NEPSTATION
"Hiya, couch potatoes! It's that time of the chapter again! Your beloved host Neptune has arrived with a very special guest!"
"Introducing... The writer himself! Say hello, Mr. HeatWave!"
Hey everyone, I'm back!
"So, HeatWave, what secret goodies can you share with me about the upcoming chapters?"
Hey, hey, hey. Don't get too cheeky.
But okay, since it's you, I'll be willing to share a teeny-tiny little bit that won't reveal all too much.
"Oh?! Oh?!"
I plan to bring at least one more Neptunia character into the story at some point!
"Now these are the goodies I'm talking about! So, who will be joining me on my epic quest, huh?! Noire? Nep Jr.? Blanc? C'mon, tell me, tell me!"
Not so fast, I did say I wasn't going to reveal all too much.
"Ah man, you're such a tease!"
I do try. Hehe.
Anyway, I want to use this episode as a way of responding to some reviews. Care to join me, Nep?
"Alright, let's go!"
Great, our first one's from TeotakuFantasia. They're saying that they really want you to meet Himeko for some reason.
"Next chapter, Teotaku. Next chapter!"
Alright, our second one is from palver7. "Thanks for writing this story! I thought that the human herrschers are like the dark counterparts of CPU's HDDs". Man, if you could look at me through the screen, I think you might catch me blushing a little bit.
Regardless, yeah – you're totally right! I never thought of that before.
Oh, and Nep, they also want you to meet Himeko – due to having the same...
"The same what? C'mon, don't keep me in suspense!"
You'll find out soon enough, Nep. 😊
"... You tease."
Alright, let's do two more and then I'll respond to the rest below. Don't want to hold up the readers, after all!
Our penultimate review is from ptl. They really want you beating Otto's score at Kallen Fantasy.
"... Who's Otto? And... Kallen Fantasy? I think I saw a game like that on the dorm's console. It was getting pretty late yesterday, so I couldn't even try it. I will sometime, though! And rest assured that you have my word that I'll beat the highest score on that game!"
Final one... Oh, this is quite the long one.
We have a review from Kurogems1208, and here's a summary of what they said:
"Do you intend to use 'Captain' in this story? [...] I know you said to not insert OC, but 'Captain' is canon in his/her own way."
Well, I'll say this. The Captain will be making an appearance, with the Captainverse stuff being undecided yet. However, like in the main game's story and manga, he won't be as prominent as he is in the game. Hope that answered your question, Kuro!
"... huh. Can't wait to see him!"
Oh, you will.
Anyway guys, I think that's all the time that we have for this episode of Nepstation. Here's a quick response to a few more reviews, and we'll then be kicking off Chapter 4. Laters!
"Bye bye!"
*END OF BROADCAST*
Fanfiction.net reviews
SilentHeroX: Neptune's going to be in the Honkaiverse for a while. After all, there's not really much of a crossover story, especially with how she's been set up in this one, without her!
...
Or would it? 😉
Rama alif: Thanks, and here's your update! 😊
Thestorm4: In due time, storm. In due time. ^^
Mega1987: Oh, I get what you mean. 😉
Sense-zin: Can't tell you. Either way, you can rest easy for now – she's not going anywhere... For now. 😊
GPX-2013: Aw, thanks! Really happy to see you reading another one of my stories, buddy!
Zekken182: Hopefully the future chapters will allow me to keep you interested! Thanks for the praise! 😊
Kreeft123xx: Me neither. I never really thought of writing it until recently. I just wanted to experiment with a few series I liked and there's quite a few ideas to explore with Neptunia and Honkai, way more than I gave it credit for originally.
Baycon: Enjoy the rest of the show pal, it's just barely begun! And yeah, that ending. Probably one of the only video game endings that actually made me tear up a little, especially when Neptune got... You know.
That's all the reviews responded to. Now, onto Chapter 4!
VIRTUA FOREST – DANGER ZONES
It was a bright, warm and sunny day. The birds were chirping, the wind was softly blowing, the trees were rustling, and a random Dogoo just got eliminated by a wooden katana as it dissipated into data-like particles.
You know, a typical day in the world of Gamindustri – Neptune's home.
Speaking of which, we now see her running alongside a girl that shared quite a lot of resemblance to her.
"Hey, Nepgear! Let's handle this guy!" A familiar, excited voice shouted as it turned to the aforementioned girl.
"Y-Yes, Neptune! Let's attack him together!"
Immediately after, they charged forward at blinding speeds across the wide-open grassy field, targeting the large, scaled dragon-like monster that threatened to stop them in their tracks.
Despite the ludicrously heavy punches that were flung in their direction, they effortlessly dodged as they subconsciously waited for an opening. Their kind is relatively easy to take down thanks to the girls' vast experience with them, so this one should theoretically go down as easy as the rest.
Upon spotting an opening, the two sisters nodded at each other with a smile, prompting them to jump over the respective arms that were thrown at both of them by the monster and swing away mindlessly at it until it fell.
... Or, at least – that's what was supposed to happen.
Soon enough, the monster roared out in frustration and resentment towards the girls' attacks as it swatted them away before it marched towards the stunned duo, whom were confused as to how it was still standing.
"How the Nep is he still alive and kicking?!" Neptune exclaimed in disbelief, looking at her sister for a genuine answer.
"I... I have no idea!" Nepgear also exclaimed on the same level of disbelief.
As the monster towered over them, blocking out the sunlight for the duo in the process, it raised its arms to prepare a hard slam against the two, causing them to instinctively prepare to dodge.
"NEEEEEEEKOOOOOOO..." A somewhat familiar voice shouted from behind Neptune and Nepgear, causing the former to flinch for some reason.
Soon enough, an elongated & metallic cat-like foot appeared out from behind them, barely grazing the sisters' heads as they watched the scene of the monster staggering in pain unfold right before them.
"KICK~!" The voice finished, jumping out in front of the two stunned sisters as the source of the voice turned towards the two with a proud smile.
Neptune squinted at the figure, immediately looking at her features. White hair with two braids, blue eyes, and a (mostly) white battlesuit with minor black and orange features.
"Hold up, pause the game. You're... Kiana?" Neptune attempted to say, feeling a headache progressively creeping into her mind with every word she spoke.
"... Why are you looking at me like that, Nep? C'mon, we've got a mini-boss to beat!" Kiana announced as she spun her two guns effortlessly with her fingers, somehow not managing to accidentally pull the triggers on either.
As Neptune looked at Nepgear, the latter's face was that of confusion.
"Hey, Neptune – do you know her?"
It took the aforementioned individual a few seconds to get their head together somewhat in order to answer the question.
"I, er... Uhm..."
"What's going on? Why am I finding it so hard to think right now?" Neptune thought in her head as she tried comprehending the situation.
Before she could do that, the monster regained its balance and started trying to assault the three girls – but was once again interrupted by a painful and swift slash across its chest, having similar slashes occur in quick succession in a few other areas before they stopped. The slashes looked like purple light stretching across its body before they quickly disappeared.
The source of those attacks would then make her appearance as she immediately dashed next to Kiana.
Dark Purple hair? Check.
Indigo eyes? Check.
Pink and black battlesuit? Check.
No doubt about it, to Neptune – this was undoubtedly Mei.
"Are you okay, Neptune? You look as if you're looking at ghosts." The girl asked with her signature smile.
When Neptune looked towards Nepgear again as she tried to control her raging headache, the latter's face adopted an expression of immense confusion. On a normal day, Neptune would probably have tried to take a picture of it – but this was starting to feel less and less like a "normal day" to her.
"Alright, I'll bite. Where's Bronya?" Neptune muttered, feeling absolutely out-of-it as she found it harder and harder to control the pain.
Almost as if her prayers were answered, a charging sound could be heard right behind Neptune & Nepgear, with a monotone voice droning in the distance.
"Project Bunny: Lock Target. Charge primary cannons to maximum."
And after a few seconds...
"Fire."
Several missiles could be seen thrusting right towards the monster, creating a huge explosion upon impacting it as the massive amount of wind knocked everyone in the area away from said explosion.
When all the girls recovered, Neptune picked herself up from the floor, still holding her head as her facial expressions uncharacteristically tensed up.
"I knew it... What's going on here?" Neptune asked out loud, wanting whatever was crawling around inside her head to stop giving her such a migraine.
"The Bronya is willing to answer your question, but to do so..."
Bronya joined right next to the two newcomers as she prepared to answer Neptune's burning question.
"You have to wake up now." The three said together with the same smile being visible on all three of their faces.
When Neptune, still possessing the same confused face, looked back towards where her sister was sitting, she found that she had completely disappeared – spooking her even more.
"N-Nep Jr.?" Neptune called out, receiving nothing in response as she attempted to look back towards the three girls... Only to find out that they've disappeared too!
"This isn't meant to be a horror fic, what's going on...?"
Suddenly, the entire environment around her starting darkening at a rapid rate, with a faint voice echoing in the far distance. With every word that it said, it started to become clearer and clearer to hear.
"Neptune..."
"Neptune..."
???
Soon enough, Neptune's eyes opened.
What she could now see in front of her was a blurry mix of bluish-purple, cream and blue alongside a more white-like background that was becoming more detailed with every passing second.
"Neptune, it's time to get up."
Eventually, she discovered that she was looking at Fu Hua within the living room in the same dorm that she was in yesterday, to which the hazy-minded Neptune responded by... closing her eyes again.
"Ah, heya... Just gimme 5 more minutes, okay?" Neptune muttered before immediately drifting back to sleep on the sofa she was previously sleeping on, already snoring before Fu Hua could get a single word in.
Fu Hua couldn't believe that she just immediately went back to sleep. She recently discovered that Kiana was hard to wake up, which was no big surprise, but Neptune might just be even worse with how quickly she managed to drift off.
As Fu Hua sighed and was about to try waking her up again, Kiana came into the room with an intentionally loud, evil chuckle as she carried something in her hands.
"Hey Fuka, let the pro handle this." She said softly, trying not to wake the snoring CPU up.
"... why are you holding a bucket?"
"Oh, it's not just any bucket – it's what will get the job done. Now... GET UP, NEP!" Kiana sung as she threw the water inside of the bucket towards Neptune's direction, causing Fu Hua's eyes to widen as she immediately dashes out of the way, creating an afterimage in the process.
As the water hits Neptune, she immediately sprung to life (contrary to what her screams were portraying) and jumped away from the sofa and nearly into the ceiling.
As Neptune landed on the ground, she started panting heavily as Kiana was laughing so hard that she fell on the floor.
"K-Kiana! You've not only drenched the sofa, but you almost hit me with that!" Fu Hua exclaimed as she angrily eyed the white-haired culprit.
"Yeah, well – sacrifices must be made. Besides, I got the job done, didn't I?" Kiana cheekily smiled as Fu Hua facepalmed herself whilst shaking her head.
"Alright Kiana, it's 1-1... Don't expect to be getting any more points after this." Neptune stated as she angrily eyed her.
Soon enough, Mei and Bronya emerged from their rooms, sharing a confused expression.
"Kiana? Why is the sofa wet?" Mei asked with a puzzled, but calm, face.
"Oh, that was all me." Kiana stated with pride as she rested her fists by her sides, admiring the work that she's done.
...
Mei and Bronya just stared at her blankly for a few seconds before Bronya couldn't help but smirk at that comment, creating a fake cough in the process.
Kiana immediately blushed at that comment as she looked utterly embarrassed.
"N-No! It's not like that! I was just waking Neptune up since she sleeps harder than I do! That's all! Mei, believe me!"
Neptune shot a glance towards Bronya that read "why Mei in particular?", before Bronya caught the glance and rolled her eyes, confirming Neptune's thoughts – causing her to smile darkly.
"Hey Kiana... What's with you trying to convince Mei?" Neptune stated softly, still maintaining that dark aura that was even starting to creep Kiana out.
"H-Huh?"
"You don't perhaps... like her, would you?" Neptune stated as she smirked.
"Of course I do... What do you mean?" Kiana responded with a straight face, not sure as to what she was getting at.
"... Idiot." Bronya muttered under her breath.
"Oh no, I meant as in the 'two kids sittin' in a tree' kind of way." Neptune followed up, causing Kiana to become wide-eyed and blush even more.
"What?! I-I mean... Not really, but... I, uh..." Kiana fumbled as she twiddled her fingers, trying to compose herself as her cheeks continued to glow brightly with a shade of red, causing Bronya and Neptune to sigh.
"Heh, I knew it. I don't mind where you swing, kiddo – was only messing with ya'." Neptune said with the same bright, cheerful expression that she always uses.
"Huh? Oh... I see..."
"2-1 for me then, Kiana?"
"Wait, what?!"
"Yeah, that was totally a point for me!"
"N-No! It was definitely not!"
"Totally was."
"No way!"
As Fu Hua sighed and tried shutting out the background noise in her mind, a doorbell sound could be heard, causing her to immediately start walking towards the door. Opening it revealed Theresa, whom met Fu Hua's glance with a smile, which Fu Hua returned back.
"Hi Fu Hua, how's Kiana been holding up?"
"She was holding up alright. After I got her to focus more on the questions, she was surprisingly coping a lot better with the material. We probably could've got more done had we started in the day."
Theresa breathed out a sigh of relief.
"That's good to hear. How's Neptune?" Theresa asked as she walked through the door, spotting a drenched Neptune in the same Parka Dress that she wore when she first met her.
"Hey Teri! Don't mind the water droplets, they're harmless." Neptune stated as she smiled at her. Theresa returned the smile somewhat, with a far more confused face that adorned her features.
"Neptune, did you just take a shower or something?"
Kiana was extremely close to laughing again when she heard this, causing Bronya to glance at her whilst Mei didn't say anything.
As Theresa went into the dorm, she spotted a grey bucket lying on the floor. Looking inside of it, there were traces of water still in the bucket – causing Theresa to slowly realise what happened.
As Theresa looked at Fu Hua, she sighed as she folded her arms and closed her eyes.
"Kiana." Was the only thing Fu Hua said as Kiana flinched hard.
Soon enough, Theresa's head slowly turned towards Kiana's direction like a robot, with a red lens flare encompassing her eyes as she spotted her target.
"Oh... crap."
Before Theresa was about to lunge towards Kiana, a ringtone started blaring out of nowhere – causing the chaos that was about to be ensued to be averted as Theresa's facial expressions, as well as the atmosphere of the room in general, became normal again.
Theresa then reached into one of her pockets as she saw that she was currently receiving a call on her work phone, with everyone else in the room looking at her in anticipation. Unknown number.
As she hesitantly accepted the call, she greeted the instigator with a mere "hello?", waiting a few seconds to get a response.
"Hello, may I please know who I am speaking with?" A soft, but mature female voice asked.
Theresa was feeling a little stumped. How could this person not know who she is calling? She started it, after all!
Regardless, she just waved it off and responded to the question anyway.
"You're currently speaking with Theresa Apocalypse, the current principal of St. Freya High."
"... So I see. My name is Histoire, do you know if a girl named 'Neptune' is around you right now?"
Theresa's eyes opened widely as everyone in the room took note of this – becoming more alert as a result, this was one of Neptune's friends from her world!
As she was attempting to comprehend how they're even talking right now, Theresa once again answered her enquiry.
"Yes, she's right here." Theresa said as she looked at Neptune, with everyone else becoming curious as to what was happening.
"Oh, thank goodness. Can you put me on your phone's loudspeaker, if it supports it?"
As soon as Histoire finished that sentence, Theresa pushed a button that enabled the call to become audible to everyone in the room.
"Neptune, it's... Histoire." Theresa said, with shock still being present on her face.
"H-Huh?! Histy?!" Neptune asked, now taking her turn to become shocked as everyone else in the room did the same.
"'Histoire'? Isn't she your 'Oracle'? Mei asked, trying to comprehend the situation.
"The very same! She's managed to contact me somehow!" Neptune replied, absolutely ecstatic that she can talk to Histy across worlds.
"I-Is Neptune there?! I want to talk to her!" Another voice called out in the distance from Histoire's side, being audible to the entire group back at St. Freya.
"Nepgear, please! This is a very delicate process that I'm undergoing right now, I need to focus!" Histoire replied, gaining expressions that resembled realisation from the entire room.
"... That's your sister?!" Kiana asked, amazed at how they're even able to talk to them right now.
"Yep, that's Nep Jr. Hehe..." Neptune chuckled as a sweat drop formed on her head from Nepgear's worried tone.
"Interesting..." Bronya muttered.
With Histoire managing to calm Nepgear down, she continued with what she was about to say.
"I apologise for delaying you all, I'm happy that Neptune is safe. I hope that she has not caused you any trouble."
"I've been good, 'mum'!" Neptune shouted out, causing a chuckle from Mei and Theresa, and even gaining a smile from Fu Hua.
"Yeah, she's been REAL good..." Kiana muttered under her breath, recalling yesterday's events.
"Yes, Neptune has been a pleasure to meet with and talk to." Theresa responded, earning a short chuckle from Histoire.
"Good, I'm glad that she is in good hands. But now to the real reason why I'm calling today."
"Hey, Histy – before you say some stuff that may or may not resemble a lecture, how are you even calling us here? I'm in a different world!"
"Different dimension. And I've always had the capability to communicate digitally with different worlds if I concentrate enough for 3 hours. There's a lot more to me and my features than you think."
"... Huh. You really should come with an instruction manual, y'know?"
"I do, but guess who never finds the time to read it."
This gathered a laugh from nearly everyone aside from Neptune whom pouted, even Fu Hua giggled a little bit.
"Regardless, after we had not heard from you for a few hours, I got a bit worried – so I found Nepgear and sent her out to look for you. No matter how hard she looked, she couldn't find you."
"I was so worried, sis! I'm really glad that you're okay!" Nepgear hurriedly said in a very worried tone.
"Aww, don't worry Nep Jr. I'm totally fine!"
"Continuing on, it got to the point where I had to contact the other Goddesses to come and help in Nepgear's search. You weren't in any of the other nations, so it all fell upon me to try and hone onto your inner share energy to locate you." Histoire explained, briefly sounding tired as she mentioned that last bit.
"How was Noire feeling, looking for little ol' me?"
"She looked very concerned, naturally."
"Hah, I knew it! She really is a total tsun!" Neptune announced, catching Kiana's attention as she possessed a similar dark smile that Neptune had earlier... For some reason.
"But hold up, rewind. I have inner share energy?"
"Yes, all CPUs possess an inner layer of Share Energy that is never expended, even in a theoretical dimension with zero external shares to draw from – hence you would still be kept alive. It is said that if a CPU were to attempt to use this layer of Shares, it would result in the CPU's death." [1]
Neptune gulped hard, whilst the others, with flinched expressions, took note of this.
"Your share energy signal was weak at first, and extremely hard to lock on to. But after a few hours passed, it got a little easier to find where you were. I was very surprised to find out that you were so far away from us."
Neptune recalled when she befriended Theresa and how she felt a warm feeling in her heart, as well as her theory on Kiana, Mei and Bronya unconsciously feeding her Share Energy.
"Is there any way that we can help Neptune get back to her world?" Theresa asked, somehow making Kiana, Mei and Bronya flinch as they eyed Neptune with uncertain expressions on their faces.
"There is, Neptune needs to collect a significant amount of Share Energy. When it is done, I can use some of the Share Energy that she has collected from your dimension, and create a portal that will send her back home."
"Share Energy seems to be extremely versatile..." Bronya muttered out loud, to which Neptune responded with "no kidding".
"How will I know if I have enough though, Histy? It's not like I'll see an achievement box pop up telling me I did it!" Neptune enquired.
"I'll call you back again to inform you when I am able to do so, but in order for me to send you back home – you must work hard to collect these shares, okay?"
"I really miss you a lot, sis! Please come back home as soon as you can!" Nepgear asked loudly, causing Neptune to chuckle a little bit.
"No worries Mini-Nepster, Neptune is on the job!" Neptune announced.
"Thank you for answering this call, Theresa. If you had not, it would've made things a little bit more difficult for me." Histoire stated as she sighed, causing Theresa to softly smile.
"No problem. I'm willing to answer your calls at any time if it means that we can help Neptune out."
"Planeptune greatly appreciates your assistance, please help take care of Neptune."
Theresa scoffed with a smile.
"Already on it."
As everyone on both sides of the line said their goodbyes to the other as they hung up, Theresa immediately turned towards Neptune.
"Anyway, it's time I get onto why I'm here today. As I said before, we're going to be taking you to Himeko's class so we can see your combat potential. If you can help us battle the Honkai whilst you're here, it may give you Shares over time to allow you to get closer to getting back home." Theresa stated, eyeballing Neptune's wet Parka Dress as she proceeded to lose herself in thought.
"Ah, right!"
"But not in those clothes you're not, they're completely drenched. Thanks to a certain someone who will be receiving quite the punishment later." Theresa said as she snapped right towards Kiana with the same fire in her eyes as before, earning an "eep!" from Kiana.
"We're all wearing our Far East Branch Valkyrie uniforms for the class, right Theresa?" Mei asked, picking up on Theresa's thought pattern as she witnessed her looking at Neptune's clothes.
"I was just about to bring that up. Neptune, you possess a very similar height and build to Bronya [2], perhaps she can lend you one of hers?" Theresa questioned, with Bronya nodding in acknowledgement as she went to her room to find a similar uniform.
After 30 seconds or so, she stepped out of the room with a white and yellow top that possessed two straps to close it, brown gloves, stockings and shoes, with a black skirt to top it all off. As Neptune took the clothes to admire it, she thought that it looked pretty neat for casual wear, something that was definitely in Neptune's favour given her clothing scheme.
Neptune whistled after a few seconds of inspection.
"Not bad. I prefer my older clothes, but this'll do for now... And it'll please the readers." Neptune concluded as she chuckled.
Kiana, Mei, Bronya and Fu Hua then went into their rooms to change into their Valkyrie Uniforms, whilst Theresa stayed behind with Neptune.
"Good. When we head out to the class, Himeko will be introducing you to everyone before she starts. You will be fighting simulated versions of average Honkai beasts in an assigned group. Normally, the teams would be randomised – but me and Himeko have pulled some strings in order to ensure that you, Kiana, Mei and Bronya will be teamed up together, since you're familiar with them the most."
Neptune nodded with a smile, excited that she'll finally get to show off her fighting prowess to her new friends.
"Alright, so just change up in Bronya's room when she's finished. I'll see you there!"
On the way to Himeko's class
"Wowie Zowie! I know I've said this a few times already, but I look super cute in this!" Neptune announced as she walked with Kiana, Mei, Bronya and Fu Hua down the corridors, now sporting Bronya's Far East Branch Valkyrie uniform, whom Bronya naturally shared.
The others had similar outfits with a few additions to distinguish themselves a bit, since it was permitted for all students by Theresa to boost morale [3]. Kiana had actual ammunition spanning across her hips like a makeshift belt, whereas Mei possessed high heel leggings. Since Neptune didn't want to miss out, she insisted that she keep her D-Pad hairclips and her choker.
Fu Hua sported something different too. She possessed the same white top and brown gloves that everyone else had, but she kept remnants of her previous qipao on her bottom half.
On their way there, a lot of fangirling towards Fu Hua could be heard in the distance by many of the other students who idolised her. There was also a lot of talk about the new girl too, expressing similar comments about how cute she is, theorising her entire life-story before she managed to join the school, where they could get some of those unique hairclips, the list goes on.
There was also a surprising amount of students that actually came up and tried to approach Neptune, and thanks to her bright and bubbly personality, she almost instantly clicked with nearly everyone that tried talking to her. Soon enough, Neptune was almost struggling near the end at remembering the massive amount of names that were introduced to her.
"You're quite the 'people person', Neptune." Mei stated as she smiled.
"Hehe, I'd like to think that it's my charm... I guess it's also the MC energy I'm radiating." Neptune replied, grinning right back.
"MC energy?" Kiana asked, giving her a "what the hell are you talking about?" look.
"Ah, don't mind me – just a meta joke."
"Either way, keep this up and you might get those shares in no time." Fu Hua commented with a smile of her own, earning a giggle from the entire group.
After a minute more of walking, they finally arrived outside the door. Whilst Fu Hua immediately went in, Neptune stopped before she would make herself visible to the class from behind the door.
"Huh? What's wrong, Nep?" Kiana asked, genuinely concerned.
"I dunno, I've just never been in a school before... I guess you could say I'm a little anxious." Neptune said somewhat enthusiastically with a slightly forced smile.
"Your world doesn't have schools?" Mei asked, being quite surprised at this.
"Nah, we do... It's just that, as a CPU, I was kinda already born at this age with all the things I needed to know already up here, so I never really needed to go."
"Subject Neptune will be fine. Just don't follow Kiana Idiotka's example of sleeping in class and you will pass with flying colours." Bronya replied, sincere about Neptune's ability – perhaps stemming slightly from her significant performance in the game that they played yesterday.
"Falling asleep? In a physical class? Nuh-uh, no way! Today I'm showing Nep what we can do!" Kiana said with pride as she walked to and entered through the door into the wide-open hall.
As Kiana disappeared from sight, Bronya muttered one last sentence before she followed her – "Just wait until we get to our theory classes".
Mei then held Neptune's hand with a motherly smile to ease Neptune's nerves. And judging by the latter's facial expressions, it seemed to be working. "Ready?"
Neptune then smirked as she and Mei slowly removed their hands from the other.
"Yep, bring it on!"
Author's Notes
Hey, everyone. Not much to say this time other than quickly answering a few things I left as notes with the square-bracketed numbers.
[1] – Whilst the Neptunia franchise contradicts itself sometimes with how CPUs react to lower levels of shares, such as Rom & Ram feeling sick from low share energy in Re;Birth 2 whilst Neptune & Nepgear are completely fine in a zero-shares dimension in Neptunia VII... It is shown and stated (albeit indirectly) by Uzume Tennouboshi in Neptunia VII that every CPU possesses a little bit of share energy within them, hence this is why they can also survive in an environment with literally zero shares. In one ending, Uzume uses her inner shares in order to help the rest of the cast defeat the main villain, to which she dies shortly after doing so.
[2] – Neptune's official height in the original Hyperdimension Neptunia game was stated to be 146 cm, with her weighing 37 kg (although, Neptune did gain a little bit of weight in the sequel, though how much is unknown). Bronya (without Project Bunny), in comparison, is 147 cm, and weighs 40 kg. Literally a single centimeter taller (and a little heavier!) than Neptune's base form.
For those wondering whom Purple Heart (164 cm / 48 kg) would be the most comparable to in terms of height and weight, that would be Kiana (163 cm / 49 kg).
A pretty crazy coincidence if you ask me.
[3] – This was mentioned in Valkyrie Ranger Kiana's battlesuit details. It says: "The Ranger battlesuit is Kiana's special Schicksal Far East Branch Valkyrie uniform. To boost student morale, Principal Theresa allowed St. Freya High to customize their uniforms and battlesuits. This is why Kiana, Mei, and Bronya wear different looking uniforms."
Anyway, that's the end of Chapter 4. Please let me know what you think, and hopefully I'll see you all next time!
Bye!