm until she gets mad, but in HDD, she's kind of perma-mad. And as for Nepgear, who doesn't change that much when she uses HDD, it's probably because she's already so genuine, that she doesn't hide any part of her core personality, so her HDD doesn't have anything to reveal, thus she doesn't change much.
I used this theory for the groundwork for Venus's HDD personality, and looked back to why she obtained it in the first to help with that. She needed to stop being ashamed of herself, essentially, so... she wouldn't change that much either. She'd still have all her flaws, she just wouldn't be held back by them anymore. The best bet I had was to make her more confident because she wasn't ashamed anymore, but I wasn't sure I could sell that by itself. You see, personality change or not, all the goddesses get a boost in confidence when they use HDD, so it wouldn't be that special.
But I stuck to that train of thought for a bit, and thought that maybe... I could make her even MORE confident? Which I realized would probably be overconfidence. But actually, that wasn't a bad idea! Because now I knew what to do with her: Make her cocky! It would fit great with her base personality. She doesn't think about what she's doing already, so now, in HDD, she simply is more brazen about it. She's not prideful, as she doesn't specifically think she's better than anyone else, nor is she egotistical, believing she's the absolute best. She just thinks that she can't lose, and aims to prove it. And this that, I had a solid HDD for Venus!
(...Now, if you'd let me ramble a bit about the CPU's heart theory, I want to mention some thoughts I had for characters like Plutia and Uzume, and what I said about HDD revealing your true selves. This is irrelevant to the story, since they're not in this story, but I wanted to talk about it anyway, because if you consider this theory for them, it is both interesting and pretty dark, when you think about it.
For Uzume, it's made clear in VII that her girly personality in HDD is her original personality, and the cool, tomboyish personality she has in her human form is basically a mask she made so she could handle the pressures of surviving in a ruined world. So her HDD is simply showing us what she was like before all of the strife she went through, and preventing her from using her mask, and that's pretty depressing to think about.
As for Plutia, considering that she is a sweet, sleepy girl who loves making dolls in the image of her friends, but in HDD she becomes a sadistic dominatrix... it gives me the impression that something horrible must of happened in her past, which makes her want to lash out at the world, but she was too ashamed to show that side of her. But her HDD gave her a means to do so, while also enjoying doing it. It's kind of sad when you think about it... just what happened to her anyway?)
Okay, this has gone on for a while, but Venus's HDD was the biggest thing I wanted to talk about. Now, let's cover some of the battle, and the ending, and I'll finish with one last discussion.
It was great to finally finish up the subplot with Black Sister's new weapon, but I wish I could've done more with it right now. However, the battle went on for a bit long, and I was running out of steam. I'll talk more about it below, but just now that this isn't disappearing, it has its importance to the rest of the story, but this was just a cool idea I had for this battle.
As for Parallax, the way he uses Umio Heaven and Inbetween Spear, where his blades separate to act as the individual attacks, wasn't something I had planned, until I needed some extra moves for him to use, and the idea popped into my head. Gizoids, after all, can replicate moves, but some moves you can't mimic one-to-one, so they'll use the best substitute. And remember, it actually made Umio Heaven more dangerous.
And lastly for our Gizoid villain, while I haven't showcased every move he may he started with, he has used at least one Skill from every character he was supposed to have copied moves from to start (besides the ones he learned this battle). Again, I want you to pay attention to which characters he has copied moves from.
And to get back to the ending, I can't say much without revealing anything, but it is the aftermath of the cliffhanger I set up back in Chapter 18. You'll learn more about what happens in the next chapter.
And finally, to end off, I want to apologize for the massive delay in completing these chapters. I've done this for all of my stories so far, and this is the last story I need to mention this for. Writing for my other Hyperdimension story, "Ultradimension Neptunia: Big Nep and Smolgear", well, I was starting to lose interest, so I decided to put it on hiatus, until my interest returned. But before that, I wanted to write one more chapter for that story, just to end it off on a good note. And well... that's when the lack of interest finally reared its ugly head. It was so hard to finish that chapter, but I'm stubborn, and planned to finish it before starting anything else.
That situation has been over and done with for a while now, and I'm getting back on track with my other stories, but there were other reasons these chapters got delayed. One is that I put my stories on low priority over the second half of October, so I could finish my Halloween art, and get it done on time and posted onto my DeviantArt before the month ended.
The second biggest reason for the delay should be obvious. I was writing three chapters in a row, planning on uploading all of them at once. Not only is that a lot of work, and takes time, but writing these chapters became really hard. All three parts cover just this one battle with Parallax, and it became increasingly difficult to keep it going for just long enough.
The first part, Chapter 19, was easy, as it was just set up for the battle. Venus gets taken out (temporarily), and Uni transforms with her new weapon. And as I mentioned before, I also greatly enjoyed writing through Uni's emotions in that chapter, and how raw some of those lines are.
It's the second part, Chapter 20, that started to drag out. It covers Uni / Black Sister vs. Parallax, with Black Sister slowly losing, both because she is not used to her new weapon, and because she can't keep up with Parallax. The third part, this very chapter, was the hardest to finish. It's the long-awaited reveal of Venus's HDD, meaning she would need some time in the spotlight. Also, I needed to conclude Black Sister's plotline with her weapon, especially since she and Venus were going to end the battle with a combo move. This was planned long in advance, but I didn't realize how much time I would need to flesh the plot point out.
Because of all of this, I felt like I was dragging out the battle, and I was starting to run out of moves for Parallax to use. (I need to consider researching more of the goddess's EX Finishers to add to their repertoires, but the best videos I've found showcasing everyone's moves only cover their Skills.) I'm also concerned that Parallax may have just overstayed his welcome, which isn't great, since I plan to have him appear one more time later on.
I've been planning this battle out for the longest time, but I didn't realize how much effort I would need to put into it. I'm just glad it's finally done. However, I want to warn you, the next thing I will be doing, alongside getting more chapters of "Breath of the Wild: A Different Hero", is writing a three-parter for "Undertale Fallen Determination". So, it will be a bit before the next chapter comes up. But if everything goes to plan, the next chapter will be out before the end of the year. So, please look forward to that! Things are going to get exciting.