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Secrets – in Gamindustri, they served as a currency, and, during those times of turbulence that had the Goddesses in a state of disagreement, they served as weapons. FCC – she claimed to be far-seeing, but had glasses so impenetrable that no one had seen her eyes – had the unenviable task of locking all of those secrets down, and her assistants, ESRB and FTC, claimed to be there for her benefit, but, due to a bad case of astigmatism on both their parts, frequently missed details that she thought had to be obvious. (Her colleague, IRS, might have agreed ... had she not been scary.)
Vert had to gloat to herself at her success in compiling all of the secrets she needed for her plan to be perfect. She had tricked FCC, ESRB, and FTC multiple times, and this most recent scheme had been one of her best. (Unfortunately, she had to give FTC tons and tons of money if a scheme failed, as she had once learned.) Through a little wizardry involving a telescope and a big Out of Order sign, she had managed to convince Nepgear – visiting for the day, at least in the beginning – that Planeptune had disappeared, and that she had to stay at Leanbox for the foreseeable future.
A mean thing to do, perhaps, but Vert did not lie to be mean. Rather, she did it as part of her nature, and she did not think anything of it. (Granted, her attempt to convince the people of Lastation that Noire hated them all and wanted to eat them up had backfired most dramatically, but –) And she thought Nepgear to be as cute as could be, so cute she did not think Neptune deserved to have her as her little sister. (Nothing against Neptune, of course.) Every time she saw her, she wanted to pick her up and give her a big hug, maybe swing her around until she got a little dizzy. Fun stuff.
She suspected she did that mostly because Nepgear liked to go places. Her previous little sister, Chika, liked to stay at home and do nothing. Except idolize her. Which was nice, but it had been slightly less than five years, and Vert wanted to forget about Chika and move on to a new pastime, namely Nepgear in all of her wonderful versatility. She liked to sing, play music, all of those fun things. Almost the same things that ... the one person did, the one named after a fruit. Vert did not like to say that name. It left a bad taste in her mouth. (At least Android was friendly and outgoing, if a little random.)
Nepgear sat on her sofa, looking concerned, possibly considering calling Blanc. No need for that. Blanc might have made nice and all that, but Vert still thought of her as childish and mean-spirited, and Nepgear needed a friend – a big sister, in all honesty – who could be mature, nurturing, and protective. For that, there needed to be a very specific plan, and Vert had already hatched it: On her TV, a newscaster blathered on and on about rumors of things like "third-party piracy" and "reverse engineering". (He dropped the phrase "the next Treamcast" for good effect, too – good for him.)
And so Vert said, holding up a disc that she had prepared for the occasion, "If you use this to transform instead of going into goddess form like you normally do, you can conceal yourself so those nasty pirates never find you. It works. I promise." And Nepgear, trusting soul that she was, reached out to take it, not questioning the offer. What a sweet girl, Vert thought, and she'll be even sweeter when she's wearing Leanbox colors. A clever program, one that Ziege had developed for her, though ... there had been a number of crashes and false starts along the way.
Nepgear closed her eyes, and the disc disappeared in a flash of light as she transformed, going into a thirty-second song-and-dance montage that Vert had asked Ziege to choreograph very carefully. (And yet it still stuttered and skipped a bit, but at least it did not cut off and show the gray, blocky face of that stupid Flash.) All she had to do at the end was fulfill the key command by calling herself Zune, and she would belong to Leanbox, body and soul. It was for her own good, as far as Vert was concerned, regardless of whether or not she found where Planeptune had gone.
But Nepgear did not call herself Zune. Instead, she said, as the montage finished, "Nomad!" And her transformation left her in a black outfit – not a hint of green on it – that Vert had never seen before. Her eyes glowed a brilliant purple. Her hands crackled with power. Was she ... angry? Vert did not like where the situation was going, and she started to cook up a proper apology when "Nomad" abruptly stopped where she was, blinked, and transformed back into Nepgear. She used up energy that quickly? That certainly would not do. It might have been for the best that she had not gone Zune.
To her credit, Nepgear seemed to forget her prior anger, and she said, smiling very sweetly, "I think it still needs a little work. That didn't last very long. I –" She yawned grandly. "I, uh, think a nap's a pretty good idea. Really, really good. Mmm." Vert barely had the chance to sit next to her on the sofa long enough for her to fall asleep on her lap. One had to enjoy the small victories in life, perhaps. There would be time for another attempt at conversion, another scheme, but ... until then, there could at least be a quiet moment for Vert to enjoy the snoozing company of her little sister-to-be.
At least until Chika solved the issue of randomly catching herself on fire at inopportune moments. That had been a real hair-raising experience, at least until Vert replaced a few things ....
END.