Hyperdimension Neptunia
Nepgear: A Savior's Tale
Chapter Three: Calm Before The Storm
In the forest near Neptune's gravesite, a feminine figure lands in the shade before a white and black flash surrounds her for a second before she steps out of the shade and towards the grave.
The figure's silhouette was revealed by the bright sunlight to be a girl who looks in her mid-to-late teens, with a slender figure, red eyes, and long black hair. Her hair is kept tied into two pigtails with blue ribbons, and goes down to her waist. Her fringe isn't kept parted and she has two bangs that go down to her chin. Her attire consists of a maid-like black top with golden trimmings and white frills around her upper arm and chest, and also reveals a certain portion of her cleavage. Her skirt is white with black trimming and is rather frilled compared to her top, and goes down to her lower-thigh. This woman is Noire, the CPU of Lastation.
"...Hi, Neptune." Noire said softly as she knelt down, a sad smile on her face as she held a small bouquet of flowers in her hands, "I hope you're okay, wherever you are now. ...I'm sorry I wasn't able to visit as much as I would've liked. But you know how busy things get back at Lastation."
Noire set the bouquet of flowers next to the cup of pudding Nepgear left earlier, "I also had a hard time picking out the flowers. It wasn't easy getting the colors right... I thought a combination of lavender wildflowers and black roses would be perfect for y- ...for us, really."
Noire was never publicly known to have a soft side, not even towards her sister Uni. But after she found out about Neptune's death, something changed inside Noire. Her embarrassment (if any, at the time) had faded away in that instant, soon replaced with a similarly painful yet very foreign feeling, one she soon found out was called regret. But no one she asked would tell her where this came from. The only answer came from her Oracle, Kei Jinguchi, who told Noire that no one but Noire herself knew that answer, and she had to search her own soul. And when she finally did, the regret started making sense.
Noire couldn't deny that she missed Neptune. Her beaming smile, cheery attitude, her purple spiky yet soft hair, and sometimes Noire missed Neptune's playful antics. Without anyone but Uni bugging her to take a load off, Noire got where the others were coming from when she was called a workaholic loner. ...Doesn't mean she liked being called that.
The main point is that Noire is slowly but surely taking steps to be more open to those she truly loved and trusted. She knew being 'true to herself' wasn't gonna be easy... especially after going cold turkey with Uni and Kei. Took Noire two days to convince her sister and Oracle that Noire wasn't sick or a clone of herself, but in the defense of the Lastation CPU, she was still new to being... whatever was the opposite of a tsundere loner character, according to Neptune.
"Mnnngh, I can already hear you teasing me now." Noire said softly. She then spoke in her best Neptune impression she can make, "Aww, flowers for me? I knew you couldn't get enough of me! You may be a Lonely Heart, but you sure know how to make me smile, you cute little tsundere you!"
"..." Though no one was around to tell Noire how good or bad she did, Noire felt like she just embarrassed herself and let out a breath, "Haaaaa... Well, I'll just cut to the chase. I... I miss you, Neptune. More than you could imagine. I haven't exactly... been the same since you've been gone. Sure you were lazy, and I always said to your face that you were a thorn at my side." Noire then closed her eyes and smiled, "But... doesn't every rose have its thorns?"
Noire opened her eyes and clasped her hands together, "That's what you really were to me, Neptune. A purple rose in my hands, laced with quite a few prickly thorns. You're special to me, Neptune... You joked about it in the past, but I mean it when I say... Having you in my life was the best thing to happen to me. And knowing that I'll never see your cute face again hurts more than the sharpest thorns of the most elegant rose."
Noire soon feels herself getting embarrassed a little, then she nervously stands up, "Well, I should get back to Lastation before I run that metaphor into the dirt! I surely hope you appreciate our talk, Neptune!" Noire said before turning away, marching off as she did so. But then, she stops and looks back, "...I'll be back for you someday. Wait for me... and we'll pick up from here. Okay, Neptune?" She smiled as she said that before walking away from the gravesite.
On her way out, Noire wondered to herself what she would "chat" with Neptune about on her next visit. Her not-a-secret-anymore hobby? Some new ideas from her nation? Maybe even share a progress report on Uni's improvements?
...
"...Anything's fine to talk to Neptune about, as long as we have fun doing it. Right?" Noire said to herself as she looked to the sky on her way out of the forest.
Back at the entrance of the Planeptune Basilicom, a young woman walks in. The woman that walked inside is a fair-skinned girl with a short physique. Her hair has a pale brown hue and has a length that reaches down near her waist. She has sharp, green eyes. On her head is an accessory called a "Leafy Bow", which consists of two green leaves on the left side of her head. She wears a loose, large, blue coat with silver buttons and trimming that is worn open and looks like it's many sizes too large for her to wear. Being too loose for her, the sleeves reach through her hands. From the shoulder to the elbow level of the sleeves is an orange lightning bolt with white trimming. On each side of the bottom of the sleeves are buttoned-on black cuffs with silver trimming.
Her coat also has two pockets on each side of the waist. The lower end of her coat has a brown fur lining. A loose belt strap that holds nine cell phone holders are attached in the waist line of her coat. In order from the left side of the coat to the right are the colors of the cell phone holders: blue, light blue, green, black, magenta, white, lime green, orange, and light pink. Beneath the open coat, she wears a tank top and a pair of shorts that are black with silver trimming. She wears a black belt with silver trimming and is adorned with a black and silver, diamond-shaped buckle with her name engraved on it, stylized as "IF". She wears medium-length black socks and blue boots with silver trimming that matches her coat.
"Wonder how Gear's been fairing lately?" IF said as she looked at her phone as she carefully walked around while keeping an eye on her surroundings, "It's been a few weeks since I heard from her. I knew she took her job more seriously than Nep usually does, but surely she has free time between her paperwork, quests, and patrols."
"If I know the young CPU of Planeptune like I know her sister and predecessor, she's working hard on ensuring cooperation and peace between Planeptune and the rest of Gamindustri." The mature voice of Leanbox's CPU spoke through IF's Speaker phone, "After all, it was Nepgear who declared her nation's removal from the competition that the other 3 nations are in."
"Yeah... I remember that shocking revelation like the back of my hand, Lady Vert." IF spoke as she sat down at one of the corner couches in the waiting areas.
This was the turning point for Planeptune as a whole. Less than 2 months into her new position as a CPU, Nepgear formulated her own peace treaty to omit Planeptune from any competition over who had the most shares but also made sure the original treaty that stopped the Console War centuries ago was still in effect. Planeptune's CPU and citizens are, however, allowed to partake in friendly endeavors and public celebrations with the other three nations, as well as any collaborative games made and cooperative showcases.
To simplify the announcement, Nepgear enforced that Planeptune no longer fights for Shares, or anything game-changing for that matter, but still makes sure the nation is still growing and evolving at its own pace. The event came as a shock to the other CPUs, CPU Candidates, and citizens throughout all the nations. But her friends knew deep down that Nepgear never was a fan of pointlessly fighting with her friends over...
...
Anything, actually.
"Gear did seem like she regretted ever taking Shares from the other nations in the first place. Like she deeply wished that she didn't have to risk starting a war just to save the world." IF noted as she held her phone close while talking to her CPU friend, "Not competing for Shares but earning the faith of her nation at her own pace is probably her weird way of wanting to earn her position."
"I cannot blame the poor girl one bit. Her plan to stop the Deity of Sin had the unfortunate side effect of-" Vert cut herself off when she nearly brought up Neptune's corruption and death, "Er, that is to say, I for one would hate to lock horns with the wonderful CPU that I've adored as a younger sister for so long~"
Hearing Vert's adoring tone about Nepgear being Vert's sister suddenly raised a question that IF asked without a second thought, "...Why did you stop trying to lure Nepgear to Leanbox after she became Planeptune's CPU?"
"Because it would be disrespectful to Neptune, of course." Vert calmly answered as if she's been asked this question over a dozen times, "It was fun to tease her about any affection Nepgear displayed to me when she was with us, but to force my way into Nepgear's heart as her new older sister when Neptune is no longer with us would bring shame to both Planeptune and Leanbox."
"...Hm." IF gave a soft smile. In truth, IF expected the not completely honest answer of Nepgear having a country to lead and that the young girl shouldn't be distracted from her duties. But to hear Vert admit that she ceased her advances out of respect for Neptune... It warmed Iffy's heart a little. IF took a moment to herself before she replied, "I'm proud of you for your maturity, Lady Vert. I'm sure if any of your citizens and followers heard you say something like that, you'd be gaining more fans like crazy."
"I am aware of the lines I can and cannot cross, that's all. Any self respecting CPU must know the difference between right and wrong. Even those of a slacker nature like... Hmhm~ Well, you know." Vert said with a giggle in her voice.
"Yeah yeah... Heh." IF said as she chuckled softly, "Oh, by the way Lady Vert..."
"...Has Leanbox made any big improvements on its lands or games?"
"Whatever makes you think otherwise, Iffy?" Vert asked casually, her smartphone pressed against her ear by Vert leaning her head against her shoulder.
Vert was currently in her "office" playing her games, wearing nothing but green shorts and a white t-shirt.
Undoubtedly Vert's favorite pastime, the Goddess of Leanbox is usually on her favorite MMORPG series, Four Goddesses Online. An MMORPG that, despite a lackluster story mode and cut content in the anime version compared to the game itself, had become a popular topic around the nations, especially Leanbox, that Noire had proposed a console version of the popular online game. She quickly gained Vert's approval, but the other two were tougher to convince. Blanc was in a bad mood after a scuffle with the twins that day and chewed Noire out for bothering her at a bad time,. And since one of the central NPCs was Purple Heart, Nepgear felt like she wasn't ready to take on a collaborative project just yet. Noire understood Nepgear's decision, while still a bit shaken up by Blanc's outburst, and thus decided to delay the Four Goddesses Online console port, her focus shifting to developing "Dragon Sphere: Project Z" with Cyberconnect2 instead, later renamed Dragon Sphere Zero: Kakarotto
Vert took a much needed break from the MMO herself and is currently exploring the rest of her library of games, ranging from Leanbox exclusives like shooting games or bear-and-bird platformers (or whatever type of game was made with that license, Vert didn't remember), to a few "Neptunia" games based off of anime, and even her newest project based on Noire's Persona series and Blanc's Astral Chain game...
"Well, where are you in the development of Scarlet Nexus?"
"At the rate things are going, we can expect Scarlet Nexus to release pretty late in the year. There should be an Anime opening uploaded on the Leanbox website this weekend."
...which isn't even out yet.
"What?! Look, I get that we can't rush good games, but just how long do you intend to put off your input?! What's gonna happen to you if you end up getting the game you made and it ends up being as shitty as you can imagine!"
Vert was about to retort when she heard the " Here Comes A Mighty Warrior! " ping in her fighting game, "Oh! Sorry Iffy, but can we talk later? Someone challenged me in FighterZ, and I have to beat them before Chika returns from those errands I had her do for me."
"Hard to believe she can last 2 seconds without you... Good luck, Lady Vert." IF said before the line was cut.
Vert readied up for the match that was challenged by her, and saw her opponent's username and team before she looked a little confused, "Ahh, Nepgear's my opponent. ...Strange. Why is she using her Day 1 Team?"
"How did I run into a team with the most OP characters on my first online match?!"
Rei screamed in shock and dismay as her hands shook which made the controller in her hands wobbly.
While Rei was still getting settled into living in the Basilicom, Nepgear had invited Rei to play a game called Dragon Sphere FighterZ, one of many games that crosses over the goddesses and their friends with other official Anime/Manga. Not only was playing a game together one of the best ways to bond with friends new and old, something Neptune made sure to hammer into Nepgear's brain when they weren't working, Nepgear also taught Rei how the games worked and what skill sets each available character was capable of. She wanted to help Rei pick out a team, but the goddess decided to let her use her Pre-DLC Team of herself, 5pb., and a new Game Original character called Arksys-Chan. Unfortunately, by sheer bad luck on Rei's part while Nepgear set up a random challenge, an all too familiar team showed up on the opposite side.
"Wait a minute... I know that team!" Nepgear shouted as she looked at the screen which showed Nepgear, 5pb., and Arksys-Chan pitted against Vert as Green Heart, IF, and what appears to be a fusion of Rom & Ram, the twin CPU Candidates of Lowee. She also got a good look at the Profile Cards under each team and saw the username "GreenBeautyV3" on Rei's opponent's team and told her, "Rei, you're up against Vert!"
"I see her on the screen, Ms. Nepgear!" Rei said while still panicking while one hand pointed to Green Heart's portrait. Nepgear looked at Rei with wide eyes, "No, you're actually facing Vert! She's in Leanbox playing this game now!"
"W-What?!" Rei looked at the screen with more fear than she had before, "Oh no... I'm a dead woman!"
"It's fine, Rei. Just remember what I taught you!" Nepgear encouraged, "We labbed this! You've got the combos! You got the assists! You can win!"
"*gulp!* I sure hope so..." Rei says to herself. The intros to Nepgear and Vert play out, and then the battle begins.
Dragon Sphere FighterZ
Nepgear, 5pb., Ark-Sys
VS
Vert (Green Heart), IF, Raom (White Sister)
It's all or nothing... Let's go!
Almost immediately, Green Heart rushes in for a light jab on Nepgear, then a low sweep, followed by a knee kick. Green Heart then jumps up and forward, turns around once she is behind her opponent, and does an upward swipe with her spear. Nepgear fell down after the combo, but just as Green Heart went for a ground spear strike, she flashes and jumps back up. Then Nepgear jabs Green Heart, lands a stronger right hook, then swings up with her sword, to launch Green Heart in the air. Nepgear jumps and chases, with a knee attack, sword swipe, and double-fisted downward swipe.
Green Heart slides on the floor for a second, but she gets up too after the combo. Nepgear uses a Dash Attack, but Green Heart summons a magic spear to pierce Nepgear and stops her approach.
"Eep!" Rei yelps as her character took a lot of damage.
"Sylhet Spear? They gave Vert's character a longer range than I remember. A buff from the recent patch, maybe?" Nepgear said while observing the match, "...Wait, Rei! Go back!"
Rei nods and moves the stick left.
But because Rei's Nepgear was facing left, she walks forward while Green Heart charges up her Energy and suddenly zooms forward, catching Nepgear in a powerful Dragon Rushdown, a series of punches & kicks in rapid succession that ends in a kick to knock her up. Green Heart chases and hits Nepgear with a punch, kick, jump cancel, punch, kick, then command grabs Nepgear... smothering the purple haired girl's head in her chest for a second, and then gently pushes her away.
"...They seriously allowed that in this game?" Rei looked at the TV with wide eyes.
Nepgear snaps her fingers a few times to get Rei's attention, "Hey, hey! Hey! 'Go back' means to block, not rush forward!"
"I-I went back like you said!" Rei said with a startled look, "Moving left is supposed to be blocking in this game!"
"Not if you're on the right side, genius!" Nepgear shouted. Then she shook her head and let out a breath, "Ahh, it's fine. Mistakes happen... Just watch out for the next-" Nepgear stops talking as she sees what happens on screen.
Green Heart managed to charge her Energy up to 3 bars and she used one to unleash her Level 1 Super: Kinestra Slash. Green Heart holds her arms close to her as her breasts jiggle a bit. She summons her spear again and rushes forward before stabbing through Nepgear once. But as Green Heart smiles charmingly, multiple green slash marks appear and damage Nepgear.
"Vert's Level 1 does that much?!" Nepgear shouts as she sees her game self's health bar down to about 20%, with a blue bar that goes up to about 55%, "Tag out, tag out, TAG OUT!"
"Alright, alright!"
"I-I need a minute!" Nepgear shouts as she vanishes in a white pillar of light. Then 5pb. dashes in with her guitar and pic, "Let's rock out!"
Green Heart immediately chases, but 5pb. swings her guitar upwards and it collides with her opponent. She jumps and uses an Air Dash to close the gap before doing an Aerial Combo consisting of a knee strike, a jab from the smaller edge of the guitar, Jump Cancel, knee strike, guitar jab, then she uses an EX Special Move that causes her to strike her guitar chords and release a sound wave in front of Green Heart. 5pb. then turns around and her heel kicks Green Heart to send her crashing onto the ground.
Nepgear calmed down as Rei improved her combo game, but a part of her still sees something unusual to her, "EX Sonic Soundwave can be canceled into a jH (Jumping Heavy)? I didn't remember that part of the patch."
While the camera zooms in a little on 5pb., she starts to play a rift on her guitar, then bolts of lightning shoot out from the sky above, striking Green Heart and knocking her health bar down to zero.
Down!
"U-Unbelievable!" Green Heart said as she was zapped of her remaining life, lying motionless on the ground. The screen faded to black before fading into IF rushing in and striking 5pb. with her daggers. "I'm the one you're dealing with!" IF shouts as 5pb. blocks with her guitar. They both back off into their midscreen starting positions.
Fight!
IF dashes in while seemingly vanishing, reappearing to slash at 5pb. a few times before doing a spin jump into an elbow to the blue haired idol's head.
"An overhead mid combo? What the goodness is Vert's gameplan?" Nepgear ponders as she watches the match.
Meanwhile, Rei was frantically flicking the control stick in all directions, her panic fueled movements causing 5pb. to move and jump all over. This raised some concern from Nepgear, "Uhh, Rei? What are you-"
"I thought we were done after the lead was down?! That's how those Ninja War Storm games always did team battles!" Rei shouts as she starts pressing random buttons to get 5pb.'s attacks out, but nothing connected that would deal any sort of damage to IF.
Nepgear blinked in disbelief at Rei's thought process that made her compare an ArcSystemWorks-style 2-D fighting game to an Arena Fighter that CyberConnect2 would make, despite both game titles having 3v3 gameplay formats. Although it would explain why she took all that damage instead of blocking.
5pb.'s frantic movements were heavily punished by IF spinning forward and slashing her daggers at her, leading into a combo of slashes and kicks that knocked 5pb. all around the screen. As the idol girl was being pelted by combos and rejumps, IF uses one bar of energy to unleash a Flame Soul Slice attack, slicing at 5pb. four times with fire coated daggers before jumping up and delivering a downward slice at 5pb., then IF jumps backwards before flames burst around 5pb.
Change!
"You need to chill!" A girl with pink and blue hair and white armor with blue & pink accents shouted as she spun her wand in her hands before placing the tip on the ground, "Ice Coffin!" The girl shouts as pillars of ice shoot up from the ground and surround 5pb. before shattering and dealing massive damage.
Down!
"Nooooooooo!" 5pb shouts as she lands on the ground face first.
Rei dropped her controller in belief, "You can DO THAT?!"
"...Maybe jumping into Ranked *before* the advanced Training Grounds wasn't a good idea." Nepgear said as she picked up the controller from the floor just as the game resumed, "Alright, I got this."
Nepgear rushed in and swung her sword at Raom, colliding with her staff as she said "Rom, Ram! Let's go!"
"Oh, that's Lady Rom and Lady Ram! I just realized that." Rei spoke up with realization in her eyes.
"The Dragon Sphere game devs like to get creative with its characters." Nepgear said as she sat down next to Rei, "Now watch this."
Fight!
Nepgear made a dash forward and started with a light jab, then a medium elbow attack, then a heavy horizontal sword swipe. Then she fires a bit of magic blasts from her palms. She vanishes and reappears behind Raom and then slashes at her again, "Look over here!"
"Gaah!" Raom yelled out from the impact, but her model glowed white for a frame before recovering, "Not so rough!" But that gives Nepgear time to do the Slash Wave motion, causing an energy stream to flow through the ground and hit Raom as soon as she landed. Closing the distance with a Dash Attack, she connects a low sweep and follows up with her Auto-Combo: jab, right hook, sword swing, Dash, knee, sword swipe, axe punch.
As Raom was falling, a white haired woman wearing a red & blue trenchcoat rushed and stabbed Raom, a magic burst of energy exploding and knocking the fused CPU back into a corner before the woman disappeared, Nepgear going in for the attack.
"Wow! Miss Nepgear, you're so good at this game!"
Rei's cheering made Nepgear a little embarrassed, "Heh heh... I'm not much of a fighting game expert, Rei. I'm just a really big fan of Dragon Sphere." She returned her focus to the screen, "My sister would've taken me to see the new Ancient Dragon Sphere: Sadie movie, if she was still with us."
"Forgive me, but you seemed more like you're into anime with giant mech robots or magical girl superheroes." Rei spoke up in confusion, "Besides, I thought the Dragon Sphere anime series already ended a decade or two ago."
Nepgear retained her focus on the fight as she explained, "Galactic Dragon Sphere was the end of the anime, which took place after the end of the Dragon Sphere Zero manga. But many video games and other media forms kept the series alive within the community and fanbase. All those years later, we got two modern day Dragon Sphere Zero movies, Battle of Goddesses & Resurrection N. They were later adapted into the first 2 seasons of the Ancient Dragon Sphere anime, followed by 3 more new arcs, and even more video games."
"Uhhhh..." Rei seemed confused at Nepgear's explanation. In truth, the only Dragon Sphere anime Rei had seen in full were Galactic Dragon Sphere + A Heroine's Legacy, the original Zero movies, and a more manga accurate adaptation of DS0's anime called Dragon Sphere Zero Kai. So when the newer Zero movies were brought up, Rei asked her goddess employer, "Were the movies any good?"
"Battle of Goddesses was a breath of fresh air for the series, especially after how many years it was after Galactic. Resurrection N wasn't bad either, but..." Nepgear looked like she was gathering her words before speaking her mind, "...Not sure how I felt about their marketing antagonist for the movie."
"Why? Was the writing bad?" Rei asked curiously. Nepgear shook her head, "No, she's a great character. One of my favorites from ADS. It's just... her character never struck me as the pure, unadulterated, evil to the core type like the trailers lead me to believe. The best way I can explain it is that she was someone who lost everything she knew and was doing anything and everything it took to change her advanced nation back to the way she wanted it. Sure, the methods to her madness were... less than ideal. But she was also cautious and cunning, devising the absolute best strategies in battle. She even got a new Lightning Aura form in the movie, which I thought was pretty cool. Electricity coats her hair and makes it spike up and glow. Her body also generates a lightning aura, as the name implies, and makes her move faster, resulting in her attacks coming through quicker and becoming harder for her enemies to hit."
"That sounds more like a Soldier x Soldier power, if you ask me." Rei commented. Nepgear looked excited at that, "Right?! My first reaction was 'Soldier x Soldier in my Dragon Sphere?!' So awesome!"
Down!
"Gahhhhhh!" Raom screamed as she was knocked down after Nepgear's attack.
IF rushes in back in the feel and clashes with Nepgear, "I'm not holding back even for you, Gear!"
"Can I address the fact that you beat a fused Goddess Candidate without looking at the screen?" Rei said aloud. To which Nepgear replied, "Oh? I didn't notice. I must be better at this game than I thought." She noticed that as IF's health reached below 30%, it turned red while Nepgear's Energy Meter started to flash, "Oh! I can do my Level 3 Finisher!"
"Level 3 Finisher?" Rei asked. Nepgear smirked as her fingers moved to her command, "Just watch."
"This is my chance!" Nepgear shouts as she transforms into Purple Sister and goes for a sword stab move. She looked like she was struggling to slash through her foe, but she swipes her blade through IF before she fires multiple blasts from the tip of her gunsword. She rushes forward and...
"Haaaagh!" Purple Sister shouts as she glows purple, lights of black, white, and green flashing around her as her aura explodes in a deep purple light. Her long hair was dark purple, she was wearing a one piece black and purple suit, along with her two D-Pad clips that now were bigger and in black color. She was wearing dark purple knee high boots and matching, long gloves. She was also taller, reaching Purple Heart's approximate height. Her suit, gloves, and boots were all laced with dark purple armor around her arms, shoulders, chest, waist, and legs. She spoke in a mature and determined voice, "Next Lilac, online!"
Next Lilac rushes at her foe, zooming past her before she hits IF from behind with her elbow, then she kicks her away, "Where are you looking?" She summons her gunsword, which has grown to a size compared to if Uni put two of her rifles together. The gun part lights up purple, black, white, and green as she aims it at her unsuspecting foe, "This is everything I got! M.P.B.L Mega Shot! Fire!" The multicolor beam fires upon command, and it looks like it hits IF. The brunette woman put her hands on the beam to hold it back, but she doesn't seem able to send the blast back.
As Next Lilac's gunsword meter is charging up to 1 Million Percent, a voice akin to Purple Heart's could be heard in her ears, 'Quick holding back already!'
"I'm through with you!" Next Lilac screams as her beam gets bigger and brighter, engulfing her unfortunate opponent in the skyward blast.
"What the hell is this power?!" IF's death cry was heard as her body/model was shown to fade to black as she was launched farther away from the camera.
Neptastic Finish!
Next Lilac lowers her gunsword and panted heavily, taking a moment to catch her breath before she looks tired, "Guess I... overdid it..." Nepgear reverts back to her base form just as she closes her eyes and falls forward, seemingly passing out.
Nepgear! Win!
"OH MY GOD!" Rei stood up and shouted with her hands on the sides of her face, "OH MY GOD!"
"One 'Oh My God' is fine." Nepgear said with a sweatdrop.
The screen faded to black before the island and winning team popped back into view. Arksys-Chan and 5pb., who looks a little injured in her victory portrait, were on either side of Nepgear. Nepgear's voice was heard as the textbox below Gear reads "Amazing as always, 5pb. I don't know if I would've won without your help."
"See Rei, you helped out too. You beat Vert with me and 5pb., and did some damage to IF." Nepgear said to the still exhilarated Rei.
"That complete and utter annihilation! …Wait, my frantic button mashing damaged her?" Rei asked as she looked at Nepgear. She was about to answer before she heard the elevator ring and saw who had arrived in the Basilicom room, "Oh! Speak of the devil!"
"Hey, Gear. I wanted to see if you were still on for that little get-together with Compa at fiv- Ah." IF looked to see Nepgear holding a controller in her hands, as well as a girl in a business suit looking like she was seeing a ghost, "...Does this mean you're gonna be late?"
"Sh-Sh-Sh-She's back! Back for revenge!" Rei clings to Nepgear and points her finger frantically at IF, "Her spirit's manifested from the game world and now she's gonna haunt us for all eternity!"
"Whoa whoa whoa! What are you freaking out about, lady-" IF was interrupted by a notification ping. She checked her smartphone and saw the Chirper post from Vert's account.
GreenHeart
"A Neptastic Finish in DSFZ Ranked Matches? Nepgear certainly does not disappoint!" The text reads as it shows the clip of Nepgear/NEXT Lilac blasting IF into space.
IF looked blank before she saw the game on the TV screen, which had gone back to the lobby as Nepgear ran out of time in selecting whether to Rematch or not. She looked a little angry... angry enough to have Rei shaking like a leaf.
"YOU KILLED ME IN DRAGON SPHERE FIGHTERZ?!"
"Eek!" Rei squeaked in fear. Nepgear held her hands up, "E-Easy! Easy, Iffy! It's just a harmless game. Nothing to get mad over. You were the last character on Vert's team. I-I had to show off for Rei! ...Even if it was supposed to be her first Ranked match..."
"Just because that health bar's under 30% and I'm the last one alive doesn't mean you have to go for the Finisher every time!" IF complained to Nepgear before she let out an irritated sigh, "Aaaaagh... Know what, it's fine. Whatever. It's just a game, like you said."
Rei looked like she was calming down when she poked her head from behind Nepgear, "...So you're not a ghost?"
"Nope. Now that that's settled... who are you, and how are you so close to Gear?"
"Gear? ...O-Oh, Miss Nepgear!" Rei said with a hint of nervousness, "M-My name's Rei... Rei Ryghts. And I'm working under Miss Nepgear directly."
"Gear employed you, huh?" IF raised her eyebrow in speculation, "In what field are you working under Gear directly?"
"Umm... see... I'm just a lowly servant of the Goddess-"
"Rei's my maid." Nepgear interjected casually, earning a surprised "Eh?!" from Rei while the grayish-blue haired woman's cheeks were blushing red.
IF was also red in the face when she heard the news, "Your... Maid?"
"Mm-hmm. Histy and I were supposed to give her a proper uniform, but I haven't seen her pop out from the office yet." Nepgear explained, "Or maybe Rei and I were playing for so long and I missed her."
"I'm... gonna go check... if that's okay with Lady Lilac Heart." IF said as she walked past the two women in shock.
Nepgear seemed to smile a bit, "She took that a little better than I expected."
"...Miss Nepgear? Can I ask something?" Rei spoke up. Nepgear looks over at Rei, "Sure. What is it?"
"Why... Why did you hire me?"
Rei's question left Nepgear with a look of surprise on her face. She wasn't fully prepared to answer that, but when she thought about it, she had a basic response.
"Hmmmm... Well... you were a lot like I was as a Goddess Candidate. Naive, overly reliant on others, didn't really have a set goal in mind... What were you gonna do about that Citizen's Group you were planning on making, anyway? After the less than likely scenario of me and the other Goddesses being stripped of our power."
"'Less than likely'? Way to twist the knife!" Rei said in slight offense. But then she looked down, "But... I don't know. I never thought I'd get that far... and at the rate I was going, I knew I never would."
"Well, now we can make something happen. You'll be on the right track of life under my guidance. That's a promise." Nepgear said with a smile on her face, "And don't worry about anyone haunting you. I'll always keep you safe. I take really good care of the people I love. That's a promise."
"Y-You already said-"
"Hey Gear, look who I found!" IF called out as she walked back out. Histoire floated beside IF and looked over at Rei, "Apologies for the wait. Are you ready to go?"
"Oh sure, Histy. I was just wrapping up here in DSFZ." Nepgear stood up as she said this, "Come on, Rei. I wanna see how cute you look in different maid uniforms up close."
"W-Wait, Miss Nepgear! If I'm going with you and Histoire, who will look after the Basilicom?" Rei asked. Nepgear looked deep in thought for a moment, "Oh, you're right... IF, hold down the fort while we're gone!" Nepgear says as she grabs Rei's hand and runs to the elevator, "Bye!"
"Yaah!" Rei yelps as she is dragged away. Histoire flies after the two, "H-Hey! Wait for me!"
As soon as all three girls were inside the elevator, the door closed and the elevator lowered them all to the ground level. This left IF all by herself with a look of bewilderment on her face, "...What just happened?"
Meanwhile, in Lowee...
"Grrr, than damn Mina!" Blanc said in frustration, "Who the hell gave her the right to leave me alone with all this work on top of keeping that tongue happy perv away from my sisters?"
"I believe you did, Lady Blanc..." A blond girl in a maid uniform said to her goddess. Blanc looked annoyed at her chamberlain maid, "It's been three damn years, Financier! You think she'd be back by now?!"
"I'd much rather have her back here to help us as well, milady. But even I can hardly blame her for taking leave after what happened with Nepgear and that green haired lady..." Financier looked upwards, "Was she that Underling character that nobody took seriously?"
"Yeah. I think her name was Linda." Blanc said as she was scrolling through Chirper posts and caught a recent post made, "Pffft! Ha! Vert got Neptastic Finished on DSFZ. Poor girl and all, but I do love it when her Thunder Tits get knocked down a peg."
Financier's eyes were completely white as she stared at Blanc, "...Do I even wanna know how that works?"
"Y-You know what I mean!" Blanc quickly said as she got up from her chair, "I'm gonna go make sure my sisters didn't get slobbered again!" Blanc said as she quickly left the room.
Financier was left by her lonesome as she walked to the computer Blanc was on before. She switched Blanc's account out for her own and scrolled through, "Dragon Sphere FighterZ has been more popular than usual since they updated Nepgear's Celestial Severance move to include the new power she used against the Deity of Sin. Somedays I wish I could do more... not just for Lady Blanc, but for all of Gamindustri. ...*sigh* The late Lady Neptune sure makes it look much easier than it- It... huh? THAT'S WHAT MINA'S BEEN DOING ALL THIS TIME?!"
Mina's Chirper account, or at least an account with her face as the PFP, made a long thread of posts detailing her "journey" to being a better person. It turns out that she's been partying with groups of human girls and drinking what appeared to be strangely colored soda drinks. Financier took one look at the bar behind her to know... the drinks weren't soda. Another picture had the magic teacher looking suggestively at her phone camera, wearing a red provocative dress that showed the top of her chest, white long gloves on her hands (one of which looked like it was going down her body), black stockings on her legs and red high heels. She had on dark pink makeup on her eyes and her lips were icy blue. For jewelry, Mina wore golden earrings, two bracelets on each of her wrists, and a chain necklace around her neck. She also doesn't have any accessories in her hair like she normally would. The third post was what seemed to be an edited video of Mina in her usual scolor uniform behind a sunny backdrop. The blue haired woman bowed in front of her camera and took her red coat off, waving it in front of her before the coat revealed her wearing the other outfit from earlier in front of a clear night sky backdrop. The nighttime Mina placed a hand on her hip and blew a kiss at the camera before waving seductively, a gaze on her face that seemed unlike what many who knew her were used to seeing.
Although the rest wasn't worth describing or remembering for later, Financier took a full minute scrolling back and forth through the thread that Mina had on her Chirper. The chamberlain stood up from the seat and stomped away from the desk, "That girl leaves us with an Ex-Criminal for the Free World who loves 'little girls' with an unhealthy passion, and she's got the nerve to act like none of that matters as long as she gets to be a wild girl...! Where does Lady Blanc keep her hammer collection?!"
Financier was determined to bring Mina back from her "journey"... one way or another.